Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-06-25
COLLEGE BRED WHEAT
GAINS WIDE FAVOR
"Triplett" Hybrid Raised This Year
in All Parts of Northwest
Among Leaders in Yield
Tests

State College "Triplett," a hybrid
wheat compounded from Winter
Fife, Little Club, and Turkey, this
spring is leader in the wheat zones
of the Northwest, according to re-
ports of acreage received here. What
the extensive sowings of this new
wheat may do to help out the ma
tional flour bin this fall is forecast
by farm crops summary covering
Tripletts six-year average on the
state farm, in tests on 80 different
plots.
In the tests, Triplett has been
compared with such we'll known va
rieties as Jones Winter Fife, Forty
fold, Little Club, and Red Russian.
Triplett's six-year average is 40.1
bushels. That of Jones Winter Fife
is S1.7. That of Fortyfold is 29.1.
Little Club averaged 366, and Red
Russian 1915.
Two other important winter
wheats ran close to the Triplett, one
being Hybrid 1913, which produced
41.9, and Turkey, 40. The six-year
comparison therefore placed Triplett
Turkey and Hybrid 128 in a class by
themselves as winter wheats. Com
pared with Turkey, Triplett has the
advantage of slightly better mill
ing quality, according to the con-
census of opinion among wheat men
and millers and farm crops special
lists here.
Hybrid 12S, which, according to
advice received here, is holding its
own in many parts of the state, is
the product of a Jones Fife-Little
Club cross. The hybrid has taken
from Jones Fife winter hardness,
and from Little Club stiff straw
and club head. That is, the plant
breeders here have succeeded fairly
we'll in combining into 1913 the good
qualities of both Jones Fife and Lit
tie Club.
Triplett is q wheat of rather COM
pick parentage. One parent is a
''sib" of the same parentage as 1928
Jones Fife and Little Club. To
put it another way, all the children
of Jones Fife and Little Club did not
look alike, Hybrid 12S being the
best in point of quality of all the
Offspring. This "sib' or perhaps
scrub" offspring was selected and
bred to "sib" from Fife and Tur-
key. From the offspring of these
mixed parents Triplett was selected
From the standpoint of parentage
Triplett is so per cent Winter Fife
rs per cent Little Club and % pei
cent Turkey. 1t has inherited many
of the good qualities of those differ
ent parents, and lost their objection.
able traits. The wheat looks a good
deal like Winter Fife, has a small
Turkey berry, and in milling quality
approaches Turkey. 1t has the short
stiff straw of Little Club, and has
fallen heir to the winter hardness
of Turkey Its worst feature is its
velvet chaff" which makes harvest
hands kick and swear.
The biggest project on hand here
now in wheat breeding is the quest
for a smutless wheat. The plant
breeders are looking for a wheat
possessing the milling quality OF
Turkey, the stiff straw of Hybrid
1913, increased prolificacy over any
wheat now known, and immunity to
smut. The parent varieties from
which it is sought to unite these
qualities are Hybrid 1928, Turkey
Triplett and Florence. Out of 1928
the plant breeders are trying to gel
prolificacy and winter hardness
From Turkey, winter hardness and
smut resistance; from Triplett, pro
Efficacy and winter hardness; from
Florence, milling quality and smu
resistance.