WHEAT, OATS, BARLEY 23 



tization and adaptation of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, with reference to the wild wheats 

 of Palestine, which were discovered by Mr. 

 Arronson, a native of Palestine. 



Mr. Cook's reseaches have shown that there 

 are races of wheat growing wild in southwest- 

 ern Asia that are prototypes of the cultivated 

 wheat. The resemblance of these wild forms to 

 the cultivated varieties is striking. Yet the dif- 

 ferences are also very conspicuous. The wild 

 wheat has a looser, less compact head, and some 

 varieties have the peculiarity of shedding the 

 spikelets that hold the grain individually, each 

 spikelet being provided with a barbed shaft which 

 serves the purpose of helping the grain to attach 

 itself or even to bury itself in the soil. All of 

 which would be expected in a wild wheat, which 

 is found also in the wild oats and rye as well as 

 in rice. 



The kernels of these wild wheats are not 

 large, but some of them are of more or less edible 

 quality. 



A chief interest in the plant centers about its 

 seeming immunity to rust. And the question at 

 once arises as to whether it may not be possible 

 to hybridize these wild wheats with the culti- 

 vated ones to secure resistance to disease as well 

 as unusual variation, vigor, and hardiness. 



