History of Wheat. 



8 i 



To summarise briefly, we have traced the wheats to four primi- 

 tive types : (i) the Einkorn, to Triticum cegilopioides , with its 

 original home in Asia Minor and the north-eastern Balkans ; 

 (2) the Emmer and the Hard wheats, including the English and 

 Polish, to Triticum dicoccoides , in Palestine ; (3) the Soft, and 

 probably also the Dwarf wheats, to a still unknown species, either 

 in Syria or in Mesopotamia ; and (4) the Spelt, to Triticum. 

 cyJindricum, in an area extending from Bulgaria through Roumania 

 to Southern Russia. From this standpoint the practical division 

 into Spelt wheats and wheats proper breaks down entirely. 

 Einkorn and Spelt proper, with their respective primitive forms, 

 will have to stand as distinct species in any case ; while it may 

 be left an open question whether all the others should be treated 

 under one or two species until we know the primitive form of the 

 Soft and Dwarf wheats, and are able to gauge its taxonomic value 

 as compared with Triticum dicoccoides. 



I have so far tried ' to remain on ground which allows us to 

 work with tangible material and by way of comparing actual 

 specimens. It will now be interesting to sift the available experi- 

 mental evidence and perhaps to start a new series of experiments 

 on the basis of my propositions. Above all, however, it is desir- 

 able that the efforts to trace the distribution of the primitive 

 wheats and discover new wild forms should be continued. In 

 the first place, there can be now no doubt where to look for the 

 latter. The statement of the Assyrian historian Berosus that 

 wheat grew wild on the banks of the Euphrates, and Olivier's 

 observation to the same effect made more than 2,000 years later, 

 cannot, after Aaronsohn's discoveries, be treated any longer as 

 negligible, especially as Olivier 's location of the place where he 

 found wild wheat associated with wild barley and " Spelt " is 

 so precise that there ought to be no difficulty in visiting and 

 examining it again. Another point which I would impress is the 

 necessity of collecting without delay good samples of all the 

 wheats — whole plants, as well as grains — which are grown in 

 the Old World, particularly in the districts not yet much affected 

 by the introduction of modern races. Many of the more primitive 

 races are no doubt still in cultivation, and if not secured in time' 

 they will be lost for ever. The Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor — 

 in fact, the whole of the Orient — should be searched, and the 

 same applies to Abyssinia, to Central Asia and China. I have so 

 far not mentioned the Chinese wheats, although wheat is grown 

 more extensively in China, particularly in the north and west, 

 than is generally understood, and although it has been known to the 

 Chinese for a very long time — at so early a period, indeed, that 

 Count Solms-Laubach saw in this fact one of the arguments for 

 his contention that the wheats were of Central Asiatic origin. 

 Besides making systematic collections of the wheats grown at 



