The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1884-03-05
COMMUNICATED.

l nave been very muCH lutcIc1lSu III
the subject of Scotch fife wheat as dis
cussed in the several papers of the Ter
ritory.. Hard wheat is what the miller
wants to make good -four. / have had
twelve years experience in growing and
four years in charge Of one Of the Min
neapolis millers association elevator.
Will it paw the Gallatin county farmer to
send to Minnesota and Dakota for seed
that has run out there? Certainly not.
The old Scotch fife wheat of Minnesota,
which Mr.. Archibald. of Dundas,
brought there twenty-seven years ago,
has run out. It has been sowed SO con-
tinuously without change that like the
old potato, it has lost it's productive
powers What was once the best wheat
q Minnesota farmer could grow. has
become in the old wheat growing sec.
tions, the poorest variety. 1t has no vir
talitv; it stools imperfectly or not at all.
The straw is weak and breaks down.
The heads are short and poorly filled
and the quality when grown will not
grade No l. Added to this should be
recorded the fact that the old variety
has become SO mixed with other kinds
of soft wheat (such as Lost Nation, Mich
iean White, Odessa, Rio Grand) that but
little is left of the original seed. 1t is
soft and poor for new process milling.
whether sown on old or new land the
result is the same 1t is fact we'll I'M
derstood in nature, that a debilitated
plant or animal is sure to become diseas-
ed sooner or later. Witness it in poorly
fed and ill-treated stock and see it ex-
omplifed in run-out wheat. What has
been the result of the trouble between
the elevator men ant farmers of Mime
sofa and Dakota this winter? Their
wheat would not come up to the stand
ard grade. TIL" spring wheat plant Is
essentially northern cereal. While it
grows in temperate latitude it thrives
the best in IT,. far north. l have seen
many samples CT the Gallatin county
wheat this winter-it is badly decayed,
blighted and very smutty. If you should
look at smut ball through microscope,
you would find that it was composed of a
multitude of small seeds. fthere is any
smut in your wheat at all it will scatter
when it is threshed and the little seed
will fasten themselves on your good
wheat. Then when it is sown they will
be absorbed into the sap of the growing
plant and produce more smutty wheat.
The Saskatchewan fife wheat. This is a
wheat introduced in Minnesota in the
last three years by Mr.. Abernethy of
Minneapolis. Each year l have made
an examination of the grain. consider
it the best and purest fife wheat in the
Northwest. This wheat is highly rec
commended by all the officers of the mil
ler's association and farmers who have
raised it, 1t is for sale by few farmers
in Minnesota and Dakota and dealers In
Minneapolis. To the farmers of Gallatin
valley l would say: The time will come
and in few years when you will have a
surplus of wheat to sell and dealers will
be here to buy it Then your wheat will
90 into other markets and be graded; but
do not wait until then and be obliged to
sell ten to fifteen per cent less than you
would if graded No. l. Money to farmers
means wealth to the investment. l give
herewith rule for inspection of No.
wheat. "Must be dry, sound quality,
known as Scotch fife or equally as hard;
clear from all foreign seed and to weigh
no less than fifty-eight pounds to meas
ured bushel." Ifyou cannot buy hard
wheat this season, exchange with your
nelghbor, it keeps the seed to take from
clay subsoil to sandy land and vice versa
clean your seed thoroughly before SOW
ing, with a tanning mill.
. II. ]. WALCoTr.