96 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 
Thus the work of single ear selection in New Zealand 
may be said to be fairly launched, though the improve- 
ments, ranging in the neighbourhood of 8 per cent. are 
not to be compared with the improvements of 16 to 35 
per cent. realized in Sweden. 
The growing of many hundreds of pure strains at the 
same time and the harvesting of these separately so that 
no grain of one plot becomes mixed with others, involves 
a great amount of work, both manual and supervisory. 
Much special machinery has to be procured for drilling, 
harvesting, and threshing. It is the pleasure of the 
writer to have to acknowledge the initiative of the 
Director and the broad mindedness of the Board of 
Governors of Lincoln College in starting and maintain- - 
ing this laborious, time-absorbing, and expensive under- 
taking. 
March, 1919.—In the harvest just concluded good 
evidence of the value of some of these selections has been 
obtained. Many crops of Hunter’s Al have produced 
over 70 bushels per acre, and in two noted examples have 
yielded 88 and 89-5 bushels. The popularity of the 
strain is proved by the fact that a survey of the fields 
in Canterbury showed that out of every 5 crops of 
Hunter’s, 4 were of the pure strain. The strains of 
other varieties have now been distributed and grown for 
two seasons by a number of farmers. They are gener- 
ally satisfactory, but not so markedly superior as in the 
case of Hunter’s. A purple straw Tuscan is next to 
Hunter’s Al the best selection so far made. 
