112 BULLETIN 1074, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Description. — Plant winter habit, midseason, midtall; stem purple, mid- 

 strong; spike awnless, usually fusiform, sometimes nearly oblong or linear- 

 oblong, wide, middense to lax, usually nodding; glumes glabrous, brown, mid- 

 long, wide ; shoulders wide, oblique to square ; beaks wide, obtuse, 0.5 mm. long ; 

 apical awns several, 3 to 20 mm. long; kernels red, midlong, soft, ovate to 

 oval, frequently elliptical, flattened; germ small to midsized; crease midwide, 

 middeep to deep ; cheeks usually rounded ; brush small to midsized, midlong. 



This variety is distinguished by the wide, nodding spikes. The kernels are 

 rather narrow, flattened, and rounded in outline. Spikes, glumes, and kernels 

 of Poole wheat are shown in Plate XXVIII, B, and a single spike in Plate V, 

 Figure 4. 



History.— The origin of the Poole variety is undetermined, but it has been 

 an important variety in Ohio and Indiana for about 35 years. It was grown 



by the Ohio Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station as early as 1884 

 (19, p. 15). 



Distribution. — Grown in Ala- 

 bama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, 

 Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mary- 

 land, Michigan, Missouri, New 

 York, North Carolina, Ohio, Penn- 

 sylvania, South Carolina, Tennes- 

 see, Texas, Virginia, and West 

 Virginia, and under names of 

 synonyms in Arkansas and Okla- 

 homa in addition. This distribu- 

 tion is shown in Figure 42'. 



Synonyms . — Beechwood or 

 Beechwood Hybrid, Bluestem, 

 California Red, Gill, Harvest 

 King, Hedge Prolific, Hundred 

 Mark, Hydro Prolific, Mortgage 

 Lifter, Kentucky Bluestem, Niss- 

 ley or Nissley's Hybrid, Ocean 

 Wave, Oregon Red Chaff, Red or 

 California, Red Amber, Red 

 Chaff, Red Fultz, Red King, Red 

 Russell. Royal Red Clawson, Sweet Water Valley, Wagner, and Winter King. 



Beechwood (originally Beechwood Hybrid) was distributed by J. W. Still- 

 well, Troy, Ohio, about 1898. In a letter under date of July 15, 1898, to the 

 Office of Cereal Investigations he has given the history as follows : 



Mixed one-half bushel Rudy, one-half bushel Red Fultz (not Mediterranean), 

 one-half bushel Red Velvet Chaff together. The third year from mixture I 

 named Beechwood Hybrid. Mixed because Rudy is soft straw and large grain, 

 Velvet strong straw and small grain, Fultz was put in to get rid of beards. 



A mixture of Poole and Red May is now most generally grown as Beech- 

 wood. It has largely disappeared from commercial culture. 



Bluestem and Kentucky Bluestem are names used by growers for the Poole 

 variety because of its purple straw. Kentucky Bluestem was reported from 

 Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, and West Virginia. 



California Red is a name occasionally used for the variety under the sup- 

 position that the seed came originally from California. A sample of Poole 







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Fig. 42. — Outline map of the eastern United 



States, showing the distribution of Poole 



wheat in 1919. Estimated area, 2,453,400 

 acres. 



