112 BULLETIN 1074, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 
POOLE. 
Description. — Plant winter habit, midseason, midtall; stem purple, mid- 
strong; spike awnless, usually fusiform, sometimes nearly oblong or linear- 
oblong, wide, middense to lax, usually .nodding; glumes glabrous, brown, mid- 
long, wide ; shoulders wide, oblique to square ; beaks wide, obtuse, 0.5 mm. long ; 
apical awns several, 3 to 20 mm. long; kernels red, midlong, soft, ovate to 
oval, frequently elliptical, flattened; germ small to midsized; crease midwide, 
middeep to deep ; cheeks usually rounded ; brush small to midsized, midlong. 
This variety is distinguished by the wide, nodding spikes. The kernels are 
rather narrow, flattened, and rounded in outline. Spikes, glumes, and kernels 
of Poole wheat are shown in Plate XXVIII, B, and a single spike in Plate V, 
Figure 4. 
Hisiory. — The origin of the Poole variety is undetermined, but it has been 
an important variety in Ohio and Indiana for about 35 years. It was grown 
by the Ohio Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station as early as 1884 
{19, p. 15). 
Distribution. — Grown in Ala- 
bama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, 
Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mary- 
land, Michigan, Missouri, New 
York, North Carolina, Ohio, Penn- 
sylvania, South Carolina, Tennes- 
see, Texas, Virginia, and West 
Virginia, and under names of 
synonyms in Arkansas and Okla- 
homa in addition. This distribu- 
tion is shown in Figure 42. 
Synonym s . — Beechwood or 
Beechwood Hybrid, Bluestem, 
California Red, Gill, Harvest 
King, Hedge Prolific, Hundred 
Mark, Hydro Prolific, Mortgage 
Lifter, Kentucky Bluestem, Niss- 
ley or Nissley's Hybrid, Ocean 
Wave, Oregon Red Chaff, Red or 
California, Red Amber, Red 
Chaff, Red Fultz, Red King, Red 
Russell. Royal Red Clawson, Sweet Water Valley, Wagner, and Winter King. 
Beechwood (originally Beechwood Hybrid) was distributed by J. W. Still- 
well, Troy, Ohio, about 1898. In a letter under date of July 15, 1898, to the 
Office of Cereal Investigations he has given the history as follows : 
Mixed one-half bushel Rudy, one-half bushel Red Fultz (not INIediterranean), 
one-half l)ushel Red A'elvet Chaff together. The third year from mixture I 
named Beechwood Hybrid. Mixed because Rudy is soft straw and large grain, 
Velvet strong straw and small grain, Fultz was put in to get rid of beards. 
A mixture of Poole and Red May is now most generally grown as Beech- 
wood. It has largely disappeared from commercial culture. 
Bluestem and Kentucky Bluestem are names used by growers for the Poole 
variety because of its purple straw. Kentucky Bluestem was reported from 
Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan. Missouri, South Carolina, and West Virginia. 
California Red is a name occasionally used for the variety under the sup- 
position that the seed came originally from California. A sample of Poole 
Fig. 42. — Outline map of the eastern United 
States, sliowing the distribution of Poole 
wheat in 1919. Estimated area, 2,453,400 
acres. 
