290 THE SMALL GRAINS 



310. Cereal introductions. A knowledge of the soil 

 and climatic features of natural cereal regions, and the 

 cereal groups characteristic of each, furnishes the basis for 

 intelligent introductions of cereal varieties from one 

 region to another. For instance, cereals from Australia 

 or Algeria would likely be adapted to California, but 

 those from Russia would be of no value, though the latter 

 are perfectly suited to the Great Plains states. 



None of the cereals, except corn, is native in America. 

 The entire establishment of small-grain crops, therefore, 

 to date, is a history of cereal introductions, with the 

 exception of a very few successful new varieties produced 

 through breeding. 



311. Suggestions for proper cereal introductions. - 

 The Volga River district of Russia, from Kazan to Sara- 

 tov, should have varieties adapted to the northern Great 

 Plains from southern Canada to Nebraska, and the re- 

 verse should be true. Actual transfers have proven this 

 adaptation. Cereals of the lower Volga district, and in 

 the vicinity of the Black and Azov seas, are similar to, 

 or the same as, those which succeed in the southern Great 

 Plains from Kansas and Colorado to the Texas Staked 

 Plains. In New Mexico, Arizona, southern California, and 

 Texas, varieties of the Mediterranean region are adapted, 

 and to some extent those of India and Australasia. 



Cereals in the western Chernozem are adapted in the 

 district from Iowa eastward to Ohio. Spring grains from 

 Russia, sufficiently hardy to be of use in central and east- 

 ern Canada, should come from the district including the 

 governments of Ufa, Perm, Vyatka, and Kostroma. The 

 cereals of our Middle Atlantic and Southern states are 

 similar to those of France, Germany, Austria, and north- 

 ern Italy. Tibetan-Himalaya varieties are adapted in 



