18 



grains. In the same way, 1 bushel of Kansas 1907 wheat contained 

 11.3 pounds of protein while 1 bushel of the California grain con- 

 tained 6.9 pounds of protein. 



INFLUENCE OF LOCAL WEATHER CONDITIONS. 



When wheats are grown continuously in any locality the per- 

 centage composition and the physical appearance and characteristics 

 are very similar, the only differences being those due to varying 

 weather conditions from year to year. These differences in composi- 

 tion are, however, never so large as those found between two locali- 

 ties, such as Kansas and California. In Kansas the percentage of 

 protein varied from 16.2 hi 1905 to 22.2 in 1907, due to the ex- 

 cessive drought in 1907, falling to 14.7 in 1908, which was a com- 

 paratively wet year. The drought of 1907 caused the crop to shrivel, 

 the weight per bushel decreasing from 58.8 pounds in 1906 to 51.3 

 in 1907. Moreover, the same change took place in every sample of 

 wheat grown in Kansas, whether from Kansas, from California, or 

 from Texas seed. The difference in composition, especially in pro- 

 tein content, between crops of the same variety grown in different 

 localities showed greater variations than those just discussed, as will 

 be seen from the table, where it is shown that Kansas wheat con- 

 tained as much as 22.8 per cent of protein while the California wheat 

 contained only 11.7 per cent. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



From the data obtained, therefore, the following conclusions may 

 be drawn: 



Wheat of the same variety obtained from different sources and 

 possessing widely different chemical and physical characteristics, 

 when grown side by side in one locality, yields crops which are almost 

 the same in appearance and in composition. Wheat of any one 

 variety, from any one source, and absolutely alike in chemical and 

 physical characteristics, when grown in different localities, possessing 

 different climatic conditions, yields crops of very widely different 

 appearance and very different in chemical composition. These dif- 

 ferences are due for the most part to climatic conditions prevailing 

 at the time of growth. The results so far obtained would seem to 

 indicate that the soil and seed play a relatively small part in in- 

 fluencing the composition of crops. The practice of trying to im- 

 prove crops in one locality, which crops are to be grown in another 

 locality of widely different climatic conditions, should be discouraged. 

 Crops should be improved in the locality in which they are intended 

 to be grown, or the seed should be selected from a region which has 

 similar climatic conditions. 



o 



[Bull. 128] 



