PRODUCTION OF WHEAT 



121 



Middlings usually sell for about five per cent more and shorts 

 for about five per cent less than bran. So far as the ruminants 

 are concerned, these values are not the result of experimental 

 evidence. For ruminants and horses, the mixing of bran and 

 middlings is probably advisable. Shorts are to be avoided on 

 account of the practice of millers in adding the sweepings and 

 other inferior products.^ The Maine Station has shown that foi 

 swine, middlings are much more desirable than bran, undoubt- 

 edly due to the less percentage of crude fiber in the former.^ 



II. PRODUCTION AND MARKETING. 



i8i. Wheat Crop of the World. — The production of wheat in 

 the world has varied during the years 1898 to 1902 inclusive 

 from 2,610 to 3,124 million bushels per annum, the average 

 yearly production being 2,869 million bushels. 



The following table gives the average annual production by 

 half decades by continents in million bushels ; 



Europe . 



North America 



Asia 



South America 



Australasia 



Africa 



Total . 



2,515 



2,868 



This table shows that, compared with the precedmg five 

 years, Australasia has made the largest percentage increase. 

 North America has made the largest actual increase in the 

 production of wheat. The production of wheat in Africa has 

 remained stationary, while in Asia it has fallen off seven per 



1 W. A. Henry: Feeds and Feeding, p. 130. 



2 Me. Rpt 1889, p. 82. 



