Albuquerque morning journal., 1910-12-27

DOna Ana County FARMERS institute,
held recently at Las Cruces, DR.. j.
II. Squires, of the agricultural college,
was the first speaker on the subject
of wheat Raising in New Mexico"
He said that the differences in hard
and soft wheat go further than is at
fines considered. The hard wheats
will yield more pounds of flour to the
bushel than do the soft ones, and in
addition are higher in gluten, the sub
stance present to Il great or less de-
gree in all wheats, which renders it
possible to make porous, light loaf
from wheat flour, which is not pos
sible with the flours of the other cere-
ais Some hard wheats have too much
gluten and it is necessary to mix
them with soft wheat in order to get
the best grades of flour. The soft
wheat must be mixed with hard wheat
to get the same results. Question:
"How do the spring wheats of this
valley mill?" II do not know as the
station has so far been unable to get
milling tests made, but the wheat
seems to be as good as or better than
the same type raised elsewhere.
Seasons Easily Overlap.
lntTc lS no SlEOHS ilut VI hlAlNl-
ences in the winter and spring vari-
cites of wheats, as they may be seed
ed out of season and a complete
change from spring to winter or win
ter to spring made in very few years
Here the change is easily brought
about as spring wheat has yielded well
when planted in the fall and fall
wheat does well on early spring seed
ing.
With quality established, the farm
er has to do with the production or
as many pounds of good wheat per
acre as possible. This may be brought
about in q number of ways. BY bet
ter land. by the use of manures or
artificial fertilizers when the soil de-
mands them, by better care in seed
ing and maturing the crop and by
the use of high yielding strains OF
wheat. All of these except the last,
cause an additional outlay Of funds,
but with the use of better seed the
WELD is increased without extra cost
Of preparations, seeding and caring for
the crop, interest on investment tax,
and water right, and with but slight
increase in the cost of harvesting and
threshing.
Selecting Varieties.
The matter of selecting OF variety
is not as simple as il may at once
seem. Comparing three varieties tnat
have been grown side by side in tins
valley for period of seven years we
find that the highest yielding one
gave an average of 51.2 bushels While
one of the others yielded 80 bushels.
Had we taken the results for TINS
year as g final answer to the question
a very grave error would have been
accepted. for at the end of the seven
year period the first variety had out
yielded the one with the high yield
cf the first year by total Of 23 BUSH
els 1t is necessary then that such
tests be carried on for sufficient
length of time to overcome seasonal
a very good time being
ten wears other things brought out
in the study are that this is profit
able crop to grow in this region as
all selected strains gave yearly aV-
erage of over 40 bushels per acre for
the entire time several As bushels,
and the two best averag ged 2 and 81
respectively.
Highly Profitable Crop.
This work is being continued on the
station farm and in 1910 the maxi
mum yield for the season was 81
bushels to the acre, while the wheat
seven year test gave 81 bushels and
the one that had given 81 bushels in
the long test went to 65 bushels This
is the wheat that we are distributing
to the farmers and are using as
standard at the station.
With regard to the cost of raising
the crop, we estimate that charging
the acre with $40 for interest or in
Vestment IS for tax, $4 for water, Ia
Dor ut 10 Genus an hour. and fair
depreciation on the value of machin-
cry, the cost wll be very close to $40
per acre. New. with wheat at VI per
bushel this VIII give a net income OF
SIS per acre over and above the ~
per cent interest on the investment,
on the wheat that is yielding 40 BUSH
els per acre. The straw is not con-
sidered in this estimate.
Time of Seeding.
The time of seeding is not restrict
ed in this valley We are getting good
results with seeding spring wheat at
any time from October Is to March
1st. but would advise avoiding the two
extremes The seeding should be
done with a drill II possible, for in
this way we can avoid all irregularl-
ties in the rate of seeding and also get
uniform covering of all seed. and III
addition, get a satisfactory stand with
less seed. A very good rate OF seed
ing is 80 pounds to the acre. but a
much less amount should be used
when the crop is grown as nurse
for alfalfa. The soil should be wen
leveled and well irrigated. The con-
tention that thorough irrigation tends
TO cause the crop to run to straw did
not hold good i'm our trials. In answer
to the question ''How would you tell
when to irrigate?" ?" l would break
through the dry surface and examine
the soil to depth of several inches.
If this is well supplied with moisture
there is no immediate need of more
water as the wheat roots penetrate to
a depth of five or more feet on light
soils and a proportionateiy less dis
tance on heavier soils; If the small
roots are in moisture, the plant Will
thrive.
On account of danger from smut
which is very noticeable at times all
seed should be treated either with n ,
solution made of 16 ounces of forma-
lin in 40 gallons of water the seed
being thoroughly sprinkled and COW
cred for 2 hours, or dipped in the
solution for 80 minutes and then dried.
or the usual treatment with copper
sulphate or blue stone may be used.
This IS a little more trouble and not
So satisfactory as the other but gives
good results Use 1 pound Of the crys-
tails dissolved in "a gallons of water
soak the seed for ~ hours and dry
thoronwbl,.