VOL. XLVII. NO. 2011, NEW YORK, AUGUST 11, 1888. 
__ fEntered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1888, by the Rural New-Yorker In the ofllce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.) 
PRICK FIVE CENTS 
#2.00 PER YEAH. 
from the Hunt! (Smimte. 
THE RURAL’S WHEAT CROSSES AND WHEAT- 
AND-RYE HYBRIDS. 
Results of 13 years' persistent work; Arm¬ 
strong Jirst, and, later , Armstrong cross¬ 
breeds used as mother plants; varieties 
become “fixed" only after years of selec¬ 
tion: the multitude of so-called varieties 
reducible to a few; old kinds under new 
names : possibility of reheats crossing . 
naturally; conditions under which this* 
may occur; history and description of 
choice varieties originated by the Rural 
for free distribution among its subscribers. 
The R. N.-Y. began its wheat investiga¬ 
tions some 13 years ago on its farm situated 
on the south side of Long Island, near the 
ocean and about twenty miles from New York. 
At that time Clawson was the popular wheat. 
The first move was to collect every variety of 
wheat from every accessible source. This was 
done, and the work extended through several 
years with the outcome that a wheat sent to 
us as Armstrong, the origin of which we have 
never known, was selected as the mother-plant 
for the cross breeding contemplated This is 
a white-chaff, beardless wheat, bearing amber 
kernels of medium size and making flour of 
good quality. It is as hardy as any of the 
hundreds of kinds tried, in so far as could 
be judged ; the straw is strong and the heads 
give an average each of one third more grain 
than those of Clawson. Our early work in 
crossing was not satisfactory, the progeny 
generally resembling the mother-plant, and 
being generally inferior in one way or 
another. The first “strike” made, as we now 
remember, was from pollen used upon some 
of the cross-breeds raised from the Armstrong 
as the mother. From that time until this 
these varieties have either been inter-bred, or 
the cross-breeds have been made one or the 
otherjof the parents. We have never, in any 
instance, used a bearded wheat as the pistil- 
late.’parent, a somewhat interesting fact when 
it is known that we have, to-day, more beard¬ 
ed than beardless varieties. As a rule, little 
or nothing can be known of a cross-breed the 
first year. The plants (raised from the crossed 
seed of a single head) will resemble the mother 
and will generally be inferior to it in every 
way. The seed raised from these plants and 
sown again will vary indefinitely. By se¬ 
lections for three or four seasons, the varieties 
will usually become quite well fixed, though a 
small per cent, of variations will still occur. 
The “rogues” must be destroyed, or, if so de¬ 
sired, they may be propagated separately un¬ 
til their peculiarities become fixed,and thus a 
new strain (or variety) may be established. 
Of late years, our cross-breeds have so mul¬ 
tiplied as the result of cross-breeding every 
year, that we select only a few heads of the 
most promising plants, destroying all others, 
the number of strains thus destroyed re~ch 
ing probably a thousand or more. While 
trying the wheats secured from all over this 
country, England, France and Germany, 20.) 
or more in number, we were surprised to find 
so many alike, and it has been a matter of 
frequent regret that the synonymy was not 
carefully recorded and preserved. Clawson 
was sent to us under a score of different names 
Prof. Blount, of the Colorado Agricultural Col 
lege, sent it to us as one of his numbered 
“hybrids.” Several others of his “hybrids’ 
were easily identified as well-known old 
kinds. This is not surprising, as wheats of the 
East raised in Colorado, are so changed as not 
to be recognizable until raised for a year or so 
in the East again. It is our opinion that if 
all the wheats in the world were raised on the 
same farm for three years, the varieties 
would sink from hundreds to scores. 
DO WHEATS CROSS? 
The R. N.-Y. has studied this question as 
carefully as it is capable of studying anything. 
No ' No. 50. No. 53. 
.. . ’ TYPICAL HEADS OF THE R. N.-Y. WHEATS. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 280. * 
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