THE WHEAT PLANT. 11 



he is taxed, through the tariff laws, on everything he 

 buys, to give gain and wealth to commercial and manu- 

 facturing classes. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE WHEAT PLANT. 



GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. 



Writers on the subject differ widely as to the original 

 home of our great bread cereal, Wheat ( Triticum vul- 

 gar e). Some state it to be India ; others Persia, and we 

 find it frequently mentioned in the Holy Bible. The 

 earliest recorded history of man shows it to have been 

 among his breadstuff s, and it has nourished to a greater 

 or less extent wherever civilized people have made their 

 habitation. Of course all localities where this grain may 

 possibly be grown are not equally favorable to it. To 

 understand the best conditions for successfully growing 

 wheat is of more importance at this time than to know pre- 

 cisely its original home, though knowing that fact is of 

 some moment as indicating, to some degree, the most 

 suitable conditions for greatest success in its cultivation. 



It is stated, and generally understood, that wheat first 

 came to the United States from Mexico, and that it was 

 introduced into that country by Cortez, or during his 

 administration. One of the beneficent provisions of Di- 

 vine Providence in regard to wheat is that it will flourish, 

 to some extent, in a wider range of country, climate and 

 soil, than any other bread grain now in use, thereby ren- 

 dering it the most valuable of all for the human race ; 

 but possibly Oats (Avena) will flourish in a warmer cli- 



