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Wheat Plants from Good and Poor Seed.

Combined Steam Plow, Harrow and Seeder.

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Section of a Modern Threshing Machine

Combined Harvester and Thresher

Typical Wheat Field Where Rotation is Followed

I'urrow Method of Irrigation .

Twenty Self-Binding Harvesters at Work .

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Combined Grain and Fertilizer Drill .

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Three Threshing Outfits at Work .

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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 Phoenicia and Egypt. The Chinese considered it a gift from heaven. Homer and Diodorus Siculus say that it grew wild in Sicily. Humboldt denies

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