EXPERIMENTS WITH DURUM WHEAT. 3 



The writers gladly acknowledge here the effective cooperation of 

 the several State experiment stations in the conduct of experiments 

 and the courtesy of the directors and their associates, who have fur- 

 nished data obtained independently by their stations. 



HISTORY. 



Durum wheat, though a comparatively recent immigrant in the 

 United States, has long been grown extensively in other parts of 

 the world. Southern Kussia is the principal producing area. Large 

 quantities are grown also in the Mediterranean region, especially 

 in Italy, France, and Algeria. Smaller quantities are produced in 

 India and in South America, particularly in Argentina and Chile. 

 In Russia the crop is spring sown, but in most of the Mediterranean 

 region, with its mild climate, the crop is sown in autumn. 



The first official introduction of durum wheat varieties occurred 

 apparently in 1853. In that year a durum variety, called Algerian 

 Flint (Browne, 1855), 1 was obtained from the Province of Oran in 

 Algeria, and another, called Turkish Flint (Browne, 1855, 1856), 

 from near Mount Olympus, in Asia. The Mount Olympus of modern 

 maps is in European Turkey, not far from Saloniki. The Turkish 

 Flint was described as a black-glumed variety. It was grown to 

 some extent in various parts of the eastern United States and later 

 became known as Mount Olympus and as Olympia wheat (Klippart, 

 1858). In 1854 a durum variety distributed as Syrian Spring was 

 obtained in Palestine (Browne, 1855), supposedly near Mount 

 Carmel. It appears not to have become cultivated to any appre- 

 ciable extent. In 1864 an introduction of Arnautka (Reid, 1866) 

 was made, presumably from Russia, and grown in 1865 with other 

 varieties on what are now the grounds of the Department of Agri- 

 culture near Fourteenth Street, Washington, D. C. None of these 

 introductions became established as a farm crop. 



The next recorded official introduction was made in 1899 (Carle- 

 ton, 1900, p. 11), followed by still others in the next two or three 

 years. These last-named introductions, from which the crop was 

 really established, were made by Mr. M. A. Carleton, Cerealist of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. In 1898-1899 and 

 again in 1900 he went to Russia and Siberia for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing adapted cereal crops. Chief among these introductions was 

 durum wheat, of several varieties, particularly Kubanka. 



Introductions of durum wheat had been made by Russian settlers 

 in several States of the Great Plains area and its culture established 

 locally. Additional introductions have also been made by other 

 representatives of the Department of Agriculture and the State 



1 Reference is made to name and date in the "Bibliography," p. 61-64. 



