208 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5-5 EDWARD VII., A. 1903 



The Eev. Father Josse, O.M.I., of Spirit River, reported : ' The samples you sent 

 us have succeeded very well. Both the wheats ripened all right (Stanley and Gehun). 

 Odessa barley and Flying Scotchman oats have succeeded perfectly well. This year 

 was a pretty dry one.' 



The Rev. Robert Simijson, of Spirit River reported: ' The season was against us. 

 We sowed on April 27th and all were ripe by August 25th. The Preston wheat and 

 Tartar King oats yielded heavily. Of course the straw was shorter than it would have 

 been had we had rain.' 



The Rev. Brother Laurent, O.M.I., of the St. Bernard Mission, Little Slave Lake, 

 reported that the Tartar King oats did very well, but that the varieties of wheat sent 

 to him (Stanley, Preston and Early Riga) did not do so well as the Red Fern which 

 has been grown there for four years. Odessa and Clifford barley did not suit the con- 

 ditions in that section so well as the barley which was introduced several years ago. 



Only one report on the results of the season of 1&Q5 has thus far been received : 



Mr. William Smith, of Fort Vermilion, reports that his samples were sown on 

 June 6tli and cut August 15th. The quantities sown were 1 lb. each, and the amounts 

 harvested were : Preston wheat, 26 lbs. ; Harold wheat, 11 lbs., and Flying Scotchman 

 oats, 12 lbs. He says : ' The Preston wheat ripened fully as early as the Harold. The 

 oats came to maturity about the same date as the wheat, and the kernels were plump 

 and good.' 



It is evident, from these reports, that great differences exist in the various sec- 

 tions of country diiained by the Peace River, and that much further experimental work 

 with cereals will be necessary before the possibilities in regard to grain growing there 

 can be fully understood. 



GRADES OF WHEAT IN THE MANITOBA INSPECTION DIVISION. 



The results of the study of the various grades of wheat in the Manitoba Inspection 

 Division (crop of 1904) have already been published in Bulletin No. 50 of the Experi- 

 mental Farm series. For the purpose of making further observations on the character 

 of the wheat some of the seed in each grade from No. 1 Hard to No. 6 was sown on 

 this farm last spring, and observations were made, later in the season, on the character 

 of the grain produced from each grade. 



The proportion of heads not of the Red Fife type was determined for each grade 

 with the following results: — 



Per cont. 



No. 1 Hard 8-4 



No. 1 Northern 9-8 



No. 2 " 6-9 



No. 3 " 6-2 



No. 4 Extra 7 1 



No. 4 9-3 



No. 5 9-7 



As the samples sown were thoroughly representative of the averages of the grades, 

 the above figures show clearly that the lower grades contain, as a rule, about the same 

 proportions of Red Fife as the higher grades. The figures given do not represent the 

 total quantities of other varieties present, but only those which could be distinguished 

 from Red Fife without much difiiculty. 



The weight of crop produced from the plot of each grade was not determined but 

 was certainly greatest in the plots where good seed was sown. 



The quality of the different samples of grain harvested was carefully observed. 

 The differences found were, however, quite insignificant in most respects. Each sam- 

 ple contained about 98 per cent of hard kernels; but while practically aU the kernels 



