CHAPTER VII 

 SOME IMPORTANT FARM CROPS 



147. Relative Importance of the Different Crops of 

 the World. If under the one word grass we include all 

 the hay and pasture plants, then the most important 

 crop of the world is grass. But this is a collection of a 

 number of different plants. 



The most valuable single plant of the world is the 

 wheat. The potato is second in value and corn third. There 

 are now more pounds of corn grown than of wheat, but the 

 wheat is worth more per pound, so that its total value 

 is still greater than that of corn. 



It will be noticed that the two crops whose total yields 

 lead all other crops are natives of the new world. The dis- 



FIG. 66. The world's crop production for the year 1906 in billions of pounds. 1 



covery of America was much more than the discovery 

 of more land. Of these two crops, corn has attained the 

 greatest development in America, but the potato has at- 



1 Yearbook, United States Department ot Agriculture, 1907. Bushels 

 of wheat multiplied by 60, corn by 56, potatoes by 60, oats by 32, rye by 

 56, barley by 48. 



(154) 



