4 BULLETIN 357, U. S. DEPAKTMEKT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of Miracle, Wheat 3,000 Years Old, and Wild Goose. It is probable 
that as many more names for this variety could be found if early 
agricultural literature were searched. 
Like many other crops, it probably was introduced in colonial days. 
In 1815, a letter dated 1S0T and signed by John Keemle 1 was pub- 
lished concerning a so-called Jerusalem wheat. This was a part 
of a small crop produced by Dr. Keemle from seed secured by him 
from Ireland and sown in the fall of 1806. These statements are 
found in this letter (p. 137) : 
Its productiveness may be estimated by the number of heads on a single 
straw, on some there are 3-5-7 heads, as you will observe by those I send you. 
The straw is 6 feet high, and very stout, sufficiently so to bear its own weight 
uncommonly well. The grain is full and plump, differently shaped from our 
wheat, and somewhat larger. 
From this it is evident that the Jerusalem wheat of 1807 was iden- 
tical with the Alaska wheat of the present time. 
In connection with this letter the origin of the name Jerusalem 
is given by Dr. J. Mease, 2 secretary of the Philadelphia society. 
According to this statement, a small sheaf of this wheat was brought 
from Palestine by a traveler and used as " a sign to an alehouse 
which he kept for some years after in Dublin." Some seeds from this 
sheaf were picked up and planted by a farmer, who several years 
later sold the produce of several acres at about $3.65 a pound. 
Dr. Mease further states (p. 138) : 
It is believed that the same variety of wheat was introduced into this country 
in 1792, as some of a kind answering to the description of the Jerusalem wheat 
was presented to the society, and distributed among the members, but as it has 
been lost it is more than probable it possessed no particular good qualities. 
In the issue of the American Farmer for September 26, 1840, 
there is an engraving from a draAving of a head of wheat, without 
doubt the same as the Alaska wheat of the present time. This 
wheat was grown by Mr. Alpheus Baker, 3 of Abbeville, S. C, who 
is quoted in part as follows : 
The wheat to which you allude was brought to this place from the Osage 
Nation, by Col. Spieren, who had been sent to them as a commissioner by the 
President of the United States. * * * We sell the wheat at $5 per head. 
In the same journal, in the issue of October 7, 1840. Mr. Gideon 
B. Smith, 4 of Baltimore, Md., writes as follows: 
1 Keemle, John. On Jerusalem wheat. In Mem. Phila. Soc. Prom. Agi\, v. 1, p. 135- 
137. 1815. 
2 Mease, James. On Jerusalem wheat. In Mem. Phila, Soc. Prom. Agr., v. 1, p. 137-138, 
1815. 
3 Baker, Alpheus. [A new wheat.] In Amer. Farmer, n. s.. v. 2. no. 19, p. 148, 1 fig. 
1840. 
4 Smith, Gideon B. The new species of wheat. In Amer. Farmer, n. s., v. 2, no. 20, 
p. 154. 1840. 
