Of all the plants connected with the economies of mankind the grasses hold easily the first place. Not only are the seeds of certain species the chief food of nearly all peoples, but the plants themselves are the food of most animals whose flesh is used as meat. Wheat, maize, and rice are used by all except a very few peoples; and about all the animals used for food, fish and mollusks excepted, are grain eaters, or grass eaters, or both.

The grasses of the Plains in Texas, the Veldt in South Africa, and the hills of New Zealand by nature's processes are converted into meat that feeds the great cities of western Europe and the eastern United States. The corn of the Mississippi valley becomes the pork which, yielded from the carcasses of more than forty million swine, is exported to half the countries of the world. Even the two and one-half billion pounds of wool consumed yearly is converted grass.

Wheat.—The wheat of commerce is the seed of several species of cereal grass, one of which, Triticum sativum, is the ordinary cultivated plant. Wild species are found in the highlands of Kurdistan, in Greece, and in Mesopotamia, that are identical with species cultivated to-day. It is thought that the cultivation of the grain began in Mesopotamia, but it is also certain that it was grown by the Swiss lake-dwellers far back in prehistoric 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.

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° and 55°. 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]

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 crop to Great Britain and buys of Russia to fill the deficiency. Russia consumes but very little of her wheat-crop; it is nearly all sold to the states of western Europe. All Europe consumes about one billion seven hundred and ten million bushels, but produces about one billion two hundred and fifty million; the remainder is supplied by the United States, India, Argentina, Africa, and Australia.

In the United States the great bulk of the crop comes from the upper Mississippi valley and Pacific coast States. About one-third is consumed where it is grown; more than one-third is required for the populous centres of the east; a little less than one-third is exported, of which about ninety per cent. goes to Europe.

Much of this, especially the Pacific coast product, is sold unground, but each year an increasing amount is made into flour. The flour manufacture of the United States aggregates somewhat more than 160,000,000 barrels yearly—the output of 16,000 flour-mills; the Pillsbury mills of Minneapolis alone have a capacity of 60,000 barrels a week. In Europe the Hungarian mills and their output of Bohemian flour are the chief competitors of the United States.

The wheat-crop of the Pacific coast has usually been a factor by itself. On account of the absence of summer rains, the kernel is both plump and hard. After the threshing process it is sacked and stored in the fields in which it has grown.[26] Heretofore much of the sacked wheat has been shipped to European markets by the Cape Horn route, but in late years a yearly increasing amount is made into flour and sold in China, Japan, and Siberia. In 1900 nearly two million barrels were thus sent.

East of the Rocky Mountains, after the grain is harvested much of it is sold to dealers whose storage elevators[27] are scattered all over the wheat-growing region, and at all great points of shipment, such as Duluth, Minneapolis, Buffalo, and the eastern seaports. Before the grain is transferred to the elevators it is inspected and graded, and the cars which contain it are sealed. This wheat constitutes the "visible supply." All the business concerning it is transacted by means of "warehouse receipts," that have almost the currency of ready money. Banks loan money on them almost to their market value.

Under normal conditions, the cost of growing and harvesting a bushel of wheat—including interest on the land and deterioration of the machinery, etc.—is between fifty and fifty-five cents. The market price, when not affected by "corners" and other gambling transactions, usually varies between sixty-two and eighty-five cents. The difference between these figures is divided between the farmer and the "middlemen," the share of the latter being in the form of commissions and elevator charges.

In addition to bread-making wheat, certain varieties of grain known as macaroni wheat have a certain importance in the market. Several varieties are so hardy that they easily resist extremely cold winters; they will also grow in regions too dry for ordinary varieties. In this respect they are well adapted to the plains at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. The only detriment is the lack of a steady market. Macaroni wheat has a very hard kernel and is rich in gluten. It is used mainly in the manufacture of macaroni paste, but in Europe, when mixed with three times its weight of ordinary soft wheat, it is much used in making flour. The small amount now grown in the United States is shipped mainly to France.

The yield of wheat varies partly with the rainfall, but the difference is due mainly to skill in cultivation. In western Europe it is from two to three times as great as in the United States; in Russia and India it is much less.[28]

The yearly consumption of wheat is increasing very rapidly both in the United States and in Europe; moreover, China is becoming a wheat-consuming country. In the United States the consumption is increasing so rapidly that unless either the acreage of the crop, or else the yield per acre, is materially increased, there will be no surplus for export after the year 1931.

In the United States the acreage may be somewhat increased by the irrigation of arid lands now uncultivated, and by the reclamation of overflowed and swamp lands. There are far greater possibilities, however, in the employment of methods of cultivation which will double the rate of present yield. It is doubtful if there can be much increase of acreage in the States of the Mississippi Valley, where the acreage will of necessity be lessened rather than increased.

In western Europe there can be no material increase of the acreage or the rate of yield; in Russia both are possible. The plains of Argentina now yield a notable quantity—about one hundred million bushels—and the amount may be increased. Moreover, a large product may be obtained from both Uruguay and Paraguay, and southern Brazil, neither one of which produces a considerable quantity. At the present rate of the increase in consumption, all of the available land, yielding its maximum, will not produce a sufficient crop at the end of the twentieth century.

Corn.—Maize or Indian corn is the seed of a plant, Zea mays, a member of the grass family. It is not known to exist in a wild state. The species now cultivated are undoubtedly derived from the American continent, but evidence is not wanting to show that it was known in China and the islands of Asia before the discovery of America.[29] The commercial history of corn begins with the discovery of America. Next to meat it was the chief food of the native American; next to wheat it is the chief food-stuff in the American continent to-day.

Corn requires a rich soil and is not so hardy as wheat. It thrives best in regions having long summers and warm nights. The growing crop is easily injured by too much rain. It is an abundant crop in the central Mississippi Valley, but not near the coast; it is very prolific in Nebraska, but not in Dakota; it thrives in Italy, Austria, and the Balkan Peninsula, but not in the British Isles and Germany. It is a very important crop in Australia, and is the staple grain of Mexico. It is the crop of fourteen-hour days and warm nights.

The United States is the chief producer of corn, and from an area of 80,000,000 acres—about that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined—more than two billion bushels, or four-fifths of the world's crop, are produced. In the past few years the area planted with corn has not materially increased, and it is likely to be lessened rather than increased in the future. From the same acreage, however, the annual yield, now about twenty-five or thirty bushels per acre, can be more than doubled by the use of more skilful methods of cultivation.

Corn contains more fatty substance, or natural oil, than wheat, and therefore has a greater heating power. For this reason it is better than wheat for out-of-door workers, and it is almost the only cereal food-stuff consumed in Spanish America. It is also a staple food-stuff in Egypt. Corn has been used as a bread-stuff in the United States, Italy, and Rumania[30] for a long time. In recent years, however, its use has become very popular in Europe.

In the United States by far the greater part of the crop is consumed where it is grown, being used to fatten swine and cattle. The market value of a pound of corn is about one-third of a cent; converted into pork or beef, however, it is worth five or six times as much. By feeding the corn to stock, therefore, a farmer may turn an unmarketable product into one for which there is a steady demand.

Although corn is not so essential a staple as wheat, it has a much wider range of usefulness. The starch made from it is considered a delicacy and is used very largely in America and Europe as an article of food. Glucose, a cheap but wholesome substitute for sugar, is made from it; from the oil a substitute for rubber is prepared; smokeless powder and other explosives are made from the pith of the stalk; while a very large part of the product is used in the manufacture of liquor.

Rye.—Rye is the seed of a cereal grass, Secale cereale, a plant closely resembling wheat in external appearance. Rye will grow in soils that are too poor for wheat; its northern limit is in latitudes somewhat greater than that of wheat, also. It is an ideal crop for the sandy plain stretching from the Netherlands into central Russia, and this locality produces almost the whole yield. The world's crop is about one and a half billion bushels, of which Russia produces nearly two-thirds. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Japan grow nearly all the rest. It is consumed where it is grown. In the United States the yearly product is about twenty-five million bushels, about one-tenth of which is exported to Europe. Rye-bread is almost always sour, and this fact is its chief disadvantage.

Barley.—Barley is the seed of several species of cereal grass, mainly Hordeum distichum and Hordeum vulgare. It is one of the oldest-used of bread-stuffs. It can be cultivated farther north than wheat, and about as far within the tropics as corn; it has, therefore, very wide limits. Formerly it was much used in northwestern Europe as a bread-stuff, but in recent years it has been in part supplanted by wheat and corn. Barley is a most excellent food for horses, and in California is grown mainly for this purpose. Its chief use is for the manufacture of the malt used in brewing.

The world's crop of barley is not far from one billion bushels, of which the United States produces about sixty million bushels. Most of the crop is grown in the Germanic states of Europe, and in Russia.

Oats.—The oat is the seed of a cereal grass, Avena sativa being the species almost always cultivated. It is not known where the cultivated species originated, but the earliest known locality is central Europe, where it was certainly a domestic plant during the Bronze Age. It seems probable that the species now cultivated in Scotland at one time grew wild in western Europe; certain it is that wild species are found in North America.

The oat grows within rather wider limits of latitude, and thrives in a greater variety of soils than does wheat. Grown in a moist climate, however, the grain is at its best. The oat-crop of the world aggregates more than three billion bushels, surpassing that of wheat or corn in measurement, but not in weight. A small portion of this is used as a bread-stuff, but the greater part is used as horse-food, for which it is remarkably adapted.

In Europe, Russia is the greatest producer, and its yearly oat harvest is about one-quarter of the world's crop. The states of northwestern Europe yield about half the entire crop; the wheat-growing area of the United States produces the remaining one-fourth. Russia and the United States are both exporters, the grain going to western Europe. By far the greater part of the grain is consumed where it is grown.

Rice.—Rice is the seed of a cereal grass, Oryza sativa. It is claimed to be native to India, but it is known to have been cultivated in China for more than five thousand years. It grows wild in Australia and Malaysia.

Rice requires plenty of warmth and moisture. It is cultivated in the warmer parts of the temperate zone, but it thrives best in the tropical regions. In China a considerable upland rice is grown, but for the greater part it is grown in level lowlands that may be flooded with water. The preparation of the fields is a matter of great expense, for they may require flooding and draining at a moment's notice. The crop matures in from three to six months. After threshing, the seed is still covered with a husk, and in this form it is known as "paddy."

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