December ii, 1919] 



NATURE 



383 



the best English wheat. Yeoman not only possesses 

 the superior quality of Canadian wheat, but combines 

 with it the high-yielding character of certain English 

 wheats. 



A well-authenticated report, supplemented with full 

 details, of the value of Yeoman as a field crop was 

 lately published {Joiirn. Bd. Agric, vol. xxv., 1161). 

 It was cultivated under normal conditions, but with- 

 out artificial manure, on three fields on a large farm 

 near Wye, Kent. The cropped area was a little more 

 than twenty-seven acres. The total yield was 2072 

 bushels, or an average of about seventy-seven bushels 

 per acre. One field, previously under beet, compris- 

 ing three acres two rods and eight poles, yielded 

 340 bushels, or an averag-e of eighty-six bushels per 

 acre. These results may be compared with thirty- 

 two bushels, the average yield of wheat in this 

 country. 



A most desirable improvement in wheat-growing in 

 this country is to obtain a spring wheat combining 

 early maturity with a yield approaching that of 

 winter wheat. The establishment of a National Insti- 

 tute of Agricultural Botany for the further develop- 

 ment of plant-breeding and the distribution of pure 

 seed may be regarded as essential to the welfare and 

 safety of the nation. 



Wheat-growing is a very important industrv in 

 India. It was estimated in 1906-7 that 29,000,000 

 acres were under cultivation in wheat with a yield 

 of nearly 9,000,000 tons. Of this 90 per cent, was 

 consumed in India. A botanical survey of the Indian 

 wheats was undertaken by the economic botanists 

 at the Imperial Research institute at Pusa in 1910. 

 In the following years, by the application of modern 

 methods of selection and hybridisation, high-grain 

 qualities were successfully combined with high-vielding 

 power, rust resistance, and stiff straw, so that Wheats 

 were produced which gave upwards of fortv-one 

 bushels per acre. 



-Vmong the best of the new varieties are Pusa 4 

 and Pusa 12. Owing to an organised system of dis- 

 tribution of seed, it is estimated that the area under 

 Pusa 12 during the last wheat season (1918-19) was 

 about 400,000 acres. The area under Pusa 4 was 

 about 100,000 acres. 



The important work carried on at Pusa bv Howard 

 and his accomplished wife has followed closely on the 

 methods found so successful at Cambridge. It is 

 interesting to note that in obtaining new kinds by 

 hybridisation between Indian wheats and rust-resisting 

 forms in Northern Europe a difficultv in regard to 

 flowering at different periods was overcome bv .sending 

 the Indian parents to Cambridge for spring sowing 

 and by carrying out the actual crossing with Biffen's 

 new hybrids in England. From the crosses thus ob- 

 tained Howard reports that a wide range of wheats 

 has been evolved likely to prove superior to Pusa 4 

 and Pusa 12. 



The admirable work done by Biffen at Cambridge 

 and the Howards in India clearly demonstrates the 

 value of thorough acquaintance with pure botany as 

 a qualification for grappling with questions of 

 economic importance. 



In reviewing the gain to Indian wheat-growers the 

 director of the Agricultural Research Institute has 

 recently stated that, in view of the favour with which 

 the new wheats have been received and the cordial 

 co-operation of provincial organisations, " it is a 

 modest estimate to assume that in the course of a 

 very few years the area under Pusa wheats will reach 

 5,000,000 acres. This means an increase in the near 

 future in the value of the agricultural produce of 

 India, in one crop only, of 75 lakhs of rupees or 

 5,000,000?. sterling." .\nother crop that has received 

 attention is indigo. In regard to this a new method 



NO. 2615, VOL. 104] 



of growing the seed has been worked out, and the 

 cause of the destructive wilt disease has been traced 

 to the destruction of the fine roots and nodules during 

 the monsoon rains. The remedy in this case is the 

 selection of surface-rooted plants which are now in 

 course of being generally grown. 



.\s in wheat, so in cotton, this country is almost 

 entirel)- dependent on foreign supplies. The uneasiness 

 caused by the excessive dependence of the great Lanca- 

 shire cotton industry, with exports of the annual value 

 of more than ioo,ooo,ooo(. sterling, on supplies from 

 abroad, and the occasional shortage, have led to general 

 action being taken to encourage the more extensive 

 growth of cotton within the Empire. Next to the 

 United States, which in some years has supplied seven- 

 tenths of our imports, India comes second, but the 

 East Indian cotton is not well suited to the require- 

 ments of the English spinner. Egypt, as the third pro- 

 ducing country, supplies cotton of great strength and 

 fineness. 



The most valuable of all cottons is that known as 

 Sea Island cotton, owing to its introduction and suc- 

 cessful cultivation on the coastal areas in South Caro- 

 lina, Georgia, and Florida. It is interesting to report 

 that in recent vears Sea Island cotton has been intro- 

 duced back again to the West Indies, which was 

 probablv its original home. This was effected by 

 the Imperial Department of Agriculture in the West 

 Indies in 1902, when a pure strain of seed raised from 

 plants immune to wilt disease was obtained in quan- 

 tity from James ■ Island. This ensured that the 

 industry from the first was placed on a firm basis, 

 and with the hearty co-operation of the planters an 

 important West Indian cotton industry was success- 

 fully established. For some years the West Indian 

 cotton has obtained a higher price than the corre- 

 sponding grades of cotton from the Se.-i Islands them- 

 selves. The fine spinners in Lancashire are now prac- 

 tically independent for their supplies of this cotton 

 from the United States. Further, it is not improb- 

 able that, owing to the serious attacks of the Mexican 

 boll weevil on cotton plants in South Carolina and 

 Georgia, the West Indies may become the only source 

 of supply of fine Sea Island cotton. The results 

 so far attained may be realised from the fact that 

 the value of the exports of Sea Island cotton from 

 the West Indies in recent years has reached a total 

 of 2,000,000/. sterling. The general conditions in the 

 West Indian islands, owing to their small size and 

 comparative isolation, should enable them to main- 

 tain a high purilN of cotton. Harland, whose services 

 in the West Indies have been provided by ,1 grant 

 from the Imperial Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research, has in hand important investigations 

 with the view of placing the work of cotton selection 

 and breeding on scientific lines. He has shown that 

 the yield of lint per acre depends on a number of 

 factors of a morphological and physiological character. 

 In a general way it may be said that the yield is 

 dependent on the climatic conditions, so an effort is 

 being made to produce varieties which will interact 

 with the environmental conditions to the best advan- 

 tage. Although Harland 's work so far is of a pre- 

 liminary character, he is able to suggest the con- 

 clusion that, following certain lines of selection and 

 breeding, and bearing in mind the relative importance 

 of lint index and lint percentage, it is possible to 

 isolate a .strain of Sea Island cotton with a weight 

 of lint per boll 31 per cent, greater than that of the 

 ordinary sorts in cultivation. 



.\s already mentioned, India is the second largest 

 producer of cotton. In 1906-7 it was estimated that 

 there were about 20,000,000 acres under cotton, 

 with a production of nearly 5,000,000 bales. It is 

 unfortunate that the aualitv' of Fast Indian cotton is 



