EXPERIMENTS WITH EMMER, SPELT, AND EINKORN. 3 
three) flowers. Both bearded and beardless and winter and spring 
varieties of emmer are known, although no variety of beardless emmer 
is grown commercially in the United States. Some varieties of em- 
mer are quite resistant to rust. The winter hardiness and drought 
resistance of emmer have been much overestimated by Carleton (7, 8) 
and others. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF SPELT. 
Spelt usually has hollow culms and glabrous or slightly pubescent 
leaves. The spikes are long, slender, and lax. The spikelets are far 
apart and arched on the inner side (PL II). The pedicel (joint of 
rachis) is long and wide and after threshing usually remains attached 
to the face of the spikelet below the one which it bears. Both 
bearded and beardless and winter and spring varieties of spelt are 
known. The winter varieties usually will produce seed from spring 
sowing unless sown very late. Most varieties are rather tall. 
Emmer can be distinguished easily from spelt by its compact spikes 
and by the short, narrow pedicel, which usually is attached to the 
base of the spikelets of the threshed grain. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF EINKORN. 
Einkorn ( Triticum monococcum L.) is very distinct from emmer and 
spelt in having very narrow, slender spikes. The spikes are awned 
and laterally compressed, and the terminal floret usually is sterile 
(PI. III). The kernels remain in the glumes when threshed. They 
are pale red in color, small, slender, and very much compressed lat- 
erally. The common einkorn contains but one kernel in each spike- 
let, but the double einkorn contains two kernels. The name "ein- 
korn" is of German origin and means "one grained." In French it 
is called "engrain." 
The plants of einkorn are late in maturing. The stems are slender 
and short, making harvesting with the grain binder difficult. It is 
of no economic value in the United States and is grown only in very 
limited experiments. 
HISTORY. 
Emmer is of very early origin. De Candolle (5) states that it has 
been found among the ruins of the lake dwellers of Switzerland. 
Snyder (51) reports having received from Egypt a sample of emmer 
kernels which were nearly indentical with the kernels of Vernal (White 
Spring) emmer grown in Minnesota. Reports considered authentic 
by that author, in regard to this sample, indicated that it was removed 
from the interior ruins of an Egyptian pyramid which had been 
built about 3,700 years ago. 
That emmer was grown by the Romans nrevious to the Christian 
era is indicated in the writings of Varro, Pliny, and Columella (18), 
i who mention a form of Triticum (wheat) called "adoreum" or "far," 
which was not separated from the chaff in threshing. The wild 
emmer ( Triticum dicoccum dicoccoides) found on the slopes of Mount 
Hermon, in Syria, may or may not be the prototype of our cultivated 
varieties of emmer. A rather primitive-appearing cultivated variety 
of emmer, Khapli or Kathiawar, described later, has been obtained 
by the United States Department of Agriculture from India, where 
it is said to grow wild also. 
