30 THE FARMER'S OUTLOOK 



regarded rather as channels of outlet for the 

 produce of the plains than as opening up new 

 lands for cultivation. The higher range of prices 

 ruling while Canada's Western prairies have been 

 brought under the plough have been all in her 

 favour. A relatively high yield and a pro- 

 gressive population render Canada the most 

 reliable source to which wheat importing countries 

 have to look to for the future. The conditions 

 under which wheat cultivation is carried on to 

 some extent offset these favourable factors. 

 Comparing the proportion of winter to spring 

 wheat in the States and Canada, the total acreage 

 under wheat in the former is three-fifths winter 

 and two-fifths spring, whereas Canada's propor- 

 tion is one-tenth winter and nine-tenths spring. 

 Practically the entire acreage has to be sown as 

 early in April as the season will allow. Only the 

 farmer will appreciate the limitations which the 

 crowding of sowing and equally of harvesting 

 into a brief period impose. Compared to the 

 steady though lower yield of the United States, 

 the variations in the yield per acre in Canada is a 

 feature detracting from the reliability of this source 

 of supply, to which further reference is made later 

 on. Other circumstances of a different nature 

 point to some curtailment of the proportion of 

 acreage under wheat both in the newly-developed 

 lands and the older settled districts of the West. 



