CANADIAN WHEAT 525 



the early wheats imported and thus an altitude of eleven thousand feet 

 in a latitude of twenty-five or thirty degrees offsets a northern latitude 

 of sixty or sixty-five degrees at a low level. 



New varieties have been obtained by selection and cultivation of 

 natural variations, but a new era was begun on July 19, 1888, when 

 the first experiments were undertaken in the cross-breeding of wheat 

 on the Experimental Farm, and since that time several hundred new 

 sorts have been produced and tested. None of the imported varieties 

 which mature earlier than Eed Fife were found to equal it in quality, 

 and in originating the new productions by cross-fertilization Red Fife 

 has in the majority of cases been one of the parents. Ladoga is about 

 a week earlier than Eed Fife and is fairly productive, and numerous 

 crosses were made between the two. The most promising of the off- 

 spring were carefully cultivated and subjected to rigid inspection, all 

 less desirable sorts being promptly discarded, and the better ones mul- 

 tiplied till seed was obtained for large plots. Of the progeny from 

 this cross, perhaps the most satisfactory and promising are the Preston, 

 a bearded variety, and the Stanley, beardless. These varieties are 

 twin. They originated from one kernel. The heads produced the 

 first season from this kernel were all bearded, but when the seeds from 

 these heads were sown the year following, some plants produced bearded 

 heads and some beardless, and afterwards each variation was cultivated 

 until the type became fixed. The Stanley is from four to six days 

 earlier than Red Fife, is equal to it in milling structure, appearance 

 and strength, but a nine years' comparison shows that on the average 

 it is less productive, its yield being 32 bushels, 2 pounds, against 

 33 bushels, 7 pounds, in the case of Red Fife. The Preston is as early 

 as the Stanley, is more productive than Red Fife, but is of a slightly 

 lower grade, worth in the London Corn Exchange about three quarters 

 of a cent per bushel less. The value per acre is higher than in the 

 case of Stanley or Red Fife. 



Ladoga has also been crossed with White Fife, a variety slightly 

 more productive than Red Fife. The most valuable of the progeny 

 are Huron, which is bearded, is early and is slightly more productive 

 than Red Fife; and Percy, also early, equal to Red Fife in quality, 

 but even less productive than Stanley, yielding as a nine years' average 

 about one hundred pounds less wheat per acre than the standard Red 

 Fife. 



Neither Gehun nor Onega is very productive, but, as before stated, 

 they are both early and of their progeny Early Riga ripens eight or 

 nine days earlier than Red Fife. Its productiveness is more than two 

 bushels per acre lower than Red Fife, but its content of gluten — the 

 most important constituent of wheat — is higher. I quote Dr. Saun- 

 ders's words: 



