CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 



155 



SILVEKSHEAF (JONES SILVEB SHEAF LONGBEKKY BED). 



Description. — Plant winter habit, midseason, tall; stem usually white, mid- 

 strong, coarse ; spike awned, fusiform, lax, inclined ; glumes glabrous, white, 

 long, midwide, easily deciduous ; shoulders midwide, usually elevated ; beaks 

 2 to 30 mm. long ; awns 3 to 10 cm. long ; kernels pale red, long, soft, ellip- 

 tical; germ small; crease midwide,- shallow to middeep; cheeks rounded; 

 brush midsized, midlong. 



The variety as grown contains mixtures of purple straw. Silversheaf is 

 distinct in having dark coffee-colored stripes on the glumes. A spike, glumes, 

 and kernels of Silversheaf wheat are shown in Plate XLIII, A. 



History. — This variety was originated by A. N. Jones (128), Le Roy (for- 

 merly of Newark, N. Y.), Genesee County, N. Y., in 1903. Concerning it he 

 has written the following: 



I offer this season for the first time the finest Longberry Red wheat ever 

 known in this country. . . . This wonder in the wheat line originated from a 

 cross between my No. 8, or better known as American Bronze, and the cross- 

 breed from a cross between Lancaster and Seedling No. 91, Longberry. 



He described the wheat as follows: 



Straw of a light yellow color, medium tall, thick walled and strong; head 

 long, wide, and full, which as they ripen has a drooping habit. Chaff white, 

 thin, with a silvery glisten in the sun ; grain large, dark, 

 and flinty, nearly as long as rye. 



This wheat was advertised and distributed by Peter 

 Henderson & Co. (110), seedsmen, of New York, as early 

 as 1903. 



Distribution-. — Grown in New York and South Caro- 

 lina, and under the names of synonyms in Maryland, 

 North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. 

 (Fig. 62.) 



Synonyms. — Australian, Clipperd's Bearded, Coffee, 

 and Davis. 



Australian is the name under which a sample of Silver- 

 sheaf was obtained from Frederick, Md., in 1919. The 

 variety was reported under this name from Maryland 

 and Pennsylvania. Clipperd's Bearded is the name under 

 which a sample of Silversheaf was obtained from Chat- 

 ham County, N. C, in 1919. Coffee is the name used for Silversheaf in West 

 Virginia. A sample was obtained from Shepherdstown, W. Va., in 1919. The 

 name Coffee is probably due to the color of the glumes. Davis is a name used 

 for Silversheaf in Maryland ami North Carolina. A sample of Davis was ob- 

 tained from Lynch, Md., in 1919. 



FRETES. 



Fig. 62. — Outline map 

 of a portion of the 

 eastern United States, 

 showing the distri- 

 bution of Silversheaf 

 wheat in 1919. Esti- 

 mated area, 34,900 

 acres. 



Description. — Plant spring habit, although very prostrate in early growth, 

 midseason, midtall; stem white, weak to midstrong; spike awned, fusiform, 

 middense, inclined; glumes glabrous, white, midlong, midwide; shoulders mid- 

 wide, oblique to elevated; beaks 2 to 20 mm. ion--; awns 2 to 7 cm. long; ker- 

 pale rod, long, soft, ovate, humped, pointed; germ small; crease midwide 

 to wide, shallow to middeep; cheeks angular; brush midsized, midlong. 



History iTretes was introduced into the United States from El Outaya, 

 tantine, Algeria, in 1901 (197, S. P. I. No. 7582) by David Fairchild 

 and C. 8. Scofleld, of the United States Department of Agriculture, it is ex- 

 tensively grown in the oases of the Sahara Desert and is sown in November. 



