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THE FARMERS HANDBOOK. 



C— Wheats for Hay only. 

 Xot recommended for Grain. 



D. — Wheats Suitable for Green Feed and Soiling. 



Change of Seed. 



The complaint is frequently made by farmers that the seed of a variety 

 that they have been using for years has " run out." Similarly, the state- 

 ment is often heard that Federation or some other variety is not yielding as 

 well as it did, say, ten years ago. 



In most cases the statement is perfectly correct — that is, as to the strain 

 that the farmer is using. Inquiry into the facts will usually disclose that the 

 seed has not been changed for years — that year after year a portion of the 

 grain harvested on the farm is kept for next year's sowing, and as probably 

 very little care is taken in the selection of the bags to be kept, there 

 has been a steady decline in vigour and quality. And can any surprise 

 be entertained that this should be so ? Can we expect if a variety is grown 

 for years without any attempt to maintain the quality and purity of the 

 variety and the vigour and productivity of the strain that there will be any- 

 thing else than decline? What would be the result of allowing a hundred 

 stud ewes and a couple of rams to breed indiscriminately for years without 

 the guiding hand of man '. Xo farmer would contemplate such a method. 

 Instead he culls and selects year by year, and actually improves and in- 

 creases the product of the flock. The same applies, though in a rather dif- 

 ferent way, to the crops of the farm. As a result of continuous selection and 

 care, the Federation that is now being distributed from the experiment farms 

 of the Department is appreciably better than it was twenty years ago. An 

 illustration of this was afforded some years ago on an occasion when three 

 samples of Federation came to be compared in the laboratory. A sample was 



