934. REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 
Michigan and Wisconsin, the Lake States of this group, make a 
lesser showing in wheat, Michigan having produced in forty-one years 
two-thirds as much as any one of the three Ohio River States. The 
second twenty-year period shows a moderate décline over the first. In 
1908, however, Michigan raised nearly 16,000,000 bushels—a product 
of no mean order. Her maximum of 34,000,000 in 1898 suggests 
what her possibilities are. Wisconsin has a different record, having 
often produced over 20,000,000 until 1884, and since 1892 has but 
three times reached 10,000,000. In 1908 she dropped to 3,328,000 
bushels. This does not mean that this great State is unsuited to wheat. 
The crop suffered decadence through soil exhaustion, insect enemies, 
and the vast growth of dairying; but, with intelligent methods, there 
seems to be no reason why Wisconsin may not again stand well up in 
the wheat column. Mr. R. A. Moore, Agronomist of the College of 
Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin, expresses the opinion ! 
that ‘the pendulum will swing back to quite an extent.’ He thinks 
the land of Wisconsin too rich for oat-raising, and that with rota- 
tion and other modern methods wheat can again be raised without 
impoverishing the soil. Before leaving the second group of States it 
will be of interest to note that of the entire crop of 1906, in the United 
States, of 735,000,000 bushels, 250,000,000 were grown east of the 
Mississippi River. This amounts to about 34 per cent., or slightly 
above one-third of the total. The third group of States forms the well- 
known present centre of wheat in the United States, and the figures 
need not be given in detail for individual States. Minnesota produced 
10,000,000 bushels in 1867, and has steadily risen until, since 1895, 
her crop has never been less than 46,000,000 bushels, and has ranged 
up to 80,000,000. Iowa, as a prairie State, most resembles Illinois, 
but her wheat has seen larger decline. Thirty years ago the crop 
often passed 30,000,000 bushels, but in recent years runs from 8 to 
14 millions. The reason is doubtless to be found in the expansion 
of maize and live-stock industries. Her average for forty-one years, 
1866-1906, was 21,432,000 bushels. Missouri holds a strong average 
production in recent years of 20 to 30 million bushels, the maximum 
being 56,000,000 in 1902. 
Kansas, Nebraska, and the two Dakotas may be called the Missouri 
River wheat States, and represent the newest and greatest development 
of wheat within the territory of the Republic. In 1862 Dakota Terri- 
tory (before division) reported 11,000,000 bushels. This was but 
twenty-seven years before the present writing. Since 1897 the crop 
of North Dakota alone has but once fallen below 51,000,000 bushels, 
and rose in 1905 and 1906 to 75 and 77 millions. Nebraska’s product 
is usually above 40,000,000 bushels. The total of the three leading 
wheat States of the present time is as follows for the ten years 1897 
to 1906: 
Minnesota ie oe Seid 685,129,558 bushels 
North Dakota ... ro ads 533,777,567 cs 
Kansas ... 286 &e — 687,901,805 
Total... =»  1,906,808,930 ES 
! Letter of March 16, 1909, 
