6 BULLETIN 8*78, r. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Varieties of this group of wheat usually are called "Bearded Fife" 
and "Velvet Chaff." The name Preston is preferable, because most 
of the bearded hard red spring wheat grown probably is of the 
Preston variety, and none of the varieties has hairy chaff. 
Preston. — The Preston variety was selected from a cross between Ladoga, a Siberian 
■wheat, and Red Fife made by the late Dr. William Saunders, of Ottawa. Canada, in 
1888. It is a bearded spring common wheat with glabrous white chaff and midsized 
red and fairly hard kernels. It can be distinguished from other members of the 
Preston group by the much shorter beaks on the outer glumes. These beaks are only 
one-sixteenth to three-sixteenths of an inch long. 
The Preston wheat has been grown at Indian Head. Saskatchewan. Canada, since 
1S93. It was first grown by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in 1895 
and called Minnesota *so. 188. It was widely distributed under this number instead 
of under the name Preston. About 10 years later a similar wheat came on the market 
under various names, such as "'Bearded Fife.'" "Red Fife.*' and "Velvet Chaff." 
Apparently these were all the same wheat and were identical with Preston. The name 
"Velvet Chaff** is especially misleading, because all these wheats have smooth or 
glabrous chaff, while some very different wheats with pubescent or hairy chaff are 
called Velvet Chaff. The names "'•'Bearded Fife "' and ''Bed Fife " are also misleading, 
as the variety is not really a Fife wheat. The name "Velvet Chaff" was originally 
used for Cereal Investigations Nos. 3081 and 4153, "Bearded Fife" for Cereal Investi- 
tions Xo. 30S7. and "Red Fife*' for Cereal Investigations Xo. 3698, all coming from 
commercial fields in Minnesota or the Dakotas. Only Cereal Investigations Xo. 295S, 
coming from the Central Experiment Farm. Ottawa. Canada, is known to be the 
true Preston. 
Converse. — The name Converse is here given to a commercial variety of spring wheat 
grown in Wyoming under the name "Red Russian," which name is used for three 
other wheat varieties in the United States, so a new name has now been chosen for this 
variety. The original sample was obtained by a representative of the Department 
of Agriculture from Converse County. Wyo. : hence the name. It differs from Preston 
in being taller and earlier and in having longer beaks and soft instead of hard kernels. 
Bhivan. — The Erivan variety was introduced by the United States Department of 
Agriculture in 1903 from the dry mountainous district of the Erivan Government in 
Transcaucasian Russia, near the border of Persia. It differs from the Preston 
variety in having shorter, weaker straw, in earlier maturity, in the longer beaks 
on the outer glumes, and in the somewhat softer kernels. 
Fretes. — The Fretes variety was obtained in Algeria, but it is almost certainly of 
Russian origin. It is quite similar to Erivan except that the kernels are larger. 
Kota. — The Kota variety was obtained in Russia by Prof. H. L. Bolley. of the Xorth 
Dakota Agricultural College, in 1903. It was introduced either as a separate lot, later 
designated as R . B . R . 3 . or as a mixture in a sample of durum wheat. It recently was 
separated from Monad durum wheat, found to be resistant to black stem rust, and 
named Kota by Waldron and Clark. 3 It differs from the Preston wheat in having weaker 
straw and longer beaks and a more elevated shoulder on the outer glumes. 
Pioneer. — The Pioneer variety was originated from a cross between Riga and Preston, 
made by Dr. C. E. Saunders, in 1903. at the Central Experiment Farm. Ottawa. 
Canada. It differs from the Preston wheat chiefly in being earlier. 
3 Waldron, L. E., and Clark, J. A. Kota, a rust-resisting variety of common spring wheat. In Jour. 
Amer. Soc. Agron., v. 11, no. 5, pp. 187-195. 1919. 
