I9H.] 



Indian Wheat. 



i33 



influenced by its cleanness, purity, quality, uniformity, dry- 

 ness, milling quality, sirength, and colour. 



Cleanness means the absence of useless impurities. 



Pureness means the absence of grains of other food plants. 



Quality depends upon care in harvesting and absence of 

 damaged or immature grains. 



Uniformity denotes the absence of varietal differences. 



The milling quality desired by the miller is found in a 

 wheat, on the one hand, neither too woolly and tough, nor, 

 on the other, too flinty and hard. 



Strength is defined as the capacity of making large and 

 shapely loaves. (There is some dispute among experts as to 

 what physical characteristics this quality is dependent on ; 

 there appears to be little doubt, however, that it is connected 

 in some degree with the presence or absence of phosphates in 

 the grain. It is in this quality that most home-grown wheats 

 are deficient.) 



In this list the factors of direct interest to the agriculturist 

 are uniformity, milling quality, and strength. The most 

 important factor of all to the farmer is naturally absent from 

 the above catalogue, and that is, cropping power. It is 

 obvious that a difference of five shillings per quarter is of little 

 importance to the home agriculturist if he can increase his out- 

 turn by more than 10 bushels per acre, but it should not be 

 assumed, as it is often done, that the superiority of foreign 

 wheats in, say, strength, or milling quality, is wholly due to 

 climatic causes. The little scientific work that has been done 

 in this country in connection with this subject goes to show 

 that there is no reason why high cropping capacity should not 

 be associated with better quality from the miller's point of 

 view. It should also be borne in mind that while much is 

 known as to difference of variety, as judged by external char- 

 acters, very little has been done in distinguishing varieties 

 when classified according to their crop-producing or other 

 economic qualities only. The improvements that can be 

 effected by a thorough study of economic qualities of varieties 

 can be illustrated by the work done by the botanical experts 

 in the service of the Government of India. Sir James Wilson 

 reproduces a report by a leading miller in this country on 

 some samples of wheat selected from the many varieties culti- 



