HARD RED WINTER WHEAT is grown principally in the central Great Plains area, where hot summers and rather severe dry winters prevail. The States of Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma lead in its production. More than 18,000,000 acres of this class of wheat are grown annually in the United States and comprise nearly one-third of the total wheat acreage.
From hard red winter wheat is produced flour of high bread-making quality.
There are 12 varieties of hard red winter wheat commercially grown in the United States, known under about 40 different names. Of these Turkey, Kharkof, and Kanred are the leading varieties. The Turkey and Kharkof are practically identical, and until the recent wide distribution of Kanred they made up nearly all of the hard winter wheat acreage.
Kanred has been grown commercially only during the past six years. It is resistant to some of the forms of leaf rust and stem rust that occur in the hard winter wheat section. It also is slightly more winter resistant than Turkey and Kharkof, ripens slightly earlier, and outyields these varieties in most sections.
Other new varieties have shown good local adaptation. Several nearly identical pure lines of Turkey or Kharkof, such as Nebraska No. 60, Iowa No. 404, Wisconsin Pedigree No. 2, and Montana No. 36, have outyielded the ordinary Turkey or Kharkof varieties in the States in which they were developed.
Blackhull has proved to be a high-yielding variety in certain sections of Kansas, principally because of its earlier maturity. Minturki has outyielded other hard red winter wheats in Minnesota because of its winter hardiness. Bacska has proved the best adapted variety for northern Wisconsin. Alton, a beardless variety, of comparatively poor yield and quality, should not be grown except where a beardless hard red winter wheat is desired.
