CROSSBRED WHEAT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1691, 20 October 1887, Page 3

CROSSBRED WHEAT

_» The experiments carried on for five years by Meet ra Carter and Co , of London, m their nurseries at Forest Hili, are bearing important fruits. Some of the beet varieties of wheat from different parts of. the world, but chltfly English, have been cross-fertillted artificially, and some of tbe new varieties thus obtained are splendid ones. There will not be enough produce from them for distribution for at least two yearß, except possibly m the oaee of two or three now prown m Essex by Messrs Carter m quarter acros ; but when they are ready they are likely to be In general request. Of course many of the crosses are not worth preserving ; but ont of nearly 40 attempts there will be 20 more or less successfctl, and it la safe to say that there are 12 new sort* of exceptional excellence. Every floret of a wheat-ear Is blrexual and self-fertilising, the anthers, m the course of nature, shedding their pollen on the rtlgma before the tightly -closed fl >ret opens and the anthers emerge, forming what is wrongly termed the " bloom "of wheat. Io order to produce fertilisation with another variety, the anthers and the floret must be oarefully opened at jua Ifcho right time, the anthers must be removed before they have shed their pollen, and, on the following day, by which time tho pistil will be ready, pollen from another variety of wheat must be dusted over It. Several florets on an ear are operated upon, the rent being cut away. Each is closed otrefnlly, and the ear is tied up (n muslin to prevent the rare chance of accidental fertilisation. Th»t the opera tion has been successfully performed iv many oases by Messrs Carter is obvious to anyone who sees the new VBrletiee,aa several of them distinctly show tbe peculiarities of the male parent. A few are bo olosely like the femVe as to augcest a doubt whether self fertilisation did not take place before the operation was performed; b«?t these ate the excepilms, and the suggested cause of tho likeness to the female only is by no means oertain, as animalu often resemble one parent only. The two most successful crosses of all, In my opinion, are those of Talavera with birdproof (itself a new sort) m one case and with fill measure In the other, Talavera, it Is scarcely necessary to say, is a very early white wheat of hh>h quality, but liable to blight. It has long straw, making it liable to lor?ge, and long, thin ears. Birdproof ia a hardy, atifF-strawed wheat with thickly-set earn, upon which aro prickly awns, rendering it awkward for birds to attack — henoe Its name. It waß obtained by crossing fill-measure, a prolific, rouph-cbaffed white wheat, with the bearded American mammoth wbite. The variety obtained by orossing Talavera with birdproof Is aretuerkably handsome wheat, with braadohested and yet fairly long ears and f smooth chaff. It la even earlier than Talavera, and looks as if it were more hardy and prolific, while the grain is of fine quality; By crossing Talavera with fillmeasure a very file, rough-chaffed wheat has been obtained ; the ears are very large, and the variety looks like proving one of the most prolifio ever grown. A notable new sort of spring wheat has been produced by crossing our April wheat, a bearded variety whioh may be sown later m tbe spring than any other, with the big and early Amerloan golden grain, whioh Is much more roughly bearded than April. The result is a fine large-eared variety which, J believe, will prove one of the best, If not the very best of spring wheats for late sowings There are many other crosses deserving notioe, but as some of them will bo grown m Insufficient quantity for sale before 1889 or 1890, it is not worth while te go f urthor Into details.—" Otsgo Witneasi