29 JULY 1949, Page 17

Mendel 's Followers

Awhile ago, by an arrangement between the universities, it was agreed that Oxford should concentrate on the economic side, and Cambridge on the scientific ; and the division of interests was fruitful. Mr. Orwin became a recognised leader in the economics of farming at Oxford, and the Cambridge Mendelians—with Biffcn and, on the biological side, Punnett as conspicuous stars. The rediscovery of the old Austrian abbe's experiments with sweet peas continues to bring new results both in pure and applied science. The Russians, I believe, still hope to make a perennial wheat of great hardiness by crossing farm wheats with the grass generally anathematised under the name of " twitch " in one of its various forms