28 BULLETIN 336, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The methods of growing winter spelt and emmer are the same as for 

 wheat. The date of seeding at College Park and Arlington has varied 

 from October 5 to 15, the same dates as for winter wheat. The rate 

 of seeding at both points has ranged from 8 to 12 pecks (60 to 90 

 pounds) per acre. These grains are rather difficult to sow with the 

 ordinary drill, because of their bulky nature. The usual method has 

 been to set the drill to sow about twice the quantity of seed that was 

 really desired; that is/in order to sow 8 pecks per acre it was necessary 

 to set the drill to sow 16 pecks. 



Table VIII shows the annual and average yields in bushels of 30 

 pounds each of the spelts and emmers at College Park and at Arling- 

 ton Farm, respectively. The average dates of heading and of matur- 

 ity, height, yield of grain and of straw, and weight per bushel for the 

 principal varieties at both localities are also shown. 



Table VIII shows that decidedly better yields of spelt than of 

 emmer have been obtained at both College Park and at Arlington 

 Farm. The yields of spelt have been considerably higher at Arling- 

 ton Farm than at College Park, while the yields of emmer at College 

 Park have been higher than at Arlington Farm. 



Table VIII also shows that spelt matures about June 22, or at the 

 same time as wheat, and that emmer matures about 4 or 5 days later. 

 The average height of plants of both spelt and emmer is about 3 J 

 feet. The proportion of grain to straw is much greater than in wheat, 

 but if the hull is removed from the kernel it is about the same as that 

 of wheat. Owing to the large proportion of hull the weight per bushel 

 is quite low. The average weight per bushel of emmer has been from 

 3 to 5 pounds less than that of spelt. The weight per bushel in each 

 varies considerably from year to year, due to the fact that in some 

 years a much greater proportion of the kernels thrashes free from the 

 hull than in others. 



These grains are very resistant to both stem and leaf rust; in fact, 

 they are much more resistant to these diseases than wheat, oats, and 

 barley. Of the two, emmer is believed to be the more resistant. No 

 smut has ever been noted on spelt or emmer at either College Park or 

 Arlington Farm. 



LEADING VARIETIES. 



The Alstroum, Red Awnless, and Servia spelts and the Black Win- 

 ter emmer are the principal varieties of these grains which have been 

 included in the tests at both College Park and Arlington Farm. 

 Heads of all these varieties are shown in figure 3. 



Alstroum. — The Alstroum spelt, C. I. No. 1773, was obtained by the 

 Office of Cereal Investigations in 1901 from the Washington Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Pullman, Wash. This station intro- 



