The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-25

Special to The Journal. ;&
/: Fargo N: D., Nov. $225 Prof. H. L.
Bolley, head of the department Of bot
any and zoology in the North Dakota
station, makes the following statement
bearing on the use of wheat from a
rusted crop for seed:
"Many farmers of this state and Of
western Minnesota are in doubt as to
what they should do to procure seed
wheat for next season. Every farmer
ought to study this his seed Sc question, b be,
state as a whole. 2s' Rust has shriveled
but one need not fear to use wheat
which has grown in !. a rust-infected
crop, provided the. grain is not too
much shrunken and is not otherwise in
Of the seed as smut does. It depends
upon weather and soil conditions and
upon the wind-borne red spores which
are carried from plant to. plant and
from field to field in the growing sea-
VThere are, however, localities in
which the rust attack was so severe that
most wheat is badly shriveled. Is such
grain fit for seedq IF one has wheat
Of good pedigree, aifne yielder, he GER
tainlv. ought to use some Of it for seed
regardless of how badly it was attacked
by rust; for rust does not come every
lose a fine strain ofswheat. AS in breed
ing cattle, pedigree in wheat means more
than all else. - : p. :. ~ -
"My experiments, Il however, have,
year after year. taught that light
weight grains Of :, wheat : which are
shriveled or shrunken, no matter what
the, cause, cannot produce as much grain
q "
of the same pedigree. But, it may be
necessary for many farmers to sow
lightweight wheat next spring. Be-
fore giving any argument or processes
| for making use fasuch seed let me. here
impress the thought that it is of the
utmost Importance, ofuse the plumpest,
best-colored seed wheat available.
termination Of Light Weight Wheat.
"Bright-colored and otherwise unin-
jured lightweight wheat from rusted
crop terminates freely under good soil
conditions; and, II: the average weight
of the grains Of sample are above one
half the normal weight of sound wheat
will probably produce a stand when the
usual amount of seed is used to the
acre. Such seeds produce thin:-sta1ked
narrow-leaved plants with weak vital
ity and slight powAtsa,of sstooling. =: The
part make up for;#he :foss in living. and
sstooling powers. III 1aahntas from light
weight grains area likely to die if the
soil happens to ,beIsHherp poorly drained
i heavy and cold,, Oh vary droughty; fol
lowing the germinat1cn date. 2.tte'i .@
ssThere are, 1pesAaps;1 few farmers
have failed to raise enadagh heavy Wheat
for: seed purposes! dH Ehere are no full
weight grains in the eEoIp, I can hardly
cause Il Shows Tia athere WAS no. ru st
/ resistant wheat in that fieldg; and be
cause it WiHUbe skaAE 716a oascreen on
enough :heaVpfgrains to insure 9 stant
Of strong plants. If -ight=Weight rustic
wheat has been sabjectsa TO smuch wet
has been hearted, Or 15weathered, i
ought mot Ito be- used Afor Seed Shriv
eled rusty wheat never property ma
lures. TT easily Becomes soft and, i
f FRsw RRs7saes ths Sss pun it
hard wheat. ! aoH GTc-:.s... 's.zx
Changing n ,& sssd ny Wheat 1s :.
that oHr does pt RsyS a centnrs
change seed wheato1 A farmer canno
| yielding wheat unless ne keeps his see
, from year to year land continually i'm
proves it by cleaning and grading I
the grain from: a a'ra1styl Il crop has
bright wheat color, oiiss not soft or must
and one can screen DIT ssome good whea
/ sons for using it for seed. T can Civ
}. no hard fixed rule as to. weight. bu
recommend that grains which. are t
be used for seed purposes should be a
least Of ,three.fourths zthe normal siz
and weight. - 80 49, ~ .
4 The Survival: of the Fittest.
}. Experiments at this station prov
q that Darwin g survival principle work
= well in breeding FARM crops and show
:. that it will be easy foreolr farmers
e help the process along il IT. growing whes
l. and other crops. { nave found th1
J. It has special bearing upon the metl
= the action, Of :: diseases which attac
! farm cfops.5 It is found that one ca
breed plants which. take disease: easi]
and types which resist disease; indee
= ones which are entirely immune. to tt
-, attack of such diseases as wilt in fla
~ and rust in wheat. -:,,..,,. ........
"We have obtained these first resi-
70 tant and immune plants in short tin
< by promoting the greatest possible
D. velopment Of the particular diseas
# which we wish to study: We placeNtl
plants we wish to test under all Of II
st disease conditions of the, soil, air al
water that we can help nature produc
then save the. seeds from those plan
"a. for future trial under similar conc
- tions year after year. >35&& &
HThis is new method in expe1
mental work and has given astonis
ing results with the fax plant DO
with reference to rust and wilt. T.
the experiments. have, not run as 1o1
a time, we have evens more. SUGGEST
first results with potato blight, whe
| = = II. =