2 BULLETIN 478, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Care should be taken not to confuse Humpback wheat with the 
more widely grown varieties of the Northwest, commonly, though 
incorrectly, known as Velvet Chaff. The Velvet Chaff wheats, some- 
times classified as the Preston group, are bearded but are of the Red 
Fife type, and the kernels are much smaller than those of the Hump- 
back, approaching closer to the Fife and Bluestem wheats in size and 
quality. Another point of difference is apparent in the heads of the 
wheat. Humpback wheat has, as already stated, a velvety chaff, 
while curiously enough the bearded spring wheats, commonly known 
as Velvet Chaff, are characterized not by a velvety but by a smooth 
chaff. The comparative shape and size of Humpback, Velvet Chaff, 
Fic. 1.—Bread made from samples of Humpback and Bluestem wheats grown near Glen- 
wood, Minn., in 1913: a, Loaf from Humpback wheat, yielding 73 per cent of straight 
flour and having a loaf volume of 1,970 cubic centimeters and a texture score of 87.5; 
b, loaf from Bluestem wheat, yielding 74 per cent of straight flour and having a loaf 
volume of 2,445 cubic centimeters and a texture score of 93.5. 
Glyndon Fife (Minnesota No. 163), and Bluestem wheats are shown, 
natural size, in Plate LI. 
Humpback wheat has a large berry as compared with most strains 
of the hard spring wheats, in point of size being midway between the 
common varieties of spring wheat and the durums. The kernels are 
of a dark amber color and are perhaps a little softer than most 
wheats of this class. The weight per bushel will be found to range 
somewhat higher than the Fife and Bluestem wheats, the average of 
nine samples from the 1910 crop being over 60 pounds per bushel. 
MILLING AND BAKING QUALITIES.* 
Table I gives the comparative results of the milling and baking 
qualities of a limited number of samples of Humpback and other 
1 The Minnesota State grain-inspection department under the grade rules for northern 
spring wheat specifies that ‘‘ the variety known as ‘ Humpback,’ owing to its inferior 
milling quality, shall not be graded higher than No. 3.” 
