292 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



May, 1922 



of Saskatchewan are warned in regard to 

 the quality of these wheats. 



Club is usually a soft starchy wheat 

 but many of the samples grown in Sask- 

 atchewan and Manitoba are bright red 

 and very attractive in appearance. It was 

 first introduced to northern Manitoba 

 where it was grown for a time as Kidd 

 wheat, after the farmer who had intro- 

 duced it. Since then it has spread con- 

 siderably and in many places has ex- 

 tended over into Saskatchewan. 



Dr. C. E. Saunders (*) carried on mill- 

 ing tests with this wheat as early as 

 1905, and came to the conclusion that 

 the flour was very deficient in quality of 

 gluten, lacking in strength and of a very 

 dark, unattractive yellow^ color. Only one 

 test has been made of Club wheat grown 

 at this station (1915, Table III) but the 

 results showed it to be so conclusively 

 poor that further testing was unnecessary. 



Alaska wheat has probably the most in- 

 teresting and varied history of these poor 

 quality wheats. It possesses a large 

 branched head which gives it the appear- 

 ance of a very high producer and this 

 characteristic has again and again been 

 made use of by unscrupulous dealers to 

 foist it upon the unsuspecting farmer at 

 exorbitant prices. This periodic exploit- 

 ation of the farmer has loeen continually 

 taking place ever since the introduction 

 of this wheat to the New England States 

 over one hundred years ago. Needless 

 to say the buyers have been sadly disap- 

 pointed not only in the yield but in the 

 poor quality of the wheat. 



Samples of Alaska Avheat grown at 

 Saskatoon were tested during three suc- 

 cessive years, 1914, 1915 and 1916. A 

 glance at Tables II, III and IV will reveal 

 the results. In every case it has proven 

 the poorest variety of wheat tested. The 

 qualit}^ of the gluten was very poor, the 

 flour extremely weak, and the shape of the 



loaf entirely bad. Investigations carried 

 on by the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 indicate similar results. (*) 



Redstone wheat resulted from a cross 

 between Ladoga and Red Fife. In 1919 

 a special test was made of this wheat, the 

 results, from which are given at the foot 

 of Table IV. In this case it w^as found 

 to be worth only 82.3 percent of the Nor- 

 mal No. 2. In 1920, Table VIII, it again 

 gave a very poor test. 



Although no samples of Stanley wheat 

 grown at this station have been tested 

 for milling quality, this wheat was dis- 

 carded by most experiment stations on ac- 

 count of the low tests which it gave. 

 Dr. C. E. Saunders (**) calculates from 

 his milling test results a figure which is 

 intended to represent the relative baking 

 strengths of the flours used. By this 

 method Marquis shows an average bak- 

 ing strength of 93 and Stanlej^ an average 

 baking strength of 85. These results place 

 it in the medium class (Group III) but 

 we have chosen to place it in Group V 

 because the conclusions which led to its 

 being discarded were based almost entirely 

 on its milling quality. 



Kinley wheat has only been tested for 

 one year (1920) but, as will be seen from 

 an inspection of Table VIII, the results 

 indicated it to be so poor that it is practic- 

 ally out of consideration as a good mill- 

 ing wheat. 



Group VI. — Kubanka. Acme. Pelissier. 

 Monad. Other Varieties of Amber Durum. 



These varieties of wheat are adapted to 

 production in regions having a warm, dry 

 maturing period, that is, the time from 

 heading to ripening. In districts or in 

 seasons having damp cloudy weather dur- 



* Evidence of Dr. Charles E. Saunders, 

 Cerealist, Dominion Experimental Farm, 

 before the Select Standing Committee on 

 Agriculture and Colonization, 1905. 



* Ball, Carletou K., and Leighty, C. E. 

 Alaska and Stoner or "Miracle" 

 wheats, Two Varieties Much Mis- 

 represented. 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture Bul- 

 letin No. 357, 1916. 



**Saunders. C. E. Wheat Bread and 

 Flour, Bulletin \o. 97, Dominion Exper- 

 imental Farms. 



