East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-09-02
ABRAHAM ADAMS DEFENDS
HIS FAMOUS alaska WHEAT

Abraham Adams, the discoverer Of
the famous Alaskan wheat of which
20 much has been said, writes the fol-
lowing lengthy letter concerning the
new wheat. As Umatilla county far
mers are interested in it the East
oregonian takes pleasure in reproduc-
ing Mr.. Adams letter as follows;
ITO the Public: In the last Sun
day issue Of The Spokesman Review
Professor Elliot OF the Washington
Agricultural college appeared with a
report denouncing my wheat as a
fraud. After studying my wheat all
summer he has discovered that there
are eight distinct groups OF wheat
and my wheat belongs in the seventh
group, which is, so he says, fit for
nothing-not even for stock feed. AS
to his classification of wheat l have
nothing to say. For all I know there
may be another additional eight
groups, although that is hardly prob
able, since, II there were, Professor
Elliot would no doubt have succeed
ed in scientifically demonstrating
my wheat TO be still further remote
from a bread wheat than he did But
that is neither here nor there. Pro-
fessor Elliot makes some assertions
so flagrantly unjust that I wish to
call attention to them
Says Picture Is Unfair.
AT the outset I wish to call atten-
ton to the photograph which is pub
lished in connection with the report,
purporting to be specimens OF the
Alaska wheat 1t seems hardly ne
cessary to say that the photograph is
extremely unfair. 1t is always pos
sible to go into any field of growing
grain and find freak heads and also
undeveloped heads. In the photo
graph are six heads which Professor
Elliot asserts are representative
heads. One of these six seems to
have been a head of red Russian, an
other seems to be an undeveloped
secondary shoot and the rest are
heads more or less 'freakish' in de-
velopment.
Professor Elliot states that he has
personally visited the growing fields.
He seems from reports. to have visit
ed a field near Moscow, Idaho, ana
he is convinced that the Alaska wheat
is a poor yielder. The following
statement was made in writing by the
man who threshed that field of my
wheat.
Statement by ThreSher.
"T threshed some of your Alaska
wheat and also some red Russian
wheat in the adjoining field. Your
wheat yielded about three bushels to
one OF the red Russian. The red Rus
sian was a better stand than the
Alaska. Yours truly,
FRANK BENNETT
Professor Elliot asserts that the
wheat is of low milling value. This
broad assertion he qualities a little
later by saying that the millers are
yet to be heard from
"All in good time I will have an Of
hcial milling test, and by it my belief
that the wheat will make flour will
be fully established. In case the test
proves that am mistaken I will feed
the wheat to the hogs-that is, pro-
vided they will eat it.
How does Professor Elliot know
that it will not make flour before
such a test is made? He has made no
AAlAliAb lCol. w upl even huOW
that he has gone to the trouble of
making a chemical analysis. The ce-
realist Of the agricultural department
at Washington is more disposed to be
fair in regard to the wheat He ad-
mits, at least, that the wheat may
make flour and that it should not be
condemned because it happens to re-
semble a known variety before it has
been given a fair test. It seems that
Professor Elliott was, to say the least,
little premature with his sweeping
report condemning my wheat as
worthless.
Head Size No Objection.
Further on in his report the pro-
fessor explains that my wheat stools
very sparingly and will not cover
ground like the little club or red
Russian and moreover that the
weight Of the heads is so great that
1t causes the stems to droop heavily. 4
In fact the very size of the heads is
a most serious objection to the va
riety, as II can not stand erect and in .