150 FIELD CHOPS 



as $1.07 per bushel. The price varied during that period 

 from 76 cents in 1912 to S2.01 in 1917. On July 1, 1918, 

 as a result of the presidential proclamation and increased 

 freight rates, the price at Minneapohs was S2.213^, at 

 Chicago, S2.26, and at New York, $2,393^. The farm price of 

 wheat varies considerably^ in different sections of the United 

 States, depending upon the local supply and demand and 

 the distance from market. In the North Central states 

 west of the Mississippi River, including Minnesota, Iowa, 

 Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, 

 the 10-year average farm price was between $1.01 and $1.10 

 per bushel. This section produces about one half of the 

 wheat crop of the United States. In the North Atlantic 

 states, which include only about 4 per cent of the wheat acre- 

 age of the United States, the average farm price for the same 

 period was $1.17 per bushel. In the Far Western states, 

 representing about 10 per cent of the wheat area and about 

 13 per cent of the total production of the United States, the 

 price was about $1.01 per bushel. 



191. Cost of Production. The cost of producing wheat 

 naturally varies with the section of the country, the rental 

 value of the land, the price of labor, and the methods em- 

 ployed. From reports made by more than five thousand cor- 

 respondents of the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, tabulated in the May, 

 1911, Crop Reporter, the average cost of producing an acre 

 of wheat in 1909 in the United States was $11.15. Of this 

 total, the average amount expended for fertilizers was 58 

 cents; preparation of the land, $2.11; seed, $1.42; planting, 

 46 cents; harvesting, $1.33; preparing for market (including 

 threshing), $1.48; miscellaneous, 47 cents; land rental or in- 

 terest on land value, $3.30. As the average yield in that 

 year was 17.2 bushels, the cost of production was 66 cents 

 a bushel. The average value of wheat was 96 cents a bushel, 

 leaving a return of 30 cents a bushel, or $5.33 an acre. While 



