No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 319 



COST OF AN ACRE OF WHEAT. 



Wheu it is remembered that the cost of production of an acre ot 

 wheat in the Eastern part ot the Uniced tStates is about |12.5U but 

 little argument is needed to show its status in the list of profitable 

 crops in that section. While the cost of producing an acre of 

 wheat upon the neW' lauds of the great "West, where wheat is grown 

 as practically the only crop, is at present much less than in the older 

 wheat diiitricts of the East, nevertheless the fact that the entire 

 wheat acreage of the country averaged but $9.48 per acre for the 

 last decade, shows that the margin of profit even under the most fav- 

 orable conditions is comparatively small. 



That wheat is not an exception to other cereal crops in its value 

 per acre is seen by the Census report for 1891), which gives the ave- 

 rage value of all of the cereals taken together at but |8.02 per acre. 

 When it is remembered that of the acreage of all farm crops in 

 1899, 63.8 j)er cent, were cereals, we can understand how vitally 

 this low production affects the farming interests of the country. 

 While it is true that some farmers receive much gi'eater income 

 per acre from their cereals than the average indicates, yet an equal 

 number receive correspondingly less, so that taking the country 

 as a whole the average remuneration to the portion of the 35 per 

 cent, of our population who grow cereal crops must from this 

 source of necessity be very slight. 



CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT. 



The records show that our population consume from four to seven 

 bushels of wheat per capita each year, depending upon the price, 

 and the condition of the business of the country. The average 

 consumption of wheat, however, taking all of the years between 1871 

 and 1906, was 5.25 bushels per capita per year. The average pro- 

 duction of wheat during that same period was 7.31 bushels per 

 capita, leaving 2.06 bushels as surplus, which is an average of 28.2 

 per cent. The actual exports for the period from 1871 to 1907 as 

 given in the statistical abstract for 1906 were : From 1871 to 1876, 

 23.78 per cent, of the crop; 1877 to 1886, 29.94 per cent.; 1887 to 

 1896, 29.92 per cent.; 1897 to 1906, 28.58 per cent., and the average 

 for the entire period was 28.05 per cent. It will be observed that the 

 average pro rata for export for each period was practically uniform, 

 although the population of the countrv had increased in that time 

 from 39,555,000 to 84,154,000, or 112.75 per cent. 



INCREASED ACREAGE IN WHEAT. 



This is due to the fact that the acreage of wheat in the United 

 States as given by the report of the Department of Agriculture in 

 1906 increased 137.19 per cent., from 19,943,893 acres in 1871, to 47,- 

 305,829 acres in 1906, or 24.44 per cent, greater than the population. 

 In other words, it required in 36 years 27,361,936 additional acres to 

 be put out in wheat in order to supply our increasing population 

 and keep up the average per cent, of our export trade. 



It is manifest that such an additional acreage cannot be expected 

 in the next 36 years, for the great body of available wheat lands 

 in the United States has been appropriated. The time will therefore 



