WHEAT. 



the claim of Hermandez that a wheat native to Chili was 

 found. The Egyptian historian, Manetho, attributed its dis- 

 covery to Isis. 



The Historical Origin of wheat is unknown. The most an- 

 cient languages mention it, and under different names. 

 Whether we assume that these names, with the languages in 

 which they are found, became differentiated from a common 

 parent, or whether we assume that wheat evolved and spread 

 over the Old World so independently of man that its name 

 did not accompany its progress, in either case a period of 

 time long enough to antedate our oldest languages will be 

 required. The fact that it has been found in the prehistoric 

 habitations of man, notably in the earliest Swiss lake dwell- 

 ings, is proof of its antiquity. 



The Swiss of the neolithic period cultivated four distinct 

 species of wheat. Wheat seems to have been cultivated in 

 China 3,000 years B. C., and was a chief crop in ancient 

 Egypt and Palestine. The Bible first mentions wheat in 

 Genesis, Chap. 30, v. 14. 



Biological Origin. The botanist calls wheat a grass. The 

 evolutionist has ascended the biological stream one stage far- 

 ther, and calls it a degenerate and degraded lily, using these 

 terms, of course, in an evolutionary sense. He assumes a 

 great group of plants of a primitive type from which sprang 

 first the brilliantly colored lilies, then the degraded rushes and 

 sedges, and lastly the still more degenerate grasses. From 

 these grasses man developed the cereals, and among them 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE GRASS FAMILY. 



GRAMINE^E 



Spikelets 



One 

 Flowered 



Spikelets 

 Many- 

 Flowered 



Maydeae: Com-Teosinte-Tribes 



Andropogoneae : Sugar Cane-Sorghum 



Zoysiese 



Tristeginess 



Paniceae: Millet-Hungarian Grass 



Oryzeae: Indian Rice-Rice 



Phalardiese : Canary and Sweet Vernal Grass 



Agrostideae : Timothy-Red Top 



Aveneae: Oats 



Festuceae: Blue Grass-Bromus-Orchard-Grass Fescues 



Chlorideae: Grama and Buffalo Grass 



Hordeae : Wheat-Barley-Rye-English Rye-Grass 



Bambusese: Bamboo 



> Minn. Bui. 62, p. 392. 



