322 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 



first it was sought to introduce better varieties of canes from other countries. 

 A sugar station was established for this purpose at Samalkola. It was soon 

 evident that the luxuriant canes of the Tropics were not suited to the special 

 conditions existing in Northern India. What was needed was a more hardy 

 type of cane capable of holding its own under the field conditions and the 

 resources of the cultivators. To obtain these they had to be produced in India. 

 With this object in view a cane-breeding Research iStation was established 

 in 1910 at Coimbatore, with Barber, an experienced scientific man, in charge. 

 The locality was regarded ae favourable because canes were known to flower 

 there comparatively freely. At first the improvement of local canes by selection 

 and later by seedlings from parents of known vigour and high saccharine quality 

 received attention. 



In raising seedling canes the chief difficulty was the irregular flowering of the 

 best canee. Barber arrived at the conclusion that until some control of the 

 flowering is obtained work on Mendelian lines w'as not practicable. In spite 

 of this a large number of selected seedlings are now being raised at the rate of 

 4.000 per annum. Some of these, lately, distributed to the experiment stations in 

 Northern India, have been reported upon as ' entirely satisfactory.' 



Much more still remains to be done, but there is reasonable hope that a race 

 of superior hybrid seedlings will be produced that will eventually displace the 

 inferior local varieties hitherto cultivated. To ensure even moderate success in 

 this direction it is recognised that the work of cane-breeding must never slacken, 

 and further, that the means of distribution and the number of stations and capable 

 workers must be increased. 



In the considerable literature of sugar-cane breeding in India Barber has 

 brought together a vast amount of information of singular interest and value. 

 In the few years that have elapsed since he has been in charge of the Coimbatore 

 Research Station he has laid the foundation of lines of inquiry that cannot fail to 

 prove of great value in the permanent improvement of the sugar industry in 

 India. It is a good augury, as regards the future that the Government of India 

 has lately formed an Imperial Sugar Bureau, whose duty it is to collect and 

 collate the scattered results obtained in various directions and keep closely 

 in touch with the sugar work done in India and in other sugar-producing 

 countries. 



In his Presidential address in 1898 Sir William Crookes stated that the 

 prime factor in wheat production was a sufficient supply of nitrogen. As the 

 supply was then showing signs of exhaustion he warned wheat growers of the 

 peril awaiting them. Sir R. H. Rew has now shown that, thanks to the chemist, 

 who came to the rescue, there is practically no limit to the resources of nitrogen. 

 What he hoped for was that the future would see not only a larger acreage in 

 this country, under wheat but also a substantial increase in the average yield. 

 During the great war the British people have realised under the stress of a fight 

 for existence that the question of food supply is the most vital of all national 

 interests. Both in this country and in India and in the Overseas Dominions great 

 progress is being made in raising new varieties of wheat yielding large returns 

 '^er acre and possessing excellent milling and baking qualities. In the pre- 

 ]\Iendelian davs excellent work was done in wheat breeding by Saunders in 

 Cana/da and Farrer in New South Wales. Their work proved of enormous bene- 

 fit, as it not only provided varieties of superb quality, but also those that could 

 be successfully grown in districts where wheat srowing; for various reasons was 

 previously impcssible. During recent years Biffen by his successful investi- 

 gations on Mendelian lines at the Plant Breeding Institute at Cambridsre has 

 shown that the characteristics distinguishing the numerous wheats can be traced, 

 and the building up of a fresh combination of these characters was possibl<> on 

 practical lines. As the losses caused by disease were so serious, sometimes 

 running to millions of quarters annually, Biffen devoted special attention to the 

 possibility of breeding rust-resisting varieties. He found that the power of 

 resisting the attacks of j-ellow rust, for instance, was an inheritable character. 

 By crossing ' Gurka,' a Russian disease-resisting wheat, with Square Head's 

 Master, one of the most widely cultivated wheats in this country, Biffen 

 eventually produced ' Little Joss,' which, after trials extending over a period 

 of several years, is said to yield four bushels per acre more than any other 

 variety. Further, it possesses distinct disease-resisting qualities. 



