CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 67 
the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco, Calif.* At the 
close of the exposition, the Sperry Flour Co. obtained a part of the sample and 
grew it at their experiment station near Stockton, Calif., where it was later 
increased and distributed for commercial growing in the State. 
Distrihntion. — Grown in San Joaquin County, Calif. 
Description. — Plant spring habit, midseason, midtall ; stem glaucous, white, 
strong ; spike awnless, subclavate, middense, inclined ; glumes glabrous, white, 
midlong, wide; shoulders wide, oblique to square; beaks wide, triangular, 
acute, 0.7 to 1.2 mm. long ; apical awns several, 5 to 15 mm. long ; kernels white, 
midlong, soft to semihard, ovate ; germ midsized ; crease midwide, middeep ; 
cheeks usually angular ; brush midsized, midlong. 
This variety differs principally from Defiance in being shorter and in having 
shorter and broader subclavate spikes and broader glumes with squarer shoul- 
ders and longer beaks. The kernels have a distinctly rough coat. Spikes, 
glumes, and kernels of Gypsum are shown in Plate XI, B, and a single spike 
in Plate VI, Figure 6. 
History. — Gypsum is recorded by Carleton (58, p. 83) as of hybrid origin. 
It was developed at the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, Fort 
Collins, Colo., during the eighties, by Prof. A. E. Blount. The variety became 
known in Australia as Blount's Lambrigg (72, p. 4; 61, p. 219). During recent 
years, in the United States, the variety has been grown as Colorado Special, 
that name having been in use as early as 1912 on the Rexburg Bench, in south- 
ern Idaho. 
Disti'ihution. — Grown as Colorado Special in Madison, Teton. Franklin, Fre- 
mont, and Power Counties, Idaho. 
Synonyms. — ^Blount's Lambrigg and Colorado Special. 
• SUEPRISE (PBINGLE'S SL^EPKISE). 
Description. — Plant spring habit, late, midtall ; stem slightly glaucous before 
maturity, white, strong, coarse ; leaves broad ; spike awnless, clavate, dense, 
erect; glumes glabrous, white, midlong, midwide; shoulders midwide, oblique 
to square ; beaks wide, obtuse, 1.0 mm. long ; apical awns several, 3 to 15 mm. 
long; kernels white, short to midlong, soft, oval to ovate; germ small to mid- 
sized ; crease wide, deep ; cheeks rounded to angular ; brush midsized, midlong. 
This wheat varies somewhat from the preceding description. Several dis- 
tinct types have been selected from it, and many more could be. Like Defiance, 
the variety probably was not pure when first distributed. It is a high-yielding 
wheat when grown under very favorable conditions and is well adapted for 
growing under irrigation. 
History. — Surprise was originated by Cyrus G. Pringle, in the Champlain 
Valley, near Charlotte, Vt., in the late seventies. Concerning the origin of the 
variety, Mr. Pringle wrote the Rural New Yorker as follows : 
My No. 4 (thus numbered only in samples of wheat sent to Prof. Blount for 
trial) is a cross between the Chile Club, the soft, white variety, widely grown 
in the Pacific coast, and the Michigan Club, once common over our Northwestern 
States. Under the name of Pringle's Sui*prise, the entire stock was sold two 
or three years ago by my agent to the Commissioner of Agriculture, Le Due. for 
distribution {17). 
It evidently was widely distributed in several Western States in the eighties. 
It was advertised in California farm papers at that time, but with the decline 
of the wheat industry in that State the identity of the variety became lost. It 
