CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 169 



long; kernels white, midlong, soft, broadly ovate to oval; germ large; crease 

 narrow, middeep, pitted ; cheeks rounded ; brush large, midlong to long. 



Read differs principally from Bearded Winter Fife in being shorter and in 

 having a distinctly clavate spike. A spike, glumes, and kernels of Read wheat 

 are shown in Plate XL VII, A. 



History. — Read (Read's Vermont Winter) was developed and named by Mr. 

 G. A. Read, of Charlotte, Vt, who recorded the history as follows : 27 



This wheat was originated by me in 1898 by crossing the Bearded Fife with a 

 valuable early club-head beardless velvet-chaff variety found mixed with 

 Bearded Fife and presumably Early Arcadian. 



Distribution. — Grown in Ashland County, Ohio, where it constitutes about 

 5 per cent of the wheat grown in the vicinity of New London. 



RURAL NEW YORKER NO. 57. 



Description. — Plant ^winter habit, midseason, midtall to tall; stem white, 

 strong, stout ; spike fusiform, middense, nodding ; glumes pubescent, white, long, 

 midwide ; shoulders narrow, usually oblique ; beaks 2 to 15 mm. long ; awns 3 

 to 7 cm. long ; kernels red, midlong, soft to semihard, ovate to oval ; germ mid- 

 sized; crease usually wide, middeep to deep; cheeks usually rounded; brush 

 large, midlong. 



A spike, glumes, and kernels of Rural New Yorker No. 57 are shown in 

 Plate XL VII, B. 



History. — The following quotation from the Rural New Yorker, in 1894 (25, 

 p. 634), shows the origin of this variety: 



Peter Henderson & Co., of this city, now offer for the first time two of our 

 wheats which the firm has kindly named " Rural New Yorker No. 57 " and 

 " Rural New Yorker No. 6." The first, of which an excellent portrait is pre- 

 sented in Figure 166, p. 631, is a heavily bearded variety, the parentage of 

 which is one of our crossbred varieties fertilized with a cross breed of Velvet 

 Chaff. 



Further information concerning the. origin of the variety is given by Peter 

 Henderson & Co., in their 1895 catalogue, as follows : 



Rural New Yorker No. 57 is the result of upwards of 20 years of thoroughly 

 scientific crossing and careful selection at the hands of Mr. E. S. Carman, editor 

 of the Rural New Yorker and raiser of many of the most valuable agricultural 

 introductions of recent years. 



A simplification of the name Rural New Yorker No. 57 would be made here 

 if the variety had not already practically passed out of cultivation. 



Distribution. — Rural New Yorker No. 57 is grown at several experiment sta- 

 tions in the eastern United States and probably is grown commercially to a small 

 extent, although this is not definitely known. 



Synonym. — Velvet Chaff. This name has been used for wheat identical with 

 Rural New Yorker No. 57, as well as for several other varieties. It is quite 

 possible that a wheat of this type was commercially grown in the eastern United 

 States many years before the origin of Rural New Yorker No. 57. A sample 

 called Velvet Chaff obtained from the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment 

 Station in 1917 proved to be similar to Rural New Yorker No. 57, except in 

 having faintly purple straw. The previous history of this sample is unde- 

 termined. 



PRIDE OF GENESEE. 



Description. — Pride of Genesee is similar to Rural New Yorker No. 57, except 

 that the beaks are slightly longer and the kernels slightly wider. 



27 Printed circular by G. A. Read. 



