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CHAPTER II.

IMPROVEMENT OF WHEAT.

INSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION.

Early Significance.-The culture of wheat has perhaps never been exclusively the subject of individual effort, but has also always been the subject of institutional essay, however vague and remote. Since the latter phase of wheat growing became scientific in the nineteenth century, it has been fraught with a significance of the widest and deepest interest. From an institutional point of view, the growers of wheat are not sufficiently differentiated from the agricultural element of society to warrant a distinctive treatment as a class proper. Only by a statement of such characteristics of the agricultural class as are apropos for a consideration of the institutional development relevant to the culture of wheat can the subject be approached.

By proverbial repute, the tillers of the soil are, comparatively speaking, independent, unprogressive, non-co-operative, and without marked tendency toward organization. Historically, they have been the last great class to be brought under a progressive regime of societal institutions. There are two main causes for this, neither one of which is inherent in the class. The first and fundamental cause is that agriculture is an occupation in nature and conditions such as to require isolation of those engaged in it, with comparatively little division of labor among them. It is an industry as broad as the land upon which it takes place, and admits of no concentration. On the other hand, taking the number of people adequately supported on a given area as a test, the industry is universally developed by a decrease in the size of the holdings of each individual, and by the diversification of labor consequent to this decrease. The second cause, more remote and less important than the first, is that in agriculture the influence of competition is necessarily indirect, and under certain conditions entirely inoperative. In civilized life competition in one form or another has

always given a great impetus to organization and co-operation. In modern agriculture, especially if the farmer owns his land, the only point at which the influence of competition can enter is in the sale of farm products.

Other things being equal, a progressive farmer may be able to offer his wheat for sale at a price below the cost of production for the unprogressive grower. While this is competition, its point of incidence is mainly below the line of subsistence for the farmer, and as most farmers are above this line, much of the force of competition is lost. When a government guarantees to an individual the ownership of a certain area of land, he has a monopoly of that area as long as he raises enough produce from it to pay the taxes, or their equivalent, for the governmental guarantee, and to keep himself supplied with the necessaries of life. If he is unprogressive and isolated in his farming, he is quite free to continue so his whole life, and his son and his grandson are just as free to follow in his footsteps.

In the early days the farmer looked to better informed powers than those of human origin for the solution of difficult problems. Wily and insinuating shamans and medicine men astutely took a benevolent interest in him by unfolding, interpreting, and at times even creating, the knowledge and instruction which numerous deities dispensed through these, their agents, for the benefit of agricultural mankind. When to plow, sow, harvest, and when to sell his crop, were thus made manifest to him by the deities whose special business it was to know these things. The gifts of rain and sunshine were in their hands. They alone were the instrumentalities of fructification and bounteous harvests. With the advance of civilization, however, the deities became less communicative, the shaman's magic power waned and became less occult, while his usual recompense grew more burdensome to those who paid it, and his functions became differentiated and were gradually assumed by the botanist, the chemist, the agriculturist, the physicist, the miller, the speculator, the instructor, and above all, the experimenter. As the paternal concern of the gods and medicine men for the farmer became relaxed, little interest was taken in him for centuries, and he has never since been the object of such profound solicitude from any source. In the middle ages and during the conquests of the Goths, Vandals

and other barbarians, agriculture in Europe ebbed to the lowest degree of respectability. It was revived by the Saracens of Spain, and by their successors, the Moors, it was carried to a height perhaps not surpassed in Europe before the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

While Plato, Socrates and Pliny took an interest in agriculture, it is claimed that the oldest of writers on husbandry whose works have survived is Cato, the Roman Censor (234-149 B. C.). In 1757, Home stated that Virgil and Columella were still the best authors on this subject. From the downfall of the Roman democracy until the dawn of English history, little was written on agriculture. At times it was encouraged in a general way and highly honored, as it always has been in China, but usually the farmer was left to work out his own salvation. This he did, and successfully, though it required centuries of time. He no longer relies for information upon the elucidations of subtle shamans revealing the will of elusive, evasive, and ever vanishing gods, creations of the fancy. In nearly every civilized country of the world he is supported by scientifically grounded institutions. As these are practically the scientific foundation of modern wheat raising, especially of some of its most recent and interesting phases, they are considered of sufficient importance here to be taken up briefly.

The National Governments of all of the principal wheat growing countries of the world are factors in an official capacity in the culture of wheat, and at times millions of dollars are expended by a single government in endeavoring to solve some problem of unusual importance. In the United States, Washington in 1796 suggested the establishment of a national board of agriculture. The first appropriation made by Congress for agricultural purposes was in 1839, $1,000. Lincoln approved the act which established our National Department of Agriculture in 1862. Under Cleveland, in 1889, it was raised to an Executive Department.

The development of the department has been surprising, especially in recent years. The things most characteristic of it have been its rapidly increasing magnitude, the study of questions most diversified in interests and far-reaching in impor- tance, and the thorough, effectual and scientific methods employed. As new interests arose, were investigated, and in

creased in importance, they were assigned to a new bureau or division especially created for their research. The distribution of seeds and plants was begun in 1839. Since that time, over 20 divisions and bureaus have been created.' The importance that may be attached to the activities of the department is well illustrated by its work with durum wheat. By securing its introduction and its use in manufacturing macaroni in the United States, the department practically established a new industry, in addition to extending materially the wheat producing area.

Experiment Stations.-Liebig in Germany, Boussingault in France, and Lawes and Gilbert in England, were the greatest of the pioneers who blazed the path subsequently followed by the experiment station. The organization of scientific experimentation with governmental aid dates from 1851. The American stations are an adaptation of those of Europe to the conditions and requirements of this country, but one of their characteristic features is extensive co-operation. Their establishment naturally followed that of the agricultural colleges. In 1875 the first station in the United States was established at Middletown, Conn., for which the credit is due to Orange Judd, then editor and proprietor of the American Agriculturist. Seventeen stations had been established by 1887, when Congress passed the Hatch act, the great boon for American stations. In 1894, 55 stations were in operation. At some of the stations, especially that of Minnesota, new varieties of wheat and other cereals have been originated which increase the yield several bushels per acre over old varieties under the same conditions, giving to the farmer a pure gain of millions of bushels.

Agricultural Institutions of Learning.-The American agricultural colleges were organized under the land grant act passed in 1862, supplemented by an act of 1890. Under the provisions of these acts 65 institutions are in operation in the several states and territories. The movement for farmers' institutes, originating in various farmers' societies, has now become national in scope, and during the year ended June 30, 1905, institutes were held in nearly all of the states and territories.

1 For a complete account of the department, state experiment stations and agricultural colleges, see Bulletin 112, Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

injured when fertilization takes place in rainy weather. The water probably finds its way within the involucre, and the pollen grains are either imperfectly retained, or their germination is irregular. The process of fertilization generally occurs early in the morning, and may require less than an hour of time. After its completion the ovule (seed) grows very rapidly to maturity. The embryo develops first, and then the endosperm.

- The Most Favorable Ripening of wheat requires a mild temperature and a slightly clouded sky. A high temperature the month before wheat is ripe diminishes the yield, and in particular prevents the formation of starch. There is a real, though small, loss in wheat from the period when it is "ripe" to the time when it is dead ripe, and it is claimed that this loss does not result from careless handling, or from drying of the grain.1

Deherain offers the explanation that "all the organs of a plant respire by the aid of the oxygen of the air consuming some of their principles. In the seed the combustion chiefly affects the starch, and a crop which remains standing long diminishes in weight both by the loss of seeds that fall and by the slow combustion which continues as long as desiccation is not produced." What is lost in quantity, however, is perhaps more than gained in quality, for the best flour can be obtained from dead ripe wheat only. Such flour has a better color, and will take more water in bread-making. If the grain is cut before ripe, the most serious feature is increased acidity in the flour. This interferes with fermentation in bread-making, and is liable to make the bread sour or dark.

The Rate of Multiplication of Wheat.-Paley gave 300 grains harvested from one grain sown as a moderate estimate; 400 as a possible one; and 10 to 12 as a practical one. Herodotus said that on the irrigated land of Assyria, wheat yielded from two to three hundred fold, and grew to giant size. Fifty grains of wheat, selected from one spike, were planted, and the 30 grains which grew produced 1434 ounces of wheat. This was sown the next year, and produced 5 pecks of grain, which in turn produced 45 bushels the subsequent year. The 45 bushels produced 537 bushels in another year, enough seed 1 Kedzie, Rept. Mich. Board Agr., 1881-2, p. 337: Mich. Bul. 191, p. 160; Neb. Bul. 32, p. 97.

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