WINNIPEG, 1909. 799 
12. The History of the Wheats. By Dr. Orro Srapr. 
When it was suggested to me that I should prepare a paper on the 
history of wheat, I hesitated, as I was aware that within the last twelve 
months or so this old and much discussed question had assumed a new aspect 
in consequence of Dr. Aaronsohn’s remarkable discoveries, which were 
claimed to have solved the problem of the origin of wheat. Having had 
no opportunity of testing the validity of those claims, I was reduced to 
the necessity of keeping my paper within the limits of a review of the 
present conditions of the problem, with such observations and suggestions 
as I might have to offer from my own investigations. There were the latest 
researches respecting the earliest civilisations, particularly in so far as 
the Indogermanic peoples are concerned—researches connected with the 
names of Hahn, Hirth, Gradmann, Gotz, and Otto Schrader. They had 
thrown much light on the first stages of agriculture, and incidentally the 
earliest history of the cereals, among which the wheats have always stood 
in the front rank. There were Buschmann’s valuable contributions to 
our knowledge of prehistoric cultivations and the delightful essays on 
‘Wheat and Tulips’ by Count Solms-Laubach, who by ingenious reasoning 
sought to transfer the origin of wheat to Central Asia and to a geological 
period more remote than had been previously suggested. There were also 
Schweinfurth’s numerous articles on the economic botany of Egypt, ancient 
and modern, contributions of fundamental value but scattered through 
many and often almost inaccessible journals, and therefore not always turned 
to full account. Much of that literature, I reasoned, must have escaped the 
professional botanist and agriculturist, and it was time that it should be 
brought to their notice. It might arouse their interest and, beyond their 
circles, the interest of all who are accustomed to trace the present in the 
past, seeing in it merely the latest link in a long chain through which runs 
the never broken stream of life. It might fall on fertile soil and stimulate 
further and better organised research in a field which is full of abiding 
interest and practical promise, but also demands great versatility from the 
student and the co-operation of various departments of learning. But if 
I had still any doubts as to the appropriateness of dealing with this 
subject they were set at rest when almost at the last moment, thanks 
to the generosity of Professor Schweinfurth and Professor Max Koernicke, 
material came into my hands which went a long way to confirm Aaronsohn’s 
discovery of the primitive or wild state of wheat. 
I have used in the title of this paper the expression ‘ the wheats’ instead 
of simply speaking of ‘wheat.’ This requires a few words of explanation. 
What we usually understand when we speak of ‘Wheat’ comprises a 
multitude of races, mostly of economic interest, which fall under one of 
the three groups of the Soft, the Hard and the so-called English 
wheats; or, to use their Latin designations, the Vulgare, the Durwm and 
the Turigidum wheats. To them might be added as less common and 
economically less important wheats those of the Compactwm and Polonicum 
group, popularly known as ‘Dwarf’ and ‘Polish’ wheats. With the 
exception of the last, all these together form, in the system devised by the 
prominent agrostologist, Eduard Hackel, the sub-species tenaa of the species 
Triticum sativum. They are characterised, as the name tenax indicates, 
by having spikes with a tough spindle which, when mature, does not 
break up into joints and grains easily falling out from their husks 
or glumes. To these wheats proper are opposed the so-called Spelt wheats. 
The spindles of these break up into joints at maturity, the grains falling 
with their husks and being more or less difficult to separate from them. 
To this group we have to refer, of cultivated wheats—the Spelt proper 
(Lriticwm Spelta), the Emmer ('riticwm dicoccwm) and the One-grained 
