ALASKA AKI> STOKER^ OR '^MIRACLe/^ WHEATS. 7 



bore the name of a seed-grain company in Jnliaetta, Idaho, which 

 Differed a limited supply of the seed at $20 per bushel. 



The following quotations from this circular contain the claims 

 made for the origin, character, yield, and value of the Alaska wheat : 



THE BIRTH OF ALASKA. 



Alaska wbeat is the result of a bright idea on the part of Abraham Adams, 

 an Idaho farmer, who realized the possibilities of a "double" wheat crop if it 

 could be perfected. After woi'king several years he perfected a head of wheat 

 with one single central head, around which were nine other shorter heads. If 

 this head would repeat in the planting, it meant a crop six to ten times greater 

 than ordinary wheat. 



The double head was planted in the fall of 1904, and the next summer 7 

 pounds resulted, and every head was double. 



The 7 pounds planted in the spring of 1906 brought forth 1,545 pounds, 222^ 

 times the plant made, or, at 1 bushel plant to the acre, 222^ bushels to the acre. 



THE ALASKA WHEAT REVOLUTION. 



It means that it is made possible to increase the wheat yield of the country 

 tenfold when Alaska seed is plenty. It means that with Alaska wheat the 

 farmer with a hundred acres finds his acreage value increased to a thousand 

 acres. 



Farmers in the winter-wheat countries will have a winter wheat that will, 

 be hard wheat instead of soft. 



The worn-out farms of the East can again raise wheat, because with such 

 a yield farmers can afford to use fertilizer and get valuable returns. 



Farmers in dry countries will find in Alaska wheat an ideal wheat for dry 

 land, where it flourishes, because its native spot was dry. 



Farmers in hot countries will find a wheat that remains cool and green after 

 two weeks of dry weather with the thermometer at 140° in the fields. 



Farmers in cold countries will find a wheat that resists frost andl hail that 

 would ruin any other wheat. 



ALASKA'S YIELD. 



Regarding the trial of Alaska, a hundred bushels to the acre is only a small 

 yield. It has run from 100 bushels to 222i bushels to the acre in large tracts, 

 and even more in favored places. Like all wheat, much will depend on the 

 soil; the better the soil the larger the yield. 



From correspondence with the promoter of the wheat, it is known 

 that in the spring of 1908 samples of seed were sent to a chemist for 

 analysis. The report of this analysis, submitted in May, 1908, was 

 favorable to the wheat. Without making a milling test, the chemist 

 reported that probably it would be as good as, if not superior tO', 

 Palouse Bluestem for flour-making purposes. 



The United States Department of Agriculture early in June, 1908, 

 began an investigation of the exploiting of this wheat. A warning 

 statement, issued on August 18 following, was widely distributed. 

 At the same time a cereal expert in the department was instructed to 

 stu'dy the wheat in the Idaho fields and report on the yields obtained. 



