[Reprinted from the Journal of Agricultural Science, Yo\. III. Part II.] 

 [All Eights reserved.] 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRAIN OF 



WHEAT. 



By W. E. BRENCHLEY, B.Sc. 



AND 



A. D. HALL, M.A. F.R.S., 



Rothamsted Experiment Station. 



It is well understood that the grain of wheat is built up out of the 

 materials which have previously been elaborated by the plant from the 

 crude nutriment drawn from the air and the soil and then stored in 

 the stem, roots and leaves until the formation of the seed begins. 

 Various observers^ have followed out the stages in the growth of the 

 plant and have determined the periods at which the plant ceases to 

 draw nutriment from the soil or the air ; from their investigations it 

 would appear that during the latter part of the life of the wheat plant 

 the manufacture of fresh material has almost ceased and that the chief 

 process going forward is the migration of accumulated material from the 

 stem and leaves to the grain. 



For various practical reasons it is important to study this migration 

 process in some detail and ascertain the progressive changes in the com- 

 position of the grain. For instance, it is very generally supposed that 

 if wheat is cut in an unripe condition when the berry is still a little 

 green, the grain will yield ' stronger ' flour, i.e. flour capable of yielding 

 a larger and better shaped loaf. Again, since the ' strong ' wheats of 

 commerce are in the main spring-sown wheats grown in climates which 

 become increasingly hot and dry as the season advances, it has been 

 supposed that a rapid growth and an accelerated ripening are factors in 

 the production of strong wheat. If the first or the last of these 

 suppositions are true there remains the further practical question of 



^ J. Pierre, Mem. Sac. Linneenne de Normandie, xv. 1869, 1, 220 ; Deherain, Ann. 

 Agron. viii. 1882, 23, xx. 1894, 561 ; J. Adorjan, J.fur Landw. 1902, 50, 193. 



Joum. of Agric. Sci. iii 14 



