ORANGE LEAF RUST OF WHEAT. 33 



(litiereut writers. So far as the ordinary wheats are concerned, the 

 resistant varieties are as a rule somewhat dwarfed, are close and com- 

 pact, and stool but little. The leaves, comparatively few in number, 

 are stiff, narrow, and erect, with a more or less tough, dry cuticle, often 

 with a glaucous or waxy surface; heads compact and narrow; and 

 grains hard, red, small, and heavy.^ lu other words, the characteristics 

 of these wheats are about the same as those of the wheats of semiarid 

 regions. This is a fact of much significance, being a further argument 

 that more attention should be given to the cultivation of varieties par- 

 ticularly adapted to the black soils and climate of dry steppes, such as 

 those successfully grown in southeastern Eussia, parts of Siberia, and 

 in our own States of the Plains. Fortunately such varieties ])rodu<;e 

 the finest grain and most uutritious Hour known, and are usually hardy, 

 drought-resisting sorts. However, under the influence of certain con- 

 ditions of climate or locality, even these varieties, as above suggested, 

 are likely to prove capricious as regards freedom fiom rust. In fact, 

 no matter what the other conditions, every variety will rust, even con- 

 siderably, if it matures late, and for this reason nearly all the hard 

 Russian varieties mentioned in Table 3 rusted considerably. Early 

 maturity is therefore another important quality. For rust freedom and 

 for other purposes an early-maturing, hard, red, frost-resistant, and 

 drought-resistant winter sort is the ideal one for the greater i^ortion of 

 our wheat region. 



The foregoing remarks apply only to the varieties of Triticum vulgare 

 and to some extent perhaps to those of T. comjxtctum. But the varie- 

 ties that are almost rust proof, as shown by the table, belong mostly to 

 the subspecies T. durum and T. turgidum^ihowgXi a few of them belong 

 to T. dicocctim, T. monococeum, and T. pohnicum. Those of the first 

 two subspecies, called respectively durums and poulards, although 

 very rich in gluten content, are seldom used in bread making, on 

 account of coarseness and hardness of the grain and the dark color of 

 the flour i^roduced. They are extensively used, however, in the manu- 

 facture of certain pastries and macaroni. Much of the latter is made 

 in this country, and the cultivation of such wheats should be encour- 

 aged. As these wheats are natives of hot, dry countries, they ought 

 to do well, it seems, in the southern part of the Great Plains. If they 

 could be matured sufficiently early (which was not possible in the 

 experiments by this Department) they would certainly be very free 

 from orange leaf rust, which seems to be especially bad in the South. 



It will be seen that only a few of Farrer's crossbreds are included in 

 the table. The chief reason for this is that those not included simply 

 winterkilled before the conclusion of the three years' experiments, and 

 the amount of seed obtained being exhausted, they could not be tried 

 further. However, nearly all the crosses showed evidence of their 



' Varieties resistant to this rust are also often bearded ; therefore in the second 

 •column of Table 3, it is indicated whether varieties are bearded or bald. 

 21704— No. 16 3 



