DISCOVERY OF MARQUIS WHEAT 149 



had been issued for each as to its parentage, the year \ 

 the cross was made, the place where the cross was made, \ 

 and the name of the cross-breeder who made the cross. 

 Some of these named varieties were distributed to the 

 farmers of the West ; and among the most noteworthy of 

 them were : Preston and Stanley, each derived from a cross 

 between Eed Fife and Ladoga, and Huron and Percy, each 

 derived from a cross between White Fife and Ladoga. 

 The four crosses from which these four cross-bred wheats t 

 originated, were all made at the Central Experimental r 

 Farm at Ottawa, the first two by Dr. William Saunders | 

 himself and the last two by his son. Dr. A. P. Saunders, i 

 These four wheats all ripen a few days earlier than Red 

 Fife but have various defects, especially in regard to their 

 milling and baking qualities. This makes them unde- 

 sirable for export from western Canada, and in conse- 

 quence they have only been grown there on a relatively 

 small scale; but a considerable amount of Preston, some- 

 times under other names, is still grown in the great central 

 spring-wheat region of the United States.^ 



8 Experimental Farms Report: for 1896, p. 20; for 1897, pp. 16-17; 

 for 1898, p. 27; for 1900, pp. 14-15; and for 1901, pp. 15-17. 



9 The Preston originated by William Saunders was grown at the 

 Minnesota Agricultural Station in 1895 as Minnesota Ifo. 188 and 

 was distributed under this number. The seed soon appeared for 

 sale under various new names; and in a few years it could scarcely 

 be found under its real name in the U. S. A. By the boards of 

 trade of Minneapolis and Chicago, it was wrongly called Velvet 

 Chaff, for it has a hairless chafif; and on the farms it was called 

 Ewrly Java, South Dakota Climax, Bearded Fife, Red Fife, Min- 

 nesota No. ISS, and Velvet Chaff. Under one or other of these 

 names Preston has given good yields in central and eastern South 

 Dakota and is rather widely grown there. It is found commonly 

 also in eastern North Dakota and in parts of Minnesota. Selec- 

 tions of Preston have been given a series of Cereal Investigation 

 numbers. These facts are stated by C. R. Ball in Varieties of Hard 

 Spring Wheat, Farmers' Bulletin No. 680, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, 1915, pp. 15-16. 



