10. BULLETIN 877, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
FEDERATION GROUP OF UNUSUAL PROMISE. 
These preliminary nursery experiments show that several of the 
Australian varieties may be well adapted for growing in the Pacific 
coast area of the United States. After observing the varieties dur- 
ing four seasons, the Federation group, including the three varieties, 
Federation, Hard Federation, and White Federation, appears to the 
writer to be the most promising. They are all early maturing, have 
strong, stiff straw, do not shatter easily, and the yields have been 
outstandingly high. 
The unusual promise of these varieties was first observed at the 
Sherman County Branch Station at Moro, Oreg., in 1916, when grown 
in 5-foot head rows. As a result, increase rows were sown in the 
season of 1917. Sufficient seed was secured for sowing Federation 
(C. I. No. 4734) and Hard Federation (C. I. No. 4733) in plats in the 
spring of 1918. A small quantity of the seed of Hard Federation (C. 
I. No. 4980) and White Federation (C. I. No. 4981) was sent to the 
Plant Introduction Station at Chico, Calif., for sowing in the fall of 
1917. In the fall of 1918 seed of Federation (C. I. No. 4734) was sent 
to Chico for sowing and in the spring of 1919 seed of White Federation 
(C. I. No. 4981) was returned to Moro. 
Before giving the agronomic results obtained from these experi- 
ments the history and a description of each of the varieties in the 
Federation group will be given. 
FEDERATION. 
History. — The history- of Federation wheat here given is that 
recorded by Richardson, 1 and the quotation also shows the popu- 
larity of the variety in Australia. 
This is, without question, the most popular and prolific variety of wheat in general 
cultivation at the present day. It was produced by the late Mr. Farrer, wheat ex- 
perimentalist, of New South Wales, from a cross between Purple Straw and Yandilla. 
Yandilla is a cross between Improved Fife and Etewah, an Indian variety. The pro- 
duction of this wheat was probably the greatest of Mr. Farrer's .many triumphs in 
wheat breeding, for none of his many successful crossbred wheats have enjoyed such 
a wide measure of popularity as Federation. Indeed, during the last six years the 
golden yellow characteristic of old-time Australian harvest fields has been gradually 
changed to a dull bronze through the ever-increasing popularity of Federation wheat. 
The Federation wheat became commercially established in Aus- 
tralia from 1908 to 1912 and since that time has occupied about 80 
per cent of the dry-land wheat area of that country. It has also 
recently become commercially established in India. 2 
Description. — Plant spring habit, early, short; straw white, strong; spike awnless, 
oblong, dense, erect; glumes glabrous, brown, short, wide; shoulders wide, oblique 
1 Richardson, A. E. V. Wheat and its cultivation. Dept. Agr., Victoria, Aust. Bui. 22, n. s., p. 124- 
126. [1913.] Reprinted from Jour. Dept. Agr., Victoria, v. 10-11. 1912-13. 
2 Australian wheat successfully grown in India. In Jour. Dept. Agr., Victoria, v. 17, pt. 10. p. 
635-636. 1919. 
