Soluble carbohydrate patterns of two hardy winter wheat cultivars and two less hardy cultivars were compared during the cold-hardening process. Soluble carbohydrates increased in concentration as the seedlings developed and the cold-hardening process occurred. The largest soluble carbohydrate differentials between the hardy and less hardy winter wheat cultivars occurred in the sucrose and raffinose fractions. The accumulation of sucrose and raffinose in wheat growing at 7.2 °C–0.5 °C day–night was greater in the two less hardy winter wheat cultivars. An inverse relationship existed between soluble sugars and cold hardiness in the four cultivars studied.