The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-06-23
Ghe 6armer,
A Short History of Wheat.

The varieties of wheat arc almost num-
berlcss, and their characters vary widely
nnder the influence of cultivation and eli
mate. There are said to be $50 distinct
varieties in the museum of Cornell Univer-
sity. On the slopes of the mountains OF
Mexico and Xalpa the luxuriance of vege-
tation 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 ears increases. The height
is rarely more than two feet and often not
more than 20 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, wheat is the most esteemed OF
the cereal productions, but in Abysslnla,
according to Parkyns, the flour OF the
.teff" or "dogussa," scarcely palatable to
Europeans, is preferred by the natives to
any other grain.
Isis was supposed to have introduced
wheat into Egypt, Demeter into Greece,
and the Emperor Chin Wong into China,
about 5000 B. c. In Europe it was cult
waited before the period of his history, as
samples have been recovered from the la
custrine dwellings of Switzerland. In Eng
land it was probably not cultivated by the
ancient Britons, but the Anglo-Saxons
when Bede wrote, early in the 9Th 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 18th
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 Bha-
vaprakasa, one of which, a large grained,
is said to have come from the West, and
another, a 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, 1874, and
on March Both 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 first
crop of Quito was raised by a Franciscan
monk in front of the convent Garcilasso
de la Vega affirms that in Peru, up to
1917, 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 cast. In
1904, on the island of st. Croix near Ca
lais 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 Holland. 1t is
probable that wheat was sown in the Ply
mouth 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 1719 wheat was introduced into the
Valley of the Mississippi by the western
Company" In 1899 it was among the
cultivated crops of the Pimos Indians of
the ella River, New Mexico,-Mi7ler' s
NafjOnGZ Mnonzine