o7G STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



blanu' for tliis or Avhetlior it is simply one of the i)eriods of depression 

 iLat come some time or other to those enj;aj:;ed in any business, is a 

 question tlie i)e()itle should ponder over in order that they may arrive 

 at the correct solution. The problem involves not only the determina- 

 tion of the causes for the present conditions, but equally as well what 

 methods shall be adopted to make this industry, which is the most 

 important one to our i)eople, an occupation in which one can engage 

 with profit. 



In the past the one great money crop has been wheat. Upon the 

 yield per acre and the price obtaineil for that commodity largely de- 

 pended the profits in farming. Michigan farmers generally buy corn 

 and seldom produce more oats than are consumed here. It is true that 

 some of these grain crops have been fed to stock and then sold, yet it 

 is fair to say that until recently the one great crop that has produced 

 the revenue has been wheat. Thus it becomes necessary in discussing 

 questions pertaining to agricultural depression to study the question 

 of wheat production and the influences which afifect it. 



In order to be fair and just and also to arrive at a correct conclusion, 

 it will be necessary to keep in mind several factors which apply only 

 occasionally and separate them from others which always exist and the 

 effect of which can always be ascertained before hand with great accu- 

 racy. In the one case the result cannot be determined in advance and 

 advantage taken because the state of affairs is brought about by condi- 

 tions over which we have no control, while on the other hand, in the 

 other case, the reverse is true. To illustrate, in 1898 we had what was 

 probably the largest crop of wheat ever grown in Michigan. In the 

 start conditions were very unfavorable. The ground was dry and hard 

 to plow; in many cases turned up in large lumps which farmers were 

 unable to make fine for a good seed bed. Conditions in the fall were 

 not favorable for growth, so that when winter came on the plant was 

 small and ill-fitted to stand the storms of an ordinary winter in this 

 State. All this happened with manj- farmers who had done their very 

 best to give the crop a good start. But right here Nature smiled pro- 

 pitiously and exerted its influence. All through the long winter in 

 most parts of the State the ground was seldom frozen and was covered 

 with a blanket of snow which enabled the plants to continue to grow. 

 The winds in March failed to uncover the fields so that vegetation might 

 be subjected to the alternate freezing and thawing so common in that 

 month and which is so destructive to plant life. The rain fell at just 

 the right time in the spring and all conditions continued favorable, so 

 that in the end we had a crop that averaged in the State 19.43 bushels 

 per acre, a yield that, according to statistics, was only exceeded but 

 once, when the crop of 1885 yielded 19.91 bushels per acre. In the 

 aggregate it was the largest croj) ever grown and instead of being due 

 to rich land well prepared, something over which man has some control, 

 was largely the result of very favorable climatic conditions, something 

 beyond the province of man to influence and control to any great extent. 



One year later conditions were exactly reversed. The seed bed was 

 well prepared and the crop covered the ground nicely by winter time. 

 In Februar^v we had a very severe storm, the tem])erature remaining ex- 

 ceedingly low for several days, freezing the ground for several feet in 

 depth, and thus killing many trees and plants. Whether this severe 



