GRAIN CROPS - World Food: Production and Use - page 97

It is estimated that barley was domesticated before 8500 BC with harvest of wild
species as early as 10,000 BC . There is one two-row “wild type” of barley growing
in this area considered to be the “true” ancestor of modern two- and six-rowed types
of barley. The evolution from two- to six-rowed barley is considered to be a result
of mutations of only three genes, a relatively simple change in plant evolutionary
terms.
3.3.5 History
Early movement of bread wheat probably was in a mixture with emmer carried by
hunters or migrating tribes. It has been found in archeological sites in Syria dated at
7000 BC , Turkey dated at 5000 BC , England dated at 3500 BC , and China dated at
3500 BC . Wheat was introduced to North America by Christopher Columbus on
his second trip around 1493 and later by Spanish soldiers in Mexico. It found a
favorable climate, and production increased to the extent that surplus grain was
being exported from Mexico in 1735. Colonists in New England had problems
with wheat crop failures after its introduction in 1620 but within a few years were
producing enough to trade with other colonists. As new immigrants came to North
America, they brought seeds of wheat from their homeland. The result was a
large variety of wheat types from around the world being cultivated in the
Midwest. Most of these wheat varieties were soft red winter and soft white winter
types. This was due to two principal factors: (1) Soft wheat varieties yielded more
grain per hectare than hard types and (2) milling technology had been developed
to handle soft wheat types.
Barley is believed to have been domesticated earlier than wheat, around 8500
BC . Tools found in archeological sites dated at around 10,000 BC could have been
used to cut heads of grasses, such as barley. Wooden sickles have been found at
one site dated at 9000 BC . Evidence has been found that barley was cultivated
in Spain in 5000 BC , England in 3000 BC , and China in 7000 BC . Barley was prob-
ably preferred to wheat before 100 BC when the practice of making bread with
yeast was introduced in Greece and Rome. Movement of barley around the
world in modern times parallels that of wheat. It was first introduced in North
America by Christopher Columbus, with the main uses being for malting and live-
stock feed. Barley is better suited than wheat to areas with less rainfall, and so it
was produced for grain in the drier western regions of the United States. It is inter-
esting to note that before prohibition was enacted in 1918 much of the barley grain
went into the malting industry. In 1919 the total barley production dropped but
quickly increased in following years when farmers realized that it was a high-
quality livestock feed.
In about 1305, Edward I of England decreed that one inch should be the measure
of three barleycorns, and English shoe sizing began; thus a child's shoe that
measured 13 barleycorns became a size 13.