Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1881 — Wheat in America. [ARTICLE]

Wheat in America.

Prior to the discovery of -the continent by Columbus, there was no cereal in America approaching in nature to the wheat plant. It was not, observes the American Miller, until 1530 that wheat found its way into Mexico, and then only by chance. A slave of Cortez fojuud a few grains of wheat in a parcel of rice and showed them to his master. * The result showed that wheat would thrive.well on Mexican soil; and to-day one of the finest wheat valleys in the world is near the Mexican capital. From Mexico, the cereal found its way to Peru. Marie D’Escobar, wife of Don Diego de Chauves, carried a few grains to Lima, which were planted, the entire product being used for seed for several successive crops. At Quito, Ecuador, a monk of the order of St. Francis, by the name of Fray Jodosi Bixi, introduced a new cereal; and it is said that the jar which contained the seeds is still preserved by the monks of Quito. Wheat was introduced in the present limits of the United States contem-' poraneously with the settlement of. the country by the English and Dutch. The geographical range over which wheat can be grown is peculiar. It is not produced in tropical climates. Here its place is taken Dy rice. There re a northern limit to its growth. Beyond this oats can be grown. It is, On the whole, the hardiest of the cereals; and it is said that its quality is best when it is grown on that margin beyond which it will not ripen at all. wheat is the most costly of cereals. The crop is scantier, and as it£ sends its principal roots deeply intb the earth, it is more exhausting to the soil: hut the meal or flour is better adapted to sustain the various vital functions than that of any other kind of grain. The product of wheat in the United States is constantly progressing. In 1840 the total products were only 88,512,000 bushels: while'it amounted to 100,485,800 in 1850, to 171,183,500 In 1860, 260,146,000 in 1869. The chief States in 1860 were Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and California.—American Jlural Home.