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 XLVII, 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 :* 
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 Harly 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 awned, 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 midsized; 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 XLVII, B. 
History.—The following quotation from the Rural New Yorker, in 1894 (25, 
p. 684), 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. 8S. 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. 
