May 6, 1909] 



NA TURE 



283 



only be a matter of time to obtain rust-resisting 

 varieties. Saleability in the market is a somewhat 

 artificial affair. At the present time millers require 

 a " hard " wheat yielding a " strong " flour rather 

 than a " weak " wheat, and, therefore, pay more for 

 it. It is not claimed that strong wheat is more nutri- 

 tious, but merely that it makes larger and more 

 shapelj' loaves; there is the further advantage to the 

 baker that a given quantity of strong flour makes a 

 greater weight of bread because it takes up and 

 retains more moisture than an equal weight 

 of weak flour. No doubt an excellent case 

 could be made out for " weak " flour, but that is not 

 the business of the agriculturist ; he has simply to 

 provide what his customer wants. The scientific 

 problem of discovering what constitutes strength is 

 under investigation, and the fact that strength is 

 inherited indicates the possibility of crossing it on to 

 ■wheats possessing other desirable features. 



The economic problems in wheat production have 

 rarely been stated better than in Mr. Humphries's 

 lecture before the Royal Society of Arts. For a 

 number of years past British wheat has been sold at 

 prices substantially lower than the best foreign wheat 

 because it lacks strength. Probably few bakers 

 would risk making bread from British wheat alone ; 

 they require foreign wheat to be mixed with it. Con- 

 sequently, the mills are handicapped unless they are 

 within easy access of a seaport. The Home-grown 

 Wheat Association are trying to find whether strong 

 wheat can be profitably produced in England ; their 

 ■experiments have already shown that strength is in- 

 herent in the variety, and is not the result of external 

 conditions, though it is influenced by them; they 

 have also demonstrated that the great Canadian 

 wheat, Red Fife, keeps its strength when grown here. 

 The Canadian farmer is satisfied with 20 bushels to 

 the acre, but the British farmer, having heavier 

 ■charges to meet, must get more than 30, and on occa- 

 sions, in favourable districts, will even get 60 or more 

 bushels of grain and good crops of straw. Unfor- 

 tunately, Red Fife does not give these heavy crops, 

 .and is, therefore, not in much favour here. It 

 it hoped, however, that crosses combining the 

 ■strength of Red Fife with the cropping powef of the 

 standard English varieties will in time be avail- 

 :able. 



Other countries are also seeking to improve the 

 strength of their wheats. Indian wheat, for instance. 

 Is at present no stronger than ours, but Mr. and Mrs. 

 Howard have grown wheats at Pusa which were 

 very favourably reported on by the English milHng 

 €xpert who examined them. One especially was 

 praised, a wheat (Pusa 6) selected in 1906 and grown 

 from a single plant. It has the further advantage 

 that it is resistant to rust, and matures well 

 •even on second-class wheat soils. Canadian wheats 

 are under constant investigation at Ottawa. The 

 .Agricultural Department of South Australia also con- 

 •ducts experiments, the results of which appear from 

 time to time in its journal. 



The introduction of strong wheats into English 

 agriculture would unquestionably alter the conditions 

 ofwheat-growing here, and whilst strong varieties are 

 being raised it is desirable to ascertain the precise cost 

 of wheat production by modern methods and using 

 modern labour-saving appliances. There is a great 

 deal of work to be done in this direction. Mr. Mac- 

 kenzie's paper in the Journal of the Board of -Agri- 

 culture provides data for ascertaining the cost of har- 

 vesting ; similar records for other operations are badly 

 t needed. , 



E. J. Russell. 



NO. 2062, VOL. So] 



THE LONDON INSTITUTION. 

 A T the annual meeting of the proprietors of the 

 ■^*- London Institution, held on April 28, it was 

 announced that, in view of the appointment of the 

 Royal Commission on University Education in 

 London, which had oflicially informed the Institution 

 that they regarded it as coming under their purview, 

 the scheme for amalgamation with the Royal Societv 

 of Arts must remain in abeyance. The solicitor o'f 

 the institution had advised that Parliament would not 

 pass a Bill altering the status of an institution the 

 position of which was already under the consideration 

 of a Royal Commission, and, assuming that opinion 

 to be sound, as it probably is, it would certainly be 

 ine.xpedient immediately to proceed with the R'oyal 

 Society of Arts scheme, or any other that involved 

 an Act of Parliament. A considerable opposition to 

 the ratification of the scheme had been worked up, 

 and an attempt was to be made to alter the con- 

 stitution of the board, but upon the announcement 

 that the scheme was not to be proceeded with at 

 present, the opposition to the existing board was with- 

 drawn. Whether the scheme which has now been 

 shelved, at any rate for the present session, will be 

 revived after the Royal Commission on University 

 Education in London has reported is very doubtful. 



From the outset the Royal Society of .Arts has been 

 unwilling to be a party to the scheme unless there 

 was something like practical unanimity on the part 

 of members of the London Institution. If the manage- 

 ment of that institution had been in stronger hands 

 it is probable that little would have been heard of 

 opposition. Very similar opposition to the proposal 

 to dispose of the Zoological Society's freehold premises 

 in Hanover Square, and to expend the proceeds in 

 providing suitable accommodation for the Society's 

 offices and library at the Zoological Gardens, was 

 summarily dealt with on .April 29. " But there seems to 

 have been no strong hand at the helm at the London 

 Institution, and the final result will probably he that 

 a scheme which would have been of considerable 

 benefit to two important institutions will fall through. 

 The idea seems to be to make the London Institution 

 a sort of school of economics, an excellent thing in 

 itself, but not wanted, seeing that there is already 

 existing an institution amply able to meet the re- 

 quirements of the public in this direction. 



At the meeting last week Lord Aldenham stated 

 that the managers had received a letter from the Cor- 

 poration asking whether they were open to receive 

 proposals, and they answered" in the affirmative, but 

 no definite suggestion has been received from that 

 source. Probably the best thing to do with the in- 

 stitution, if the scheme of amalgamation with the 

 Royal Society of Arts is to fall through, would be to 

 sell its land, and whatever else it has to sell, and 

 divide the proceeds, so far as other claims permit, 

 amongst certain educational institutions in the City. 



NOTES. 



The first of the two annual soirees of the Royal Society 

 will be held on Wednesday next, Mav 12. 



We announce with regret the death of Dr. F. G. Yeo, 

 F.R.S., emeritus professor of physiology. King's College, 

 London, at sixty-four years of age. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death, at 



seventy-five years of age, of Dr. J. Marshall Lang, 



Chancellor and Principal of Aberdeen University since 

 1900. 



