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DRY FARMING CONGRESS 



I 



they are outA'ielding all other spring varieties, and in many instances are 

 rivaling some of the leading winter grains. It has been found that these 

 grains are particularly adapted to the Dakotas. About 80 per cent to 85 

 per cent of the durum wheat produced in 1907 w^as grown in this belt. 



Growing Popularity of Durums. 



The opposition to the durum wheats, especially among the farmers, 

 is rapidly disappearing; in fact, they are even being grown in sections 

 where they should not be planted. They have been taken to Minnesota, 

 a section wholly unsuited to their production because of the high precipi- 

 tation and the excessive humidity of the atmosphere. They are pre- 

 eminently grains to be grown where the summers are hot, and the atmos- 

 phere dry. The farmers of Minnesota, however, have come to value the 

 durums because of the aforementioned rust resistance rather than be- 

 cause they are otherwise adapted to that section. In some parts of the 

 state they are displacing Fife and Blue Stem. For this reason the millers 

 are inclined to oppose them very vigorously, and in this they are fully 

 justified. The Department of Agriculture has never recommended the 

 growing of durum wheats in the humid regions. 



The durums became prominent commercially in 1903, when six 

 million bushels were produced. The production has continually increased 

 until the present time. The crop of 1906 was between 40 and 50 million 

 bushels; that of 1907 was even greater, notwithstanding the unfavorable 

 conditions for grain in the Dakotas. In this connection I would like to 

 say, a great many of us hear something of the great wheat belt of Canada. 

 I had the pleasure in traveling through northwestern Canada this fall to 

 become acquainted with what they are doing there, and I learned why 

 some of our people are going to that country. But I just stated here 

 that the wheat yield of the durums in the United States was 60 million 

 bushels this ^-ear. That is not very much when we think of the 750 

 million bushels we raise in the United States, yet compared with Canada's 

 70 million bushels, their total production in the west, including the 

 provinces of ]\Ianitoba and Alberta, it does seem considerable. Probably 

 56 million bushels was as much as they raised in Canada this 3'ear, while 

 we raised comparatively this much durum wheat, and almost confined to 

 the Dakotas. 



One of the striking features in favor of the durum wheat is the 

 growing demand for it in both foreign and domestic markets. Of the 

 crop of 1906, some six to ten million bushels were consumed in the mills 

 of Minneapolis in blending with other wheat; 20 million bushels were 

 shipped to foreign markets, some of it going back to Russia, whence it 

 was orginally introduced; some five million bushels were used for seed 

 in 1907 and the remainder was used by small mills throughout the 

 country. Before the harvest of the 1907 crop, the 1906 jaeld was entirely 

 consumed. The 1907 crop is going even more rapidly. One man, rep- 

 resenting a foreign firm, purchased last December 1,500,000 bushels for 

 export. This is the largest amount ever bought at one time by one man 



