Maps and Diagrams of the World's Commerce 



The World's Commodities, — 2. Wheat, Rye and Maize. 



WORLDS ANNUAL WHEAT PRODUCTION, 



(Average of 5 years) 

 ( m sacks.) 



ITALY SPAIN ftRGEflTlNA ZMIiUA UK^HGDOM 



39000.000 29.000.000 ZI.OOO.OOO I7IXJ0.M0 W.OOOOCO 



FRA^CE 



AVERAGE YIELD PER ACRE 



L? 



NEW^EflLftWD U-KINQDOh N:THERL4NlJa GE1MN'' 

 lit 3M ?9 & fiDEHI«AnK 



HDW 



AUSTRIA 



TOTAL WORLDS ViHiM UMTED STATED RUSSIA 



630,000,000. 150.000.000 i26,00O.O00 &?,000,000 62,000.000 ^^^^^^^ 



?6I 



VALUE OF BRITISH IMPORTS OF WKEAT i FLOUR 



FRANCE 

 198 



IS a 



UMTEQSTftrES tRGtnUKA 

 \3Q 102 



^L^^^l UNITED STATES AUSTffALIA CANADA 



OTHEff 



1&.350.00O i4.?70.000 ^3,065.000 ^"'^J^eg^o'Qg 



i 



TOTAL UNITED KINGDQW IMPORTS 



i:4L,3;4.ooo 



RUSSIA 

 X9.Z00.O0O 



APGENTIHA 

 19,56B.000 



INDl.^ 



i7.6aa.ooo 



WHEAT {Triticuni vulgate) is simply a grass improved by 

 centuries of cultivation. Grown throughout the temperate zones, 

 it thrives best on warm dry plains, with a soil stiff enough to support 

 the plant and retain the moisture, though, being deep rooted, it 

 suffers less than most cereals from drought. As an article of food 

 wheat is second in importance only to rice, and forms the staple 

 foodstuff of all civilized peoples, American wheats are excep- 

 tionally hard because of the fine, dry climate, and this feature has 

 led to the general introduction of roller mills, which produce a 

 whiter, though less easily digested, fiour than the old mill stones. 

 Hungarian wheat produces the finest flour. 



Chief Sources of Supply : The principal wheat areas of the 

 world are in Russia and the United States, sometimes the one and 

 sometimes the other country yielding the larger crop. The latest 

 official estimates from the whole of the 72 Governments of the 

 Russian Empire represent 83,000,000 quarters, the United States 

 wheat crop being 84,000,000 quarters and that of the British Empire 

 65,000,000 quarters. France and Algeria f(^llow with 40,500,000 

 quarters, Austria- Hungary with under 25 million quarters. No 

 other country produces an aggregate of 20 million quarters, though 

 Argentina is fast approaching this figure. Of the no million acres 

 under wheat in Europe much more than half is to be found in 

 Russia, Hungary and the Danubian States. In the diagram of 

 British imports of wheat (given above), the United States output is 

 abnormally low, owing to a bad harvest in 1905. In the United 

 Kingd(jm there is a steady decrease in the area devoted to wheat- 

 Although nowhere for an area of equal size is so high a yield (31 



bushels per acre) obtained as in Great Britain, the cost of production 

 is too heavy to allow the United Kingdom to compete successfully in 

 wheat growing with countries like the United States and Canada, with 

 their smaller yields per acre, where land is comparatively cheap and 

 more economic methods of cultivation and transport are employed. 



Grain Routes : American wheat and flour are sent down the 

 Hudson and St. Lawrence, or transported by canal or rail to New 

 York, Boston, Portland and Montreal, and thence shipped to 

 Europe : increasing quantities are also exported via the Pacific 

 Ports to the Far East. Wheat grown in the Danube Valley is 

 floated down tc Braila or Galatz, or finds an outlet through Fiumc. 

 Odessa, Kherson and Taganrog are the Russian wheat ports on 

 the Black Sea, and Riga and Danzig on the Baltic. Indian wheat 

 is exported via Karachi, Australian via Sydney, Melbourne and 

 Adelaide, and South American via the River Plate. 



RYE is grown on soils too poor or too exposed for the successful 

 cultivation of wheat, and is used for bread-making by the poorer 

 classes in North and Central Europe. Whisky is distilled from it 

 in the United States, gin in Holland, and vodka in Russia : 83 per 

 cent, of the estimated total production is grown in Russia and 

 Germany, and it is also cultivated in Ireland. 



MAIZE {or '' Com," as it is termed in America,) requires 

 more heat and moisture than wheat, but it is of less feeding value. 

 The total area under maize throughout the world is estimated at 

 129,600,000 acres, of which 94,000,000 acres arc in the United 

 States, where it is largely used for feeding pigs. In this country 

 maize flour is sold under the trade description *' Com Flour." 



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