WHEAT 28l 



but one season to seriously injure Professor Blount's 

 wheats, but it will be two or more years before they have 

 recovered from that injury. Hallett, in England, was 

 able to make his celebrated pedigree wheat by selection, 

 carried on through many years, but the same wheat 

 grown by the ordinary farmer under unfavorable con- 

 ditions for a few years without care has reverted to an 

 ordinary sort of grain. 



1 ' The effect of climate is well illustrated by four speci- 

 mens of wheat which are to be seen in the collection of 

 the Chemical Division. Two of these were from Oregon 

 and Dakota some years ago, and present the most ex- 

 treme contrast which can be found in this variable grain. 

 One is light yellow, plump and starchy, and shows on 

 analysis a very small per cent, of albuminoids ; the other 

 is one of the small, hard, and dark- colored spring wheats 

 of Dakota, which are rich in albuminoids. Between these 

 stand two specimens from Colorado, which have been 

 raised from seed similar to the Oregon and Dakota wheat. 

 They are scarcely distinguishable except by a slight dif- 

 ference in color. The Colorado climate is such as to have 

 modified these two seed wheats, until after a few years 

 growth they are hardly distinguishable in the kernel. 

 All localities having widely different climates, soils, or 

 other conditions produce their peculiar varieties and 

 modify those brought to them. The result of these ten- 

 dencies to change and reversion from lack of care in seed 

 selection or other cause has led to the practice of change 

 of seed among farmers. A source is sought where either 

 through greater care or more favorable conditions the 



