Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-09-17
RUST PROOF WHEAT
IS FOUND BY EXPERT
D 5 Wheat Discovered by N. D.
Scientist-Large Amount
Grown.

Fargo, N. D.-A new kind of rust
iresistant wheat has been found by H.
L. Bolley, a scientist at the North d.
kota Agricultural college.
The discovery of it is a fascinating
story for those who appreciate the
romance Of scientific work.
For many years wheat growers of
the Northwest have been cursed with
the wheat disease known as rust. In
some years it is worse than others. A
remedy was needed.
Professor Bolley started out in
quest of this remedy in 1903 with two
theories: 1. That there was such a
thing as "sick" soil, soil on which
the yield was reduced or spoiled, not
through lack of fertility but the pres
ence of disease germs. 2. That in
countries where wheat had been grown
on the same soil for hundreds of
years, the farmers had probably de-
veloped disease-resistant seeds:
Seed from Russia
The second theory took him to in
terror Russia in 1903, and there, on
| the peasant farms, he found what he
| was after. He also found a fax which
appeared to be immune to wilt"
| Many samples were sent home, and
then followed years of experimental
ton with as many as thousand small
plots Of ground, testing these seeds
and applying theory No. about sick
soils. Farmers were given small
amounts of promising seed from time
to time
Out of these years of study has
come a new rust-resistant wheat
known now as D 5. North Dakota
farmers have raised hundreds Of
| thousands of bushels of it this year
and the federal department Of agri-
culture has based an entirely new
| grade on it.
Since their discovery that new
wheat was coming to the market the
millers have raised a cry that it is
worthless for flour. Professor Bolley
points out that the Russians have al
ways used it for flour and in regard to
the millers' claims he says:
! Merits Of the Wheat.
"Some interesting facts exist re-
garding the color of D 5 wheat. Mill
ers have persistently said it was a bad
wheat. For the first two or three
years the elevators paid a premium
for it because of it's heavy weight per
bushel
"The chief reason that it was
brought over was that when l was in
Russia I thought, Here is a durum
wheat which the average man can not
tell from tife.' And when it came to
handling it on the market that very
result happened. Those who claimed
| that durum wheat was not being used
for milling purposes and yet knowing
! that thousands of bushels we're milled,
bought D and milled it along with
the rest.
But when it was found that there
was large volume of it, huge cry
went up just as in the case of velvet
chaff, that it was valueless wheat.
Superior Yields.
i eve do not claim that this wheat
} has superior milling qualities. I do
claim that it has superior yielding
qualities on constantly cropped wheat
} lands.
sit will be remembered that when
spring wheats came into use, the east
ern housewives claimed that they
could not make good bread out of it.
It will be remembered that when vel
vet chaff reached large production
the millers claimed it was poor mill
ing wheat and poor baking wheat. "
Professor Bolley has discovered
through rigorous tests that under con-
slant cropping the D wheat is also
subject to disease called helmin-
thosporus. Black points appear on
the germ end of the wheat berry. But
these tend to disappear with crop ro-
tation and under new and dry land
conditions.