1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
853 
THE WORLD'S GREAT WHEAT FIELDS. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE CROP. 
Prospects for the Future. 
Importance of Wlieat. —Of all the world/s great 
products, no single one is of so great importance as 
that of the bread supply. Mankind can exist with 
neither clothing nor shelter, within a very extensive 
area of the earth’s surface; without food, life ceases. 
Among civilized nations, wheat is, by a large measure, 
the chief food of rich and poor alike. Railroad and 
steamship companies are students of its production, 
because its transportation furnishes a large fraction 
of their earnings. The great produce exchanges of 
the world keep a sharp eye on its growth, harvesting 
and consumption. The thousands of wheat farmers 
watch the fluctuation of prices with satisfaction or 
alarm, according as the world’s demand calls loudly 
or lightly for the product of their own country. 
Breadwinners rejoice when flour is cheap, and mourn 
when it is dear. 
The accompanying map, Fig. 387, locates the world’s 
production of wheat, and shows its distribution. It 
also emphasizes the fact that the great Russian Empire 
in Asia must be capable of more than doubling the 
world’s present product, when the Siberian plains 
shall have been reclaimed as has been the Great Amer¬ 
ican Desert of our schoolboy days. 
Where It Is Grown. —This map portrays the 1898 
product as estimated by Broomhall’s Corn Trade News, 
a reliable English commercial author¬ 
ity, as published by the United States 
Department of Agriculture in its Octo¬ 
ber Crop Circular. Two other estimates 
are also given (the French and Hun¬ 
garian) which, although larger, yet in 
all the chief features, correspond very 
closely to the English. The crops of 
South America and Australasia are 
estimates of their approaching harvest, 
oeginning in the Argentine Republic 
in November, and finishing late in 
February or early in March next, in 
the southern part of New Zealand. The 
same authorities also give the 1897 
product, therefore make it practicable 
to compare the output of the countries 
which supply a surplus, to feed those 
nations which do not produce sufficient 
for their own needs. 
The shaded circles locate and meas¬ 
ure the crops of countries which pro¬ 
duce 50,000,000 bushels or over. The 
annual wheat crop of the single State 
of Minnesota averages more than 50,- 
000,000 bushels. The six unshaded 
circles represent Continental totals, 
therefore include all the products rep¬ 
resented by the shaded circles, and all 
the smaller products, not indicated separately on the 
map ; that is, those six open circles include the total 
product of the world. 
Europe, aside from Russia, produces less than she 
consumes. Each other continent produces a surplus. 
Summarizing the products of the surplus continents, 
except the United States, and including Russia and 
Canada, it appears that the 1898 product is 48,000,000 
bushels greater than that of 1897, while that of the 
United States is 60,000,000 bushels greater, a total of 
108,000,000 bushels increase. The European product, 
excluding Russia, is 224,000,000 bushels greater than 
in 1897. This makes the world’s product of 1898, more 
than 330,000,000 bushels greater than that of 1897, and 
two-thirds of the increase is in Europe. 
Future Demands. —It is estimated that the re¬ 
serve stock of the world was 18,000,000 bushels less 
before the 1898 harvest began, than it was in 1897. 
Taking this into account, it still appears that the 
world’s supply for 1898 exceeds that for 1897 by con¬ 
siderably over 300,000,000 bushels. Persons to be fed 
are, by the estimate of the Department of Agriculture, 
20,000,000 more this year than last. The increased 
supply would give these added persons 15 bushels 
each. The largest annual recorded consumption per 
capita in the United States is less than seven bushels. 
People consume more wheat in the United States than 
elsewhere. It, therefore, appears very plain from 
these figures, furnished by the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, that the large demand for wheat 
to be sent out of the United States, which has pre¬ 
vailed for the past year, and still continues, although 
somewhat reduced already, must diminish consider¬ 
ably within a few months. 
The November Report of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture gives later estimates, increasing the European 
total very greatly, over 100,000,000 bushels in Russia, 
and 70,000,000 in other European countries. This 
later estimate, therefore, emphasizes the prospect 
that the foreign demand for United States wheat will 
soon diminish materially. F. w. H. 
Among the Marketmen. 
WHAT I SEE AND HEAR. 
“ Gate ” or “ Early ” Strawberries ?—A huck¬ 
ster selling strawberries on the street for 10 cents per 
small box, was an unlooked-for sight, December 9. 
The berries were skimpy-looking things, having an 
appearance that as much as said, “ We know we are 
out of place ! ” They were, probably, early arrivals 
from Florida. 
X X X 
Green Geese. —A subscriber inquires “ whether 
there is any regular and constant demand in the New 
York market for green geese, also for old birds at pay¬ 
ing prices.” I interviewed one of the largest handlers 
of dressed poultry in West Washington Market, and 
gathered much goose information. Green geese are 
also called Boston geese, not because they all come 
from that city, but because they resemble, in style of 
carcass and dressing, the geese from that locality, that 
established a reputation years ago. The geese most 
wanted are young, not much, if any, over six months 
old. “ Old birds ” are uncertain quantities, and prob¬ 
able prices are equally uncertain; they are not 
wanted unless because they are cheap. The Boston 
geese are usually dressed with the tail and wing 
feathers left on, and a ruff around the neck. Large 
quantities come from eastern Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island ; a great many come, also, from Penn¬ 
World's Great WHEAT Fields • 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE WORLD’S WHEAT CROP. Fig. 387. 
sylvania and Maryland, and perhaps from farther 
away. Great quantities of live geese are received 
here from the West, but I shall have more to say of 
these later. The demand for geese is not constant, 
although there is a limited demand the year around ; 
the greatest numbers are called for during the Win¬ 
ter, especially at the holiday season. But to bring 
good prices, they must be young, fat, well-dressed, 
and put up in attractive shape. The name Boston is 
simply a trademark. There hasn’t been such a glut in 
the goose market this season as in that for ducks. 
XXX 
Turnips for Apples. — I was told not long since 
about a trick by some New York dealers that would 
discount the apple packing recently mentioned. A 
lot of apples were being packed several years ago to 
fill a Mexican order. Turnips were cheap here, and 
apples were selling for pretty good prices. This may 
have been the incentive, or it may have been that the 
shipper held the opinion that the natives didn’t know 
the difference between turnips and apples. At any 
rate, a number of barrels were filled with turnips in¬ 
stead of apples. As it happened, there was a great 
scarcity of vegetables when the shipment arrived, and 
anything in that line sold for exorbitant prices; the 
turnips brought as much as $6 or $7 per barrel, much 
more than apples were worth. This particular case 
of substitution wasn’t likely to be objected to, though 
ordinarily there would likely have been trouble. 
X X X 
Dishonest Apple Packers or Buyers ?—I am 
under obligations to Mr. McCarthy, on page 835 of 
last week’s R. N.-Y., for substantiating the state¬ 
ments about dishonest apple packers in the previous 
week’s issue. His locality was not the one in ques¬ 
tion, but it is. probably, true that these dishonest 
people are found in most localities. But there is no 
occasion for those who produce choice fruit, and as¬ 
sort and pack it properly, to sell to such buyers. 
There is no excuse for such packing. But in the case 
I reported, a reputable buyer dealt directly with the 
farmers, and paid good prices in cash. A number of 
buyers have said that they will not go near that 
locality again. I secured a list of names of a number 
of the people who sold these apples, and am gratified 
to know that but one of them is a subscriber to The 
R. N.-Y. 
X X X 
Honey Eaters. —A case of choice White-clover 
honey, all in pound sections, was divided among sev¬ 
eral families connected with The R. N.-Y. The dif¬ 
ference in its reception by the children of those fami¬ 
lies was surprising. It was a novelty to most if not 
all of them. One family of four, ranging from a baby 
to a six-year-old, declared either by actions or words, 
that they didn’t want any more of that stuff. An¬ 
other family of four, ranging a little older, but who 
had, probably, never seen comb honey before, voted it 
good, and it went off like hot cakes. No words were 
needed to express their appreciation. One family con¬ 
tained an eight-year-old girl, and her appreciation 
was so keen that she not only wanted more and de¬ 
murred because the second helping was not larger, 
but wished to share the delight with her little girl 
playmate who was kept in by a cold. She thought 
“ it would do her cold good.” A 14-year-old city boy 
had never seen honey before, and didn’t know how to 
eat it, neither could he understand how the bees 
packed it away in such neat, regular sections. He 
couldn’t say that he cared for it, but 
might learn to like it. Good, pure 
honey,the most healthful sweet known, 
seems to be almost an unknown quan¬ 
tity to a large part of the city popula¬ 
tion. This incident goes to show that 
honey producers have some educa¬ 
tional work to do among consumers, 
and the same may be true of many 
other special products. 
i X X 
Color of the Egg Shells.— An egg 
handler informs me that the demand 
here is changing and that there isn’t 
the call for white-shelled eggs that 
there was. He says, further, that it is 
a good thing, especially for cold-stor¬ 
age eggs, because a brown shell affords 
better protection than a white one. 
He says it is a fact that, if two lots of 
eggs exactly alike in every way ex¬ 
cept that one has white shells and the 
other brown, be put into cold storage 
for several weeks, the latter will come 
out in much better shape, and with 
less change of given flavor than the 
former. The explanation is that the 
brown shells are heavier and thicker, 
therefore afford better protection. If this be true, 
our Boston friends who have demanded brown shells 
on their eggs, have been nearer right than the New 
Yorkers, who have paid higher prices for eggs with 
white shells, preferably Leghorn. If all this be true, 
what about our favorite egg machines ? What have 
our poultry friends to say about this change of pref¬ 
erence? It isn’t likely that everybody will change, 
and there will always be found people who prefer 
white eggs, others who prefer brown, and probably 
others who prefer other shades of color. f. h. y. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
• If you iutend to cut ice this Winter, drop Ross Bros., 162 Front 
Street, Worcester, Mass., a card, and ask them about that Buckley 
ice plow. It rather seems to us that it is a great labor saver. 
A satisfactory washing machine is the one thing most needed 
in the farmhouse. It lightens the labor for the housewife, whose 
duties and trials are many in any home, and especially so on the 
farm. Terriff’s Perfect washer has been sold for many years, 
and is said completely to fill the bill. It is made by the Portland 
Mfg. Co., Portland, Mich. They also want active agents for choice 
territory. 
Two of the editors of The R. N.-Y. have Rochester radiators in 
their country homes. They say that the radiator saves the work 
and nearly the fuel of an extra stove, and at the same time serves 
the purpose better than a stove would, especially in sleeping 
rooms, where the temperature does not need to be high. They 
are made by The Rochester Radiator Co., 27 Furnace Street, 
Rochester, N. Y. 
When on the farm, we always had a supply of brass rivets to use 
in mending stiff straps of old harness, belts, etc. This is all made 
easy now by a little implement called a riveter, which holds the 
rivets, places and clinches them at one operation. Foote Econ¬ 
omy Co., 204 S. Main Street, Fredericktown, O., make them. The 
price is so low it would seem that an agent could sell one to 
every man who owns a strap of harness or a foot of belt. 
There is no domestic necessity in our experience that is so un¬ 
certain in quality and price as teas and coffees, when purchased of 
the local grocer. We have had so much unsatisfactory experience 
in this matter that we have got into the way of ordering our full 
supply of The Great American Tea Co., 31 and 33 Vesey Street, 
New York. We believe most country families could save a large 
percentage of expense in ordering from this house, and they 
would have the further advantage of an even and good quality. 
We have given this advice verbally to friends, who have after¬ 
wards approved and confirmed our judgment. 
