WHEAT 



WHEAT 



665 



Through the efforts of these national and state 

 institutions, a ready market for durum wheat has 

 been developed, and the product is now exported to 

 Europe in large quantities, and also utilized in this 

 country for the manufacture of macaroni, spaghetti, 

 and the like, and for blending with softer wheats in 

 the milling of flour. During the season of 1906, a 

 crop of 50,000 bushels of durum wheat was pro- 

 duced. 



"The qualities that give value to durum wheat 

 are its ability to withstand drought and its resist- 

 ance to rust. It is being grown now in regions of 

 light rainfall, under which conditions it produces 

 larger yields than any other spring variety of wheat. 

 It has not so far proved more productive than winter 

 wheat, and consequently has not taken a place 

 among the crops of the winter 

 wheat region. 



"Some varieties of durum 

 wheat have proved sufficiently 

 hardy to live through the win- 

 ter in southern Kansas, and by 

 selection of hardy individuals 

 its production will doubtless 

 be extended northward. It has 

 been grown as a winter wheat 

 in an experimental way at the 

 Nebraska Experiment Station 

 for three years. If it can be 

 developed into a successful 

 winter wheat it will doubtless 

 replace the com- 

 mon varieties in 

 much of the 

 great plains re- 

 i\m gion." (T. L. 

 Lyon.) 



Fig. 897. 



Turkey-red wheat. 



Two-thirds natural 



size. 



Fig. 898. 

 Jones Winter Fife 

 wheat. Two- 

 thirds natural 

 size. 



Fig. 899. 

 Club wheat. 

 Two-thirds nat- 

 ural size. 



(8) Polish wheat (T. Polonicum). Fig. 901.— The 

 Polish wheat is characterized by having the palea 

 of the lowest ilower half as long as the flowering 

 glume, while the outer glumes 

 equal or exceed in length the 

 flowering glumes. This wheat 

 may have some value for arid 

 climates, but is not productive. 

 The plant is sometimes called 

 Giant or Jerusalem rye, because 

 of the resemblance of the seeds 

 of the two. It can be used for 

 the making of macaroni. It is 

 grown in southern Europe. 



Geographical classification. — 

 The United States Department 

 of Agriculture, in 1895, made 

 a collection of more than one 

 thousand supposedly distinct 

 varieties, but after testing 

 these for several years it was 

 found that very many were 

 identical and that only one- 

 fourth of the number were of 

 any value to the American 

 growers. It will be readily un- 

 derstood that a single variety 

 grown under the wide range 

 of climate and varying condi- 

 tions which are to be found 

 in this country would in the 

 course of a few generations 

 show widely differing charac- 

 teristics. Few cultivated plants 

 are so susceptible, to such in- 

 fluences. 



In his "Basis for the Improve- 

 ment of American Wheats," 

 Carleton divided the entire 

 country into districts accord- 

 ing to the general character 

 of the grains produced in each. 

 A study of these districts 

 reveals the fact that the va- 

 rieties usually grown in any 

 one given section will all pos- 

 sess so nearly the same values 

 as to warrant their classifica- 

 tion together and thus give the 

 product of each district a dis- 

 tinctive character. According 

 to the grouping we will have : 



(1) The soft wheat district, 

 including mainly the New Eng- 

 land and middle states. 



(2) Semi-hard winter wheat 

 district, including the north 

 central states. 



(3) The southern district, in- 

 cluding the northern part of 

 the southern states. 



(4) The hard spring wheat district, including 

 the upper Mississippi river basin. 



(5) The hard winter wheat district, including 

 parts of the middle states of the plains. 



L 



Fig. 900. 

 Long-bearded 

 durum wheat 



iT. sativv/nttVaiV. 



durum). Two- 

 thirds natural 



