THE GEOGEAPHIC DISTEIBUTION OF CEEEALS 

 IN NOETH AMEEICA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Through the assistance of the experiment stations in the United 

 States and Canada, and in a few cases through secretaries of boards 

 of agriculture, were secured the addresses of about twenty-five hun- 

 dred intelligent corn, wheat, and oat growers throughout the two coun- 

 tries. To each of these persons was sent a circular letter explaining 

 the object of the inquiry, and requesting that the blanks on the form 

 accompanying the letter be filled out with the names of not more than 

 ten well-established varieties each of corn, wheat, and oats which were 

 grown most successfully in the neighborhood reported on, together 

 with a statement as to how long the variety had been known, the aver- 

 age yield, and whether it succeeded best on lowland or upland. 



Of the 1,033 reports received, 897 came from the United States, 

 (representing all the States and Territories), and 136 from the Canadian 

 provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Assiniboia, 

 Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, jN'ew Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince 

 Edward Island. A large percentage of the replies were very intelli- 

 gently made, and many blanks were completely and carefnlly filled. 



These reports showed that in many localities but little attention was 

 given to keeping varieties pure, and many farmers used mixed, un- 

 known, or local varieties of ordinary merit for seed. In the East and 

 South this was more frequently the case than in the Central, ISTorth- 

 ern, and Western States, or in the Canadian provinces. In most of 

 the Eastern and Southern States, as compared with the rest of the 

 country, grain growing is not an important industry. In New England 

 but little grain is grown for seed, owing to the cheapness of Western 

 grain, and wheat was rarely reported. Oats are now mostly sown from 

 Western seed, the resulting crop being mown for hay, while much of 

 the corn is cut for green fodder or silage. On certain fine lowlands, 

 as, for example, in the Connecticut Yalley, oats, and more especially 

 corn, are often grown for grain. 



While reports on most of the cereals were rendered from the Lower 

 Austral zone,^ this region, except where it merges with the Upper 



' North America is divisible into seven transcontinental belts or life zones, each 

 characterized by particular associations of animals and plants and suited for special 

 crops. These zones are : The Arctic- Alpine, Hudsonian, Canadian, Transition, Upper 

 Austral, Lower Austral, and Tropical. The Transition, Upper and Lower Austral 

 are the ones most frequently referred to in this bulletin (see frontispiece). The Life 

 Zones and Crop Zones of the United States are described in detail in Bulletin No. 10 

 of the Biological Survey. 



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