14 



SUM>rARY OF CONDITIONS AND NEEDS OF THE DISIRICT. 



(1) Chief varieties now grown: 



Fultz, Poole, 



Eudy, Valley, 



Early Red Clawson, Nigger, 



Dawson's Golden Chaff. 



(2) Present average ji.eld per acre, about 14 bushels. 



(3) Present needs of tlie di«trict: 



(a) Hardness of grain. 



(b) Eust resistance. 



(c) Hardy winter varieties. 



SOUTHERN ^VHEAT DISTRICT. 



In area this district includes the larger portion of Kentucky, Vir- 

 ginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, all of Tennessee, and portions 

 of South Carolina, Georgia. Alabama. Arkansas, and Missouri. The 

 annual production of wheat is comparativeh' small, and is furnished 

 principally by Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia. In the 

 greater portion of the region the combination of great rainfall with 

 mild temperature is not conducive to the greatest success in wheat 

 growing. The soil is also generally not of the best for such purposes. 

 Rust is always ver}^ bad, because of the constantly damp, warm climate. 

 In spite of these difficulties there is no doubt that with sufficient effort 

 the wheat industry might be very materiall^^ improv-ed. Just recently 

 there has been much interest awakened in the possibilities of success- 

 ful wheat culture, particularly in Georgia and South Carolina. This 

 increasing interest in the matter finalh' resulted in the calling together 

 of a convention at Macon, Ga.. in July, 1899, when it was unanimously 

 decided that Georgia can veiy easily and should supply her own 

 demands for wheat for bread making. Man}^ members of the conven- 

 tion gave very favorable testimon}" regarding their own experiences 

 in wheat growing during the past year. Probably one of the greatest 

 obstacles in the way of profitable wheat raising in portions of the South 

 is the lack of good flouring mills, much of the grinding being at pres- 

 ent performed by the most primitive of gristmills. With a continued 

 increase in wheat acreage there will perhaps be a corresponding 

 increase in the number of iii'st-class mills constructed. 



On account of the severe rust attacks which occur in this district it 

 is highl}' desirable to grow early ripening and rust resistant sorts. 

 But there are really not many early matui'ing wheats grown in this 

 country, and of the early foreign varieties already tested none have 

 yet proved to be sufficiently hardy. Canning Downs, an early Austra- 

 lian sort, winterkilled even in so mild a region as Mississippi.^ How- 



^See Tracy, S. M. T^Tieat. Sixth Annual Eeport Mississippi Agricultural Expert 

 iment Station, 1893, pp. 23-25; also Eighth Annual Eepoi't, 1895, pp. 44-46. 



