The Indianapolis journal., 1884-05-03
WHEAT OR CHEAT.

In some portions OF the West, notably
through the Indiana and Illinois wheat belt,
there is great complaint, especially after Sc
we're winter, of the prevalence of chess or
cheat in the wheat fields. Many farmers re-
gard cheat as degenerate form or transmu-
tation of wheat from the effects Of wet and
cold, thus forming derived species. To give
official stamp to the well-known fact among
botanists that such a change is impossible,
Robert Ridgeway addressed letter from
Richland county, Illinois, to Professor Vasey,
botanist to the Agricultural Department,
asking the following questions:
l. Can wheat, under. any conditions, be
changed to cheat! .. Why does cheat grow
so abundantly in fields where only wheat is
sown, 3. What is the botanical name of
cheat and to what cereal is it most nearly re-
lated! 4. Can wheat or cheat, under any CON
dltions, change to timothy as many farmers
believe2 5. Can head Of wheat and one of
cheat grow upon the same stem or from the
same germY g. Has the Department of Agri
culture ever offered reward for a grain of
cheat that would sproutl
These questions, embodying the main
features of the case, were asked by Mr..
Ridgeway, an accomplished naturalist, and
are answered by Professor Easey in the re-
pert for 1888, as follows: First-Under no
known circumstances can wheat change to
cheat Second-Cheat-see is sown with the
wheat, or there is cheat-seed in the ground
from selfseeding. Cheat is harder than
wheat and less subject to frost. The repeated
the wheat roots and heaves out the wheat,
while the harder cheat is uninjured, ''stools
out abupdantly, so as to take full possession,
and we have a crop of cheat instead of
wheat" This is especially true Of low places
in the wheat fields. Third-The botanical
name Of cheat is bromus. There are about
forty different species of bromus in different
parts of the Yorld. That which is commonly
known as wheat cheat is bromus seculinus.
'SThe difference between the Close narrow
spike of wheat and the loose diffusely-
branched points Of cheat, or chess, is very
great, and a change of one of these to the
other would be great violation of the laws of
nature, and without a parallel in either the
vegetable or mineral kingdom" Fourth
Neither wheat nor cheat can change
into timothy. Fifth-In regard to
growing on the same stem, or from
the same germ Prof. Vasey says the speci-
mems sent to him, supposed to be of this kind,
were simply closely y-intermingled stems and
roots of both wheat and cheat, but without any
organic connection. Sixth-The Department.
has offered no prize, as it knows that every
seed of cheat will sprout under favorable cir
cumstances, and, having sprouted, will strug-
gle for existence and development.
This ends the matter, and we have scien-
tifc and red-tape authority for what every in
telligent botanist and farmer knows: that
wheat is wheat, and cheat is cheat, was so in
the beginning is new, and forever will be.
The law of evolution, which holds that the
higher species are derived from the lower, de-
mands infinite time for such transmutations,
and we have no Illustration within
the history of man of one species
of plant or animal changing into new kind.
Species are modified by culture, and their bet
ter qualities developed, but when left to them
selves they revert to their normal and primi-
tive state. Prof. Vasey says that if these
questions had come from aspiring wheat locali-
ty, it would also have been asked why we do not
have cheat in spring wheat fields. The reply,
he says, would bo that cheat, like winter
wheat, begins its growth in the autumn, and
if any cheat seed existed in the ground pre-
pared for spring wheat, the plowing and har-
rowing would destroy it altogether or prevent
its growth and ripening