42 CEREALS 



object of acclimatizing- them to Queensland conditions, 

 especially in regard to their resistance to disease. 



From the above it will be apparent that a considerable 

 amount of attention is being devoted to wheat improve- 

 ment in Australia, and that the several State Departments 

 are fully seized with the importance of the subject and 

 afford ample encouragement to its prosecution. 



The subject of wheat improvement in Australia is so 

 large that I am very conscious of not having been able 

 to do full justice to it. Numbers of improved varieties 

 are brought forward from time to time as the result of 

 selection, and names are often given to them in order 

 to distinguish them from the original variety. These, 

 however, do not usually enjoy a lasting vogue, and as it 

 would be invidious to mention one or two without men- 

 tioning all, I have confined myself to speaking of those 

 varieties that are well established favourites, or which, 

 being the result of scientific selection or cross-breeding, 

 give promise of playing an important part in the future. 



In dealing with a subject in which four or five States 

 are in friendly rivalry, it is not an easy matter to appor- 

 tion fairly the work done by each, and to avoid giving 

 undue prominence to any particular State or to any special 

 line of work. 



I am conscious that New South Wales bulks rather 

 largely in the foregoing paper. If an apology is needed 

 for this, it must be found in the fact that I am personally 

 very much better acquainted with what is being done in 

 this State than in the others. Further, New South Wales 

 really has done more than the other States in the matter 

 of wheat improvement. Apart from Mr. Farrer's work, 

 which every one will admit overshadows that hitherto done 

 by any individual in Australia, and apart from the incen- 

 tive given locally to wheat improvement by that work, 

 the New South Wales Department has a larger and better 

 equipped organization, a greater number of experiment 

 farms, plots, etc., than is the case with the other States. 

 If I have done any injustice it has been unintentional, 

 and due to ignorance and not to prejudice. 



I have received a great deal of valuable information 



