146 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



millers and bakers alike ; and its first grade, Manitoba 

 No. 1 Hard, fetched the highest price in the British market 

 and became famous throughout the world. Unfortu- 

 nately, however, in years with early frosts, Red Fife was 

 often frozen in the fields; and, when this happened, the 

 farmers cried out for a variety of wheat which would 

 mature a few days earlier in the season. In the hope of 

 meeting this demand. Dr. William Saunders imported a 

 considerable number of varieties of wheat from many 

 different countries, grew them alongside of Red Fife at 

 the various Experimental Farms, and thus made a large 

 number of comparative observations on their time of ripen- 

 ing and their yield. Some of these wheats were brought 

 from the colder districts of northern Russia, verging on 

 the Arctic circle, some from other countries in northern 

 parts of Europe, others from different altitudes in the 

 Himalaya Mountains of India from 500 feet to as high 

 as 11,000 feet which is about the limit for wheat grow- 

 ing in that range and yet others from the United States 

 of America, from Australia, and from Japan. Most of 

 these wheats, such as those from the north-western parts of 

 the United States and from Australia, proved to be as 

 late in ripening as, or even later than. Red Fife, but the 

 -^ Russian and Indian wheats usually ripened earlier. How- 

 ' ever, some of the earlier sorts were inferior in their milling 

 and baking qualities, and others gave such small crops 

 that the growing of most of them had to be abandoned. 

 For a time Dr. Saunders thought that Ladoga, a hard 

 \ red Russian wheat which grows in latitude 60 near 

 I Lake Ladoga, north of Petrograd, and by latitude 600 

 miles north of Winnipeg, would solve the problem with 

 which he was confronted, for it was found to ripen its 

 grains over the whole Dominion about ten days earlier than 

 Red Fife and also to give a good yield. After being tested 



