The Washburn leader., 1904-12-31
Rus1ED WHEAT FOR SEED.

Many farmers Of this state and
western Minnesota are in doubt as
to what they should do to procure
seed wheat for next season. Every
farmer ought to study this seed
question because it means much to
him and the state as whole. Rust
has shriveled the grain in many
parts of the state, but one may not
fear to use wheat which has grown
in a rust infested crop provided the
grain is not too much shrunken
and is not otherwise injured by
moisture or other conditions inju
rious to seed grain. Rust does not
attack the crop by way Of seed as
smut does. It depends upon the
weather and soil conditions and
upon the wind borne red spores
which are carried from plant to
plant and from field to field during
the growing season.
sHR1vELED SEED.
There are, however, localities in
which the rust attack was so severe
that most wheat is badly shriveled.
The question is: Is such grain fit
! for seed? If one has a wheat of
good pedigree, fine yielder, he
certainly ought to use some Of it
for seed regardless Of how badly it
was attacked by rust, for rust does
not come every year and the farmer
cannot afford to lose a fine strain
Of wheat. AS in breeding cattle,
pedigree IN wheat means more than
all else. My experiments, however
have. year after year, taught that
lightweight grains Of wheat which
are shriveled or shrunken, cannot
produce as much grain as heavy,
plump, normally formed ones of
the same pedigree. But it may be
necessary for some farmers to SOW
lightweight wheat next spring. Be-
fore giving any argument or proc
esses for making use Of such seed,
let me here impress the thought
that is Of the utmost Importance to
use the plumpest, best colored seed
wheat available. It pays. It does
not pay to turn farming into gues-
sing contests or gambling opera
tions with nature. ..
WHEAT FROM RUSTED CROP.
Bright colored, otherwise unin-
jured, lightweight wheat, from a
rusted crop terminates freel under
good soil conditions; and if the av-
erage weight of the grains Of a
sample are above one-half the nor
NAL weight of sound wheat, will
probably produce a stand when the
usual amount of seed is used per
acre. Such seeds usually produce
thin stalked, narrow leaved plants
with weak vitality and slight pow
ers of stooling. The large number
of grains per bushel may in part
make up for the loss in living and
stooling powers. Plants from light
weight grains are always liable to
die if the soil happens to be either
poorly drained, heavy and cold, or
very droughty just following the
termination date.
WHEN NOT TO USE RUsTED SEED.
There are, perhaps, few farmers,
even in the heaviest rust districts,
who have failed to raise enough
heavy wheat for seed purposes. If
there are no fullweight grains in
the crop, I can hardly recommend
its general use for seed because it
shows that there was no rust re-
sistent wheat in the field and be-
cause it will be hard to screen out
enough heavy grains to insure
stand of strong plants. If light
weight rusted wheat has been sub.
jected to much wet, has been heated
or wlthered, it ought not to be use,l
for seed. Shriveled rusty wheat was
never properly matured. It easily
becomes soft and, in presence of
moisture, loses growth power much