A Study of Colorado Wheat 
39 
and to show how this can be controlled. We did not enter into a study 
of the flinty and mealy berries themselves, in fact, we gave no analy¬ 
tical data, but confined ourselves to the direct results of field experi¬ 
ments, using one-tenth-acre plots. These results showed that the per¬ 
centage of flinty berries was materially increased, practically to the 
complete elimination of the mealy berries, by the application of nitro¬ 
gen in the form of nitrate. Further, that the application of potassium 
increased the percentage of mealy kernels, and gave to all of the kernels 
a less desirable appearance than the wheats produced on the check 
plots. I could not convince myself that phosphorus had any percep¬ 
tible influence on this condition. The only analytical data given in this 
bulletin pertained to the main features of the soil and sub-soil in regard 
to the supply of plant food. 
The positive and conclusive character of the proof adduced to 
show the cause of these characters in wheat kernels seemed to render 
any discussion of the chemical properties of the kernels themselves en¬ 
tirely unnecessary and only a few explanations, for the most part physi¬ 
cal, were considered. 
At the time I wrote Bulletin 205, I knew of but few observations 
similar to those I had made. The principal ones were the observa¬ 
tions of H. von Feilitzen (Abs. Fxpt. Sta. Record, Vol. XVII, p. 24), 
F. Moertlbauer (Abs. Fxpt- Bta. Record, Vol. XXV, p. 33) and a 
private communication from Prof. A. Keyser. Quite recently, a year 
subsequent to the publication of Bulletin 205, I found an article publish¬ 
ed by Ritthausen and Dr. R. Pott in Die Landwirthschaftlichen Ver- 
suchs Stationen, Vol. XVI, 1873, pp. 384-399, in which identical con¬ 
clusions are given, except in regard to the effects of potassium, name¬ 
ly, that nitrates produce small, flinty, hard kernels; and that phos¬ 
phorus is without effect upon the flintiness or mealiness of the ker¬ 
nels. The two series of experiments are identical in plan and results, 
in so far as the experiments are co-extensive. I would gladly have 
cited these experiments made at Poppelsdorf in 1872, had I known of 
them at the time that I wrote Bulletin 205, as the results obtained under 
the conditions obtaining in the lower Rhine district in 1872 are identi¬ 
cal with those obtained at Fort Collins in 1913 and 1914. Their obser¬ 
vations on the effect of nitrates upon the wheat kernels, in comparison 
with other fertilizer, are of sufficient interest to justify their quota¬ 
tion in this place. These observations are: 
“The variety used for seed was one which had been cultivated for a 
long time at Poppelsdorf. The kernels were flinty, hard and dark colored; 
kernels of any other character could not be found even on examining a 
larger quantity. 
