66 AGRICULTURE 



The wheat belt of the United States. The best wheat 

 producing regions are in the Middle West and North. Kan- 

 sas, North Dakota and Minnesota produce not far from 

 one-third of all the wheat grown in the United States. 

 If to these we add the following twelve states, Nebraska, 

 South Dakota, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Washington, Mis- 

 souri, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, California, Michigan and 

 Oregon, we shall have the fifteen states that produce more 

 than four-fifths of all our wheat. 



The yield of wheat. The average yield of wheat for 

 the entire country is about half what it is for corn, or four- 

 teen bushels to the acre. The states that produce the largest 

 amount of wheat are not necessarily the ones that show the 

 largest yield per acre. Taking the average for ten years, 

 the ten states producing the largest amount of wheat rank 

 in the following order in the yield per acre : Washington, 

 first ; Nebraska, second ; Ohio, third ; Illinois, fourth ; Indi- 

 ana, fifth; Missouri, sixth; Minnesota, .seventh; Kansas, 

 eighth ; South Dakota, ninth ; North Dakota, tenth. 



The average yield of wheat is gradually increasing, but 

 all too slowly. With still better methods of farming and 

 with better selection of seed and improvement of the soil 

 much larger crops of wheat can be raised. And this means 

 cheaper bread, and more profit in farming. 



2. Types of Wheat 



Wheat is classed as winter wheat or spring wheat, de- 

 pending on whether it is planted in the fall or the spring. 

 It is also classed as hard or soft in accordance with the 

 quality of the grain. 



There are three more or less distinct types of winter 

 wheat, and three of spring wheat, as follows: 



1. Soft winter wheat. 



2. Semi-hard winter wheat. 



3. Hard winter wheat. 



