COST OF PRODUCING WHEAT. 33 



for the plow on a part of the wheat acreage. (See fig. 8.) In Ford 

 County 31 per cent of the wheat area was listed; in Pawnee County 

 50 per cent; and in McPherson County 19 per cent of the land was 

 broken in this manner. After listing a "ridge buster," or "sled," 

 as it is commonly called, was used for the purpose of tearing down 

 the ridges or rows left by the lister. In some of the areas a part of 

 the corn stubble land was prepared for seeding by running over it 

 with a two-horse disk cultivator. In St. Charles County, Mo., 

 21 per cent of the wheat acreage was gone over with the disk culti- 

 vator. The disk harrow was extensively used in some areas for all 

 preparation prior to drilling. On some farms a part of the grain 

 stubble and corn land received no preparation, but was seeded with 



Fig. 8. — Preparation of land for wheat with the one-row lister. 



a disk drill, which served the purposes of preparing the land and 

 seeding in one operation. (See fig. 9.) 



The spike-tooth harrow was used extensively in both spring and 

 winter wheat areas. In the spring-wheat areas 76 per cent of the 

 entire acreage was spike-harrowed before seeding, and 30 per cent 

 of this acreage was harrowed again after seeding. The spike-tooth 

 harrow was also commonly used in the winter-wheat areas, but none 

 of this work was reported after seeding. 



In the spring-wheat districts 83 per cent of the acreage was cut 

 with a binder and 17 per cent was headed. (See PL I.) Of the 

 total acreage harvested, 6 per cent was cut with tractor power. All 

 work with the header was reported from Morton County, N. Dak., 

 and Spink County, S. Dak. In these two areas 88 and 20 per cent, 

 respectively, of the total acreage was headed. In the winter-wheat 



