93 



It will be noted that these flinty wheats yielded satisfactorily in the wet 

 seasons of 1909 and 1910, but were unsatisfactory in the dry seasons of 1907 

 and 1911. 



The French " Colons " have apparently made various attempts to intro- 

 duce into the Regency several of the soft wheats of Europe ; and it is stated 

 that whilst in favorable seasons the latter have carried heavier yields of 

 grain than the local flinty wheats, the reverse has been the case in the dry 

 seasons normal to this part of the world. Nor could I learn that these soft 

 wheats, which are exclusively grown in Australia, have as yet acquired any 

 particular importance in the farming operations of the Regency. The reason 

 for this condition of affairs is not, I think, far to seek. In the first place, 

 the Mediterranean countries absorb readily enough any surplus of flinty wheats 

 that may be available for export. These wheats, besides being the ordinary 

 foundation of macaroni paste, make a yellowish, dense, heavy loaf, which 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean is more common than the usual European 

 white loaf. Henc^ the marketing difficulties which we should have to contend 

 with in Australia do not exist in Tun : s'a in so far as either type of wheat is 

 concerned ; and the only factor that might reasonably be supposed to lead 

 to the substitution of soft wheats for the local flinty wheats must be repre- 

 sented by an unquestionable superiority in yields of the former. That this 

 superiority in yields of the soft wheats has riot yet been established in the 

 Regency appears to me due to the fact that what we should term early varieties 

 have not yet been introduced. I noticed with extreme surprise that the cold 

 country d'stinction of " Winter " and " Spring " wheats appeared to be 

 accepted in this country. Now a normal winter wheat is very much later 

 than the latest of our wheats, and it does not appear to be realised in Tunisia 

 that in hot countries it is only the spring type of wheat that has any chances 

 of success, providing it be sown in winter. The soft wheats hitherto intro- 

 duced by the French landowners are said to develop and ripen within 195 

 to 200 days, corresponding in this respect to the ordinary flinty wheats of 

 the country. The latter, however, from the effects perhaps of long accli- 

 matization, are better able to develop their grain in the teeth of heat and 

 drought of adverse seasons. At Roseworthy we have now had five seasons' 

 experience of these flinty Tunisian varieties, and in our experience they 

 correspond to our nrd-season wheats and not to our early wheats. Thus, 

 if we take Mahmoudi and Adjini, which we have grown uninterruptedly for 

 five years 1907-11 we find that on an average their periods of vegetation 

 have been distributed as follows : 



Between germination and bloom .158 days 



Between bloom and ripening 38 



Between germination and ripening 196 



These figures, it will be noted, correspond to those already given for Tunisia, 

 and tend to confirm the similarity of climate commented upon. If, on the 



