American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-06-17
A CHAMPION WHEAT GROWER.

This lie the story of the worlds champion wheat
grower-a western Canadian who calls himself a
book farmer and who has taken several interna-
ional prizes for the best wheat grown on the
North American continent. II is the story OF a
man who grows Wholesale double the amount Of
wheat to the acre that most OF his neighbors grow,
and who sells his grain at double and triple the
market prices to farmers who want to use II for
seed. II is the story OF a man who is becoming
Independent on a small farm OF 1870 acres In Sas-
katchewan-a land where a grain farm OF less
than half a section is looked upon as hardly worth
bothering with.
The man is Seager Wheeler. a native OF Wight,
who emigrated to Western Canada In the eighties
and who now lives on his Saskatchewan farm.
When Wheeler first began growing wheat from
seed selected and bred by hand he was looked up
on as a faddist. Many were not quite 30 charit-
able as that In applying names TO him and TO his
work. But since he won the 81 900 first prize at
the New York Land Show in 1911 for the best
wheat raised on the American continent, and an
other international sweepstakes prize at the 1914
show In Kansas, and international prizes at var
ious other exhibitions In the United States and
Canada, they have stopped calling him a faddist.
When he began to grow wheat at the rate OF for
ty-five to eighty bushels an acre on small plots
and thirty to thirty-five bushels on his large fields.
even in unfavorable seasons and to sell his grain
an seed for two dollars to three dollars a bushel,
practically every one decided that he was a prac-
teal farmer and a competent business man.
In 1885 when Wheeler went to Saskatchewan,
that part Of Canada was pretty much as nature
and the Indians had left Il. His first furrow was
turned with an old pillow drawn by oxen and his
first wheat was harvested with a CRADLE and tied
by hand. Wheat, OF course, was the principal
crop-almost the only crop. Even from the first,
and under those crude conditions OF farming, Mr..
Wheeler began to pick over his seed wheat by
hand and to take out weed and grass and other
grain seeds. He wanted to SOW only the best he
could obtain. He experimental with other crops,
among them Canadian Thorpe barley, bronze grass
and Beauty OF Hebron potatoes, which he obtain
- from the experimental farm at Indian Head. He
10 still growing them after nearly twenty years.
Success Due to Hand Selection.
1T was always my object to do things thorough
~ on the farm. as far as l was able" he said. II
worked to the best Of my ability. 1 am a book
Armef and an indoor farmer as well. We often
hear uncomplimentary remarks about such men,
but show me the farmer who does not read and l
Will show you a poor farmer. Problems are work
"a out In the arm chair as we'll as by observing
the day outside. ! take one daily newspaper, three
weekly journals and five farm papers, besides
other good reading material"
After a few years he began working on the or
binary Preston wheat. Preston was a mixture OF
q reddish and a white chaff. Wheeler's first grain
was both straw colored and red and his first work
OF selection was TO get rid OF all but the white
chaff. Then he began his work OF selection to
separate the yellow from the red grain. At the
end of three years he had a stock Of hand-selected
heads OF about thirty pounds OF grain, which he
picked over by hand grain by grain, until he had
eliminated all the yellow grain. That season his
stock was true to color OF both chaff and grain.
This work Is not necessary now az there Ia little
difficulty In securing good seed OF this variety.
He began his seed selection and breeding with a
quarter-acre seed plot--a unit he has adhered to
rather faithfully-but the first year he had great
difficulty In finding enough grain of the standard
type he had established to fill the plot The next
season there was plenty OF seed and of such good
quality that he Immediately raised his standard.
He soon reached this goal. raised the standard
again, reached II and raised Il n third time stead
ty increasing the aize and improynp tba abana ~
the heads
In 1911 he was growing Preston wheat with
hcads carrying from ten to eleven ~spikelets four
and five rows. all well filled from top to bottom.
he did this by tho process OF mass selection which
no thinks Ia best for the average farmer, the Sc
lections being from the most vigorous plants with
the largest compact, solid and well developed heads,
The average head has abut six spikelets.' says
wheeler. III by selection we may find plants that
develop heads containing eight to ten more spike
lets, why grow wheat with five or six or even less?
Some plants mature two stocks while others de-
velop from five to a dozen. On the outside of the
plot I have found single plants that developed
ufty mature heads but these will not reproduce the
same another season because they had the ad-
vantage OF excess moisture and plant food. This
10 a case OF environment. but there are straws
that VIII produce more stalks and heads than 9TH
ers under eaua! conditions. These plants will de-
velop larger grain and good quality. BY hand
selection we may isolate these best types and mark
improvement each season. BY this method all the
weakling plants are eliminated and n uniform type
- saved for reproduction the next season. am
Also working ON the best types. raising them from
single heads and selecting the best by hand"
Wheeler's success Is due largely to his hand Sc
lection. He picks out by hand. from the growing
crops, the best heads from healthy vigorous plants.
seiecing enough to furnish seed for a quarter
acre plot. He calls this his hand selected seed
plot. The following season he makes selections
In the same way for the seed plot, while the re-
maineder Is sown on u larger piece called the null
tplying plot.
by this method" Wheeler explains, "can be
made ono step toward improvement purity; but
there are others. Even when the variety ia ap-
parently pure there Ia n difference In the charac-
ters OF the different plants. We may find types
that are strong and vigorous. others that have a
tendency to develop weak straw and grain OF an
Inferior quality and some plants with a tendency
TO diseases such as smut and rust. Some types,
too. develop long and open heads. with a tendency
TO shed the grain when handled: some have com
pact heads with the chaff covering the grain tight
ly and preventing loss by Smelling.
Some plants develop a mail percentage of
small grain and others a large number Of large
grains. I often find In the process of rubbing out