26 
BULLETIN 88. 
ers in Kansas City learned that they could buy it by the car-load, 
the growers found no trouble in selling all they did not need for 
home nse. Local millers and dealers thought that they could not 
handle the wheat. Millers needed special machinery for getting 
all the flour out of it and local grain dealers were afraid to handle 
it lest it should become mixed with the other wheat and render 
it unsalable. Recently a miller at Fort Collins has been trying 
to get macaroni wheat for sowing above the ditches where irriga¬ 
tion is impossible. He promises to buy all that can be raised at 
the same price that ordinary wheat commands. 
Varieties of wheat used in the most of the wheat-growing 
districts are not usually known. Certain types of seed wheat 
happened to survive the drought years, either successfully resist¬ 
ing the drought or bv having been kept in granaries through 
these years, have since been sown continuously. These are now 
known as “white wheat” or “red wheat” sometimes with the 
name of some settler prefixed to the type-name. I failed to trace 
the origin of any of the seed used, but believe that quite a num¬ 
ber of varieties are grown there, usually very much mixed now. 
When the macaroni wheats were introduced, it was feared that 
they too would become mixed with the other varieties and reduce 
the value of the common wheat. In time the growers of maca- 
roni wheat may fear that the soft varieties may become mixed 
with macaroni wheat and reduce its market value. 
Preparation and Seeding. Probably almost every method 
of preparation of the seed-bed and planting has been tried by 
someone at some time since settlement began. In some years suc¬ 
cess “chased” the farmer who used the most slovenly methods, 
while in other years she outran and kept out of reach of the man 
who used the best methods known in the art of farming. This 
happened so often that some settlers have contracted the habit 
of putting the seed into the ground by use of the least possible 
amount of work, and they say they are sure of a good crop if the 
rainfall comes right, and are sure of a failure if the rainfall does 
not come right, no matter how the grain is planted. 
Following out this idea, some have continued to sow the seed 
broadcast, either with a broadcast sowing machine which is at¬ 
tached to a wagon bed, or by hand. The seed is sown on the 
ground which has received no preparation to fit it for a seed-bed. 
Weeds may cover the ground, or it may be bare. The seed is 
then covered with either a corn cultivator or a disc harrow. 
Sometimes the ground is not harrowed after the seed has been 
covered, and sometimes it is harrowed with a smoothing harrow. 
Some good farmers tried plowing the ground thoroughly be¬ 
fore sowing the wheat. But after a time so many failures were 
received by using this method that the best farmers ceas- 
