New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-15
Goose Wheat
Minneapolis, October I2.

GOOSE wheat" once the much de-
spised, is selling in Minneapolis and
Duluth these days at almost unbeliev-
able prices. Whoever remembers the
great goose wheat" controversy Of ten
or eleven years ago will marvel at the
payment of sl.S5 bushel for it to-day.
Not that the figure in itself is not un-
derstandable in these times of wheat
scarcity. But the fact that goose
wheat" should sell or cents bushel
higher than No. hard spring wheat
and 8 or 9 cents above No. northern
spring wheat is as remarkable, in the
light Of past history, as anything that
has developed in the great food price
changes caused by the European war.
James Wilson, Of Iowa, whom the
milling trade journals named "Tama
Jim" and against whom they fought
memorable battle, was Secretary Of
Agriculture and responsible for the
introduction into the Northwest Of that
which the millers promptly dubbed
"goose wheat" and the introduction OF
which they branded colossal error
GOOSE wheat" has three names.
Farmers call it "macaroni wheat"
Officially and scientifically and as a
commodity common to Mediterranean
countries and much dealt in from Mar
settles as supply centre it is known
as "durum wheat"
GOOSE macaroni durum" is its col
lective name.
Washington officials sent the seed
into the Northwest because the wheat
will grow on land where ordinary spring
wheat would die from insufficient
moisture. They sent it out along the
Chicago & Northwestern, Minneapolis
g. st. Louis and Burlington lines in
Western South Dakota and Nebraska.
along the 500, Great Northern and
Northern Pacific in North Dakota, and
it was a success. 1t would indeed
grow on "dry" land. When the first
crop of durum wheat began to come TO
market it sold in Minneapolis and Du-
luth at 20, 25 and 30 cents under No.
l northern spring wheat. Experts in
the markets condemned it. Farmers
on heavy, well-watered lands in South
ern Minnesota and the Red River VAL
ley, who had no business to touch it
and for whom it never was intended,
planted il because they had heard Of
big yields. The second season found q
worse marketing condition than ever,
and, what was more, the heavysoil
farmers did not get good results.
Secretary Wilson defended the wheat
and its introduction.
This year the Northwest, as against
357. 100000 bushels Of wheat produced
in 1915, has raised only 100000
bushels, the government estimates.
Black rust caused much loss, but dry
weather was the greatest damage fac
tor. Hundreds Of farmers got no crop
at all, ana OF those VINO ala get crops
few are able to profit by the fact that
No. l hard and No. | northern have
been selling from sl.70 to $3.50, be-
cause of the wheat that comes TO mar
ket not per cent is good enough for
those grades, and most Of it goes into
grades that sell % to 40 cents lower.
But old goose wheat" stood up
against the dry spell like Il warrior.
There are mills in Minneapolis now
that grind durum into -four for export,
and in Duluth there is an export de-
mand from Italy and other macaroni
eating countries that can scarcely be
filed, and the goose wheat farmer is
the happiest individual in the land.