from rust, although the flag may be quite rusty. The flag, espe- 

 cially the upper surface, is usually less glaucous than the sheath. 

 It is noticeable that the resistant wheats, as a rule (there are 

 marked exceptions), are wheats possessing a glaucous character." 



The principal conclusion arrived at by the Australasian Confer- 

 ence of 1892 was that manuring and treatment of the soil, 

 methods of cultivation, times of reaping, &c., have an influence 

 on the development of rust ; but that influence is, generally 

 speaking, trifling as compared with the influence of the variety 

 of wheat grown and the time of sowing. There are several 

 varieties of wheat which, except under very unusual circum- 

 stances, are never seriously attacked by rust, and it was recom- 

 mended that the sorts of wheat should be grown which local 

 experiences have shown to be rust-resisting or rust-escaping.* 



Experiments will be made in Queensland, Victoria, New South 

 Wales, and South Australia in the coming season to discover 

 wheats that are rust resistant in various localities. 



The freedom from rust of the variety known as " Windsor 

 Forest," instanced by Mr. Smith, of Rendlesham, and by Mr. 

 Watkins, of Gulpho Hall, Ipswich, corroborate the experience 

 of the Australian experts. It will be remembered that this 

 wheat was grown under the same conditions in the same field 

 with wheats of other varieties which were badly rusted. In 

 one case, the rusted variety, Kinver, was actually sown on the 

 headlands of the part of the field devoted to the rust -free 

 Windsor Forest. Examination with the microscope showed 

 certain slight differences in the arrangement of the cells and in 

 the numbers and arrangement of the stomata.f The straw, 

 however, when received, was ripe and hard, and therefore would 

 not probably show distinctions like those found by Dr. Cobb 

 in the green stalks of the varieties he examined. It is desirable 

 that experiments should be made in Great Britain to prove 

 whether there are varieties of wheats that are rust resistant 

 and less liable to be attacked than others. 



Another great point insisted upon at these Conferences in 

 Australia was that of early sowing, as the general reports of 

 wheat growers in different parts of the four Colonies that were 

 represented, showed that early sown wheat was always the least 

 damaged, and in many cases escaped injury altogether by rust. 

 The reason of this is without doubt that early sown wheats get 

 established before adverse weather comes, and are, therefore, 

 stronger, healthier, and better able to resist the attacks of fungi. 

 It will be noticed that several of those who filled up the 



The Hon. John D. Macansh, of Queensland, stated at the last Confer- 

 ence that the Canning Downs rust-proof wheat came originally from 

 India, and had been grown by him for eight consecutive years, and the 

 grains had never been damaged in the slightest degree by rust. It had been 

 grown in the same field, a furrow only dividing them, with wheat that was 

 worthless from rust. 



f The report of an experienced microscopist upon samples of Kinver and 

 Windsor Forest straw was that in the former the vascular bundles were 

 rather wider apart than in the straw of Windsor Forest and the stomata more 

 abundant. 



74690. D 



