, 1882-05-27
Wheat Proauesso, and lGachi.sry.

The agricultural warehouses are crowded
with harvesting machinery - nowsrs,
| reapers. headers, threshers, engines and
| other implements. A few Of these are
made here, and more are made in the
Eastern states and sent out In pieces TO
be put up here. Near the wafer front Of
Oakland, Minnesota firm is busy in set
ting up threshiug machines and engines
for the coming harvest. Long rows of
these line the sidewalks The revolution
in wheat growing in the United States
during the last thirty years has been voa-
derful The hand SICKLE is no longer
used, and the cradle is rarely seen.
Wheat production is now controlled BY
machinery. The gang plow breaks up
the land The steam plow has not made
much headway in this country, and it's
doubtful if it will for many year. Il 10
adapted to costly land and thorough til
lage As long as land is cheap snd til
lage Of the poorest kind, the steam plow ,
viii have no prominent place in the I
agriculture Of this country
The center of wheat production Is now
northwest Of Chicago, I. viii soon get TO
Dakota, and then win move farther On
with the new northwest 1t 10 fascina-
ting crop for farmers, for the very res-
son that nearly ell the work can be done
by machinery. In old times, all agricul.
tural production was the result Of man.
ual labor The farmeR followed hls
plow, and thought he had done we'll if he
had plowed single acre in day. He
soSed his wheat and other cereals by
hand and if he had grain field of ten
acres, it Was relatively very large one.
A part of the heavy grain WAS reaped by
sickles. and the man who could cut In
that way half al acre, did good days
work. The man with the cradle would
sometimes get over two acres Of light
grain in day, or, with scythe, would
NOV an acre of heavy grass With q
hand fail, the laborer would pound out
an average of ten bushels of wheat or rye
in day. That Was old fashioned farm
ing. All this is changed. Agriculture is
now prosecuted by machinery. One man
in California is said to have about co.
900 acres in wheat Others have wheat
ranches covering areas IF 5000 to l0,OOe
acres. The work must be done by ma
chlnery OF not at all No hand sickles
and half-acre performances, but respers
and headers driven by horses, and thrash
ers driven by steam of course machine
ry cannot be used to advantage. But
then the wheat farmer seeks level land.
The vlticulturist comes along and seeks
the bills. The New Northwest includes
the Red River country Of Dakota, and
OF the British possessions, and also the
territories north Of Utah, including Mon
tana, Idaho, Washington and the State of
Oregon That is to be the great future
wheat empire of the country. But after
that, shsts Wheat farming, as followed
in modern times. e1hausts the soil r.pid-
ly- Az followed. in Europe, and especial
iy in England. the soil is renewed BY fer
tilizers. When in the United States it
becomes necessary for the farmer to fer
tilize his land for wheat growing, he quits
the business, or only follows it ON small
scale. AZ it is now followed in Central and
Western New York, which few yean
ago was a great wheat growing center.
The following table shows the increase OF
wheat production in the United States
during the last eleven years: