DISCOVERY OF MARQUIS WHEAT 160 



and that already in the space of four seasons it has cut 

 down the cultivation of the older variety to one-third of 

 what it was originally. Fife had much less ground to 

 give up than Bluestem but, nevertheless, since 1914, its 

 crop has decreased : in Minnesota by 57 per cent. ; in North 

 Dakota by 62 per cent, and in South Dakota by 73 per 

 cent. 



Durum wheat, from which macaroni is made, as its 

 name indicates, has very hard kernels, and it differs in 

 various respects from the so-called Common Wheats such 

 as Velvet Chaff, Bluestem and Fife.^^ Like Marquis, as 

 the figures in the Table show, it is increasing in popularity 

 in Minnesota and North Dakota, although not nearly so 

 fast ; but in South Dakota it is merely holding its place. 



On account of climatic conditions. Winter wheat can- 

 not be grown with much success in Minnesota and the two 

 Dakotas, and is therefore never likely to be a serious com- 

 petitor of Marquis in these States. In 1917 Winter wheat 

 contributed only three per cent, to the total crop in Min- 

 nesota and South Dakota, and only 1 per cent, in North 

 Dakota. 



It is a remarkable tribute to the worth of Marquis that, 

 notwithstanding its quite recent crossing of the Inter- 

 national Boundary Line, it should have already thoroughly 

 established itself as the leading kind of wheat in the chief 

 spring-wheat States, and that it should now be cultivated, 

 to some extent at least, in a continuous zone of States 

 stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The 

 spring-wheat lands of Minnesota, the two Dakotas, and 

 Montana pass by insensible gradations into the Canadian 

 spring-wheat Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and 



32 Much Durum wheat is ground into flour at Minneapolis, and the 

 flour, after being mixed with other sorts of flour, is used for 

 making bread. 



