14 CEREALS 



.by rust. Everywhere it is the enemy, and more than 

 usually dangerous in tropical India. Nor have I the time 

 or inclination to review the botanical side of the rust 

 problem. At one time I felt inclined to draw a moral 

 from what I had read concerning it, but discretion came 

 with increased knowledge, and I will leave the botany 

 of rust to specialists, including the physiological problems 

 .concerned with it. I may, however, refer to the latest 

 work done in India to combat this pest. The first stage 

 in the most modern attack on this enemy was to sort 

 out the native varieties and note with precision how each 

 was affected by rust in a succession of seasons. Working 

 in the Central Provinces, G. Evans, of Hoshangabad, 

 noted that some of the varieties commonly grown in that 

 part of the tropics, such as White Pissi and Jalalia, were 

 very susceptible to rust, whereas some little known 

 varieties, such as Soharia. were highly resistant. The 

 Howards, further north, not only sorted out the native 

 wheats, but introduced some kinds which had in Europe 

 been found to be immune or highly resistant to rust, such 

 .as Einkorm, Emmer, and a variety known in England as 

 American Club, found at Weybridge growing in a plot 

 raised from seed taken from a commercial grade of United 

 .States wheat. These wheats were grown with a measure 

 of success, and crosses were made at Lyallpur between 

 several varieties of Emmer and some native wheats which, 

 .apart from rust, were otherwise desirable. But the 

 Howards went still further. They found when crosses 

 between these exotics and native wheats had been made 

 that the progeny of the first generation did not thrive 

 in India, so they enlisted the help of Professor Biffen, and 

 in 1910 crosses were made at Cambridge between the rust- 

 resistant wheat and some Indian varieties. This arrange- 

 ment worked successfully, and the progeny sent to India 

 .after the F x stage (first generation) had been passed 

 have thrived in India. I need not recite to this audience 

 the methods and principles of hybridizing and Mendelian 

 selection. Suffice it to say, that selected strains found 

 in the progeny of the crosses have inherited and retained, 

 when propagated in India, the desired characteristic of 

 -rust resistance; and the Imperial Economic Botanist, in 



