18 "BULLETIN 357, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUKE. 



sold in foreign countries, according to the pamphlet. It does not 

 appear, however, that any part of this plan was followed. 



PROMOTING " MIRACLE " WHEAT IN CHICAGO. 



In the summer of 1908 the financial interest in this wheat seems 

 to have been transferred from the Philadelphia exploiting com- 

 pany to a grain company in Chicago. The details of this trans- 

 action are not known, though press items appearing on July 30, 1908, 

 stated that Mr. Stoner had sold the rights to his wheat to western pur- 

 chasers for a large sum of money and that the wheat would be sown 

 the next season in the great wheat-producing States of the West. 



The stated intention of growing this wheat in the West seems 

 to have been carried out at this time, for in the fall of 1908 a con- 

 troversy developed between the gi'ain company and State officials 

 in Kansas over the merits of the wheat. Nothing further has been 

 heard of this company in connection with this wheat. 



PROMOTING " MARVET.OVS " WHEAT IN INDIANA. 



In 1908 Mr. Stoner sold a quantity of his wheat to a seed company 

 in Indiana. By them it was renamed " Marvelous " wheat and ad- 

 vertised in extravagant terms as a wonderful variety. This company 

 is still advertising the Stoner wheat under the name given above. 



PROMOTING " MIRACLE " WHEAT IN BROOKLYN. 



In the summer of 1911 an organization in Brooklyn began adver- 

 tising Miracle wheat at $1 a pound in its own publication. Two or 

 three years previously it had quoted a portion of the pamphlet pub- 

 lished by the exploiting company of Philadelphia. 



In the summer of 1912 this organization issued a four-page special 

 publication, of full newspaper size, the entire first page of which 

 was an advertisement of the wonders of Miracle wheat and spineless 

 cactus. The headlines read: "Spineless cactus — Miracle wheat — 

 Millionaires and vast irrigation schemes are Bible propositions." 

 The seven columns of text were to the effect that these two crops are 

 creations in fidfillment of biblical prophecy. By means of an enor- 

 mous irrigation project, financed by Wall Street millionaires, all the 

 arid West was to be converted into vast fields of wheat and cactus. 



THE STONER SEED WHEAT COMPANY. 



During these years when various organizations were exploiting this 

 wheat, the introducer continued to sell seed. There is no reason to 

 think that he had any connection with any of these organizations. 



In June, 1911, he published an illustrated advertising booklet to 

 increase the demand for the seed. Testimonials from 12 growers are 

 printed therein, but only one gives an actual yield from a piece of 



