The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1884-10-31
A Short History of Wheat.

The Western Homestead
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 dis
tinct varieties, in the Museum of Cor
nell 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 ears increases. The height is rare
ly 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 converted in the same
time to winter wheat. In general,
wheat is the most esteemed of the ce-
real productions, but in Abssynia, &C
cOrding to Parkyns, the flour of the
'teff'' or ,"dugassa," scarcely palatable
to Europeans, is preferred by the ma
lives W any OllltI grail
Isis was supposed to have introduced
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 lacustrine dwellings of Switzer-
land. In England it was probably not
cultivated 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 its cultivation was
but partial Indeed, wheat was an ar
ticle of comparative luxury till near.
ly the 18th century. In India wheat
seems not to be native, but introducers
of its Sanscrit name signifies "food of
the barbarian;" yet three varieties are
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 so@n by Spaniards on the
Island of Isabella, in January, 1894,
and on March 80 the ears were gather
cred. The foundation of the wheat
harvest of Mexico is said to have been
three or four grains carefully cultiva-
ted in 1880; and preserved by slave
of Cortez. The crop of Quito was
raised by Franciscan monk in front
of the convent. Garcilasso de la Ner-
ga affirms that in Peru, up to 1547,
wheaton bread had not been sold at
Cusco. Wheat was first sold by Cos
mold on Cuttyhunk, one of the Eliza
beth Islands in Buzzard's Bay, off
Massachusetts,, in 1902, when he first
explored the coast. In 1904, on the
Island of ST. Croix, near Calias Me-,
the Sieur de Monts had some wheat
sown, which flourished finely. In 1911
the first wheat appears to have beer
sown in Virginia. In 1926 samples of
wheat grown in the Dutch colony at
New Netherlands were shown in Hol
land. 1t 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
England to be used as seed. In 1718 |
wheat was introduced into the Valley
of the Mississippi by the "Western
Company" In 1899 it was among the
cultivated crops of Simos Indians of |
the ella River. New Mexico.