TY 
Xi~ 
1a. 
ite 
~f 
ay 
nd 
ng 
led 
cry 
rts 
ter 
ve 
“1 
unt 
aer 
ae- 
ms 
ars 
wa, 
ure 
WHEAT 
3 
in a short season, in order to extend the Canadian wheat belt as 
far north as possible. The Department of Agriculture at Wash- 
ington sends “agricultural explorers” to all lands to seek new 
and useful plants. They send home wheats that thrive and yield 
well in lands of small rainfall in the Cordilleran region. 
3. Climates and soils suited to wheat. This grain does not 
thrive in very hot or very cold regions. It needs a cool and 
moist period for germination and early growth, but it matures 
best in bright and comparatively dry weather. We can thus 
Fic. 2. Areas of wheat production in the United States. Each 
dot represents 100.000 bushels 
understand why Egyptian and American wheats are bright, 
plump, and valuable. A cover of snow is favorable to a good 
crop of winter wheat, while an open winter, with exposure of 
he roots to severe changes, is harmful. The soil should be 
neither too light (sandy) nor too heavy (clayey), but loamy and 
well drained, with a surface suited to modern plowing and reap- 
ing machines. Such conditions are best met on the great plains 
of temperate latitudes, as on the prairies of the United States, 
the plains of Canada, the pampas of Argentina, and the plains 
of southern Russia. Wheat requires warmer summers than Tye,