LUTHER BURBANK 



would give larger promise of benefit to mankind 

 than the task of rendering the cereals immime to 

 the attacks of the rust fungus. 



But it is also obvious that the task is one that 

 should be carried out under the auspices of the 

 government, rather than as an individual effort. 

 Nevertheless a very notable beginning has been 

 made in the direction of developing immune races 

 of wheat through the efforts of an individual ex- 

 perimenter, who, however, had the backing of a 

 university position and was therefdre not under 

 necessity to have his experiments attain commer- 

 cial success. 



The experimenter in question is Professor R. 

 H. Biffen of the Agricultural Department of Cam- 

 bridge University, England. His experiments with 

 wheat constitute by far the most satisfactory inves- 

 tigations in plant development that have been 

 carried out under the guidance of the new Men- 

 delian principles of heredity. 



The investigation through which Professor 

 Biffen was enabled to develop an immune race of 

 wheat in a few. generations promises to be of 

 immense economic importance. The story of this 

 development is too important not to be told in 

 some detail. 



In order to understand Professor Biffen's suc- 

 cess in developing an immune race of wheat, it is 



[54] 



