of the population. If we except coffee, cacao, and about one-half of the world's tea-luxuries rather than foods-only two crops of large importance for the outside world are supplied by the tropics: rice and sugar. In the case of rice, some of the largest producing countries, China, Japan, Italy and the United States, are in the temperate zone and the cane sugar of the tropics makes up only a little over half of the total sugar production. Tropic fruits, especially the banana, are important food exports in a few favored localities. But aside from these three crops, the tropics are not producing any important food surpluses for a hungry world. The wonderful food producing ability of the tropics is potential, not developed. They may be the producers of the food surplus of the future, but they are not important sources today.

Many tropical countries are not feeding themselves, but are dependent upon the temperate zone. Brazil, for example, is a large importer of wheat; Cuba is one of the largest meat importing countries. Even rice in large quantities is imported for consumption into Java, the Philippines, the Straits Settlements and the American tropics. India is one of the largest sugar importing countries. The only sections of the tropics that today are at all important in supplying food products are: (1) Indo-China, Siam and Burma, which are all exporters of rice. Most of this crop goes to other tropical countries, however, and in these days of few ships the great distance of these lands from Europe and America is a serious handicap to fully utilizing these supplies; (2) Java, Cuba, Porto Rico and other West Indian Islands, Hawaii and some other tropical lands which supply most of the cane sugar of exports; (3) West Indies and Central America, which send much fruit, especially bananas, to the temperate zones. The shortage of food has stimulated production in the tropics, especially of sugar, to a certain extent, but a rapid extension of agriculture, at all commensurate with the present needs, is impossible. The task is one requiring a period generations long, not years long, and is dependent upon the whole big question of making the tropics habitable and efficient; not one to be solved to meet the emergencies of a world war. It is in the north temperate zone that we find not only the greatest food needs but also the largest production of today. Measured by production two of the most important agricultural regions of the world are eastern China and Japan, and central and west

ern Europe. The first of these two regions practically supports its own enormous population; the second region, in spite of its enormous production, needs to import the deficiency in the supplies and this import comes largely from other, but less densely inhabited, sections of the north temperate zone, chiefly the United States, Canada and Russia, and from the sparsely settled lands of the south temperate zone, chiefly Argentine and Australasia. The wheat exporting section of India also lies north of the Tropic of Cancer.

The south temperate zone, containing a land area only onethird larger than the United States and with a total population of but 20,000,000 people, can produce the kind of food demanded by the people of the north temperate zone. Argentina and Uruguay, Australasia and South Africa are suited by climate and soil to produce grains and animals, and with a small population to consume them, they are food exporting nations. In addition to the small land area of the south temperate zone there are several serious handicaps to large food production in this zone: (1) much of the already restricted area is desert; (2) the climate of the more arable areas is a most undependable one, shortages, or even complete failures, of crops in Argentina and Australia being very frequent; (3) they are far from the markets and the bulky grains and meats require a tonnage that the world in this time of war can scarcely spare to bring them to the shores of Europe. The undependableness of Argentina's climate is indicated most forcefully by the great draught of last year, which, in the world's supreme hour of need, made that country almost worthless as a supplier of wheat and corn. Even to a greater degree does Australia's production of grain vary through wide margins with its exceedingly capricious rainfall.

Wheat.

THE WORLD'S GRAIN SUPPLY

Wheat and rice are rivals as sources of human food. Rice, however, while it feeds many millions of people, is consumed almost entirely where it is produced. Wheat is the great staple food export. Corn, which equals wheat in production, is largely used for animal food and enters world commerce only to a slight extent. Of the world production of 3,823 million bushels of wheat (not including China), considerably over half is grown in Europe. Russia in the three years' average preceding the war led the world

in production, and although that country consumed five-sixths of what was produced, enough was left for export to make Russia the leading source of supply for western Europe. Roumania, also, although producing but 88,000,000 bushels, had an export surplus of 54,000,000 bushels, nearly half of Russia's export. Bulgaria had a 12,000,000 bushel surplus for export. Germany, although an exporter of wheat, imported three times her export and therefore cannot be regarded as a wheat surplus country. The large production of wheat in Austria-Hungary was practically all consumed at home. Of the other European countries, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom are all large producers, but production is less than needs. Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and the Scandanavian countries largely depend upon importations for wheat. Four countries, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France, took 60 per cent of the world's imported wheat, the United Kingdom alone importing 221,000,000 bushels on the average each year, or 30 per cent of the total world importation. Brazil, with a wheat importation of 23,000,000 bushels, is the only country outside of Europe with any considerable wheat import. The supply of wheat for the importations into Europe, aside from what comes from Russia and Roumania, is supplied principally by the United States, Canada, Argentina, India and Australia. These seven countries furnish 94 per cent of the world export of wheat.

Such were the conditions before the war.

of the world wheat this year?

What is the state

Russian wheat is shut off from the outside world by the closing of the Bosphorus, and hence the tributed to the world is not available.

surplus this country conThe wheat of the Balkans

and of Turkey, as well as of most of Roumania, is to be added to the supplies of the Central Powers. There is no means of knowing the actual conditions of the wheat crop of Germany and AustriaHungary this year. The average production (1911-1913), export and import of the countries now occupied by the Central Powers, in millions of bushels are shown in Table II. By including Roumania, Poland and Belgium we see that before the war the lands now in control of the Central Powers had a wheat deficit of 54,000,000 bushels. If we include Turkey-both Asiatic and European-with the other Balkan States, we would add to production about 55,000,000 bushels. Considerable of this was available for

In millions of bushels. Flour is reduced to wheat equivalent. The blank spaces indicate no import or export, or only small amounts. Data for this, and the other tables, have been taken from the Year Books of the United States Department of Agriculture and from Statistical Notes on Production, etc., of Cereals, published by the International Institute of Agriculture, Rome.