268 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



well be erroneous, for it has been observed by Dr. Charles 

 Saunders ^ that, when two practically awnless wheats have 

 been artificially crossed, bearded types often occur in 

 the second and later generations. Mr. Wheeler was un- 

 able to suggest to the writer which of the two wheats, 

 Early Eed Fife or Preston, had supplied the foreign pollen. 

 Perhaps, however, the matter might be decided by making 

 two crosses, one between White Bobs and Early Red Fife 

 and another between Wliite Bobs and Preston, and com- 

 paring the progeny in the second and third generations 

 with those observed by Mr. Wheeler as the result of the 

 natural crossing. It so happens, as we have seen, that 

 Professor Thompson has already made crosses between 

 White Bobs and Eed Fife and White Bobs and Preston. 

 Perhaps, when his studies of these crosses are complete, 

 he will be able to solve the problem of the exact male 

 parentage of Red Bobs with which we are confronted. 



VI. The Selection, Multiplication, and Distribution of 



Red Bobs 



In 1913, Mr. Wheeler sowed seeds of about 60 differ- 

 ent types of Red Bobs. A severe hailstorm, on July 28, 

 partially destroyed his crop but served to reveal the 

 fact that some of the types were much better than others 

 in strength of straw. 



In 1914, Mr. Wheeler cut down his types to three or 

 four which, except for seed color, most closely resembled 

 the original White Bobs. These mixed strains on a Y^- 

 acre plot yielded at the rate of 50 bushels to the acre, 



Charles E. Saunders, Wheat Breeding in Canada, Reports of 

 the Winnipeg Meeting of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, 1909 ; also Dominion of Canada Experimental Farms 

 Reports for 1910, p. 166. 



