44 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 



ties for the various conditions of soil and climate may be discovered. In barley and 

 oats, also, there is need for more extensive variety tests than are possible at present. 

 About a hundred important, new cross-bred barleys are now being tested at Ottawa 

 only, and these should be studied at other points as well. 



MARQUIS WHEAT. 



Marquis wheat was so fully discussed in the report of last year that a passing 

 reference will be sufficient on this occasion. The year 1912 has been another ' Marquis 

 year,' owing to the conditions being rather unfavourable for the growing of Red Fife. 

 Not only did Marquis give yields which, as usual, surpassed Red Fife, on the great 

 majority of farms, but the winning of the highest award at the International Dry- 

 Farming Congress at Lethbridge last autumn again attracted the attention of the 

 whole world to this variety. Marquis is now being grown by so many farmers in 

 almost all parts of the western country that there has been no difficulty in securing 

 good seed this winter. While any attempt to estimate the probable acreage of Mar- 

 quis for the coming season will probably be quite inaccurate, it appears' that at least 

 one million acres of this variety will be sown. The widespread popularity of Marquis 

 is all the more noteworthy when we recall that this variety was introduced into Sas- 

 katchewan in 1907, when about half a bushel of seed was sent from Ottawa for trial 

 on the Experimental Farm at Indian Head. Almost the whole of the seed now in the 

 farmers' hands traces back to that first shipment, very little seed grown at Ottawa 

 having since been sent out. 



Many excellent yields of Marquis wheat were reported last season, the most 

 remarkable being on the Indian Head Farm, where a plot of one-fortieth of an acre 

 gave a crop at the rate of over 81 bushels per acre. This is probably a world's record 

 for spring wheat. 



PRELUDE WHEAT. 



Preliminary tests at Ottawa and at some of the branch Experimental Farms 

 having cleai'ly demonstrated the great value of this new variety, a few small samples 

 were sent last spring to farmers in Saskatchewan and Alberta, so that a better idea 

 might be obtained as to its adaptability to various districts. The tests on the branch 

 Farms were also increased in number and in acreage. The season was particularly 

 unfavourable for varieties which develop rapidly, because excessive heat and drought 

 prevailed during the early part of the summer, conditions which proved very trying 

 to all grains which were moderately well advanced. Those sorts which develop slowly 

 were not so seriously injured. In one or two cases, small plots of Prelude wheat were 

 almost entirely destroyed during this dry period; but, on the whole, the record made 

 by the new variety was most satisfactory, the yields in some instances being really 

 remarkable. 



Two special cases deserve mention. Mr. E. B. Cay, of Beatty (near Melfort), 

 Sask., sowed five pounds of Prelude wheat on one-fifth of an acre of larid and threshed 

 C03 pounds. Mr. W. J. Borton, of Bottrel, Alberta, sowed one pound of seed on a 

 relatively large piece of land and secured 123 pounds of clean grain. Of course in 

 this case the wheat did not ripen so early as it would have done had it been sown more 

 thickly. One would not advise such extremely thin seeding under ordinary circum- 

 stances, but it is perhaps justifiable when only a very small quantity of seed can be 

 obtained, and when its value is (as in the present instance) quite beyond any ordinary 

 scale of prices. 



The conclusions to be drawn from the experience of this past season confirm those 

 of previous years. Prelude wheat can be unhesitatingly recommended as the best 

 variety available for districts where extreme earliness is necessary and where there is 

 a tendency toward the production of long straw. For dry districts, where straw is apt 

 to be short, Prelude cannot be recommended. The Dominion Cerealist hopes to intro- 



