The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-09-10
WARNING TO GROWERS.
u. s. Department of Agriculture eau

tonS Farmers Against Seed Promoters.
A warning to American farmers not
to be misled, in their zeal for increased
wheat production, into planting abnor-
mally high-priced seed for which extrav-
agant claims are made, has Just been
issued BY the United States department |
of agriculture.
''Wheat is attracting, at the present |
time, greater attention than perhaps ev-
er before, owing to its comparative |
scarcity and high price and the neces- |
sity of sowing large acreage this |
fail, says the department statement. |
AS might be expected, therefore, va
rious persons are offering to the public,
varieties that they describe as far SUI
perior to the kinds now being grown.
| These varieties are usually given some
catchy name and extravagant claims are
made for them.
"An evidence Of this kind is the Alas
ka, or seven-seasoned wheat that was
exploited a few years ago. The back
ers of this wheat did not get very far
with it, however, as the postoffce de-
partment issued fraud order and their
business came to standstill. This
type of wheat having a large, branched
head has been offered at high prices to
the people of this country many zines
under one name or another. Records
concerning it 90 back more than a hun
dred years. Just now another expluita
ton is threatening under the name
Titanic. This type of wheat with
branched heads should be left strictly
alone by the farmers of the country.
"a favorite scheme employed Gy
those having wheat for sale for when
they wish to obtain exorbitant prices
is to claim that their variety requires
but small amount of seed per acre
A peck of seed, twenty pounds and a
half bushel per acre, are amounts fire.
quently mentioned. OF course the claims
Of maximum yields from these small
seedlings are not substantial by fact.
Only on dry lands or under very special
conditions is the seeding of as little as
even - pounds per acre of wheat adj
visable. On nearly all of the wheat
lands Of the country it is more profitable
to SOW from bushel to two bushels OF
seed per acre than to sow less than d
bushel.
The United States department of
agriculture has shown in previous pub
locations that the claims of maximum
yields obtained from sowing one or tive
pecks to the acre of the wheat known a-
Stoncr, Miracle, or the Marvellous are
not substantiated by experiments. SAT-
rules to follow in the case of all wheats
for which such claims are made arC
: first to SOW as much as has been founc
: profitable with other varieties in tn,
II neighborhood, and second, not to pay
II high prices for the seed
II Radical claims of high yields an
II made from some varieties Of wheat. i
II is not uncommon in advertising rev
II variety for an INSCRIPTIONS OF unin
II formed promoter TO claim yields fou
II or five times that of the average well
II of the country Claims as high as !
u or more times the average yield hay
: been made in special cases. Such claim
It are absurd and no one need he mlsle
t bv them \ wellbred variety in tn
d section to which it is adapted may yiel
e, few bushels more than the varietie
y being commonly grown. Very seldom
q indeed, can doubling of the yield b
expected.
Is " Buying seed grown at a great di'
ut lance from home is another thing tha
wheat growers should be on their guar
"a against. No wheat grown and ored *
ID California conditions, for instance, II
matter how good for California, h:
d. been found adapted to the country 60.
Of the Rockies California adaptc
es wheats do not succeed east of that Stat
dis Neither would the wheats adapted
the Atlantic coast or the Mississ'pI
or valley succeed in California. In shor
If home grown seed should be used unle
nj the State agricultural experiment ST
a ton or the United States department.
Sc agriculture advises otherwise.