A SUCCESSFUL WHEAT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14221, 11 June 1910, Page 6

A SUCCESSFUL WHEAT.

1-10. nothing thk nuEitDEi;. i A movement lias for some time been in progress in New South Wales to commemorate • in some iiermnnont wav the valuable work done bv the hue Mr William Fairer in the held of sciculilic. wheat-breeding. 'l'o Mr Farrer's experiment's A ust nihil owes the famous "Federation'' wheat, the most popular and. generally speaking, most prolilie wheal now crown m this part, of the world. Exceptionally rich m its viehl, ami of lirst-rate milling omihiy, "Federation" wheal has. siiys the "Argus,'' by increasing the productiveness per acre of t In- soil pointed the way in witch Ausi.ri'lian development is stlrely destincd to advance. Mr. l-'arrer w:is one of the pioneers of wheat-breeding. 110 was a Cambridge, graduate, ami came to Australia in search of health. lie ultimately became attached to ihe -New South "Wales Popart .iiient m' Agriculture, but his lirsi experiments in the (h-ld in which a farm of ins own at (Jneanbeyan. Early inmros.-cd with the probab'iht v thai wheat and other grains might be improved by careful selection aiuMu'ecd-

ini;, jik-t as domestic animals are, be i.e.uuiistrated t!i:ii bolh the prolihcacv and the bread-yielding qualities Jf wheat could be increased, "i'ederalion" i.s a cross-bred wheat, one of its parents being the i-kl ••purple straw ' and ihe <,i:ioi- ;t cross between an American and up Indian wheat. The .success of tiiis liybr.dismg process MtiicKiy attraced at tent.on in other w hi.ai-gr;;w ing countries, and experts have now lot years Ixcn experimenting on the lilies laid down h j :. yj,'. Fari'er. 'The importance o! mting every varielv of soil ami climate, willi the seed best suited in its peculiarities has. of course, long been u.ulei s, c.M ; but \lr. Fairer v. as the (ii>t to demonstrate the feasih.uiy of bringing mio exi.- fence a seed designed lor a s_.ee,iic purpose. In doing so he const..guted himself a great public bcni'tacioi'. and it is only fining that his memory shocid be perpetuated in some sub ;t am iai wav.

Die .Nc.v Soi;tli Waie.s Government lias deteriuine.l to endow a scholarship, to encourage the study in which iir. i-arrer achieved such splendid success, and private sfiWupUons are belli;, received I'm- a siii.il.'.v fiauidufion. A more suitabie memorial it would be diflien.it in but it is cunhncd Jo -Ni« iii,inn Wales. Victoria has ho;ieiiU'd in Mr. iarrei-'s labours even

1..,■:,■ than .Sew SouUi WaUs has. and ones it- lo his hie.'.iory ami tj herseu \-j >. . .so;.a thing of tiie same nature. It has been siaied on _.ood auitu.ntv that lie wctc use ii,iii,o of "i'eiieration" i. .lent —winch is only cue of the t'arrer wheats-added a iii.aucr of a nnliii.ii pounds to urn vah.e vi ,mr >i. : ;t harvest. It may, ,n couvsi', ! JiS >::[..[ th.it the most I'toijueiiL and eii'iui'iiig memorial of tins ciiiiniHif man is to be found in the endless .stretch of country which every season is covered with the wheats which have made him famous. But it is important that every possible eucotiragenient .should be given to others to cont.nue the work so av.spic.otislv be-'uti and tins could not he better ''achieve"! than by the Victorian Government f u |.! lowing the example set by 1 j lo Guverto. ment ot .New South W'ah's, and ej>.\ )U -_ ii|?i one or r'.vo si-imlai'shius m aorict,:tnre healing Mr. I'lirrer's name. F„ r urn very name of such a man would be a stimulus to the student.