78 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Peculiarities in Different Localities. 



OHIO. 



The wheats from this State were grown by William B. Alwood, 

 superintendent of field experiments at the farm of the Ohio State Ex- 

 periment Station. In our original bulletin they were incorrectly stated 

 to have been grown on the University Farm by W, Brotherton. 



The crop of 1883 averaged, it is said, about 30 bushels per acre. It 

 was not, however, entirely plump, "owing to a wet spring succeeded by 

 dry weather before ripening," and the weight per bushel was therefore 

 light, about 57 pounds. The fact that the grain was shriveled was due 

 to a lack of ability to fill the floury portion with its full quantity of 

 starch, and the relative percentage of nitrogen is therefore higher than 

 would be found in a well-developed grain. 



This inability to form the usual proportion of starch in the grain, or 

 the reverse, an enhanced starch formation, will be seen to be a power- 

 ful factor in altering the composition of the wheat grain. The specimens 

 which have been just mentioned from Ohio, and others from Dakota, 

 Colorado, and Oregon, illustrate the dependence of the relative percent- 

 age of nitrogen in the grain upon the amount of starch which it has 

 been able to accumulate. 



MINNESOTA. 



The specimens previously analyzed from this State were from the 

 exhibits of the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Kailroad in the 

 Department Museum, but as they were not considered representative 

 wheats by prominent millers, and the results were unsatisfactory to 

 them, they were invited to send samples of their own selection from the 

 crop of 1883. The analyses given in this bulletin will, therefore, show 

 the composition of the best spring wheat of Minnesota, but it can hardly 

 be said to represent the average of the State, as the samples were all 

 of No. 1 hard wheat. 



The average of the analyses previously published, of the four made 

 this year, and of all taken together, are given below : 



Analyses and constituents. 



Railroad 

 exhibits, 

 &c. 



No. 1 hard 



wheat, 

 1883. 



All. 





9. 



3. 351 



4. 



3. 001 



13. 



3. 168 





10. 60 

 1. 71 

 75. 03 

 12. 66 



8. 64 

 1.91 

 75. 05 

 14.40 



oTihT 



1.77 

 75. 09 

 13. 18 





100. 00 



100. 00 



100. 00 





2. 03 



2.31 



2.11 



The average of all probably fairly represents the production of the 

 State, while u No. 1 hard spring wheat" is richer in albuminoids, but 

 small in size, both of which characteristics are due to a lack of starch, 

 owing to the short period of growth and rapid maturity and consequent 

 inability to accumulate that constituent. 



DAKOTA. 



Through the kindness of General M. Y. Z. Woodhull, specimens of the 

 crop of spring wheat of 1883 from some of the leading farms of the 



