460 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



1907. A significant fact is that for the j^ear 1909 not one correspondent 

 reports the farm price below 50 cents j^er bushel. In a few of the 

 drought-stricken counties of the southw^est section a limited number of 

 correspondents report corn selling at from 65 to 75 cents per bushel. 



Wheat. — In the production of wheat every section of the State 

 made a decided increase over the 1908 output, the total estimated yield 

 on 1,800,005 acres being 27,502,879 bushel's, as compared with 20,684,- 

 819 bushels harvested from 1,927,728 acres in 1908. The value of the 

 1909 wheat crop, figured at $1.07, the average farm price per bushel 

 for the State being $29,608,414, as compared with $19,512,660 for the 

 preceding year. 



The condition of the wheat crop on the first of December, 1908, 

 was 79, this being ten points below the five-year average. During the 

 winter, which was characterized by an unusually large number of sud- 

 den and decided changes in temperature, there was a lack of snow cov- 

 ering, so that by April 1 the wheat condition had fallen to 70, or 18 

 points below the five-year average for the same month. An improve- 

 ment of four points was made during April. The first of June showed 

 a further advance of two points. Harvest came about two weeks late, 

 and improvement immediately preceding cutting was very marked, 

 indicating a much better yield and quality than had been promised a 

 few weeks earlier. The preliminai-y State estimate for yield, made on 

 July 1, was 14.3 bushels per acre, as compared with a ten-year average 

 of 13.7 bushels. On August 1, when 41.7 per cent, of the crop was 

 reported threshed, the quality was 92.8, as compared with 82 on August 

 1, 1908. The final figures on the 1909 wheat crop place the average yield 

 for the State at 15.3 bushels per acre, or a bushel better than the pre- 

 liminary estimate. 



The banner wheat county of the State is St. Charles, with an acre- 

 age of 51,772, and a total product of 1, 190,756 bushels. The largest 

 wheat-producing countj^ in the southeast section is Franklin, with an 

 acreage of 67,243, and a total product of 1.008,645 bushels. Pike, in the 

 northeast section, produced 753,160 bushels on 43,800 acres. The ban- 

 ner wheat county in Central Missouri is Cooper, with an acreage of 

 56,420, and a total product of 959,140 bushels. There is but little dif- 

 ference in the total product of Jasper and Lawrence counties in the 

 southwest section, Jasper having an acreage of 50,261 and a yield of 

 753,915, while Lawrence, Avith an acreage of 52,151 has a total yield of 

 730,114 bushels. After Franklin, the largest Avheat-producing county 

 in Southeast Missouri, is Scott, with an acreage of 47,317. and a yield 

 of 757,072. 



