On the Inheritance of Strength in Wheat

Abstract

The experiments carried out by the Home Grown Wheat Committee of the National Association of British and Irish Millers have demonstrated the important fact that certain varieties of wheat retain their strength under our conditions. One of the best known of these varieties is Red Fife, the grain of which forms the basis of the graded wheat known as Manitoba Hard. Red Fife has now been tested in this country for six seasons and its strength is still found to be equal to that of the same variety when grown in Canada. Further a somewhat impure stock of the same variety has been cultivated in the Midlands for some sixteen seasons without showing any signs of diminution in strength. As grain of this character is considerably more valuable than that generally grown in this country and as there is a steadily increasing demand for it, the Committee recommended the experimental cultivation of Red Fife in various parts of the country. The results of these trials have shown that in some localities Red Fife will produce more profitable crops than any of the common English wheats, though in others its yield is too small for its profitable cultivation. In spite of very complete returns furnished by growers in most parts of the country it seems impossible at present to state with any precision what the factors are which determine whether it can be grown successfully. Its extended cultivation has also brought out the fact that the straw is not as rigid as the farmer would wish it to be and more than one grower has condemned the variety on this account.