America's Crop Heritage


Alicante. Still other wheats came from France, England, Chile,
and Mediterranean areas.
 After the Department of Agriculture was established and an
experimental farm set up, the Federal government took a hand in
solving the problems surrounding the national wheat crop. Vari-
ous state governments cooperated in the study of wheat on their
own experimental farms. Dozens of wheat varieties were distri-
buted among growers and sown by the Department in search of
desirable qualities. During 1861, approximately 1,000 bushels of
wheat were imported from different agricultural regions of Europe
and tried throughout the country.
 Isaac Newton imported several hundred bushels of choice wheat
and other cereals in 1864 from England, France, Belgium, Russia
and Sweden. The results were so satisfactory that Newton dis-
tributed a similar shipment the following year.

 DURUM WHEATS
 The first Russian macaroni (durum or hard) wheat was
introduced into America from Odessa in 1864 by -the Depart-
ment of Agriculture. Two varieties called Arnautka and San-
domirka were distributed by the Department for several years
after 1864. The Sandomirka and Arnautka were considered supe-
rior wheats wherever grown. Favorable accounts of their strong
growth, early ripening, and high yield were still being received
in 1871. But culture of the Arnautka was abandoned because of
opposition to its hardness. Its possibility as a macaroni wheat was
not considered at this early date. The Sandomirka was introduced
again from Hungrary by Le Duc in the summer of 1877, because
it was famous in Europe and the flour was being imported into
the United States for special purposes. The seed, distributed with
great care in the fall of 1877, did not secure favorable results
except in Tennessee and North Carolina.
 In 1865, the best varieties of English wheat were reported as
not adaptable to the climate here. Wheats which succeeded in the
long, mild growing season in England did not give good results in
America, with the sudden variations of cold and heat, moisture
and aridity.
 Sixty-five varieties from France, Prussia, Russia, Great Britain,
Chile, and China were seeded in 1865 for trial. Of the fifty-five
varieties of winter wheat grown, six proved worthy of notice by