Carrizozo outlook. [volume] (Carrizozo, N.M.) 1910-1945, 1919-12-05
ORIGIN OF WHEAT


The original parents OF nil our cereals were grasses OF on kind n other,
often belonging to remotely different groups, but almost all Indigenous lnhnbi'
tnnts OF ths central Asian and Mediterranean regions, says an exchange.
The pedigree Of whent the most important Of all Tour cereals, is somewhat
other known artificial plant. Fortunately we are still able to recover the
steps by which Il has been developed from what might at nst sight appear to
be n very unlikely and Ilcndowed ancestor indeed.
The English couch grnss which often proves such n rouhesome weed
allied genus OF annual plants known rs gat grass; and one OF these weedy
goat grasses has now been shown with great probability TO be the Wild form
OF our cultivated wheat II Is n small drnwhsh grass, with very petty seeds
and not nearly so full n spike as the cereals OF agriculture.
When man hrt renppenrs In northern Europe, after the great icesheets
once more cleared away from the face OF the land, we find him growing and
using a rude form of wheat from the earliest moment OF his reestablshment
In the desonted plains. Among the pile villages of the Swiss lakes, which
were inhabited by men OF the newer stone age we find side by side with the
polished flint axes and the handmade pottery of the period several cereals
raised by the lake dweIers on the neghboring mainland. The charred seeds
mllet, barley and several other grains; but by fr the commonest among
them Is n peculiar small form Of wheat which has been named scientifically
after the ancient folk by whom It ns used.
This lake wheat however, though 1t dates back ito tn very beginning of
rhe period In Europe. cannot be considered nj the hst variety developed
from the primitive CONT grass by the earliest culuvatus; II Is so superior In
charucter tot the wild stock that It must already have undergone n long course
Of tlage and selection in more genial climates, and must have been brought
back to Europe n n comparatively perfect condition by the short dark people
who settled ourc continent Immediately after the termination of the glacial era
From the beothIc time forward, the improved seed has continued to
grow bigger and bigger both In the size Of the shocks and in the girth OF the
individual grnlns, until the present day. The original small lake wheat,
indeed. fingered on In ue IN Switzerland and the north down to the days of
the Ronun conquest; but, meanwhile, In Egypt and the south, still better
vnrIetns we're being gradually developed by careful selection; and we find
both kinds side by side In some few instances; thus showing that both we're
Together Mt the san time by aces In different stages of civilization.
with the introduction OF these better kinds by the Greek and Roman
coionIsts into Gul and Britain, the old lake wheat became quite extinct
indeed in eyery ems the cultivated seeds and fruits which grew In neolthhc
Iii ssads I'M wild fruits found under the same circumstances ar lust us
large m their congeners of the present day. A lapse which makes relatively
urIa Inference to the stable MID weeds makes relatively great differences
in the yery plastic and carefully selected cultivated plants.