32 BULLETIN 594, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
TREND OF WHEAT PRODUCTION IN RELATION TO POPULATION, BY 
STATES AND SECTIONS. 
Although production nearly trebled since 1871 in proportion to population, it 
has remained stationary since 1882-1886. 
A generally diminishing proportion of improved acreage in wheat, increased 
production being due to new brought areas under cultivation. 
Increasing wheat deficiency east of the Mississippi. 
Only in the Mountain States is wheat production increasing more rapidly than 
population. 
Finally, in Table VII (p. 30), are assembled some of the funda- 
mental factors in this retrospective review of prices and price con- 
ditions from 1871 to 1915. Units of measurement are geographic 
divisions (to permit of a general view) and States. The rate of 
increase of population in relation to wheat production is given in the 
per capita figures; the shifting in sources of wheat is indicated by 
State and sectional percentages of the United States production 
from decade to decade, as well as by the fractions of the total im- 
proved land occupied by wheat. 
Although during the period covered by this table the wheat pro- 
duction in the United States almost trebled, in proportion to popula- 
tion it has remained stationary since 1882-1886 (8.2 bushels per 
capita as against 8.3 bushels in 1911-1915). Moreover, a notable and 
general decline is registered in the proportion of wheat in the total 
improved land, even in the wheat belt, showing that the increase in 
production was due to new areas being brought under cultivation, as 
well as to some slight progress in the yields to the acre. This would 
be shown more markedly in the last period but for the unusually large 
wheat crops of 1914 and 1915, due to the stimulating effect of dis- 
turbed international conditions. 
The proportion of wheat produced east of the Mississippi dropped 
from 62.2 per cent of the United States total to 26.2 per cent. The 
East North Central division shows a decline from 38.5 per cent of the 
national total to 15.4 per cent (Wisconsin dropping from 19.5 to 1.5 
bushels per capita) ; the West North Central division has a corre- 
sponding gain. But even in this last division, now producing over 
half the total wheat, the rate of increase has suffered a notable decline, 
and population increase is rapidly outstripping wheat production. 
It is only in the Mountain States that any considerable recent 
growth in the ratio of wheat production to population is shown, but 
here also it appears to be traceable to new areas brought under culti- 
vation. As yet this region, though gaining at a rapid rate (increase 
of 265 per cent of 1911-1915 over 1901-1905 as 100 per cent), con- 
tributes but 7.5 per cent of the total wheat. According to the 1910 
census, 2 per cent of its area was then improved, but within recent 
years irrigation has added much territory to the producing regions. 
