We must not dwell too long on this particular instance of evolution,
though it has meant much to our race. We wish, however, following
Professor Buller's _Essays on Wheat_ (1919), to explain the method by
which this good seed was discovered. From one we may learn all. The
parent of Marquis Wheat on the male side was the mid-Europe Red Fife--a
first-class cereal. The parent on the female side was less promising, a
rather nondescript, not pure-bred wheat, called Red Calcutta, which was
imported from India into Canada about thirty years ago. The father was
part of a cargo that came from the Baltic to Glasgow, and was happily
included in a sample sent on to David Fife in Ontario about 1842. From
one kernel of this sample David Fife started his stock of Red Fife,
which was crossed by Dr. Saunders with Hard Red Calcutta. The result of
the cross was a medley of types, nearly a hundred varieties altogether,
and it was in scrutinising these that Dr. Saunders hit upon Marquis. He
worked steadily through the material, studying head after head of what
resulted from sowing, and selecting out those that gave most promise.
Each of the heads selected was propagated; most of the results were
rejected; the elect were sifted again and yet again, and finally Marquis
Wheat emerged, rich in constructive possibilities, probably the most
valuable food-plant in the world. It is like a romance to read that "the
first crop of the wheat that was destined within a dozen years to
overtax the mightiest elevators in the land was stored away in the
winter of 1904-5 in a paper packet no larger than an envelope."
Thus from the Wild Wheat of Mount Hermon there evolved one of the most
important food-plants of the world. This surely is _Evolution going on_.
§ 2