Seed Wheat. 



275 



How do the crops from large and small grains compare with each other with reference 

 to the size of the grains ? Are the grains in the crop from large seed, larger or smaller 

 than in the crop from small seed ? I am able to answer that the crops from the smaller seeds 

 do not grade up so well as those from the larger seeds, but I am sorry not to be able to 

 go further than this. The men at work upon this problem were removed from the work, 

 and the full results were never obtained. This serious loss I am only able to counteract 

 by the statement that, from " general observation" and a few trials, I feel sure that the 

 crops from the smaller seeds are nearly always, if not always, from a market point of 



view, inferior to those from the larger seeds. 

 Let anyone look at the illustration on page 

 148, which is entirely typical of the results 

 of these trials, and he will not be surprised to 

 hear the opinion expressed that 

 the plants in the row planted 

 with small seeds yielded not 

 only less grain, but that the 

 grain yielded was of smaller size, 

 and hence of lower market value. 

 The best I can do in this con- 

 nection is to apologise, and 

 express regret that such an 



Fig. 32. Quality of the grain raised 

 from small seed ; companion to Fig. 

 31. To show the inferiority of grain 

 arising from the use of small seed, 

 proving, by comparison with figure 

 31, that, apart from the lower yield 

 arising from the use of small seed, 

 the grain itself is of decidedly 

 poorer quality. It will be seen that 

 the crop from the larger seed has 

 the larger proportion of large grain, 

 and that, conversely, the crop 

 from the smaller seed contains the 

 larger proportion of 

 small grains ; or, to 

 put the case in 

 popular language, 

 the smaller seed you 

 sow the smaller seed 

 you will reap, to say 

 nothing of reaping 

 less. These figures 

 (31 and 32) illustrate 

 only the difference 

 in quality, without 

 reference to yield. 



obvious question, and one whose answer was actually in hand, should have been allowed 

 to go partially unanswered. 



In spite of this I am glad to be able to say I have evidence that the grain yielded from 

 plants grown from small and shrivelled seed is almost invariably inferior from a grading 

 point of view, and that the difference is a very perceptible one one such as to lower the 

 market value of the grain. It will be seen from the adjacent figures and illustrations 

 that the evidence assembled is of an unmistakable character, in spite of the fact that I am 

 unable at the present time to give averages for several years such as alone can establish a 

 perfectly satisfactory basis for practice. (See Figs. 31 and 32.) The examples cited are 

 typical ones, but I cannot be certain how near they are to being average cases. The 

 grading and the illustrations prove that there is a pronounced difference in the quality of 

 the grain-crops from large and small seeds, the balance being in favour of the large grain. 

 The illustrations represent equal quantities of grain ; that is, there is the same bulk of 



