Wheat Breeding in Canada. 



27 



imported from various countries by the Director of the Experi- 

 mental Farms, and at as early a date as possible experiments in 

 cross-breeding were begun for the purpose of combining in one 

 sort all the desired qualities. Naturally, Red Fife was used as 

 one of the parents in the majority of the crosses which were 

 effected, as this wheat perhaps possesses more good points than 

 any other well-known kind from a commercial point of view. 



None of the early wheats imported from other countries proved 

 satisfactory for our conditions, although some of them have been 

 found of great value in cross-breeding. The new and improved 

 varieties which have been or are being given to the public have 

 therefore been produced either by cross-breeding (followed by 

 selection) or by the mere selection of superior strains from 

 existing sorts. Both of these lines of work have given valuable 

 results, though selection alone has been found to be limited in its 

 practical possibilities. 



The work of cross-breeding was begun by Dr. Wm. Saunders 

 (the Director of the Experimental Farms) and his assistants in the 

 year 1888. The principal crosses which were made at that time 

 were between Red Fife wheat (or White Fife, an almost identical 

 sort) and an early-ripening variety which had been obtained from 

 Russia. Some years later other crosses were effected, but the 

 main interest has centred in the progeny of the first crosses, 

 especially those known as Stanley, Preston, and Huron, which 

 are now widely distributed throughout the western provinces and 

 which have contributed largely to successful wheat-growing in 

 many of the less-favoured localities during the past few years. • 



In the earlier years the system of selection after crossing was 

 not so thorough as that now known to be necessary. The cross- 

 bred varieties first introduced were therefore not quite fixed in 

 some essential respects ; and it devolved on the writer of this 

 Paper, who was appointed in the year 1903 to take charge of the 

 work with cereals, to re-select all the varieties of wheat obtained 

 from the crosses effected up to that time. By this re-selection, 

 on Mendelian lines, of course the early cross-bred wheats have 

 been distinctly improved ; the best of the new, selected strains 

 combine to a very large extent the good qualities of both parents. 

 Stanley, Preston, and Huron, as now grown at the experimental 

 farms, are vigorous, early sorts, ripening a few days — or sometimes 

 nearly two weeks — before Red Fife, and having hard, bright 

 kernels of the popular reddish-brown shade. In yield of grain 

 per acre they often surpass Red Fife, even when the conditions are 

 favourable to the latter sort, and in yield of flour in the mill they 

 are quite satisfactory. From a commercial point of view they are 

 all somewhat inferior to Red Fife, for while they produce flour of 

 good quality it does not usually possess the remarkable baking 



