WHEAT CENSUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3768, 1 June 1926, Page 56

WHEAT CENSUS.

SYDNEY, May 20. For the first time in the history of the State, wheatgrowers were asked last season to supply particulars of the varieties they had sown for grain, and the yields therefrom. One of the chief objects was to endeavour to ascertain the extent to which red wheats, to which some objection is taken by overseas buyers, are grown in New South Wales. The census—and it is not unlikely that it will now be taken regularly—has served a very useful and important purpose in showing how wheats which have been bred for local conditions by our own experts, now dominate the harvest. It is significant, as revealed by (his census, that Federation (853,430 acres), Canberra —a cross or hybrid with Federation as one parent—(474,797 acres), ami Hard Federation, a selection or a natural cross from Federation (158,027 acres) should occupy first, second, and fifth positions respectively, and should together represent more than half the wheat area of the State. Of the total area of 2,549,856 acres, no fewer than 2,751,186 acres were specified as white wheats, while 90.354 acres were classed as red; the remaining acres comprised principally unknown, not stated, and mixed varieties.