240 THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 



itable wheat-growing area of this country for hundreds of 

 miles into the semi-arid regions of our West and Southwest. 

 When it is remembered that within recent years the wheat 

 production of the country has not kept pace with the growth 

 in population, the economic significance of these varieties be- 

 comes impressive. 



Some of the best equipped scientific plant breeders of the 

 world are putting forth their best efforts in the breeding of 

 varieties of wheat. It is a complex process ; many kinds arc 

 crossed, but a strain of the Russian above referred to is in- 

 corporated into almost all of them. The most important re- 

 sults to be remarked at this moment are that wheats may now 

 be had which may be profitably grown in localities differing 

 widely in soil and climatic conditions, and that others have 

 been created giving a phenomenal yield. The farmers of the 

 South who have hitherto imported their wheat no longer 

 have any reason for doing so, since varieties may now be had 

 which may be profitably grown throughout that entire region. 

 Prof. Sanders of Ottawa, Canada, has been hybridizing with 

 a view to the obtaining of an early ripening variety charac- 

 terized at the same time by a hardihood which should render 

 it suitable for that country. His "Preston" is reported upon 

 by the Experiment Station of Minnesota as being "the most 

 interesting and promising wheat procured outside of the 

 State." The reason for this statement is the fact that in 

 Minnesota itself a variety, the Minnesota, has been created 

 which yields five bushels per acre more than any other sort. 

 This means, without exaggeration, millions of dollars in the 

 pockets of the farmers of those states to which this wheat is 

 especially adapted. By an analogous work with oats a similar 

 increase of yield has also been secured. 



