5-6 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1906 



REPORT OF THE CEREALIST. 



Chas. E. Saunders, B.A., Ph. D. 



Dr. Wm. Saunders, C.M.G., 



Director Dominion Experimental Earms, 

 Ottawa. 



Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith the third annual report of the Cereal 

 Division. 



The various problems in connection with the growing of wheat in this and lother 

 parts of Canada have occupied the greater part of my time during the past year. 

 Attention has also been given to the other cereals as well as to the fodder crops in- 

 cluded in the scope of this Division. 



The winter months were occupied chiefly in the selecting of grain and in making 

 milling and balding tests of important varieties and commercial mixtures of wheat. 

 With the co-operation of the Chemical Division, a careful and thorough study was 

 made of the milling and chemical value of the different grades of wheat in the Mani- 

 toba Inspection Division, using the crop of the previous year (1904). The results of 

 this investigation were published in the form of a bulletin (No. 50) last June. 



In Eebruary I attended the annual meeting of lie American Breeder's Associa- 

 tion, held at (Thampaign, Illinois, and presented a paper on ' A Natural Hybrid in 

 Wheat.' 



After the close of this meeting I visited wheat-tasting laboratories in Chicago 

 and Minneapolis, and spent part of a day at the Minnesota State Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station at St. Anthony Park. From this point I travelled to Brandon to 

 attend the sessions of the Manitoba. Grain Growers' Association. At this meeting I 

 gave an address on the breeding azid testing of wheats as carried on alt the Experi- 

 mental Farms. 



The work of cross-fertilising in cereals was continued this year as usual, although 

 the number of crosses made was not very large, owing to the fact that the work of 

 previous years has given rise to such quantities of material as it is almost impossible 

 to mar age. 



The study of these new types, and the selection from them of the most desirable 

 sorts for propagation occupied much time during the summer. 



Attention was also given to the second of the new races of hardy apples which are 

 being produced at this Farm. Six crosses were made between hybrids of the first race 

 and some of the standard apples, 121 seeds being obtained. 



As soon as the cereal harvest was over I made a journey westward, visiting some 

 of the more important wheat growing districts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, for the 

 purpose of studying the variations produced in wheat by differences in soil and climate, 

 and to see to what extent the Red Fife wheat is mixed with other sorts. Many in- 

 teresting observations were made, and important specimens collected on this trip. 



I acknowledge with pleasure the valuable assistance rendered to me by Mr. George 

 Fixter, foreman in charge of the field work of this Divisionr, and by Miss M. Hager, 

 who has aided me in the diverse kinds of work carried on in the ofiice. 



For samples of seed grain I am indebted to Prof. C. A. Zavitz, of Guelph, who 

 sent to me Mandscheuri barley and Early Ripe oats, to Prof. Ten Eyck, of the Kansas 

 Experiment Station, and Prof. M. A. Carleton, of the Department of Agriculture at 



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