26 EXPERniENTAL PAH MS 



6 GEORGE V, A. 1916 

 MARQUIS WHEAT. 



Marquis wheat has won its fourth successive triumph in international competitions. 

 The latest victory was at the Dry-farming Congress at 'Wichita, Kansas, last autumn, 

 when an exhibit of Marquis grown by Mr. Seager Wheeler, of Rosthern, Sask., was 

 awarded the highest score. 



Marquis now holds,, almost undisputed, the first place among varieties of spring 

 wheat in Canada. It is also highly esteemed in parts of the United States which touch 

 the Canadian border ; and it has given an excellent account of itself in Colorado, at 

 high altitudes, where early-ripening varieties are nee-ded. 



PRELUDE AND PIONEER WHEATS. 



These very early-ripening varieties, which have been before the public for only a 

 short time, have shown themselves well adapted for some districts for which there has 

 hitherto been no suitable sort. Prelude, by its extraordinary earliness, makes whea- 

 growing profitable in localities where ordinary varieties are almost always damaged 

 by frost late in August; and Pioneer, though a less useful sort, is the only very early 

 wheat yet introduced which is at all suitable for dry districts. 



OTHER GRAIN. 



While the work with the other kinds of grain is unavoidably receiving less atten- 

 tion than is given to spring wheat, many new cross-bred and selected sorts of barley, 

 peas, -flax, and oats are under test. The best of these will be brought to the attention 

 of the public just as soon as they have been sufficiently tested. The premature intro- 

 duction of imperfectly studied varieties is being carefully avoided. 



lillLLING AND BAKING TESTS. 



- The usual extensive tests of new varieties of wheat have been carried on during 

 the past winter. The studies of the efirects of storage on flour have also been con- 

 tinued, and experiments have bcea conducted with a view to obtaining more precise 

 information in regard, to the exact conditions necessary for the production of the best 

 kinds of bread. 



DISTRIBUTION OF GRAIN AND POTATOES. 



The annual free distribution of small samples of seed grain and iwtatoes is being 

 conducted as usual. Owing to the very dry weather last season at some of the Farms 

 where the seed grain was produced, the quality of part of the material for distri- 

 bution is not quite so good as usual; but great care is taken to ensure that only grain 

 of the very highest possible degree of purity is sent out. 



As the experience of many years has shown that potatoes raised at Ottawa are 

 usually inferior for seed purposes to those produced in tlie cooler climate of the Mari- 

 time Provinces, arrangements are being made to distribute, this year, only potatoes 

 grown in New Brunswick. We believe that this seed will give entire satisfaction to the 

 farmers of Ontario and Quebec. 



DIVISION OF BOTANY. - 



. After the return, towards the end of April, 1914, of the Dominion Botanist from 

 Europe, where he attended, as the official delegate of the Dominion, the International 

 Conference of Phytopathology held at Rome, arrangements had to be made to fill 

 the vacancy on the staff of the Division caused through the resignation of the chief 

 assistant, Mr. J. W. Eastham, B.Sc, who was appointed to the post of Provincial Plant 

 Pathologist for British Columbia. 



