662 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION M. 
8. William Farrer’s Work, Methods, and Success: a Short Sketch. 
By J. T. PripHam. 
Farrer, the famous wheat-breeder, was born in England in 1845 and had 
a distinguished career at Cambridge. He emigrated to Australia for health 
reasons, and after practising as a surveyor he started his wheat-breeding experi- 
ments on his own property at Lambrigg, New South Wales, in 1886. In 1898 
he became wheat-breeder to the State Department of Agriculture and was 
actively engaged in this great work till the day of his death in 1906. 
What first attracted his attention to wheat improvement was the damage 
done for a number of years by rust (Puccinia graminis), and he set 
himself the problem of producing a rust-resisting variety. Other features which 
he aimed at securing were greater flour-strength, drought-resistance, early 
maturity, freedom from shelling, suitability for hay-making, and immunity to 
bunt (Yilletia tritici). Prolificness he regarded as of secondary importance, 
although this is the leading characteristic of his most popular variety, ‘ Federa- 
tion.’ He seems to have thought that proper attention to cultivation, manur- 
ing, &c., were of more importance in securing high yields than the actual 
prolificness of a particular variety. 
Cross-breeding followed by selection from the varying progeny formed the 
basis of all Farrer’s work, and he usually made between 200 and 400 crosses in 
each year after joining the Department. The varieties used in addition to the 
best local ones were chiefly of the Fife type from Canada and the United 
States to impart strength, and Indian varieties to give early maturity and 
capacity for holding the grain after ripening. The selection of the best cross- 
breds and the elimination of the unsuitable ones presented the greatest diff- 
culties he had to encounter. He was greatly helped in this by the setting-up 
of a miniature flour-mill under the superintendence of Mr. F. B. Guthrie, the 
departmental chemist; for this made it possible to determine accurately the 
milling and baking qualities of very small samples of grain, any varieties not 
coming up to a certain standard being immediately rejected. He kept well 
abreast of the current literature on the subject, and although during his later 
years he was in correspondence with Professors Biffen and Spillman on the 
subject of Mendelism he did not see his way to alter his methods materially, 
except, perhaps, in reducing the number of crosses made. 
His work proved successful beyond his wildest dreams, though it was only 
partially appreciated at the time of his death. His greatest popular success is 
‘Federation ’—a variety first introduced to the farming public about 1901 and 
now the most extensively grown and prolific of any in Australia. It is a cross 
between ‘ Purple Straw,’ one of the best all-round local varieties up till Farrer’s 
time, and a Fife-Indian cross-bred called ‘ Yondilla.’ In addition, he has pro- 
duced varieties (‘Comeback,’ ‘ Bobs,’ and ‘ Cedar’) of much greater flour- 
strength than any previously grown; varieties relatively immune to rust 
(‘Warren ’ and ‘ Thew ’), suitable to the moister districts near the coast ; varieties 
not subject to bunt (‘ Florence,’ ‘ Genoa,’ and ‘ Cedar ’), early-maturing varieties 
—some of them suitable for hay-making, like ‘ Firbank ’ and ‘ Bunyip,’ and most 
of them hold their grain better and are more suitable to Australian harvesting 
methods than the majority of the older varieties. Since his varieties have come 
into general use the growth of wheat has extended into drier and drier districts 
and a new province has been added to the ‘ wheat-belt ’ in New South Wales, ° 
while the average milling and baking qualities of Australian wheat have 
improved year by year. 
In the opinion of the author the main factors which contributed to Farrer’s 
success were his keen enthusiasm, perseverance, thoroughness, and singleness 
of aim, coupled with the assistance of the Government, which caused the new 
varieties to be thoroughly tested and finally introduced to the farmers. 
4. (a) Variety Testing and (b) Strength of Wheat Flour. 
By Professor T. B. Woop, M.A. 
