678 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Aug. 3, 1908. 



Mummy Wl]eat. 



GEO. L. SUTTON^ 



Wlu'ut Experiinenlalist- 



Statements regarding- uiumiuy (if mirac-le wlieat have l)f'eii revived, .uid liave 

 appeared in a section of the countrv Press. As these statiiients may mislead 

 some to whom this variety is not known and inchice them to consider tlie 

 advisability of phxnting it, the following details regarding it are of interest : — 

 "Mummy" or " Miracle " wheat belongs to a group of wheats known 

 as Poulard, Turgid, or Rivet wheats (botanical name of which is Triticam 

 turyidiim), to which also belong the better-known " Australian Poulard," 

 and " Galland's Hybrid." Many of this family have the habit of pioducing 

 compound or divided ears, and because of this habit they arc called 

 " Miracle " or wonderful wheats, so that the name " Miracle " is not 

 confined to one variety, but is given to any variety of this class having 

 divitled or branching ears ; this habit of producing compound ears is likely 

 to lead the person not familiar with these varieties to believe that extra- 

 ordinary jaelds would be obtained from them, but they are by no means 

 prolific, and only yield in a very moderate manner. 



Their value for milling is hiw, the Hour being rich in starch, and poor in 

 gluten, dark and unsuitable for bread-making, except when mixe<l witli niucli 

 " stronger " Hour. 



This group of wheats is by no means new to Australia. Under the names 

 of " Young's Bearded," " Hen and Chickens," "Mummy," "Miracle," and 

 "Egyptian," different varieties have been growing in this country since the 

 early days of wheat-growing. 



Some of these varieties are rust-resisting, one of them under the general 

 name " Egyptiasi," because of its rust-resisting character, was fairly generally 

 grown on the east coast, just after the prevalence of rust made the cultivation 

 of common bread wheats impossible in those districts. 



One of the varieties of this group \vasealle(l "Munnny," because the single 

 grain from which this particular variety originatt^d was said to have been 

 taken from the \\rappings of an Egyptian mummy, and was reputed to be 

 several thousand years old. Tliere is not likely to be any truth in such a 

 statement, because the wheat grain, if still sound after such a lengthy period, 

 would most probably, have lost its vitality. AVheats of this class have been 

 grown in Egypt from very earlv tiim^s, and are still grown tlieie (hence the 

 name "Egyptian" applied to some of them), and this tale probal)ly originated 

 in the fertile mind of some tourists' guide who was anxious to relate some- 

 thing W'onderful, and who wished to impress the recipient with tlu' great and 

 unique value cf the grain he was receiving. Colour to this probable view is 

 given by the fact that similar stories are related about grains of nmize, whicli 

 is known to be a modern yrain. and one unknown to the ancients. 



