42 



ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



count of climatic conditions, very little winter wheat is 

 grown in western Canada. The following Table shows the 

 acreage devoted to spring wheat and winter wheat respec- 

 tively in the three Prairie Provinces in the year 1918: ^' 



Number of Acres Devoted to Spring and Winter Wheat in 1918 



From this Table it is clear that such winter wheat as is 

 grown at all in the West is chiefly produced in Alberta, 

 and that the acreage devoted to winter wheat in the three 

 Prairie Provinces taken toijether amounted in 1918 to only 

 two-fifths of 1 per cent, of the total wheat acreage. West- 

 em Canada, therefore, as a whole, is a spring- wheat region. 

 The climatic factors which tend to kill winter wheat are: 

 (1) very low temperatures during the winter, (2) the rela- 

 tive absence of snow locally, (3) alternate freezing and 

 thawing in spring, and (4) drying winds in spring. 



The wheats sown in the spring are hard red varieties, the 

 chief sorts being Marquis and Red Fife. The winter 

 wheats, sown in the autumn, are chiefly Turkey Red and 

 Kharkov. In dry parts of southern Alberta and southern 

 Saskatchewan durum wheats are grown to a very small 

 extent, but their culture may be considerably increased in 

 the future. 



The virgin prairie is usually broken in the month of 

 June. Its surface is then cultivated and left uncropped 



13 Monthly Bulletin of Agricultural Statistics, Ottawa, August, 

 1918, pp. 222-223. 



