A Study of Colorado Wiikat 
29 
There are only a few samples among- those given, which were 
grown on “dry land”, or without irrigation, but. so far as we can at¬ 
tach any value to so small a number of samples, we find aio justification 
for the claim which is sometimes made, that dry land wheat is better, 
i.e., richer in nitrogen than irrigated wheat. 'J'his sentence is written 
with the knowledge that it is opposed by the views of very competent 
men either directly or by intimation. Schindler, for instance, holds 
that hot, dry summers produce wheats high in nitrogen as compareci 
with the same variety grown in cooler and wetter summers or locali¬ 
ties. This seems to be, at least it is accepted, as an established fact, 
but it is not applicable to our conditions, concerning which we shall 
have more to say at another time. 
The general samples of wheat from the same locality, as well as 
from different localities, are readily separated into classes according 
to their flintiness or starchiness. The flinty kernels, on the one hand, 
are rich in nitrogen, the starchy ones, on the other hand, are iX)orer in 
nitrogen. I do not know when or by whom this observation was first 
Tuade, but it is a very widely recognized property of wheat kernels. 
Ritthausen and Dr. R. Pott mentioned such kernels in i<S 72 and this 
condition is described quite fully by Schindler in his ‘“Getreidebaii’T 
where he says: “‘Flinty’ wheat is, on account of its g-reater density, i.e., 
its high specific gravity, designated hard wheat and is, as a rule, richer in 
nitrogen, and the amount of gluten is greater than in the mealy, or so called 
soft wheats” to which he adds in a footnote “This is also the case even 
when the flinty and starchy keniels are of the same variety and have been 
produced in the same field; in this case, the kernels produced in the top and 
bottom portions of the head are apt to be more flinty and those in the mid¬ 
dle portions more mealy. P. Holdefleiss§ found that in one and the same 
crop of Early Bastardweizens the flinty kernels contained 1.907 percent 
nitrogen (12.23 percent protein) the mealy ones, on the contrary, 1.56G per¬ 
cent nitrogen (9.79 percent protein).” 
The physical property of the kernels first mentioned is not char¬ 
acteristic of any locality, but is found distributed everywhere through¬ 
out the State, so far as my knowledge of the wheats produced extends. 
We find, that the chemical composition varies with this, but this does 
not prove that the bread-making qualities are lessened, though the 
gluten content certainly varies, as well as the chemical composition. 
There is no doubt but that physical properties and chemical composition 
are dependent upon conditions of fertility which vary from place to 
place in small areas and even more in large ones, especially in a State of 
* Die landwirtschaftlichen Versuchs-Stationen Hand XVI, p. 391. 
Schindler, Der Getreidebau, 1909, p. 1.51, 
? P. Holdefleis.<3, “Mehlig’keit und Glasifflceit der Weizenkoerner,” ‘M Kuehns 
Eerichte,” XIV, 1900. 
