218 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



seed rapidly increased. The Company supplied the new 

 seed to the settlers, with whom it was in great demand.^"* 



In 1883 the firm of Traill, Maulson and Clark arranged 

 for the importation into Manitoba from Minnesota of 

 10,000 bushels of Eed Fife. The government, for the pur- 

 pose of assisting in the improvement of the wheat crop, 

 allowed this and other consignments of Red Fife intended 

 for seed purposes to come into the country duty free ; and 

 the Canadian Pacific Eailway Company, with the same 

 object in view, held out a special inducement to importers 

 by offering to bring in seed wheat of this variety free of 

 charge.''^ 



The outcome of the efforts at improvement just de- 

 scribed was that after 1882 Red Fife soon replaced the 

 softer wheats, such as Club, Golden Drop, and White Rus- 

 sian, so that in the early eighties it became the standard 

 variety of wheat in western Canada. 



Red Fife was, and still is, a first-class cereal; and it 

 will always be interesting historically, not only for the 

 fact that it established the reputation of the Dominion for 

 the production of high-grade wheat with excellent milling 

 and baking qualities, but also because it was the male par- 

 ent first of Preston and subsequently of Marquis. It has 

 been justified not merely by its own achievements but by 

 its children. 



XXIV. Marquis as the Off-spring of Red Fife and 

 Hard Bed Calcutta 



The rudimentary plant or embryo present in every seed 

 arises in the first instance from a fertilized egg; and it is 



94 The above facts concerning the introduction of Red Fife into 

 western Canada by James Hartney and the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 way Company, were kindly related to me by Mr. William Sharman of 

 Winnipeg, who himself sowed Red Fife in Manitoba in 1883. 



95 Red Fife Wheat, Manitoba Daily Free Press, Feb. 24, 1883, p. 8. 



