24 



'• Millers' Bevieiv, Phihidi^lph'vd, Pa. : 'Among the samples displaj'cd by Han- 

 cock & Co., of the Philadelphia Commercial Exchange, recently, was a small one from 

 the territory of Saskatchewan, nearly three hundred and fifty miles north of the 

 boundary line between the United States and the British possessions. It excited 

 considerable attention, partly from the fact that the samples on the tables of Han- 

 cock & Co. usually are of interest to buyers, and partly, too, from the fact that the 

 grain in the little blue box was of an exceptionally fine type of red spring wheat. 

 The letter appended gives the history of our getting it, and as we do not wish to keep 

 the sight of such beautiful stock from the appreciative gaze of millers and commer- 

 cial men, we submitted ittoMaj. Hancock, and through his ofiices it was introduced 

 to the Chamber and to the notice of the members on 'Change. The Major pronounced 

 the wheat as handsome as any he had ever seen, and he was sorry that the machina- 

 tions of freight combines and tariffs so effectualiv kept such stock away from millers 

 and grain men in this section and prohibited any substantial investment in this fine 

 product of the far North,' 



" These letters speak for themselves. Prince Albert has established its claim, 

 and further comment is unnecessary." 



Mr. Plaxton has sent a sample of this wheat to the Central Experimental Farm 

 it is the finest sample we have ever received and weighs 66 lbs. per bushel. 



Wm. Gibson, of Wolseley, N W.T., another practical farmer to whom a sample 

 was sent in the spring of 1888, has also had good success with this wheat. His 3-lb. 

 sample produced him the firstyear 236 lbs. and his second crop thinly sown gave him 

 over 100 bushels. In a letter dated 22nd November, 1890 he says : "My Eed Fife wheat 

 sown on the 8th of April was frozen and I think will grade No. 1 or No. 2 frozen, 

 harvested on the 24th of August, this suffered from hail and yielded me only 13 

 bushels to the acre. The Ladoga wheat sown 10th April and harvested 18th August 

 has escaped the frost, this also suffered from hail and yielded only 14 bushels per 

 acre. This season's experience shows the necessity of every farmer sowing a part of 

 bis grain Ladoga. I shipped over 100 bushels to the United States last year for 

 seed, as farmers here were willing to stick to Eed Fife. This year I have had a lot of 

 orders for Ladoga for seed next spring." 



Similar favourable experiences might be multiplied, but enough has perhaps 

 been said to show that the introduction of the Ladoga wheat has been a good thing 

 for the North West-Territories, that it is probable that this wheat from its early 

 ripening properties, will to a great extent afford a solution of the probelm of early 

 frost, and from its high quality and productiveness in the northern portions of the 

 great plains, help materially in extending the area for successful wheat culture, 

 and in building up such a reputation for wheat-growing there as shall aid in the 

 settlement of the country. 



The repoi'ts i-eceived regarding the tests of other varieties of wheat may be 

 summarized as follows : 



Med Fife— Ten reports from Ontario show an average yield of 27 lbs. Sixteen 

 from Quebec, 25^ lbs. One from Nova Scotia, 29 lbs. Two from New Brunswick, 

 48^ lbs, and two from Prince Edward Island, 55 lbs. 



White Fife — Eight reports from Ontario give an average yield of 24|- lbs. and 

 four reports from Quebec an average of 31^ lbs. 



Red Fern — Three reports from Ontario give an average yield of 20§ lbs. Six 

 from Quebec, 33^ lbs. ; two from Nova Scotia, 24 lbs. ; one from New Brunswick 30 

 lbs., and two from Prince Edward Island with an average of 88^ lbs. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH OATS. 



During the past season 28 varieties of oats have been tested in field plots and 28 

 others in small plots, making 56 in all. Of these, 16 varieties were sown on plots 

 of one-tenth acre each, alongside of each other, on the same day, on a clay loam of 

 fairly uniform character. The results obtained from grain grown under such con- 

 ditions may be compared, the one with the other, with much less probability of en-or 



