DISCOVERY OF MARQUIS WHEAT 209 



Last season, among our newly-imported European varie- 

 ties, was one under the name of ' Galician,' obtained from 

 a seedsman in Germany. jSTow, Galicia lies about 300 

 miles inland from Danzig. This imported Galician wheat 

 struck me at once as being very much like Red Fife, and I 

 therefore sowed it last spring alongside Red Fife, and 

 watched them both very carefully throughout the season. 

 They proved to be identical at all stages of their growth 

 as well as when the grain was harvested. A larger plot of 

 Galician wheat furnished grain for milling purposes. 

 This was ground, analyzed and baked. Red Fife from 

 a plot in the same field was similarly treated. The two 

 samples of flour were found to be alike in all respects, and 

 thus the absolute identity of the two wheats was estab- 

 lished. The firm from which the seed of the Galician 

 wheat was obtained, informed me that the varietv was 

 procured by them many years ago from a farmer in Ga- 

 licia. It seems, therefore, quite clear that the kernel of 

 wheat which came into the hands of Mr. Fife, was a kernel 

 of this Galician spring wheat, accidentally present in the 

 cargo of winter wheat from Danzig, of which he obtained 

 a portion. It is interesting to be able to throw this light 

 on the subject of the origin of Red Fife, which has hitherto 

 seemed very dark. There is no doubt that this variety is 

 still grown in Europe, and so far as our tests have gone, it 

 seems to be of the same quality there as it is here." ^^ 



It therefore seems certain : that Red Fife was originally 

 grown in mid-Europe ; that one of its kernels was con- 

 veyed in a cargo of winter wheat, via the Baltic and the 

 N^orth Sea, from Danzig to Glasgow ; that a sample of the 

 cargo containing the kernel in question was procured by 



82 The Origin of Red Fife Wheat, Evidence of Dr. Charles E. 

 Saunders before the Select Standing Committee on Agriculture and 

 Colonization, Ottawa, 1905, pp. 216-217. 



