A FIVE-YEAR FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN OHIO. 21 



SMALL GRAINS. 



The total acreage of all crops that have been classed as small- 

 grain crops equaled the corn acreage. These include wheat, oats, 

 rye, timothy seed, soy beans, field beans (navy), and buckwheat. 



Of these crops, wheat was of much the greatest importance, occu- 

 pying about 80 per cent of the small-grain acreage. With the yields 

 and prices usually received, many of the farmers think that growing 

 wheat on an extensive scale would not be very profitable. Yet all 

 of these 25 farmers usually grew limited acreages of wheat. The 

 reasons given for growing some wheat were that it fitted well in a 

 rotation, it was a good nurse crop for grass seedings, it was a good 

 feed for poultry, it supplied the family with flour, and the straw 

 furnished bedding for the live stock. 



In 1914 the crop acreage was less than for any other year. This 

 was the year with least acreage in the small grains and with the 

 smallest proportionate acreage in small grains. This was due to a 

 decrease in the w^heat acreage. 



The yearly data on wheat production on these 25 farms are shown 

 in Table II. The point of main interest in this table is the effect 

 of yield per acre upon the acreage sown for the following year. In 

 1912 the yield per acre was 14 bushels, or the same as the five-year 

 average. Following this normal yield, a normal acreage was sown 

 for the 1913 crop, which yielded only 9 bushels per acre. Following 

 this low yield, two of the farmers who had been raising wheat did 

 not sow any, and those who did sow decreased their acreages almost 

 25 per cent. The 1914 crop, however, produced 18 bushels per acre. 

 The good yield for this year, together with the good prices received, 

 was s-uch a stimulus to greater effort for 1915 that all but one of the 

 farmers sowed wheat, and the acreage was greater than for any 

 previous year. The resulting crop was the largest for the five years, 

 and, although more of this wheat was fed on the farms than during 

 previous years, receipts from the sale of wheat were more than for 

 any other year. The acreage for the following year was as large 

 as that of 1915, but the yield per acre dropped to 11 bushels. It will 

 be noticed that the amount of wheat used on these farms totaled 

 almost 500 bushels more during 1915 than during any other year. 

 With the larger wheat production, some of the farmers thought it 

 better to feed wheat to poultry and hogs than to sell the wheat and 

 buy the feeds. The price of wheat being high in 1916, all farmers 

 sold more closely, and as a result less was used on the farms than 

 during other years. 



