ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Bonanza Harvester Frontispiece Development of Wheat Plant. 3 Distribution of Wheat Varieties . 9 Root System of Wheat Plant. 12 Organs of Wheat Reproduction 14 Coats of a Wheat Kernel . 15 Cross Section of Wheat Grain 16 A Stool of Wheat . 17 Opening of Wheat Flowers . 20 IIarvesting Minnesota Blue Stem Wheat 34 Crossing as a Cause of Variation 38 Diagram of Pedigree of Hybrid . 42 Durum Wheat Districts . 48 Wheat Plants from Good and Poor Seed . 52 Combined Steam Plow, Harrow and Seeder . 60 Typical Farm Wheat Drill . . 64 A Modern Press and Disc Drill 67 Typical Force Feed Broadcast Seeder . 68 Forms of Early Sickles and Scythes 79 Early and Modern Cradles . 80 Gallic Header 81 Wheat Header in Operation 82 An Early English Reaper . 85 A Modern Self-Rake Reaper . 86 A Modern Self-Binding Harvester Section of a Modern Threshing Machine 98 Combined Harvester and Thresher . 104 Typical Wheat Field Where Rotation is Followed 112 l'urrow Method of Irrigation . 120 Twenty Self-Binding Harvesters at Work . 128 Combined Grain and Fertilizer Drill . 135 Three Threshing Outfits at Work . . 156 . 87 PAGE . Sections of Smutted Wheat Straw . 158 159 162 163 164 171 172 174 176 177 178 180 182 183 184 191 202 210 216 236 262 263 264 266 272 278 292 306 THE BOOK OF WHEAT CHAPTER I. WHEAT GRAIN AND PLANT ORIGIN. The Word Wheat can be traced back through the Middle English whete to Old English hwaete, which is allied to hwit, white. The German Weizen is related to weisz, which also means white. The French blé suggests blêmir, to grow pale. Perhaps wheat was called white, to distinguish it from rye, and other dark colored grains. Triticum, the botanical and classical name, doubtless comes from tritus, which is a participle from the Latin terere, to grind. The Italian frumento, and the similar French froment, are descended from the Latin word for corn or grain, frumentum, which originated in frux, fruit. The Spanish trigo has evolved through French and Latin from the Greek trigonon, which has for its roots tri, three, and gonia, a corner or 'angle. Thus the most widely used names of the wheat plant were determined by the characteristics of the seed, as color, shape, the property of having to be ground for food, and the natural relation of the seed to the plant. The Geographical Origin of wheat has never been certainly determined. Such evidence as exists seems to point to Mesopotamia, but this is largely a matter of opinion. While wheat has been found growing apparently wild, the doubt always seems to remain that it may have simply escaped from cultivation. However, the belief that wheat once grew wild in the Euphrates and Tigris valleys, and spread from these to the rest of the world, has wider acceptance than any other. De Candolle's conviction rests largely on the evidence of Berosus and Strabo, while Lippert, in addition to the former, also cites Olivier and Andre Michaux. Darwin appears to have favored the same theory. From this center wheat is supposed to have spread to Phænicia and Egypt. The Chinese considered it a gift from heaven. Homer and Diodorus Siculus say that it grew wild in Sicily. Humboldt denies |