44 THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



74. Influence of Environment on Composition of Grain. — En 



vironment is a combination of influences of which the following 

 three are the most important : 



1. Climate. 



2. Soil, including fertilizers of all kinds. 



3. Culture, including preparation of seed bed, time and 

 method of seeding and quantity of seed, etc. 



It has been shown that the composition of the wheat grain 

 varies in different localities when grown from seed of a common 

 origin. For example, Richardson found that the per cent of 

 protein in a number of varieties of wheat was considerably 

 higher when grown in Colorado than when grown in Oregon. 

 He also found that the grains of wheat were much larger when 

 grown in Oregon than when grown in Colorado. Deherain 

 makes a similar observation with regard to the influence of 

 different seasons. High temperature during July (in France) 

 increased the per cent of protein but diminished the yield so that 

 the amount of the protein was no greater than under normal con- 

 ditions. The high per cent of protein in the hard spring wheats 

 of the northwest is likewise attributed to the arrested develop- 

 ment of the endosperm or starchy portion of the grain. 



Richardson attributes the variation in the per cent of protein 

 to the differences in soil and attributes low per cent of protein 

 found in some American wheat to a deficient supply of nitrogen. 

 Lawes and Gilbert state that the low percentage of nitrogen is 

 more probably due to the enhanced formation of starch under 

 the influence of high ripening temperatures, and that, comparing 

 the grain grown from the same description of seed but on 

 different soils, or in different seasons, high percentage of total 

 nitrogenous matter is almost invariably coincident with inferior 

 ripening. Wiley attributes the variation in per cent of protein 

 to climatic conditions, but attributes variation in the ash occur- 

 ring in the same varieties of wheat to the soil and fertilizers. ^ 



1 Influence of Environment on the Composition of Plants. By H. W. Wiley 

 Yearbook, Dept. of Agr., 1901, p. 306. 



