THE MAKING AND IMPROVEMENT OF WHEATS. 
Tue Work or tHe Prant-Breeper with orner PLANTs. 
The horticulturist, the vegetable gardener, and the florist are equally 
intent in the work of the plant-breeder, so that by his methods they may 
learn to produce seed true to name, and so augment their profits by 
specializing in seed production for those who are indifferent, or are less 
favorably situated. The fine fruits now grown, the many excellent 
vegetables, the splendid wealth of flowers which grace our gardens, 
the high sugar-content beets and other roots, and the numerous 
selection of high-class potatoes, are the result of keen selection and cross- 
fertilization. The importance of this work is every year impressing 
itself on growers. It has become so important and necessary, that it. 
has entered into the scope of work of highly trained scientists who 
specialize in it. ’ 
Srr Witr1am Oroox’s Auaury. 
To-day my mission is to appeal to the intelligent wheat-growers of 
the Commonwealth, and to imbue them with the national importance 
of producing grain true to name, and especially adapted to their 
environment. Not twenty years ago, a distinguished scientist stated 
that, at the rate the world was using up the great natural storehouses’ 
of plant food, it would only be a matter of: comparatively few years 
before there would not be sufficient wheat to feed the increasing number 
of bread consumers. The declining wheat yields in some countries made 
this augury set men thinking. One set of men confined their attention 
to unravel the mysteries of the soil, and devoted their energies to study 
how it should be treated in order that the maximum yields should be 
obtained with a minimum loss of plant food and cost. Another set 
of men turned their attention to the creation of new varieties that had 
more stamina, greater yielding powers, and better food-supplying capa- 
bilities. Not only had these varieties need to have inherent in them 
such qualities, but they must also have implanted in them the practical 
virtues to make their harvesting economical. They should also have the 
power to resist the force of the elements, also drought and disease. The 
combined efforts of these workers have allayed alarm. Conspicuous, 
too, among the world’s workers are the great inventors of harvesting 
and tillage machinery, who make it possible to cultivate, to sow, and 
to harvest profitably in remote parts, where the natural conditions are 
more or less antagonistic. Every decade sees some new improvement 
- in agricultural machinery, and crops that at one time could not be 
harvested are not now altogether lost. ; 
Scientists ar Work. 
The biologist who studies the functions of the members of the unseen 
world within the soil and the part each plays; the labours of the 
chemist, physicist, and plant-breeder; and, above all, the hearty co-opera- 
tion of farmers in these progressive movements, make it improbable 
that, as regards wheat, there is any likelihood of there being, even in 
the distant future, insufficient of it for the world’s needs. Again, when 
the progress made in the development of new varieties of other grains 
and seeds is considered, it is evident that the future of the world’s food 
supplies will be more varied and better as regards vegetable productions. 
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