58o TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



grain is concerned^ which has developed into our greatest of all grain 

 crops. 



Are we correct in assuming that all of the valuable plants and 

 animals have already been introduced into cultivation ? As a matter of 

 fact, are we not justified in questioning whether the most valuable have 

 been introduced? On sober second thought, does it not seem wonder- 

 ful that wheat, a native of the Mediterranean region, should remain 

 the best grain crop for a region including the greater part of British 

 America and the United States, of Russia and Argentina and all the 

 broad area where wheat is cultivated ? "Would it not seem probable that 

 the improvement of the most promising native grain-grasses in these 

 widely different regions would yield new types of grain crops better 

 adapted to the regions and superior to wheat or oats ? The great value 

 of wheat and oats lies not in the superiority of the wild types from 

 which they sprang, but to the long years of cultivation and selection to 

 which they have been subjected. A large number of wild grasses occur- 

 ring in almost every region have comparatively large grains, and if they 

 were capable of improvement, as they doubtless are, they might possibly 

 excel any grains that we now have. The Indian rice or water oat 

 (Zizania aquatica) is an illustration of a large-grained wild grass that 

 is probably known to many. Doubtless this could be greatly improved 

 for cultivation in low lands as rice is now cultivated. 



The wild wheat grass (Agropyrum occidentale) of the great plains 

 region is a very promising type for improvement, as pointed out by 

 Dr. Bessey.^ In this wild grass we have a head 5 or 6 inches long and 

 developing long, narrow grains much resembling wheat. It is a peren- 

 nial and grows to a height of 2 or 3 feet. Dr. Bessey says of this 

 plant : 



If our plant had had but a fraction of the careful cultivation and selection 

 which have been given the European species, I am confident that it would have 

 yielded a much more productive cereal than we have in our present varieties 

 of wheat. 



Consider further that we have here a perennial that would doubtless 

 yield for several or possibly many years without reseeding, and also 

 that it is a native of the great plains region and thus already adapted 

 to the environment of the great wheat states of the union. Comparing 

 this grass with wheat, which should Ave expect to be better adapted to 

 the " dry farming " regions of the west ? 



Several of the wild rye grasses (Elynius) have large heads and 

 grains and appear very promising, as do also certain species of the so- 

 called beard-grass {Andropogon). 



We have only considered the value of these grasses from the stand- 

 point of their grain development; but it is of almost equal importance 



^ Bessey, C. E., < ' Crop Improvement by Utilizing Wild Species, ' ' American 

 Breeders' Association, Vol. II., p. 113. 



