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RESEARCH WORK AT CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, LINCOLN. I. Plant-bkeeding. (a) Cereals. 1. Wheat. —The College has continued the work of wheat-breeding and selection in co-operation with the Wheat Research Institute, the College supplying the land, horse labour, and laboratory and other facilities. The outstanding event of the year has been the distribution of about 3,000 bushels of Cross 7 wheat to about 100 farmers from Blenheim to Oamaru. This wheat was produced from a cross between Tuscan and White Fife, one of the best Canadian wheats. The cross was made by the College in 1923, and its progeny handed over to the Wheat Research Institute on its inception. Reports from most of the 100 farmers that grew the wheat are generally very favourable, and all of them state that they will grow the wheat again. The merits of the wheat are as follows :— (1) It yields as well as Tuscan (which accounts for 70 per cent, of Canterbury wheat) on all land suited to that variety. The 1936 harvest reports generally state that it yielded better than Tuscan, but this has not been the case in experimental plots. (2) It gives 3 per cent, more flour on the experimental mill, and one commercial trial gives indications in the same direction. (3) It gives a 10 per cent, better loaf and the price is therefore 2d. per bushel above that of Tuscan. From the farmer's point of view it has the following merits : — (1) It grows as well and as quickly as Tuscan, and there are indications that it will at least equal that variety for use as a spring wheat and for feeding off. (2) It ripens about a week earlier than Tuscan. This helps the wheat to escape the effects of the dry weather in midsummer, tends to spread out the harvest rush of work, and often secures the best weather for heading. (3) Its straw is about 4 in. shorter than that of Tuscan. This reduces the labour of harvesting by about 5 per cent. (4) The straw has less flag, packs into neater sheaves, and so is easier to stook and stack. (5) The straw is much stronger than that of Tuscan, so that it stands up in heavy land or in wet seasons instead of being laid and tangled. This reduces harvest work very greatly, and often makes the difference between a good crop and an almost total failure. The advantage is greatest in South Canterbury, where crops are often laid, and one competent observer has calculated that this year one-third of the wheat sown in South Canterbury will be Cross 7. (6) The grain is securely held by the chaff so that the new variety resists the threshing action of the wind as well as Tuscan does. It is also reported to thresh more easily on the threshing-mill. These apparently contradictory statements can be reconciled by supposing that the chaff of Cross 7 is tougher at the binder-ripe stage, but becomes more brittle at the threshing stage. The disadvantages of the variety are fewer and less important. They are as follows : — (1) All impurities show up more plainly, because all other varieties are taller than Cross 7, and therefore advertise their presence. This is really an advantage, although it looks bad. (2) The variety is almost certainly more susceptible than Tuscan to loose smut. This makes difficulties from the aspect of certification of the seed, and may make treatment with hot water necessary at more frequent intervals. The loss on the worst-affected crops this year was, however, only about J bushel per acre. (3) In a very wet harvest such as that of 1936, Cross 7 sprouts very easily in the stook. This may be a result of easier germination, but it is more likely the result of the neat and wellpacked sheaves and stooks that Cross 7 builds. When the stocks get thoroughly wet through they dry out more slowly than those of other varieties, and therefore the heads in the middle of the sheaves sprout more. This objection is a very real one, and has caused considerable loss this year. Harvests in which any sprouting occurs are very rare. In North Canterbury there have been only two such seasons in the last thirty years. On the whole, the new variety promises to be a pronounced success. Its chief merit is perhaps that it combines a satisfactory yield with improved quality. Five investigations on wheat-growth, although not plant-breeding, are most conveniently described here. (1) Observations on the soil moisture in wheat-fields have been carried on for the fourth season. It is hoped that soil moisture during the growing-season may be a means of forecasting the yield. There is a fair prospect of success, but this is a long-range investigation. (2) For the third season, wheat has been grown in pots in the open, all pots being treated alike except that the water content of the soil was controlled. During the growing and ripening season all the pots were kept dry— i.e., the soil contained 20 per cent, of the amount of water required to produce saturation —but sufficient water to bring the moisture content up to 60 per cent, saturation was added to one pair during September, to another pair during October, and so on. The results for

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