Page:The empire and the century.djvu/434

 competition in the growing and selecting of seed of wheat and oats, according to the plan outlined. Each competitor was required to operate a seed-plot consisting of not less than one-quarter acre during each of three consecutive years, and each year to select from the ripened standing crop of the seed-plot enough large heads of wheat or oats from the most vigorous and productive plants to provide well-developed seed for the seed-plot of the succeeding year. The operations of the competitors were inspected from time to time during the term. The parents of the 450 competitors who completed the three years' work were found, as a rule, to be among the best farmers in the localities where they reside. During each of the three years 100 heads were selected and forwarded to me for examination. These were separately threshed, and the cleaned grain was counted and weighed. Certified reports showing the yield from the quarter-acre seed-plot were also received from each competitor.

The increase in the large heads from the crop of 1900 to those from the crop of 1908, on the average for all Canada, was 18 per cent. of increase in the number, and 28 per cent. in the weight, of grain per 100 heads of spring wheat; and 19 per cent. of increase in the number, and 27 per cent. in the weight, of grain per 100 heads of oats.

The export commerce of Canada in farm products is growing very fast. The following table shows the value of the exports of Canadian agricultural and animal products in three years, typical of the expansion in the last twenty:

Canada has still large areas of unoccupied wheat lands of great fertility. From all I can learn regarding