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PRAIRIE DUST, PRAIRIE GOLD
received specimens of grain from Germany, Italy, Russia, and unique varieties from countries like Japan and Australia.
After a brief tryout in Maryland, he planted these various species of wheat, a thousand altogether, on the windswept soil of Kansas. Then, while they slowly grew to maturity, he scouted around the prairie states, studying the soil and climatic con' ditions.
About this time, Carleton ran across a small number of Russian immigrant farmers in the West who had been growing wheat successfully there year after year. They were Russian Mennonites; members of the Protestant sect that still can be found in certain parts of Europe and the United States.
Amazed at their success, Carleton questioned these farmers, examined their wheat. Even in the worst years, when other farmers harvested nothing, the Mennonites produced about 20 bushels to the acre. Under favorable conditions, the yield even reached 30 bushels an acre.
These Russian immigrants weren't getting poorer. They prospered and built themselves fine homes.
"Where did you get this wheat?" Carleton asked, noting the peculiar hard, reddish kernels of the grain.
"We brought it with us from the Crimea," they told him. "Each family brought about a bushel of the grain as seed. It has always been grown in south Russia by our people."
This "Turkey wheat" was a tough winter wheat with kernels Hke little nuggets of red gold. But even though this grain had thrived in its new home
since 1873, it remained practically unknown for many years. In northwestern Kansas, it was scarcely heard of as late as 1890, although the Russian Mennonites were growing it right in that region.
Carleton was elated to find that the results of his experiments with the thousand different species of wheat from all over the world corroborated his theory. After two typically severe Kansas winters, most of the sample wheat specimens had been destroyed — except for the sturdy Russian hard wheat varieties.
To Carleton, however, the experiment involving 2 5 -foot rows of wheat offered neither proof nor the complete information he felt was needed. He was convinced that it was imperative to go to Russia and study conditions there. Only in this way could the hardiest wheat be found.
It was one thing, however, to convince himself and another to persuade the very practical officials in the Department of Agriculture. Carleton was a broad-shouldered, hard-working Kansan, but not a particularly glib salesman. Finally, however, his own contagious enthusiasm and deep faith in the project helped to convince the most skeptical of his superiors.
He was detailed as a special agricultural explorer for the Department. From July, 1898, until his return in February, 1899, he carried on an intense investigation "of the cereals of Russia suitable for introduction into the United States, especially those adapted to the rigorous conditions of the arid West."
His search was primarily for two general types of wheat. One was a