A FIVE-YEAR FARM MANAGEMENT SURVEY IN OHIO. 21 
SMALL GEAINS. 
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 wheat 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 such 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. 
