108 WHEAT 



Average production and yield per acre for 5 years, 1906-1910, 

 was as follows : 



Production, Average yield per 



bushels acre, bushels 



Winter wheat 450,129,600 15.4 



Spring wheat 243,186,800 13.5 



The winter and spring wheat regions are shown by Figs. 40 

 and 41. 



Advantages of Winter Wheat. Winter wheat has several ad- 

 vantages wherever it can be grown : (1) It is more productive ; (2) 

 labor is better distributed; (3) where the land is seeded to timothy, 

 the grass can be sown in fall. The principal limit to winter wheat 

 culture has been winter killing (p. 128), but during the past twenty- 

 five years the introduction of hardy varieties has rapidly extended 

 the winter wheat area northward and westward into the drier 

 regions. 



Wheat as a Bread Crop. In the United States there is an 

 average of 5.5 bushels of wheat consumed by each person, in England 

 about 6 bushels, in France about 8 bushels of wheat and 1 bushel of 

 rye per person, and in Germany 3.5 bushels of wheat and 5.5 bushels 

 of rye. More rye than wheat is also consumed in Eussia, but in 

 Europe, as a whole, about equal quantities of wheat and rye are con- 

 sumed. While India produces considerable wheat, the quantity is 

 small compared with her population. In India, rice, millet seed, and 

 surghum seed largely replace wheat as cereal food. Eice is also the 

 staple cereal food of the people of China, Japan, and the East Indies. 



QUESTIONS 



1. How does wheat rank in value? Production? 



2. Where is most wheat grown? 



3. How does this compare with corn? 



4. Is yield of wheat per acre increasing or decreasing? 



5. In what kind of region is wheat usually grown ? 



6. Where is the Wheat Belt in the United States? 



7. Compare with the Corn Belt. 



8. Where is wheat acreage increasing? Where decreasing? 



9. Is spring or winter wheat most important? Why? 



10. How much wheat used per person in United States? France? Germany? 



11. What are the other important cereals in the world? 



