Yeelow-berry in Wheat 
35 
make ourselves independent of climatic conditions, however much 
or little we may mean by the term, it is evident that our data given 
do not fit into this view. I have omitted any detailed discus¬ 
sion of the composition of the yellow-berry wheat on purpose to 
avoid a premature discussion of these points. It seems wise, how¬ 
ever, to make the above statements lest some one should be led to 
expect too much from the adoption of our suggestions for the pre¬ 
vention of yellow-berry. 
Wheat affected with yellow-berry is considered inferior in 
quality and is graded low on the market. The removal of this af¬ 
fection will certainly cause the wheat to be graded higher and prob¬ 
ably also actually improve the quality, but this seems to be an open 
question, for the Hungarian wheat is of the best quality though, 
as we have seen, the wheat is very far from being free from this 
affection. 
There is another way of combating the trouble, the one sug¬ 
gested by Dr. Kosutany, i. e., through thorough cultivation and 
manuring, also by a proper rotation of crops. In offering an ex¬ 
planation for the smallness of the kernels and the inferior quality 
of wheat grown on small farms, as compared with wheat grown on 
large estates in Hungary, he uses the following language : 
“The balance swings in favor of the large landowner and intensive, 
thorough culture, according to the determination of the degree of meali¬ 
ness which at first sight is rather surprising, for if the wheat grown by 
the small landowner is smaller-grained, then it should, according to the 
theory which we have proposed, not only be richer in protein but also 
flintier, because the wheat planted with shallower culture ends its assi¬ 
milative activity earlier and should contain less starch and more gluten 
and, therefore, should be characterized by a higher degree of flintiness. 
That this is not so can be explained only by this, that the fields on smaller 
estates were not sufficiently manured and the wheat plants were not sup¬ 
plied with a sufficiency of nitrogen by these soils to form therefrom the 
protein corresponding to the (other) conditions. Furthermore, it is pos¬ 
sible, that a less advantageous rotation plays a part in it, in that the 
smaller owner has planted his wheat after a plant (crop) that has ex¬ 
hausted the available nitrogen of the soil so that the wheat grown after 
it, even with' an ordinary manuring must be low in its nitrogen content. 
Accordingly we can draw the conclusion that the wheat grown upon small 
farms, is of lower value, because it has a lower weight per hectolitre, is 
smaller grained and less flinty, contains less gluten and less protein. 
Here a wide province opens up to intensive, thorough cultivation, since 
with the deepening of the soil the vegetative period of the wheat is length¬ 
ened, the kernels do not shrink, the plant is more richly supplied with ni¬ 
trogen, its roots penetrate deeper into the soil and can take up a richer 
supply of nourishment. The heavier manuring provides the wheat with 
richer nitrogenous food and contributes to the formation of a wheat richer 
