asked the Minister for Lands and Agriculture if he will state what progress has been made with the experiments carried on by his Department with a view to the development of wheat-growing in the Saorstát.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - WHEAT-GROWING EXPERIMENTS.
The following is a short summary of the position: Large-scale plots (generally of one statute acre) were laid down with wheat of the Yeoman variety under the supervision of the County Instructors in Agriculture in the autumns of 1925 and 1926, and similar experiments have been arranged for this season. Representative samples of the produce of these plots have been or will be graded by members of the Irish Flour Millers' Association. It is hoped to conduct milling and baking tests with the produce harvested this year, as was done with that harvested in 1926. The surplus produce of the 1925 and 1926 plots has been and is being largely used for seed purposes. The Department proposes to issue an interim report on these experiments at an early date.
The Department's Seed Propagation Division have devoted considerable attention to the propagation of pure lines of wheat selected from native stocks, with the result that some promising varieties have already been secured. Up to thirty statute acres of one of these varieties has been sown this year in County Tipperary, where the original stock came from, and this particular variety and two others raised by the Department are also being included in each of the wheat variety trials which are being carried out by the Agricultural Instructors this season throughout the country.