RUST IN WHEAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 6

RUST IN WHEAT.

I The application of Mendtel's laws is J not restricted to the breeding of ' varieties of animals or plants, but extends pi the development of any • desired characteristics ol^ either. This is recognised at 1 the Cambridge! Diniyexkiiy Department of j Agriculture, prisoner, a. quantity o£ most ! important experimental and research work ■ is being- carried out. One .o=f v the niidiertakin>gs is the search for" a rust-proof variety of wheat, and it is stated that there is * good ground for believing that the botanist, guided by Mendel, is on the right track. For seven years he%as had under observation plots of almost every known variety of wheat, and while most of them have suffered more or less from rust, one of them has throughout been free from the disease. * This variety, of which resistance to rust was the "only good quality, was crossed with a very , badly-affected variety, with the result that at the second generation one plant in , four was rast-prbof and feed in type. It was then proposed to cross, according to the Mendelian system, this new rustproof variety with a new variety evolved by the same law at the same institution, and which is said to combine the "strength" of the Eed Fife wheat of Manitoba with the yield of the most prolific English wheat. This it is conJ fidently hoped will result in the fixing of j a type which will be rust-proof, of the < j highest milling quality, and a heavy • cropper. What a victory over rust would '. mean to wheat-growers may be gauged ' i by the fact that the loss by this disease ' , in wheat throughout the world is .esti- ; mated at £100,000,000 a year, the loss in , Germany alone being one-third of the ■ . whole crop. With such a result as this i ' in view it is but natural that Mendel's < [ laws are the base of experiments in every J 1 agricultural country. Everywhere is < recognised the importance, indeed the 1 paramount necessity, of improving the production of the soil, by means of better ' varieties of crops and better methods of , cultivation. In New Zealand, it was re- i cently -announced, a series of experiments ( with some of the principal crops and 1 j fodder plants had been arranged for, ] and though a subsequent official state- 1 ment seemed to "go back" on this an- * nouncement, it cannot be believed that ' the project has been abandoned. There } are many particular directions in which favourable results if obtained would be i of immense benefit to farmers as well j as to the whole community. For in- 1 stance, the discovery of a turnip which i would resist the disease which for the < last three years has caused such serious < : loss to farmers and stock-owners; a fod- 1 der plant which, will replace the turnip ' as a winter food for milking cows ; a ! rust-proof oat for the North Island; a ' quickly-growing and frost-proof maize < , for the South Island, and so on. There < ' is a wide field, and one of the best steps j that can be taken by the Agricultural | j. Department is to place scientific labourers ] in it. - ' r i