DISCOVERY OF MARQUIS WHEAT 233 



add $3,000,000 for fruit, we obtain $20,000,000 which 

 we may consider to be a rough estimate of Biirbank's total 

 contribution to the annual crop values of the United 

 States. This sum is only an approximation to the truth; 

 it may be too small and it may be too large ; but even if 

 we were to multiply it by ten, it would still fall far short 

 of the $600,000,000 which is the estimated crop value of 

 Marquis wheat for the year 1918. 



XXVII. Burhank's Quality Wheat as a Possible Com- 

 petitor of Marquis 



Having heard that Luther Burbank was introducing 

 some new varieties of wheat, I wrote to the great plant 

 breeder for particulars concerning them. Mr. Burbank, 

 in reply, kindly informed me that he had added my name 

 to the sixty-five thousand others who receive his catalogues 

 and circulars, and called attention to what he described 

 as " my best wheat " to which he has given the name 

 Quality. He also communicated to me the interesting in- 

 formation that Quality " is a derivative of Prize Marquis " 

 and that it was " secured by many years' selections for 

 certain qualities in which our California wheats are lack- 

 ing." It is worthy of note that Marquis which was orig- 

 inally selected by Dr. Saunders at Ottawa should have been 



grown to a slight extent in Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Colorado, the 

 Russet type prevailing in Nebraska and Colorado; that it is chiefly 

 grown in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys of California and 

 in some portions of Oregon and Washington; and that probably it 

 does not exceed 5 per cent, of the total potato crop of the United 

 States. Mr. Burbank himself in his 1918 New Creations and 

 Special New Selections states that more than 500,000,000 bushels 

 of the Burbank potato have been raised during the past forty years. 

 This is a magnificent total, but assuming that the average price has 

 been as much as 80 cents per bushel, the crop value of the 500,000,000 

 bushels of Burbank potatoes to the growers has been $400,000,000, 

 or two-thirds of .$600,000,000, the estimated crop value for Marquis 

 wheat for the single year 1918. 



