BULLETIN 336, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
been confined largely to winter wheat, oats, and barley, although 
tests of several minor cereals, including winter rye, spelt, and emmer 
also have been conducted. In addition, some investigations have 
been conducted on the Arlington Farm with grain sorghum, buck- 
wheat, proso, and spring varieties of wheat, oats, and barley. A pre- 
liminary report covering a portion of the cooperative cereal investi- 
gations at College Park was published in 1910. 1 In this bulletin a 
complete presentation of the work at College Park and at Arlington 
is made and such conclusions drawn as the results appear to warrant. 
CEREAL PRODUCTION IN MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. 
The early history of the cultivation and production of cereal crops 
in Maryland and Virginia is quite meager, but it is known that their 
culture went hand in hand with the settlement of these colonies. In 
the report of the United 
States Commissioner of Ag- 
riculture for the year 1872, 2 
the following statements are 
made regarding the early 
history of the culture of ce- 
reals in the thirteen original 
States : 
Wheat was first sown by Gos- 
wold on Cuttyhunk, one of the 
Elizabeth Islands, in Buzzard's 
Bay, as early as 1602, when he first 
explored the coast. In Virginia 
the first wheat appears to have 
been sown in 1611, and its culture 
continued to increase there till, in 
1648, it is recorded that there 
were several hundred acres of it. But it soon after fell into great disrepute as a staple 
crop, as the culture of tobacco was found to pay a great deal better. For more than a 
hundred years after it was but little cultivated in that colony. 
But though the cultivation of wheat was begun almost simultaneously with the 
settlement of the several colonies, it did not attract very great attention for more than 
a century, Indian corn and, later, potatoes being relied upon for food to a much greater 
extent. ... It is a matter of history that there never was a time in the eastern 
colonies when it was a sure and reliable crop, unless it be so now with our improved 
modes of culture and our better knowledge of the proper modes of tillage, deep plow- 
ing, and thorough drainage. 
Rye and barley were also introduced and cultivated by the early settlers, and it 
soon became the almost universal practice to mix the meal of the former with Indian 
meal in the making of bread. It is known to have been the custom as early as 1648, 
and probably it began at a considerably earlier date, perhaps as early as 1630. Oats 
were also introduced at the same time with rye. Capt. Goswold raised them with 
other grains on one of the Elizabeth Islands, on the southern coast of Massachusetts, 
in 1602. Though much more extensively grown than rye, they appear to have been 
used chiefly as food for animals. 
Fig. 1. — Sketch map showing the areas in the eastern United 
States to which this bulletin applies. In the heavily- 
shaded portion the results are generally applicable. Cer- 
tain of the results are applicable in some parts of the 
lightly shaded portion, while other results are applicable 
in other parts. 
1 Schmitz, Nickolas. Wheat— variety tests and diseases. Md. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 147, p. 33-45. 1910. 
2 Flint, C. L. A hundred years of progress. In U. S. Com. Agr. Rpt., 1872, p. 280. 1874. 
