OCR Text |
Show AGRICULTURE 1 I B A MIRACLE IN WHEAT. k" When the United States paid eighty millions for the Territory of Alaska, it' was to the fur the purchasers looked look-ed for a return on the investment. When gold ibegpn to pour in from that' great country the investment was pronounced good. But not in gold alone was Alaska destined to repay those early statesmen for their real estate es-tate speculation. Years after the yellow yel-low metal was discovered, there came an aged farmer to that far northland, and took back to the StatcstlTc Basis for wealth to Ins countryby the sjdc of which the gold from the hills and icy river beds should pale into insignificance. insig-nificance. It was in 1993 that Abraham Adams, a native of Kentucky, who hadgone with the "star of Empire' to thcgrcat West to farm it, was taken witra desire de-sire to try his fortunes in Al'askn. Leaving his ranch in northern Tdaho, he made a trip to the land of promise and of gold1, but nothing came of his attempts at discovery. Turning his attention then to exploring, he drifted along the const of eastern Alaska, . where the Japan current flows near the shore and mokes of the land "from coast to mountain eternal spring. Many miles he explored, investigating the possibilities of that country for future fanning and grazing, preparing himself for i report to the fanners of his community. He found many beautiful 1bays, splendid beaches, sweeps of timber, and meadows heavy with juicy grasses. grass-es. IHere and there traces of gold but not of promising quantity, and then he chanced upon a surprising discovery, Lodged in a nook uiulfrr, protecting rock, sheltered 'from the winds, was a little familiar patch Interested at once, he investigated" n.l found that here a patch of wheat wa growing, far from any living human that could havc.plautcd at. On hands and knees he pulled away the matted straws. Yes, it was certainly whcit that was just ripening. The explorer sought among the thick stems for Some heads, butthc wild game J'ad been before him, and hewaijifst about to give up when he 'discovered one head almost intact. A gigantic Uad it was! Fully four inches long . , . . . JJ jjg with its rough bearding, and (broad in I proportion. I Packing the head carefully away, the old man brought it. back with him to his ranch at Juliactta, Idaho. Not J a word did he say to his neighbors of 1 his find. Whether it was wild wheat ' or not ho could not say. Perhaps, some w'ild bird had filled its crop with & the grains in an unknown region, where it grew native, and coming to I Alaska deposited the seed in a fertile spot. And yet it was only curiosity that moved Abrahami Adams. lie never dreamed of his find being of I any value except as an experiment for his own pleasure. In the fall of 1904 Mr! Adams planted plant-ed his head of Alaska wheat on high and all-too-dry land the natural so'l of Idaho. It grew rapidly when the spring opened its founts, aud in the summer he had seven poundb of wheat from this one head. That was tstnrtling? He hardly dared tell a farmer far-mer of it. He examined the kernels. Four times as large as ordinary wheat, and in color instead of the homely brownish-gray of wheat of commerce- the prettiest cream color without a darker spot. Seven pounds of wheat from one head, and the fin-est fin-est looking wheat mortal had ever seen I Abraham A'dams ibegan to dream. Having tested the grains as winter wheat, Mr. Adams .saved his seven pounds to fry as spring wheat, and "i 1906 he planted the whole 6cvcn pounds. Sturdily it grew, and when ?it was harvested he weighed in 1 5 pounds. His Alaska find had broken the world's record for wheat yield! More than two hundred -and twenty-two twenty-two bushels to the acre was the ratio of yield, and that without any special petting or manipulation, With the world's average yield 12,7 bushels to the acre, and a fair yiqld for exeep-tional exeep-tional hind of twenty bushels, here .was the prospect of a miracle; a revolution revo-lution in the wheat industry of the world. But still there was .something that might -dash every hope of a wheat miracle: Was this Alaska wheat of gaod quality? Would it make good bread? With thi last idea in mind the ex- peiimcnting farmer carried a mal quantity of his wheat tu the Idaho Experimental StaMon at Moscow. He 1 knew lie had a wheat that yielded equally las well planted winter or spring. Did he have ia good wheat? The chemists and experts at the station sta-tion tested it and pronounced it a good quality of hard wheat. Hard wheat! That was sufficient. But Adams knew he must have patience for another year. In the fall of 1906 the 1545 pounds were planted in fields by the side of the famous Blue Stem and Club wheat grown in that section. Watching their comparative growth, Mr. Adams picked on the same day green heads of Club wheat and green heads of his Alaska wheat, the latter so many times larger than, the ordinary wheat that the Cub wheat seemed hardly started. The farmer was jubilant. Then Nature took a hand, and hailstorms hail-storms of the worst kind came, beat ing down the ordinary wheat until it was not fit to harvest. The farmer, discouraged, went out to his Alaska wheat fields and saw that the sturdy stems had partly withstood the storms, and he finally harvested 53,000 pounds of seed. Now was the time to make his final test. ITc had enough for a test from winter grown. Taking this to the experimental ex-perimental station, he soon received a report which made him for the first time sure he had something worth giving to the public. The station chemist wrote: 'The kernels from the fall sown wheat were plump and sound and doubtless will gttulc No. 1. Judging from the chemical and physical condition con-dition of this sample, it wffll probably take rank with the best grade of Blue Stem for flour. "The sample grown from spring sown wheat showed Iby chemical an-1 an-1 alysis a somewhat higher protein con tent (this being an indication of its probable strength for bread-anaking ; purposes). I am inclined to think that I the wheat that you have here is the j! equal, if not the superior, of our Blue I Stem for flour-making purposes. I should like to make a mill test whenever when-ever you can send me a sufficient quantity for that purpose." ft These are the facts about the won- 11 derful wheat of which the world will soon be talking. Farmers do not be ll live it; wheat speculators do not be- fi m flieve it; but those who have traveled M (tcsce Jt? do, believe it. Mft Adams m had his fields surveyed and1 has absolute ab-solute proof of the yield from each field. He has tried his wheat in 6th-fcr 6th-fcr lands, and in some places it did better than in Idaho. Alabama raised wheat from it with leaves seven-eighths seven-eighths of an inch broad, growing like cornstalks. As a last test, Mt. Adams sent single sin-gle heads of wheat to other parts of the country where he had men he could trust to plant and ascertain the result. Reports arc just coming to him, and he finds that in other States his Alaska wheat docs better than on its home oil. In Alabama a head wa3 planted December 31, was up January 30, waist-high April 1, with leaves seven-eighths of an inch Ibroad, and July 7 was harvested. It showed to be hard wheat of a fine quality, and the one head yielded the same as the first head planted in Idaho. Under ordinary soil conditions the new wheat will yield two hundred bushels to the acre, under extra conditions con-ditions above that. What will be the outcome? Had all America had Alaska wheat to seed this year, the American crop alone would have been five billions of bushels. bush-els. Docs that not mean a revolution in the wheat industry? Will the food of the poor become so cheap that there will be no famines? Or will farm property rise in value with the capacity for the yicldi? All this is conjecture, but these things arc certain: cer-tain: The wheat Alaska lias given us will withstand hail if not too heavy. It will withstand frost. It grows hard wheat from fall sowing. sow-ing. It yields up to 222 bushels to the acre. It will grade up to No. 1 hard. It will turn the vast areas in Missouri Mis-souri and the South and in tlu far West into hard wheat areas. And, last and best of all, it will bring back wheat raising to the worn-out worn-out farms of the East where, with wheat yields two hundred bushels to the acre, farmers can afford to use manures and chemicals, and make a profit. If all America could seed with the new wheat it would, at only fifty cents a bushel, add nearly two and a half billions of dollars to the wealth of the farmers -every year. Oscar F. G. Day in Saturday Evening Post. |