EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 279 



grown in only limited sections north of Saginaw bay where the winter 

 varieties do not succeed. Comparatively little wheat is grown in the 

 northern part of the State, and of the amount there grown probably 

 over one-half is winter wheat, grown in localities protected by the lakes 

 or by large bodies of timber. The following ten varieties are selected for 

 further description : 



WHITE CLAUSON. 



Description. Plant very hardy, vigorous, stooling freely, foliage abund- 

 ant, straw only moderately strong, inclined to lodge on low or rich land; 

 heads bald or nearly so, a few short beards often appearing on the upper 

 part of the head; the heads long, moderately compact, curving downward 

 when ripe; chaff usually becoming more or less brown as the grain 

 matures; chaff moderately open, protecting the wheat in wet weather 

 less effectually than some other kinds and also rendering it somewhat 

 inclined to shell when overripe; kernel of good size, not very hard, white, 

 becoming light amber in some localities. 



The history of this wheat is as follows : In the year 1865, Mr. Garrett 

 Glauson, and his son, Wilmer S. Clauson, of the township of Lodi, Sen- 

 eca county, N. Y. (P. O. North Hector, Schuyler county), were crossing a 

 stubble field of Fultz wheat on the farm of their adjoining neighbor, Mr. 

 Isaac Clauson. They picked up and examined various heads of wheat 

 and each selected a head which for its length and the quality of its grain 

 ho considered superior. The product of these two heads was planted 

 together with a hoe in a place by itself. The following season it appeared 

 that there were two varieties present, one white, the other red. The 

 white variety seemed the most promising and was different from any 

 other variety they had seen. The two kinds were carefully separated 

 and the seed rubbed out by hand, the product of the white variety being 

 one pint. This was sown for seed and at the next harvest yielded 39 

 pounds. This also was sown and produced the following year eleven dozen 

 sheaves, yielding 13 bushels. Again the product was sown and the next 

 year there were 130 dozen sheaves, yielding 150 bushels. The following 

 year (1870) 254 bushels were produced and some of the wheat then appears 

 for the first time to have passed into the hands of others. In that year 

 four bushels were obtained by Mr. Garret B. Clauson of the same town- 

 ship and sown on barley stubble which had the preceding year been in 

 corn. The four bushels were sown on one acre and 130 rods of ground, 

 which at harvest time yielded 92^ measured bushels of G2 pounds each. 

 This wheat took the first premium at the Seneca county fair in 1871. It 

 is perhaps from this circumstance that Mr. Garret B. Clauson instead 

 of Mr. Garrett Clauson has sometimes been reported to be the originator 

 of the Clauson wheat. In 1872 this variety took the first premium at the 

 winter meeting of the Seneca County Agricultural Society; also at the 

 Western New York Fair at Rochester the following year. About this 

 time a farmer and general dealer by the name of Wm. Eastman, a neigh- 

 bor of Garret B. Clauson, began to advertise and sell this wheat, and it 

 was largely through Mr. Eastman's efforts that the variety became 

 widely distributed. 



Just when or by whom this wheat was introduced to Michigan is 

 .unknown; the U. S. Department of Agriculture sent out the variety in 



