NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 51 



Wheats are easily changed as to the season in which they are 

 sown, the winter to spring and the spring to winter varieties. 

 The change is most readily effected in warm, arid climates, 

 where irrigation is practically the sole source of moisture. It 

 can also be accomplished by sowing the winter wheats later 

 and the spring wheats earlier each season. Winter wheat may 

 be sown in spring and spring wheat in the fall. Only a very 

 few plants will ripen seed, but when this is continuously sown, 

 in three years the spring variety will be changed to the winter, 

 and vice versa. In 1857 Klippart wrote that red bearded 

 wheat could be changed to white, smooth wheat, and vice versa. 

 Kubanka, a yellowish-white spring wheat, found in its perfec- 

 tion east of the Volga on the Siberian border, developed into 

 a red winter wheat in the Caucasus. 1 Red wheat is usually 

 more hardy than white wheat, while bald wheat is usually not 

 so well adapted to a hot, dry climate or alkali soil as bearded 

 wheat. When seed from irrigated soft wheat has been plant- 

 ed without irrigation, it has been known to harden remarkably 

 in a single year. 



HEREDITARY INFLUENCES. 



Seed Wheat In each kernel of wheat are embodied the 

 latent possibilities of its future development. Consequently, it 

 is very important to select the seed which will bring the best 

 results possible in the environment under which it must be 

 grown. A knowledge of the importance of good seed wheat, 

 and of the principles of its development, does not eliminate all 

 of the practical difficulties involved in securing good seed. Fre- 

 quently the grower is so situated that he must purchase his 

 seed, and he should not follow the common practice of waiting 

 to do this until the sowing season has arrived. It is then too 

 late to ascertain the origin and history of the grain, or even 

 to test its vitality. The speculative markets do not trade in 

 seed wheat, and they are not a factor in determining its price. 

 The great bulk of seed wheat does not move far, but is grown 

 in the locality where it is to be used. Good seed of any of the 

 different classes of wheat may generally be procured from the 

 section in which that class is most commonly grown. For ex- 

 ample, Turkey Red wheat should be bought in Kansas, Ne- 

 1 Carleton, Macaroni Wheats, p. 11. 



