26 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Moore of Somerset, presented the results of his ad interim 

 labors in the following report on 



The Culture of Wheat. 



We have high official authority for saying that "the State of 

 Maine needs 650,000 barrels of flour, yearly — nearly all of which 

 is imported," at an expense hitherto of nearly ten millions of 

 dollars. At the same time an agriculturist writes in one of our 

 State papers, that wheat " is one of the legitimate crops of Maine, 

 belonging to the family of cereals, and of more Value to the State 

 than all others beside"; and he instances the "vast quantities of 

 wheat growing hundreds of miles north, in the British possessions, 

 with its cold, forbidding climate." If both these statements are 

 true, there is something radically wrong in the agriculture of 

 Maine. That the last is true is witnessed by the fact, that in the 

 early history of the State wheat was a staple crop, not only aflbrd- 

 ing ample supply for home consumption, but contributing largely 

 to the exports from the State. A few intervening years of the 

 prevalence of the smut disease is the only exception to this general 

 rule, up to about 1850 — thence to 1860, the ravages of the midge 

 rendered the crop so uncertain as to cause its abandonment, with 

 exceptional cases on high, airy situations, where its culture was 

 continued, with fair success. Since 1860 the midge has been 

 abating, and has apparently ceased its ravages, and fair crops of 

 wheat are again realized. 



We find from the Agricultural Reports, that the wheat crop of 

 Maine in 1866 was more than an average yield, of both bushels 

 and money, with all the States reported — being 12. *7 bushels per 

 acre in Maine, and 10 bushels in the general average of the 

 States, — fourteen States averaging more, and seventeen' less than 

 Maine. Hence it is believed that we may venture to return to the 

 cultivation of this valuable cereal again. In view of these facts 

 the question becomes of great importance to our farmers. A 

 great deficit of bread-stuff" meets them face to face. A deficit too, 

 that must be supplied in some way. How to supply it is the 

 important question. Shall we continue to raise oats to buy our 

 flour with, as we have been doing hitherto ? A proper answer to 

 this question involves an enquiry into the relative value of these 

 two crops. 



The Report of 1866 gives 15,208 acres of wheat in this State, 

 at an average yield of 12.7 bushels per acre, and average price of 

 $2.86 per bushel, — equal to $36.32 per acre; of oats 95,800 acres 



