162 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



And when the crop was harvested and sent to the mills, 

 analysis showed that samples of what was nominally a 

 single kind of wheat, such as Bluestem, contained all sorts 

 of kernels, and were very unequal with respect to gluten 

 contents. The want of uniformity in the crops of Pres- 

 ton and Bluestem which were once the principal wheats 

 grown in North Dakota, was one of the chief business 

 difficulties with which millers had to contend. Now Mar- 

 quis, in 1913, was a fresh stock of wheat of uniform 

 variety. It came to North Dakota just when the need of 

 more uniform seed was most felt ; and by replacing mixed 

 wheats, apart from its good qualities of high yield, earli- 

 ness, etc., it proved a great boon to farmers and millers 

 alike and gave a new impetus to wheat culture. 



In Minnesota, Marquis constitutes more than one-half 

 and approaching three-quarters of the crop of spring 

 wheat. ^^ Of the acreage in this rich State devoted to 

 wheat this year, 1918, only 80,000 acres (chiefly in the 

 extreme south) were sown with winter wheat, whereas 

 about 4,000,000 acres were sown with spring wheat.^*^ 

 Now if we take one-half of this 4,000,000, namely 2,000,- 

 000 acres, as having been sown with Marquis ; and, fur- 

 ther, if we assume that the average number of bushels 

 of wheat per acre will be the same as it was for spring; 

 wheat in 1917, namely 17.5;^^ then the yield of Mar- 

 quis in Minnesota this year will be approximately 35,000,- 

 000 bushels. If, however, we assume, as seems almost 

 certain, that at least 65 per cent, of the total crop will be 

 Marquis, and that the total crop of spring wheat in Min- 

 nesota this year will be as estimated on September 1, 



18 Facts supplied by Professor Andrew Boss of the Agronomy De- 

 partment of the University of Minnesota. 



20 Ibid. 



21 Year Book of the United States Department of Agriculture for 

 1917, p. 617. 



