CHAPTER IX. 



WHEAT. 



History. — The cultivation of wheat is much older 

 than the history of man. Very ancient monuments, 

 much older than the Hebrew Scriptures, show its cul- 

 tivation already established. The Egyptians and 

 Greeks attributed its origin tD mythical personages. 

 The earliest lake dwellers of Western Switzerland cul- 

 tivated a small grained variety of wheat as early as 

 the stone age. The Chinese grew wheat 2,700 B. C, 

 and considered it a direct gift from Heaven. Wheat 

 is one of the species used in their annual ceremony of 

 sowing five kinds of seeds. Chinese scholars believe 

 it to be a native of their country. 



The existence of different names for wheat in the 

 most ancient languages confirms the belief in its great 

 antiquity. It has been asserted that wheat has been 

 found growing wild in Western Asia, but the evidence is 

 not conclusive. The Euphrates valley is believed by De 

 Candolle to be. the principal habitation of the species 

 in prehistoric times. So far as known wheat was not 

 grown in America before its discovery by Columbus. 



Its ease of cultivation; its adaptation to a climate 

 favorable to the beginning of civilization; its quick 

 and abundant return; its ease of. preparation for use; 

 its abundant supply of nutritious substance; possibly 

 its rapid improvement under cultivation and the fact of 

 its being paniferous, or possessing that special quality 

 which adapts it above any other grain to the making 

 of light bread, were probably some of the reasons 



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