2 BULLETIN 877, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
mountain areas. In Australia all wheat is fall sown. The mild 
climatic conditions there are quite similar to those in California, 
where all wheat is sown also in the fall. The Australian varieties, 
therefore, are grown as fall wheats in California. In most parts of 
Oregon and Washington, however, they can be grown only as spring 
wheats. 
HISTORY OF INTRODUCTIONS. 
WHITE AUSTRALIAN AND PACIFIC BLUESTEM. 
One variety at least of Australian wheat has been grown in the 
Pacific coast area for nearly 70 years. The White Australian variety 
was introduced into the United States from Australia in the early 
fifties. During the period from 1852 to 1866 1 its culture became 
established in California, Since that time it has remained the prin- 
cipal variety grown in that State. A similar variety has been 
grown in Oregon and Washington since the early eighties. Accord- 
ing to Mr. W. P. Church, of Walla Walla, Wash., this wheat came 
from two introductions received under the name of Purple Straw 
Tuscan. The first introduction was obtained from Australia in 
1884 and the second from New Zealand in 1896. The second intro- 
duction, he states, " consisted of 14 sacks and contained a mixture 
of 10 to 15 per cent of red kernels contained in bearded heads." 
The seed was distributed to farmers and the variety gained rapidly 
in popularity, being grown under the name "Bluestem. " It is not 
known how this name came to be applied to the variety, as it does 
not have the purple straw common to many varieties of wheat and 
is not similar to any of the other five varieties grown in the United 
States under this name. It also is not similar to the Purple-Straw 
Tuscan wheat of Australia, but is very much like the White Tuscan 
and Silver King varieties of that country. The White Tuscan was 
the leading commercial variety of Australia before it was replaced 
by the Federation. To distinguish this Bluestem wheat from other 
Bluestem varieties it has recently been called Pacific Bluestem. In 
Washington and Oregon the Pacific Bluestem wheat became as 
popular as the White Australian did earlier in California, and until 
recent years it has been the principal spring wheat grown in the 
" Inland Empire. " Although only soft to semihard in kernel texture, 
these two similar or identical varieties have been considered to 
possess good milling qualities when compared with other white 
wheats. They are beardless and have glabrous white chaff, do not 
shatter easily, and have tall, strong straw. Under favorable condi- 
tions they yield very heavily and for that reason have continued in 
cultivation. 
1 Showrds, Thomas. [Letter.] In U. S. Comr. Patents Rpt., 18.52, pt. 2, Agr., p. 176. 1853. 
Appleton, F. G. [Letter.] In U. S. Comr. Patents Rpt., Agr., 1854, p. 138. 1855. 
Dunn, H. D. California— her agricultural resources. In U. S. Comr. Agr. Ept. ; 1866, p. 586. 1867. 
