Wheat farming

“ The chief drawback to this method in the case of wheat-farming, however, is the low yield per acre. The average yield per acre for the United States, a little more than twelve bushels, is scarcely half the average yield in Europe. Although the farmer has done much to reorganize his business methods, he has done but little to maintain the productivity of his land. ”

“ In some instances steam machinery plows, cultivates, and sows in one operation. These farms are being gradually broken up, and mixed farming is taking their place, as the soil becomes exhausted from the too great repetition of the one crop. During the period from 1870 to 1890 wheat cultivation developed in Argentina, India, and other regions, and these countries came into competition with the United States in the European market. In consequence of this fact there was a decrease in the price of wheat, and in turn in the cultivation of wheat over the greater part of the United States. ”

“ Jardine has reminded the dry-farmers of the United States that before the production of wheat on the dry-farms can reach its full possibilities under any acreage, sufficient quantities must be grown of a few varieties to affect the large markets. This is especially important in the intermountain country where no uniformity exists, but the warning should be heeded also by the Pacific coast and Great Plains wheat areas. As soon as the best varieties are found they should displace the miscellaneous collection of wheat varieties now grown. ”

“ Wheat is the leading dry-farm crop. Every prospect indicates that it will retain its preŽminence. Not only is it the most generally used cereal, but the world is rapidly learning to depend more and more upon the dry-farming areas of the world for wheat production. ”

“ In cultivating wheat, climate must ever be considered, as only in warm situations can the finest samples of white wheats be grown. Upland cold positions are suitable for red wheats, and so are undrained lowlands; still, good farming will render it possible to grow white wheats where, before drainage and other ameliorating processes, such was impossible. ”

“ This style of cultivation gradually exhausts the fertility of the richest virgin soil, and its cropping capacity falls off. As soon as the crop falls below a certain level it ceases to be profitable. No doubt the fertility of the exhausted soil could be restored by suitable cultivation and manuring, but it is usually the custom to move towards districts which are still unsettled, and to take up more virgin soil. Thus the centre of the area of wheat production in the States has moved nearly 700 miles westward in the last 50 years. ”

“ It would be useless to go into a more extended notice of varieties, as some do best in certain localities, and all are rapidly spread through the dealers, and by the influence of agricultural periodicals. The best time to harvest wheat is when the straw below the head has turned yellow, and the grain is so far out of the milk as not to be easily mashed between the fingers, but before it has become hard. The grain is heavier and of better quality, and wastes far less in harvesting, than when allowed to ripen and dry standing in the field. ”

“ The same trouble exists in the United States, even in regions where the soil is less adapted for the growing of wheat by the mile than in Western Canada. Yet it has been proved again and again that much more money can be made by intensive methods on small farms than by growing grain on a large scale. It was this discovery that led to the decrease in the acreage of wheat grown in California and Oregon. ”

“ There are lumber industries carried on here, and extensive flour mills, and while the climate is in every respect all that could be desired for the growth of both winter and summer wheat, the fertility of the soil is such as to make it incomparable. The entire country and its citizens are continually busy sowing and harvesting their wheat, storing it in large warehouses, whence it is shipped to the Pacific Coast markets and from there to Asiatic and European countries. ”

“ The system of wheat-growing above described is an intensive one. The cultivation is thorough, the soil is kept in good condition by manuring, or by the use of purchased feeding stuffs, and the cost of production is comparatively high. Such systems of intensive culture prevail in the more densely populated countries, but the bulk of the world’s wheat supply is grown in thinly populated countries, where the methods of cultivation are extensive. Wheat is sown year after year on the same land, no manure is used, and tillage is reduced to a minimum. ”

“ Except in regions of large-scale production, wheat is usually grown in rotation with other crops; for a nurse crop for grass seeding; and as a cover crop to prevent soil erosion and leaching. Some is sold, some kept for seed, and a percentage of the total production much larger than in areas of specialization is consumed on the farm and grown for such purpose. Such farmers, while growing some wheat, may even find the balance of their interest on the consumer's side. ”

“ Hill has said that if all the fruit orchards set out in western states come to maturity, it will require twenty times the rolling stock that exists today to ship the fruit out in time to reach the market in a salable condition. The same of wheat, especially in the West, where wheat is raised in quantities too great for any individual granary. A few years ago, when the northwestern states had their banner crop, piles of wheat the size of a miniature town lay exposed to weather for weeks on Washington and Idaho and Montana railroads because the railroads had not sufficient cars to haul it away. ”

“ From the foregoing data we may conclude that the countries capable of exporting wheat are far from numerous, and that the area sown with cereals throughout the world is comparatively small. Hitherto wheat has been grown on an extensive scale in the United States, Russia, and India; the agriculturalist demands everything of the soil and gives it nothing, so that the alternative will soon arise of losing the harvest, or of restoring fertility to exhausted soils, by means of costly manures which will absorb enormous sums. ”

“ By repeating this method for a few years, carefully choosing the seed for each planting from the best kernels borne by the largest heads, the ordinary wheat-crop, without extra fertilization, may easily be doubled two and one-half times; while the quality of the entire crop is raised to the grade of extra fine, which will readily sell at fancy prices for seed wheat. The net gain, is a large cash balance in favor of cultivating a weedless soil. What is true of wheat culture in such soils, is true in a large measure with most other crops ”

“ As transport facilities increased wheat-growing areas were developed in Canada, in the Western States of America, in the Argentine, and in Australia, and the importation of foreign wheat increased enormously. This led to a rapid decrease in prices, and wheat-growing had to be abandoned on all but the most suitable soils in the British Isles. From 1880 onwards thousands of acres of land which had grown wheat profitably for many years were laid down to grass. In the last decade the world’s population has increased faster than the wheat-growing area has been extended. ”

“ But the wheat-midge, or weevil, is the great enemy, rendering the cultivation of wheat in some localities useless. One precaution is, to get the wheat forward so early and fast as to have it out of the way before they destroy it. This is often done by early sowing, high fertilization, and warm land. Sometimes wheat is too late for them, and then a good crop is secured. But this can only be relied on in cool, moist climates. Our hot, dry seasons are not suitable for wheat, late enough to be out of the way of the weevil. The great remedy for this enemy is his destruction. ”

“ The average yield is a ton to one ton and a-half to the acre, but three, four, and even five ton crops are taken off, but that is usually in a crop sown and cultivated specially for hay with the intention of supplying the chaff market, which is an industry in itself. The wheatfarmer, properly speaking, only cuts what he will require for his own horses. A reaper and binder is drawn by three horses, and will cut from 10 to 12 acres per day. One man is required to drive the machine, and one or two men to pick up and stook the sheaves. ”

“ In this way the cultivated ground on the farm, has been entirely freed from weeds. As a result, the yield of crops has been largely increased, while the labor of cultivation has been correspondingly reduced. That back-aching work of hoeing, has been almost entirely dispensed with. Machine culture does the work.
"The great advantage gained by cropping soil free from weeds, is most apparent in case of wheat culture. In such soils, the wheat can be deeply sown by the drill, beyond the reach of predatory birds. ”

“ But home grown wheat ceased to provide for the wants of the nation more than half a century ago. Already in 1870 half the wheat ground into flour in the United Kingdom was imported from abroad, and this proportion has steadily increased, until at the present time only about one-fifth of the wheat required is grown at home. Many of the wheats which are imported are harder in the kernel, and thinner and more brittle in the husk, than the home grown varieties. ”

“ 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 little of the straw is taken to the farmhouse, for use as litter in stable and pig-sty; the rest is set fire to as soon as the wheat is gone, and a great, unsightly, black patch is the last record in the field of the year's crop.
The worst features of the "header" are that the wheat has to be much riper than for the reaper or self-binder, and consequently more is strewed about the field and lost; the machine cuts the wheat higher up also, and consequently leaves more weeds to ripen and leave their seed. Its advantage is the greater breadth of its cut and more rapid rate of work. ”

“ The need of suitable soil and proper cultivation has also been emphasised. These conditions are to a great extent under the control of the farmer, whose fault it is if they are not efficiently arranged. But there are other factors affecting the yield of wheat which cannot be controlled, such for instance as sunshine and rainfall. ”

“ Economic necessity may also soon increase the cultivation of this valuable plant as an alternate crop on, and restorative for, the exhausted soil of many districts where wheat has been grown on wheat since, one might almost say, time immemorial. ”

“ A realization of the condition of affairs may be had from the following circumstance related to us by a responsible American resident. It must be remembered that the wheat, which in some well-irrigated districts is the principal product, is threshed by means of piling it up on the hard clay soil, and driving goats, sheep, and burros over it. These animals trudge round and round, with weary limbs, knee deep in the straw, for hours together, urged forward by whips in the hands of men and boys, and thus the grain is separated from the stalks. ”

“ But can none of our expert manipulators, who rejoice exceedingly when they cross-breed a geranium or a fuchsia, turn their attention to the cross-breeding of wheat? Cannot the Royal Agricultural Society offer a premium for a short-strawed wheat of good quality? Do none of the great agriculturists themselves see how desirable such a wheat would be for the agriculture of this country? ”

“ The true Cause why Wheat is not (especially on any strong Soil) to be sown immediately after Wheat, is, That the first Wheat standing almost a Year on the Ground, by which it must grow harder; and Wheat Seed-time being soon after Harvest in England, there is not Space of Time to till the Land so much as a second Crop of Wheat requires.
Tho’ sometimes in poorer Land, that is lighter, Wheat has succeeded Wheat with tolerable Success ”

“ It commanded attention as an event of the very greatest importance, from the fact that it was justly felt that if a mill grinding spring wheat exclusively was capable of producing a flour infinitely superior in every way to the best that could be made from the finest varieties of winter wheats, the new North Western territory, with its peculiar adaptation to the growing of spring grain, and its boundless capacity for production, must at once become one of the most important sections of the country. ”

“ When harvest comes, the ripe corn is cut down by the reaping-machines, following one another in the same way as the ploughs. In many cases the wheat is threshed at the same time that it is cut, and the grain put, not into sacks, but loose straight into the waggons, which are built up like huge bins. The wheat is then hauled to the nearest town where there is an elevator or granary. ”

“ He said it is so long to wait till 1912 for his first wheat crop on land that had grown clover at least once during historic times that he thought he would fix up a little patch to grow a crop of wheat, just to see how real wheat would look; or, as he sometimes says, to see how wheat grows in "Egypt" when it has a ghost of a chance.
He treated a four-acre patch down by the wood's pasture with limestone, phosphorus, and farm manure, did the "Terry Act" in preparing the seed bed, and drilled in a good variety of wheat, on October 17,—a little later than he likes to finish sowing wheat. ”