21 



Huron are both bearded, Preston having pale chaff, and Huron 

 reddish. Stanley is a bearless wheat. Preston and Huron are fully 

 equal to Red Fife in hardness and in depth of colour of kernel, but 

 Stanley is perhaps not quite so hard, as a rule. In nons of these three 

 is the flour quite equal from a commercial point of view to that made 

 from Red Fife. They make very good bread indeed but it is not so 

 pale in colour or so light in texture as that made from Red Fife or 

 White Fife. These new varieties are therefore at a disadvantage in 

 those provinces where much emphasis is laid on baking qualities. 



The fourth sort is newer than these others and of different 

 parentage. It is derived from one of the crosses between Red Fife 

 and Hard Red Calcutta made on the Experimental Farms many years 

 ago. In the year 1903 an unfixed mixture of related types, descended 

 from this cross, was subjected to careful selection by Dr. Chas. 

 Saunders, the Dominion Cerealist. He isolated several types and 

 gave the name ' Marquis ' to the best of them. He propagated 

 this variety from a single plant of the year 1903. Except for earliness, 

 this wheat is almost indistinguishable from Red Fife in the field and 

 in its action in the mill, and in the bakery; so that it combines in 

 itself to a high degree all the advantages looked for. It retains 

 essentially the Red Fife quality in baking, and at the same time it 

 shows a distinct advance in earliness. It ripens with Preston, that 

 is to say, from five to ten days or more before Red Fife. 



In yield it varies considerably in different provinces. In the 

 eastern parts of Canada and in British Columbia it has given good 

 results but has not as a rule shown any unusual productiveness. But 

 in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, it has pro- 

 duced remarkable yields, and the reports sent in by farmers who 

 have received samples have been almost invariably enthusiastic. 

 Not only does Marquis ripen earlier than Red Fife but it better with- 

 stands adverse conditions such as wind, wet and rust and produces 

 larger crops of heavier weight per bushel and better appearance. In 

 plot tests at Indian Head, Marquis gave 50 per cent, more grain than 

 Red Fife in the average of the first five years. At Brandon a four- 

 year test showed 10 per cent, greater yield from Marquis. The best 

 field records are those made in 1909 at Brandon, where a four-acre 

 field gave something over 200 bushels of crop, and in 1910 at Indian 

 Head where a five-acre field gave an average yield of over 53 bushels 

 per acre. 



TRIUMPHS OF MARQUIS. 



The Marquis wheat has created a remarkable sensation in thc- 

 West. Applications began to come in the autumn of 1909 in unusual 



