Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-21

termined. however. that the differences
In price were artificial. that the Amerl-
can mills had equipped themselves 10
grind the harder wheat. and the
durum steadily approached the price
OF other varieties. During the past
season the durum has PASSED other
grades and steadily sold at premium.
This Is largely due to the European
demand. for in Europe the preference
is steadily given to the hard varieties.
SO has the new wheat come to be
esta blished on the American market
IN America also. bran and w IN,
wheat. From it is made flour that
has peculiarities which adapt it to the
manufacture of mac2roni ana spa
ghetti. the use of which has been
two decades The presence of the
durum wheat flour has caused manu-
facturers to take up the making or
macaroni and spaghetti. which We're
pass that 100. 100000 pounds of these
products are each year manufactured
in the United States from this hard
wheat
The figures are now available for a
period of eight years that show the
relative production of durum and other
standard varieties at certain points.
There are, for instance, Edgeley, n. D..
and Highmore, S. D.. centers of regions
to which this wheat is peculiarly adapt
ed. Through eight years the durum
wheat has yielded about twice the crops
of the other wheats. This means. of
course. more than twice the profits. as
1T costs as much to grow poor crop
as good one. In dry seasons, also.
there is an added advantage in the i'm
pbrtation. 4 little farther east. where
there is more rainfall. the advantage of
the durum is from Is to IS per cent in
yield.
Into the still drier regions of the
western Dakotas the crop has spread
and shown an increased production OF
crop than spring wheat. But for the
varieties on the plains of Nebraska.
among the dry farms OF Colorado and
Wyomi.@ and has even crowded It's
way down into Kansas, which is given
over mostly TO winter wheat. The re-
gion in which it has the advantage is.
however. limited. Where the rainfall
is heavy there are varieties that are
better fitted. Where winter wheat may
be grown to advantage. it is better
Grip than spring wheat But tor the
great plains. that region which was
particularly in need of help. the durum
wheat is bringing new opportunity.
This season, with high prices inviting
under cultivation
Every Possible every possible acre,
there is little ques-
~AeAe ioAseu' ton but that lands
will be sown which would not other
wise have been farmed. There will be
wheat planted for small yields that
would not have been profitable with
cheap wheat. There is no crop that
can be grown more cheaply than spring
wheat, and therefore no other crop
that can pay so small yield. And
there is always the possibility of all
conditions being just right, and the
results being exceptionally profitable.
So it may be stated as a certainty that
there will be such activity on the great
plains for the next two months as was
never known before.
With a known production of 100000
bushels of durum wheat, it is still diff
cult to estimate the value that has been
added to the Amer can crop, because
man who was acquainted with the prob
lem travelled in Russia. Not all that
amount of grain may be credited to
this introduction, as many of these
farmers would have grown other
wheats had they not planted this va
riety. But the increased production
and the yield from lands that would
otherwise have been barren unques-
tionably adds to the crops of Ameri
can farms, values every year that
mount into the millions. And SO a new
land profits by the fact that a strange
people on the other side of the world
planted, century after century, under
unfavorable conditions. the same sort
of wheat, and that that wheat gradu-
ally developed an ability to withstand
the severe conditions under which it
was asked to grow.
X
X
many crops that were not native to it,
There is cotton, for
U. S. Profits by instance. which had
Az: r its natural home in
eA oop'' the tropics, where it
is tree. growing steadily through the
seasons. But in the United States it
became a little shrub, living under such