52 The Bulletin 



North Carolina. The difference between the sums of these four highest 

 yields is 184 bushels in favor of North Carolina. 



The reports for 1914 are not yet out. In the agricultural papers it is re- 

 ported that the highest yield in the Boys' Corn Club contest in Ohio is 143 

 bushels. Durham County has a boy who made 160.17 bushels in favor of 

 Durham County. Durham has beat the big State of Ohio. All honor to 

 Durham County. 



Any farmer in North Carolina who cultivates an acre of land in corn and 

 in a normal season makes less than 60 bushels, ought to resign his job, get 

 his knitting and seek employment as a stenographer. 



How We May Increase Our Yields of Wheat. 



M. J. Hendricks. 



North Carolina is not considered a wheat growing State; more than one- 

 half of the State grows little if any wheat at all, yet we do grow a consider- 

 able number of acres of wheat, especially in Piedmont North Carolina. 



The acreage sown in wheat in 1913 was 605,000. The number of bushels 

 produced was 7,078,000, making the average yield per acre 11.7 bushels. The 

 average price paid for wheat in North Carolina is about $1.00. This would 

 make our 1913 crop of wheat worth $7,078,000. It is true that this is a vast 

 sum of money, but when we consider the cost of production and the average 

 yield per acre, we find that it is not a profitable crop. 



The Indiana Experiment Station has figured out that it cost $12.33 to pro- 

 duce an acre of wheat. If this is an accurate statement you can see at once 

 that we are growing wheat at a loss. Twenty years ago the average yield of 

 wheat in the United States was 12.7 bushels per acre. Today our average 

 yield per acre is only 14.7 bushels. We have made some increase in yields, 

 but it has been very slow. Ten years ago North Carolina made an average of 

 8.5 bushels per acre; now we make 11.7 bushels per acre. Some of our 

 farmers this year have demonstrated that we can grow profitable yields of 

 wheat. On the Holt farm in Davidson County, with a yield of 3,300 bushels, 

 the average for the entire crop was 40.5 bushels; on 22 V2 acres of the same 

 crop the average was 44.5 bushels. A farmer in Rowan County made 168 

 bushels on three acres, an average of 56 bushels; while another in Mont- 

 gomery County made 210 bushels on six acres, an average of 35 bushels. 



I would like to impress this fact: on each of these farms mentioned above 

 they have, without a single exception, been growing clover and have supplied 

 the land with plant food and organic matter. 



Now, as wheat has become a fixed crop in our rotation, I shall endeavor to 

 offer some suggestions as to how we might increase our yields. 



First. By thorough preparation of the seed-bed, sufficient amount of plant 

 food and vegetable matter; the time of preparation and necessary imple- 

 ments to do the work are some of the essentials to greater production. 



If we follow a clover sod with wheat or follow corn that has been grown 

 after a clover sod with wheat, it almost guarantees a good yield. If you 

 intend to prepare clovered land for wheat, the results would be far better if 

 you would not take off the first crop of clover unless your land has been 

 brought up until it could afford to do without it. By taking off the first 

 crop and waiting for the second crop to mature it makes it rather late to 

 plow the land. Clover sod (or any land you expect to plow for wheat) should 

 be plowed as early in July as possible, after the sod has matured. Give the 

 land frequent workings up to time of sowing; the disc and section harrow 

 are the best implements to use for these cultivations. Weeds and grass 

 should not be allowed to grow on the land after it has been plowed, as it fur- 

 nishes a breeding place for the fly and also takes plant food from the land 

 in growing them. It does not require as deep plowing for wheat as it does 

 for corn, say from five to seven inches. If you expect to follow peas or corn 

 with wheat, the best and cheapest preparation is to thoroughly disc the land, 

 that is, if the corn has had clean cultivation. The discing in of the pea vines 

 after they have been rolled or planked down is better than turning them 

 under. 



