CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 195 



Distribution. — Grown to a considerable extent in Minnesota, North Dakota, 

 South Dakota, and to a lesser extent in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, 

 Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. 



Synonyms. — " Speltz " and Yaroslav emmer. 



" Speltz " is the name under which White Spring emmer usually is advertised 

 and sold by seedsmen in the Great Plains States. It usually is known by that 

 name on the farms also. This term is incorrectly used, and the name does not 

 exist as a legitimate word in any language. What is meant is the German word 

 Spelz, which is spelled differently and which is translated spelt in English. The 

 confusion between emmer and spelt is thought to have arisen in Germany, where 

 considerable quantities of both cereals are grown. 



Yaroslav emmer (197, S. P. I. No. 2789) was obtained from the Government 

 of Yaroslav, Russia, in 1899, by M. A. Carleton, for the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Experiments with this introduction in the United States 

 have shown it to be practically identical with White Spring emmer. As it has 

 not outyielded the White Spring emmer in experiments, it has not become com- 

 mercially grown. 



BLACK WINTER. 



Description. — Plant winter habit, late, tall; stem white, strong, stout; spike 

 awned, broadly fusiform, middense to dense, inclined ; glumes pubescent, black, 

 midlong, midwide ; shoulders midwide, usually elevated; beaks wide, 1 mm. 

 long; awns black, 4 to 15 cm. long; kernels red, long, hard, elliptical, acute, 

 curved, inclosed in hull when thrashed ; germ small ; crease midwide, shallow ; 

 cheeks angular ; brush small, long. 



Black Winter emmer is quite distinct in having pubescent black glumes. Un- 

 like the varieties of spring emmer, this variety is very susceptible to rust. A 

 spike, glumes, a spikelet, and kernels of Black Winter emmer are shown in Plate 

 LVIII, B. 



History.— Black Winter emmer (197, S. P. I. No. 11650) was obtained in 1904 

 from Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., Paris, France, by the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. The original importation of 79 pounds of seed was sown in the 

 fall of 1904. From the resulting crop seed was increased and distributed to 

 experiment stations and a number of farmers throughout the United States. 

 The results of experiments since that time have been unfavorable. The variety 

 has not proved sufficiently hardy for growing successfully north of Kansas and 

 Wyoming in the Great Plains area, and has not been able to compete with other 

 cereals in the southern Great Plains. 



Distribution. — Grown in experiments in the central and northern Great 

 Plains and commercially to a small extent in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, 

 Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. 



Synonym. — Buffum's Improved Winter emmer. This is identical with the 

 emmer described, but is a pure strain and consequently more uniform. Buffum's 

 Improved Winter emmer was distributed by B. C. Buffum, of Worland, Wyo. 

 When director of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station at Laramie 

 he received a small quantity of seed of Black Winter emmer from the Office of 

 Cereal Investigations. After his resignation he selected and improved the 

 crop. From a dozen selected plants of the 1908 crop 34 bushels were produced 

 in 1909, 710 bushels in, 1910, and a crop of 20,000 bushels was estimated in 

 1911. This seed was widely distributed. 



SPELT. 



Spelt may be of either winter or spring habit and awnless or 

 awned. It has a long, narrow, lax spike and a brittle rachis. The 



