DAIRY AXD SEED IMPROVEMENT MELTiXG-;. 279 



SELECTION OF SEED WHEAT AND WHEAT 



RAISING. 



Prof. Franklin Menges, York, Pa. 



(Stenographic Report.) 



I am afraid the subject I am about to talk upon this afternoon 

 is not very interesting to you, because you are not wheat raisers. 

 I come from a section of this country where we have been rais- 

 ing wheat for the last two centuries. For some reason, I can- 

 not tell you why, the Pennsylvania Dutch like wheat ; they like 

 to raise it; they raised it when they got only fifty cents a bushel 

 for it, and the longer they raised it at that price the poorer they 

 got. There are only two kinds of people who could do that kind 

 of thing — the Dutch and the farmer. 



Another thing, I come from that section of the country 

 where we raise winter wheat, and I am inclined to think your 

 section is better adapted for raising spring wheat. What I am 

 about to say is largely in connection with the raising of winter 

 wheat. 



When the time arrives that you and I will have to live more 

 cheaply, the crop that will then be grown will be wheat, because 

 you and I could live on two pounds of wheat a day for 365 days 

 out of the year and feel all right. There is no other crop that 

 contains all that is necessary to make our bodies grow when we 

 are young ; to build them up ; to furnish us muscle and make 

 good- blood; to cover our bodies with skin and heads with hair. 

 I notice some of the heads here need it. 



I do not believe wheat will ever be as cheap again as it has 

 been, because all the nations are finding out that here is a crop 

 upon which they can live and endure far better than upon any 

 other crop produced today; this is the conclusion of the rice 

 consmning nations of the world and they are fast becoming 

 wheat consuming nations. 



