868 
Supplement to the " Tropical Agricvlturist." 
Nov. 1, 189S. 
departure in the employment of tlie process of 
hybridisntion -which bids fair to revolutionise 
agriculture. It is well known thnt there are 
numberless varieties of cereals and grasses, qU 
of which have their special qimlities in eiirly 
ripening, in finer grain, in hardiness, and so on. 
The problem then is, how to combine the best 
qualities of all in one or more distinctly now varie- 
ties. To do this in the cose of animals is a com- 
paratively easy matter, but with plants and 
especially those belonging to the gruss fiiioily it 
is very different. 
To fertilise the pistils in the flower of a wheat 
I.lant, by the introduction of pollen from anotber 
plant, is an operation which requires infinite care, 
skill, and patience- Not only must this be done, 
but the anthers containing the iiollen iu the flower 
to be operated upon must ho removed without 
bursting them, and if one of thefe onthers should 
be burst, and the jiollen it contains let out, the object 
of the operotion would be defeated. Then the re- 
sulting grain, or seed, must be carefully watched 
until it attains maturity, and its descendants have 
to be watched as well, and it may be years before 
a grain may be found among its progeny which 
is worth preserving. When we consider how 
minute some of these flowers are, and, consequently, 
how delicate must be the hand and eye of the 
operator, we may understand the difficulties in the 
way of the experimenter. And, indeed, these 
difficulties have been so great in the past, that 
very little has been accomplished so far as grain 
is concerned, and nothing at all so far as regards 
grasses, Messrs. Maund and Raynbird curried 
out some experiments in 1846, and specimens of 
new varieties of wheat were exhibited by them at 
the Exhibition in 1861. Messrs. Carter, the well- 
known seedsmen, have also experimented since 
1883, and they have succeeded in putting new 
varieties of wheat on the market. 
But it has been left to two young men in Lan- 
cashire to grapple successfully with this mighty pro- 
blem, and after eighteen years of hard, unremuner- 
ative work to open up a vast field of new di.«coveries 
in the cultivation of cereals and grasses, which liids 
fair to revolutionise agriculture. In 1880, John 
and Robert (larton, the sons of a Lancashire corn 
merchant, began their experiments in the pro- 
duction of new varieties of cereiils by means of 
cross-fertilisation atNewton-le-Willows. Hitherto, 
with the two excei^tions which have bt en referred 
to, improvements in grain had been brought about 
by carefully selecting the best ear in a field, and 
the best grain in that ear, and then kee])ing the 
produce of that variety for seed. And a change of 
seed from one district to another, eff., planting 
wheat grown in Midlothian in Kent, or vice versa, 
has been found to be beneficiol, os differences of 
environment sometimes lead to improvement in 
the produce. But the number of iaiproved cereals 
to be obtoined in this way is strictly limited, and 
they cannot be said to be new varieties at all. 
On the other hand, the labours of Messrs. John 
and Robert Garton Imve been productive of new 
species of v\heat, outs, barley, atsd grasses, the 
number of which stems only to bn limited by the 
time and trouble which mny be tnken by the ex- 
perimenters. " I spent 11 dfiy during the present 
week at Newton-le-Willows (wiites a represen- 
tative of the Daily (Jliromcle), and saw enough to 
convince me that a work was being carried out, 
destined to have a remarkable influence over the 
future of agriculture." 
Already wheat has been produced the arerage 
weight of the grain of whicli ie 60 per cent 
heavier than that of ordinary wheat ; with oats 
even greater success has been obtained. Varieties 
of wheat and outs got by hybridisation promise 
to yield 30 and 40 per cent more per acre than 
ordinary varieties, and so increai-e the pioduce 
of a country by that amount. 
Specimens of diflferent kinds of the particular 
cereal to be improved have been obtained from 
every quarter ot the globe. Of wheot 350 varieties 
have been collected from the Briti-h Isles, 
France, Germany, Russia, Hungary, Greece, Itolj', 
India, Austrolin, Japan, and America. .Similarly 
100 varieties of oats and 70 varieties of hurley have 
been obtained. Even wild forms or weeds have 
been brought intc requisition with good rnsults. 
Ttius tlie wild oat of ChinH is said tu have no 
hull orhusk,an<l by cru.ssing Brilisli oats with this 
variety an oat has been got which has no hull 
at all, and can be at once used for preparation 
as food, thus doing away with the necessity of 
removing thetliick and tough hull of oats which 
impairs its flavour and value as food. 
Messrs. Garton began their work in 1880. For 
the first two or three years they did not meet 
with much success. Their first succesiful cross- 
ing resulted in a grain which partook of the 
characteristics of both of its parents. But in 
the second generation, all sorts of queer abortions 
made their appearance. It is not until the fifth 
or sixth generotion that these tendencies to sport 
or to revert to original types ceased. After this, 
the new species became permanent and fixed. 
I saw magnificent specimens of cereals, in every 
one of which the valuable characteris'ics of 
the parents were intensified and improved. The 
wild wheat of Southern Asia (Triticum tpelta) 
has a grain w hicli firmly adheres to the chofll 
and id thus not liable to be beaten out by high 
winds after ripening and before harvesting. It is 
also a strong glutinous grain calculated to impart 
' strength" to flour. All these qualities have 
been fixed in the hybrid produced from it. 
In barley the ear has two rows of grains, but 
more of unfertile flowers. Mr. Garton has suc- 
ceeded in getting an excellent barley which has 
six rows of good grain. 
Even the matter of the straw of cereals has re- 
ceived attention so as to produce a stiff and sturdy 
plant, while better varieties of grasses and clover 
have also been brought out by hybridisation. 
Mr. John Garton thinks that all cereals and 
grasses have a tendency to deteriorate unless 
crossed with new blood, and he places no limit 
on the improvements, which may be made by 
judici-ous scientific liybridi;ation. The woTk of 
the Gftrtons has naturally attracted the attention 
of botanists. Professor McAlpine, Botanist to 
the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 
takes a great interest in the work whirh is 
being done, and he has reported several times 
to liis Society. He has written two papers, 
which appear in the "Transactions" of the 
Society, one in 1894 on the cereal.s, and one 
during the present year on the new grasse.*. 
