A Study of Colorado Wheat 
It 
seems to show that, in this respect, he was mistaken, and that the soil, as 
a rule, has the least effect of all the important factors of environment upon 
chemical composition, provided, of course, that it contains the essential ele¬ 
ments of plant food necessary to produce an average crop. The soil, it is 
true, is one of the most potent factors in determining the size of the crop 
and the amount of material which is harvested, hut it does hot have a very 
marked influence on the chemical composition of the crop produced/'* 
Dr. Wiley does not call Mr. Richardson’s facts into question, only 
his explanation of them. Mr. Richardson attributes the characters of 
the wheat to the properties of the soil. Dr. Wiley says that the soil 
has the least effect of all the important factors of environment upon 
chemical composition, provided it contains the essential elements of 
plant food, necessary to produce an average crop. 
I know nothing about the views that Mr. Richardson may have 
adopted subsequently, but these quotations present the question in re¬ 
gard to the part played by the soil and the other environmental condi¬ 
tions as succinctly as any others that I might quote. I think that the 
greater number of writers on this, subject agree in ,their general atti^ 
tude with the position indicated by the quotatioir from Dr. Wiley, 
which, perhaps, is not so decided as the statements of some others. 
Dr. J. A. Le Clerc says: “The results so far obtained would seem to in;* 
dicate that the soil and seed play a relatively small part in influencing the 
composition of crops.^f This is one of the conclusions from their tri¬ 
local experiments with wheats. •. : 
Schindler, in discussing a wheat climate, says: “We shall have to 
remind the reader that the climate of the Colorado section is characterized 
by an extraordinary dryness of the atmosphere and great daily variations 
of temperature. The relative humidity falls as low as 10 per cent/^ 
Then he quotes Hann, Climatology, p. 662 : “The advantages of the Colo¬ 
rado climate consist in the clearness of the sky, intense sunshine, and^n 
light atmosphere favorable to evaporation.”§ ^ 
Dr. Le Clerc says, in writing of irrigation: “Where irrigation is 
practiced, in Colorado for example, ideal conditions for plant growth prcr 
vail, for there,the sky is clear, the sunshine intense, the air; dry. There¬ 
fore, if water can be supplied when the crops are in need of it, assimilation 
will go on at its best and the production of organic substance will be all 
the more favored. The result will be a large crop of large-sized grain.”! 
No author, whose writings I have read, is more insistent upon 
. the very great influence of “climatic conditions” than Schindler, who 
sets forth strong reasons for his views.’ Still lie acknowledges that 
soil conditions may produce similar effects. In^ discussing correlative 
» Year Book of the Dept., of Agri,, 1901, p. 303., ^ , ,, . 
t Bureau of Chemistry, U.- S. Dept. Agri., Bui. 128, p; 18.- ' ^ ' 
§ Translations by the, author., . ,, ,y,/ . ■ sM.; ; * 
t Year Book U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1906, p. 204.' 
