130 BULLETIX 1074, U. S. DEPAKTMEXT OF AGEICULTUEE. 
PEOPO. 
Description. — Plant spring habit, early to midseason, midtall; !?;tem faintly 
purple, midstrong ; spike awned, fusiform,, middense, inclined ; glumes glabrous, 
white, midlong, midwide; shoulders midwide, oblique to square; beaks 2 to 
5 mm. long; awns 3 to 7 cm. long; kernels white, midlong. soft ovate to 
elliptical, slightly humped ; germ small to midsized ; crease midwide. middeep ; 
cheeks rounded to angular ; brush midsized, midlong. 
Propo is distinct from the other wheats in the group in having a straw which 
is faintly purple. A spike, glumes, and kernels of this variety are shown in 
Plate XXXYI, A. 
History. — ^This variety was first known as Proper, for which the following 
history was recorded in 1ST9 (156) : 
The Proper originated from the selection of a number of heads of bearded 
wheat in a field of Mr. Proper, at Sutter station, on the line of the Marysville & 
Tallejo Railroad, in Sutter County. Impressed with their appearance, Mr. 
Proper gathered and sowed, and sold to his neighbors, a very fine article of 
early wheat, eagerly sought after by millers, and which makes a superior article 
of flour. The Proper is a bearded wheat and exactly similar in appearance, as 
to the heads, to the Pride of Butte, although of entirely a different nature. 
. . . The Proper is a wheat which ripens very early — as early as the Sonora, 
one of the earliest known varieties. It is from five to eight days later, owing 
to peculiarities of soil in this respect. It is not a very good wheat to stool, 
and in this respect quite unlike the Pride of Butte. It is of rather soft straw, 
and in rich ground is liable to fall down and lodge, hence on such land It is 
better to sow in the spring, but not on poor land. It will stand later sowing 
and still mature earlier than any other variety I know of except Sonora (156). 
The writers believe the above history is the true origin of the variety. The 
following later and somewhat different history of Propo also has been recorded 
by Shaw and Gaumnitz (176, p. 31S), of the California Agricultural Experiment 
Station : 
Of Propo, Mr. R. M. Shackleford, of Paso Robles, for many years connected 
with the milling trade of this State, is authority for the statement that this 
variety was a field selection from a sowing made from a shipment of wheat 
from Chile, the selection being suflScient in quantity to seed 30 acres of land in 
the Panoche Talley. From this 30 acres there was produced about 500 sacks of 
wheat. Mr. Shackleford writes: 
" I purchased this wheat and shipped it to Mr. A. D. Starr, of Marysville. 
The name given to this wheat at the time I purchased it was ' Snowflake.' and 
I shipped it to him under that name. There was some little seed left in the 
country, and quite an inquiry arose for the same seed. Mr. Starr returned 
me two carloads — one in the Salinas Talley and one to Hollister. He reported 
to me the proper name was Propo. My memory is that was the name that 
was given to it at the time I purchased it, but old settlers tell me it was called 
' Snowflake.' and that until it was returned from the north it was not known as 
'Propo.' This leads me to believe that some of the original seed was dis- 
tributed in the north and raised much as it was in San Benito County, and that 
it received the name Propo or Proper from the party who there grew it. My 
opinion is that this is a complete history of the introduction of Propo wheat 
into California." 
Distrihution. — Grown in Colusa, Monterey, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa 
Barbara, and Sutter Counties, Calif. 
Synonym. — Proper. This probably is the original name for the variety, but in 
recent years the name Propo has become most generally used. 
TREAD WELL. 
Description. — Plant winter liabit, midseason. tall; stem white, midstrong; 
spike awned, fusiform, middense, nodding; glumes glabrous, white, long, mid- 
wide, easily deciduous ; shoulders wanting to narrow, oblique ; beaks 8 to 15 
