8 
The Coeorado Experiment Station 
pearance affects the grading of the grain adversely, but is not necessarily 
associated with an inferior condition of the kernel, although such fre¬ 
quently is the result of exposure to the weather.” 
While this statement stands in opposition to the conclusions 
of the preceding investigators, it seems to me to be worthy of con¬ 
sideration. If I understand Eyon and Keyser aright, they claim 
that there was a decided increase of yellow-berry after the grain 
was cut, but do not claim that all of the weathering effects are to be 
classed as yellow-berry. On the contrary, the statements that they 
make tend to convey the idea that they attribute the increase in the 
amount of yellow-berry after cutting to the continued absorption of 
carbohydrates from the plant after cutting, still their statement 
of the chief cause includes weathering after cutting. The view pre¬ 
sented in the Kansas bulletin is that the yellow-berry is caused by 
some physiological condition and is a heritable quality as the fol¬ 
lowing statements show: 
“The yellow-berry, then, appears to be distinctly a physiological 
growth product due to certain conditions thus far not clearly analyzed or 
satisfactorily explained. The essential thing, from the practical stand¬ 
point is to discover whether pure stocks of wheat can be found which 
produce constantly a minimum amount of yellow-berry in the hard wheat 
region and in localities in which the yellow-berry ordinarily occurs.” 
These writers consider the subject an important one for Kan¬ 
sas and refer to it as a factor in the deterioration of their wheat. 
‘‘Any factor that brings about deterioration in the grade of this 
wheat (Kansas winter wheat, H.) calls for serious investigation. The 
yellow-berry is such a factor. The presence of the yellow-berry in any 
quantity in our hard wheat affects unfavorably its commercial grading 
and its market price.” 
As to the cause of it, or to what they believe to be the cause 
of it, they are not as definite as could be desired. I have already 
stated that they consider it a ‘‘physiological growth product” and 
that it is an heritable character, still, as is readily understood, cli¬ 
mate and growing conditions in general, are not without influence. 
These authors evidently consider them of great importance for they 
approvingly quote Schindler, Der Weizen, Berlin, 1895, as follows: 
‘‘With the length of the vegetative period, especially with the extent 
of the interval between blossoming and ripening, not only the dimen¬ 
sions of the kernel increase but also the quantity of carbohydrates stored 
therein, while the protein content diminishes.” * * * 
“It is not justifiable to speak of the size of the kernel and the protein 
content of the berry as ‘race characters.’ They may be such to a certain 
limited extent, but the influence of the race will in this connection be 
far exceeded by the influence of the climate and partly also by the soil 
and cultivation.” 
