241 



m their place we liave thick skinned, soft starchy wheat, called 

 Clawson. 



Red and Amber, winter wheats introduced into Western Ontario 

 some live or six years ago on lands not completely exhausted have 

 given a satisfactory yield, producing good grades of flour with 

 high percentage of short gluten. The strength of these varieties, how- 

 ever, is on the decline, and in a year or two more they will in all 

 probability have run their course. 



It has now become evident that a variety of wheat with a la.rge 

 jiercentage of gluten i-equires a new, rich, deep soil ; also that a variety 

 with a smaller percentage of gluten will yield a larger crop on the same 

 soil ; also that a partially exhausted soil which will not grow a wheat 

 with a high percentage of gluten may give an abundant crop of a softer 

 variety ; also that the softer the variety of wheat the thicker is the 

 husk or bran ; consequently not only is the quality of the flour poor, 

 but the quantity is also less. This gives I'ise to contention between 

 millers and farmers, the former asking for quality, and the latter grow- 

 ing the variety of which his land will produce most. 



Gilbert and Lawes say that season comes before fertilizers. This 

 statement applies especially to Great Britain, where they seldom have 

 a good season. The season of 1884 was probably the best, the world 

 over, that this generation has seen. Wheat growing countries (Canada 

 included) brought forth bountifully, and the present low prices are the 

 direct result of the unusually large yield. 



Yet with plenty of wheat, we have been importing flour from the 

 United States at the rate of six or seven hundred thousand barrels per 

 year, simply because the strength of our Und is being exhausted and 

 our wheat is soft or deficient in gluten. It has been repeatedly proved 

 that the pex'centage of gluten can be increased by fertiliz(U's, Prof. Mark 

 in one instance increasing it 8 per cent. Clifford Eichardson in his 

 report says (alluding to Gilbert and Lawes' experiments) : " This seems 

 to show that the application of mineral manures to our Eistern lands 

 should bring up the yield of grain and the quality as far as we are able 

 to judge and profit by these experiments abroad. 



Yet Canada is allowing thousands of tons of phosphate to leave 

 her shores every year, which, if manufactured and spread over Inn- ex- 



