tj &j$Qft' years before the Christian era, and the plant is 

 .- ,. : als,o.Jmo.wn by different names in most ancient languages. 

 : *:T " jS . 1 i-*.'FuriiifenAQr6,-.the grain itself has been found in prehistoric 

 works and monuments. So far as known, the crop was not 

 grown in America before the discovery by Columbus. 



GROWTH AND REQUIREMENTS. 



Wheat requires moisture, air, light, heat, and plant food for 

 its development. Most of these factors are more or less under 

 control. Moisture under certain conditions is regulated by 

 cultivation, drainage, and irrigation. Air is admitted into the 

 soil by means of drainage and tillage. Light has free access to 

 the parts of the plants that require it. The degree of heat 

 necessary for germination and growth is influenced to a certain 

 extent by the choice of the season for planting and by cultiva- 

 tion to reduce evaporation, and plant food is supplied from the 

 quantity of nutritive elements naturally stored in the soil and 

 maintained and replenished by the different methods of soil 

 fertilization and management. 



The plant body is composed of cells containing during their 

 life a substance called protoplasm, having the remarkable 

 power of changing the foods taken up by the plant into the 

 substances used in building up the cell wall and at the same 

 time providing for those entering into its own composition. 



Two general groups of substances are formed within the 

 plant, namely, the carbohydrates and the proteids. The car- 

 bohydrates, of which starch and sugar are good examples, are 

 composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; and the proteids, 

 in addition to these three elements, contain nitrogen and some- 

 times also sulphur and phosphorus. Much of this elaborated 

 soluble material is used in the nourishment and growth of the 

 plant. The surplus is carried to the storage organs, such as 

 the bulbs, roots, fruits, seeds, etc., where in some cases it is 

 deposited in solid form. In wheat and other grains the stor- 

 age organ is the kernel. 



By growth of the plant we understand an increase in the 

 number of cells in the plant structure. The building up of 

 organic substances, such as carbohydrates and proteids, from 

 the elements of organic and inorganic material, is the most 

 important part of the process. Water taken up by the roots 

 moves within the plant through the ducts and the cell walls, 

 according to the laws of capillarity, osmosis, and diffusion, and 

 passes out through the leaves. 



The water, on entering the roots, carries inorganic matter 

 in solution, and gases, especially carbon dioxid, are taken into 



