EXPERIMENTS WITH MARQUIS WHEAT. 7 
in length, averaging 5.2 millimeters, or nearly 1 millimeter shorter 
than the kernels of Fife and Blues tern wheats (fig. 2) . The crease also 
is broader and deeper. 
The Marquis is an early variety, ripening from 98 to 135 days after 
sowing, varying with the season and locality. The average length of 
its growing period in the northern Great Plains is about 115 days. 
This makes it three or four days earlier than most of the other Fife 
varieties. Because of its earliness it escapes to some extent the 
drought of dry years, the rust and fall rains of wet seasons, and also 
the early fall frosts. These are the characters which have made it 
especially valuable in the Prairie Provinces of Canada. 
The growing season lengthens as one passes southward into the 
United States, and earliness is no longer so great an advantage. 
VARIETAL EXPERIMENTS. 
As soon as the Marquis wheat began to attract attention in 1912 
the United States Department of Agriculture began an extensive 
series of varietal experiments with it. 
SOURCE OF THE SEED. 
A small supply of seed (C. I. No. 3276) was obtained from Dr. C. E. 
Saunders, of Ottawa, in January, 1912. This was grown in the 
nurseries at several stations, but became the basis of the varietal 
experiments in plats only at Aberdeen, Idaho, and Newell, S. Dak. 
A larger supply (C. I. No. 3641) was obtained from the Lethbridge 
Experimental Farm in Alberta, in the early spring of 1913. This 
lot has been used in the varietal experiments of the Department of 
Agriculture, except in Idaho and Oregon and at Newell, S. Dak. In 
the spring of 1913 the Eastern Oregon Dry-Farming substation at 
Moro obtained a supply of seed direct from the Indian Head Experi- 
mental Farm in Saskatchewan. This lot of seed was given Cereal 
Investigations No. 4158 and has been used in the varietal experiments 
at Moro and Burns, Oreg. The sources of the seed used by the State 
experiment stations conducting independent tests are not known. 
GEOGRAPHIC AREA COVERED. 
The experiments recorded herein have been conducted in 13 differ- 
ent States. The area stretches from Iowa and Minnesota on the east 
to California and Oregon on the west. All the intervening States are 
included except Washington. 
In this great expanse of territory the conditions of climate and soil 
vary greatly. Naturally the adaptation and value of Marquis wheat 
vary with local conditions. The eastern portion of this territory is 
distinctly humid in climate, and the soil consists of glacial drift and 
alluvium. Progressing westward into the northern section of the 
Great Plains area marked changes occur, especially in the climatic 
