Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1909-07-03
My Experience With Alaska
Wheat.

ferent from any wheat ever grown in
this section. that have concluded to
accept your invitation and thereby
answer many inquiries through the
medium of your columns.
In the spring Of last year, while
temporarily residing in New York City,
my interest was aroused by an editorial
in the New York Times. well known as
a leading and very conservative news
paper Of that city. | had never seen
Alaska wheat advertised In fact, had
never heard Of it in any way before.
The statement made in the Times was
so remarkable that cut out the edi-
torial and kept it for future use and re-
ference. 1t was as follows:
'If the half is true or even third of
what is said of the new Alaska"
wheat now rlpening on 700 acres belong
ing to Abraham Adams, Of Juliaetta,
Idaho. its discovery ought to revolution
iZe the grain production of the world.
Wheat growers from all parts of the
country have visited Mr.. Adams farm
counts of the many-headed prodigy. A
single stalk has grown $50 round, plump,
and nutritious kernels. which, Mr.. J. S.
Jones, chemist of the Idaho Experiment
Station, declares should be ''the equal.
if not the superior. of the bluestem"
wheat in breadmaking quality. Pre-
dictions of an average yield of 100 kerr
nels to the head. despite damage done
the crop by hot winds. if accurately
made, mean yield of 10000 bushels
from Mr.. Adams 700-acre seeding the
product of a single stalk found by him
in the fertile valleys of Alaska in 1904
The japanese peasants have succeed
ed in growing from GO to 100 bushels of
wheat an acre by careful fertilizing and
by transplanting the individual stalks.
What might be done through intensive
cultivation of the new Alaska" variety
may be imagined. But Mr.. Adams
monstrous crop awaits the crucial mill
test" which shall determine its pro.
perties in comparison with other hard
wheats. The chemical tests have already
shown that seed planted both in the
spring and in the fall makes a yield no
different from the best No. ! wheat
known to the millers. If the mill
test" is equally favorable. Mr.. Adams
will have no difficulty in disposing of
his phenomenal crop for seed az his an
nounced price of $50 bushel. The
nation may congratulate itself and him
into the bargain.
After returning to my home in Snow
Hill, | ordered bushel of this wheat in
order to test IT. The order was sent to
Mr.. Adams. of Idaho. its discoverer and
propagation. and | wrote him to send by
freight. After waiting for six weeks
and having much correspondence with
the shipper and railroad companies in a
vain effort to find its whereabouts, |
gave it up as lost, but not to be
thwarted, although it was now No.
vember. | gave an order for another
bushel to come by express. Soon after,
the first bushel shipped arrived and was
at once drilled in. There was another
long wait for the second bushel, so long
almost despaired of ever getting it,
Notwithstanding my efforts to locate it,
Happening to be in Philadelphia, call
ed at the Adams Express office and
asked them if they could trace it.
They at once told me it was there on
the spot and was being held for its
owner because the shipping tag had
been lost in the long transit. 1t was
at once sent to me and was sown in the
ground beside the other bushe. give
these details to show that the sowing
SO late in the season was not from
choice but was compelled by necessity.
The two bushels cost me $50 per bushel
in Idaho but with freight and expressage
added made the entire cost of the two
bushels $50. had had my lot put in
first rate order to receive the seed but
while the lot is very rich il is not the
best soil adapted for wheat culture
owing to deficiency in white clay. The
seed came up nicely, not a gram appar-
emily failing to terminate. The seed
wheat was large, white grain, thor
oughly cleaned and very attractive in
appearance, as can be attested by Mr..
Robert Evans, of Cedar Grove. who
drilled it in. | used about 600 pounds
of good phosphate and distributed the
wheat over q acres and yet it seemed
sufficiently thick. II did well through
out the winter. and in the late spring
when it began to develop great height
and its large. bearded heads to show
their tendency to double. il first began
to attract attention. Today. just be-
fore cutting. il shows height in many
stalks of five feet and ten inches. How
ever. the continuous and excessive
rains of late have told very injuriously
upon it and like all other wheat herea-
bouts. | am told has produced blight
in much of it. which must greatly
diminish its yield. What its yield per
bushel under normal conditions would
be must therefore be a matter of con-
lecture at least this year. but everyone
who has seen 1t can readily believe it