Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1879 — A Startling Fact. [ARTICLE]

A Startling Fact.

Some scientific tests which have been in progress for several months by one of the most distinguished professors of agricultural chemistry in the country have developed rather a startling fact that the sprouting qualities of last year's crop of No. 2 spring wheat have been seriously damaged, owing to the excessive heat which prevailed just before the harvest of last year in various parts of the West, notably Minnesota, and in consequence of which a large quantity of the wheat product is utterly ruined by the blight. This fact is of incalculable importance to farmers out West. No. 2 spring is the grade which is generally used for sowing purposes, and it is feared —unless the farmers are promptly informed of this timely discovery as to the destruction of last year’s products, and make ample allowance for it in their arrangements for sowing this spring—that the next crop will not equal 50 per cent, of the usual product. It is stated that damage to the sprouting capacity of the kernel is not such as to affect its value for milling purposes. Outwardly, to all appearance, the kernel is plump and unimpaired. But it is the structural interior growth which is affected. The discovery of these facts is timely indeed, and if properly promulgated may avert pretty disastrous consequences, such as ivould surely follow on a general use of damaged wheat for sowing. At the same time, the fact is one of great importance to all who are interested in the course ' of prices for wheat. New York \ Graphic.