114 



of Rochester, N. Y., to Russia to secure their best wheat. It was introduced 

 in this section by a prominent mill in Indianapolis at $1.50 a bushel. They paid 

 1 cent extra for a few years to encourage its more general introduction. It has 

 of late years sold at the seed stores at a 2-cent premium and does this year. It is 

 hardy, smooth, medium hard, and very productive. The only fault I found in 

 growing it 12 years is that it shatters when cut dead ripe, so that I often grow 

 half of my crop Fultz, which can wait. Lately, however, I grow all Russian 



era, p. 7). 



The Red Russian variety was grown by the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion as early as 1888 (US, p. 29). It was distributed widely by Peter Henderson 



& Co. (110), seedsmen, of 

 New York City, and J. A. 

 Everitt & Co. (89), seeds- 

 men, of Indianapolis, Ind., 

 in the early nineties. 



Distribution. — Grown in 

 Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, 

 Michigan, Missouri, New 

 Jersey, New York, North 

 Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylva- 

 nia, Tennessee, Texas, Vir- 

 ginia, and West Virginia. 

 (Fig. 43.) 

 Synonym. — Red Russian. 



CHINA. 



Description, — Plant win- 

 ter habit, late, tall; straw 

 purple, weak to midstrong, 

 spike, awnless, fusiform, 

 middense to lax, inclined; 

 glumes glabrous, brown, 

 midlong, midwide ; shoulders narrow to midwide, usually rounded ; beaks 

 wide, obtuse, 0.5 mm. long; apical awns few, 3 to 12 mm. long; kernels red, 

 short to midlong, soft, ovate to elliptical, tip end usually flattened, ventral 

 side slightly dished ; germ small ; crease narrow to midwide, shallow to mid- 

 deep ; cheeks rounded ; brush small, midlong, collared. 



China differs principally from Currell in being taller and later and in having 

 a different shaped kernel, as shown in the descriptions. Spikes, glumes, and 

 kernels of China wheat are shown in Plate XXIX, A. 



History. — In 1851 the Rural New Yorker gave the following account of 

 the origin of " China " wheat, which appeared for the first time in the Niagara 

 Democrat : 



The kernels from which they (specimens) grew were originally brought from 

 China some six years ago (1845). The seed was handed to Mr. Caverns by 

 O. Turner, the popular local historian, who obtained them from the then lately 

 returned Minister to China, Hon. Caleb Cushing. From a small quantity re- 

 ceived by Mr. Caverns for experiment, an amount sufficient to give it extensive 

 and permanent culture has been received. 



Several other histories of the origin of " China " wheat are recorded in 

 literature, but the above is thought to be the correct history of the variety 

 here described. 



Fig. 43. — Outline map of the eastern United States, 

 showing the distribution of Russian Red wheat in 

 1919. Estimated area, 172,000 acres. 



