Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-02-13
A Short History of Wheat.

The varieties of wheat are number
less, and their characters vary widely
under the influence of cultivation and
climate. There are said to be $50 dis
tinct 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, the 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 ear increases. The height is
rarely more than two feet, and often not
more than twenty inches. Through Sc
lection. winter wheat has been changed
to summer wheat in three years, and
summer wheat converted ia the same
time to winter wheat. In general, wheat
is tho most esteemed Of the cereal pro-
auctions, but in Abyssinia, according to
Parkyns, the flour of "teff" or "du-
gassa," scarcely palatable to Europeans.
is preferred by the natives to any other
grain.
Isis was supposed to have introduced
wheat into Egypt, Demcter into Greece.
and the Emperor Chin Wong into China.
about 5000 B. G. In Europe it was
cultivated before the period Of history,
as samples have been recovered from
the lacustrine dwellings of Switzerland.
In England it was probably not cult
waited by the ancient Britons, but the
Anglo Saxons, when Bede wrote, early
in the eighth century, sowed their wheat
in the spring, and in the days OF Queen
Elizabeth it's cultivation was but par
tial. Indeed, wheat was an article of
comparative luxury till nearly the sew
enteenth century. In India wheat
seems not to be native, but introducers
of it's Sanscrit name signifies "food Of
the barbarian - yet three varieties are
mentioned in the Bhavaprakasa, one of
which, large grained, is said to have
come from the West, and another,
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 the Spaniards On
the Island of Isabella, in January, 1894
and 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. Gar
cillasso de la Verga afjrms that in Peru,
up to 1547, wheaton bread had not been
sold at Cusco. Wheat was first sown
by Gosnold on Cuttyhunk, one of the
Elizabeth islands, in Buzzard's bay, of
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. It 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 En-
gland to be- used as seed, In 171S
wheat was introduced into the Valley of
the Mississippi by the "Western Com
pany." In 1899 it was among the cult
waited crops of Simos Indians of the
ella river, New Mexico.-Ailler's Mag