A GRAIN OF WHEAT 41 



But let us remember the important results of Aaronsohn's discov- 

 eries : Primitive man, even he who chipped the flints abounding about 

 the menhirs of the Moab country, as he sought his food in the steppes, 

 found fields of cereals waving in the breeze just as the graceful heads 

 of Stipa sway in the breeze of our fields of our canton of Valais. The 

 wild wheat, Triticum dicoccoides, with its large grains, must have 

 immediately caught the attention of a primitive people, interested in 

 nature as are all peoples whose eyes have not been closed and whose 

 sense of observation has not been dulled by too much book learning. 



Is it not a singular coincidence that this young Jew, Mr. Aaron- 

 sohn, should rediscover in Judea the origin of our cereals, of our 

 civilization ? There is material in that for a philosopher or a historian 

 to write a moving page. I have the pleasure of counting Mr. Aaron- 

 sohn among my botanical friends, and I may say to you that rarely 

 has an important discovery been made by a more genial and charming 

 man. Those who say that man is master of his fate may well cite him 

 as an example. But let us rather listen to him : 



Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station 

 Haifa, Palestine 



26 Jan., 1911 

 Monsieur Chodat, 



Professeur a la Faculty des Sciences, Geneve. 



Dear Sir: I have just received your kind letter of the 3d inst., which recalled 

 to me our agreeable and interesting conversations during the Congress at Brussels. 

 I am very much flattered to learn of the subject that you have chosen for the 

 annual meeting of the Societe" des Arts. 



I shall be glad to send you the ' ' corps du d£lit ' ' which you wish ; I shall 

 also take the liberty of sending some photographs taken last June which will 

 give you an idea of the appearance of the fields where my Triticum flourishes. 

 You will doubtless be glad to learn that we have this year sown more than an 

 acre of Triticum dicoccoides. "We intend to study the value of this plant for 

 forage, etc. I had the good fortune to discover in Upper Galilee this year a 

 spontaneous hybrid of Triticum and Mgilops, and there also exists already a 

 wheat with a non-articulate rachis, arising from a cross of my Triticum and a 

 cultivated wheat. Thus you see that we are rapidly advancing towards the 

 realization of our dream. In the different experimental fields where my 

 Triticum has been grown it has resisted rust very well, and this for three or 

 four successive years while many check varieties succumbed to this disease. 

 In these times of ' ' unit characters ' ' it should not be difficult to fix this special 

 property of disease-resistance, and you will at once realize the practical signifi- 

 cance and the economic value of this character. 



As for the problem of the origin of civilization or the origin of wheat 

 culture, I have resolved upon a new method of attack. I had first taken up the 

 study of adventitious plants accompanying our cereals. Thus the discovery of 

 Lolium temulentum, quite spontaneous in a given region, far from all cultiva 

 tion, would be a sufficient reason, in my opinion, for inaugurating a search in 

 this neighborhood for the cradle of our cereals. Now, I am on another trail. 



