8 TBE DIRECTOR, EXPERIMElf^TAL FARMS 



By Mr. Davis : 



Q. Have you a sample there of that White Banner oat of which you hare just 

 been talking ? 



A. Yes; here is the sample of the Banner oats gro-wn on tlie trial plot from -which 

 we obtained at the rate of 129 bushels 14 pounds to the acre. That was a larger crop 

 than was got from the field. 



Q. You said that the crop was 117 bushels on the field ? 



A. Yes ; that is correct, the Banner oat gave 117 bushels per acre as an average 

 for llj acres. A sample of the Abundance oats was also shown. 



The Tartar King, a sample of which I have just passed out for the inspection of 

 the members of the Committee, is a variety which was recently produced in England 

 by the firm of Garten Bros. The members of this firm have been working much along 

 the lines in which we have been working in this country, in the cross fertilizing of 

 grain, and this oat is one of the results. It has not done very well at Ottawa this past 

 season, but at Indian Head it has given an average of 104 bushels 10 pounds per acre 

 on 34 acres. It is a very strong strawed variety with a large kernel. 



PROCESS IN CROSS FERTILIZATION'. 



By Mr. Clancy : 



Q. What do you mean by cross fertilizing ? 



A. In the process of cross fertilizing two varieties are selected for this purpose, 

 the green head of the sort which is to serve as the female is taken just as it is coming 

 into flower when the flower case is opened and the male organs in the flower, the 

 stamens, taken out before the fertilizing pollen which they contain is ready to be shed. 

 They are removed while still green, and ripe pollen is brought from the other variety 

 chosen as the male, and applied to the pistil of the flower of the oat, and if the opera- 

 tion is successful you get one single kernel from each flower operated on, and each 

 kernel gives you a more or less distinct variety. From that single kernel a large 

 quantity is gradually produced by sowing the seed obtained from year to year. Of 

 course it takes some years before you get any large quantity of such new sorts, but 

 it is astonishing how rapidlj' the stock can be increased by systematic work. 



By Mr. Bell: 



Q. How much of the Preston wheat is there available ? 



A. I cannot say, but I should think there would be many carloads of it now. 

 Jt has been grown a good deal in the North-west recently. 



By Mr. Hughes {Yieioria) : 



Q. What is the weight per bushel of the oats this year on the average ? 



A. In the North-west they will run from 37 to 3S pounds, and sometimes as high 

 as 40 to 42, but that is unusually heavy. The oats we have been distributing have all 

 of them gone several pounds over the standard of 34 pounds, most of them four or five 

 pounds over that standard. 



By Mr. McEwen: 



Q. Would that be just as it comes from the threshing or cleaning or would it be 

 clipped in any shape '( 



A. We always clean the oats thoroughly and in some instances, where the varieties 

 have a long beard, we run tliem through a machine that takes this ofF. It makes a 

 better sample, they go in smaller compass, and their vitality is not injured by this pro- 

 cess. 



