WHEAT 69 



Intermountain wheat district, (9) the North Pacific wheat 

 district, and (10) the South Pacific wheat district. In 

 the Canadian portion, especially, the boundary lines must 

 be regarded as simply arbitrary or very approximate, 

 because of the large areas included and the very recent 

 development of its central and western districts. The 

 characteristics of each of these districts, varieties now 

 grown, and improvements needed are next discussed 

 (Fig. 22). 



63. Northeastern Spring wheat district. In this 

 district are included approximately all of Quebec, Prince 

 Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the eastern 

 portion of Ontario to the Albany River, Maine, New Hamp- 

 shire, Vermont, northern New York, and the northern 

 peninsula of Michigan. The winter wheats are rather 

 soft and starchy and the spring wheats semi-hard. The 

 color of the grain is yellowish white, amber, or red. The 

 soil, especially if not heavily fertilized, does not possess 

 the necessary amount of alkali, phosphate, and humified 

 organic matter required for the production of hard, gluti- 

 nous wheats. Moreover, the climate is against their 

 production, being too moist and cool in summer. Never- 

 theless in New York and Ontario, by means of the plenti- 

 ful application of fertilizers and the unusual attention 

 paid to seed selection in this district, a large amount of 

 good wheat is annually grown in proportion to the entire 

 area. Forty or forty-five years ago, when the area given 

 to wheat culture in this country was much more limited 

 than at present, and when the hard red wheats were not 

 so popular, New York had a deservedly great reputation 

 both for her wheat production and flour industry. The 

 fact that so high a standard is maintained in the wheats 

 of this district in the face of adverse natural conditions, 



