Convention— war and Food, 
231 
would play smash on the markets; and if war is inevitable, it wull 
bring legitimate benefits to the farmers of this country in the next 
crop; as the ravages of war are not repaired in a season, after con¬ 
scripts have been transferred from their home farms to camps in 
foreign lands. 
The greatest damasre that the Eastern war may bring upon us, is 
to stimulate wheat culture: but every sensible man will comprehend 
the fact that the concentration of the most value and nutriment in 
food for markets is as important in war as in peace; and that a 
pound of cheese, beef or pork, worth ten to fifteen cents, can be 
conveyed to the hungry operatives and active armies of Europe 
with,as little cost for transportation as a pound of wheat that may 
be w’orth from two to three cents. On compact and valuable ship¬ 
ments, the transportation companies and “ middle men ” get a 
smaller proportion of the total proceeds than on the more bulky and 
cheaper grain shipments. If war comes, make the most of it. If 
peace comes, be on the safe side. 
No stronger statement of the exhausting process of wheat culture 
can be found than the estimates given by the Agricultural Bureau 
of the United States for a series of years, extending from 1850 to 
1876, inclusive; from which we learn that notwithstanding a greatly 
increased acreage of wheat crop, with the settlement of the new 
states and territories of the west, the aggregate yield of 1876 was 
about the same as that of either 1868, ’69, ’70, ’71 or ’72:^ 
In 1850 it was about 
In 1860 .do .... 
In 1867 .do .... 
In 1868 .do .... 
In 1869 .do .... 
In 1870 .do .... 
Id 1871_do_ 
In 1872 .do .... 
In 1873 ... .do .... 
In 1874 . .. .do_ 
In 1875 .do .... 
In 1876 .do .... 
100,000,000 bnshe's. 
173,000,000 
212,000,000 
224.000,000 
260,000,000 
230,000,000 
231,000,000 
250,000,000 
287,000,000 
300,000,000 
294,000,000 
245,000,000 
Secretary Field. — The importance of the wheat crop of the 
country calls to my mind the shiftless manner of caring for wheat 
after it is raised and after it is cut, and before it is safely secured 
in the stack. Do not be afraid to cut wheat when the kernel is in 
the stiff dough, even if the straw is quite green; and do not fear if 
the weather is damj), cut, bind and shock in round shocks, and cap 
