DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



97 



ket, but just as soon as the Dakotas began to make a specialty of it, 

 its sale became easier and a market is now firmly established, as I have 

 already indicated. You should strive for uniformity at all times, and this 

 will be best accomplished by your co-operation with the stations and 

 through your agricultural organizations. 



The Pacific Wheats. 



The last belt to be considered is the region lying between the 

 Rocky mountains and the Sierra Nevadas. It includes the San Joaquin 

 and Sacramento valleys of California, and the Palouse and Yakima and 

 Big Bend sections of Oregon, Washington and northern Idaho. 



The grains of this belt are the extreme opposite of those of the 

 Kansas belt; in other words, they are very soft and white, and very low 

 in gluten — the highly prized constituent of the wheat berry — while the 

 Kansas grains are hard, red and rich in gluten, and hence more desirable. 

 The wheats of the Pacific belt are not readily salable in the Minneapolis 

 and Chicago markets; they find their sale mainly on the Pacific coast and 

 in the Orient. 



The main varieties are Red Russian and Palouse Blue Stem, in Wash- 

 ington; Red Chaff in Oregon; and Sonora and White Australian in 

 California. 



So far attempts to maintain high gluten content in varieties introduced 

 into the Pacific belt have been unsuccessful. As soon as the hard va- 

 rieties become acclimated in this region, they become starchy and soft 

 and closely resemble the older types in chemical composition. This is 

 especially noticeable in the wheat section of California, wdiere wheat 

 growing has been conducted on a large scale, with the careless methods 

 suggested in the beginning. Fifty years ago a better quality of wheat 

 was produced than at present, but the farmers have allowed the fertility 

 of their soil to decrease. As a result, they are now reaping the harvest 

 of their unscientific methods. This might well be taken as an object 

 lesson by those who are beginning in the newer sections, as it emphasizes 

 the necessity for crop rotation. It often becomes necessary to import 

 hard wheats in California for use as blends in flour making. It seems 

 to me that this would be another plausible use for the durums raised 

 farther east. Such a thing would increase the market for these wheats 

 and at the same time be of vast service to the farmers and millers of 

 the Pacific belt. 



Conclusion. 



In conclusion I would like to leave with you a concrete conception 

 of cereal production about as follows: 



1. That from a disorganized condition, the production of cereals, 

 especially wheat, has, through the introduction of foreign varieties of 

 grain, elimination of inferior types and a uniform system of grain grow- 

 ing, become concentrated into four belts, more or less distinct, and with 

 one exception characterized by the production of one or two standard 

 varieties especially adapted. 



