EXPERIMENTS WITH DURUM WHEAT. 



Among the varieties distributed, the Kubanka and Arnautka proved 

 to be well adapted. 



Production increased rapidly during the early years. It rose 

 from 60,000 or 70,000 bushels in 1901 to about 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 

 bushels in 1903, and probably about 50,000,000 bushels by 1906. 

 As noted in the discussion of its history, the development of the 

 market did not keep pace with the increased production. For this 

 reason the price ; which had always been less than that of common 

 wheat, dropped to even lower levels, the difference sometimes 

 amounting to 20 or 25 cents a bushel. This low price so discouraged 

 the growers that the production in 1909 was slightly less than 

 40,000,000 bushels. 



The census figures, taken for the crop year 1909, show that 87J 

 per cent of the durum wheat produced in the United States that 



Fig. 2. — Outline map of the northwestern United States, showing the acreage of durum wheat in 1909. 

 Each dot represents 5,000 acres. (Data from the Thirteenth U. S. Census.) 



year was grown in North Dakota and South Dakota. Minnesota 

 ranked third in production, with about 7 per cent of the total crop, 

 and practically all of the remaining 5 or 6 per cent was grown in 

 Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Figure 2 is 

 an outline map of the northwestern United States, illustrating the 

 production of durum wheat in 1909. 



Since 1909 the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture has gathered annual data upon the 

 acreage and production of durum wheat in the three States of Min- 

 nesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. In 1915 Montana was 

 added. Table I shows the estimated annual production of durum 

 wheat and of all other wheats and the percentage of durum in the 

 total wheat production in the three States named during the eight 

 years from 1909 to 1916, inclusive. 



