482 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



idents were referred to a committee of three, for reference of the different 

 suggestions to ai)propriate departments. 



The President appointed as such committee Messrs. Baxter, Beckwith and 

 Smith. 



On motion the order of business was suspended and the Report of the Sec- 

 retary was read, as follows : 



REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Compared with 1876-7 the year 1878 lias been to the Michigan farmer one of con- 

 tinued low prices, increased production, and not marlied but substantial prosperity. 

 Crops of all kinds have yielded bountifully and been secured in good condition, and 

 while his hopes of an advance in the market have not been realized, the increased 

 purchasing power of money has generally operated to his advantage. The season 

 has demonstrated more clearly than ever that the leading staple, the one great 

 money-crop of Michigan upon Avhich it must depend to keep the balance of trade in 

 its favor, and upon which the farmer must mainly depend to make farming pay, is 

 wheat. Its value exceeds that of all other farm crops combined. The exact figures 

 cannot be given, but the exportation of wheat probably brings more money into the 

 State than that of all other farm products together. In 1873, the last year for which 

 a census was taken, the cash value of the wheat crop exceeded that of corn, potatoes, 

 wool, fruit, and vegetables combined, by over $1,335,000. According to the supervis- 

 ors' reports made to the Secretary of State, there were in the ground last May 

 1,523,841 acres of wheat, which at the same average yield per acre as in 1877, would 

 give 27,596,760 bushels as the crop for 1878. If to this we add the product of the 

 eighty-nine townships which made no report, though many of them are among the 

 best wheat townships in the State, and also make allowance for the ravages of the 

 Hessian fly, which were much more severe in 1877 than in 1878, the Michigan wheat 

 crop the past year undoubtedly exceeded 28,000,000 bushels. This at even the pres- 

 ent low prices would give an average of $200 to every wheat producer, or $18 to 

 every wheat eater, man, woman, and child, in the State. 



THE GROWTH OF FORTY YEARS. 



A subject of such vital interest demands the first attention of every agricultural 

 society and every agriculturist in the State, and to present at a glance the growth 

 and magnitude of the industry, we have prepared from authentic sources a little 

 table showing the acreage, the yield per acre, when possible, and the aggregate 

 bushels grown at intervals for the past forty years: 



LEADING THE VAN. 



Out of the nine wheat States which outranked Michigan in 1S49, she has outstripped 

 all but Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, while Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and California 

 have, within the last few years, shot forward into front rank. Compared witii these 

 great States, tlie Lower Peninsula surpasses them all save Indiana, area for area, in 

 wheat production, and were it possible to compare the proportion of land under cul- 

 tivation in the two States, there can be no doubt but it would surpass Indiana also. 



