LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 445 



Mr. Halliday : I can't tell. Last year manured land had poorer corn 

 than unmanured. Where the corn crop is good I charge one-third of the 

 manure to it. 



D. C. Blair: Book-keeping for farmers seems at a discount, but I have 

 been much interested in figures that have emanated from the Agricultural 

 College and Experimental Station, resulting from book-keeping. I believe 

 that such work should be continued. 



Mr. Watkins: There is no objection to farmers keeping books. They 

 should do so, and should yearly take inventories ; but there is no possibility 

 of keeping the perfect account -with fields that is sometimes proposed. 



President Willits : I wish every farmer would keep for one year, if no 

 more, a correct account of the value of every article he uses that comes from 

 the farm, and that he does not have to buy, but that village and city folks 

 do. They would think more favorably of the profits of farming than they 

 do now. 



WHEAT PRODUCTION. 



BY GEO. W. OSBORN, OF MENDON. 



Read at the Farmers' Institute at Centreville, Feb. 19, 1889. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



Why is the price of wheat so low, and how can we make it profitable to 

 raise it? The price of wheat, as well as of all other commodities, is governed 

 by the universal law of supply and demand. A large surplus of any com- 

 modity results in low prices and a stagnant market. Monetary influences 

 also largely affect prices; if money is plenty and cheap, prices are higher 

 than when it is scarce, although other conditions of supply and demand 

 remain the same. Are the low prices of wheat due to over production, or, 

 in other words, is there more wheat produced in the world than is required 

 for consumption. 



In 1875, according to the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 Michigan produced 16,870,000 bushels of wheat from 1,249,629 acres. In 

 1887, 12 years later, we produced 21,672,000 bushels from 1,629,467 acres, an 

 increase of 4,802,000 and 379,838 acres. The average price per bushel 

 during this period has ranged as follows : 



1875 $115 1880 $0 97 1884 $0 74 



1876 116 1881.. ....125 1885 84 



1877 122 1882 90 1886 73 



1878 85 1883 96 1887 74 



1879 1 17 



Thus it will be seen that the prices since 1881 have been uniformly low, 

 averaging 82 cents per bushel. During which time the volume of money in 

 circulation has decreased, and the production of wheat has increased, as 

 will be shown by a comparison of the world's production and consumption 

 for the same period. Unfavorable climatic influences for the past two years, 

 damage by the Hessian fly in central southern Michigan, and low prices have 

 made the wheat crop an unprofitable one for the farmers. But the past two 

 seasons have been beneficial for the future raising of wheat, by reducing the 



