oric times. It is the "corn" Joseph's brothers sought to
buy when they went to Egypt, and the records of its harvesting are
scattered all over the pages of written history.

[Illustration: THE GRAIN CROP--MODERN METHODS OF CULTIVATION AND
HARVESTING]

Of the one and one-half billion people that constitute the world's
population, more than one-third, or about eight times the population of
the United States, are consumers of wheat-bread; and this number is
yearly increasing by twelve million. Moreover, each individual of this
aggregate consumes yearly very nearly one barrel of flour, or about four
and one-half bushels of wheat. In other words, it requires somewhat more
than two billion three hundred million bushels of wheat each year to
supply the world's demand.[23] As a matter of fact the world's crop is
yearly consumed so nearly to the danger-line that very often the
"visible supply," or the amount known to be in the market, is reduced to
a few million bushels.

Wheat will grow under very wide ranges of climate, but it thrives best
between the parallels of 25 deg. and 55 deg. In a soil very rich in
vegetable mould it is apt to "run to stalk." A rather poor clay-loam
produces the best seed,[24] and a hard seed, rather than a heavy stalk,
is required.

In the latitude of Kansas the seeds planted in the fall will retain
their vitality through the winter; in the latitude of Dakota they are
"winter-killed," as a rule. Because of this feature two broad classes or
divisions of the crop are recognized in commerce--the winter and the
spring varieties. In general, the spring wheats are regarded as the
better, and this is nearly always the case in localities too cold for
winter wheat. There are exceptions to this rule, however. In the main,
winter wheat ripens first, and is therefore first in the market.[25]

[Illustration: WHEAT]

In Europe the plain that faces the North and Baltic Seas, and that part
which extends through southern Russia, yield the chief part of the
crop, although the plains of the Po, the Danube, and Bohemia furnish
heavy crops. Russia, France, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy are all
wheat states.

In a normal year all Europe produces a little more than one-half
(fifty-five per cent.) of the world's crop. Russia and France excepted,
scarcely another state produces as much as is consumed. Great Britain
consumes her entire crop in three months; Germany in about six months.
France sends a part of her