260 ESSAYS ON "WHEAT 



tralia and did mucli to improve the varieties grown in his 

 native country. By cross-breeding and selection he ob- 

 tained a fine new wheat with white kernels, which he 

 introduced under the name of Bobs ; and he sent about a 

 teaspoonful of the seed to Dr. Charles Saunders, the 

 Cerealist for the Dominion of Canada. Dr. Saunders 

 tested Bobs at Ottawa and then sent some of it to the In- 

 dian Head Experimental Farm in Saskatchewan where it 

 was grown in plots for some years. It was found to be 

 a little earlier ^ than Marquis but less productive.* On 

 account of this lesser productivity and the unfavorable 

 color of its kernels, it was at length discarded. 



III. Importance of the Color of Wheat Kernels 



Even had Dr. Saunders found Bobs to be superior to 

 Marquis in productivity, the white color of its grains 

 would have been fatal to its introduction into western 

 Canada. This is a matter that requires a little explana- 

 tion. Australia is famed in the British markets for its 

 white wheats but Canada for its red wheats. Now the 

 British buyers are conservative men and suspicious of 

 changes in wheat colors. Hence it has been found advis- 



lions sterling to the national exchequer by the creation of Feder- 

 ation wheat. Dr. Cherry estimates the cash value of Farrer's work 

 to Victoria alone during the 1909 season at £250,000. Since that 

 estimate was framed, the area sown with this popular variety in 

 Victoria has greatly increased, and the benefits have become com- 

 mensurately greater. Farrer's work was continued by G. L. Sutton, 

 late Wheat Experimentalist of New South Wales, who did a great 

 deal to popularize the Farrer varieties amongst farmers." Wheat 

 Breeding, The Journal of Eeredity, March, 1915, pp. 124-125. 



2 Dominion of Canada Experimental Farms Report for 1915, p. 

 877; for 1912, p. 123; for 1911, pp. 144-145; for 1910, p. 172. Bobs 

 ripened 1 day earlier than Marquis in 1910, 3 days earlier in 1911, 

 7 days earlier in 1915, and on the same day as Marquis in 1912. 



3 Dominion of Canada Experimental Farms Reports: for 1910, p. 

 172; for 1911, p. 140; for 1915, p. 877. 



