[JAMES] AN HISTORICAL WAR CROP 1 
Scotland, and settled in Otonabee, Peterboro county, Ontario, about 
1821. Here is Mr. Esson’s letter, which may be found in ‘‘The Cana- 
dian Agriculturist” for March, 1861 (p. 167). 
“About the year 1842, Mr. David Fife, of the Township of Otana- 
bee, Canada West (now Ontario), procured through a friend in Glas- 
gow, Scotland, a quantity of wheat which had been obtained from a 
cargo direct from Dantzig. As it came to hand just before spring 
seed time, and not knowing whether it was a fall or spring variety, 
Mr. Fife concluded to sow part of it that spring, and wait for the : 
result. It proved to be a fall wheat, as it never ripened, except three 
ears, which grew apparently from a single grain. These were preserved, 
and although sown the next year under very unfavorable circumstances 
being quite late, and in a shady place, it proved at harvest to be entirely 
free from rust, when all the wheat in the neighborhood was badly 
rusted. The produce of this was carefully preserved, and from it 
sprang the variety of wheat known over Canada and the Northern 
States by the different names of Fife, Scotch, and Glasgow. As the 
facts occurred in my immediate neighborhood, and being intimately 
acquainted, not only with the introducer, but with the circumstances, 
I can vouch for the correctness of the statement, and if necessary, 
produce incontestable proof.” 
But the story is not yet complete. In 1905, Dr. Chas. E. Saun- 
ders, Dominion Cerealist, in his evidence before the Parliamentary 
Committee on Agriculture and Colonization, referred to Mr. Esson’s 
letter, and then added the following: 
“This account has given rise to the idea that Red Fife is a Cana- 
dian wheat; that it originated with Mr. Fife in some wholly unaccount- 
able manner or as a sport from some European variety. It always 
seemed to me probable that the kernel which Mr. Fife obtained was 
merely a seed of some common European variety which had found its 
way into this wheat from Dantzig. Last season, among our newly- 
imported European varieties, was one under the name of ‘Galician’ 
obtained from a seedsman in Germany. Now, Galicia lies about 
300 miles inland from Dantzig. This imported Galician wheat struck 
me at once as being very much like Red Fife, and Ltherefore sowed it 
last spring alongside Red Fife, and watched them both very carefully 
throughout the season. They proved to be identical at all stages of 
their growth as well as when the grain was harvested. A larger plot 
of Galician wheat furnished grain for milling purposes. This was 
ground, analyzed, and baked. Red Fife froma plot in the same field 
was similarly treated. The two samples of flour were found to be 
alike in all respects, and thus the absolute identity of the two wheats 
was established. The firm from which the seed of the Galician wheat 
