Excerpt from Agriculture and Irrigation

In the United States of America the de mand for land by intending settlers for many years past has been verygreat. I'he greater part of the good land there, as in Australia, was prodigally squandered in the early days, and attention had to be turned to the enormous'semi-arid are With the methods of farming then on: ployed, and the cultivation of the' kinds of crops grown in more humid regions, the attempts at settlement ended in. Failure. It was decided to change the varieties 0 seeds, and procure from countries similar in climate and physical conditions the seeds successfully grown there. Importations were made from the dry sections oi' Rus sia, Siberia and Algiers, of wheat, oats, sorghums and grasses, and these have been successfully cultivated. I was informed by Professor Carlton, the head of the cereal branch of the Bureau of Agriculture at Washington, that by the use of the import ed seed the wheat-growing area has been extended two hundred miles further west. The wheats are called macaroni wheats, as they are used in the making of that food. The first trial was made in 1900, and so rapidly has its cultivation progressed that a yield of ten million bushels was anticipa ted this year. It is also called Durum wheat, because of its hardness. It comes from Russia, where it is grown on the great steppes and Semi-arid plains of the Volga River. It is said to grow in the West with a 10in. Rainfall, and yields 8 to 10 bushels per acre with ordinary farm ing, while with better cultivation under the Campbell system it will yield over 30 bushels per acre. It is a hard wheat, creamy in color, with more gluten in it than the ordinary wheat. It retains mois ture in bread longer than ordinary wheat, and will keep it six or seven days sweet. And moist.

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