524 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



but many are sown year after year. These experiments are carried on 

 not only at the central station at Ottawa, but at other stations as well, 

 chiefly in the northwest. Plots one fortieth of an acre in size are 

 found most convenient for the preliminary tests. When varieties are 

 tested for productiveness the condition of ground and cultivation and 

 seeding are made uniform and it has been found that productiveness 

 is in a large degree persistent. Thirty-one varieties of wheat were 

 grown year after year for five years, and of these a select list of the 

 best twelve was made each year. It was found that there were only 

 sixteen varieties that entered this list during the five years, the varie- 

 ties that were superior in one year being for the most part superior 

 always. Productiveness is, of course, an important consideration, for, 

 other things being equal, an additional bushel per acre means an 

 annual increase of four million dollars with Canada's present wheat 

 acreage, and a correspondingly larger increase as more land is brought 

 under cultivation. 



Eed Fife is the standard variety of wheat in Canada. It was 

 imported in 1842 by Mr. David Fife, of Otonabee, Ontario, and was 

 part of a cargo brought from Danzig on the Baltic, to Glasgow, and 

 there transshipped to Canada. Dr. Saunders found that during the 

 nearly fifty years that Red Fife had been cultivated there had been 

 no deterioration, the quantity and quality of crop were as good as 

 ever and in the northwest appeared even to improve. But it is rather 

 later in ripening than is desirable where frosts set in early, and one 

 of the great objects aimed at has been to cultivate a variety having the 

 good qualities of Red Fife and at the same time maturing earlier. If 

 also increased productiveness, quality of grain, strength of straw, 

 or ability to resist rust could be attained, so much the better. The 

 value of early ripening is evident when one realizes that two or three 

 weeks' gain in this respect enables a variety to be grown several hun- 

 dred miles farther north. 



One of Dr. Saunders's first measures was to import varieties from 

 all parts of the world where wheat was grown and to test their devel- 

 opment under the new conditions. The United States, Japan, Aus- 

 tralia, Russia, and even India, contributed many varieties. It was 

 fortunate that the collection was so world wide, for the unexpected 

 happened. It was found that several varieties from India were among 

 the earliest. This proved to be because they were grown in the Him- 

 alayas. Thereupon special attention was paid to India, and at a height 

 of 11,000 feet a variety was obtained, the Gehun, that has since been 

 the subject of much experiment. This, along with the Ladoga variety, 

 obtained from the district surrounding the lake of that name, and the 

 Onega variety, from near Archangel, has proved the most promising of 



