Kansas State Farm Bureau Bulletin from Manhattan, Kansas • 3

SESPTEMBElt, KANSAS STATE FARM BUREAU BULLETIN PAGE THREE Are Farmers Going to be Quitters? 1922 By Ralph Snyder agent you have better. May be you don't like the county bureau president, the state bureau president, or state secretary. There is a remedy at hand. There is to be an election this winter. Put them out and get other men in their places.

At least get acquainted with them. They may be better than you think. The situation is not at all peculiar to the farm bureau. A secretary of a local grange sent out an appeal to 270 members to pay their dues to prevent annulment of their insurance contracts. He got seven checks in reply.

Another, a Farmers Union secretary, reports half the members of his local paid up for the year. Others are reporting similar experiences. What does it mean? Are we going to lose at this time all we have gained in the past year? Or do you consider we have gained nothing? Was the president of the Chicago Board of Trade right when he said, in effect, "The farmer should go back and slop his hogs and let some one else tend to his marketing?" Are we going to withdraw our support from the "farm bloc" and let the "financial the "manufacturer's the "railroad and the "soap bloc" run our national legislation without let or hindrance? You, as an individual member, have just as much a responsibility in this matter as have those you, by your vote, have chosen as officers. The least you can do is pay your dues and-renew your pledge of fealty to an organization that stands for a better agriculture, a square deal in marketing and legislation, and a better American citizenship. There seems to be a disposition on the part of the farmer to quit.

Not so much to quit producing as to quit trying- to better his condition in any organized way. We have met with a good many disappointments but we have tackled a big job, and we have expected too much in the way of results in too short a time. We have too much from those we have chosen as leaders without giving them proper support. It might be of interest to some of our farm bureau members to know some of the reasons advanced by their neighbors for being "quitters." The most frequent one advanced is shortage of money. It's true we are short of money, but that is the best reason in the world why we should "carry on." This is not a charitable proposition, neither is it a luxury; it is a necessity under existing conditions.

We must, in some way, better ourselves or go out of business. The question is is the farm bureau worth the money? Let us see. What have we done that has meant a money saving to us? Would we have been any worse off than we are if we had had no farm bureau? In the first place a careful checkup of state and government reports furnishes evidence that farm bureau counties in comparison with non-farm bureau counties show an increased production per acre in every case, in some counties amounting to as high as 180,000 bushels of wheat per year, without any extra help and with practically no extra expense. One case showed an increase of 30 bushels per acre of potatoes; in every case a decrease of mortality among hcgs on account of cholera, running We have assisted in defeating the Nolan bill, the daylight saving law and are backing up the truth-in-fabric bill and the Muscle Shoals proposition. We have assisted in accomplishing these things.

We do not claim the whole credit. But we do claim that without the state and American farm bureau federations these things could not have come to pass. We cannot accomplish such things as individuals. Things are not done that way any more. Others are not going to do things for us.

We have depended on that too often and too often have had things done to us. Other people are just as selfish as we are. We are hard up! Sure we are. It a very small per cent of our farmers that have not lost more money during the past two years than they made in the preceeding three. Is that any reason why we should lay down on our backs with our heels up in the air like whipped curs? It is the best reason in the world why we should stand up like good American men and fight our own battles.

We cannot do that by allowing some one else to carry our load. We hear men say they are quitting all farm organizations. This is no time to be a quitter. We hear many other excuses offered for not doing our part. One frequently heard is that the county agent is no good.

Do you quit the farm because you have a poor hired man? You don't; you get another one. Do your part. You may be able to help the situation by helping to make the as high as 700 per cent, as compared to no decrease in counties without farm bureaus. If that is not enough evidence for the county farm bureau program let us consider the poultry activities, insect control, plant disease control, loys and girls club work and so many other activities of the county agent and the county organization. Is our state and national work worth the money? Is it worth anything to us as farmers to have our interests looked after in transportation, as tax payers, as citizens in a legislative way? Have they been looked after in that way? Let us see.

We helped to hold down freight rates when the Interstate Commerce Commission granted, under the Esch-Cummins Law, a rate equivalent to 5 1-2 per cent dividend to railroads. That was high enough, but. had it not been for our organization, it would have been higher. We assisted in securing reductions, the past year, in freight rates, first in hay and grain, and then in all farm commodities. We have secured many adjustments of differences with railroads, through our national transportation department.

We have assisted in securing the enactment of more favorable agricultural legislation in the past twG 7ears than ever was enacted before cooperative marketing laws, both state and national; warehouse act, state and national; stock yards control act, state and national; future trading net. Wheat High in Gluten Worth More By L. E. Call and P. L.

Mann in nitrogen. Soils of heavy texture such as clay and silt loam usually produce wheat higher in gluten than that raised on light textured soils like the sandy loams. It Is a matter of common knowledge in central Kansas that the hard lands composed of clay and silt, loam are more likely to produce dark hard wheat than the soft lands composed of sandy loam, Many river valley soils, because they are sandy, produce wheat lower in gluten than the adjoining upland soils which are heavier. Sandy soil absorbs water more rapidly than heavy soil; it also contains less nitrogen. Thus, conditions are more favorable on such soils for wheat to develop a yellow berry kernel that is low in gluten; The kind of wheat planted is far less important in determining the gluten content of the crop than are climatic and soil conditions.

Any good variety of wheat of the Turkey type tbat is pure, such as Kanred. Turkey Red or Kharkof, if grown under favorable conditions will produce wheat high in gluten, If grown under unfavorable conditions, any of these varieties will produce yellow berry wheat lpw in gluten. Pure seed of any hard red winter wheat even though it is yellow berry will produce dark hard wheat high in gluten if soil and climatic conditions are favorable for the production of such wheat. On the other hand, the best dark hard seed wheat will produce a crop that (Continued on page 14) There are several factors which determine the milling and baking value of a sample of wheat. Two of the most important factors are the quality and quantity of the gluten contained in the wheat, and the weight per bushel of the wheat.

There is a fairly constant relationship between the gluten content of a flour and the protein content of the wheat from which this flour is made. The general practice, therefore, is to estimate the gluten content of flour by determining the protein content of the wheat. This, however, does not determine the gluten quality. The quality of the gluten is as important as the quantity. It is a commonly accepted fact among bakers and millers that a flour containing a relatively high per cent of gluten of good quality will make wore loaves of bread per barrel than a flour of lower gluten content, For this reason the baker demands a high gluten flour to Increase his baking yield per barrel of flour.

Naturally the miller strives to supply the baker's demands. The effect of this is reflected in the wheat market to an extent that varies from year to year, For example, the 1921 wheat crop contained a scarcity of good quality high protein wheat and a large amount of poor quality low protein wheat. In order to supply to the baking trade a Hour of relatively high gluten content it was necessary for the milling trade to secure sufficient wheat of high protein content to blend with low pioteln content wheat. Thus, the high protein wheat last season was sold at a premium. The effects of last year's scarcity of high protein wheat carried over into this year, so that high protein wheat was at a premium for some time after the 1922 ciop began to move.

In a year when the quality of the greater part of the wheat crop is good and of sufficiently high protein content to insure a strong flour, high protein wheat does not bring a premium. Under these conditions the weight per bushel of the wheat will largely determine its market price, because high weight per bushel means high yield of flour per bushel of wheat, There are three important factors that affect the gluten content of wheat, They are first, climatic conditions during the growing season; second, the kind of soil 6n which the wheat is grown and third, the kind or variety of wheat sown. Climatic conditions probably have more influx ence on the gluten content of wheat than any other factor, It is only when the climate is suitable for the production of wheat of high gluten content that wheat of this character can be grown with certainty. It is for this reason that wheat with expedient gluten content is usually produced in central and western Kansas and wheat low in gluten is usually produced in the eastern states. In eastern Kansas the wheat varies greatly in gluten content from season to season.

When the weather during the growing season in eastern Kan-' sas is dry and approaches the usual weather conditions of central Kansas the gluten content of eastern Kansas wheat is high. On the other hand, when the weather in this section of the state is wet and approaches the conditions of the eastern states the wheat runs low in gluten, The climatic conditions favoring high gluten ccntent are comparatively light rainfall during the growing season, fairly warm weather during the months of spring growth followed by dry, hot weather at the end of the ripening period so that the grain ripens rapidly, The soils that produce wheat high in gluten are those rich in nitrogen and heavy in texture. One of the principal constituents of gluten is nitrogen. Unless this element is present in the soil in fairly large amounts it will be impossible for the wheat plant to obtain sufficient ni trogen to produce grain with a high gluten content. New prairie soils that have not been farmed long are nearly always rich in nitrogen and it is on such soil that wheat of highest gluten content is usually produced.

Fields that have been in alfalfa for a num ber of years are also rich in nitrogen. This is one reason why wheat grown on ground that previously grew alfalfa for a number of years are also rich.