3Q 



Wheat Breeding in Canada. 



old standard variety Red Fife is often caught by frost. By the 

 use of these earlier kinds the areas of profitable wheat culture have 

 been extended. Furthermore, a small acreage of some of the new 

 sorts may be advantageously sown, especially on stubble land, 

 even in districts where Red Fife succeeds fairly well, so as to 

 lengthen the harvesting season when labour is scarce ; with the 

 possible exception of Marquis, however, none of the new cross- 

 bred sorts thus far introduced can be recommended in place of 

 Red Fife in localities where that variety can usually be ripened. 



As an instructive proof of the value of early-maturing wheats 

 some results obtained last season on the experimental farm at 

 Lacombe in Central Alberta may be cited. All the spring wheat 

 on that farm was somewhat blemished by frost with the exception 

 of one very early variety, Downy Riga, which was cut before the 

 first frost. The kernels were plump and bright with a smooth 

 skin, and weighed lbs. to the measured bushel. Huron, a 

 little less early, was still so well advanced at the time of the 

 frost that the kernels when threshed were plump and weighed 

 62 lbs. to the measured bushel. The bran, however, was so 

 much roughened by the frost that the wheat would have been 

 graded quite low if offered for sale. Red Fife from the same 

 series of plots was very seriously damaged by the frost, the 

 kernels being rather shrivelled and the bran somewhat rough. 

 The weight of a measured bushel was only 58^ lbs. ; the yield 

 18 bushels per acre. Downy Riga gave 31 bushels, and Huron 

 37^ bushels per acre. 



While the results achieved thus far are of great value, still 

 further advances are expected in the near future. Some of the 

 new, hard, red, early wheats derived from the writer's recent 

 crosses are to be ground and baked during the coming winter ; 

 it is expected that from fifty to a hundred new sorts will be tested 

 in this way every year for several years to come. Out of this 

 large number we may confidently look forward to the discovery 

 of at least a few varieties which will surpass any of those yet 

 known by combining all the good qualities needed in an early 

 maturing wheat for export. 



Though cross-breeding is essential for the production of new 

 varieties of wheat radically distinct from any existing sorts, one 

 may occasionally isolate by mere selection some fairly distinct 

 type (a "sport" or a "mutant") superior in certain respects to 

 the variety from which it was selected. A considerable amount 

 of selection has been carried on at Ottawa, and one at least of 

 the new strains discovered promises to be of importance and ranks 

 in interest with the cross-bred sorts. This is a strain of Red 

 Fife wheat originated from a single early maturing plant found 

 by the writer in 1903. This strain has been thoroughly tested both 



