XV. WHEAT 



History. So far as can be learned wheat was not grown in 

 America before its discovery and settlement by Europeans. 

 It is one of the oldest grain crops and one of the most useful. 

 Many of the ancient monuments show that at the earliest time 

 known wheat was the chief crop of Egypt and Palestine. . (In the 

 Bible it is everywhere called corn.) On the continent of Europe 



WHEAT 



ESS 160 to 640 bushels per square mile' \ 

 K5253 .A/\ N 



it was cultivated by the lake dwellers of Switzerland as early as the 

 Stone Age. The Chinese claim wheat as a native of their country 

 and state that their people cultivated it as- early as 2700 B.C. 

 The Euphrates Valley in Asia is thought by many to have been the 

 habitat of this grain in prehistoric times. 



Production. The ease with which wheat can be cultivated, its 

 adaptation to a climate favorable to the beginning of civilization, 

 and its quick and abundant supply of nutritious elements were 

 reasons which no doubt caused primitive man to begin and continue 

 its cultivation. It grows in a variety of soils and in both temperate 



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