236 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



"i EDWARD VII., A. 1908 



Careful study of these during the autumn and winter months made possible the rejec- 

 tion of most of them, leaving the seeds from about 700 plants to be sown this spring. 

 Among these there are many very promising varieties. 



From the seeds produced by crossing in 1905, some very interesting plants were 

 grown this past season. Two groups of these deserve special mention, on account of 

 their scientific interest as well as because of the useful varieties of grain which 

 may be produced from them by selection. Mensury barley, a bearded, six-row sort, 

 which retains its hull when threshed, was crossed with Triple Naked, a beardless, two- 

 row, hulless sort. Eight seeds were obtained (in 1905) using the Mensury as female, 

 and six using the Tripple Naked as female. All the seeds germinated when sown this 

 past season and the fourteen plants were all alike. The heads of grain produced were 

 beardless and almost of the pure two-row type, although the four rows of empty scales 

 sometimes contained a few small kernels. The kernels retained their hulk The entire 

 absence of the normal, long awns in these cross-bred plants is in accord with observa- 

 tions made in other cases where bearded and (so-called) beardless kinds of barley have 

 been crossed. 



In crossing cereals it does not seem to make any difference in the progeny whether 

 one or the other parent is used as female. The writer has studied several cases where 

 the cross has been made both ways and has not yet found a single instance whore any 

 difference could be seen between the two. 



The work of carefully re-selecting the most important varieties of cereals grown 

 on this farm has been continued during the past year. Many of the new strains of 

 wheat were on hand in sufficient quantity for the sowing of ^/4o-acre plots, the result 

 of the use of this selected seed being a great gain in uniformity and sometimes in 

 other respects also. It is important to notice that each of these new strains has been 

 bred from a single, selected plant. For several years past the seed for some of the 

 Idiots has been obtained by the selection of heads just before the grain was harvested; 

 but it has been found that the improvement effected by this method is much less 

 marked than that produced by selecting one extra good plant and multiplying the seed 

 of that plant until a sufficient quantity is on hand for a whole plot. This latter 

 method also enables one to avoid the very real danger attendant upon the selection of 

 extra large heads which sometimes owe their unusual size to the fact that they are 

 produced from comparatively unproductive plants (bearing only one head), while in 

 other cases they belong to some different variety which has become mixed to a certain 

 extent with the desired sort. 



SAMPLES OF GEAIN FOE GEADE AND NAME. 



Attention is called to the fact that the Cerealist, while always willing to give any 

 information in his power in regard to the quality of samples of grain submitted to 

 him, cannot undertake to state what grade would be given to them by the regular 

 inspectors. Although the Grain Inspection Act defines to a certain extent the different 

 grades of grain, much necessarily depends on the judgment of the inspector himself, 

 and it is therefore quite impossible in many cases for any one else to determine V\'hat 

 grade will be given to the grain wdien it reaches the office of the inspector. 



Samples siibmitted for name should always be sent in the head and accompanied 

 by such details in regard to earliness, length of straw, &c., as can be given. When 

 threshed grain alone is sent, without any information, it is frequently impossible to 

 determine the name of the variety. 



Samples are carried free through the mails if addressed to the Cerealist, Experi- 

 mental Farm, Ottawa. 



QUALITY IX \YHEAT. 



During the past two winters the writer has been carrying on milling tests of 

 wheat and baking tests of flour. The objects of these tests have been to gain infor- 



