A Study oe Colorado Wheat 
9 
of the State. While there is a question in regard to the application 
of observations made in one locality to the whole of so large a state 
as Colorado, to say nothing of other states, I still hold that they will, 
with little modification, be applicable to a very large portion of 
the west. 
I learned much more by turning the land to a depth of twelve 
inches than I expected to and while I would not advise so radical a 
procedure as I adopted, the deep cultivation has not shown any dis¬ 
advantage but on the contrary justifies itself in several ways. 
This presents a general though incomplete outline of our field 
work and the special objects which we hoped to accomplish, i. c., to 
produce wheat under field conditions on a sufficiently large scale to 
make the results thoroughly representative, and, through the study 
of these products to ascertain the properties and character of Colo¬ 
rado wheats. We further hope to control the cultural conditions in 
such manner that we may be able to establish the effects of nitrogen, 
phosphorus, potassium and irrigation upon the composition and 
quality of the wheat produced, and see if in any of these we find an 
explanation for the fact that our wheats do not produce as desirable 
a flour as Minnesota or Kansas wheats. 
We have already shown in Bulletin 205, “Yellow-berry in 
Wheat; Its Cause and Prevention,” that it is in our power to increase 
the yellow-berry or to suppress it and that the ratio between the 
available potassium and available nitrogen is the factor that deter¬ 
mines the appearance of this characteristic. I studiously avoided 
making any assertion pertaining to the composition or quality of 
yellow-berry wheat in Bulletin 205 for the same reason that I now 
use the terms “weak wheats” and “soft wheats” with a more definite 
meaning than is usually done, and further for the very good reason 
that I did not know whether the yellow-berry, soft, starchy, mealy 
wheat is really inferior to the flinty, corneous or hard wheat or not. 
We left this question for discussion in the present bulletin. I 
adhered closely to the specific problem of the cause of yellow-berry 
and its prevention. This, however, is closely related to an important 
phase of my principal problems. 
I stated that the growers could control the yellow-berry by 
increasing the nitrogen in the soil, as the cause is an undue propor¬ 
tion of available potassium compared with the available nitrogen. 
I also stated that one method of adding available nitrogen was to 
cultivate the land fallow; this statement applies to our conditions 
and I judge that it will annlv very generally, but hesitate to make 
too broad a statement. The explanation that I offer is in the 
development of so large a quantity of nitrates in the soil that, 
though much may be washed beyond the reach of the plants or de- 
