The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-02-26
WHEAT INDIGENOUS
TO NEVADA SOIL

In a short and pointed talk at the
farmers meeting in the Commercial
club Wednesday night, j. r. Van Ma
gell, manager of the Riverside Mill
company in Reno, advocated the rails
ing Of wheat in Nevada on an exten-
sive scale and pointed out the benefits
to the farmers, says the Gazette. Fol-
lowing is his talk:
81 am going to talk about a subject
in which | am very much interested.
| suppose this little grain (the wheat)
is one of the most persistent little
grains that grow. 1t is pretty well ac-
eepted generally that under adverse
conditions wheat has been grown for
more than 5000 years. If it had not
been persistent it would not have done
so.
"The miller looks at four things in
the wheat; quality, strength, color and
yield BY yield I mean yield in the
MILL not in the field. The miller wants
the wheat he can get the most flour
out of in the mill. There are great diff
ferences in wheats. Tt is not worth
while to take up the matter of wheats
not especially adapted to our country.
j have had samples of wheats from
Nevada. some good and others not so
good. We want to be able to learn
about few original types of wheat.
If the hybrids are grown under
conditions that are not suited to them
they revert to type or go back to their
original state. 1t does not pay to
bother with the hybrid when we have
pure types that are well adapted. The
onpAf4fonc oh =
is very pertinent to quality of wheat
The gluten composition of wheat is of
value to the miller The test for gluten
is very simple and of immense import
ance to the miller.
~ try to have grades and maintain
standard. BY the gluten test we can
determine just what bin to place wheat
in. There is often the quantity of glu-
ten but the quality is not there. Glu-
ten should be like rubber The miller
tries to make three grades of flour
for the baker, for the housewife and
general use, and pastry flour. The
baker wants a flour from hard spring
or winter wheat.
''There are three prime vari. ties of
wheat that can be used in Nevada. One
of these s turkey red, when grown as
a dry farm wheat or at best with very
little water. The Los Angeles mills
took all they could get last year from
Metropolis. In fact, they took all that
I. did not get. Another variety best
adapted for this country is blue stem
wheat. This wheat ran 55 per cent
gluten in the Honey Lake valley last
year. Blue stem yields in the mill and
will probably make more flour in the
mill than any other and has good color.
This wheat is not a hybrid The other
wheat that can be successfully grown
here is club wheat This wheat, how
ever, is not good for the miller and
varies in gluten content.
1.-TWO tests made on wheat grown
from the same wheat seed and within
30 miles of each other, gave the follow
ing results: One so per cent gluten,
excellent quality; the other, 35 per
cent gluten, very poor. Club wheat
and blue stem are the wheats for this
country. For dry farming, use turkey
red wheat. There is another wheat
that believe is going to prove a good
wheat for this country and that is Dur
ham wheat Millers as a rule do not
like this wheat, as it is so hard to
grind. 1t is extremely drought resist
ant.
"Nevada can be made great grain
(wheat and barley country. Fall SOW
ing, ! believe, is the best method with
wheat.
g just a word about home industry
When you go to the store purchase
the product of your state. If you buy
salt, buy Nevada salt. Buy Nevada
grains. This will keep the money
within the state and you will have an
opportunity to get it back again. If
you purchase an article from without
the state, four-ffths of the money paid
goes to the state where it was pro-
duced to pay for the manufacture.