FIELD CROPS 459 



thin at harvest time. While a very thick stand may slightly in- 

 crease the yield in a favorable year, it may greatly decrease it in 

 an unfavorable one. (B. P. I. Cir. 79, 1911.) 



WHEAT GROWING ON THE PACIFIC COAST. 



The Pacific coast wheat region embraces all of the wheat-pro- 

 ducing lands of California, Oregon, and Washington, and the 

 northern portion of Idaho, which is practically a continuation of 

 the great Palouse Valley. Methods employed in cultivating and 

 harvesting wheat in this section are radically different from those in 

 any other section of the country ; in fact, even different sections of 

 the Pacific coast region have entirely different methods both of till- 

 ing the soil and harvesting the crop. 



Varieties of Wheat Raised. The varieties of wheat sown in 

 this section are also entirely different from those of any other sec- 

 tion of the country, their peculiar characteristic being a white grain, 

 with a soft and starchy content; and conditions of soil and climate 

 are such that even other wheats when imported for seed, although 

 when originally planted entirely different in character from those 

 of native growth, lose their individuality in a season or two and 

 come to have practically all the characteristics of the standard soft 

 white wheats of this region. 



Introductions of other varieties, hard red wheat in particular, 

 and in fact almost all of the hard wheat varieties, have been tried in 

 this section, but it has been found that as soon as they become ac- 

 climated they partake largely of the characteristics of the native 

 wheat of this section. The principal factor in producing grain of 

 such character is probably the lack of humus in the soil, aided, no 

 doubt, by the generally cool summers of this region. 



A large proportion of the more common varieties peculiar to 

 this region are of the Club Wheat group, so called on account of 

 the peculiar club-like formation of the head. In California, De- 

 fiance and White Australian wheat are grown almost exclusively for 

 milling purposes, and Sonora wheat for shipping. Red Chaff and 

 Foise are the principal varieties grown in Oregon, and Palouse Blue 

 Stem in Washington and Idaho. The ability of Club wheats to 

 hold the grain and prevent shelling makes them especially desirable 

 in this region of exceedingly dry summers, where the grain, after 

 becoming fully ripe, is frequently left standing in the field for thirty 

 to sixty days before being harvested. 



Seed Requirements. The amount of wheat required for seed 

 varies greatly in different sections of the country, and there is also 

 considerable variation in the time of sowing, winter wheat being 

 sown from September to the middle of January, and spring wheat 

 often as late as March 15. Late-sown wheat requires a very much 

 larger amount of seed per acre than that sown earlier in the season, 

 so that it not infrequently occurs that the sowing on farms in the 

 same immediate locality will vary from 30 to 100 pounds per acre, 

 and this great variation has rendered it practically impossible to 

 make an accurate calculation of the amount of wheat sown per acre 

 for the entire region ; but it is probably somewhere near 70 pounds. 



