A MIRACLE IN WHEAT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 252, 17 October 1908, Page 3

A MIRACLE IN WHEAT

SEVEN POUNDS F#)M ONE HEAD. TWO HUNDRED BUSHELS AN ACRE. When the Unitcd,JMre3«-l>aid cijjliLv millions for the fur discovery of gold ami' thcrVh, but thi., will Cade into insignilicancc alongside of the discovery of an aged fanner, la 1D1.13 Abraham Adam, a native of K">i-

tueky, set forth to trv his fortunes ill Alaska, lie forsook his farm in Idaho and came to the laud of gold ami promise, lie drifted tjie coast i,i Eastern Alaska prospcelingiW investigating the possibilties of the euuutiy for farming. One day, lodged in a nook under a projecting rock, sheltered from the winds he saw"a familiar patch, interested at once, he investigated, and found that here a patch of wheal was growing, far from any human that could have planted it." It was wheat jusl ripening. The explorer sought among the thick stems for some heads, but the wild game bad been before him, and he was just about to give it up when he discovered one head of wheal intact. A gigantic head it was! Fully four inches long with its rough bearding and broad in proportion. Packing the head carefully away Adams brought it back with him to his ranch.

In the fall of liWl.alr. Adams plante, his head 0 I Alaska wheat on high an all-too-dry land the natural soil o Idaho. II grew rapdily when the spriii; opened its founts, and in the sununci he had seven pounds of wheat from thii one head. That was startling. .'l. hardly dared tell a fanner of it. Ik examined the kernels. Four times alarge as ordinary wheat, and in colour - instead of the homley brownish-gray oi wheat of commerce—the prettiest cream colour without, a darker spot. Seven ■pounds ol' wheat from one head, and the finest-looking wheat mortal had ever seen! Abraham Adams began to dream. Having tested the grains as winter wheat, Mr. Adams saved his seven pounds to trv as .spring wheat, and in Willi he planted the whole seven "pounds. Sturdily it grew, and when it was harvested he weighed in 1.34.5 pounds. His Alaska tiud had broken the world's record for wheat yield! More than two hundred and twenty-two bushels to the acre was the ratio of yield, and that without auv petting or manipulation. With the world's average yield 12.7 bushels to the acre, and a fair yield for exceptional land of twenty bushels, h"i e was the prospect of a miracle; a revolution in the wheat industry of the world. Rut still there was something that might dash every hope of a wheat miracle. Yas this Alaska wheat of good quality? Would it make good bread';

He carried a sample of hi s wheat to the Idaho Experimental Station and til? chemists tested it ami pronounced it a good quality of hard wheat, in the fill of IDOu' the 1545 pounds was planted in the fields and there was every promise of a splendid crop. Nature took a hand and hailstorms of the worst kind heat down the ordinary wheat, until it was not lit to harvest. 'The fanner, discouraged, went out to his Alaska Held and found the sturdy stems had partly withstood the storms, and he finally harvested 53.UU0 pounds of »«ed. lie submitted the two wheats, spring and fall sown, to the experimental station, and tlie reply lie received put at rest all doubts as to the quality. Both samples were declared equal to the 1) ist grade of wheat for Hour.

When Mr. Adams made his results known there was genera! disbelief. Farmers did not believe il. speculators did not believe it, but those who travelled to see il did believe it. Mr. Adams had his fields surveyed and had absolute proof of his statements, and of the yield from each field. He tried his wheat in other lands, and in some places it did better than in Idaho. Alabama raised wheat from it seven-eighths of an inch broad, growing like cornstalks. As a hist test Air. Adams sent single heads of wheat to other parts of the country where he hud men he could trust to plant and ascertain the resuits. He finds that in other states his Alaska wheat does bettor than on its home so'!. fn Alabama a head was planted December 31st, was up January :10th, waist high April Ist, with leaves seven-eight lis of an inch broad, and July 7th was harvested. It showed to be a hard wheat nf line quality, and the one bend 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 above that. This would mean that if all America had Alaska wheat to seed this year the American crop alone would be live billions in bushels. It would turn vast areas in Missouri anil the south and the far west into hard wheat

areas. !t would bring kick wheatraising to the worn-out farms of the east, where, with wheat, yields Iwo hundred bushels to the acre, farmers can afford lo use manures and chemicals ami make a profit. If all America could seed with I lie new wheat, it would, at onlv liftv cents per bushel, add nearlv two and a half billions lo the wealth ui farmers every year.