FACTORS IN WHEAT PRODUCTION 107 



There is no known remedy for wheat rust. 

 Preventive measures, however, are quite effec- 

 tive. Much the same methods are employed as 

 are used in combating weeds. The seed wheat 

 should be clean and should be selected from grain 

 that has been free from rust. All weeds and 

 grasses that aid the growth of the rust should be 

 destroyed. Smut, likewise, is destroyed by treat- 

 ing the seed with preparations which kill the 

 smut spores without injury to the grain. A crop 

 which is thoroughly infested with smut cannot 

 be saved. This makes vigorous preventive meas- 

 ures necessary when the seed wheat is even sus- 

 pected of infection. 



The Size of Farms which produce Wheat.- -Wheat 

 is a product of the small farm as well as of the 

 large. In Italy and Greece, five acres is a fair- 

 sized field. In Sweden, ten to twenty acre fields 

 are common, while in the Western plains region of 

 the United States there are many fields of from 

 300 to 2000 acres. The size of the farm depends 

 upon density of population and upon isolation 

 of the country. Fields in Belgium and the Neth- 

 erlands, because of a very crowded population, are 

 small. In certain remote parts of Asia Minor, 

 the fields are likewise small from the very fact of 

 their isolation. Here lack of transportation facil- 

 ities compels the people to raise their own wheat 

 and grind their own flour. Furthermore, their 



