Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-21
EXTENDING OUR WHEAT
FIELDS.
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

III 3y Frederic J. Haskin.
one of the most striking illustrations
of a benefit derived by a people because
those engaged in the administration o
its government took intelligent thought
is to be seen in the yield of wheat from
certain areas in the west that woult
otherwise have been barren. This mas
come about through the introduction OF
durum wheat from Russia and its pant
ing in certain regions to which it is
peculiarly adapted and where IL grows
more advantageously than does any
other variety.
mis- spring a situation arises tina,
gives duruTn wheat just now thorough
~ established. an importance tha' II
would not otherwise have had. rms
comes about because of the existence Oh
d most unusual world situation. win
relation to the wheat supply, that mas
been developed by the war. wheat
prices were but moderately high last ran
when the crop of winter wheat Tor the
coming harvest was being SoWn. Ihese
,,rices led to the planting of but a
moderately increased acreage. but III
the middle of the winter conditions arose
that sent wheat soaring TO uhhedi u-ol
prices 1t was too late for these prices
TO affect the planting of winter wheat.
but the spring wheat was yet I" pe
sown The time for its planting is the
months of March and April. TINS WORK
is Just now getting We'll under way
When wheat Is bringing % cents a
hushel there is a profit of but 10 cents
IN Rnt when it bringing
sl5O a bushel the cost of making tie
crop remains the same whlle the prohl
on each bushel harvested Jumps from
Is cents to 80 cents. With these acded
possibilities Of profit. it is but natural 10
suppose that every acre OF sprlng wheat
that can lie crowded into cultivation VIII
be planted. So is new Importance
given to the crop that America Dor
rowed from Russia.
X
1t was a decade and half ago that
looking about for
Neu Wheat Kind means of increaS
ing the wheat
Found in Russia. nroducine area.
Among other things it was worrying
about the great stretch of plains that
lie between the Missouri river and the
Rocky mountains. and upon which the
pioneers had been trying in vain to es-
tablish homesteads. While these set
tiers made occasional good crops. the
rainfall had been shown to be SO light
that the yields were not dependable
md on the whole. could not support
arms. Yet here was a vast area
which. if il could but be made to pro-
duce, might maintain an empire.
Mark A Carleton was an explorer of
the Department of Agriculture whose
speciality was wheat He was sent to
Russia, there to look over the wheat
producing areas and find out whatever
he might that would be of use N
America He travelled over great
stretches from the Black sea to frozen
Siberia. 1t was on the borderland of
European and Asiatic Russia that he
encountered a region where all the
conditions were SO nearly those of the
great plains in America that ne would
have thought he was on those stretches
but for one fact. People lived on the
Russian steppes and grew crops. These
crops were of wheat. He supposed at
first that the rainfall here was greater
than in Amer ca, but. upon an exam
nation into the facts, he found this
wheat under the conditions with which
we failed. 1t looked as though there
must be some difference in the wheat
itself. 1t was clue.
The wheat grown here was stiff1y
bearded, fl nty variety such as was not
to be found in the
New Variety Unite States.
a Big Success. were accumulated
and sent on the long journey. Arriv-
ing in the United States, experiments
were begun to try out the Russian
wheats at different points. They were
planted at many experiment stations.
particularly in the great plains re-
gions. Soon it began to develop that
these wheats had marked advantages
over the old varieties grown in that
region which lies along the border of
Minnesota and the Dakotas. They
would yield crops that in some in
stances amounted to twice those of the
old varieties. In other places harvests
of Russian wheat were gathered where
all others failed entirely. In this par
tIcular region the farmers soon became
enthusiastic
But the new wheat soon encountered
a serious obst Gle. The millers said it
was so hard that they could not con-
vert 1t into -four The name. durum,
signifies hard. There was no question
of the finty qualities of the new
wheat. The experts insisted, however,
that this as not necessarily a serious
objection. They pointed out the fact
that all that was needed to adapt the
mills TO the new task was the installa-
ton of a different roller. which was
not an expensive matter. They in
sisted upon the fact that durum wheat
sold in Europe for a higher price than
the soft varieties. and that its SUI
periorities would be established here
as soon as it's qualities were under
stood.
But the objection of the rnillers kept
the price from 10 to 20 cents below
other wheats. Despite
Profitable at this, the production
In jumped from less than
Ao"el 11Ne. million bushels in
1901 to 100000 In 1903. and to So
100000 in 1906 1t was profitable to
grow this wheat even at a lesser price
than the old varieties. Soon 1t was de-