HIGH-YIELDING WHEAT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 70, 20 February 1939, Page 5

HIGH-YIELDING WHEAT

NEW VARIETY AT LINCOLN. FOII SPRING SOWING. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 17. Excellent results have been obtained at Lincoln College with a new spring wheat, Tainui, which has been developed at the Wheat Research Institute by Dr 0. H. Frankel. A crop of 25 acres has been recently threshed and has given a yield of 56 bushels to the acre. Tainui is a spring wheat, developed by crossing in which Portuguese varieties played a part. It must not be sown except in spring, because it is liable to go down. because of its rather weak straw, and is also liable to suffer, by its early maturing qualities, from frosts. It is obviously a good yielder, and gives a baking score not quite as good as that of Cross 7, but better than ordinary Tuscan. The berry is very plump and attractive.

The new wheat .should prove an excellent variety in Canterbury in seasons when a wet autumn precludes sowing. In general, spring-sown wheat is not. such a good proposition for the farmer as autumn sown, but Tainui appears to be capable of overcoming this disadvantage. Tt assures the farmer of a good crop from seed sown in the spring, and ripens a full fortnight earlier than Tuscan. Tt is the first of the college crops to be harvested. The college cron was not sown under the best conditions. It was sown rather earlier than is ideal for Tainui, as it was put in at the encl of June, after the rest of the sowing had been done. It received rather a bad elieck at one stage, but the yield indicates that- its powers of recovery are good. Tainui lias been tried in field plots for a number of years, but the first complete paddock was grown this year at Lincoln. Tho college will have about 1000 bushels for sale.