Properties of Colorado Wheat 
13 
EXCESS OF POTASH CAUSES YELLOW-BERRY 
So here was the whole problem worked out in land sufficiently 
well supplied with inorganic nitrates, which furnish the nitrogen 
to the wheat plant, to grow big crops of mixed hard and soft 
wheat. If the potash be in excess, then we have yellow-berry. 
By this we mean that some grains of the wheat will be yellow, 
others will be partly yellow, while some may be wholly flinty 
and hard. This is the case with a great deal of the wheat grown 
in different parts of the State. 
We increased the nitrates and obtained hard wheat. We ap¬ 
plied more saltpetre than was necessary to produce a satisfactory 
result on our ground, but how much more than was needed to 
correct the excess of potash we have not determined, and it would 
do no one any good if we had determined this point, because the 
reader’s land might need more or less than ours. The big thing 
for us was to find out the facts as to what makes the wheat yellow 
and soft, and what to put on the land to make it hard. 
FALLOW CULTIVATION INCREASES NITROGEN 
There are other ways to increase the inorganic nitrogen in 
the soil besides buying Chile-saltpetre at a high price. The best 
way in Colorado is to cultivate the land fallow. This both im¬ 
proves the condition of the soil and adds nitrogen to it, which is 
finally changed into the form in which the wheat plant can use it. 
MANURE DOES NOT AFFECT COMPOSITION 
In one series of experiments which we have recorded 16 
loads of well rotted manure was applied to the acre but it had 
no perceptible effect upon the number of yellow grains in the 
wheat. The reason for this was that the nitrogen in the manure 
was present as organic nitrogen and the soil agencies were not 
able to convert this organic nitrogen into a usable form fast 
enough to affect the character of the wheat produced. The effect, 
of this manure, 16 loads, upon the size of the crop, was to increase 
it by about 7 bushels of wheat and 600 pounds of straw to the 
acre; it did not affect the composition of the wheat at all. The 
biggest increase that we obtained from the application of Chile- 
saltpetre was about 4 bushels of wheat, but the composition of 
the wheat was changed, that is, the gluten was increased. Evi¬ 
dently our soil contained enough nitrates to produce about its 
maximum crop, so there was no great increase in crop, as is often 
observed as a result of the application of saltpetre. 
The recorded observations of different experiments on the 
effects of farmyard manure are contradictory, some saying that 
it does and others saying that it does not affect the composition 
