UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



J^^i^u 



BULLETIN No. 357 H 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



April 27, 1916 



ALASKA AND STONER, OR "MIRACLE," WHEATS: 

 TWO VARIETIES MUCH MISREPRESENTED. 



By Carleton R. Ball, Agronomist in Charge of Western Wheat Investigations, 

 and Clyde E. Leightt, Agronomist in Charge of Eastern Wheat Investiga- 

 tions. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Alaska wheat 2 



Description 2 



Early history 3 



Recent exploitation 6 



Yields 9 



Milling tests 11 



Stoner, or "Miracle," wheat 14 



Description 15 



History 15 



Exploitation in Philadelphia 17 



Promoting "Miracle" wheat in 



Chicago 18 



Promoting "Marvelous" wheat in 



Indiana 18 



Promoting "Miracle" wheat in 



Brooklyn IS 



The Stoner Seed Wheat Company -. 18 



Page. 

 Stoner, or "Miracle," wheat — Continued. 



Experimental data 19 



Yields in comparison with other 



varieties '. . 19 



Tests at the Maryland Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station 19 



Tests at Arlington Farm 20 



Tests at Nephi, Utah 21 



Eate-of-seeding tests 22 



Tillering power 24 



General tests by State experiment 



stations 25 



Tests in Kentucky 25 



Tests in Pennsylvania 26 



Tests in Indiana 27 



Conclusions 27 



INTRODUCTION. 



There are many named varieties of wheat and other cereal crops. 

 New varieties and new names for old varieties are appearing con- 

 stantly. Many of these new varieties, or so-called varieties, are good ; 

 some are not. The good varieties are sometimes advertised as being 

 much better than they really are. Varieties of little value sometimes 

 are claimed to be the best of all. 



There are various ways by wliich the promoters of supposed new 

 varieties interest their customers. Sometimes it is a story of wheat 

 of mysterious or foreign origin ; sometimes it is a new or unusually 

 developed character that is claimed. Examples of this are the enor- 

 mous tillering power claimed for the so-called Miracle wheat or the 



23342°— Bull. 357—16 1 



