Chemical Work on Canadian Wheat. 57 



Red Fife and Imported Wheats. 

 One of the earlier investigations had for its object the intro- 

 duction of a wheat equal in quality to the well-known and highly 

 esteemed North-Western Red Fife, which might ripen earlier and 

 thus escape injury to which that variety is occasionally exposed 

 from autumnal frosts. To this end, in 1887, a number of wheats 

 were imported from India, Northern Russia, and other European 

 countries, prominent among which were the varieties Ladoga, 

 Saxonka, Kubanka, and Onega. These, as well as varieties 

 obtained from the North-Western States— Wellman's Fife and 

 Bluestem — were submitted at the outset to chemical and physical 

 examination to determine their relative values as compared with 

 Red Fife, and to ascertain, after growth in various parts of 

 Canada, the effect of environment, soil, climate, &c. , upon their 

 composition.* 



Among the more prominent deductions made from this work 

 were the following : — 



1. That the percentage of protein of the Canadian-grown 

 Russian wheats was very similar in amount to that of Red Fife. 

 The averages were as follows : Ladoga, 14*31 per cent; Saxonka, 

 13*91 per cent. ; Kubanka, 13*77 P er cent. ; and Red Fife, 14*00 

 per cent. 



2. That the Manitoba-grown Red Fife was fully equal, and 

 indeed somewhat superior in protein, to the best-grown varieties 

 of Minnesota. The samples examined furnished the following 

 averages: Wellman's Fife, 13*68 per cent.; Bluestem, 11 '75 per 

 cent. ; Red Fife, 14*00 per cent. 



3. That growth in the Canadian North-West had, in the 

 majority of instances, markedly increased the gluten content. 

 Thus, imported Ladoga contained 12*75 P er cent, protein, while 

 the average of eight samples of grain grown in the North-West 

 from this seed was 14*57 P er cent., a significant illustration of 

 the influence of environment on the composition of wheat. 



In 1893, when Ladoga had been successfully grown for several 

 years in certain districts of the North-West, a further and more 

 exhaustive study of its flour was made, supplemented by baking 

 trials on a large scale, f We found that, compared with Red 

 Fife, Ladoga yielded a gluten of inferior quality; it was less 

 elastic, more sticky, and yellower. Though occasionally, with 

 special manipulation, a well-risen and fairly white bread was 

 obtained, in the larger number of trials, and when the baking 

 methods were not specially modified, the bread was somewhat 

 flat, heavy, and yellowish. Our experiments indicated further 



* Bulletin No. 4. Ladoga, Red Fife, and other varieties of Wheat. March, 

 1889. 



t Bulletin No. 18. Ladoga Wheat. February, 1893. 



