

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULURE, 



STATES RELATIONS SERVICE, 

 A. C. TRUE, Director. 



SYLLABUS 11 ILLUSTRATED LECTURE ON 

 WHEAT CULTURE. 1 



By J. I. SCHULTE, Assistant Agriculturist, Office of Experiment Stations, 

 States Relations Service. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Wheat is the world's choicest bread crop and the source of View - 

 one of the principal foods of the most progressive and intelli- 

 gent nations. The United States is the leading wheat-produc- 

 ing country of the world, and it is of the greatest importance 

 that its rank in this respect be maintained. Year by year the 

 requirements are growing, and, as production is not increasing 

 at the same rate as consumption and exportation, wheat cul- 

 ture should be placed on a more efficient basis. Earlier in 

 our history the total yield was increased by bringing new lands 

 under cultivation and devoting them largely to wheat culture, 

 but such lands are no longer available in sufficient area to be 

 of great significance in this connection and attention must now 

 be given to increasing the production of the country by other 

 ways and means. . The average yield per acre at present is only 

 about 15 bushels, whereas in some European countries it is 

 double this quantity, and even more. With the average yield 

 per acre of England this country would be capable of more 

 than doubling its annual total production. The wheat soils 

 of this country can be made as productive as those of other 

 countries, and to bring this about on a profitable basis is one of 

 the important problems of American agriculture. 



HISTORY. 



Wheat is probably a native of western Asia, and its cultiva- 

 tion is very ancient. The Chinese are said to have grown 



1 This syllabus has been prepared by direct cooperation between the author, J. I. Schulte, as 

 regards subject matter, and J. M. Stedman, Farmers' Institute Specialist of the States Rela- 

 tions Service, as regards pedagogical form. It is designed to aid farmers' institute and other 

 extension lecturers in presenting this subject before popular audiences. The syllabus is illus- 

 trated with 46 lantern slides. The numbers in the margins of the pages refer to the lantern 

 slides as listed in the Appendix. 



27849 18 1 



444101 



