October 28, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



567 



temperate zones for growing all the stable 

 food crops is not more than 580,000,000 

 acres, and that in no country has more 

 than 9 per cent, of the area been devoted 

 to wheat culture. 



The fertility of the N'orthwest Provinces 

 of the Dominion is due to au exceptional 

 and curious circumstance. In winter the 

 ground freezes to a considerable depth. 

 Wheat is sown in the spring, generally in 

 April, when the frozen ground has been 

 thawed to a depth of three inches. Under 

 the hot sun of the short summer the grain 

 sprouts with surprising rapidity, partly be- 

 cause the roots are supplied with water 

 from the thawing depths. The summer is 

 too short to thaw the ground thoroughly, 

 and gate-posts or other dead wood extracted 

 in autumn are found still frozen at their 

 lower end. 



Australasia, as a potential contributor to 

 the world's supply of wheat, affords another 

 fertile field for speculation. Climatic con- 

 ditions limit the Australian wheat area to 

 a small portion of the southern littoral belt. 

 Professor Shelton considers there are still 

 fifty million acres in Queensland suitable 

 for wheat, but hitherto it has never had 

 more than 150,000 acres under cultivation. 

 Crops in former days were liable to rust, 

 but, since the Rust in Wheat, conferences, 

 and the dissemination of instruction to 

 farmers, rust no longer has any terrors. I 

 am informed by the Queensland Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture that of late years they 

 have practically bred wheat vigorous enough 

 to resist this plague. For the second season 

 in succession the wheat crop last year was 

 destroyed over large areas in Victoria; and 

 in South Australia the harvest averaged not 

 more than about 3f bushels per acre after 

 meeting Colonial requirements for food and 

 seed, leaving only 684,000 bushels for ex- 

 port. In most other districts the yield falls 

 to such an extent as to cause Europeans to 



wonder why the pursuit of wheat-raising is 

 continued. 



ISTew Zealand has a moist climate resem- 

 bling that of central and southern England, 

 while South Australia is semi-arid, resem- 

 bling western Kansas. Only two countries 

 in the world yield as much wheat per acre 

 as N"ew Zealand ; these are Denmark and 

 the United Kingdom. ^Notwithstanding the 

 great yield of wheat, due to an equable cli- 

 mate, Kew Zealand finds fruit and dairy 

 farming still more profitable. The climatic 

 conditions favorable to wheat are also con- 

 ducive to luxuriant growths of nutritious 

 grasses. Thus the New Zealander ships his 

 butter more than half way round the world, 

 and competes successfully with western Eu- 

 rope. 



During the last twenty- seven years the 

 Austro-Hungarian population has increased 

 21.8 per cent., as against an increase of 54.6 

 per cent, in the acreage of wheat. Not- 

 withstanding this disparity in the rates or 

 increase, exports have practically ceased by 

 reason of an advance of nearly 80 per cent, 

 in unit consumption. There can be little 

 doubt that Austro-Hungary is about to en- 

 ter the ranks of importing nations, although 

 in Hungary a considerable area of wheat 

 land remains to be brought under cultiva- 

 tion. 



Roumania is an important wheat-growing 

 country. In 1896 it produced 69,000,000 

 bushels and exported 34,000,000 bushels. It 

 has a considerable amount of surplus land 

 which can be used for wheat, although for 

 many years the wheat area is not likely to 

 exceed home requirements. 



France comes next to the United States 

 as a producer of wheat ; but for our purpose 

 she counts but little, being dependent on 

 supplies from abroad for an average quantity 

 of 14 per cent, of her own production. 

 There is practically no spare land in France 

 that can be put under wheat in suflBcient 



