Smyrna times., 1917-09-12

the New Castle Trust Company and
connected with many other business
and civic enterprises of the city.
WARNING TO WHEAT GROWERS
Department of Agriculture Cautions
Farmers Against Claims of Promoters
A warning to American farmers not
to be misled, in their zeal for in
creased wheat production, into plant
ing abnormally high priced seed for
which extravagant claims are made,
has just been issued by the United
States Department of Agriculture.
'What is attracting, at the present
time, greater attention than perhaps
ever before, owing to its comparative
scarcity and high price and the neces-
sity of sowing a large acreage this
fall, says the department statement.
GAS might be expected, therefore,
various persons are offering to the
public varieties that they describe as
far superior to the kinds now heing
] grown. These varieties are usually
given some catchy name and extrava
CANT claims are made for them.
IAN example of this kind is the
Alaska. or Seven-headed wheat that
was exploited few years ago. The
hackers of this wheat did not get very
far with it, however, as the Post
Office Department issued a fraud order
and their business came to a standstill.
This type of wheat having a large,
branched head, had been offered at
high prices to the people of this coun-
try many times under one name or
another. Records concerning it go
back more than a hundred years.
Just now another exploitation is
threatened under the name Titanic.
This type of wheat with branched
heads should be left strictly alone by
the farmers OF the country.
GA favorite scheme employed by
those having wheat for sale for which
they wish to obtain exorbitant prices
is to claim that their variety requires
but a small amount of seed per acre.
a peck nf seed. 20 pounds, and half
bushel per acre, are amounts fre-
quently mentioned. Of course the
claims of maximum yields from these
small seedlings are not substantiatec
by fact. Only on dry lands or under
very special conditions is the seeding
of as little as even As pounds per acre
of wheat advisable. On nearly all oi
the wheat lands of the country it i:
more profitable to sow from bushe
! TO two bushels of seed per acre thar
to SOW less than bushel.
, 'The United States Department Of
| Agriculture has shown in previous
publications that the claims of maxi
mum yields obtained from sowing one
q or two pecks to the acre of the whea
known as Stoner, Miracle or Marvel
. Gus are not substantiated by expert
2 ments. Safe rules to follow in th'
case of all wheats for which sucl
claims are made are first to sow a.
much as has been found pro6tabl,
=, with other varieties in the neighbor
hood, and second, not to pay higl
: prices for the seed.
: Radical claims of high yields ar
= made fer some varieties of wheat.
y is not uncommon in advertising neV
9 variety for a unscrupulous or unin
o formed promoter to claim yields fou
l. or five times that of the average yiel
n of the country. Claims as high a
Is or more times the average yiel
have been made in special cases
Such Gains are absurd and no on
: need be misled by them. A well-bre
q variety in the section to which it
adapted may yield few bushels NOR
q than the varieties being commonl
grown. Very seldom, indeed, can
. doubling of the yieldsbe expected.
Buying seed grown at great dis
:. tanee from home is another thing ths
n wheat growers should be on thei
g guard against. No wheat grown an
bred for California conditions, for in
!. stance, no matter how good for Cali
fornia, has been found adapted to tn
country east Of the Rockies. Cali
If fornia adapted wheats do not succee
? east Of that state. Neither woul
sr the wheats adapted to the Atlsnti
= coast or the Mississippi Valley in Cal
r ifornia. In short, homegrown see
r, should be used unless the state agri
J. cultural experiment station or th
r, United States Department of Agri
\. culture advises otherwise. |"