The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-09-27

count Against Wheat Purchased.
The following information has. in |
the main, been received from the fed
eral department of agriculture. rela-
tive to the assessment of discounts
against wheat:
1T has been brought to the atten- !
ton of the United States department
of agriculture from several sources
that, in certain parts Of the country,
where this years crop of wheat is
now being moved. the country grain
dealers are assessing the farmers a
discount against all wheat purchased,
contending that such assessment is
mandatory by reason of the official
grain standards of the United States
for wheat under the United States
grain standards act. Apparently the
contention on the part of the country
grain dealers is based upon the item
''dockage' contained in the official
r standards. From information received
by the department it appears, however
that the discount is actually an arbi-
trary assessment in the interest of the
buyers, and is neither on the basis of
the official standards nor required or
contemplated by the act or the regu-
lations hereunder.
THE primary purpose in the estab-
lishment of the official grain stand
Nards of the United States was to pro-
vide a basis whereby parties to trans
actions involving the purchase and
sale of grain shipped or delivered for
shipment in interstate or foreign com
merce might, through being able to
obtain correct application of such
standards, arrive at the actual value
and make settlement accordingly. The
standards for wheat do not provide for
any arbitrary assessment for dock
age. They do provide for the determi-
nation of the amount of sand, dirt,
weed seeds, weed stems and certain
other matter called dockage, which ac-
tually may be present in a lot of
wheat, the amount of which, If in ex-
cess of one-half of one per cent by
weight, is to be stated in terms of the
actual percentage as a part of the
grade designation of the wheat. This
is called the dockage system Of grad
ing and has been in use for many
years in the northwestern states prior
TO the adoption of the official stand
ards"
The transactions in question ap-
pear to be purely local, not involving
interstate commerce, and are perhaps
conducted in a way not within the
prohibitions of the act. Nevertheless,
the Department of Agriculture is in
vesugating the matter and will be
glad to have any facts which may be
of value. 1t will do everything 10 its
power to bring about the discontinu-
ance of misrepresentation based on
the act or the standards hereunder
The following warning has been
given to wheat growers:
4 Wheat 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
''As might be expected, therefore
various persons are offering to the
public varieties that they describe as
far superior to the kinds now being
grown. These varities 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 thai
was exploited q few years ago. Tit
hackers of this wheat did not get yer,
far with it, however, as the postoffic'
department issued a fraud order anS
their business came to standstin
This type of wheat having a large
branched head, has been offered a
high prices to the people of this coun
try many times under one name or an
more than hundred years. Just nov
another exploitation is threatening I'm
der the name Titanic This type o
wheat with branched heads should b
left strictly alone by the farmers.
Radical claims of high yields ar
made for some varieties of wheat.
is not uncommon in advertising a neN
variety for an INSCRIPTIONS or unir
formed promoter to claim yields fou
or five times that of the average yiel
of the country. Claims as high as 1
or more times the average yield hav
been made in special cases. Sue
claims are absurd and no one need b
misled by them. A well-bred varet
in the section to which 1t is adapte
knay yield a few bushels more than tn
varieties being commonly grown. Yer
"a seldom, indeed, can a doubling of tn
yield is expected.
Buying seed grown at a great di
lance from home is another thing thf
wheat growers should be on the
guard against. No wheat grown an
bred for California conditions, for IL
stance, no matter how good for Cal
fornia, has been found adapted to tn
country east of the Rockies. Califo
mia adapted wheats do not succee
- east of that state. Neither would tt
- wheats adapted to the Atlantic Goa
or the Mississippi valley succeed
California. In short, homegrown see
should be used unless the state agr
cultural experiment station or II
United States department of agrics
ture advises otherwise"