174 SYSTEMATIZED PLANT-BREEDING 



a strain since isolated from Red Fife. Whatever 

 the actual position of affairs is Burgoyne's Fife 

 proved in the baking trials to be so superior to any 

 English wheat that on the recommendation of the 

 Home-grown Wheat Committee it was introduced 

 into commerce. In one respect it has been dis- 

 appointing, for it has proved to be uncertain in 

 its cropping capacity, a feature it may possibly 

 have inherited from either of its parents. But 

 on lands suitable for its cultivation its yield per 

 acre is well up to the average. Where this is the 

 case it is grown on a large scale and its grain takes 

 the place of imported strong wheats in the local 

 mills. The fact is of interest, for Burgoyne's Fife 

 is a white grained wheat and it was generally 

 believed amongst millers that strength was only 

 found in association with coloured wheats. The 

 recognition of the incorrectness of this view simpli- 

 fies the work of breeding new strong types, for lack 

 of colour is a recessive character and consequently 

 one is not concerned with the necessity of deter- 

 mining whether it is "fixed." From the milling 

 point of view too the information was welcome, 

 for highly developed as the modern rolling processes 

 are the grain coats are still slightly powdered 

 during the earlier crushings, with the result that 

 the flour is slightly discoloured if they are at all 

 dark. This variety has inherited from Red Fife 

 its habit of rapid maturation and consequently 

 it can be sown as a spring wheat. During the 



