Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-04-29
A Short History Of Wheat.

The varieties of wheat are number
less and their character vary widely
under the influence of cultivation
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 that wheat
has been so developed by the Japan
ese farmers that no matter how much
manure is used, the straw will not
grow larger, though the length of
the ears increase. The height is
rarely more than two feet, and Of
ten no more than twenty inches.
Through selection Winter wheat has
been changed to Summer wheat in
three years, and Summer wheat con-
verted in the same time to Winter
wheat. In general, wheat is the
most esteemed of the cereal produc-
tions, but in Abyssinia, according to
Parkyus, the flour of the " tefF' or
" dugassa," scarcely palpatable to
Europeans, is preferred by the ma
tive to any otlIer grain.
Isis wass supposed to have intro
duced wheat into Egypt, Demeter
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 lacus-
trine dwellings, of Switzerland. In
England it was probably not culti-
vatad by the encient 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 its cultiva-
ton was but partial. Indeed wheat
was an article of comparative luxury
till nearly the 18th century. In In
dia wheat seems not to be native,
but introduction of its Sancrit name
signifies food of the barbarian;
yet three varieties are mentioned in
the Bhavayrakasa, one of which, a
large grained, is said to have come
from the West, and another. small
grained, is said to have been indigen-
ons TO Middle India.
The first wheat raised in the HNew
World" was sown by Spaniards on
the Island of Isabella, in January
1494, 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 care
fully cultivated in 1880, and pre-
served by a slave of Cortez. The
crop of Quito was raised by Fran
ciscan monk in front OF the convent.
Garcilasso de Ia Nerga affirms that
in Peru, up to 1547, wheaton bread
had not been sold at Cosco. Wheat
was first sown by Gosnold on Guilty.
hunk, one of the Elizabeth Islands
in Buzzard's Bay, off Massachusetts
in 1902, when he first explored the
coast. In 1903, on the Island of st.
Coix, near Calias, Me-, the Sieur de
Monts had some wheat sown, which
fourishel 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 Holland.
1t is probable that wheat was sown
in Plymouth colony prior to 1923
though we find no record of it, and
in 1929, wheat was ordered from
England to be used as seed. In 17lS
wheat was introduced into the Valley
of the Mississippi by the western
Company" In 1893 it was among
the cultivated crops of Simos Indi-
ans of the Gila river, New Mexico.