CH. E. SAUNDERS. The inheritance of " strength " in wheat. - 



The Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. Ill, Part 2. October 

 1909, p. 218. 



Polemical. 



The problems connected with the subject of strength in wheat 

 will not be solved until a great deal more work of a patient and 

 thorough character has been done. At present it appears that the 

 absence of strength is due to various causes which may perhaps 

 be roughly grouped under two heads, namely, small quantity of 

 gluten, and poor quality of gluten. 



These two causes each of which is perhaps complex seem to 

 operate either together or separately, and it would be very singular 

 if one simple rule of inheritance could be found to govern all cases; 

 and even if we seek to dispose of most kinds of wheat in this easy 

 fashion, in what group shall we place those varieties which are 

 quite deficient in strength for several months after threshing, but 

 which, on long keeping ultimately rise to the very highest rank? 



A. D. HALL and E. J. RUSSELL. The Factors Determining the 



Yield of Wheat. (Wheat: papers read at Meeting of the British 

 Assoc. for the Adv. of Science at Winnipeg. Aug. 1909). 

 Supplement to the Journal of the Board of Agric., Vol. XVII, 

 n. 3. London, June 1910, p. 18. 



To each type of soil there is a limiting yield beyond which the 

 crop will not go. But the limit is not the same for all varieties; 

 it is not unusual to find that one variety may do much better than 

 another under one set of conditions, but not so well under others. 

 There is still a good deal of work to be done in inquiring into 

 the soil conditions and reducing to precise terms such vague ex- 

 pressions as " a good wheat soil. " For example, on soils not very 

 dissimilar, with the same rainfall and management, a heavy wheat 

 crop will stand in one case, while on the other soil it will inva- 

 riably go down, and as yet it is impossible to state definitely the 

 factors which thus determine the stiffness of straw in one case and 

 not in another. 



In new countries, such as Canada, as wheat is largely a pioneer 

 crop, and as the pioneer cannot control his conditions to anything 

 like the extent that is possible in more developed parts of the 

 country, it is important that wheat should be bred to suit local 

 conditions. 



