Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-01-15
Importation of Seed Wheat


seed wheat, advocated by some
who are desirOus of improving
conditions in wheat growing in
Kansas would be- inadvisable. as
1t affords no remedy for existing
out" tits due to one of several
conditions. Where wheat runs
facts:
l. Deterioration in size and
quality of the grain, owing Ito
poor soil and poor culture. This
can be remedied by proper rota-
tlon, manuring and cultivation.
2. Deterioration in variety.
Wheat frequently consists of sew.
eral strains of different value,
IN which certain ones of inferior
quality get the upper hand un-
der given conditions of soil and
climate. The remedy for this
form of running out lies in Sc
lective breeding of superior strail
beginning with single superior
plants as starting points, the
progeny Of which have been test
ed for a sufficient number of
generations to prove their worth.
This is very different thing
from selecting mass of super
ior looking grain, whether i'm
ported or domestic, for seeding
purposes.
Deterioration may be due to
an accidental mixture of differ
ent varieties in which one of the
varieties in the mixture, though
undesirable, may supplant the
other. This case is similar to
the preceding. These mixtures
can be avoided by sowing a pura
strain of the desired variety by
itself for seed. The introduc-
ton of other wheat by means of
travelling separatOrs can be avoid.
travelling Separators ian be
avoided by threshing the seed
wheat after the general field has
been threshed.
4. Deterioration in the hard
ness of wheat, where the wheat
appears to become softer from
year to year. If this is not
due to the gradual increase. of
soft wheat originally present in
the seed, it is due the presence
of yellow berry, the appear
ance of soft, starchy grains in
hard wheat-which occurs even
in pure-bred strains coming from
a single mother plant. The yell
low berry is partly a climatic
product, and as such cannot be
cured by importations since the
new wheat will, if it already has
the tendency, inevitably produce
yellow berry in our climate. Vel
low berry, however, does not oc-
cur in all wheat plants to the
same extent. Breeding expert
ments at the Kansas Experiment
Station show that it is, to a
certain extent, hereditary or
racial tendency. The Botanical
Department of the Experiment
Station finds that strains free
from yellow berry in 1906 gave
rise to but 4 per cent Of yellow
berry in 1907, while strains with
rs to 100 per cent of yellow ber-
ry in 1906 have but "a per cent
in 1907. 1t is probable that the
yellow berry can be bred out
of our wheat. The Botanical De-
partment now has in the field,
nearly 400 pure-bred strains OF
wheat in their third year, each
of which came from one head
of wheat in 1906. Most Of these
are hard wheats. Some are alb
solutely free from yellow berry
and are better than any import
ed wheat that has ever come In
to the State, in color, shape and
body of the berry, high gluten
content; hardness, and weight OF
kernel. All OF our pure Dred
wheats have preserved all Of the
characters, unimpaired, since
they were selected in 1906. None
of them are running out. OF
some of these we shall have
enough seed to plant five-acre
plots a year from next Septem-
Der.
We also have in our breeding
grounds wheats immensly su-
perior in yield. A comparative
yield test of 367 of our own pure
bred wheats was made in 1908
lby the Botanical Department,