130 BULLETIN 1074, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Description. — Plant spring habit, early to midseason, midtall; stem faintly 

 purple, midstrong ; spike awned, fusiform, middense, inclined ; glumes glabrous, 

 white, midlong, midwide; shoulders midwide, oblique to square; beaks 2 to 

 5 mm. long; awns 3 to 7 cm. long; kernels white, midlong, soft, ovate to 

 elliptical, slightly humped ; germ small to midsized ; crease midwide, middeep ; 

 cheeks rounded to angular ; brush midsized, midlong. 



Propo is distinct from the other wheats in the group in having a straw which 

 is faintly purple. A spike, glumes, and kernels of this variety are shown in 

 Plate XXXVI, A. 



History. — This variety was first known as Proper, for which the following 

 history was recorded in 1879 (156) ; 



The Proper originated from the selection of a number of heads of bearded 

 wheat in a field of Mr. Proper, at Sutter station, on the line of the Marysville & 

 Vallejo Railroad, in Sutter County. Impressed with their appearance, Mr. 

 Proper gathered and sowed, and sold to his neighbors, a very fine article of 

 early wheat, eagerly sought after by millers, and which makes a superior article 

 of flour. The Proper is a bearded wheat and exactly similar in appearance, as 

 to the heads, to the Pride of Butte, although of entirely a different nature. 

 . . . The Proper is a wheat which ripens very early — as early as the Sonora, 

 one of the earliest known varieties. It is from five to eight days later, owing 

 to peculiarities of soil in this respect. It is not a very good wheat to stool, 

 and in this respect quite unlike the Pride of Butte. It is of rather soft straw, 

 and in rich ground is liable to fall down and lodge, hence on such land it is 

 better to sow in the spring, but not on poor land. It will stand later sowing 

 and still mature earlier than any other variety I know of except S'onora (156). 



The writers believe the above history is the true origin of the variety. The 

 following later and somewhat different history of Fropo also has been recorded 

 by Shaw and Gaumnitz (176, p. 318), of the California Agricultural Experiment 

 Station : 



Of Propo, Mr. It. M. Shackleford, of Paso Robles, for many years connected 

 with the milling trade of this State, is authority for the statement that this 

 variety was a field selection from a sowing made from a shipment of wheat 

 from Chile, the selection being sufficient in quantity to seed 30 acres of land in 

 the Panoche Valley. From this 30 acres there was produced about 500 sacks of 

 wheat. Mr. Shackleford writes: 



" I purchased this wheat and shipped it to Mr. A. D. Starr, of Marysville. 

 The name given to this wheat at the time I purchased it was ' Snowflake,' and 

 I shipped it to him under that name. There was some little seed left in the 

 country, and quite an inquiry arose for the same seed. Mr. Starr returned 

 me two carloads — one in the Salinas Valley and one to Hollister. He reported 

 to me the proper name was Propo. My memory is that was the name that 

 was given to it at the time I purchased it, but old settlers tell me it was called 

 ' Snowflake,' and that until it was returned from the north it was not known as 

 'Propo.' This leads me to believe that some of the original seed was dis- 

 tributed in the north and raised much as it was in San Benito County, and that 

 it received the name Propo or Proper from the party who there grew it. My 

 opinion is that this is a complete history of the introduction of Propo wheat 

 into California." 



Distribution, — Grown in Colusa, Monterey, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa 

 Barbara, and Sutter Counties, Calif. 



Synonym. — Proper. This probably is the original name for the variety, but in 

 recent years the name Propo has become most generally used. 



TREAD WELL. 



Description. — Plant winter habit, midseason, tall; stem white, midstrong; 

 spike awned, fusiform, middense, nodding; glumes glabrous, white, long, mid- 

 wide, easily deciduous; shoulders wanting to narrow, oblique; beaks 3 to 15 



