30 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [vol. x 



tion in the production of earlier ripening varieties, better suited 

 to northern areas of the Dominion, characterised by a short season. 

 This problem of finding a spring wheat of the quality of Red Fife but 

 which would ripen before there was danger of early autumnal frosts was 

 entered upon in the early days of the Farm System and from that time 

 until now many hundreds of new kinds have been produced by cross- 

 breeding, using for this work chiefly Red Fife and early ripening sorts 

 from India and Northern Russia. Among the new cross-bred varieties 

 of very high productiveness and of early ripening habit are the Marquis, 

 Preston and Huron, the first named being the most noteworthy. Mar- 

 quis is now displacing the others (and also Red Fife) in many wheat 

 areas of the North-West. It is about a week earlier in ripening than 

 Red Fife, produces usually from io% to 60% more crop (in Saskat- 

 chewan) and yields flour of the same character as Red Fife. It won 

 the highest award this year and last year in international competitions 

 open to the world for the best hard wheat. 



Prelude, just being introduced, ripens about two weeks before 

 Marquis and gives a good yield of very hard plump wheat. Its flour is 

 of the highest rank for baking strength but has a slightly yellowish tinge. 

 This wheat may prove of the greatest value in Northern Saskatchewan 

 and other northern districts, in which specially early ripening sorts 

 must be grown to escape frosts. 



Concurrently with this research by the Cerealist and to supplement 

 his results in the Baking laboratory, chemical and physical analyses 

 have been made of many of the cross-bred wheats so obtained. The 

 information so gained has proved of considerable assistance in discrimi- 

 nating between these new varieties. 



In barleys more than a hundred cross-bred sorts are now being 

 studied. A selected type of Manchurian has been introduced with 

 excellent results. 



A new cross-bred variety of peas, the Arthur, has proved the earliest 

 of all-round yellow field peas and of unusual productiveness. It is now 

 being actively introduced with very gratifying results in almost all 

 sections of the country. 



The annual distribution of seed grain is an important work also 

 in charge of the Dominion Cerealist. Samples of new and improved 

 varieties of wheat, oats and barley have, on application, been sent to 

 farmers who will undertake to sow them according to instructions and 

 report on the growth, yield obtained, etc. By this means information 

 has been obtained as to the merits of different varieties under widely 

 varying conditions of soil and climate, and much good achieved by the 

 introduction and dissemination of the best sorts of grain. 



