86 IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF WHEAT. 



decrease in the nitrogen content. The analyses, reduced to a water- 

 free basis, are as follows : 



■\^■here grown. 



Weight of 



100 kernels 

 (grams). 



Minnesota 2. 239 



Maine 3. 109 



Percentage 

 of protein. 



16.22 

 15.43 



In a review of the experiments concerning the relation of weight 

 to composition of cereals, Gwallig" says that the results obtained 

 by Marek, Wollny, Miircker, Hoffmeister, and Nothwang divide 

 barley and rye into one group, and wheat and oats into another, as 

 regards this relation. With barley and rye, the largest, heaviest 

 kernels are the richest in protein. With wheat and oats, the smallest, 

 lightest kernels have the highest protein content. 



Gwallig sa3^s further that with an increased protein content there 

 is a decrease in nitrogen-free extract. The fat and ash do not stand 

 in a definite relation to the kernel weight, but the small, light kernels 

 have a higher percentage of crude fiber, which circumstance is 

 accounted for hy the larger surface possessed by the smaller kernels. 



Snyder'^ has divided small kernels into two classes — those which 

 are small because shrunken and those which are small although well 

 filled. He finds that as between small kernels of the first class and 

 large, well-filled kernels, the former contain a higher percentage of 

 nitrogen, but as between the small, well-filled and the large, well-filled 

 kernels, the latter contain the higher percentage of nitrogen. In 

 testing this he used large and small kernels of the same variety in 

 each case, and the wheats represented a large portion of the wheat- 

 growing area of the United vStates. As regards the relation of large, 

 perfect, and small, perfect kernels there were twenty-four out of 

 twenty-seven cases in which the large kernels contained a greater 

 percentage of nitrogen. 



Johannsen and Weis,^ in experiments witli five varieties of wheat, 

 find that as a general rule the percentage of nitrogen is increased 

 with increasing grain weight, but that there are many exceptions 

 to the rule. 



Cobb'' states that small wheat kernels contain a larger proportion 

 of gluten than do large ones, but he does not submit any analyses to 

 substantiate his statement. 



^'Abstract in Centrlb. f. Agr. Chem., 24 (189.5). p. 388, from Landw. Jahrbiicher, 2.3 

 (1894), p. 83.5. 



'' Minnesota Experiment Station Bulletin 8.5. 



<■ Abstract, Experiment Station Record, 12, p. 327, from Tidsskr. Landbr. Planteavl., 5 

 (1899), pp. 91-100. 



«/ Agricultural Gazette of New Soutli Wales, 5 (1894), Xo. 4, pp. 239-2.50. 



