. The story of a grain of wheat. ta, its sister State of South Dakota,and its great wheat-producing neighbour, Minne-sota, might all be easily placed, without crowding,within the limits of Saskatchewan, Assiniboia, andpart of Alberta. This would still leave Manitobaout of the calculation. It is estimated that Mani-toba has 25 million acres of land suitable for culti-vation ; less than one-eighth of it is now beingtilled. The total area of this province equals thatof England and Scotland combined. In 1901 As-siniboia planted less than 400,000 acres in wheat,and reaped a harvest of 10 million bu
. The story of a grain of wheat. ta, its sister State of South Dakota,and its great wheat-producing neighbour, Minne-sota, might all be easily placed, without crowding,within the limits of Saskatchewan, Assiniboia, andpart of Alberta. This would still leave Manitobaout of the calculation. It is estimated that Mani-toba has 25 million acres of land suitable for culti-vation ; less than one-eighth of it is now beingtilled. The total area of this province equals thatof England and Scotland combined. In 1901 As-siniboia planted less than 400,000 acres in wheat,and reaped a harvest of 10 million bushels, averag-ing 26 bushels to the acre. Saskatchewan, still far- THE STORY OF A GRAIN OF WHEAT 115 ther north, raised more than 800,000 bushels fromonly 37,000 acres, averaging about 26 , stretching westward from these territo-ries, put only 40,000 acres in wheat, and in returngathered a crop of 980,000 bushels. In portionsof Assiniboia phenomenal yields were grown;many farmers, it was reported, made 49, 52, 53,. An American Elevator Town. and one 60 bushels to the acre. It was the con-templation of such returns as these and the enor-mous area still to be developed, rather than thecrop itself, which startled the farmers, millers,elevator-owners, wheat-dealers, and flour-sellers inthe United States and abroad. By many the Canadian crop of 1901 was re-garded as exceptional, and these expressed thebelief that one swallow did not make a summer,and that the excitement of the wheat-growing pos-sibilities of the Canadian northwest was a mere boom not likely to be permanent. This opin-ion was not shared by those who had travelled Il6 THE STORY OF A GRAIN OF WHEAT through the territory and were familiar with itssoil and climatic conditions. Further, the wheatcrop of 1902 demonstrated that the former yearssuccess was not sporadic. Manitobas crop againbroke the record, being 53 million bushels, with ayield of 26 bushels to the acre. The NorthwestTerritory, including Assin
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1903
