CROP REGIONS OF OHIO 69 



is the dominant crop. The returns per acre in grain and fodder 

 are greater than from wheat and the money returns are also greater. 

 Why is wheat grown at all in the humid sections, if com gives it 

 such competition? There are several reasons. A farmer can grow 

 wheat and even in normal times make a return on his investment. 

 He has also found out that to grow corn continuously does not pay. 

 Clover or clover and timothy usually enter into a scheme of crop 

 rotation. Wheat serves as a crop to sow with the hay crop which 

 will return a yield for the use of the land while the hay plants are 

 becoming established. 



It is not surprising in the light of the above reasons for wheat 

 culture in humid regions, that we find wheat centering in the same 

 part of Ohio in which corn centers. It is found in the western 

 part of the state. Wheat suffers more from disease, from insects 

 and unfavorable weather conditions than corn does, so it is not 

 surprising to find that the yield from year to year varies widely. 

 In Ohio June and July are the months of heaviest rainfall. This 

 rain is usually too late to help the growth of wheat much and is often 

 the cause of damage. The wheat yield in 1913 was 27,825,105 

 bushels and in 1915, 35,624,381 bushels. In 1913, the southwestern 

 section led. In 1913 the two western sections produced 63 per- 

 cent of the crop; in 1915 the same sections produced 60 percent 

 of the total wheat. This shows in spite of variation in yield that the 

 wheat centers in the western half of the state. 



There is another way of locating a center if there is some 

 doubt as to its exact location and that is by examining the acreage 

 sown to a certain crop rather than the actual production. This 

 has the advantage of showing what the farmer intended to pro- 

 duce. What he is actually able to grow depends on a number of 

 circumstances, many of which are beyond his control. In 1915, 

 there were 1,888,642 acres in Ohio from which wheat was har- 

 vested. This was distributed in the state as follows: 



Southwestern section 599,704 



Northwestern " 587,979 



Northeastern " 466,750 



Southeastern " 234,211 



When the two western sections are summed, we find that 62 

 percent of the wheat crop came from the western section of the 

 state. It is also interesting to note that while the southwestern 



