The Bulletin, 11 



the grain and destroy all animal life with which it comes in contact. 

 This treatment should be repeated as often as the insects begin to reap- 

 pear. All wheat and other small grain should be treated for smut before 

 sowing. 



VARIETY TESTS OF WHEAT 



There are, perhaps, over two hundred varieties of wheat in the 

 United States today. In the case of live stock, each breed or strain 

 is developed to meet some special demands; so, also, in plants, in gen- 

 eral, a variety is the result of a definite set of environmental condi- 

 tions that have combined to produce the variations that go to make 

 the new strain. The variety then, is the result either of changed nat- 

 ural conditions or of effort along lines carefully laid with a view to 

 adapt and adjust strains of plants to new environmental conditions. 

 The variety thus developed is, in the nature of the case, adapted to 

 the surroundings where it has been making its best yields. 



In the case of wheat the mere existence of wheat varieties carries 

 with it the suggestion that they are not all equally well suited to all 

 climatic and soil conditions, and that each one has, doubtless, proven 

 to be the best variety tested in its native locality. We are to assume, 

 then, that these are all good wheat when grown under favorable soil 

 and climatic conditions. Again, since varieties of plants are generally 

 developed in a given locality under given soil and climatic conditions, 

 it follows that they will make as good, if not better, yields when propa- 

 gated under soil and climatic conditions similar to those under which 

 they have been developed. Now if there be a probability that varieties 

 of wheat will make better yields in their native environments than 

 elsewhere, it follows that the adaptability of the many different varie- 

 ties put on the market should be tested. If any of them are well 

 suited to the climate and soils of our State it is worth our while to 

 know it. Should they not be adapted to our conditions, such knowl- 

 edge is a necessary protection against loss. The only way to gain this 

 knowledge is to subject these wheats to a rigid test on our soils. The 

 recommendations of the seedsmen are, generally, not to be relied upon, 

 since they never 'know whether the environment in which the variety 

 has been developed is similar to the one in which we will be forced 

 to grow it. 



With a view to protect the farmer against the frauds of unscrupu- 

 lous seedsmen and originators on the one hand, and to ascertain the 

 varieties best suited to the soils of the State on the other, the State 

 Department of Agriculture began, in 1900, to collect wheat varieties 

 from different parts of the world and to subject them to a rigid test 

 on the recognized wheat soils of the State. Since then over thirty 

 different varieties have been collected and tested — some for longer, 

 others for shorter periods. 



The reader will bear in mind that in any given year all of the 

 varieties tested were subjected to identical soil and climatic conditions 

 at the different farms and received identical treatment as to the fer- 

 tilization and previous preparation of land. 



