400 STATE UOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



has been steadily marching nortliward for many years, aud according to this 

 map the wheat center in 1877 was in Ingham county. No one supposes that it 

 will stop there permanently; it is already in the third tier of counties, and its 

 face is turned northward still. In ten years it will cross the line of the Detroit 

 & Milwaukee railroad, and in less than twenty-live years it will be in Isabella 

 county. Michigan has no wheat belt, because she is made for a broad wheat 

 lield from Hillsdale to the (Straits of Mackiiuiw. Every part of the State is 

 adapted to wheat raising, but especially the northern part., as is shown by the 

 high average production in northern counties. 



One reason why I think the production of wheat will rapidly extend to our 

 northern counties is that wheat-raising on the large scale, where it is made an 

 objective crop in distinction from its subordinate position in a rotation of crops, 

 must be contined to cheap lands. Wheat will continue to be raised in our 

 southern counties in a system of rotation and for home consumption, but the 

 day is passing by when it will there be raised on the large scale for export, be- 

 cause the high price of lands forbids competition with low-priced lands which 

 arc equally productive, and which secure low rates of transportation by reason 

 of through rates of railroad transportation. The farmers of southern Mich- 

 igan may just as well look this subject squarely in the face, because the sooner 

 they comprehend the matter and adapt their system of farming to it, the 

 better for their future history. Take the southern tier of counties from 

 Monroe to Berrien ; the arable land of this belt is worth 875 an acre. Call the 

 interest on this 7 per cent, and the taxes 1 per cent. ; this would place the 

 annual value of the land at §G an acre. The cost of raising aud marketing an 

 acre of wheat I place at >^10. The cost of an acre of wheat in this belt is §16. 

 The average yield in this belt for 1877 was 15.31 bushels per acre. To make 

 neither profit nor loss but only to save himself on his wheat, the farmer must 

 sell his wheat for $1.04^ a bushel. Now take the sixth and seventh tier of 

 counties, Mason, Lake, Osceola, Clare, Gladwin, Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta, 

 Isabella, Midland and Bay ; call the land worth $25 an acre, the interest aud 

 taxes the same as in the first tier of counties, and the cost of raising and mar- 

 keting an acre of wheat 810, as before ; the annual rental of the land would 

 be 8v, and the cost of an acre of wheat in market would be 812. The average 

 production of this belt of counties in 1877 was 16.93 bushels. The average 

 farmer in this region could sell his wheat without any loss at 71 cents a bushel. 

 I need not say to you tliat the man who can afford to sell his wheat for 71 cents 

 will, in the long run, drive to the wall the man who must have 81.04^. 

 Wheat raising on the large scale will as inevitably gravitate to cheap lands as 

 water will run down hill. Such considerations lead me to predict that the 

 wheat center of our State within twenty-five years will reach the line of the 

 Flint & Pere Marquette railroad. 



Have vou ever considered the leveling iniluencc of railroads and oilier means 

 of cheap and rapid transportation on the price of farm lands? Low priced lands 

 are levelled up, but high priced lands arc raked down without mercy. In the 

 grain market of the world, by means of cheap transportation, we come in com- 

 petition with the grain raisers of England, France, Austria, Kussia and Egypt, 

 but in the same market we also come in competitition with the wheat growers 

 of Iowa, Kansas and California, and in the crowded halls of the world's great 

 board of trade the lowest bidder always carries off the prize. In tliis struggle 

 to hold the world's market by selling wheat cheap, the owner of high priced 

 land ''gets the hot end of the poker" every time in his rivalry with the owner 

 of cheap lands who can command cheap transportation. 



