AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF EUROPE: GERMANY 
35 
The return to France of the heavy wheat-deficit territories of 
Alsace-Lorraine did not materially reduce the average estimated per 
capita annual disappearance of wheat within the present boundaries 
of the Republic. This disappearance in 1909-1913 was 3.15 bushels, 
or 189 pounds per capita, which is not far from what it was for the 
Empire, 3.21 bushels, or 192.6 pounds. Since wheat and spelt are 
normally used almost entirely for human consumption, the per 
capita disappearance may be considered an approximate estimate of 
the per capita consumption of both these cereals. Rye, although 
used mostly for human food, is also used for livestock, so in terms of 
human consumption the disappearance per capita represents the 
quantity that was available for human food in case it was req uired . 
Fig. 3. — Average 1909-1913 production of wheat in the German Empire balanced against disap- 
pearance 
The districts represented by the shaded areas produced annually approximately 14,584,000 
bushels more wheat than was locally consumed. This amount was available for shipment to 
the southwestern deficit regions, where local production fell short of consumption by about 
83,262,000 bushels of wheat annually. This necessitated a yearly net importation of approxi- 
mately 68,678,000 bushels of wheat. 
ORIGIN OF WHEAT IMPORTED TO COVER GERMANY'S DEFICIT (1909-1913) 
The pre-war wheat deficit of the German Empire was covered by 
importations averaging (1909-1913) about 68,678,000 bushels. 
These importations were chiefly from Russia, Argentina, and the 
United States. Russia alone supplied over half of the net require- 
ment, Argentina supplied about a quarter, followed closely by the 
United States, as shown in Table 23. 
Imports from other countries were more than offset by German} s 
exports to neighboring European countries. Practically all the 
imports went to supply the deficits of the industrial centers on the 
seaboard and along the valleys of the Rhine and Weser and their 
tributaries. 
