40 BULLETIN 1399, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
and flour, of which 24,400,000 bushels originated in the United States. 
The wheat crop in 1024 was 17,000,000 bushels less i han the prc\ inns 
season. During the six months July 1 to December 31, 1924, Ger- 
many imported 20,000,000 bushels more than was imported during 
the same period the year before. This increased importation is the 
consequence of the crop shortage of the L924 season. It is probable 
that during the last six months of the present season monthly im- U 
portations will continue heavier than in former years. 
RYE 
Rye is predominantly the bread grain of the German people. It 
was produced in all parts of the former German Empire, though it 
was employed to a, varying degree in the rotation in different locali- 
ties, based not only upon soil and climatic conditions hut upon the 
food habits of the local population. Within the boundaries of the 
present Republic the ratio of rye acreage to wheat acreage was about 
3.2 : 1, in Posen about 7.8 : 1, and in Alsace-Lorraine about 0.4 : 1. 
The relative areas given over to rye production in different parts of 
the Empire indicate to a certain extent poorer local soils not well 
adapted to wheat culture, but to a greater extent do these ratios 
reveal the character of the staple food consumed locally within the 
various districts. 
The consumption of rye was heaviest in the eastern provinces, 
where the yearly per capita disappearance ranged from 280 to 790 
pounds as contrasted to a local yearly per capita consumption of 
wheat amounting to only 110 to 170 pounds. This heavy rye dis- 
appearance is not due entirely to human consumption in the form of 
bread, since this cereal is fed in considerable quantities to livestock 
and to a less degree is employed in tin 1 manufacture of spirits. Most 
of the peoples living in the eastern provinces of the former Empire 
subsisted largely upon a cereal and potato diet, with hut little meat. 
(This heavy rye disappearance in Germany should he compared with 
tlw yearly cereal consumption per capita in Rumania; corn (maize) 
710 pounds and wheat M to 16 pounds.) 
In the industrial regions of the west, where wheal and imported 
(lour were used more extensively in making bread, the yearly per 
capita disappearance of v\i i ranged from 00 to 400 pounds in addi- 
tion to a yearly per capita consumption of wheat ranging from 165 
to i:il pounds. The population of Alsace-Lorraine was almost 
exclusively wheat-eating, consuming yearly 431 pounds per capita 
and requiring about 6,000,000 bushels in addition to their local pro- 
duction of 8,000,000 bushels. On the other hand, the per capita rye 
consumption of these Provinces averaged around 90 pounds per year; 
the production amounted to 3,500,000 bushels, and there remained 
a. statistical surplus of about 200,000 bushels available for export. 
EFFECT OF VERSAILLES TREATY ON RYE SITUATION 
Germany ceded to Poland some of her best rye lands, producing 
an annual average surplus (1909 1913) of about 16,700,000 bushels. 
The ceded districts of Upper Silesia, and Danzig Vvov State were 
deficit regions, requiring about 3,900,000 bushels of rye annually in 
addition to local production. On the west Alsace-Lorraine, northern 
Schleswig, and the Saar showed statistical surpluses, and the districts 
(i'dvd to Belgium showed a. small deficit. 
