WINNIPEG, 1909. 795 
To sum up, climatic conditions influence the quality of the wheat 
through the vegetative processes by shortening or lengthening the time 
which elapses between the formation of the kernel and its maturity—the 
shorter the period, the higher the protein content within certain limits. 
High temperatures, long days, and absence of excessive moisture during 
the later weeks of development, we have evidence, hasten the maturation 
of the grain and increase its percentage of gluten. These are the conditions 
that prevail in the North-Western wheat areas in those seasons which 
give the largest proportion of first-quality wheat, and we may therefore 
argue that in them we have an asset fully equal in importance towards the 
ea of the finest grain to that which we possess in our fertile prairie 
soils, 
11. A Comparison of the Baking Qualities of the Flour from some of 
the Grades of Wheat produced in the Western Provinces of Canada. 
By Professor R. Harcourt. 
The object of the investigation was to learn something about the relative 
bread-making value of leading grades of wheat now produced in Canada. 
The work included a study of three grades of spring wheat, z.e. Nos. I., I. 
and III. Northern, and of the most important grades of winter wheat 
grown in Alberta—Nos. I., II. and III. Alberta Red and Nos. I., II. and 
III. White winter wheat. The spring wheat is the most important, as it 
forms a very large proportion of the wheat exported, whilst only a com- 
paratively small amount of the Alberta Red and very little of the Alberta 
White has been exported. The chief variety among the spring wheats is 
the well-known Red Fife. The Alberta Red is in reality the Turkey Red, 
originally of Russia, brought into Alberta from the State of Kansas, where 
it is known as Kansas wheat or Kansas Red; Dawson’s Golden Chaff forms 
the greater part of the Alberta White winter wheat. 
It is a well-recognised fact that the conditions included in the term 
environment cause very marked differences in the quality of the same 
variety of wheat. Thus climate—including under this term the variations 
due to season and the condition of the soil—has a very marked influence on 
the quality of the wheat produced; consequently the milling qualities of 
the wheat and the baking properties of the flour produced from it are 
bound to vary from year to year. No attempt has been made in the work 
herein reported to study the influence of environment, the object having 
been to compare the quality of the various grades of wheat as they appear 
on the market. It is true that a miller may purchase wheat of a certain 
grade in one district that may be superior to that grown in another; but 
the great bulk of the wheat passes through the large elevators, in which 
wheat from many districts, grown under a great variety of conditions, is 
mixed together, so that the characteristics peculiar to localities are lost in 
the general mixture. 
One set of samples, Nos. I., II. and III. Northern, were received direct 
from Mr. David Horn, Chief Grain Inspector; they were taken from his 
mixed samples, but probably these were not gathered from an area wide 
enough to exclude all the influences of environment. Another set of 
Nos. I., II. and III. Northern was secured from the elevator at Goderich, 
Ontario; the samples represent these grades as they actually reach the 
miller in the older provinces or in Great Britain. The samples of Alberta 
Red and Alberta White were sent from the Grain Inspector’s office at 
Calgary, Alberta. 
