The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1908-10-01
THE FAKE WHEAT.

For several months past sporadic at
tempts have been made by certain
Minneapolis parties to create a panic
in favor of a certain variety Of wheat
raised in Idaho, by a mar named
Adams. The stories are such palpable
flights of Imagination that no expert
enced writer or the agricultural press
would bite on the bait.
1t was claimed that the man Adams
accidently stumbled onto a head Of
wheat in Alaska, that for size of kerr
mel and quality was far superior to
anything yet found. He brought it to
Idaho, went to propagating it, with
the result, SO the story runs, that it
yielded 222 bushels to the acre, was
rust proof, hail proof, drouth proof,
frost proof, did not crinkle, and vas
the best milling wheat known. There
was other minor claims made for it
but these were its major strong points.
The experienced journalists recogniz-
ed it at the start as a fake and refused
to help to rope in the readers, and so
the story gained very little Roadway,
But the publicity end of the scheme
kept at work. Well written articles
kept appearing and as regularly dis
appearing in the editorial waste bask-
ct of the country. Now and then some
small daily got caught and published
the laudatory articles, but the free ad-
vertising campaign was anything but
successful till about August 18th, when
what is perhaps the leading weekly in
the United States published the story,
with profuse illustrations.
AS a result the country is now afre
with inquiry concerning this supposed
marvel, and the department of agri-
culture at Washington felt that it was
duty bound to take a hand in order to
prevent the public from being swindled
An official statement has been issued
which says in part:
"a variety of wheat under the name
"Alaska" is being widely advertised
as capable OF yielding at rate of 200
bushels to the acre under ordinar.
soil conditions. It is stated that this
variety was growing wild on the west
ern coast of Alsska. In consequence
of requests from the seed department
states that this type of wheat has been
known for many years both in this
country and in Europe. 1t has been
tried at several state experiment sta.
tions in western United States, but no.
where have yields been high enough tc
merit attention.
'The wheat has been grown to 8
very limited extent on certain heavy,
undrained soils in France for many
years. In such locations it is said tc
yield rather better than ordinary
wheat, but it is one of the poores'
wheats known for making flour. It i:
never grown where ordinary varieties
of wheat will thrive"
DR.. Galloway, chief of the bureau
of industry, said this same wheat hac
been referred to in the reports back
as far as fifty years ago, when it call
ed ''miracle'' wheat.
DR.. Galloway described it as
''freak" wheat and said it could never
be made valuable commercially.
One note worthy fact in connection
with this incident is that while thu
wheat is being grown and propagatec
in Idaho, the stories have all emanat
ed from Minneapolis. This peculi
arity alone should be notice to tn
press of the country and to the public
that somebody has an iron in the fir
and that until some experiment sta
tions recommend it, it is a good thing
to leave alone.-Ex.