FOR BETTER CROPS 149 



from them would support life and strength better than any 

 otlier single food except milk. Although in this country the 

 ease with which other foods can be obtained makes bread seem 

 less important, there are many districts of Europe and Asia 

 where it is still the "staff of life," and where when people pray 

 for their daily bread, they mean it literally. 



Even in the United States bread plays a more important part 

 than many realize. Statistical investigations which have ])een 

 conducted by the government indicate that at present the 

 annual per capita consumption of wheat in the United States 

 is about 4i bushels, which represents not far from a barrel of 

 flour, and there are reasons to suppose that this amount is 

 increasing. 



The Early Struggle for Bread — During the first seventy 

 years of our national life, our abundant resources failed to bring 

 us any great increase in commerce or in the products of agricul- 

 ture, trades, and industries. Notwithstanding the fact that the 

 virgin soil was practically free to the settler, our production of 

 wheat was insufficient to supply our people with bread, and the 

 little that was imported was taken from the mouths of the 

 poor. In the beginning of the century just past, but thres per 

 cent of the people of America lived in cities; the remainder 

 lived on the farms and in small towns, and were dependent 

 upon agriculture for food; there was little manufacturing— the 

 people were dependent upon the mother-country for almost 

 everything except the products of the soil. It, therefore, will 

 seem a surprising statement when it is said that the people in 

 the United States as late as 1845 did not raise enough wheat for 

 their bread. In that year only 4^ bushels per person were raised 

 in the United States, while in the year 1800, 5i bushels per per- 

 son were raised. We had during the first half of the century 

 no factories such as employ thousands of hands to-day, and our 

 cities were mere villages; therefore, it is no wonder that, with a 

 population in the United States that had quadrupled since 1800, 

 enconomists were alarmed at the failure of the food supply to 

 keep pace with our rapid increase in population. It is not too 

 much to say that the limit of food production with the sickle 

 had been reached. 



Increase in Production of Food — About the middle of 

 the last century there was a remarkable change in the food- 

 producing power of the American people. From a low rank 

 among nations, we have advanced to the highest position, with 

 a producing power in agriculture and manufacture that almost 

 equals that of all Europe. The source of this remarkable aug- 

 mentation in our enconomic power is the result of invention — 

 invention of agricultural machines. Our food supply increased 

 decade by decade from 4.33 bushels of wheat per person in 1849, 



