159 



To grow the best crops the first necessity is to have the germ of the wheat sound 

 and then to have compactly stored up plenty of the proper kind of food — gluten, etc. 

 Outside inlluences may cause the hull to be uneven or brittle without injuriously 

 ail'ecting the germ and its food ; and this wrinkling of the hull may not be a property 

 which will be transmitted by the seed to the croj), although in some cases it doubt- 

 less is. But certain changes in the character of the germ and its food are unmistak- 

 ably transmitted. In blistered, rusted, and bleached wheats the superficial charac- 

 teristics of the wheat are changed, while in frozen wheat changes seem to have been 

 made in the reproductive faculties. 



In any lot of wheat, even of the highest grade, some grains are vastly better than 

 others for seed, and it is a simple matter to determine which they are and how to 

 secure them. If it had not been clearly proven before, the last wheat crop has con- 

 clusively shown that the denser any grain of wheat the better it is for seed. These 

 ai'e the grains which are the heaviest for their size. If wheat is well cleaned by a 

 blast of wind the lightest grains are cast out and the heaviest remain. In these the 

 germ is best developed and protected and has most readily available the greatest 

 amount of necessary food. Of this, gluten is of chief importance and its quantity and 

 quality can be easily determined. For this I have given a method in Bulletin No. 7. 



A continuation of investigations in this line is proposed. Farmers 

 are requested to preserve samples of the seed as ])lanted and of the 

 resulting crop at harv^est and after threshing. The station desires 

 such samples for analysis. 



Mississippi Station, Bulletin No. 11, February 15, 1890 (pp. 14). 



Charbon, G. C. Creelman, B. S. A.— This is a report of an investi- 

 gation conducted by the author with the assistance of Dr. W. H. Wray, 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture, and Dr. John W. 

 Oonuoway, of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station. As 

 previously stated in Bulletin No. 6 of this station (See Experiment 

 Station Eecord, Vol. I, p. 101), the disease appeared first in Yazoo 

 County, Mississippi, in June, 1889, It spread thi^ough the lowlands 

 of the Delta, but was confined almost entirely to mules. Very few of 

 the diseased animals recovered without treatment. 



From replies to circulars sent out by the station it was learned that 

 the first outbreak in this State of a disease supposed to be charbon 

 was in 1830, at which time a malady prevailed known as "choking 

 quinsy." A.gain in 1805 a few cases occurred, and in 1807 it was very 

 l)revalent. The winter previous had been very mild and was followed 

 by an early spring. These conditions seem to be favorable for the 

 development of the disease. Less nuirked epidemics prevailed in the 

 years 1875, 1870, 1881, and 1882. 



At fir.st the disease was supposed not to be of a contagious nature, 

 but from pathological investigations conducted at this Department and 

 by Dr. Con noway, it was proved to be the true Anthrax, caused by the 

 germ Bacillus anthracis. 



]Many planters in the Delta region have advanced the theorj' that 

 the disease was caused by the swarms of tlies which infest that locality, 

 and have designated a particular species, which is very conspicuous 



