A Valuable Variety of Wheat.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 454, 15 March 1890, Page 4

A Valuable Variety of Wheat.

It is a pity the New Zealand Government cannot see its way to establish an efficient Department of Agriculture. It ono envious to see how much i 3 done in other colonies to assist in the development of agriculture through the medium of such a Department of State. For instance, we read in a late issue of the Queen-dander that the Department of Agriculture have just obtained from ihc School of Agriculture at Dookie, Victoria, ten bags of Steinwedel’s wheat, forty bushels in all, which will be retained by the department until tho proper planting time, when it will be distributed. Last year the department endeavoured to obtain a supply of this wheat, but owing to making the application too late in the season only two bushels could bo obtained, as the farmers of Victoria held the wheat in such high estimation that they were prepared to buy up the crop several times over for planting. Tlie two bushels received last year were sent to tlie Darling Downs, and the farmer who received it reports that the yield was immense, and he expects to get 100 bushels ofi three acres. The wheat is practically free from rust, only one or two small spots being slightly attacked. This wheat requires hard, firm cultivation, the experiments made on the Downs showing that it was better at the headland than in the field. If this variety of wheat has such special merits as are here represented surely it is worth an effort to get hold of some seed for New Zealand growing.