The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-09-10
MacarOni Wheat Is Receiving
Some Hard Raps.
Northwest Inspectors Are
Grading 1t " Rejected"
BACKED BY EXPERTS.
Government Has Recommended
1t as a DrOuth Resistant.
But Little Has Been Grown in
Kansas.

Macaroni wheat, which has been ex-
plotted to such great extent for the
last year or two by the United States
department of agriculture, is receiving
black eye in the northwest. Mime
sofa and the Dakotas. Not only are
the grain and milling trade journals de-
nouncing 1T. but the chief inspector of
grain at Duluth has given notice that
all macaroni wheat graded there will
be graded as rejected" as will also
| all other wheat in which any macaronf
| is mixed.
Macaroni wheat has also been intro
duced into the western counties of Kan
sas and the department of agriculture
has been quite enthusiastic over it. 1t
has not yet made sufficient headway in
Kansas, however, to interfere with
milling. and in view of the big yields
of hard winter wheat in the western
counties this year it is doubtful if the
farmers will take up with macaroni to
any great extent.
The wheat is being introduced by
Prof. NJ. A. Carleton, who is graduate
of the Kansas Agricultural college, but
who has been a wheat specialist in the
United States department of agricuI-
for the wheat that it produces a larger
yield than other varieties and that it
has greater drouth-resisting powers.
For this reason it is especially urged
upon the far western counties.
In the wheat regions of the north
west the Commercial West and the
Northwestern Miller are both fighting
I the further spread of macaroni wheat.
On the other hand Prof. w. NJ. Hays.
of the Minnesota experiment station,
who knows more about wheat than
any other man in the United States
and who has done more to increase the
quality and yield through breeding
than anyone else, stands up for the
macaroni variety. He contends that it
should be given a thorough trial He
says the millers have not given suffi-
cient thought to the farmers aid OF
wheat-raising, and that the farmers
have been too long content with low
yields.
The Commercial West. of Minneapo-
lis, pokes considerable quiet fun at Prof
Carleton and the United States depart
ment of agriculture because it is en-
thusiastic over macaroni wheat. 1t
says:
whatever the effect of introducing
macaroni wheat in the Northwest may
be on the welfare of future generations
of farmers, the immediate effect. from
!
ton, is unfortunate.
"Marconi wheat came to the North
west as the result of hobby, and not
because anybody wanted It nor because
some benevolent person thought he was
/ helping the poor farmer Some years
ago the agricultural department sent
Professor Carleton to Europe on still
\ hunt for new cereals. He made several
| discoveries, among which was macaroni
wheat, together with the fact that the
United States is annually consuming
countless tons of imported macaronl-
| This was a sad shock to the professor,
and he at once began to set things right
He issued bulletins and he filled the
mails with official business; he scat
tered his seed wheat literally, and some
of it fell in Texas. some in Arizona. and
some in North Dakota, and the latter
brought forth an hundred fold. There
| fore the professor was happy.
But the professor was shocked again.
| for he soon discovered that there were
few macaroni factories in the country
and none to make semolena, which can
be made from this wheat So there was
no market for macaroni wheat.
Now a brilliant idea came to the pro-
fessor, who by this time had become in
fatuated with his hobby He would
| change macaroni wheat. which, in Eur
one is regarded as a wheat suited only
for the making of 'paste;' he would
change it and make of it a bread-pro-
ducing grain.
ssAccordingly. he ground some of it
| into flour, which was baked into bread,
and then still another discovery is made
that the bread is equal If not superior
Ito bread from good, old fashioned No.
northern wheat
| And still there is no market for
macaroni wheat. But perhaps there will
be some time, and then macaroni wheat
NAV become King Of Wheat, a position
/ it's prolific yielding qualities and Prot
Carieton's energetic advertising pro-
clivities would accord it.
Meanwhile, however, poor macaront
/ must be humble and wait patiently until
it has made a reputation. 1t must not
| mind being classed with such poor
/ trash as rejected for, of course, some
day it's real merits will be recognized.
Little rebuffs put upon macaroni by
4 heartIess inspectors of grain will of
\ course not affect the virtue of the grain
| nor the enthusiasm of its friends. Yet
a notice recently issued by F. w. Eva,
/ chief inspector of grain at Duluth, may
( Indirectly have some deterring effect on
| the production of macaroni. The no
tice. which is to the producers and
shippers of grain in the state of Mime
sofa and the northwest, reads as fol-
| lows:
. In view of the fact of the increasing
production of rice or goose wheat
| known in our grades as macaroni,
wish to call your attention to the neces-
sity of keeping this class of wheat sepa-
rate from all others.
Country elevator agents Should be
notified of the necessity of cleaning ele-
vator pits, hoppers and sacks after
handling this class of wheat. For neg
lecting these precautions, respectfully
refer you to our rules of inspection.
wherein it states: Wheat containing
admixture of rice or goose wheat will
in no case be graded better than re-
| jected.'"