BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



a fresh enthusiasm. He carefully re-selected the various 

 lots of mixed wheat, descendants of those crosses he had 

 helped to make several years before. In order to make the 

 plants uniform, he took single heads and planted the seeds 

 in a separate plot, following the method of Hays in 

 Minnesota and Nilsson in Sweden. If the offspring were 

 again variable, but too promising to discard, another single 

 head was selected. Realizing the importance of knowing 

 something about the bread-making qualities of these new 

 wheats as soon as possible, he chewed the kernels — an old 

 trick learned from practical wheat farmers. If the resulting 

 gum was light in color and rubbery, flour from that wheat 

 could be expected to make good bread. Elasticity in flour 

 paste is an indication of high gluten content, the gluten 

 being a mixture of complex proteins that are present in 

 considerable amount in the kernels along with the starch 

 in those varieties that make the best flour. 



Saunders discarded those wheats that chewed into a 

 dark paste or did not make a good gum and all those that 

 did not ripen earlier than Fife. Stiffness of straw, color 

 of kernel, and freedom from rust were all carefully noted. 

 Those that were lacking in any respect were left out at 

 planting time. But still, out of some 700 lots of crossbred 

 wheat, many remained. Growing in the experimental plots 

 at Ottawa, they appeared to be equally good. 



The one wheat from this collection that was later to be 

 grown by the millions of bushels from Ontario to British 

 Columbia, and south to the Missouri River, did not stand 

 out as exceptional. Going back over the records this one 

 wheat was later found to be below the average in yield 

 for many years. At Ottawa it ripened only a day or two 

 ahead of Fife — not enough difference to cause it to replace 

 the old standby. 



It was out on the prairies of Saskatchewan that this 

 conquering cereal was to meet its test and come through 



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