1907.] 



Red Fife Wheat. 



485 



Square Head's Master. Even then the former did not appear 

 to be before harvest as thick a plant as the latter. From 

 this it will be gathered that the space occupied by an 

 average Fife plant, owing principally to its comparative lack 

 of flag, is quite small, and there seems to be a probability 

 that the yield per acre can be increased by thick seeding without 

 any harm being done to the crop in other ways. 



Price Obtained. — Buyers of wheat all over the country seem 

 to have been willing to pay a higher price for Fife than for 

 ordinary English sorts. There may be a difference between the 

 strength of one ordinary sort of English wheat and another 

 when each is tested carefully and fine points are taken into 

 consideration, but for commercial purposes the difference 

 must be readily appreciable if a higher price is to be obtained. 

 The superiority of Fife is so great, and its behaviour in the mill 

 and bakehouse is so strikingly different to that of ordinary 

 English sorts that growers appear to have found no difficulty 

 in obtaining increased prices for it. One prominent miller 

 offered to take air he could get at 2s. per quarter more than 

 ordinary English on account of breed only, and expressed his 

 willingness to pay a further increased price for any greater 

 natural weight which Fife might possess on delivery. 



Natural Weight. — Almost invariably it possesses a much 

 greater natural weight per bushel than ordinary sorts, and that 

 should be taken into account in making comparisons with other 

 sorts, as to yield of wheat per acre or as to the price obtained. 

 These considerations would account for the fact that several 

 growers report having obtained 3s., 3s. 6d., and 4s. per quarter 

 more for Fife than for Square Head's Master and similar 

 wheats. 



Quality of Straw. — Nearly every grower reports that the 

 straw is of good quality, usually very bright, but inclined to 

 be brittle and weak. Many fear it will go down in a wet 

 season, but the few growers who raised it in 1902 and 1903 

 did not complain of this, and the fact that it carries so little 

 flag should naturally help it to stand up in stormy weather. 

 The conclusion that the straw is inclined to be weak and 

 brittle cannot, however, be resisted. The defect, such as 

 it is, can be minimized considerably by early cutting and by 

 using the straw in the autumn and winter months, when the 



