152 BULLETIN 1074, U. S. DEPARTMEXT OE AGEICULTUEE. 
South Dakota, Wyoming, and Wisconsin. As tlie name Velvet Chaff is a mis- 
nomer when applied to this type of wheat, the name Preston has been used in 
preference to it by the United States Department of Agriculture and by most 
experiment stations since 1915. It is thought by the writers that most of the 
wheat grown under the name of Velvet Chaff and other synonyms above 
recorded is really the Preston variety, although some of it is doubtless of 
earlier origin. 
KOTA. 
Description. — Plant spring habit, midseason. midtall ; stem white, weak to 
midstrong ; spike awued, fusiform, middense, inclined ; glumes glabrous, white, 
midlong, midwide; shoulders midwide, square to elevated; beaks narrow, 3 
to 20 mm. long ; awns 3 to 8 cm. long ; kernels red, midlong, hard, ovate to ellipti- 
cal, slightly humped ; germ small ; crease wide, usually shallow ; cheeks usually 
angular ; brush small, short to midlong. 
Kota can be distinguished from Preston by the longer beaks and elevated 
shoulders. The kernels are more humped and have a smaller germ. Kota is 
resistant to many forms of stem rust and also is quite drought resistant. It 
also is a good milling and bread-making wheat. A spike, glumes, and kernels 
of Kota are shown in Plate XLI, B. 
History. — The Kota variety was obtained in Russia by Prof. H. L. BoUey, 
of the North Dakota Agricultural College, in 1903, while making a study of the 
flax industry of Europe for the United States Department of Agriculture. It 
was introduced either as a separate lot, later designated by Professor Bolley 
as '* R. B. R. 3," or as a mixture in a sample of durum wheat. It recently was 
separated from Monad durum wheat, found to be resistant to some forms of 
stem rust and to have high agronomic and milling values, and was named Kota 
in 1919 by Waldron and Clark {200, p. 187-195). The name is a shortening 
of the name North Dakota. 
Distribution. — Grown to a small extent in Cass County. N. Dak., in 1920. 
It is also grown at several experiment stations and is used as a parent in 
breeding for rust-resistant spring wheats. 
Synonym; — " R. B. R. 3." This is the designation used by Professor Bolley, 
of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, for a wheat identical 
with Kota. According to Professor Bolley, R. B. R. 3 was one of his original in- 
troductions from Russia in 1903, introduced as S. P. I. No. 10204.^ The un- 
published record for this number by the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro- 
duction is " spring wheat from Orel," as one of 25 lots of wheat introduced from 
Russia by Professor Bolley in 1903. In 1911 Professor Bolley distributed 
small quantities of his " R. B. R. 3 " to several farmers and to the Langdon 
substation, but the variety never became commercially established by that dis- 
tribution. In the spring of 1919, after the discovery of resistance to stem rust 
in Kota and its similarity to " R. B. R. 3," Professor Bolley distributed a 
second lot, consisting of about a bushel of seed, to ;Mr. Jalmer Herre, Kelso, 
N. Dak., who was the first farmer to increase it. 
Description. — Plant spring habit, early, midtall; stem usually white, a faint 
purple sometimes appearing on lower internodes, weak to midstrong; spike 
awned, fusiform, middense, inclined ; glumes glabrous, white, midlong to long, 
narrow; shoulders wanting to narrow, oblique; beaks 1 to o mm. long; awns 2 
** Correspondence with J. A. Clark, Office of Cereal Investigations, dated Apr, 18, 1919. 
