The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1912-06-07
Improving Wheat Varieties.

A good milling wheat should be fair.
ly hard and the grains uniform in
hardness, color, size and shape. such
wheat will make the largest percent
age of high grade flour, and will COM
mand the highest prices.
The first step IN producing wheat
having these qualities is to procure a
variety which. in addition to yielding
heavily and having the necessary stiff
ness of straw to stand up we'll, has the
required hardness of grain to be ac-
ceptable for milling purposes. There
is considerable variation among differ
ent varieties IN this respect, and the
the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment
Station for "a discussion of the relative
values of our most common varieties.
After the variety is secured, main
tanning the uniformity of grain is
largely question of keeDing the vari
ETY. pure. 1t is nlanifestly impossible
to have uniformity where there!issmix-
ture of varieties, for the grain of differ
erent varieties of wheat differs in char
acter. Wheat is practically self-fer-
tilted plant, and crossing between va
rieties will not occur to any appreci-
!
able conditions for such crossing.
Thus mixing of varieties is due almost
entirely to mechanical means. The
travelling threshing outfit is the chief
FACTOR concerned in this, because con-
siderable quantities of grain are car
ried from one farm to another in the
separatOrs. No matter how pure a
variety is to begin with, 1t will become
mixed in few years unless eXtraordi-
nary precautions are taken to prevent
! it. AS a result it is almost impossi-
! BILE to find a variety of wheat abso-
| lutely free from admiXtures Of other
varieties. The plan described below
is one which has been found entirely
practical and efficient in producing
pure seed wheat. In addition, it is
wheat breeding in its simplest form
and a variety of wheat handled in this
manner is certain to maintain its excel
/ lence.
Go into the field of ripe wheat with
a basket and select enough of the best
heads, true to the variety, to make
sufficient grain to plant an acre or sc
the next fall. The amount selected
will Of course vary with the wheat
acreage on the farm. Carefully dry
and thresh by hand. In the fall treat
for smut as described in Bulletin No.
l55 and plant on the best of the wheat
land. Take precautions to keep from
mixing when harvested, and thresh
after the main crop has been threshed,
discarding the first bushel or so, as il
! contains some wheat from the previ
ousIv threshed chop. This wheat
should be absolutely pure and will fur
nish sufficient seed to plant the mair
crop the next fall.
For the farmers who wish to sci
seed what which he can guarantee tt
be absolutely pure. it will be we'll tt
repeat this selection each year
although if practiced every two O.
three years the variety should becom'
but slightly mixed if care is taken tt
set aside the first few bushels whel
beginning the thrashing.
. Another method of keeping a vari
ETY. pure. which may be more easil,
followed, is to go over small plot il
the general field and carefully cut GU
all heads of foreign varieties. Gu
and thresh the wheat from this plo
by hand and use for the seed plot a
in case of the head selection describes
above.
1t is advised not to attempt growing
l too many varieties on farm. as thi
!, greatly increases the difficulty of keep
' ing each pure. 1t is better to find tn
I best variety and endeavor TO keep
: pure and improve it in other ways.
E. j. KINNEY,
Assistant Agronomist
K. A. Experiment Station,
Lexington, Kentucky.