The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1917-09-20
FARM MARKETS
BULLETIN NO. IS
INFORMATION OF UNUSUAL IN
TEREsT TO IDAHO GROWERS
OF WHEAT.
Department of Agriculture lnVestigat-
ing Alleged Practice of Grain Deal
ers in Assessing Farmers Dis
count Against Wheat Purchased.

Twill rNAdiHoI NbCdA Ntid0EdE
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
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
standards. From information received
by the department it appears, however,
that the discount is actually an aEbi-
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 eStiIb-
liShment of the official grain stand
ards 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 a 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
vestigating the matter and will be
glad to have any facts which may be
Of value. 1t will do everything in its
n h1.incr O ha If=raV,-f,.-,
ance of Misrepresentation based on !
the act or the standards hereunder. !
The following warning has been |
given to wheat growers:
wheat is attracting. at the present !
time, greater attention than perhaps |
ever before. owing to its comparative |
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 extraya-
CANT claims are made for them.
IAN example of this kind is the
Alaska, or Seven-headed wheat. that
vas exploited a few yedrs ago. The
packers of this wheat did not get very
ar with it, however, as the pOStOffice
department. issued a fraud order and
heir business came to u StandStill
This type of wheat having large. |
Dranched head, has been offered at
Ugh prices to the people of this cOun-
ry many times under one name or an
'ther. Records concerning it go back
more than hundred years. just now
mother exploitation is threatening I'M
Ter the name Titanic This type of
Wheat with branched heads should be
eft strictly alone by the farmers.
Radical claims of high yields are
made for some varieties of wheat. 1t
5 not uncommon in advertising d new
ariety for an INSCRIPTIONS or unin-
Ormed promoter TO claim yields four
r five times that of the average yield
f the country. Claims as high as 10
L more times the average yield have
cen made in special cases. Such
laims are absurd and no one need be
lisled by them. A well-bred variety
1 the section to which it is adapted .
lay yield a few bushels more than the
arieties being commonly grown. Very
eldom. indeed. can a doubling of the
ield is expected.
Buying seed grown at a great dis
lnce from home is another thing that
heat growers should be on their
uard against. No wheat grown and
red for California conditions, for in '
lance, no matter how good for Cali I
)rnia, has been found adapted to the $
Duntry east of the Rockies. Califor- I
ia adapted wheats do not suC~sed q
asst of that state. Neither would the
heats adapted TO the Atlantic coast :
r the Mississippi valley succeed in
alifOrnia. In short, homegrown seed i
lould be used unless the state agri- 7
lltural experiment station or the c
nited States department OF agricul- !,
ire advises otherwise" d