WINNIPEG, 1909. 787 
tion of the incubated dough by heat. Every factor which contributes to the 
rising of the dough—that is, to the size of the loaf—and to the power of the 
dough to preserve its shape (saving only the vital activities of the yeast plants) 
intervenes also in the fixation of the dough, where it may undo what it has 
already done. Successful incubation depends upon: (1) The suitability of the 
dough for the active growth and production of carbonic acid by the yeast 
plant, which again depends upon the concentration of sugar, the intrinsic 
diastatic power of the dough and the concentration and nature of the electro- 
lytes. (2) The physical character of the dough, which depends upon the size, 
shape and number of starch grains, the nature and concentration of the elec- 
trolytes, since these determine the physical properties of colloids present, 
notably the gluten. The electrolytes will also direct those molecular re- 
arrangements which occur during the baking process, and which give fixity 
and stability to the entire structure. 
10. Chemical Work on Canadian Wheat and Flour. By Frank T, 
Suutt, M.A., F.I.C., Chemist, Dominion Experimental Farms. 
A quarter of a century ago those who were taking cognisance of 
Canadian development and progress had begun to realise that Canada was 
destined to become one of the largest wheat-producing countries in the 
world. The North-West had been, so to speak, discovered, and, at least 
in parts, its suitability for the production of wheat of the very finest 
quality established. Since that time the area sown to wheat in the North- 
Western Provinces has annually increased, of late years at a phenomenal 
rate. Last season (1908) the western plains yielded in round numbers 
106,000,000 bushels from, approximately, 6,000,000 acres; in 1902, only 
six years ago, the acreage in wheat was less than half that sown last season, 
with a yield of 67,000,000 bushels. The estimate for the present year (1909) 
for the three western provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, is 
7,000,000 acres in wheat—a million acres increase a year. And that the 
possibilities for the further expansion are by no means exhausted will be 
evident from the fact that as yet but five per cent. or thereabouts of the 
tillable land is under crop. ; 
It was the thought, therefore, that wheat was destined to become, in 
Canada, a staple crop of the largest magnitude that determined us, almost 
immediately on the establishment of the experimental farm system, some 
twenty-two years ago, to devote special attention in the field and laboratory 
to the solution of problems in connection with this cereal. In this Paper 
it will only be possible to mention some of the more important investigations 
undertaken by the Chemical Division, presenting very briefly the data 
obtained and the conclusions reached. More detailed consideration of these 
various questions will naturally be found in the annual reports and 
bulletins issued from the Chemical Division of the Experimental Farms, 
and to which numerous references will necessarily be made. 
Red Fife and Imported Wheats. 
One of the earlier investigations had for its object the introduction of 
a wheat equal in quality to the well-known and highly esteemed North- 
Western Red Fife, which might ripen earlier and thus escape injury to 
which that variety is occasionally exposed from autumnal frosts. To this 
end, in 1887, a number of wheats were imported from India, Northern 
Russia and other European countries, prominent among which were the 
varieties Ladoga, Saxonka, Kubanka, and Onega. These, as well as 
varieties obtained from the North-Western States—Wellman’s Fife and 
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