27 



The species is usually divided into a number of botanical subspecies 

 and varieties, based upon the presence or absenc-e of beards, nature 

 and color of the chatf, color and qualit}' of the grain, etc. For our 

 present purpose, however, 'it will be more useful to consider that there 

 are live great suVjdivisions of the species, based not upon botanical 

 characters, but upon characteristics induced by influences of environ- 

 ment, as follows; (1) Soft Winter wheats, (2) Hard Winter wheats, 

 (3) Hard Spring wheats, (-i) White wheats, and (5) Early wheats. 



The location of these groups in the United States has already been 

 pretty well stated in the descriptions of our wheat districts. Their 

 distribution throughout the world is approximately as follows: (1) The 

 soft winter wheats, varying in color of grain from aml)er to white, are 

 produced under the influences of considerable moisture and mild, even 

 temperatures, and are distributed in the Eastern United States, west- 

 ern and northern Europe, Japan, and in portions of China, India, 

 Australia, and Argentina. (2) The hard winter wheats are red-grained, 

 usuall}^ bearded, possess a relatively high gluten content, and are 

 more limited in their distribution. They are grown usually on black 

 soils and under the influences of a climate characterized by extremes 

 of temperature and moisture, but especially by dry, hot summers. 

 They are found chiefly in the States of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Mis- 

 souri, and Oklahoma in this country, in Hungary and Roumania, in 

 southern and southwestern Russia, and to some extent in northern 

 India, Asiatic Turkey, and Persia. (3) The hard spring wheats are 

 also red-grained and rich in gluten content, and are adapted to con- 

 ditions of soil and climate identical with those just mentioned for hard 

 winter wheats, with the exception that the growing season is shorter 

 and the winters too severe for winter varieties. They are found in 

 central and western Canada, our Northern States of the plains, east 

 Russia, and western and southern Siberia. (4) The white wheats are 

 soft and very starchy, l)ut possess grains a little harder and nuu-h 

 drier than those of the soft winter wheats. They are either fall or 

 spring sown, and are sometimes sown at both seasons in the same 

 localit}'. They are grown chiefly in the Paciflc coast and Rocky 

 Mountain States of this CQuntry, in Australia, and in Chile, Turkestan, 

 and the Caucasus. (5) The early wheats are soft or semihard and 

 generally amber to red in color of grain, but are distinguished from 

 oth(n' groups chiefly in their ability to ripen early. They are found 

 in Australia and India, ai-e represented by a very few varieties in the 

 Southern States of this country, and include some of the dwarf wheats 

 of Ja[)an. 



The varieties of this species naturally include the most diverse char- 

 acters, because of their cultivation under so many diverse conditions. 

 Their greatest characteristic as a whole, how(>vcr, is. of course, the 

 well-known and long-esta))lishe(l (juality of their grain for the produc- 



