6 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF CEREALS. 



Austral, is apparently outside the area of profitable cultivation of wheat 

 and oats. In Louisiana wheat is almost an unknown crop, and the 

 same may be said of most other parts of the Lower Austral, except in 

 northern Texas and Oklahoma. The warm, moist summer climatic 

 conditions here favor the development of fungous diseases to such a 

 degree that the plants are usually ruined or greatly injured at an 

 early stage of growth. In Florida, as a rule, cereals are rarely culti- 

 vated, except on the uplands at the northern end of the State. Both 

 corn and oats make an unsatisfactory growth compared with that in 

 the Upper Austral, while wheat is not grown at all on a commercial 

 scale. 



The only class of oats that yield crops of any consequence in the 

 oat-growing territory in the Lower Austral zone are the so-called rust- 

 proof varieties, chief among which is the Texas Eed Eust Proof, com- 

 monly grown iu all the Gulf States. 



In a general way, corn and wheat are most successfully grown in 

 the Upper Austral zone, while oats are best and most productive in 

 the Transition zone, or along the border of the Upper Austral and the 

 Transition. 



The gradual acclimation of varieties of cereals, through years of selec- 

 tion and cultivation, has gone so far, however, that some varieties are 

 now much better adapted to one zone than to another. The Flint corns 

 come to their best development in the higher Upper Austral and Transi- 

 tion, while Mosby's Prolific of the Dents clings close to the Lower Aus- 

 tral. Burt oats thrive best iu the higher Lower Austral, while Black 

 Tartarian reaches greatest perfection in the Transition. These exam- 

 ples are given simply to show the adaptability of varieties to certain 

 zones. 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. 



In the following discussion only those varieties are included which are 

 recognized as standard ones by seedsmen and grain growers generally. 

 Many others were reported on, but in no instance were enough returns 

 received concerning any one to justify mapping its geographic distribu- 

 tion. It is but fair to assume that the reports represent the relative 

 importance of the difi"erent varieties over the country in general. It is 

 not intended, however, that the impression shall be created that many 

 of them will or will not thrive in localities from which no reports have 

 been received. It is believed that enough facts have been secured to 

 demonstrate that, in their present stage of development, the varieties 

 here mentioned are better suited to successful cultivation iu the zones 

 from which they are favorably reported than in other areas. 



A discussion of each variety follows, based on a careful study of a 

 map showing its distribution and data concerning its maturing or 

 productive j)owers in the regions wliere grown. On the basis of this 

 evidence it is believed that the varieties nniy be classified according to 

 their adaptability to successful culture in the several life zones. 



