138 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



and the returns from each. From many figures the cost of producing 

 an acre of corn is approximately $12 and that for wheat $8 per acre. 

 This year (1909) the price of corn has averaged 58 cents per bushel 

 and wheat $1.07. The average production of wheat last year was 13 

 bushels per acre and corn 28 bushels. At current prices the value per 

 acre of wheat for the State was $13.91 and $16.24 for corn, leaving a 

 profit for wheat of $5.91 per acre and $4.24 for corn. Still further we 

 may pretty accurately figure that a 25-bushel crop of wheat at 80 

 cents per bushel, the current price for the last five years, will yield as 

 large a net return as 55 bushels of corn at the average price of 45 

 cents per bushel. 



Of course, the profitableness of any crop is largely dependent upon 

 its yield. As we have seen, the average production of wheat last year 

 was only 13 bushels per acre and corn 28 bushels per acre. Is there 

 any means by which these yields may be increased? A glance at the 

 records of any rotation experiment of any of our experiment stations 

 will show that changing crops grown on the same land, in regular 

 order, is one of the best means to increase the yield of crops. This 

 systematic rotation is of benefit in many ways. It maintains a greater 

 supply of humus in the soil, which makes that soil more easily worked, 

 more capable of holding reserve moisture and of draining away sur- 

 plus water. The presence of humus is also necessary to make plant 

 food available, for by its decomposition nitrates are formed and the 

 mineral plant food elements are dissolved by the organic acids formed. 



Instead of our farmers contenting themselves with 28 bushels of 

 corn per acre, they could more than double the crop if every one would 

 practice a systematic rotation. 



On the other hand, it is well to know that the yield of wheat need 

 not be confined to 13 bushels per acre. This station has been con- 

 ducting variety tests of wheat for many years past and has found 

 many good producing varieties, several of which have averaged above 

 25 bushels per acre for the last five years. 



Many questions are asked as to the relative merits of the different 

 varieties and variety characteristics. As to white and red wheat, the 

 Ohio station made 144 trials of white and 627 of red wheat. The white 

 averaged 27.3 bushels per acre and the red 27.8 per acre. For yield- 

 ing power, then, there is practically no difference between the two, but 

 red wheat as a rule is harder than white and has a better quality of 

 gluten and is generally conceded to make a better quality of flour. 



It is well to note, however, that in most of this State the wheat is 

 only semi-hard, and that hard wheats gradually get softer. In the 

 extreme northern and northwestern part of the State this is not true, 



