A History of Poland from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

And there is no reason why our people should run short, because Canada is perfectly capable of supplying all the and flour that we need. In Central Canada alone there are certainly 120,000,000 arable acres?no responsible person ever claimed 500,000,000, as Sir W. Crookes suggests (p. 61)?of which, if rotation persists, 40,000,000 should be under grain each year, and 30,000,000 would pay better under than under any other grain. The minimum probable yield may be taken as 15 bushels?that of Ontario spring wheat, which is 67 bushels below the Manitoba average ; and this would give 450,000,000 bushels as a minimum. Central Canada has actually proved each rural person be equivalent to fully 200 bushels off 13 acres, so that 1,000,000 rural persons would practically provide the 200,000,000 bushels which we may be said need. Canada had this necessary minimum population even at the last census, and in 1915 they did actually raise 376,000,000 bushels off 13,000,000 acres, i.e. off less than half the 30,000,000 wheat acres. Of course, they need 100,000,000 bushels for food and seed on the spot; but even so they did produce two years ago more than we need in normal and most extravagant times. Nor is Sir W. Crookes justified in thinking that Central Canada decline as the Central States have declined. No geographer believes that Central Canada will ever have eight cities with an average of half a million people apiece, as there are in the fan of cities that converge on Chicago, i.e. Central Canada will never become so urban as the North-Central States. It is scarcely conceivable that the total cost the Canadian farmer can be more than 2s. 6d. per bushel even next year, and the price may rise 10s. 6d. As a matter of fact, the price at Winnipeg on 28 April 1917 was just under 12^.,?of course for typical Canadian grain, giving 10 per cent. more albumenoid value than the best Hungarian, and yielding as many more loaves the barrel as it has more pounds' weight (2-4 lbs.) the bushel. That is say, we should get the best wheat, and the Canadian farmer could not be in an unfavourable position. The real Wheat Problem, then, is how make immediate arrangements ensure the Canadian surplus for our Home market. L. W. Lyde

Ancient history · Geography · Historical and Cultural Studies of Poland · History · Polish Historical and Cultural Studies