THE WHEAT YIELD OF AMERICA

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3152, 6 September 1892, Page 3

THE WHEAT YIELD OF AMERICA

It seems that, notwithstanding the good -work that is being done at all the numerous agricultural colleges and experimental stations, which are liberally supported by the United States Government, the farming of that country is very far from being of a liigh-cl.'iss order. In his annual report on the Agricultural Prospects of America, Mr Dodge, who, for nearly a quarter of a century, has been statistician to the United States Government, refers to the fact that the average yield of wheat per acre in the States only amounts to liH bushels, and this result, he says, is ' simply a disgrace to American agriculture. This yield, in fact is almost identical with that which is still being got at Rothamsted off the lands which have been continuously cropped for half a century with wheat crown without any manure whatever. It is evident, therefore, that high fanning must be the exception rather than the rule in America, seeing that the wheat area includes most of the best land in the States. Air Dodge holds that the average yield of wheat in America might be brought up from 12A bushels to '2a bushels per acre, and he is sauguine that the time will yet come when that result will be attained. It is perfectly clear, however, that the average yield per acre of the staple crop of the American Continent could only be increased to auy appreciable extent by the free use of costly fertilisers, and all experience during the past decade has gone to show that the average farmer of America does not Hud it profitable to invest much money iD the purchase of manures so long as grain remains at the present low prices- Doubtless the adoption of a more inteusive system of farming in America would cause a considerable increase in the \ield per acre ; but any groat movement in the way of raising the average wheat yield above its normal rate of l'2-l, bushels per acre can only be looked for when prices for grain are higher in this country, as well as in America, than they are at present. Mr Dodge considers that, while the wheat yield of the United States is capable of such vast expansion, there is no probability of America becoming a graiuimporting country in the near future ; but he holds that, as the population increases, the amount ;>f grain r-xporU'd ■will probably be diminif-iiotl, even tlirmgh the quantity produced may be increased. With the wheat area of America decreasing year by year, and with the population of this country increasing at the rate of a thousand a day, while the population in American is increasing at a proportionately rapid rate, it does seem inevitable that higher prices for wheat must prevail before many years are over.