NEW WHEATS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1836, 3 January 1889, Page 1

NEW WHEATS.

1 Erom a report in the Mark Lane Express on crossbred wheat grown by Messrs James Carter and Co., seedsmen, Loudon, on one of their farms, the following varieties appear likely to prove suitable for culture in this climate: The Talavera crosses, of which there are several, produced good samples, and the period for ripening has been accelerated 10 days to a fortnight, a very important feature in connection with them. The cross between Carter’s Eoyal prize (to which the Royal Agricultural Society’s silver medal has been awarded) and Talavera has now a fixed character of Talavera type, the berry being large and long, and the color rather deeper than that of Talavera. This has been the first to ripen each year, and it may probably prove of great value in New Zealand, Australia, and Oregon, also in the State of Michigan, U.S.A., and parts of Canada. This cross is from Royal -Prize as male and Talavera as female plant. A cross between Talavera as male and Club Headed Rough Chaff as female produces a very useful description of grain, rather large and plump; it was the last of all the crosses to blosson, and ripened next earliest to the one previously described. A very useful, but somewhat uneven, sample of yellowish red wheat was from Square Head as male and Eillmeasure as female; next to the Talavera crosses this was the earlisfc to ripen. The crop grown this season from the cross between Bnuboied Red and Royal Prize was at a rate of 55 bushels per acre, and the grain is of a very useful character. Golden Grain as male and Clndham as female produced a very excellent sample; the berry is very round, like the New Zealand “ short berry,” the color being that of Cbidham, Golden Grain as male as male and April wheat as female shows a good and useful sample of strong red wheat, which has been grown from autumn sowings and from spring sowings, the former having been planted on 24th October and the latter on Gkh April, the crops having been harvested on Ist September respectively. This wheat appears likely to meet a want greatly ibltin England 1 —namely; a good and trustworthy spring sowing variety, inasmuch as it ripens considerably in acbance of etheir parent ;stock, and has so far proved itself to be exceedingly hardy as well as very prolific. The “ Eird Proof ” variety has been established from a cross between Mammoth White as male and Eillmeasuro as female, the habit of growth being that of close compact heads, with short, stout, and prickly awns, affording the best possible protection against damage by birds. The sample was certainly of a useful description, and this particular I wheat might find a convenient place in fields-adjoining coverts or thick hedgerows by roadsides.