150 ESSAYS ON "WHEAT 



Crossing two kinds of wheat is a relatively simple op- 

 eration, the technique of which it is not difficult to ac- 

 quire. However, new varieties are not obtained in one 

 generation only; for a cross-bred kernel, in succeeding 

 generations, always gives rise to a large number of plant 

 types which differ from one another in one or more char- 

 acters — such as length and strength of straw, length, 

 compactness, and uprightness of the heads, the color and 

 hairiness of the chaff, presence or absence of awns, color, 

 shape, size, and milling qualities of the grains, liability of 

 the grains to shell, earliness in maturing, resistance to dis- 

 eases, baking qualities of the flour, and so forth — and 

 most careful selection through a series of years is neces- 

 sary in order to isolate the best of its progeny. For this 

 laborious work. Dr. William Saunders soon came to lack 

 the necessary leisure. Owing to the great demands which 

 the ever-growing general work of the Experimental Farms 

 made upon his time and energies, the task of producing 

 new wheats suited for the Canadian West had not pro- 

 ceeded very far before its prosecution came to a stand- 

 still. Dr. Saunders became so busy that, in the end, he 

 was unable to exercise even a reasonable supervision of 

 the wheat-breeding experiments. The result was that for 

 several years no fresh experiments were undertaken, and 

 almost all that happened was that the different kinds of 

 grain were planted out upon the experimental plots and 

 the little harvests duly gathered in. In this way various 

 strains of wheat were kept in existence. At length, in 

 1903, Dr. Charles E. Saunders was appointed by the Gov- 

 ernment to take up the work of wheat-breeding; and he 

 thus inherited the whole mass of material which had been 

 brought together at the Central Experimental Farm. Dr. 

 William Saunders, after a long and faithful service to 

 the Dominion, retired in 1911 and passed away in his 



