32 



Influence of Good Seed. 



namely, the appearance in the second and later generations of 

 fully bearded plants, both the parent varieties having been prac- 

 tically awnless. In such cases I have never witnessed the pro- 

 duction of intermediate or half-bearded types which are so common 

 when bearded and beardless sorts are crossed. Perhaps the 

 occasional production of downy chaff when two varieties with 

 smooth chaff have been crossed may also belong to this same 

 category, though it appears to be less common. 



V. 



THE INFLUENCE OF GOOD SEED IN WHEAT PRODUCTION. 



By C. A. ZAVITZ, Professor of Field Husbandry, 

 Agricultural College, Guelph, Ont. 



That good seed is at the very foundation of good farming is as 

 true in the case of wheat as it is in that of any other farm crop; 

 seed is therefore occupying the attention of investigators through- 

 out the world. When we realise that about n per cent, of all 

 the wheat grown, amounting to fully 300 million bushels, is used 

 annually for seed, we can understand something of the great 

 importance of the problems. 



A considerable amount of attention has been paid to the study 

 of the seed of various classes of farm crops, including wheat, at 

 the Agricultural College, Guelph, Ontario, during the past twenty 

 years, but more particularly during the past ten years. Both 

 winter wheats and spring wheats are grown in the province, the 

 former the more extensively. The grain of the common wheats 

 is principally used for the manufacture of bread, of pastry, and of 

 breakfast foods; that of the durum, or the macaroni wheats, for 

 flour to mix with that of the softer winter wheats and for export 

 to other countries; and the Emmer as feed for farm stock. This 

 Paper will be confined almost entirely to results of experiments 

 conducted at the Ontario Agricultural College on the seed of the 

 common wheat (Triticum vulgare). 



About fifty acres of land, divided into upwards of two thousand 

 plots, are used for experiments with farm crops. The grounds 

 have a gentle slope towards the south-west ; the soil is an average 

 clay loam. A four years' rotation, consisting of grain, cultivated 

 crops, grain and pasture, is adopted. Twenty tons of farmyard 

 manure per acre are applied once every four years before the 

 cultivated crops are grown. No commercial fertilisers are used 

 except in distinct fertiliser experiments, to which only a small 

 number of plots is devoted each year. The plots vary in size, 

 according to the requirements of the different experiments; the 

 yields per acre are determined from the actual yields of the plots 

 in every instance. All of the experiments are conducted for at 



