ANTIQUITY OF WHEHT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1423, 21 May 1886, Page 2

ANTIQUITY OF WHEHT.

President Charles Barnard, in an article in the “Century” for January says, that the wheat plant la one of the oldest in cultivation. The Chinese recorded Its culture as early as 2700 b,c., and It 1s one of the prehistoric plants, remains of wheat seeds being found In the rains’ of the houses of the lake dwellers. While there are several races of wheat, and while these have been crossed, producing hybirds, it has retained its true character, and been entirely independent of other plants since its culture began. Compared with wheat, rye is a modern plant. It is not figured on any Egyptian monuments, and seems to have been first cultivated in the Roman Empire abont the beginning of the Christian eta, though It may have been known somewhat earlier in Russia and Tartary. While these two commercial plants have been cultivated side by side for centuries, the first plants appearing to be true hybtis between them bore seeds this year in the United States. Wheat and rye may have been crossed before, yet there appears to be no record of anything like the results here obtained.