Wheat, a plant that produces the grain used to make bread, man’s principal food. See Bread.

The name wheat is also given to the grain or seed of this plant after it is separated from its stem. See Grain and Seed.

In the wheat trade, there are just three varieties: that which is properly defined as wheat and is also known as froment , See Froment, rye which is a distinct species of a quite inferior quality, See Rye, and a third type called maslin which is created from a mixture of the wheat and rye. See Maslin.

Those in the field add to these types those grains that are sown in March, such as barley, oats, field peas, and vetch and others. See these foregoing words. However, in order to distinguish them, they qualify them as little wheats

Corn and buckwheat are grains also referred to as wheat . The former is called either Turkish or Indian wheat , the latter black wheat . See Turkish and Black Wheat.

Wheat is produced principally in Europe and even there, not everywhere. It is also grown in Egypt, several small regions of Africa, along the Barbary shores, and a few places in North America where the forests have been cleared, such as New France, New England, and Arcadia.

In the rest of the world, corn and rice are dominant. In some places on the American continent and its islands, simple root crops such as potatoes and manioc are favored. See Potato and Manioc.

At a certain epoch, Egypt was the most fertile site for wheat . We know from the accounts preserved in religious texts to what degree it had this reputation from earliest times. And from secular records generated while under Roman rule, we learn that this land was called the nursing mother of Rome and Italy . France, England, and Poland seem now to have taken the place of Egypt, and it is on their abundance and fertility that the majority of the nations of Europe subsist

It is the received wisdom that in the first centuries of world history, the only nourishment came from the earth and the tassel. Some scholars added to this that variety of nut which produced the beech, called fagus in Latin, from the Greek ɸaɣυ meaning “I eat.” They claim that our forbears did not use wheat ; that they had neither the art to prepare it nor to render it edible. See Baker.

It is said that Ceres made wheat known to man, an act that put her among the gods. Others attributed this gift to Triptolemus, the son of Celeus, king of the Eleusinians. Still others would have it that Ceres discovered wheat while Triptolemus invented the art of sowing and cultivating it.

Diodorus of Sicily said that it was Isis. Respecting this, Polydorus Virgil observed that he did not take issue with the others since Isis and Ceres were the same. The Athenians claimed that it was they who had originated this art. The Cretans and the Sicilians aspired to the same glory, as did the Egyptians. Some believed that the claim of the Sicilians was better founded, since Sicily was the home of Ceres, and that this goddess taught this secret to the Athenians after having learned it from the Sicilians.

Still others claimed that Ceres first visited Attica and then passed it on to Crete, and then finally to Sicily. However this may be, the preponderance of historians maintains that it was in Egypt that the art of wheat cultivation originated. For there is no doubt that there was wheat in the Orient long before the advent of Ceres. For confirmation, See articles on Froment, Rye, Spelt, Maslin, and others regarding the choice of the soil, the cultivation, and the relevant specialized topics of agriculture.

To preserve wheat , it is necessary that it be well dried and kept clean. The storage space must have openings to the north and to the east and vents above. Care should be taken to stir every two weeks more or less during the first six months. After, it will be necessary to attend to it only once a month. At the end of two years, it will no longer be susceptible to heat, hence only proper ventilation and humidification need be assured. See Granary.

Shortly after the siege of Metz by Henry II, the Duke of Epernon caused a huge store of grain to be gathered in a citadel, where it remained until 1707. Although the citadel had been constructed in the reign of Henry III, there was still a substantial amount remaining. From this, bread was made which the king, the dauphin, and their retinue ate during their passage through the city.

One of the factors that contribute importantly to the preservation of wheat is the crust formed over the entire exposed surface of the grain through the process of germination. This crust sometimes reaches a thickness as great as an inch and a half. You could walk on the crust of the grain from Metz without leaving a dent. There is to be seen at Sedan a storehouse cut into a rock in which the humidity is quite high. A substantial pile of wheat has been here for 110 years. Its formidable crust is one foot thick.

There are some granaries at Chalons that have preserved wheat for 30 or 40 years.

Choose the best appearing wheat from the best available harvest. After having processed it, make a pile as large as the floor on which it rests. On top of this place a three-inch layer of finely powdered lime. Then sprinkle this with a watering can so as to form a crust on the wheat . The exposed grains will germinate and produce stems a foot and a half high that will wither in the winter. Avoid touching except when absolutely necessary.