210 ESSAYS ON "WHEAT 



some one at the Scottish port; that this sample was sent 

 to David Fife at his farm in Ontario about the year 1842 ; 

 that this single kernel germinated and produced a plant 

 with three heads; that the kernels of these three heads, 

 when sown the next year, gave rise to the wheat which be- 

 came known as Red Fife; and that Red Fife is identical 

 with a wheat known as Oalician which was recently in 

 cultivation in Galicia. 



George Essen's letter was but little noticed at the time 

 it was written and soon passed into oblivion. As Eed 

 Fife grew in importance with the passage of years, the 

 story of its origin became a tradition which, as it passed 

 from mouth to mouth, gradually assumed varied and color- 

 ful forms. Some of these traditions which deal chiefly 

 with the manner in which the original sample of grain 

 was first procured, will now be told. 



A contributor ^^ to the Manitoba Daily Free Press, 

 writing in 1883 in reference to Eed Fife, says : " The 

 first wheat grown in Canada was on a farm owned by a 

 person by the name of Fyfe in the township of Otonabee, 

 County of Peterborough. Mr. Fyfe hired a Scotchman as 

 a farm laborer. When his time expired with Mr. Fyfe, he 

 decided on returning to his native country. Mr. Fyfe re- 

 quested him to send a Scotch bonnet from Glasgow. When 

 there a vessel from the Black Sea was unloading wheat at 

 one of the docks.** He procured the full of the bonnet 

 and sent it on the first opportunity to Mr. Fyfe. I have 

 many times been on the same farm." 



Another tradition, current at Peterborough at the pres- 

 ent day, also includes the incident of the cap but with dif- 

 ferent details. It is as follows : " David Fife did not 



83 M. Colquhoun of Mansfield, Ontario, in the Mcmitoha Daily Free 

 Press, Feb. 24, 1883, p. 8. 



Si In this story the Black Sea is substituted for Danzig on the 

 Baltic. This is doubtless an error due to imperfect memory. 



