44 THE DIRECTOR, EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



Preston xn-oduees excellent crops, but the Ked Fife does not grow so well. When Ked 

 Fife is sown in eastern Canada it becomes starchy and deteriorates. In the North-west 

 the climate is very favourable for this wheat, and it is produced there of the highest 

 qualitj-, very hard and rich in gluten. The Canadian Xorth-west, the northern United 

 States, and the northern parts of Eussia are the only places where such high grade 

 wheat can be grown, and the world must look for its supplies of this hard spring wheat 

 from those countries. The millers of England have lately taken some action in regard 

 to this question of improved varieties. They want to see varieties of wheat tested in 

 England sufficiently hard to improve the quality of the wheat grown there, so that they 

 may be able to use less of these hard wheats and maintain the quality of the flour they 

 are making. A few days ago we sent forward several sacks of grain for this purpose, 

 including Ked Fife and Preston, and if the rcoult is satisfactory it may lead to in- 

 creased cultivation of spring wheat in Great Britain. I mention this to show the value 

 of these different wheats. I am very glad that the question of Pted Fife was brought 

 up, as I rec<ignize the great importance of encouraging its general cultivation. At the 

 same time, letters frequently reach me from farmers asking if there is not some variety 

 they could grow which would ripen a few days earlier than Eed Fife. Hence it is im- 

 portant to have other varieties as nearly equal to Ked Fife as possible and at the same 

 time earlier, so as to prevent them from importing starchy wheats of poor quality 

 which would be likely to deteriorate the quality of grain grown in that district if gen- 

 erally cultivated. 



As a rule, Ked Fife can be grown with success in most parts of the Xorth-west, if 

 the land is well prepared and the seed got in early. 



Mr. Boyd. — My anxiety and the anxiety of every person interested in' the west is 

 in having that hard Fife wheat grown as largely as possible. It was only the other day 

 that in one of the leading milling papers in the United States, The North-west Miller, 

 there were statistics to show that there are only 200,000,000 bushels of hard wheat, that 

 is estimated, grown in the United States. One hundred million of it is available at Min- 

 neapolis, and they cannot get enough of the balance of it at Duluth to bring up their 

 other wheat to the standard necessarj- for exportation, and there is pressure being 

 brought to bear on the United States government at the present time to induce them 

 to permit our hard wheat to go out of Manitoba to be ground for the very reason that 

 they want to get the best rates. I bring this to the attention of Mr. Saunders, and am 

 glad to find as I have always found, that he was deeply interested in that particular 

 kind of wheat. 



The Witness. — I might say that two years ago I went to ilinneapolis and spent 

 Bome days there among their mills, and seeing the kinds of wheat they were working up. 

 and I was surprised at the quantity of lower grades of wheats the millers were able to 

 use, and still keep the grade up, by tlie addition of judicious quantities of hard wheat. 

 I found cars loaded with wheat that was very smutty, but they have means of cleaning 

 it and making a good sample. There was also considerable quantities of starchy wheat 

 worked up. I was kindly taken through the mills and shown everything I wanted to 

 see, and found that they had a very complete and interesting system of testing the qual- 

 ity of the flour they make from day to day. Every day the chief millers from the 

 different mills, of which there are generally a number under one management, come 

 together with samples of the flour they are malving from the mixed grain u.sed, and 

 these samples are submitted to the chemist, who has several assistants. He determines 

 the proportion of moist gluten in each sample, also the quality of the gluten. Tha 

 quality is ascertained by putting each sample into a small cylinder furnished with a 

 light movable cap. These cylinders which are all of the same size, and are submitted to 

 a temperature of about 300° F. in an electrical oven, so arranged that the temperature 

 can be easily regulated. When exposed to such heat the gluten gradually expands, fill- 



