DOMINION EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 39 



in small plots the following year. Each selected strain is always 

 kept separate and from year to year comparisons are made 

 and those strains which show themselves inferior are eliminated 

 until the whole number is, generally, reduced to one or two^ 

 which are sometimes quite different from the parent variety. 



A similar system of selection is followed when dealing with 

 the progeny of cross-bred seeds, although in these cases, owing 

 to the inherent tendencies to variation, the selection of single 

 plants has to be repeated every year, for about five times, 

 until the various types become quite fixed in character. 



The cross-bred wheats which were originated on the Ex- 

 perimental Farms during the first few years after their estab- 

 lishment, and to which the system of selection then in vogue 

 was applied, have since been re-selected with decidedly bene- 

 ficial results, by the method here described. 



(4) Cross-Breeding. 



While good results may be attained in the improvement of 

 grains by selection alone, this method has been found inade- 

 quate whenever the necessity has arisen for the production of 

 varieties radically different from those already on hand. Cross- 

 breeding must be resorted to when new combinations of char- 

 acters are required. Realizing the importance of such work 

 for Canadian conditions, especially in regard to spring wheat, 

 a great deal of attention has been given to it ever since the 

 establishment of the Dominion Experimental Farms. Indeed, it 

 may be said that the most important work of the Cereal Division 

 is in the production of new, cross-bred varieties of spring 

 wheat of early ripening habit and suitable for the northern 

 wheat-growing areas of Canada. Many hundreds of new kinds 

 have been produced, chiefly by crossing Red Fife (and varieties 

 derived from it) with early ripening sorts obtained from India 

 and Northern Russia. A few of these wheats have already 

 been quite widely disseminated and have displayed excellent 

 qualities. Many others are still undergoing selection and pre- 

 liminary trial at Ottawa. Of the varieties which have proved 

 useful in districts where the older standard wheats could not 

 be depended upon to ripen before frost, the most noteworthy 

 is Marquis. This wheat comes from a cross between Hard 

 Red Calcutta and Red Fife. After being tested for a few 

 years at Ottawa, it was sent first to the Experimental Farm 

 at Indian Head, Sask. for trial in the year 1907. From the 

 very beginning it proved remarkably successful in Saskatche- 

 wan, and has since been found of great value in parts of Mani- 

 toba and Alberta also. Marquis is now recognized as the best 

 early ripening wheat available for the farmers, of Saskatchewan. 



