220 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



quately long for this crop. Wheat is sown in the latter 

 part of April or early in May, and grows rapidly through 

 May, June, and the early part of July, which are the 

 months of greatest rainfall. It ripens and is harvested 

 in August, in which month hot, dry spells of weather are 

 characteristic. The farmers have discovered that if 

 sowing is delayed by a late spring or by other causes, 

 •the crop may come into ' ' the milk ' ' during a late summer 

 dry spell and be injured. Judging by a comparison of 

 crop yields with the weather records spring wheat has 

 done well in most seasons since its culture began in this 

 area. However, the decrease in yield per acre after 1875 

 was attributed incorrectly, by some writers, to vagaries 

 of the weather 12 . 



By 1860, in the river counties of Minnesota, houses 

 and barns were built and other improvements made, 

 so that the farmers had time to cultivate more of 

 their f arms. In that year fifty per cent of. the improved 

 land in the counties facing on the Mississippi, and thirty 

 per cent in the counties remote from the river but still 

 within hauling distance, were planted to wheat 13 . As it 

 became evident that wheat was the most profitable crop, 

 more and more land was devoted to it. A man's income 

 increased with the size of his crop, and consequently 

 large acreages were planted. 



The establishment of the one-crop system in this area 

 was favored by the large yields of wheat produced from 

 the fertile soils. The average yield per acre for the 

 state as a whole was 22.05 bushels in I860 14 . With the 

 exception of Houston County, all of the counties in this 

 area had an average yield per acre greater than that for 

 the state. In some townships in these counties the aver- 

 age yield per sere was exceptional. In New Hartford 

 township in Winona County it was 33.2 bushels, in 

 Douglas township in Fillmore County, 27.7 bushels, and 

 in Goodhue township in Goodhue County, 27 bushels 15 . 

 In the next decade the average yield per acre varied from 

 time to time, according to the season, but in 1875, twenty 



"History of Winona Countv (Chimin, 1SS3), p. 00. 



13 Second Annua! Report of Commissioner of Statistics, pp. 128, 129, 131. 

 "Second Annual Report of Commissioner of Statistics of Minnesota 

 (St. Paul. 1861), p. 57. 

 15 Ibid., p. 58. 



