Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-08-01
''Rh|SE RED ROCK
RECOMMENDATION
To WHEAT GROWERS
PEDIGREED GRAIN DEVELOPED
AT nj. A. c. WILL YIELD FORTY
PER CENT MORE WHEAT

Representatives or the federal gov
eminent and the Michigan Agricul-
tural college who are working hand in
hand with Michigan farmers in their
efforts to speed up production as
much as adverse weather and other
discouragements will allow, will call
the attentions of wheat growers this
season to variety of wheat known
as "Red Rock" This is grain
which under actual farm conditions
| in practically every county in the
state, has yielded an average of thir-
| ty-seven bushels to the acre, and in
some instances has jumped as high
as fifty-five. What this means may
be more fully appreciated when it is
recalled that the average yield of
common Michigan wheat, taking it
over the entire state, is but 1919
bushels.
"Red Rock" is one of the achieve
ments of Prof. Frank A. Spragg.
plant breeder for the experiment sta
ton of the college. Where grown il
has demonstrated ability to practical
ly double the production of common
grains. The effort will be made ac-
cordingly to interest Michigan farm
ers in it, for if they can be induced
to take it up in place of what they
have been planting, this move alone
without the breaking of another
acre of sod or the hiring of an extra
farm hand, will enable the state with
in two or three seasons to increase
Michigan's wheat production to five
to ten millions of bushels annually.
The pushing of "Red Rock" will be
done in accordance with a definite
program. At the head of the CAM
paign will be the farm crops depart
ment of the college, cooperating. with
the Michigan Crop Improvement as
ISOLATION. The department has COM
piled list of growers of "Red Rock"
whose crops have been inspected and
certified to as pure. These lists will
be sent very soon to county agricul-
tural agents throughout the state,
and placed by them in turn in the
hands of pedigreed seed committee
men in various townships in every
county. By getting in touch with
the local committeeman, or their
county agents, farmers will be in
formed where they can procure the
improved grain. Through this plan
it is expected that every bushel of
"Red Rock" harvested this season
will be put back into the land for
next years crop.
There is at present only limited
for the variety is a new one upon
which Professor Spragg has been
working only since 1908. Enough
will be harvested, however, to plant
at least $4,000 acres.
An official report on "Red Rock"
made by inspectors representing the
college, says this:
inspectors have observed Red
Rock growing this season in most of
the counties of central and southern
Michigan, and in every instance it
has surpassed fields of other varie-
ties grown in the same districts. The
suggestion is made, however, that
the best way for the farmer to be-
come acquainted with Red Rock is
to inspect it.
Success achieved by Red Rock in
Allegan and Kent are typical of those
proving its superiority. In Allegan,
John O'Dell sowed one peck of Red
Rock in the fall of 1913. Working
with C. B. Cook, the county agent at
that time, the plat and yield were ac-
curately measured in the presence of /
creditable witnesses, and this plat
yielded at the rate of fifty-five BUSH
els 10 the acre. ne wheat ODJdlneu
was all used for seed, and much of it
has been properly handled since. AS
a result, there are now several hun
dred acres of Red Rock in the coun-
ty. This season which>gives promise
of yielding at least forty bushels per
acre, and all other fields of the vari-
ETY. are uniformly superior to the
average.
again, practically all of the 1000
to 5000 bushels of Red Rock to be in
spected in Kent county this summer,
and sevral thousand bushels in
Newaygo, trace directly to a peck |
sample sown in 1913 on the farm of |
John Fremont.
Of course, ordinary granary and |
threshing methods tend to mix
grains very quickly unless special |
precautions are taken. Consequently |
much of the Red Rock now growing |
in the state is not pure, but even so
there are about 1000 acres of it be-
ing harvested and giving satisfaction |
4 of 60.