Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-06-25

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Turkey and Russian wheat mixture
81 strains which have different pro
duelng powers, but the quality Of Ii,
gram produced by them varies Just a,
strlklngly. In order that wheat ma,
bring the highest market .price (
must be Of clear reddish color ani
give a heavy bushel weight. Their,
should 2. be as few as possible of the
dull perfectly opaque grains, but tbs
berries should be clear reddish and
somewhat translucent. When broken
or cut in two they should show a
clear CLASSY rather than a dull stareby
texture. These bright clear grains
are always harder, have atRisber
SPECIFIC gravity, and make better -four
10 IMAM DO the opaque starchy grains.
The off-color grains which do SO much
to cut down the grade and market
value OF the crop may have any one of
the three causes: ~ The grain
may weather and bleach after Il is
cut; ~ they may be caused by ex.
eesslve wet weather occurring from
the time of heading to the time of
rlpenlng; or (3) they may be present
on account of an inherent tendency
on the part Of the variety itself to
produce these soft grains.
The bleaching Of the wheat NAV
may cut down its grade by making i
OIL color and reducing its busbel
weight, but it does not take away a
great deal of its food value, For
instance a wheat which weighed sixty.
one pounds per bushel and contained
1873 per cent of protein, on being al
lowed to weather for about two weeks
IN alternate showers and sunshine
completely lost its bright color. and
dropped to fifty-six pounds per bush.
ell, but the protein content was prac.
tlcally the same as it was before.
On the other hand the off color
grains produced by excessive wet
weather just previous to ripenine, or
which occur from the inherent ten.
d d of the variety itself, are of A
different l. nature and can be readily
distinguished from the bleached
grains by anyone who is familiar with
them, as having a more yellowisb
rather than a dull color. These are
called "yellOw- berries" to distinguish
them from the bleached grains. Thew
moreover, differ in chemical COMPOST
ton, for while the bleaching causes a
loss 10 only in color and bushel weight,
the yellow berry is also deficient in
protein content. They are therefore
much inferior grains.
The Yellow Berry Problem.-Tbe
loss from bleaching can be largely
controlled by proper handling Of the
crop, but the yellow berry problem is
one which is more difficult to deal
with The average climatic coridi-
tiC N IN the larger part of the wheat
lpelt OF Kansas are such that serious
loss from yellow berry due to exces- |
81 rains during the earlier stages OF
the ripening of the wheat will ohlv
be occasional. The fact is that where |
the variety has little tendency to bro
duce yellow berry, the wheat will, in
most years, be of bright color tand |
good quality. Most of our wheats
are, however, badly mixed with regard
to this character, so that in most
eases our wheats contain a greater ,or
less admixture of these inferior vel.
low berries. The loss from them can
be better realized when we learn thatI
they are from two to four pounds
lighter per bushel. They contain
from two to three per cent lessSofl
protein (muscle-forming materially |
and they make less and noorer flo6r
than do the hard grains from the
same variety, and their presence
causes the grain to be graded off ION
account of color. The whole grade
and quality Of the crop, therefore de
sreases as the percentage Of yellow
berry increases. The striking differ
enee in respect to this character are
we'll illustrated by the fact that
among our wheat plots there were a
number of varities which were plant
ed side by side on the same day And |
which ripened and were harvestedscn
he same day, and yet which produced
widely different percentages of vel
oW berry. As examples the following
will be given in pairs: No. 1853. al
per cent; No. 925, 9 per cent; No. 4S2
, per cent; No. 462, 3S per cent; No.
Az, IL per cent; No. 256, 81 per cent
No. 521 l6 per cent; No. 500, Sc Der
'ent. In like manner the common
scrub varieties of wheat are found to
De bad mixtures from which strains
producing widely different percent
lges OF yellow berry,may be isolated.
We have in our breeding plots strains
now growing which for two years
have averaged less than half the per-
yellow berry as is produced
IN other strains derived from the
same original variety. To further
show the hereditary nature of this
character and the possibility of breed |
ing for better quality in wheat, it is
interesting to note that of a large
number Of pure strains which origin |
ally came from single heads, those
coming from the parents containing