148 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



more varieties. ,The method employed was that of cross- 

 breeding, and the first crosses were made at the Central 

 Experimental Farm at Ottawa on July 19, 1888. The 

 pollen was taken from the flower of one kind of wheat 

 and placed on the stigma of another kind from which the 

 stamens had been removed ; and the cross-bred kernel re- 

 sulting was saved as seed for the next year.^ Many hun- 

 dreds of crosses were made in this way, particularly be- 

 tween Red Fife or White Fife as one parent and an early- 

 ripening wheat, such as Ladoga or one of the Indian 

 wheats, as the other. Dr. William Saunders himself made 

 many of these crosses at Ottawa but a large number of 

 others were made by Dr. A. P. Saunders, Dr. C. E. Saund- 

 ers, and Mr. W. T. Macoun, and a few by Mr. J. L. 

 McMurray, all of whom acted as his assistants.^ In 1892, 

 Dr. A. P. Saunders was sent to the Experimental Farms 

 at Brandon in Manitoba, at Indian Head in Saskatche- 

 wan, and at Agassiz in British Columbia for the purpose 

 of making further crosses ; "^ and the cross-bred kernels 

 which had been produced in the West, or their progeny, 

 were subsequently transferred to Ottawa where the chief 

 work of selection was carried out. As a result of these 

 selections, a considerable number of wholly or partially 

 purified new varieties of wheat were gradually isolated. 

 By the year 1901, fifty-eight of these varieties which had 

 undergone plot tests, had received names, and a statement 



5 W. Saunders, How Varieties of Cross-Bred and Hybrid Grains 

 Are Produced, P^xperimental Farms Reports for 1896, pp. 21-22. 

 The illustrations were drawn by C. E. Saunders. For a minute de- 

 scription of the method of cross-pollination employed by C. E. 

 Saunders twelve years later, vide Experimental Farms Reports for 

 1908, p. 212. 



6 C/. Experimental Farms Reports: for 1896, p. 20; for 1897, 

 pp. 16-17; for 1898, p. 27; for 1900, pp. U-15; and for 1901, pp. 

 15-17. 



7 Experimental Farms Report: for 1892, p. 234; for 1893, p. 336. 



