THE WILD WHEAT OF PALESTINE 295 



in barley as well as in wheat. An important difference 

 between the cultivated two-rowed barley {Hordeum di- 

 stichon) and the wild barley {Hordeum spontaneum) is 

 the fragile rachis of the latter. But more than this has 

 been accomplished with wheat. Forms have been de- 

 veloped in which the grains are very readily removed 

 from the glumes. In barley and oats this has not been 

 done to the same extent. We have, it is true, naked 

 varieties of these two cereals, but these varieties have not 

 been extensively cultivated, doubtless on account of their 

 relatively smaller yield, and until a comparatively recent 

 date their cultivation has been confined to the Orient. In 

 wheat, on the contrary, naked grains and a rigid rachis 

 are the general rule, these two characteristics differentiat- 

 ing the cultivated fonns from the primitive type and 

 making the former incapable of perpetuating itself with- 

 out the intervention of man. 



VIII. Cultivated Wheats with a Brittle Rachis 



a 



Among the known cultivated wheats there are three 

 that still retain the brittle rachis: Einkorn (Triticum 

 monococcum) , emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and spelt 

 (Triticum spelta). 



"It is known that the cultivation as grain crops of 

 einkorn, emmer, and spelt is steadily decreasing. An at- 

 tempt has been made in comparatively recent times both 

 in this country and in Russia to cultivate einkorn and 

 emmer as forage plants. It is interesting to note that, 

 except for these attempts, these wheats are cultivated to- 

 day only by the Basques/** the primitive Swabians,^^ the 



10 The Basques live on both sides of the Pyrenees in Spain and 

 France. A. H. R. B. 



11 The Swabians live in the old Kingdom of Wiirttemberg, in Hesse, 

 and in the western part of Bavaria. A. H. R. B. 



