CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 169 



long ; kernels white, midlong, soft, broadly ovate to oval ; germ large ; crease 

 narrow, middeep, pitted ; cheeks rounded ; brush large, midlong to long. 



Read differs principally from Bearded Winter Fife in being shorter and in 

 having a distinctly clavate spike. A spike, glumes, and kernels of Read wheat 

 are shown in Plate XLVII, A. 



History. — Read (Read's Vermont Winter) was developed and named by Mr. 

 G. A. Read, of Charlotte, Vt., who recorded the history as follows r 27 



This wheat was originated by me in 1S98 by crossing the Bearded Fife with a 

 valuable early club-head beardless velvet-chaff variety found mixed with 

 Bearded Fife and presumably Early Arcadian. 



Distribution. — Grown in Ashland County, Ohio, where it constitutes about 

 5 per cent of the wheat grown in the vicinity of New London. 



RURAL NEW YORKER NO. 5 7. 



Description. — Plant winter habit, midseason, midtall to tall; stem white, 

 strong, stout; spike awned, fusiform, middense, nodding ; glumes pubescent, 

 white, long, midwide ; shoulders narrow, usually oblique ; beaks 2 to 15 mm. 

 long ; awns 3 to 7 cm. long ; kernels red, midlong, soft to semihard, ovate to 

 oval ; germ midsized ; crease usually wide, middeep to deep ; cheeks usually 

 rounded ; brush large, midlong. 



A spike, glumes, and kernels of Rural New Yorker No. 57 are shown in 

 Plate XLVII. B. 



History. — The following quotation from the Rural New Yorker, in 1894 (25, 

 p. 634), shows the origin of this variety: 



Peter Henderson & Co., of this city, now offer for the first time two of our 

 wheats which the firm has kindly named " Rural New Yorker No. 57 " and 

 " Rural New Yorker No. 6." The first, of which an excellent portrait is pre- 

 sented in Figure 166, p. 631, is a heavily bearded variety, the parentage of 

 which is one of our crossbred varieties fertilized with a cross breed of Velvet 

 Chaff. 



Further information concerning the origin of the variety is given by Peter 

 Henderson & Co., in their 1895 catalogue, as follows : 



Rural New Yorker No. 57 is the result of upwards of 20 years of thoroughly 

 scientific crossing and careful selection at the hands of Mr. E. S. Carman, editor 

 of i lie Rural New Yorker and raiser of many of the most valuable agricultural 

 introductions of recent years. 



A simplification of the name Rural New Yorker No. 57 would be made here 

 if the variety had not already practically passed out of cultivation. 



Distribution. — Rural New Yorker No. 57 is grown at several experiment sta- 

 tions in the eastern United States and probably is grown commercially to a small 

 extent, although this is not definitely known. 



Synonym. — Velvet Chaff. This name has been used for wheat identical with 

 Rural Saw Yorker No. 57, as well as for several other varieties. It is quite 

 i!/ic I hat a wheat of this type was commercially grown in the eastern United 

 States many years before the origin of Rural New Yorker No. 57. A sample 

 called Velvet Chaff obtained from the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment 

 Station in 1917 proved to be similar to Rural New Yorker No. 57, except, in 

 b&Tlng faintly purple si raw. The previous history of this sample is unde* 

 termlned. 



I'KIDI. OK GENESEE. 



Description. Pride <>r Genesee is similar to Rural New Yorker N<>. 57, except 

 thai the beaks are elightlj longer and the kernels slightly wider. 



27 Printed circular by <;. a. Head. 



