38 Wheat Cultivation in the United States. 



17,609,000 acres are situated in the seven north-central States 

 of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South 

 Dakota, and North Dakota, all of which lie west of the Mis- 

 sissippi, and 5,000,000 acres in the three Pacific Coast States 

 of California, Oregon, and Washington. The principal wheat 

 growing States east of the Mississippi are Pennsylvania, Ohio, 

 Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Wisconsin, 

 Maryland, and Virginia. 



The average yield per acre of wheat in the United States for 

 the ten years 1887-1896 was only 12-7 bushels, the range being 

 from iri bushels in 1888 to 1 5-3 bushels in 1891. In the prin- 

 cipal wheat-growing States the average produce per acre for 

 the ten years averaged from ii*i bushels to 13*7 bushels per 

 acre, but in some of the more westerly and Pacific Coast 

 States, as well as in the older States of the north-east, the 

 yield per acre ranged from 1 5 J to 20 bushels per acre, while, 

 on the other hand, the south-central States east of the Missis- 

 sippi have an average of under 10 bushels. 



For the same decennial period the average yearly exporta- 

 tion of wheat, in the form of grain and flour, from the United 

 States Vvas 142,208,000 bushels,outof an estimated average crop 

 of 464,093,443 bushels annually, The smallest annual export 

 in that period was 88,600,743 bushels in 1888-9, when the crop 

 was estimated at 415,868,000 bushels, while the largest was 

 225,665,812 bushels in 189 1-2, when the total production of the 

 country was estimated at 611,780,000 bushels. 



