The Bowbells tribune., 1921-05-13
!. : [ NEED | Eel
Most important Cereal Has Been
:sa@t Developed: !,
Exhaustive Researches Have Proved
That It Had Z More Humble orl-
gin Than Any Other Known .
: Artificial Plant, = :

ia =
That 1t Had Z More Humble orl-
gin Than Any Other Known
f.. Artificial Plant. s. E
/ The original parents Of all our
cereals were grasses Of one kind or
other; often belonging to remotely diff
sferent, groups, but almost all indigen-
ons inhabitants of the central Asian
and Mediterranean regions
/" The pedigree Of wheat, the most i'm.
+ portant of all our cereals, is somewhat
obscure. 1t has varied to greater do
gree from its humble original than any
other known artificial plant. Fortu-
;na,ely, we are still able to recover the
steps by which 1t has been developed
from what might at first sight appear
Ito he II very unlikely and Ill endowed
ancestor indeed. - - y g. .z5.
Ia. The English couch grass. which
often proves such troublesome weed
In our own country, Is represented
around the Mediterranean shores by
an allied genus Of annual plants known
as goat-grass land one OF these weedy
goat-grasses has now been shown with
great probability to be the wild form
of our cultivated wheat. !. 1t Is small
-dwarfish grass. with very petty seeds,
and not nearly so full a spike as the
cereals Of agriculture. ~ r..
& When man first reappears In north.
aern Europe after the great ice sheets
once more cleared away from the face
5Ot the land, We find him growing and
using rude form Of wheat from the
earliest moment Of his re-establish.
sment in the desolated 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 sew
eral cereals raised by the lake-dwell-
ers on the neighborlng mainland. The
charred seeds and waterslogged
shocks disintelred from the ruins of
the villages include millet. barley and
several other grains; but by far the
scommonest among them Is peculiar
small form Of wheat, which has been
named scientifically after the ancient
folk by whom it was used.
!. This lake-wheat, however, though 1t
dates back to the very beginning OF
the period: in Europe. cannot be con-
sidered as the first variety developed
from the primitive goat-grass by the
earliest cultivators; it is so superior in
character. to the wild stock that it
must already have undergone a long
course Of tillage and selection In moro
genial climates, and must have been
brought back to Europe in a compar-
atiyely perfect condition by the short
dark people who settled our. continent
Immediately after the termination OF
the glacial era. e ,s-,Sess;..
= From the neOlithic 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 In
dividual grains, until the present day.
The original small lake-wheat, indeed,
fingered on in use in Switzerland and
the. north down to the days OF the
Roman conquest; but. meanwhile, in
Egypt, and the South, still better varie.
ties were being gradually developed by
careful selection; and we find both
kinds side by side. In some few in.
stances thus showing that both were
grown together at the same time by
races in. different stages Of civilization.
With. the introduction OF these bet.
ter; kinds by the Greek and Roman coll
onists5 into. Gaul and Britain, the old
lake-wheat became quite extinct. In
deed, in every: case the cultivated
seeds and fruits, which grew In neo.
lithfc garden plots were much smaller
than those Of our own time, whereas
the wild seeds and wild fruits found
under the same circumstances are just.
asssiarge as their congeners Of the
present day. A lapse which makes
relatively little difference to the stable
wild weeds makes relatively great diff: =
ferences in the very plastic and care.
fully selected cultivated plants
Grant Allen in Colin Clout's Calendar
n - - ~ - .