THE ORIGIN OF EED BOBS 267 



for Mmself several of the natural hybrids and their 

 progeny growing in the plots. He particularly noticed 

 a cross-bred plant produced by a natural cross between 

 Marquis and Bluestem which possessed intermediate char- 

 acters in the head and straw. In view of the known oc- 

 currence of natural crosses between different varieties of 

 wheat when grown side by side in small plots, and in view 

 of facts known in connection with Mr. Wheeler's plots, 

 the author has no hesitation in expressing his belief that 

 Red Bobs owes its origin to a natural cross between 

 White Bobs and Saunders' strain of Early Red Fife or 

 between White Bobs and Preston, one or other of the red 

 wheats having been the male parent. 



Professor W. P. Thompson of the University of 

 Saskatchewan has crossed White Bobs with Preston and 

 White Bobs with Eed Fife, and he has informed the writer 

 that the first generation plants resulting from the cross- 

 bred grains in each of the two crosses have heads which 

 cannot be distinguished in general appearance from those 

 of White Bobs, except in the color of the grains which 

 are red instead of white. This fits in very well with the 

 supposition that the few red-grained plants which Mr. 

 Wheeler found in his White Bobs plots in 1910 were ac- 

 tually derived from cross-bred kernels such as those Pro- 

 fessor Thompson has produced artificially in the manner 

 described. 



Preston is a fully bearded wheat, whereas Early Eed 

 Fife is bald except for a few awns at the top of the head. 

 White Bobs and Eed Bobs are quite awnless. Since 

 bearded forms appeared after the natural cross in the 

 second generation, it might be supposed that the male 

 parent of Red Bobs was the bearded Preston and not the 

 almost bald Early Eed Fife; but such an opinion may 



