4 BULLETIN 351, U. S. DEPAETMENT OP AGEICULTUEE. 



of Miracle, Wheat 3,000 Years Old, and Wild Goose. It is probable 

 that as many more names for this variety could be found if early 

 agricultural literature were searched. 



Like many other crops, it probably was introduced in colonial days. 

 In 1815, a letter dated 1807 and signed by John Keemle^ was pub- 

 lished concerning a so-called Jerusalem wheat. This was a part 

 of a small crop produced by Dr. Keemle from seed secured by him 

 from Ireland and sown in the fall of 1806. These statements are 

 found in this letter (p. 137) : 



Its productiveness may be estiuiated by the number of heads on a single 

 straw, on some there are 3-5-7 heads, as j^ou will observe by those I send you. 

 The straw is 6 feet high, and very stout, sufficiently so to bear its own weight 

 uncommonly well. The gi-ain is full and plump, differently shaped from our 

 wheat, and somewhat larger. 



From this it is evident that the Jerusalem wheat of 1807 was iden- 

 tical with the Alaska wheat of the present time. 



In connection with this letter the origin of the name Jerusalem 

 is given by Dr. J. Mease,- secretary of the Philadelphia society. 

 According to this statement, a small sheaf of this wheat was brought 

 from Palestine by a traveler and used as "a sign to an alehouse 

 which he kept for some years after in Dublin." Some seeds from this 

 sheaf were picked up and planted by a farmer, who several years 

 later sold the produce of several acres at about $3.65 a pound. 

 Dr. Mease further states (p. 138) : 



It is believed that the same variety of wheat was introduced into this country 

 in 1792, as some of a kind answering to the description of the Jerusalem wheat 

 was presented to the society, and distributed among the members, but as it has 

 been lost it is more than probable it possessed no particular good qualities. 



In the issue of the American Farmer for September 26, 1840, 

 there is an engraving from a drawing of a head of wheat, without 

 doubt the same as the Alaska wheat of the present time. This 

 wheat was grown by Mr. Alpheus Baker,^ of Abbeville, S. C, who 

 is quoted in part as follows: 



The wheat to which you allude was brought to this place from the Osage 

 Nation, by Col. Spieren, who had been sent to them as a commissioner by the 

 President of the United States. * * * We sell the wheat at $5 per head. 



In the same journal, in the issue of October 7, 1840. Mr. Gideon 

 B. Smith,* of Baltimore, Md., writes as follows: 



1 Keemle, John. On Jerusalem wheat. In Mem. Phila. Soc. Prom. Agr., v. 1, p. 135- 

 137. 1815. 



~ Mease, James. On Jerusalem wheat. In Mem. Phila. Soc. Prom. Agr., v. 1, p. 137-138, 

 1815. 



3 Baker, Alpheus. [A new wheat.] In Amer. Farmer, n. s., v. '2, no. 19, p. 148, 1 flg. 

 1840. 



* Smith, Gideon B. The new species of wheat. In Amer. Farmer, n. s., v. 2, no. 20, 

 p. 154. 1840. 



