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Large numbers of candidate effectors are being identified by genome sequencing of fungal pathogens and in planta expression studies. These effectors are both a boon and a curse for pathogens as they modulate the host cellular environment or suppress defense response to allow fungal growth as well as become targets of plant resistance (R) proteins. Recognition of a fungal effector by a plant R protein triggers a hypersensitive reaction (HR) leading to death of plant cells in and around the infection site, thus preventing further proliferation of the pathogen. Such HR induction has been used as an indicator of effector activity in functional assays of candidate effectors in dicots based on Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression. However, the Agrobacterium assay is not functional in cereal leaves. We therefore have adapted an alternative assay based on effector protein delivery using the type III secretion system (T3SS) of a non-pathogenic Pseudomonas spp. for use in wheat and other cereals. Here, we describe protocols for delivery of effector proteins into wheat and barley cells using the AvrRpm1 T3SS signal in the engineered non-pathogenic Pseudomonas fluorescens strain Effector-to-Host Analyzer (EtHAn). For ease of making expression clones we have generated the GATEWAY cloning compatible vectors. A calmodulin-dependent adenylate cyclase (Cya) reporter protein can be used as an effective marker for fusion protein delivery into wheat and barley by this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant breeders around the globe emphasize on improving yield, adaptation, disease resistance and quality in conventional management systems where the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides is routine and thus, precluding selection for traits conferring competitive ability. This Chapter focuses on breeding wheat cultivars for disease resistance, grain quality, allelopathy and earliness for organically managed lands. The combined effect of allelopathy and competitive ability can determine the competitiveness of a given crop species to achieve maximum weed suppression. Weed suppressive rice cultivars have been developed and released for commercial cultivation in USA and China, whereas breeding efforts are being done in various parts of the world including Canada to develop weed suppressive/competitive wheat and barley ideotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to develop a root morphological model in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and the realistic visualization of root growth under different soil conditions in wheat. Based on the topology of the wheat root system, historical literature and experimental data, a root morphological model in wheat was developed preliminarily using thermal time as a driving factor, including sub-models of root emergence, root growth rate, and root axis curvature. Based on 3D visualization technology, a three-dimensional visualization model of the root axis in wheat was developed by using the platform of VC++.net and OpenGL library, including sub-models of geometry, texture mapping, and light rendering. Integrated the established root morphological model and the visualization model, the three-dimensional visualization of a root system in wheat under different soil conditions was realized. This study lays a foundation for further development of a visualization system for the whole wheat plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a consequence of future climate change, agriculture is likely to be affected, which would also lead to risk of hunger and water resource scarcity with enhanced climate variability. Currently, the estimated population of Bangladesh stands at over 143.4 million and is likely to be 214.6 million in 2050. To keep pace with population growth and shrinking land resource base, the food production needs to be doubled by the year 2020. Cereal production more than doubled in the last 25 years and the production gains were achieved mainly due to yield increases. A simulation study was conducted to assess the climate change related -vulnerability of food grain production in Bangladesh. Four climate change scenarios (baseline, GFDL−TR = Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Transient; HadCM2 = Hadley Centre Unified Model2 Transient ensemble and UKTR = UK Met. Office/Hadley Centre Transient) were used. Simulation runs were made for high yield varieties of rice for Aus (March−August), Aman (August−November), and Boro (February−July), the traditional growing seasons, using the CERES-Rice model. Simulation was -carried out for wheat, which is grown from November through March, using the CERES-Wheat model. The detrimental effect of temperature rise was observed even with elevated CO2 levels. Considerable spatial and temporal variations were also noted. Impact of these changes on food security was also assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers step-by-step instructions for malting a wheat.

The influence of historical farming practices, successful insect biological control programs, pest-resistant cultivars, and the benefits/risks associated with pesticide use shaped the development of IPM programs in the US during the 20th century. Recently, in several cropping systems, development of pest management programs that focus on deployment of transgenic crops have altered those based on pest ecology. Current IPM programs in the US are delivered to stakeholders through a network of private and public organizations, often with federal oversight dictated by national initiatives and funding programs. The impacts of these IPM programs vary among cropping systems and are often defined by specific management goals. In this chapter we review available information on US corn, wheat and cotton IPM programs, and discuss dissemination approaches, adoption trends among stakeholders, and the impact on production agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing salinization and desertification of previously productive land, new sources of salt tolerance are needed for crops grown in areas with saline sub-soils, or with rising water tables that bring salts to the surface. Salt tolerance is needed in perennial species that might be used to lower the water tables and so control salinization, and also for annual crops providing food and forage. Salts in the soil water inhibit plant growth for two reasons. First, the presence of salt in the soil solution reduces the ability of the plant to take up water, and this leads to reductions in the growth rate. This is the osmotic or water-deficit effect of salinity. Second, if excessive amounts of salt enter the plant in the transpiration stream there will be injury to cells in the transpiring leaves and this may cause further reductions in growth. This is the salt-specific or toxic effect of salinity. As salinity is often caused by rising water tables, it can be accompanied by waterlogging. Waterlogging itself inhibits plant growth and also reduces the ability of the roots to exclude salt, thus increasing the uptake rate of salt and its accumulation in shoots. Vast natural variation exists within crop species and their close relatives which is largely unexplored. This biodiversity could provide improved germplasm for salt-affected land. However, screening large germplasm collections is difficult and more targeted and feasible selection techniques are required. Knowledge of the target environment and understanding of the genetic basis for improvement will help to choose the most appropriate screening method. Towards this end, the different types of salinity and the physiological and molecular mechanisms for salt tolerance are briefly summarised in this review. There is great scope for improving the tolerance of important food and feed crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity of arable land is one of the major abiotic stresses, which along with the world population is increasing simultaneously at a very rapid pace. In some of the developing countries especially those located in the arid regions, more than 50% of their arable land is affected while it is anticipated that about 6.8 billion of anticipated 8 billion people would be living in these countries. Wheat and wheat based products are their major staple food which needs to be increased by 40% if food security is to be ensured to this much population. This is possible only through cultivation of saline lands provided; salt tolerant wheat varieties are available. Efforts made so for in this direction have not produced results of any practical signifi cance despite the fact that tribe Triticeae to which bread wheat belongs; possess tremendous potential for salt tolerance that has been extensively and practically identified, tested and transferred to wheat cultivars with proven expression of tolerance. In this paper we are discussing (i) the potential of salt tolerance in wild wheat grasses and genome contributing species of Triticeae, (ii) success related with practical utilization of this potential and (iii) future prospects of using Triticeae as potential source of salt tolerance improvement in wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, 20 genetically diverse genotypes of wheat were evaluated for salt (0.0% and 0.3%; EC 2.8 and 11.4 mS/cm, respectively) and heat stress (15°C and 25°C) tolerance. The petridishes were irrigated with 5 ml of test solution after draining the previous day's solution for the fi rst 5 days which were later increased to 10 ml. On the 11th day, the experiment was terminated and the observations were recorded on germination percentage, fresh weight of shoot/seedling (mg), fresh weight of root/seedling (mg), dry weight of shoot/seedling (mg), dry weight of root/seedling (mg). The data for Na+, K+, Ca2+, Na+/K+ ratio, Na+/Ca2+ ratio, Cu2+, Zn2+, Mn2+ contents in roots and shoots were also recorded. Salt and high temperature stress reduced the growth of all genotypes of wheat. However, cultivars differed signifi cantly to both salt and temperature stress. Mukta, Raj-3765, Sonalika, Kharchia-65 were found to be best suited to salinity, while PBW-226 and Raj-2535 were very sensitive to salinity and higher temperature. Accumulation of Cu2+, Zn2+ and Mn2+ was positively correlated with all other attributes. However, Na+ was negatively correlated with K+ and Ca2+. Therefore, in order to breed effi cient genotypes which can withstand the effects of salinity the positive association between Na+ and other contents will have to be broken. This can be done by biparental mating design or recurrent selections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CERES-Wheat model was applied to simulate yields from 2005 to 2007 at Xiaotangshan of northern Beijing. Experiment datum required by CERESWheat model were all collected and checked. In addition, 1974-2004 climate records were taken and calculated as predictive weather scenario used for yield forecasting. The model calibration adopted simulation results of 2005 and which of the other two years were used for validation. Model calibration was made through comparing the field-observed and model-simulated results at five stages: (i) dates of anthesis and maturity; (ii) values of LAI; (iii) biomass yields of anthesis and maturity; (iv) dry matter of leaf, stem, and grain; (v) final wheat yield. This study revealed that CERES-Wheat model can be used for the prediction of wheat growth and yield in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeds synthesize and accumulate variable amounts of carbohydrate, lipid, and protein to support their growth, development, and germination. The process of desiccation during seed maturation preserves these nutrients for long periods, making seeds an excellent food source and livestock feed. Over the millennia, human selection for high-yielding seed crops has resulted in dramatic increases in the accumulation of valuable nutrients and the reduction of toxic compounds and chemicals that affect the taste of foods made from seeds. However, in some cases, selection has resulted in a reduction in the amount or quality of certain nutrients. Many types of seeds are adequate in one nutritional aspect but inadequate in others. Genetic engineering has created the opportunity to use the beneficial traits of certain types of seeds and ameliorate the negative aspects of others. This chapter summarizes the progress that has been made toward the improvement of seed and nonseed crops using transgenic expression of seed storage proteins. We explain the limitations of these approaches and describe promising areas of research such as reduction of allergenic seed components. We also discuss economic and ethical issues that impact this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How vainly men themselves amaze To win the palm, the oak, or bays; And their uncessant labours see Crown'd from some single herb or tree, Whose short and narrow verged shade Does prudently their toils upbraid; While all flowers and all trees do close To weave the garlands of repose. The common aims of plants and animals are the conversion of energy to their own purposes and the perpetuation of their species. All energy in the solar system ultimately comes from the Sun as light emission, and organisms that can use this source directly belong to one of the autotrophic groups, which are independent of outside sources of organic substances. These direct solar energy converters, or phototrophs, are almost exclusively plants, the rare exceptions being found among the bacteria. An example of this latter esoteric group is Halobacterium halobium. But not all plants are autotrophic. A major division, or phylum, of the plant kingdom are the mycophyta, or fungi, which include mushrooms, moulds and yeasts. These heterotrophs are all either saprophytes, obtaining nutriment in solution from the decaying tissues of plants or animals, or parasites. The latter group are important agents of disease, mainly in other plants but occasionally in animals. We will not be concerned here with such plants, and neither will we consider all phototrophic plants. The algae, which are simple photosynthetic plants, were formerly classified as belonging to a single taxonomic division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deliberate introduction of a new plant pathogen into an agro ecosystem could have serious negative impacts on human health, crop production and trade. Long-term effects on societies and communities surrounding the agricultural environment and agricultural industry are also possible. Invasions by new pathogens significantly increase the costs of short and long-term disease management. The production of many crops worldwide and outside their origin, together with the intensive trade of agricultural inputs and products, has increased the risk of exposure to new pathogens wherever crops are cultivated. Many of the major food staples are grown worldwide. Thus, the significance of a disease outbreak and its devastating consequences are magnified on a global scale, far beyond the region that produces that crop. The significance of crop biosecurity can increase or diminish along four major sectors (local, national, regional and global), depending upon the geographical location, the size of the area, and the nature of the agricultural system. Various aspects of crop bio security threats across these sectors are discussed below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by soil, variety, weather and management databases and integrating process-based growth simulation model, morphological model and visualization model, a model-based digital and visual wheat growth system (MDVWGS) was developed using component-based software and visualization techniques. The system was programmed by the .Net framework with the language of C# and CsGL Library was used for realizing 2D and 3D graphics application and visualization. The implemented system could be used for predicting growth processes and visualizing morphological architecture of wheat plant under various environments, genotypes and management strategies, and has the functions as data management, dynamic simulation, strategy evaluation, real-time prediction, temporal and spatial analysis, visualization output, expert consultation and system help. The MDVWGS should be useful for construction and application of digital farming system and provide a precise and scientific tool for cultivar design, cultural regulation and productivity evaluation under different growing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We must also take into account the wheat pasta eaten in northern China and Japan, countries usually thought of as consumers of rice or pasta derived from rice. TROPICAL TUCK OF SOUTHEAST ASIA Asia, sprawling over the eastern portion of the Eurasian land mass as the largest of the world's continents was, not surprisingly, the site of many more Neolithic upheavals than those that took place in the Fertile Crescent. Far to its south and east – in East and Southeast Asia (Indochina) – parts of this vast region can claim a close second in agricultural development. Unfortunately, monsoon Asia, with perhaps the best claim, lies in the tropical belt where artifacts do not preserve well. Consequently there are considerable gaps in the archeological record of foodstuffs and much remains speculative. Banana and plantain It has been proposed that in the islands of Melanesia – especially Papua New Guinea – around 9,000 years ago, or even earlier, bananas were cultivated by Australoid peoples whose predecessors reached these Asian outposts by crossing Indonesian land bridges that were later submerged. Geographically there is no problem with this assertion. The wild ancestors of the domesticated banana, Musa acuminata and M. balbisiana, (old usage designated the domesticated banana M. sapientum – “fruit of the wise men” – and the plantain M. paradisiaca – “heavenly fruit”) were located in a region extending from New Guinea to Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization. HUNTER-GATHERERS, who had previously made a living based on their solid knowledge of plant life and an understanding of animal behavior, continued to follow many of their old ways even as they engaged in agricultural activities. Consequently, the Neolithic Revolution, as we have come to call the invention of agriculture, although the most momentous of humankind's achievements, was not revolutionary in that it brought abrupt change. Rather, beginning about 11,000 years ago, grain gathering began to shade into grain cultivation in the Jericho Valley and, at about that time or a little later, hunting started giving way to herding in the Zagros Mountains. Millennia later surpluses were generated, giving rise to agricultural civilizations such as of Mesopotamia, Egypt, northern China, and the Indus Valley, and with them came more complex and stratified societies. It is probably not coincidental that all of these first civilizations emerged within a relatively few centuries of one another, despite the distances separating them. Each one was located on a river and dependent on annual flooding for moist, rich soils rather than on the vagaries of rainfall. Agriculture was simplified because there was little need for plowing or manuring and, as a result, despite occasional famines, populations grew larger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bread is a very simple manufactured article whose rise in the oven is closely related to the rise of the sun in the sky. AFRICAN VIANDS Egypt and North Africa For thousands of years after the beginnings of Mesopotamian agriculture, an abundance of game animals, lake and river fish, and wild cereals in North Africa did little to discourage a foraging way of life. Hunter-gatherer groups adopted livestock herding, yet continued to gather wild plants – especially the root parts of sedges, rushes, and cattails in riparian environments. But around 5000 bce. Desertification ushered people into fertile oases, and especially into the Nile Valley, where periodic migrations from the northwest brought knowledge of the Middle Eastern plant complex. It was in that valley that first barley and later wheat began to flourish, although until farming took firm hold, Nile fish (particularly catfish) and root foods continued to sustain many. By around 4000 bce. Desertification ushered people into fertile oases, and especially into the Nile Valley, where periodic migrations from the northwest brought knowledge of the Middle Eastern plant complex. It was in that valley that first barley and later wheat began to flourish, although until farming took firm hold, Nile fish (particularly catfish) and root foods continued to sustain many. By around 4000 bce, however, small states and kingdoms had arisen, supported by “taxes” levied on peasant farmers on food that went directly into the storehouses of the rulers. The small principalities gradually evolved into the two large states of Upper and Lower Egypt that were fused around 3100 bce under the first of the pharaohs. Exploitation quickened of a peasantry that now had nowhere to go. Desertification had trapped them in the Nile Valley, where the Pharaoh owned all of the land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 7 of the book "Handbook of Precision Farming: Principles and Applications" is presented. It focused on site-specific management of leaf pathogens in cereals using fungicides. Plant pathogens are expected to reduce worldwide crop yields of almost 20 percent. Several factors that may reduce inoculum and delay epidemic development include crop rotation and other sanitation practices. A chart is presented that ranks wheat diseases in various regions. Integrated pest management schemes have called for a complex decision-making system, and had set a standard for replacing the use of chemical products.

Chapter XX of the book "Roughing it in the Bush" is presented. It highlights the disappointment felt by the author and her husband when a heavy rainfall spoiled their wheat crop in the summer of 1834 in Canada. It also focuses on the problems encountered by her family brought by the disaster such as increased debt and their inability to pay their servants.

Chapter one of part seven of the book "The Best of Virginia Farms Cookbook and Tour Book: Recipes, People, Places" by CiCi Williamson is presented. It explores the production of winter wheat in Virginia which is usually planted in the fall for spring harvest. It also highlights several recipes using wheat products including Aunt Silence's Jumbles, Kenmore Gingerbread and Gadsby's Tavern Sally Lunn Bread.

Our goal at the end of this enterprise is to propose bounded generalizations that are sensitive to variation and that avoid essentialized categories. Coffee was not an all-powerful master that demanded that its subjects follow a specific life-style and mindset. Our findings are often made in opposition to grand theories, such as dependency and modernization, and we are thus cautious about putting forward alternative models, especially at a time when comprehensive metanarratives are suspect. However, we also believe that we should not lapse into the nihilistic belief that every case is unique, every time different. We have to start with empirical work, based on realistic and historically sensitive categories. From these we can inductively create generalizations, which can allow us to attempt deductive reasoning. Despite our stress on variation and agency, we believe that useful conclusions can be drawn from all this, stimulating comparisons that look for patterns as well as for differences. Indeed, we hope that this volume might even help guide a minister of development in a contemporary coffee-producing country. He or she would consider consulting producers' associations, pickers' organizations, women's groups, ethnic clubs, processors, marketing boards, commercial intermediaries, internal transporters, exporters, and shippers, rather than dictate a “one-size-fits-all” policy from above. Such an enlightened minister would see that variation is determined not just by happenstance and contingency, and that local conditions and experiences affect the forces and consequences of production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The town of Bukoba has seen better days. Located on the shore of Lake Victoria in the northwestern corner of Tanzania, Bukoba has suffered from years of civil war in neighboring Uganda and Rwanda and from decades of neglect by the distant government in Dar es Salaam. Following German rule from 1889 to 1916 and a British mandate to 1961, this small town was exceptionally prosperous at independence, as were the Haya farmers in the surrounding countryside. Bukoba was the largest coffee-producing region in the country, and investments in trade and education seemed to auger well for the future. Fate has been unkind to Bukoba since 1961. Its coffee economy now supports a tedious status quo of just getting by, rather than a dream of sustained development. Farming is carried out on a small scale by many peasant families, and few have the resources to supply modest inputs that could make a difference to coffee output, such as pumps, fertilizers, and pesticides. This type of small-scale, undercapitalized, market-oriented agriculture is one of the principal legacies of colonialism in rural Africa. This chapter emphasizes the ability of Haya to make their voices heard and influence the way that coffee was integrated into their society. For all the tensions in the relationship between colonial state and peasants, there was an underlying consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction In the mid-1890s, the nascent coffee industry of Chiapas, Mexico, was in crisis. Encouraged by high prices on world markets, by the Mexican government's offer of vast extensions of fertile land for as little as two pesos a hectare, and by the promise of abundant cheap labor, Mexican and foreign entrepreneurs had planted more than four million coffee trees in the state between the late 1880s and 1895, most of them after 1892. By 1895, some 1.1 million were already in production, with 3.2 million more scheduled to begin bearing by 1899. Millions more were in seedbeds and nurseries, guaranteeing that Chiapas's productive capacity would double by the end of the century, and continue increasing well into the 1900s. The problem was that this sudden increase in production required a similarly rapid growth in the work force. Most of the new fincas, however, had been planted in the lightly populated mountains of Chiapas's southern Pacific coast, the Soconusco, far from an adequate source of workers. Even so, the planters and their backers, knowing they had five to seven years before their trees matured, had been confident they would be able to mobilize the large, seasonal labor forces they would need well before their first harvests. From the beginning it had been assumed that the necessary workers could be drawn from the densely populated Maya communities of Chiapas's undeveloped Central Highlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern end of the Red Sea was the cradle of coffee cultivation and consumption in the world. Wild coffee gathered in Ethiopia was already traded at the end of the fifteenth century, but progress was slow. In the second half of the sixteenth century, a true coffee economy emerged. Yemeni peasants began to cultivate coffee intensively on terraces, carved out of the steep mountains rising above the Tihama coastal plain. Effective marketing networks linked Yemeni ports to Jiddah and Cairo. By the seventeenth century, the coffee trade had superseded the declining spice trade. Fed by silver bullion originating in Spanish America, coffee played a major role in commerce between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. To be sure, the development of coffee estates in the Indian Ocean and the New World from the eighteenth century progressively diminished Yemen's share of world coffee output, but the Red Sea trading network remained in place until the end of the nineteenth century. The Origins of the Coffee Economy Ethiopian forests, especially to the west of the Great Rift Valley, abound in wild arabica coffee, but we know very little about the origins of consumption there. Coffee was probably long picked from the wild, and it was used to an increasing extent from the fourteenth century by the Islamized peoples of southeastern Ethiopia. The coffee habit diffused to the Rasulid sultanate in Yemen, which had strong commercial and cultural connections with Muslim kingdoms in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of coffee too often reify the international market. It is seen as an exogenous force that imposes itself on local producers who are powerless to do anything but obey its dictates. The “law of supply and demand” is seen as a structural dictator. There has been a substantial debate on the extent to which changes have been occasioned by changes in production processes (the creation of surplus) or in demand induced by changing consumption patterns or caused by commercial intermediaries. Who in the commodity chain is in control of prices, and has this changed over the centuries? A second issue, which may appear only a technical subsidiary of the first two but is in fact central, is the creation of international standards and grades. How homogeneous is the commodity and how uniform internationally are the definitions? Do people mean the same thing when they say “coffee”? This chapter analyzes the transformation of coffee from Arab monopoly to European colonial product to the sustenance of Latin American national states to, finally, a globally produced multinational commodity by asking the following questions: (1) What was the relative importance of changing patterns of demand and production in transforming the market, or, to put it another way, what were the relative roles of culture and technology in driving change? (2) What were the relative roles of private and public actors in creating the market? (3) What forces drove standardization, grading, and other market conventions? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of settlement Sedentary settlement in Scandinavia was predominantly agrarian during the Iron Age and the Middle Ages. Grain cultivation and animal husbandry were the basic means of providing sustenance, but were complemented, according to local conditions, by various forms of hunting, fishing and gathering. We have seen (Chapter 1) that large parts of Scandinavia are marginal for agriculture. In high-lying areas and in the far north climate does not permit grain growing. Areas of high elevation also lack the necessary conditions for pastoralism, which can, on the other hand, be successfully practised in Iceland and also in favourable locations in Greenland. Nevertheless, the Nordic climate is considerably more favourable than at the same latitudes in many other parts of the globe. This is mainly due to the effects of the Gulf Stream. The positive difference between mean annual temperature in various parts of Sweden and global mean temperature at the same latitudes is between 5 and 7°C. The distribution of sedentary settlement at the beginning of the Middle Ages, i.e. around AD 1000, can be established in various ways. The archaeological record, mainly cemeteries and dwelling sites, points to the extent and locations of such settlement. With the exception of Finland, types of place-names can be used to determine the age of settlements; for example, certain types of suffixes in place-names belong largely to the Viking Age and earlier periods, others to the Middle Ages and later periods. However, there are also types of names that were widely used during both the Viking and Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early hunters The first inhabitants of Scandinavia migrated from the south, south-east and east following the retreating continental ice margin. In southern Scandinavia – i.e. present-day Denmark, southern Sweden and southern Norway – the late Palaeolithic hunters of the northern continental plains extended their hunting trips northwards in pursuit of the reindeer herds. On the Baltic plains, east of the Baltic Ice Lake, the vanguard settlement came from the south, from the eastern territories of the central European reindeer hunters. On the emerging southern Finnish coasts and in the Karelian zone these hunters met with people advancing from the south-east and east. In the north there was probably migration eastwards through the Arctic zone, although there is no clear archaeological evidence for this. In Denmark and on the southern coasts of the Scandinavian peninsula the reindeer hunters belonged, archaeologically, to the so-called Hamburg, Ahrensburg and Federmesser cultures, which were already well established in the northern European lowlands. The most typical material manifestation of these cultures is the tanged point made of a long flint blade. Characteristic of the early Hamburg culture is also the so-called ‘Zinken’ artefact, a blade with a peculiar curved peak on one or both ends which was obviously used to produce points and harpoons from the long bones of reindeer. The northernmost finds of these tools derive from a complex of sites in the Finjasjö area in Skåne which demonstrate the northern limit of the Hamburg reindeer hunters' trips about 14,000 years ago. During a warm spell in about 9000 BC (Allerød) within the generally still cold Late Glacial Period (Dryas) (see Chapter 1), elk were roaming the open forests of southern Scandinavia and were hunted, together with reindeer, by the people whose culture has been named after the finds at Bromme in Skåne; this was a northern extension of the Hamburg culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 12 of the book "Traditional American Farming Techniques: A Ready Reference on All Phases of Agriculture for Farmers of the United States and Canada," by Frank D. Gardner is presented. It provides information on wheat production in the U.S. Among the factors that influence the milling quality of wheat are rainfall, temperature and humidity. It suggests ways of treating fungus diseases in corn.