236 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



exact data of his field tests and affords us no evidence that 

 Quality has ever been compared with Red Fife, Marquis, 

 Bobs, Prelude, Preston, and Bluestem, etc., outside of 

 California in the great spring-wheat region of the United 

 States and Canada or with the various winter wheats east 

 of the Rocky Mountains where the climate is mild enough 

 to permit of their cultivation. Such comparisons may 

 have actually been made under varied climatic conditions 

 all over Canada and the United States; but, if so, the 

 writer has not heard of them. Is it not possible that Mr. 

 Burbank has confined his experiments to the one State of 

 California and that in claiming that Quality is suited for 

 all climates, is in reality simply expressing a pious hope 

 which, while it may some day be fulfilled, has not as yet 

 been justified by a series of critical tests ? 



Burbank's Quality is a white wheat. However, the de- 

 mand in the British market, so far as Canada is concerned, 

 is for wheat having a good red color ; and there is there- 

 fore a sound commercial reason for encouraging the pro- 

 duction of such red wheats as Marquis and Red Fife in 

 the west of Canada rather than white wheats. It is there- 

 fore certain that, even if Quality were suited to the cli- 

 mate of the Prairie Provinces, there would be considerable 

 opposition to its introduction into this area on the part of 

 grain merchants, millers, and farmers alike. 



That Mr. Burbank, with his forty years of experience 

 in successful plant breeding should, sooner or later, intro- 

 duce some very desirable new varieties of wheat is only 

 what one is justified in expecting of him; and doubtless 

 Quality is an improvement on the wheat grown in various 

 localities, particularly in California. However, there 

 does not at present appear to be any good reason for be- 

 lieving that Quality will ever replace Marquis either in 



