Cereal Farming 
13 
In the region of winter wheat, — Kansas and Nebraska, — although 
the winters are cold, they do not kill the wheat, and it can grow 
in the late fall and early spring. Hence wheat is sown in the 
autumn, gets a good start before the winter sets in, is ready to grow 
vigorously in the early spring, and can be harvested in the late spring. 
In South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Canada, the 
cold winters would kill the wheat if it were planted in the fall. There 
the seed is sown in early spring and the crop is harvested at the end 
of summer. Accordingly these regions raise spring wheat. 
Conditions in other regions. In the plains of south-central Canada, 
Argentina, southern Russia, Hungary, and northern and western 
France, relief, rainfall, and temperature are especially favorable for 
wheat (Figs. 28, 38). Regions other than those mentioned above 
may grow wheat, but at a disadvantage. This, however, may be 
balanced by the advantage of a position near a great market. In 
New York and Pennsylvania, for example, the land is hilly, and as a 
rule the farmers cannot use the best labor-saving machines in plant- 
ing and harvesting wheat. Nearness to the great eastern markets, 
however, makes freight charges low so that these farmers get more 
UNITED STATES 
AND CANADA 
SRODUCTION OF 
WHEAT 
wo 
Fie. 28. Wheat requires an average temperature of at least 55° for three or four months in the 
vear. This requirement of a growing season lasting at least 90 days fixes the northern limit of 
wheat production. Wheat could be grown in the South Atlantic states, but cotton, being more 
orofitable there, takes up the good land. Furthermore, fungi and insect enemies of the wheat 
Are more active in a warm, moist climate than in the cooler, drier climate of the Great Plains. 
Compare this map with Figure 134 (page 186) to see the relation between wheat growing and relief, 
Compare it also with Figure 137 (page 192) to see how the wheat crop finds its wav to market.