DISCOVERY OF MARQUIS WHEAT 173 



wheat grown on the continent of North America. In 

 1911 the international competition was held under the 

 auspices of the Kew York Land Show and the prize was 

 won by Mr. Seager Wheeler of Rosthern, Saskatchewan.^^ 



Mr. Seager Wheeler, to whose Red Bohs further refer- 

 ence will be made in a later section, won the international 

 prize in 1911 with a sample of Marquis wheat. From 5 

 lbs. of seed sent to him by Dr. Saunders from Ottawa in 

 1910, he obtained 250 lbs. of wheat and two sheaves which 

 were not threshed but which were estimated to contain 

 at least .5 lbs. of grain each. This extraordinary yield 

 was obtained on a strip of land measuring 15 by 155 feet, 

 equal to about one-nineteenth of an acre and probably con- 

 stitutes a world's record for spring wheat.^'"^ The crop 

 from the plot furnished part of the seed with which Mr. 

 Wheeler won his first prize. 



In 1912, Mr. Holmes of Raymond, Alberta, won the 

 international prize, the competition being held under the 

 auspices of the International Dry-farming Congress ; and 

 a sirnilar honor came to Mr. Paul Garlach of Allan, 

 Saskatchewan, in 1913. In both these competitions it 

 was Marquis which brought success. 



In 1914 and 1915 Mr. Seager Wheeler again won the 

 international prize with Marquis wheat; and in 1916 he 

 repeated his success; but this time he showed his new 

 variety which he selected from Marquis and which he 

 has called Kitchener. 



In the competition held in 1917 at the Twelfth Inter- 



34 I am indebted to the Grain Growers Guide for the above par- 

 ticulars and for the names of the winners of the international 

 prize. 



35 For the facts concerning Mr. Wheeler's achievement, see the 

 Report of the Dominion Cerealist in the Annual Report on Ex- 

 perimental Farms for 1911-12, Ottawa, 1913, p. 119. A calcula- 

 tion shows that the yield per acre was 81 bushels. 



