Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-05-10
HisforY of Wheat

History OF Wheat.
Isis was supposed to have introduced
wheat into Egypt; Demeter into Greece;
and the Emperor Chin-wong into China
about 5000 b. c. Standing crops of
bearded wheat are figured in Egypt
under the Fourth dynasty, about 2440
b. c., AT Gizeh, but nowhere on these
nor on subsequent monuments with
the minute accuracy required for dis
tinguishing species Pick.), but DE
Candolle seems to refer this species to
z. T'ergidunl, l.. In Greece Theo-
phrastus mentioned eight varieties, and
among the carbonized seeds exhumed
by DIR. Schliemann in Greece is a very
hard, fine grained, sharp wheat. very
flat on the furrowed side, which is said
to tferfrom any wheat hitherto known.
In Europe wheat was cultivated before
the period of written history, as sam
Piles have been recovered from the deb
ris of the lacustrin habitations in Swift
erland, and differing not in size and
form from our varieties Gubbock). 1t
is mentioned by Diodorus as growing
wild in Sicily, and ears of bearded wheat
appeared on most of the ancient Sici-
liam coins, and on two of the Leontine
brass coins are figures of Ceres in adj
dition to the usual ears of corn (Hogg).
In France wheat was the most valued
cereal in the Sth century, as shown by
the maximum price fixed by an edict
of Charlemagne, wherein oats were to
be sold at one denier, barley at two
deniers, rye at three deniers and wheat
at four deniers bushel (GuiZot). 1t
is probable, SAYS c. w. johnson, that
wheat was not cultivated by the early
Britons, for the climate, owing to the
immense preponderance of woods and
undrained soil. was so severe and wet,
that in winter they could attempt no
agricultural employments, and even
when Bede wrote, early in the Sth CEN
tury, the Anglo-Saxons sowed their
wheat in Spring. 1t continued an arti-
Gle of comparative luxury till nearly
the 18th century, and that the cultiva-
ton of wheat in England was very par
tial in the reign of Elizabeth, is attested
| by TusSer. Yet, wheat was cultivated
by the Romans, and is mentioned by
Columella. Pliny, Cicero, Caesar, and
many others.
| In India wheat seems not to be native,
but introduced, if we may trust to the
Sancrit named nalecchdcd, n,lecchdbho-
CANA, food of the Barbarians, but this
| may mean that the center and south
of India. to hot for wheat growing, re-
ceived their grain from the hill tribes
of the North, where the climate suited
it (PicteD. In the Bhavaprakasa two
varieties are mentioned, the large
grained, and small grained or beard
less. The first variety is said to come
form the west, the second to be indi-
geneous to middle India (Dutt). About
1880, in the marvels described by Friar
Jordanus. it is said ''wheaten bread is
there not eaten by the natives, although
wheat they have in plenty In China,
according TO Stanislas Julien, wheat
was cultivated in the year 1922 b. c.
In 1922 three new species or varieties
were sent TO Europe from Chinese
Mongolia. Uoiseleur-D eslongchams).
INTRODUCED TO AMERICA.
The first wheat raised in the New
World was sown by Spaniards on the
island of Isabella, in January, 1494, and
on March 30th the ears were gathered
(F. Columbo). The foundation of the
wheat harvests of Mexico is said to
have been three or four grains care
fully preserved by negro slave of Cor
tez in 1880, and found in some rice
brought from Spain for the use of the
troops (Humbolt. In Quito, says
Humboldt, the first crop was raised by
Franciscan monk in front of his con-
vent The first wheat introduced to
Peru was by a Spanish lady who took
great pains to disseminate it among the
colonists, says Prescott, but find no
dates given. Garcilasso de la Vega
affirms that up to 1547 no wheaton
bread had been sold at Cuzco, Peru.
In 1912, John Alphonse, chief pilot
to Roberval, in speaking of the REGION
about the present Montreal, says, II
have told in one ear of corn 120 grains,
like the corn Of France, and you need
not to sow your wheat until March,
and it will be ripe. in the midst of
August" The first wheat grown in
New England was that sown by Cos
mold, on the Elizabeth island, off the
cost of Massachusetts, (which sprang
up eight or nine inches in fourteen
days" In 1904, on the the island of
st. Croix, near Calais, Maine. the
Sieur de Monts had some wheat sown
which fiourished finely (Champlain),
and in 1906 wheat was sown by LES
carbot near the port of Port Royal,
Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia.
In 1910 it was among the plants in
Champlain's garden at Quebec Park
MANI. In Virginia, the first wheat
appears to have been sown In 1911; in
1926 samples of wheat grown in the
Dutch colony of the New Netherlands
were taken to Holland to exhibit. In
1929 wheat was ordered by the Ply
mouth colony, from England for seed.
In 17lS wheat was introduced into the
valley of the Mississippi by the West
ern Company" In California it is
spoken of by Father Baegert, as flour
ishing, 1751-1768; and il was cultivated
by the Pimas Indians of the Gia river
in 1899 (Whipple Il Turner).
EXTENT AND CONSUMPTION.
The northern limit of the growing of
of wheat is 50 deg. N in Brit
ain, 64 deg. N. in Norway, 60 deg.
N. in Russia and lower in Siberia enc.
Britt. In North America it is raised
with profit at Fort Lizard, go deg. N.
long. 122 deg. min. West. and 400 to
500 feet above the sea (Richardson).
The fine harvests of Egypt and Algiers,
says Humboldt, as well as those of the
valley of Aragua and Cuba prove that
the augmentation of heat is not prejud-
icial to the harvests of wheat, unless
it be attended with excess of drought
or moisture. In the moist region on
the slope of the mountains of Mexico
and Xalapa, the luXuriance of the vege-
tation is such that wheat does not form
ears.
The consumption of wheat per cap
ita is reckoned by McCulloch as 8 bush
els for England. Lawes & Gilbert's
estimate for the United Kingdom is
81 bushels per unit of population, or for
England and Wales 81 bushels: for
Ireland 3 bushels; for Great Britain SO
bushels; for the United Kingdom 5.3
bushels. In the United States there
were raised in 1879, Ass, 591 ,093 bushels
or bushels per head of population. OF
this crop l22, 353 1856 bushels were ex-
ported, leaving available for consump-
ton 81 bushels per census unit. In
general, wheat is the most esteemed of
the cereal productions, but so far does
habit govern, that in Abyssinia, accord
ing to Parkyns, the flour of the te6f or
dagassa, scarcely palatable to Euro
peans, is preferred by the natives to
that of any other grain.-E. Lewis
Startecant, IL. D.