22 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1920 



the observations of Woods and Merrill 19 on 2 races of Minnesota 

 wheat are too meager to draw from them general conclusions. 

 The evidence obtained from the examined number of pure lines- 

 indicates that the environmental factors prevailing in Aroostook 

 brought the kernel weight of the original Minnesota strains up' 

 to the level of the Aroostook strains very rapidly, in fact, within 

 a single season. Further determinations made on the grain of 

 the crop of 1918 indicate that this change in the kernel weight 

 of the Minnesota lines is not progressive. 



In regard to other physical characteristics as color, texture 

 and hardness it was found that there was some variation among 

 the different lines, but only of a comparatively slight nature since 

 these characteristics were primarily used as a basis for selection. 

 As a rule the strains with the highest weight per 1000 kernels 

 showed the least degree of flintiness and the highest percentage 

 of "yellow berry". 



Of the Minnesota wheats 4 strains Royalton (Red), Royal- 

 ton (White) Haynes Bluestem and Marquis, respectively, while 

 suffering some loss in flintiness as compared with their original 

 condition in Minnesota, appeared to be of good color, and tex- 

 ture ; of the remaining three Minnesota strains the Velvet Chaff 

 strain showed a tendency towards developing "yellow berries" 

 while the two durum lines showed a most striking degree of de- 

 terioration. The original Minnesota sample of these lines ex- 

 hibited all the characteristics of the corneous transclucent grains 

 of the Northwestern durum wheats ; after one season's growth 

 under Aroostook conditions the already large grain gained f-rom 

 6 to 8 grams per 1000 kernels and showed a very large percent- 

 age of opaque kernels of either partly or wholly starchy texture. 

 This rapid change of the durum strains grown side by side with 

 a number of other lines retaining their hard texture and good 

 color furnished the best illustration of the difference in the de- 

 gree of adaptation and response to the environment of the dif- 

 ferent wheat varieties. The effect of the Aroostook environment 

 upon the size and shape of the original Minnesota seed is illus- 

 trated in Figures 7 and 8. 



19 Loc. cit. 



