Barbour County index., 1910-09-28
SEED WHEAT FOR OKLAHOMA
Miss Mary Best Furnishes 1000
Bushels of Celebrated KharkOf
Seed Wheat to Oklahoma

Prof. Marley Woodson of the
farm demonstration department of
the Oklahoma State Board of Agri-
culture was in Medicine Lodge last
Wednesday and engaged 1000 bush
els of pure Kharkof seed wheat
from Miss Mary Best for distribution
among Oklahoma farmers. This
transaction has given Miss Best and
Barber county great prominence. 1t
has occupied conspicuous column
in the Wichita and Kansas City pa
pers, and we are glad to reproduce
the article. Miss Best has given
her time and thought to producing
this wheat for several seasons and
she richly deserves the reward she
is now reaping. The press dispatch
from Guthrie to the papers above
mentioned is as follows:
A Kansas woman, Miss Mary Best
Of Medicine Lodge, the queen of
wheat growers of southwestern
Kansas is to furnish the pure seed
wheat which is to start the Oklaho-
ma farmers on the road to greater
success as wheat growers. The dem
monstration farm department of the
Oklahoma board of agriculture has
contracted to buy from Miss Best a
car load Of pure seed wheat, 1000
bushels, which will be shipped to
the headquarters of the board at
Guthrie and furnished to the farm
ers of the state at cost. This is
part of the campaign for the raising
of pure hard wheat in Oklahoma,
which was inaugurated by the state
agricultural and mechanical college,
the state board of agriculture and
the Santa Fe and Rock Island Rail-
| roads.
Miss Best is the owner of 400
acres of fine land near Medicine
Lodge, and has for some years been
engaged in raising pure seed wheat
under the direction of the United
States department of agriculture. The
wheat raised by her is the Kharkof,
a variety of the Russian turkey red,
which is pure hard wheat and
which was originally imported about
twelve years ago from the province
of Kharkof, Russia.
Marley Woodson of the farm dem
onstration department left to-day for
Medicine Lodge to secure the wheat.
1t will be sold by his department
and shipped from Guthrie to appli-
cants in five bushel lots at $3.50
per bushel, this price to cover trans
portation charges to any part Of the
state. If the actual cost including
transportation falls below the figure
the department will refund the ex-
cess to the purchasers. This wheat
was examined by experts from the
Kansas state agricultural college at
Manhattan and pronounced pure
seed wheat.
Mr.. Woodson said today relative
to the pure seed wheat and the
necessity for it's general introduction
into Oklahoma, "Most Of the Okla
homa wheat is mixed with soft
wheat. The millers find that they
cannot make first class flour out OF
this kind of wheat as it cannot be
tempered properly. By the time the
hard wheat is tempered the soft
wheat is reduced to pulpy pasty
mass. The hard wheat produces
more bushels to the acre under like
conditions of soil and cultivation
: than the mixed seed. A tight soil
: will always generate a harder va
riety of wheat than a loose sandy soil
Some localities of Oklahoma are bet
ter adapted to raising soft wheat
than hard wheat but such soil is bet
ter to grow pure soft whea. than
mixed variety. Most Of the soil IN
Oklahoma is best adapted to grow
ing one of the varieties of hard
wheat and the Russian Turkey red
is considered superior because of the
: fact that it is practically impossible
to grow soft wheat in Russia, hence
the varieties imported from that
country are always pure.