770 DISCUSSION ON WHEAT: 
College, Guelph, Ontario, during the past twenty years, but more par- 
ticularly during the past ten years. Both winter wheats and spring wheats 
are grown in the-province, the former the more extensively. The grain 
of the common wheats is principally used for the manufacture of bread, 
of pastry and of breakfast foods; that of the durum, or the macaroni 
wheats, for flour to mix with that of the softer winter wheats and for 
export to other countries; and the Emmer as feed for farm stock. This 
paper will be confined almost entirely to results of experiments conducted 
at the Ontario Agricultural College on the seed of the common wheat 
(Triticum vulgare). 
About fifty acres of land, divided into upwards of two thousand plots, 
are used for experiments with farm crops. The grounds have a gentle 
slope towards the south-west; the soil is an average clay loam. A four 
years’ rotation, consisting of grain, cultivated crops, grain and pasture, is 
adopted. Twenty tons of farmyard manure per acre are applied once every 
four years before the cultivated crops are grown. No commercial fertilisers 
are used except in distinct fertiliser experiments, to which only a small 
number of plots is devoted each year. The plots vary in size, according 
to the requirements of the different experiments; the yields per acre are 
determined from the actual yields of the plots in every instance. All of 
the experiments are conducted for at least five years; many of them are 
continued for a much longer period of time. 
Varieties of Common Wheat (Triticum vulgare). 
Three hundred and seventy-three varieties of wheat have been tested for 
at least five years. Those which have made high records at the College 
have also given good returns in the co-operative experiments conducted 
throughout Ontario on hundreds, and even thousands, of farms. I¢ is 
interesting to note that those varieties which took the lead in the 
experiments at the College, and were distributed for the co-operative 
experiments several years ago, are the most extensively grown varieties in 
the province at the present time. Other varieties of high quality are now 
being used both for distribution and as foundation material for plant 
breeding. 
When tested under uniform conditions of soil and climate, it is found 
that certain wheats are particularly strong in some respects and compara- 
tively weak in others. In order to secure a wheat best suited for the locality 
in which it is to be grown, it is necessary to have a proper blending of 
such valuable characteristics as strength of straw, yield per acre, quality 
of grain, &c. The differences in the varieties are shown in Table 1, giving the 
average results of twelve varieties of winter wheat and twelve of spring 
wheat which have been tested at the Ontario Agricultural College for several 
years in succession. The varieties selected in each class are those which 
have given the largest average yields of grain per acre, as determined on 
the experimental plots. 
Dawson’s Golden Chaff stands highest in average yield of grain per acre 
of the fifteen varieties of winter wheat tested in each of fourteen years. 
It produces a very stiff straw of medium length, beardless heads with red 
chaff and white grain somewhat soft, but slightly over the standard in weight 
per measured bushel. The Early Genesee Giant furnishes a straw of 
medium length and of fair strength, a short, compact, bearded head and 
a grain of fairly good quality. The Imperial Amber produces a large 
amount of straw which is somewhat weak, a bearded head, red chaff 
and a red grain of average quality. The Geneva, the Tasmania Red and 
the Turkey Red varieties yield about ten bushels per acre per annum less 
than the Dawson’s Golden Chaff and possess comparatively weak straw, 
but the grain is hard, weighs well per measured bushel and produces large 
