The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-01-13
4 Short History OF Wheat.

The varieties OF wheat are almost mum
bcrlcss, and their characters vary widely
under the influence of cultivation and
climate. There are said 10 be so distinct
varieties in The museum of Cornell Uni.
ver-ity. On the slopes Of the mountains
OF Mexico and Kalapa 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 Japaneesc
farmers, that no matter how much ma
nure 8 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 con.
vcrted in the same time to winter wheat.
In general. wheat is tho most esteemed
OF the cereal productions, but in Abysnin,
according to Parkyns, the flour Of the
"teti" or "dugassa," scarcely palatable to
Europeans, il preferred by the natives to
any other grain.
Isis WAS supposed 10 have introduced
wheat into Egypt, Demcter into Greece,
ard the Eu:pt.J .Jr Chin Wong into China,
about 5000 L. &. In Europe it Was cul
tivated before the period OF history, as
samples have been recovered from the
Iacustrinc dwellings of Switzerland. In
England it was probably not cultivated
by the ancient Britons, BIZ. the Anglo
Saxons, when Bede wrote, early in the
eighth century, sowed their wheat in the
spring, and in the days of Queen Eliza
beth its cultivation was but partial.
Indeed, wheat was nm article of compare
tive luxury till nearly the seventeenth
century. In India wheat seems not TO be
native, but introducers of its Sanscrit
name signifies food of the barbarian :"
yet three varieties are mentioned in the
Bhavaprakassa, one of which is large
grained, is said to have come from the
West, and another, small gained or
beardless wheat is said TO have been in
digenout to Middle India.
The first wheat raised in the "Ncw
World" WAS sown by Spaniartls on the
island of Isabella, in January, l49i, and
on March 80 the ears were gathered
The foundation Of the wheat harvest oi
Mexico is said to have been three or four
grains carefully cultivated in 1880, and
preserved by slave of Cortcz The crou
uf Quito was raised by Franciscan monk
in front of the convent. Gurcilasso dc
In Fcrga ailirms that in Peru, up to 1917
wheaton bread had not been sold nj
Cusco. Wheat was first sown by Gosnold
nn Cnttyhnnk, nne Of tie IGizahe.!.
islands i'll Buzzard bay, off Massachusetts
in 1902. when he first explored the coast
In 1904, on the island Of ST. Croix, near
Calais, Me-, the Sieur dc Monts had
SOME wheat sown, which fouri4hed finely
In 1911 the first wheat appears to have
been sown i'll Virginia. In 1926 samples
of wheat grown in the Dutch colony a,
New Netherlands were shown in Holland
II IS probable that wheat was aown in the
Plymouth colony prior to 1926, though
we find no ret wd OF it, and in 1929 whea,
was ordered f:m England to be used as
seed. In lis wheat was introduced intn
tne valley of the Mississippi by the
Western Company" In 1899 it was
among the cultivated crops of the Simos
Indians of the Celia river, New Mexico
-1Lhcr's Magazine