WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 41 



fore the war, Canada's fraction of the total wheat produc- 

 tion of the world was less than one-sixteenth of the whole. 

 In the year 1918, the farmers of both Canada and the 

 United States, with a view to winning the war, made a spe- 

 cial effort to increase the wheat crop, with the result that 

 the combined wheat harvest of the two countries amounted 

 to more than 1,100,000,000 bushels. The following were 

 the crops resulting from the " food offensive " as esti- 

 mated in October : ^^ 



United States 918,920,000 bushels 



Canada 210,000,000 bushels 



In this competition to succor the Allies, Canada was un- 

 fortunately handicapped by a prolonged drought, whereas 

 in the United States the weather conditions were about 

 normal. Thus it came to pass that in 1918 the United 

 States produced upwards of four times as much wheat as 

 Canada. However, there is still very much good wheat 

 land in western Canada untouched by the plow, and some 

 day Canada may produce more wheat than the United 

 States. It is even possible that at no very distant date 

 the United States may look to her northern neighbor for 

 a large part of her daily bread. 



II. Wheat Growing 



12 



Winter wheat has a higher yield than spring wheat, 

 wherever it can be successfully grown. However, on ac- 



11 The United States figures are taken from the Monthly Crop 

 Report for October, 1918, issued at Washington, and giving indica- 

 tions as for October 1 ; and the Canadian figures are taken from a 

 press bulletin issued Oct. 31 by the Dominion Census Bureau. 



12 For valuable assistance in writing this Section, I am indebted 

 to Professor John Bracken of the Field Husbandry Department of 

 the University of Saskatchewan. 



