46 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1920 



tion as to whether these two characters are heritable, the results 

 secured by Biffen 27 , Howard, Leake and Howard 28 and Leith 29 , 

 furnish substantial evidence showing that strength in wheat is 

 a heritable character retained even under very unfavorable en- 

 vironmental conditions of England and parts of India. 



From the data reported in this bulletin it is evident that 

 under the same conditions of environment some strains of wheat 

 will retain a higher degree of hardness, a higher amount and 

 better quality of gluten and produce a larger size of bread loaf 

 than others. The logical deduction from this is that the indiv- 

 iduality of the seed, the inherent characteristics of the wheat 

 strain should enter as an inportant factor into the consideration 

 of the chemical composition and bread making value of wheat. 



The present data while covering only a very brief period 

 are nevertheless of practical importance in their bearing upon 

 the possibilities of growing good bread wheats in Northern 

 Maine. Owing to the excellent adaptiveness of Aroostook soil 

 and climate to the potato crop the area devoted to wheat in 

 Aroostook is rather small and the growing of wheat in that sec- 

 tion will be largely a problem of meeting primarily the local con- 

 sumption, in other words, the growing of wheat in Aroostook 

 will be concerned above all in raising good bread wheats for 

 home baking. As to the question of raising good flour for home 

 baking in Aroostook it is believed that our data offer a very 

 satisfactory solution. We quote in this connection from the 

 report of Dr. Hoffman, chief chemist of the Ward Baking Com- 

 pany, upon the baking test of our flours: "A number of the 

 flours showed good quality glutens and made bread of very good 

 quality. For home baking most of these flours are satisfactory 

 and will produce a loaf with excellent eating qualities." 



It is, of course, impossible, as yet, to say that the best pure 

 lines so far selected represent the highest limit of baking strength 

 under Aroostook conditions. Only results from a large number 

 of selected strains tested for several years can give an answer 

 to this question. 



Until superior strains best adapted to Aroostook conditions 

 are developed through selection or breeding the practical ques- 



7 Biffen, R. H. Loc. cit. 1908. 



"Howard, Albert, Leake, H. M. and Howard, G. L. C. Loc. cit. 



9 Leith, B. D. Loc. cit. 



