988 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
WHEAT PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
This Department, since its organization in 1862, has published sixteen 
annual estimates of the wheat crops, an abstract of which will be found 
m the table below. It should be remembered that the earlier years of 
this period were years of civil war, in which a portion of cur wheat area 
was the scene of hostile operations destructive of settled industry— 
hence our figures for those years were abnormally low. From 1866, 
however, the first year after the close of the war, there was a steady 
enlargement of our wheat acreage, more than doubling in 1878 the 
aggregate of 1866. Dividing the sixteen years under consideration into 
two equal periods we find the average acreage of the second eight years 
to be 50 per cent. greater than in the eight years preceding. The wheat 
acreage of 1878 is about equal to the area of the State of Alabama. 
The average yield per acre ranged from 10 bushels per acre in 1866 
to 13.9 bushels in 1877, averaging 12.2 bushels per acre during the 
whole period. It is remarkable that the average of the two subordi- 
nate periods of eight years is precisely the same. This fact shows that 
the productiveness of our wheat area has on the whole been maintained. 
As our acreage has enlarged in a greater proportion than our popula- 
tion our production per capita has increased. Comparing our estimates 
of products with Elliott’s estimates of population, we find that the ay- 
erage yield per capita during the first eight years, was less than 53 
bushels against nearly 7 bushels in the second eight years. The enor- 
mous crop of 1875 averaged about 8} bushels. 
It is evident that the consumption of wheat has increased among our 
own people, but not to anything like the extent necessary to absorb our 
late enormous crops. To account for this we must look to the immense 
demand for breadstuffs that has lately grown up in Western Europe. 
This demand is the result of restricted production. Not only unfavor- 
able growing conditions have restricted the productiveness of the wheat 
crop during the last few years, but also a change in the economic con- 
ditions of this industry. The area devoted to wheat in the United 
Kingdom has been gradually decreasing for several years on account of 
the growing cost of culture and the increasing competition of other 
countries, especially the United States. Im 1858 the British Islands 
imported 23,201,941 cwt. of wheat and flour reduced to its equivalent 
in grain; fifteen years later the import had doubled, amounting in 1872 
to “47, 612 996 cwt.; the average annual import of this period was 
37 876, 191 ewt. Of this average the United States contributed 27 per 
cent., Russia 24, Germany 17, France 9, British America 7. 
During the following six years ending wish 1878 the average import 
rose to 57,665,777 cwt., including flour and meal. Of this import the 
United States furnished 48 per cent. of the wheat and 36 per cent. of 
the fiour; Russia less than 19 per cent. of the grain and a proportion of 
flour too small for notice; Germany, 8 per cent. of the wheat and 14 per 
cent. of the flour; France, 12 per cent of the wheat and less than 20 per 
cent. of the flour; British North America, nearly 7 per cent. of the wheat 
and over 5 per cent. of the flour. It should be noted, however, that in 
the last year or two, wheat imports from France have nearly ceased and 
flour imports have fallen to about a third of the average of the period. 
British India sent a large contribution in 1877, but during the last year 
it fell off greatly. Thesupplies from Australia have been very irregular, 
while Turkey and Egypt, once sending large supplies, have greatly de- 
clined. 
The reports from the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, 
