CHAPTER V 



WHEAT 



Wheat culture has occupied the attention of man ever 

 since he progressed far enough to record his history. At 

 the beginning of records some 3000 years B.C., wheat cul- 

 ture occupied an important place in the affairs of man. 



82. History. — In very ancient Egyptian monuments, 

 older than the Hebrew Scriptures, kernels of this cereal 

 have been found. Records of ancient China show that 

 wheat was cultivated there 2700 years b.c, while the lake 

 dwellers of Western Switzerland cultivated wheat as early 

 as the Stone Age. The existence of different names for 

 wheat in most ancient languages gives reasons for believing 

 that it was cultivated long before the dawn of recorded 

 history. The development of wheat, therefore, 'has been 

 coincident with that of civihzation. Its importance to the 

 civilized nations to-day is perhaps no greater than it was 

 centuries ago, with its more primitive culture, to a more 

 primitive people. The origin of the wheat plant is largely 

 a matter of speculation. The ancient Chinese considered 

 it a gift direct from Heaven. The Egyptians attributed its 

 origin to the mythical god of the Nile, while the Greeks 

 beheved it to have been presented to their nation by 

 Ceres, the goddess of Agriculture. Botanists are not 

 agreed as to the primitive plants from which it has devel- 

 oped. Wheat plants growing wild have been found, but 

 it has never been clearly shown that they were not planted 



