744 



PTiA.NT Breeding at Aberystwyth. 



[Nov., 



time of maturity, so that the selection of late strains may prove 

 to be a possibility. 



Data are naturally not yet available to indicate whether the 

 generalisations that it has been possible to make between 

 indigenous and commercial cocksfoot will apply equally when 

 the plants are two or more years old, or whether " once- 

 grown " commercial cocksfoot will behave in a manner more 

 ]ike indigenous. The preliminary work, however, would seem 

 to suggest that, despite the undoubted influence of habitat on 

 such characters as leafiness, time of maturity and tillering, 

 it may nevertheless be possible to isolate strains with 

 inheritable strong potentialities in the directions most desired. 

 This season, as a natural outcome of the work, numerous 

 selections have been made from local indigenous cocksfoot 

 plants, and plants have also been obtained from several 

 English counties. Endeavours will be made to ascertain the 

 degree of stability of the various morphological characters of 

 the plants by growing separated tillers of characteristic plants 

 under different controlled conditions of habitat. In this con- 

 nection it may be remarked that, although perennial wind- 

 pollinated grasses present numerous difficulties to the breeder 

 not experienced in the case of the annual and not readily 

 naturally crossing cereals, the perennials at least have the 

 advantage that one and the same plant can be divided into 

 numerous tillers, and that groups of plants so produced can, 

 if necessary, be moved from one habitat to another. Thus 

 selections can be conducted under conditions of extremal 

 rigour, while the actual plants selected can be brought to a 

 more congenial habitat for the purposes of controlled poUina- 

 tion and seed production. 



An important economic aspect of herbage work is the ques- 

 tion of seed production. Experience must show whether 

 reasonably good crops of clover and grass seeds can be grown 

 and harvested with sufficient certainty under the climatic con- 

 ditions prevailing in the College area. Small-scale garden 

 trials have proved hopeful in this direction, and these have 

 been followed up this season by the sowing of about five acres 

 with the commoner grasses and clovers on the Danish plan 

 with seed production lines (about 2 ft. apart). 



Cereals. — In Wales oats must be regarded as the most 

 important grain crop, and investigations with this cereal are 

 therefore being started. Two distinct types of oats are 

 required, the one for cultivation at high elevations near the 



