The Conquest of the Desert 



of the globe, they have one striking feature in 

 common — viz. they seem to flourish best in 

 regions of small and irregular rainfall. The 

 durum wheats belong to the botanical group 

 Triticum durum, while the common wheats from 

 which bread is usually made come under the 

 heading Triticum vulgare. 



The principal climatic features which mark 

 out the durum wheat zone are as follows : — 



(1) The low annual rainfall, a large percentage 

 of which falls during the growing season. 

 (2) Heavy thunderstorms with but little fog 

 or mist. (3) A clear, dry atmosphere. (4) Hot 

 summers with great extremes of temperature. 

 (5) Typical black loams. The American, 

 Australian, and South African farmer will 

 readily recognise that extensive portions of 

 their respective countries fall under the above 

 category. 



Ripe durum wheat in the field looks like barley, 

 and one is apt, on seeing it for the first time, to 

 confuse it with the latter cereal. It is usually 

 fairly tall, with broad, smooth leaves, the heads 

 are heavily bearded, the kernels large and very 

 hard, having less starch than the common types, 

 and varying in colour from a light to a reddish- 



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