REPORT OF TEE CEREALIST 211 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



account of its poor quality. Kernels rather dark red, of about medium size. Heads 

 short, compact, thickened towards the tip, essentially beardless, but often having at 

 the tip a few awns about half an inch long. Well-developed heads are about 2| inches 

 long. Chaff reddish, smootli. Straw moderately stiff and of medium or below medium 

 length. Ripens a few days before Red Fife. Rusts rather badly, as a rule, at Ottawa, 

 but produces good kernels in some parts of Manitoba. In spite of the excellent ap- 

 I)earance of this wheat, when grown under favourable conditions, it is to be entirely 

 condemned for purposes of export or for the production of strong, pale flour at home. 

 The colour of the flour made from Club wheat is a dark unattractive yellow — not at 

 all to be compared with the fine cream colour of Red Fife flour. In gluten also the 

 Olub shows itself very deficient, having a much smaller quantity than the Red Fife 

 and the gluten being of inferior quality. In making doiigh fnom Club wheat flour 

 it was found that less waiter was taken up than in making dough from Red Fife, and 

 the volume of the loaf produced was smaller. The general appearance of bread made 

 from Club wheat flour is extremely poor, and there is no doubt that if this wheat were 

 grown to any large extent in Manitioba it would seriously injure the present high, 

 reputation of the wheat of that province. 



Unfortunately, owing to the fact that the market value of Manitoba wheat is 

 determin?d by colour and hardness rather than by quality for flour production. Club 

 wheat commands a good price, being generally quite hard and of a rich red colour. 

 Indeed, the writer has been informed that it sometimes commands a higher price than 

 pure Red Fife. 



•Hungarian 'White. — This variety was obtained from a seedsman in Germany. It 

 is a promising sort, being fairly early in ripening and of good quality. Kernels red, 

 of about medium size, but somewhat elongated. Heads bearded, tapering, of about 

 medium size. Chaff yellowish, smooth. Straw moderately stiff and of good length. 

 Ripens a little before Red Fife. Makes excellent, strong flour. This wheat resembles 

 Red Fern in many respects, but is distinguished from that variety by the greater 

 length of kernel in the Hungarian. 



FIFE WHEATS. 



Having endeavoured to give a satisfactory definition of true Red Fife and cf 

 some of the other so-called Fife wheats, it would seem desirable to state if possible tlie 

 distinguishing characters of the Fife group, especially since the Grain Inspection Act 

 of loo! is so worded as to require certain proportions of red wheat of the Fife class in 

 all but one of the higher grades in the Manitoba Inspection Division. It would have 

 been convenient to reserve the name Fife for varieties similar to true Red Fife or 

 White Fife in general appearance and quality, but the term is already in use, as we 

 have seen, for different strains of White Russian, a wheat which produces flour having 

 distinctly less strength than that made from Red Fife. It seems impossible, therefore, 

 at present to give any narrow limitation to the term. The effect of the Grain Insi^ection 

 Act is, naturally, to broaden the meaning of the word Fife (in the absence of any legal 

 definition of it) to include all varieties of spring wheat gi-own in the prairie provinces. 



CEREALS IN SI^IALL PLOTS. 



An alphabetical list of the principal varieties of the different cereals grown in 

 small plots during the past season is here given. The total number of these plots was- 

 216. Those varieties which are given under letters and numbers are new sorts pro- 

 duced at this Farm, but not yet named. 



16— 14J 



