In addition to the three races of wheat mentioned above and belonging to the Emmer group, are three comparatively small uncommon races, viz.—Egyptian cone, Polish and Khorasan wheats.
The Egyptian cone wheats are endemic in Egypt ; they re semble the rivet wheats in their velvety leaves, and dorsally humped grain, but have short straw, comparatively short dense ears and are early.
Polish wheat is a tall-strawed kind endemic in Spain and spo radically found in other countries along the Mediterranean; the origin of the name Polish is ob scure. The empty glumes are of extraordinary length (t–i in.) ; the grains of the common vari eties which are very long and nar row, are used for the manufac ture of macaroni. Some Abyssin ian forms have short grains some what like those of Emmer wheats with which they appear to have relationship.
Khorasan wheat is a small race found only in limited amounts in Khorasan and parts of 'Iraq and Egypt. The ears are bearded and lax, with elongated, sharply keeled empty glumes and long narrow grain.
Bread Wheat.—This is by far the most important and most widely distributed race of wheats ; included in it are all the kinds from which the bread supply of the world is derived. Both bearded and beardless varieties are found and among the many hundreds of forms which are known there is seen the greatest variation in length and density of ear, form of empty glume, habit of growth, period of ripening, resistance to disease, adaptability to various climatic conditions, and cropping capacity. The gluten of the flour of these wheats is superior to that of all other races in the physical qualities upon which the manufacture of a large spongy loaf depends. So far as the bread-making qualities are concerned millers and bakers divide wheat into "strong" and "weak" varieties. To the former belong those in which the gluten is highly elastic, the bread made from them being especially porous and digestible; similar amounts of flour of "weak" wheats give smaller, denser and less easily digested loaves.
The great bread wheat countries are the United States, Canada, Russia, Argentina, India and Australia, but larger or smaller amounts are grown in all countries wherever wheats of any race can be cultivated.
Club Wheat.—This race is closely related to the preceding, re sembling it in grain qualities and general morphological char acters. The chief differences are seen in the ears which are very
short—often not more than two inches in length—with densely packed spikelets. Club wheats are widely distributed in mixture with the bread wheats, pure crops of them being uncommon except in Central Asia, China and the northern Pacific States of America.
Indian Dwarf Wheat.—A remarkable race of few varieties, sometimes erroneously classified with the club wheats from which they are quite distinct. The straw is short and stiff, and the ears dense with inflated empty glumes in which are enclosed small round grains. These wheats are almost entirely confined to northern India, where they are found to resist drought well.
Spelt or Dinkel.—The term "spelt" has unfortunately been employed in two different senses by botanists. It is given to all wheats in which the ear has a brittle rachis; in this sense it in cludes Einkorn, Emrner and Dinkel as well as the wild wheats mentioned below. It is also applied in a special sense to the Dinkel race alone (T. Spelta).
Typical Dinkel or Spelt (German, Spelz) has long lax ears, which may be bearded or beardless. On thrashing, the rachis breaks at the nodes, a single spikelet remaining attached to each internodal portion of the rachis. The spikelets usually contain two grains tightly enclosed in the glumes from which they can only be freed by special milling machinery. The empty glumes are tough, keeled and have a broad truncate apex.
Dinkel is a hardy wheat grown chiefly in south Germany, the Tyrol, parts of Switzerland and northern Spain. The naked grains are used in soups and to a lesser extent ground into flour for confectionery.