Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-06-18
Maintaining Purity and Quality Of
Seed Wheat.

Seed Wheat.
The farmers who are growing this
improved wheat should take great
care in keeping the seed wheat pure
in order to continue the distribution
Of the good seed and at the same time
maintain the yield and quality of the
grain grown on their own farms. One
Of the principal factors which cause
deterioration in wheat is the crossing
or mixing of certain strains or varie-
ties. A common source of mixing is
from volunteer wheat which occurs
when fields are re-seeded to wheat
year after year.
In order to keep wheat pure and Of
good quality, the crop for seed should
always be grown in field free from
volunteer wheat. This necessitates
rotation, preceding the wheat with
some other crop, such as oats, barley
or corn In order that the fertility of
the soil may be maintained by such
rotation, the legumes and grasses
should be included. If it is necessary
to SOW wheat after wheat, great care
should be taken to destroy the volun-
teer growth as far as possible by early
blowing and frequent cultivation be-
fore seeding, or by disking Immediate
ly after harvest, in order to start the
volunteer wheat which may be de-
stroyed later by blowing.
Again, wheat may become mixed in
harvesting or shocking. Care should
be taken to plant the pure seed in a
separate field; or if the wheat is
planted in field with other wheat, a
narrow alley should be left between
the varieties so that they may be har-
vested separately. Wheat does not
cross fertilize like corn or sorghum,
and the varieties may be planted near
each other without mixing, except
through carelessness in harvesting.
Heavy rains or wind may cause mix
ing by moving the seed from one part
of the field to another.
Another common source of mixing
is in thrashing. If two or more va
rieties of wheat are grown on the
same farm, it is advisable to thrash
some other grain after thrashing one
variety of wheat; or if no other small
grain is grown on the farm, great care
should be taken to clean out the sep
arator before thrashing the pure
wheat, and then it woul be well to
send the first load or two to market
rather than to save it for sowing.
The same care should be taken when
the separator is hauled from one farm
to another, not only to prevent mix
ing varieties of wheat, but also to
prevent the spread of smut from one
farm to another through inoculating
the seed wheat from the threshing-
machine that has previously thrashed
smutty wheat.
The farmer is not apt to mix va
rieties by careless storing, but many
- are careless in not cleaning the fan
ming mill when changing from one
variety of wheat to another. 1t hard
ly seems necessary to mention the i'm
pOrtance of carefully sweeping out
bins and cleaning sacks in which the
pure seed-wheat is to be stored.
Importance of Grading Seed-Wheat
To produce the best seed, the wheat
should be well graded and only the
heaviest and plumpest kernels sown.
The seed grain should be graded and
famed to remove weed seeds, if for
no other reason. Again, it is usually
necessary to fan grain simply to re-
. move dirt, ehaff, and pieces of stems
which would greatly interfere with
the uniform distribution of seed in
planting. Also, the inferior plants
produced from inferior seeds may act
as weeds, especially in dry seasons
or on land low in fertility, actually
taking the moisture and plant food
from the larger and better developed
plants, thus reducing the yield and IN
juring the quality of the grain pro-
duced.
Harvesting Shocking and Thrash
ing-Harvest the wheat for seed when
it is just fully matured. Immature
seed is apt to be shrunken and de-
fcient in vitality. On the other hand,
as soon as the wheat is over-ripe it
begins to deteriorate in quality and
may lose some of its vitality. Do not
.allOw seed wheat to become damaged
by rain. Shock well Immediately, and
thrash from the field as soon as the
grain is dry, or put the wheat into
the stack or barn for protection. Per-
haps more wheat is injured in quality
after harvest by unfavorable weather
and from carelessness in handling
than from any other source. Stacks
should be built to protect from the
rain and after the wheat is put into
the stack it should be left for several
weeks, until after it has passed
through the sweat, before it is thrash
ed. Whether to cap shocks or to
leave them uncapped is a question.
Unless wheat is well set up and care
fully capped, the caps are apt to
blow off, and the shocks are then