792 DISCUSSION ON WHBAT: 
The Influence of Environment on the Composition of Wheat. 
While it has been held that the composition of the crop is determined 
largely by that of the parent seed—in other words that heredity is a potent, 
possibly in some cases the dominant, factor in influencing the character 
of the seed—it seems nevertheless true also that environment has a most 
marked effect on the grain. The term environment here is naturally used 
in its widest sense, and would include the influences exerted by climatic 
conditions, nature and culture of soil, &c. 
It has been a matter of common observation that wheat grown on 
newly cleared scrub-land in certain districts of the North-West is more 
or less ‘soft’ or starchy in character. The seed sown may be No, 1 Hard 
or No. 1 Northern—hard, semi-transiucent, and glutinous—and the 
product on such soils will, as a rule, contain a proportion of kernels with 
whitish, opaque spots—piebald wheat—indicating clearly a deterioration 
in quality from a commercial point of view. With cultivation of the soil 
this tendency to produce soft, starchy wheat apparently disappears, the 
character of the wheat generally improving, so that after a number of years 
the quality of the wheat grown may be greatly superior, as measured by 
protein content, to that which is at first produced. Though the change 
is usually gradual and in the same direction, it has been noticed that the 
quality of the wheat on such land is markedly influenced by the character 
of the season, so that while in some years there may be but little difference 
between the crops from the older and the newer land (seed of the same 
description being sown on both), in other years the difference may be so 
great that their common parentage is not at all apparent. 
This change from a hard, semi-translucent kernel to one that is soft or 
piebald is a change, as already indicated, not only in external and physical 
characters but in chemical composition; it is a falling off in commercial 
value marked by a decrease in the protein (gluten) content. Its extent 
can therefore be accurately traced by chemical means. 
The Dauphin district (North-Eastern Manitoba) is one of those in which 
there is a considerable area of this scrub-land—-i.e. land covered with 
small trees, shrubs, &c., and generally characterised by a high percentage 
of vegetable matter. As a rule, the district is favoured with an abundance 
of rainfall. Its wheat has been very largely piebald in character, though 
settlers claim it is improving in quality with the working of the soil. In 
1905 we obtained from Valley River, in this district, three samples of wheat 
and submitted them to analysis :— 
A. Wheat used as seed < . A : - 11:11 per cent. protein 
B. Wheat grown as first crop after ‘breaking’ . 9:93 
C. Wheat grown on soil cultivated 9 years . - 12°62 
” ” 
First, we have in these results an illustration of the extent to which 
environment may affect the composition of wheat in one season. Secondly, 
it is to be noticed that the wheat from the newly cleared land (B) is 
decidedly less glutinous (softer, starchier) than the grain from the older 
soil (C). The wheats differed considerably in appearance. The seed wheat 
was a fairly good sample, grading No. 1 Northern; the product from this 
on the new land was decidedly soft, with many opaque starchy kernels; 
that from the older soil was somewhat superior to the parent seed. 
To ascertain, if possible, the factors that determined this modification, 
the softer grain (B) was sown the following season on areas of newly 
cleared and old land on the same farm. In addition to the analysis of 
the wheats harvested, soil-moisture determinations were made from time 
