igi2.] Improvement of Indian Wheats for Export. 845 



For many years the Indian cultivator — under a mistaken 

 notion as to the requirements of this country — has been 

 growing for export a weak wheat which, except for its remark- 

 able dryness, has very little to recommend it to the miller. 

 That the production of this weak wheat has been largely 

 for export is apparent from the fact, ascertained by Mr. and 

 Mrs. Howard, that for his own consumption the native of 

 India much prefers a strong wheat of the Fife or Canadian 

 type. With a view to providing a higher class wheat for 

 export, the Pusa Institute has, for some years, been engaged 

 in collecting stocks of suitable varieties, both by selection 

 and by the new methods of breeding cereals which are being 

 so successfully pursued at Cambridge by Professor Biffen. 

 It appears from the bulletin under notice that success has 

 been attained, so far at least as a portion of India is con- 

 cerned. Wheats have been produced which, in the climate 

 of Western Bengal, give not only a much higher yield than 

 the native wheats, but also are characterised by great strength, 

 and are therefore likely to command a higher price in the 

 home markets than the wheats hitherto exported. The new 

 wheats have been examined by one of the leading experts in 

 milling in this country, and pronounced to be practically 

 quite as good as the best Canadian. 



An interesting feature of the work at Pusa is that it dis- 

 proves a theory sometimes maintained by experts, viz., that 

 it is impossible to combine high quality with good yield. It 

 has been known for many years that the high quality 

 Canadian wheats cannot be brought, by any system of culti- 

 vation, either in Canada or in Britain, to give as high yields 

 as the low quality wheats commonly grown in Britain, and 

 it is sometimes maintained that low quality is a necessary 

 result of the free yielding power of the favourite "British 

 wheats. The work at Pusa, however, confirms what has 

 been established at Cambridge — that it is possible, by the 

 scientific methods of breeding associated with the name of 

 Mendel, to combine high quality with good yield. The results 

 obtained last year with Burgoyne's Fife — a new Cambridge 

 wheat — show that it gives a grain equalling the Canadian 

 in milling quality, combined with the cropping capacity of 

 the best British wheats. 



