A Study of Colorado Wheat 
75 
the same upon the Red Fife. That there may be a difference in the 
ability of these two varieties to withstand unfavorable conditions is 
very probable, still it is a fact that the Fife matures several days earlier 
than the Defiance when sown on the same date, and by the end of July 
is usually quite mature. I have, in a preceding paragraph, given the 
results of the seasons on the comparative yields of our check plots and 
it will be noticed that the effects of the same conditions were much less 
upon the Red Fife than upon the Defiance, which fact I attribute large¬ 
ly to the stage of development of the plants at the time the weather 
conditions caused the injury to the crop. 
In the statement for the rainfall for July of each season, it will 
be noticed that we had the heaviest rainfall in 1913 and the next heavi¬ 
est rainfall in 1915. The former crop was excellent in quality, so far 
as weight per bushel and chemical composition are concerned; and the 
latter, as we shall later see, while good in yield and weight per bushel 
for the Red Fife and Kubanka, was of inferior chemical composition. 
In these cases, it was not the amount of water that fell during the 
month that produced the inferior wheat, for the larger amount of rain¬ 
fall was followed by the better quality of wheat. The distribution of 
the rainfall in the two seasons was quite different. In 1913 practically 
the whole of the rain fell between the i8th and 23rd, and during the 
month we had but one wholly cloudy day. In 1915 we had very different 
conditions, the rainfall was distributed more evenly throughout the 
month, especially through the last few days of it, and there was much 
cloudy weather. We also had heavy dews. The difference in mean 
temperature during the month in the two seasons was comparatively 
small, 66.8 degrees F., in 1913 and 64.7 degrees F., in 1915, or a dif¬ 
ference of 2.1 degrees F. This statement relative to the difference in 
mean temperature is, perhaps, not quite sufficient, for the character 
of the grain is determined, or may be, by a much shorter period thaci 
the 31 days composing the month; for this reason the mean temperature 
during the last 10 days of the month may be given; this was 62.4 in 
1913, and 65.9 in 1915. This difference, though small, only 3.5 degrees, 
together with the continuous wet weather, with cloudiness and heavy 
dews, and with the vigorous growth of plants, favored an abundant 
development of rust. We had somewhat the same conditions in 1914 
as in 1915 with the difference that in 1914 the rain came mostly in one 
violent shower, which beat the grain down so that it formed a thick 
mat of green plants through which the ventilation was considerably 
impeded, with the result that rust developed with special abundance on 
the Defiance, and quite abundantly on the other varieties. I have un¬ 
fortunately, no means of conveying a definite idea of the comparative 
severity of these attacks. The composition of the crops for the two 
seasons is given in the following tables, which also give the sections 
of land, the fertilizers and the amounts used: 
