The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-10-14
A Short History of Wheat,

The varieties of wheat are almost
mum berless, and their characters vary
widely under the influence of cultiva-
tion and climate. There are said to be
$50 distinct varieties in the museum of
Cornell university. On the slopes of
the mountains of Mexico and Xalapa
the luXuriance of vegetation is such
that wheat does not form ears. In
Japan, it is said, ihe wheat has been so
developed by the japanese farmers, that
no matter how much manure is used,
the straw will not grow larger, though
the length of the ears increases. The
height is rarely more than two feet, and
often not more than twenty inches
Through selection, winter wheat has
been changed to summer wheat in three
years, and summer wheat converted in
the same time to winter wheat. In
general, whea5 is the most esteemed of
the cereal productions, but in Abyssinia,
according To Parkyns, the flour of the
"teif" or "dugassa' scarcely palatable
to Europeans, is preferred by the ma
tives to any other grain.
Isis was supposed to have introduced
wheat into Egypt, Demeter into Greece,
and the Emperor Chin long into China,
about 5000 b. @. In Europe it was
cultivated before the period of history,
as samples have been recovered from
the iacustrine dwellings of Switzerland.
In England it was probably not culti-
waited by the ancient Britops, but the
Anglo. SaXons when BeGe wrote, early
in the eighth century, sowed their
wheat in the spring, and in the DAYS OF
Queen Elizabeth its cultivation was but
partial. Indeed, wheat was an article
of comparative luxury till nearly the
seventeenth century. In India wheat
seems not to be native, but introduced,
for its Sanscrit name signifies food OF
the barbarian" yet three varieties are
mentioned in the Bhavaprakas,, one OF
which, a large grained, is said to have
small-grained or beardless wheat, is
said to have been indigenous to Middle
India.
The first wheat raised in the New
World " was sown by Spaniards on the
island OF Isabella, in January, l494, and
on March 80 the ears were gathered.
The foundation of the wheat harvest of
Mexico is said to have been three or
four grains carefully cultivated in 1880,
and preserved by slave OF Cortez. The
crop of Quito was raised by Francis
can monk in front of the convent.
Garci lasso de la Verga affirms that in
Peru, up to l547, wheaton bread had not
been sold at Cusco. Wheat was first
sown by Gosnold on CuttyAunk. one of
the Elizabeth islands in Buzzard's bay,
off Massachusetts, in 1902, when he
first explored the coast. In 1904, on the
island of st. Croix, near Calais, Me-,
the Sieur de Monts had some wheat
sown, which fourished finely. In 1911
the first wheat appears TO have been
sown in Virginia. In 1926 samples of
wheat grown in the Dutch colony at
New Netherlands were shown in Hol-
land. 1t is probable that wheat was
sown in the Plymouth colony prior to
1929 though we find no record OF it, and
in 1929 wheat was ordered from England
to be used as seed. IN l7lS wheat was
introduced into the valley of the Miss
issippi by the Western Company" In
1893 it was among the cultivated crops
OF the Simos Indians OF the Celia river,
New Mexico. .-MiUers' MdQasi,ze.