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Show WHEAT ON DRY FARM Eluestem and Fife Varieties of Hard Spring Unsafe. i Durum, Introduced From Southeastern Russia Where Rainfall Is Light, Adapted to Climate of West-tern West-tern Plains Area. In a large part of the dry farming territory the bluestem and flfe varieties varie-ties of hard spring wheats are very unsafe crops. Where bread wheats can be grown, the Red Fife, selected strains known as Johnson's Fife, Golden Fife, etc., are good yielders and the berry Is usually plump and hard. The millers, however, have placed these varieties In a market class designated as velvet chaff, and the price Is a few cents lower per bushel than the bluestem varieties bring. These latter include both bearded and bald types, writes Man-ley Man-ley Champlin In the Farmer and Breeder. The variety known as pedigreed pedi-greed bluestem has given good results re-sults at the Hlghmore Substation as reported in Bulletin 115 of the South Dakota Experiment station. This station sta-tion is situated near the eastern border bor-der of the dry farming belt. Very little winter wheat ia grown at present, but Its early ripening and good quality and yield of grain are Interesting many of the progressive farmers who have obtained some very good results. The Minnesota station advises its use only sparingly. Five acres is considered enough to start with. If it proves to be well suited to your conditions the acreage can be Increased. There is danger of winter killing, and too much dependence should not be placed on this crop. Turkey Red and Kharkov are the commercial com-mercial varieties grown. Where bread wheat Is grown with difficulty, Nature comes to the rescue res-cue with the hard macaroni or durum wheats. ITntil very recently there was difficulty in marketing this class of wheat and even today the price is 10 to 20 per cent lower 'than for hard spring wheats of the bread varieties. This fact is probably due to the American Amer-ican love of white bread. The durum wheat flour makes a palatable, nutritious nutri-tious bread, but the yellow color has been inveighed against by fastidious custom. Bulletin No. 3 of the bureau of plant industry gives an interesting history of the trials the durum wheat grower has had to overcome, as well as advice as to how to plant, etc. These wheats were introduced from southeastern Russia, where the rainfall rain-fall is light and the changes of temperature tem-perature severe. They are, therefore, adapted to the climate of the western plains ara. In describing the characteristics of macaroni or durum wheat Mr. M. A. Carlton says in the above mentioned bulletin: "The wheats of this group grow rather tall and have stems that are either pithy within or hollow. . . . The leaves are usually broad and smooth, but have a peculiar whitish green color and possess an extremely harsh cuticle. The heads are comparatively com-paratively slender in most varieties, compactly formed, occasionally very short, and are always bearded with the. longest beards known to wheat." The peculiar ability of the durum wheats to resist drought and severe changes of temperature as well as their early ripening qualities and high yielding capacity make them especially espe-cially fitted for the needs of the dry farmer. Here is a money crop of which he is practically sure. The yields vary from 10 to 35 bushels per acre. The Kubanka and Arnautka varieties va-rieties have given the best results in this section. Emmer Is widely grown as a substitute sub-stitute feed grain where oats are an uncertain crop. It has not the feeding feed-ing value of oats, but when ground makes a fairly good feed for any farm etock. The chaff clings to the grain when threshed, thus giving the crop great bulk. There Is not an established establish-ed market and farmers rarely grow more than enough for their own feed. The yields vary from 20 to 90 bushels, 30 being considered a fair yield. Emmer Em-mer is commonly called spcltz. |