2 BULLETIN 1403, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
improve the yield and maintain the quality. In order to do this it is 
necessary to determine the factors which make for yield and quality 
under different Montana conditions and to develop a new variety 
of equal quality which will increase average yields. 
MATERIAL AND METHODS 
Unfavorable results with wheat production in Montana are almost 
entirely the result of drought. A new variety must be drought 
escaping or drought resistant in order to meet most successfully 
the prevailiug conditions. The choice of an early drought-resistant 
high-yielding variety for crossing with Marquis and the selection of 
representative locations for testing the progeny in Montana were 
the problems of first consideration in developing a breeding program. 
PARENT MATERIAL 
The Hard Federation was selected for crossing with Marquis, 
as it appeared the best available variety at the time this study was 
projected. It had been included in varietal experiments at Moccasin, 
Mont., in 1920, and had outyielded Marquis by 7.7 bushels per acre. 
Its earliness, drought resistance, and high-yielding ability had been 
observed in Oregon and California and reported by Clark, Stephens, 
and Florell (6). 2 The crosses were made in 1921, in which year 
Hard Federation was first included in varietal experiments at Boze- 
man and Havre, Mont., and at numerous stations in other States. 
Marquis and Hard Federation have several contrasting morpho- 
logical and quantitative characters, some of which affect differently 
their adaptation in certain localities and seasons. Marquis is a 
midseason, midtall variety with awnletted spikes, flat leaves, white 
glumes, and hard red kernels. Hard Federation is an early, short 
variety with awnless spikes, curling leaves, brown glumes, and hard 
white kernels. The inheritance of these contrasting characters 
and their effect, if any, on the yield and quality of the product under 
different Montana conditions have been studied. 
Crude-protein content has been selected among several quality 
factors as the one most important, as it is directly reflected in the 
price of wheat when marketed. At present a premium is paid for 
hard red spring wheat of 5 to 10 cents a bushel for each per cent of 
crude protein above 12. Other quality factors are important but 
are more difficult to measure in the small quantity of seed available 
in hybrid material. 
To show the comparative quality of the two parents, data from 
milling and baking experiments which have been conducted by the 
United States Department of Agriculture with comparable samples 
of Hard Federation and Marquis wheats during the seven years 
from 1918 to 1924, inclusive, are given in Table 1. The data show 
that Hard Federation compares favorably with Marquis in all 
factors. This result agrees with that of earlier experiments reported 
by Shollenberger and Clark (17), which show Hard Federation to be 
one of the best varieties for bread making in the white class. It has 
no important objectionable feature when compared with Marquis, 
recognized as the leading variety for milling and bread making. 
2 The serial numbers (italic) in parentheses refer to "Literature cited" at the end of this bulletin. 
