1904]. 



Varieties of Wheat. 



207 



and of the success which has attended the breeding of new 

 varieties of wheat under his direction. Among the spring 

 wheats commonly grown at the time the farms were established 

 none were so highly or justly esteemed as the Red Fife, and 

 the position it holds is still a pre-eminent one. It is, however, 

 open to one objection which sometimes proves a very serious 

 drawback to its cultivation. It is rather late in ripening, and 

 there have been seasons when early frosts in the North-West 

 have injured the grain so as to reduce its value very materially. 

 With a view to introducing a species of wheat which might 

 be free from this defect, varieties of wheat have been brought 

 to Canada from different countries and grown for many years 

 at all the experimental farms, alongside of the Red Fife and 

 other well known sorts, and their periods of ripening and weight 

 of crop carefully recorded, without, however, a single variety 

 being found having the high quality of the Red Fife and at 

 the same time ripening earlier. 



In 1888 the first experiments in the cross-breeding of wheat 

 were begun at the experimental farms, and since that time 

 several hundred new sorts have been produced and tested. In 

 originating many of these new productions the Red Fife has 

 been chosen as one of the parents, and a cross between this and 

 a wheat from Northern Russia has given rise to the varieties 

 known as Preston and Stanley. Taking the average yield 

 obtained on all the farms for a period of nine years, the Preston 

 has given a crop of 34 bushels 41 lb. per acre, while the Red 

 Fife has given 33 bushels 7 lb., a difference in favour of the 

 Preston of 1 bushel 34 lb. per acre. The Preston has also 

 ripened from four to six days earlier. 



The Stanley is a twin wheat with the Preston, both having 

 had origin in one kernel. The plant grown from the cross-bred 

 kernel the first season produced heads which were uniformly 

 bearded ; but when the seed from this was sown the year 

 following, some plants produced bearded heads and others 

 beardless. Subsequently, these two varieties were bred to type 

 by discarding all the variations produced, until the type became 

 fixed. Stanley, during a nine years' test, has given an average 

 crop of 32 bushels 2 lb. an acre, which is 1 bushel 5 lb. less 

 than the Red Fife ; in earliness of ripening, however, it is 



