THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II. 61 



perished; not from winter killing, but from drouth in winter, and 

 it became so uncertain that very few are growing it now. How- 

 ever, there were some very large crops of it grown. At that time 

 we were not drilling much; hut those that did drill had the same 

 trouble; found trouble in getting it started in the fall of the year- 

 There have been several occasions when it would lie in the ground 

 and not germinate until spring. I have known of seventeen 

 bushels to the acre, winter wheat, that when spring opened showed 

 scarcely a sign of life. 



Mr. Trigg : Mr. ( hairman : It is a matter of history that when 

 Iowa quit raising wheat she commenced to prosper. In 1878 

 the fanners of the state were bankrupt as the result of wheat 

 raising. Now, while wheat may be raised to fairly good advantage 

 in the southern tiers of counties of the state, here a few spots 

 and there a few spots, it is not profitable when taken up generally. 

 It is my idea that any crop raised in the state should be convert- 

 ible into some other form for market. A bushel of corn that 

 sells on the market for twenty-five cents is easily convertible into 

 fifty cents, one year with another, by any man who will feed i: 

 as it may be fed. Our state is a great stock and dairy state, and 

 we never should lose sight of that fact. The only recommenda- 

 tion in the paper that I would indorse is the fact that winter wheat 

 i> a god nurse crop. In any event, rye will do just as well. Then 

 how can we compete with this northern country on wheat? The 

 record shows that in the territories of Manitoba they have raised 

 1.9.95 bushels of wheat per acre for an average of ten years. Just 

 think of it; a record we cannot approximate into nearly nine 

 bushels. So I honestly think that the best thing farmers can do 

 is to let wheat raising alone and raise corn, hogs, cattle and nice 

 fat, healthy boys and girls. 



Chairman: The next on the program will be a paper entitled 

 "Points to be Considered in the Economic Production of Beef," 

 bv W. J. Kenned v. 



