264 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ September 17, 188J. 
horses. Calves and yearlings are also shut in the yards at night, which, 
as well as the lodges opening into them, are made comfortable with soft 
litter. Store cattle have had cake out upon the pasture for some time 
past. They have thriven well this summer, and we shall now begin 
sending the mo9t forward animals to the butcher off the grass. Low 
prices have made poor Irish stock a drug in the market. Earnestly do 
we hope that it will have the desirable effect of driving inferior animals 
out of the market altogether. Cattle fairs will soon be numbered with 
things of the past in the eastern counties, so fast is the practice extending 
of testing the value of all farm animals by the auctioneer’s hammer, 
weekly sales being held at all the principal markets. This is really only 
an extension of the wise principle of small profits and quick returns. 
Old ewes upon Clover and mixed dry food are showing improvement. It 
is not our intention to push them on fast, as we wish to do all we can to 
impart fertility to the land by folding, and so we do not give the ewes as 
much corn and cake as they could consume, but prefer to spread out the 
outlay for food for the benefit of the land. In any case, our expenditure 
upon artificial manure must be high both now and next spring, and we 
altogether prefer this outlay to the feeding of live stock, the carting, 
heaping, turning, and recarting, as well as the spreading, of farmyard 
manure. If it is possible, as we assert it is, to impart fertility to the 
soil at a reasonable rate by using artificial manures, does it not appeal to 
one’s common sense that it must effect a very considerable saving to 
avoid all the costly process of the manufacture and application of farm¬ 
yard manure ? Do not lightly discard our advice, for assuredly it is not 
lighty given, for we have tried both systems for several years thoroughly, 
and have long been convinced that manure carts on farms may be dis¬ 
pensed with. The matter is so important that it ought rather to he 
enlarged 'upon in a special article than a brief labour note. Procure 
genuine manures separately and mix them on the farm. 
HYBRID WHEAT. 
More than thirty years may be counted since any known experiments 
were made in this country in the so called hybridisation of cereals with the 
view of obtaining new and more valuable varieties. High importance, 
therefore, attaches to a feat of the present harvest which has been accom¬ 
plished by Messrs. Carter & Co. of High Hoiborn. This is the production of 
veritable novelties in Wheat by crossing some of the finest kinds hitherto 
resulting from selection. Entirely new sorts have now been developed ; 
and these ought properly to be described as “ cross-bred ” rather than 
“ hybrid ” Wheats. Unlike some seeding plants, Wheat does not “ inocu¬ 
late,” as farmers name the accidental or insect-governed process by which 
the character of the produce may be altered in different varieties grown and 
ripened in close proximity to each other ; and perhaps it may be physically 
impossible that such undesigned cross-fertilisation should occur, though the 
occasional sporting of new sorts is hardly to be explained by any other 
agency of variation. Wheat is self-fertilising—that is, in each floret on the 
ear the pistil is impregnated by pollen from stamens within the same flower ; 
and a provision against cross-fertilisation consists in the fact that the 
stamens are fully developed and the pollen begins to shed before the florets 
open, the impregnation of the pistil being accomplished before the flowers 
appear upon the outside of the ear. Mr. H. Evershed (“Improvement of 
the Plants of the Farm,” in the “Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society ”) 
observes that “ the clouds of pollen in a Wheat field are, like many other 
provisions for the security of reproduction, in excess of the customary re¬ 
quirements.” 
Thus the cross-breeding of cereals involves a delicate operation, de¬ 
manding the skill and judgment of an expert. The anthers having been 
removed from a number of Wheat flowers while still in a green state, but 
near maturity, the pollen of another kind, which it is intended to use as 
the male parent, is on the following day poured gently on the feathery 
stigma, and the flowers next to the impregnated ones are destroyed, so as to 
leave at the time of maturity no doubt as to which grains have been acted 
upon. Several blooms on the same ear are generally operated upon in this 
way. It is a fine point, too, to catch the ears just at the right time in rela¬ 
tion to temperature. There is a minimum—namely, about 75°—and also a 
maximum, below or above which the process cannot be psrformed. Only 
at a proper temperature of the atmosphere will the flowers open and expose 
the reproductive parts to the operator. The opening of the glumes is de¬ 
pendent upon a swelling out of the lodicules, which occurs at a particular 
temperature, and the degree of this swelling corresponds to the angle of 
opening of the glumes. Further, while artificial impregnation cannot be 
effected before this spontaneous opening, when fertilisation has once been 
performed the lodicules shrivel and permit the glumes to close over the 
pistil. Hence the care in watching, which is requisite for the success of 
the experiments. The present series of interesting operations are being 
prosecuted by one of Messrs. Carter’s professional experts, under the per¬ 
sonal guidance of the manager, Mr. C. H. Sbarman, at the experimental 
grounds, Forest Hill. And, so far, the results have proved as gratifying to 
these experimenters as they are valuable to the agricultural world. 
It appears that the desirability of thus artificially crossing Borne of the 
most popular varieties of Wheat was suggested by a competition of the 
Royal Agricultural Society a few years ago, in which a series of prizes were 
offered for improved kinds of Wheat, when, after exhaustive trials, the 
Judges were not unanimous in accepting any of the varieties submitted in 
competition as really distinct from sorts already cultivated, though two of 
the Wheats were selected as being so far in advance of the others as to 
justify special recognition by the award of silver medals. In the autumn 
of 1882 a number of the most valuable samples that could be obtained were 
sown in plots at Forest Hill. In the summer of 1883 some twenty or more 
crosses were made. The resulting grain was carefully harvested in 1883, 
and for the next year’s production sown in triple rows—one row of the 
progeny in each case being grown between the rows of its two parents, 
this being for the purpose of thorough comparison of any peculiarities of 
growth and other characteristics. It was observed at a very early stage of 
growth that in some cases the hybrid or offspring partook of the creeping 
and drooping form of the male parent instead of the upright habit of growth 
of the female. Later it was seen that in some of the Wheats the offspring 
had the smooth chaff of the male instead of the peculiar woolly chaff of the 
female which has been employed in producing it. These results are repeated 
in the crops of the present harvest; and we have had opportunities of 
verifying the observations both at the time of the Wheat coming into ear, 
again when ripe for gathering, and, further, when threshed or, rather, 
rubbed out by hand. 
In one instance (No. 19 of the experimental triple-rows) the female 
parent is a short-strawed, velvet-chaffed Wheat, and the male a very large 
bearded and tall American variety. The offspring is about a foot taller 
than the female parent, the chaff is more or less smooth, and the thick ears 
bear minute awns at the apex of the chaff of each grain. These points in 
serrated order from top to bottom of the tier of sets having been observed 
to be obnoxious to sparrows, this new variety of Wheat has been distin¬ 
guished by the name “ Bird-proof.” In No. 13 the female parent is the 
well-known early kind Talavera, and the male parent the American Duluth. 
We are able to confirm Messrs. Carter’s observation that, in this case, the 
offspring ripened and was ready for harvesting fully fourteen days before 
either parent—a peculiarity observed both last year and in the present 
season. It may, therefore, be expected that this new variety will prove of 
especial service for sowing in those countries where the seed time is in 
spring and earliness is an important consideration. The ears are much 
finer and the grain appears to be greatly superior as compared with the 
Duluth, and a fortnight earlier than that variety, which has been up to this 
time considered the earliest in the United States. As English millers are 
said to mix certain proportions of red Wheat with imported white for the 
purpose of giving strength to the flour, Messrs. Carter have sought to blend 
together the qualities of red and white in one progeny ; and as only such 
varieties as are already known and liked by millers have, in most of the 
experiments, been the parents employed, it may be anticipated that high 
milling value will distinguish the offspring Wheats. But, at present, the 
limited quantity obtained has not admitted of any of these hybrids being 
subjected to the actual milling test. 
Among noticed peculiarities of the new Wheats, some exhibit in a high 
degree firm setting of the grain, or non-liability to be shaken out by winds 
—a desideratum for New Zealand Wheat-growers, who are accustomed to 
leave the crop until dead ripe before taking off the ears with a “ stripper.” 
Another new sort is remarkable for the short, thick, and strong nature of 
the straw, bidding fair to defy any weight of rain to lodge it, and being 
especially adapted for poor, cold, or wet soils. 
A very important feature of the experiments is the remarkable vigour 
and productiveness of one and all of the hybrids as compared with the 
parents. The cultivation has been the same for all, and in each case the 
same number of grains was planted in each row—the male parent in the 
first row, the female in the third row, with the progeny occupying the 
second row between them. The greater number of stems and ears and 
superior bulk and weight of the hybrids were noticeable to the eye, and in 
several cases surprising. Yet it will be understood that the outer position 
in each triplet naturally conferred upon the parents every advantage of 
range of earth for the roots, and abundance of air and sunlight for the 
stems, flag, and heads of the growing and ripening corn. It should also he 
remembered that, while the parent stocks were brought from distant parts 
and had thus the benefit of change of soil and climate, the offspring grew 
three years in succession upon the selfsame spot of ground. One example 
of the vast fecundity of the new Wheats ought to be mentioned. One plant 
was pointed out to us, in No. 9, which bore sixty distinct, very long, and 
well-filled ears, averaging about fifty grains per ear, or a total of about 
3000 grains grown from one seed. 
After three years of continued cultivation three of the hybrids are 
regarded as sufficiently fixed in type and so valuable in distinctive character 
and properties as to warrant their growth on an extended area next year, 
with a view of supplying seed corn to the public. These are Hybrid No. 10, 
a cross between Square-headed White and Hunter’s White : No. 13, a cross 
between Talavera White and Carter’s Royal Prize Red ; and No. 19, Carter’s 
Fillmeasure crossed with Mammoth White .—(The Times.) 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32'40'' N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
a 
«5 
OS 
1885. 
September. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32H 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min 
In 
Bun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
dog. 
deer. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
29.711 
00.3 
55.8 
S.W. 
57 5 
70.5 
50.5 
111.8 
45.4 
0.19$ 
Monday. 
29.6<>3 
56.4 
54.5 
N. ‘ 
57.8 
06 6 
61.6 
97.4 
44.2 
0.137 
Tuesday . 
29.802 
58.9 
55.7 
N.W. 
57.8 
68 2 
51.4 
109.8 
47.8 
0.283 
Wednesday . 
. 9 
29.708 
59.4 
53.7 
W. 
57.9 
66.2 
50.7 
113.4 
45.5 
— 
Thursday ... 
. 10 
29.893 
57.3 
52.4 
w. 
57.2 
62.7 
47.4 
95.8 
41.1 
1.48? 
Friday. 
29.49 > 
53 3 
49.7 
N. 
56.4 
61.4 
49.7 
93.6 
50.7 
0.046 
Saturday ... 
. 12 
29.802 
53.9 
52.3 
i S.W. 
55.3 
62 8 
48.2 
78.1 
41.3 
0.017- 
29.725 
57.1 
53.4 
57.1 
05.5 
49.9 
100.0 
45.2 
3.169 
REMARKS. 
6th.—Fine me ning, dull after. 
7th.—Very dark about 8.15 a.m. ; thunder at 8 50 A.M.; wet nearly all day, 
8th.—Fine day, but occasionally cloudy; heavy rain in late evening and at night. 
9th.—Fine day. 
10th.—Fine morning, with some sunshine; cloudy afternoon, with rain and wind ii> 
erea-ing to midnight. 
11th.—Strong gale, with very heavy rain early, ceasing about 9 A.M.; fine afternoon. 
12th.—YVet till 11 A.M., then fair, windy in afternoon and evening. 
This week has seer, the entire break up of the drought, for rain has fallen nearly 
every day this month, and on the 10th more fell than in the whole of July and August. 
Temperature is still a little below the average, and continues to fall with very remark¬ 
able uniformity— e.q., the average maximum temperature for the week ending August; 
lath was 71-3°. The weekly decrease since then has been 1-3°,1'7° l'2 < ’,and l’S 0 .—U. * 
SYMONS. 
