ALASKA AND STONER, OR ^"mIRACLe/^ WHEATS. 15 



The name Miracle is undesirable, so the Department of Agriculture 

 has named this variety Stoner, after the man who first grew it. 

 Other names that have been applied to it are Eden, Forty-to-One, 

 and Marvelous. This is not the only wheat variety that has been 

 called by the name Miracle. Curiously enough, that name has been 

 applied also many times during the last century to the Alaska wheat. 



DESCRIPTION OF STONER, OR "MIRACLE," WHEAT. 



The wheat here discussed is a variety belonging to the soft red 

 winter wheats. This is the class of wheat commonly grown in the 

 eastern United States from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River 

 and beyond. The Stoner wheat has bearded heads (fig. 4), white, 

 hairless chaff, and a medium-sized, rather soft, red kernel. This 

 shoAvs it to belong in the group with Bearded Purple Straw (fig. 5) 

 and Fulcaster (fig. 6), both well-known varieties in the Middle At- 

 lantic States. It grows from 3i to 4^ feet tall, according to soil and 

 season. It ripens at about the same time as these two varieties which 

 it so closely resembles. Heads of all three varieties are shown in 

 figures 4, 5, and 6. The Stoner (Miracle) wheat is a pure strain; 

 that is, it is descended from a single plant. 



HISTORY OF STONER, OR "MIRACLE," WHEAT. 



The strain of wheat now known as Stoner originated on the farm 

 of Mr. K. B. Stoner, of Fincastle, near Roanoke, Va. It was first 

 brought to the attention of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture through a letter from Mr. Stoner,^ dated June 8, 1906. 



In the spring of 1904 Mr. Stoner noticed a large bunch of grass 

 in his garden ; when headed it proved to be wheat. It had 142 stems, 

 or tillers, and he became impressed with the idea that it was a very 

 wonderful wheat. Just how the kernel of wheat became sown in 

 the garden or from just what variety it came, Mr. Stoner does not 

 know. The Fulcaster variety is commonly grown in that section 

 of Virginia, however, and the Bearded Purple Straw less commonly. 

 It is reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the Stoner wheat is a 

 pure line from one of these varieties, which it so closely resembles. 



Mr. Stoner saved the seed and increased it during the two years 

 1905 and 1906, as shown in his letter. He stated that while he could 

 have his wheat grown at Fincastle on shares, he receiving two-thirds, 



1 In the year 1904 there originated with me a plant of wheat, producing more than a 

 thousandfold. The product of this single grain twice sown (in the years 1904 and 1905) 

 will this harvest (1906), we think, yield sufficient to sow much more than 100 acres. 

 The yield (I suppose) is unprecedented in this or any other country, and for that reason 

 difficult of belief. Possibly this wheat may enable us to successfully compete with the 

 Canadian yield ; surely so, if we can grow 2 bushels to their 1. 



The drought injured wheat here, but I have single grains showing a thousandfold, and 

 sorne near twice that. I think the wheat capable of exceeding 100 bushels to the acre, 

 and think experiments made show that not more than a half bushel should be sown to 

 the acre. The mistake so far has been oversowing. 



