MACARONI WHEAT 207 



T. durum were found at Kahun in Egypt in tombs of the Xllth Dynasty 



(2OOO B.C.). 



The earliest historical reference to this wheat is made by Dodoens in 

 his Historia frumentorum, published in 1566. Some grains found by him 

 among the grains of Canary grass (Phalaris canariensis) obtained from 

 Spain and the Canary Isles were sown, and gave rise to a fbrm of wheat 

 which he described and figured under the name Triticum Typhinum, 

 apparently connecting it with the ri^t] (tiphe) of ancient Greek authors. 

 The latter is now regarded as Triticum monococcum, but the account and 

 figure given by Dodoens leave no doubt that his plant was a form of 

 Macaroni Wheat. 



Not until near the end of the eighteenth century was T. durum dis- 

 tinguished from the Mediterranean forms of T. turgidum and T. vulgare 

 by Desfontaines, who described it from Barbery in his Flora Atlantica 

 (vol. i. p. 114) in 1798, mentioning solid straw, pubescent glumes, and 

 long flinty grain as its specific characters. 



Next to T. vulgare the various forms of T. durum are the most widely 

 cultivated wheats of the present day. They are grown throughout the 

 Mediterranean region, in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, 

 Egypt, Abyssinia, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Asia Minor. 



The greatest amount is produced on the " Tchernozem " or black 

 soil of Russia, especially in the region of the Volga. It is a common 

 cereal in Turkestan, the Transcaucasus, and the southern portion of 

 East Siberia, and is found in lesser amount in Bokhara, Persia, and India, 

 but it does not extend to China or Japan. 



In the Western Hemisphere it is cultivated in the United States, 

 Canada, Mexico, the countries of Central America, Chili, and Argentina. 



Small quantities are grown also in South Africa and Australia. 



T. durum does not tiller much, but grows rapidly and succeeds best as 

 a spring crop, although at Reading it ripens later than many common 

 forms of T. vulgare. I have not met with any very early forms. 



In regions possessing mild winters it may be sown in autumn, and 

 in such localities often provides useful green herbage, which may be fed 

 off lightly with stock during winter without damaging the yield of grain 

 at harvest. 



Macaroni Wheat requires a dry hot climate for satisfactory growth, 

 the plants being easily damaged by frost. It possesses great power of 

 resisting drought, giving fair yields of grain in regions where the rainfall 

 is not more than 10-18 inches per annum. In districts too dry to allow 

 of the cultivation of T. vulgare, T. durum will yield 10-20 bushels per 

 acre, and crops of it have been raised in several semi-arid parts of the 

 world where no rain has fallen between seed-time and harvest. Its growth 

 is most prosperous, however, where a considerable proportion of the annual 



