OUK LEAD-ING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 47 



THE VALUE OF WHEAT. 



If a nation can be judged at all by its food, wheat would doubtless 

 be the one grain that would serve as standard of measurement. It 

 seems to be the tendency of the civilized world to raise its standard 

 of living, and as it rises, wheat becomes a relatively more important 

 part of human food. Rye and oats furnished the bread of the great 

 body of people in Europe during the Middle Ages. Wheat was high- 

 priced and not extensively grown. England ^arly became a wdieat- 

 eating nation. France, Spain, and Italy followed later. Rye is still 

 extensively used in Germany, but wheat is gradually superseding it. 

 Russia is now using more wheat flour than she did 20 years ago. Tak- 

 ing the civilized world as a whole, therefore, wheat forms the prin- 

 cipal food of man. It is much more widely distributed over the 

 world than corn or rice. It is a prime necessity of civilized life, and 

 the quantity milled is larger than that of all other cereals combined. 



Wheat is essentially a bread cereal. Not only does it have great 

 superiority in sustaining life, but a large variety of healthful, palat- 

 able, and attractive foods are made from it, either wholly or in part. 

 Breads, pastries, crackers, breakfast foods, macaroni — products of 

 wheat in almost endless variety in composition, form, and appearance 

 are found on the table and in the market. 



Although it is the most valuable food for civilized man, its culti- 

 vation has had a wonderful influence on agriculture in general. It 

 is more easily cultivated than any other cereal. Therefore, improved 

 tools and modern machinery could be more easily invented for culti- 

 vating wheat than for cultivating any other cereal. From the crooked 

 stick for plowing, we have come to modern drills, harrows, cultivators, 

 reapers, thrashers, steam plows, and the combination of reaper and 

 thrasher drawn by heavy engines. All these were first applied in the 

 cultivation and harvesting of wheat, and modifications of them were 

 made for the cultivation of other plants. 



IN THE WHEAT FIELD. 



When tbe lids of the virgin Dawn unclose. 



When the earth is fair and the heavens are calm, 

 And the early breath of the wakening rose 



Floats on the air in balm, 

 I stand breast-high in the pearly wheat 



That ripples and thrills to a siwrtive breeze, 

 Borne over the field with its Hermes feet, 



And its subtle odor of southern seas ; 

 While out of the infinite azure deep 

 The flashing wings of the swallows sweep, 

 Buoyant and beautiful, wild and fleet. 

 Over the waves of the whispering wheat. 



— Paul Hamilton Hayne. 



