168 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



period of six years, we get the following table of average yield 

 per acre, and average annual aggregate production of the State : 



The favorable showing of the first nine years is probably to 

 be accounted for in part by the larger proportion of virgin soil 

 at that time, and partly by the fact that statistics had not then 

 been reduced to as complete a science as since. 



Two causes account for the extremely unfavorable showing 

 of the second period ; the absence of a large part of the agri- 

 cultural class in the army reduced the number of acres under 

 cultivation, and the disastrous crop failures of 1865 arid 1866 

 reduced the average per acre, which in 1865 was but nine, and 

 in 1866 but four and a half bushels. The wet season of 1875 

 explains why the third period did not quite equal the first one. 

 The fourth period of six years marks apparently a new era in 

 wheat growing, the annual aggregate production being doubled, 

 and the average yield per acre being increased forty per cent. 

 This greatly increased yield was doubtless due to better drainage, 

 better preparation of the soil, better fertilization, including a 

 larger use of commercial fertilizers and the introduction of new 

 and improved varieties. 



Soil. Wheat flourishes on a great variety of soils, the es- 

 sential conditions being good natural or artificial drainage, as it 

 is easily injured by excess of water in the soil, and a supply 

 of available plant food. A limestone clay, under favorable con- 

 ditions, is probably one of the safest soils for the crop, but it is 

 grown with success even on rich black bottom soils. 



Drainage. There is no crop which is more benefited by 

 drainage than this; in fact, it is scarcely wise to attempt the cul- 

 tivation of wheat on a soil that is not drained, either naturally 

 or artificially, as a profitable crop can only be grown on such 



