CHAPTER XX 



SMALL GBAIN OKOPS 



Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth 

 alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. ST. JOHN xii. 24. 



195. Wheat is our leading small grain. Like all the 

 other small grains, and like corn also, it is a cultivated 

 grass. The Chinese records show that people cultivated 

 wheat as far back as 2700 

 B.C. It was known to 

 the Lake Dwellers of 

 Switzerland in the Stone 

 Age, perhaps 50,000 

 years ago. No one, of 

 course, knows much 

 about the antiquity of 

 wheat. Not even the 

 name of the country in 

 which it was first grown 

 is known with certainty. 

 It is probable that it 

 originated in the fertile 

 valley of the Euphrates. 



Wheat is now grown 

 in every civilized coun- 

 try. Since the invention of the reaper, however, the 

 number of acres devoted to wheat culture has been 



265 



UTTTIJI 



WHEAT GRAINS. 



The divisions in the ruler are 

 inch. 



of an 



