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of the territory reporting over twenty-one bushels per acrc was west of Denver. The greater part of that in which the yield is from fourteen to twenty-one bushels per acre is found north of the Potomac and east of the Missouri.

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The relative increase in population and in production of wheat in the United States according to reports of the census.

In 1899, thirty-five farms out of every hundred in the United States produced wheat. A little more than two million farms are reported by the census to have produced 659 million bushels of wheat from an area of fifty-three million acres.

183. Progress of Wheat Production.-Owing to the possession of large areas of fresh lands, easily brought

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into cultivation, to the reduced cost of production and handling through the introduction of labor - saving machinery and the extension of railway construction, the progress of wheat production

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Map showing the production of wheat in the
United States in 1900.

has been rapid. In fifty years the production of wheat has increased six and one-half times.

This diagram indicates that during the past decade the pro duction of wheat has increased faster than population, while average annual yields by decades based upon the estimates of the United States Department of Agriculture indicate that the production of wheat has not increased as rapidly as population. (182)

184. Center of Wheat Production.-While wheat is grown in every State in the Union, the greater part is raised in the Mississippi Valley. Ten States produced sixty-five per cent, twenty States produced ninety per cent of all the wheat grown in the United States in 1900.

The center of wheat production in 1900 was about seventy miles west of Des Moines, Iowa (N. Lat. 41° 39′ 19′′ and W. Long. 94° 59′ 23"). In fifty years this center has moved north about ninety-nine miles and west about 680 miles.

185. Winter Wheat and Spring Wheat.-In 1902 about threefifths of the wheat of the United States was sown in the fall. The yield for winter wheat was 14.4 and for spring wheat 14.7 bushels per acre.

Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon produce both winter and spring wheat. Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, Maine and Vermont raise

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spring wheat, while the rest of the States raise winter wheat.

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ground in ten States, Minnesota alone grinding 103 million bushels.

187. Consumption of Wheat per Capita.-The census estimates the domestic consumption of flour to be equal to 5.31 bushels of wheat per capita in 1900, as compared with 5.29 bushels in 1890. As it takes 4.77 bushels of wheat to make a barrel of flour, this is 1.1 barrels of flour per inhabitant. About 1.4 bushels per acre, or about eleven per cent of the normal crop, is estimated to be required for seed. This makes the total requirement aside from its use as food for domestic animals and such secondary uses as breakfast foods, 6.29 bushels per inhabitant, or about 475 million bushels for the United States in 1900.

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A wheat field producing forty-eight bushels of wheat per acre on one of the farms of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

According to the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Treasury Department the total amount of wheat used for all purposes for the five years ending 1902 was 390 million bushels, as compared with 300 million during the preceding five years.

For the five years ending 1902, the production of wheat in Europe has been 4.1 bushels per capita. The net import of wheat has been something less than one bushel per capita.

1 Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Vol. VI. Agr. Part II, p. 32. 2 U. S. Treas. Dept., Bu. of Stat. Statistical Abst., 1902, p. 345.

This does not, however, represent Europe's total bread require. ment, as large quantities of rye bread are used by the inhabitants of several European countries.

188. Yield per Acre.—There is a marked variation in yield per acre of wheat in different countries. It will be seen that the two countries which produce the most wheat have the smallest yield per acre.

Average yield of wheat in bushels per acre, 1894-1900:

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Climate apparently has a greater influence in bringing about these differences in yield than either soil or cultural methods, although the latter are important factors. A moderately cool climate with a liberal supply of moisture prolongs the period during which the grain develops, thus favoring the development of the endosperm and thereby increasing the volume weight and the yield per acre. (74, 112)

189. Export of Wheat and Flour.-The world's export of wheat and flour for the half decade 1898-1902 ranged from 347 million (1900) to 444 million (1902) with an average annual exportation of 411 million bushels. During the same period the exportation of wheat and flour from the United States was equivalent to 215 million bushels of wheat per annum, as compared with 155 million bushels the preceding five years, which was thirty-six and thirty-four per cent respectively of the total production. The following table is an estimate of the world's average annual export of wheat and flour for the five years 1898 1902:1

1 U. S. Dept. of Agr. Yearbook, 1902, p. 770.

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The following table gives the exportation of wheat and flour from the United States by customs districts for the year ending June 30, 1902:1

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The average annual export price of wheat from United States, 1898 to 1902, inclusive, was 78 cents per bushel; for flour $3.90 per barrel.

More than ninety-eight per cent of the wheat exported from the United States in 1902 was shipped from twenty ports. For the five years, 1898-1902, seven of these ports sending out

1 Commerce and Navigation of United States. Treas. An. Rpt. 1902, Vol. L pp. 496-497.

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