8 BULLETIN 522^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



wheat has more than kept pace Avith this increase. Because of its 

 relatively greater importance, a far more complete study has been 

 made of Turkey winter than of the other wheats. 



In shape of kernel and physical characters the Montana-grown 

 Turkey wheat resembles that grown in Kansas, Nebraska, and other 

 hard winter-wheat States, except in size of kernel. Usually the 

 kernels are a Uttle larger and quite often more plump. In this 

 latter characteristic, however, there is as great a variation as in 

 other sections. Plate I compares a typical sample of Montana-grown 

 Turkey with two samples representing the usual variations of the 

 Turkey wheat of the Central States. 



The results of the milling, baking, and chemical studies with the 

 samples of this variety or type are presented on tlie following pages 

 in a series of tables and figures (Tables II and III and figures 3 to 13). 

 Table II gives the results upon a limited number of samples of wheat 

 of this type secured during the years 1908 and 1909, arranged accord- 

 ing to the^crop year, followed by a more comprehensive study that 

 was made of the wheat of the three succeeding years. 



It wiU be noted from this table that a very wide range in quality 

 existed each year. The tests of the limited number of samples se- 

 cured the first two years indicated that this wheat did not differ widely 

 in quality from the hard winter wheats of other sections. 



The tests for the three following years, 1910, 1911, and 1912, rep- 

 resenting as they do a much larger number of samples, are far more 

 interesting and suggestive. Certain striking variations were noted in 

 the wheat of each crop year. That of 1910 was most uniform in qual- 

 ity. The samples secured were of about a uniform plumpness and were 

 hard and glutinous. The results of the milling tests were likewise 

 quite uniform. In absorption, the flour from the wheat of 1910 was 

 lower than that of the two succeeding years; in the matter of strength, 

 as indicated by loaf volume and texture, the flour was superior. 



The wheat of the 1911 crop was not so uniform in quality as that of 

 1910. Many of the samples were more or less shrunken, and many 

 were badly bleached and otherwise damaged in the field. Several 

 samples, mostly from Fergus County, showed an abnormally high 

 moisture content, due to rainy weather during harvest. These various 

 factors are responsible for the much wider variation in milling results 

 with the wheat of this year. Taken as a whole, the baking results 

 with the flour did not differ greatly from the preceding year. The 

 absorption was a httle higher, and in strength there were no samples 

 that ranked so high as those of the preceding year obtained from Yel- 

 lowstone County. Two samples proved to be poorer than any that 

 were obtained the previous year. The wheat of this year showed 

 much greater range in crude protein. The variation, however, did 

 not appear sectional and could probably be explained only by a study 

 of local weather conditions. 



