CHAPTER XIII 



THE WHEAT CROP 



WHEAT is the chief grain exported from the 

 United States, both as grain and as manu- 

 factured flour. Two classes of wheat are pro- 

 duced in this country in general, the winter and the spring 

 varieties, and in recent years there has grown up a third 

 class in the semi-arid West, the Durum or Macaroni 

 wheat. Under the former methods of manufacture all the 

 finest flour was made from the white winter wheats of the 

 Middle and Upper Southern States. But for many years 

 past the improved methods of making flour by the roller 

 process have shown that the finest flour is made from the 

 hard grained spring wheat of the Northwestern States. 



While winter wheat is sown in the fall months and the 

 spring wheat is sown in the spring, the methods of culti- 

 vation and the preparation of the soil for the crop are 

 identical. Therefore, we will treat mainly of the winter 

 wheat and its place in an improving rotation. Formerly 

 it was thought important for the best results that wheat 

 should be sown on a clover sod plowed early in summer 

 and kept harrowed or cultivated during the remainder of 

 the season till seeding time. But of late years this sum- 

 mer fallowing practice has been largely abandoned, since 

 the decreased price of the product has made it necessary 

 that more economical methods should be adopted, so that 



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