St. Paul daily globe., 1889-06-10
THE WHEAT GROWER.
How the Yield Can Be Increased
hy Scientific Modes of Culture.

HOW the YloIO Can bo 1nCreaSeu
by Scientific Modes of Culture.
h The average yield of wheat in the
United States is about twelve bushels
per acre. 1t is commonly sOwn with a
drill. which deposits the seed in rows
eight inches apart; eight rows are COM
monty planted at each turn; an average
of one and half bushels of seed
is used per acre; one man with
team will plant eight acres per day,
and this being done, the field has no
further attention until the reaper is put
in to gather whatever harvest PrOvi-
dence has seen mt to send as a reward
for the negligence of the husbandman.
Prof. BlOunt, of the Colorado Agri-
cultural college, having first made an
elaborate study of the habits and needs
of the wheat plant, conducted series
of experiments in its cultivation, with
the following results:
First he planted upon an exact square
acre seven and One-half pounds of hand
picked wheat in. rows of eighteen inches
apart, and at harvest threShed out sixty
seven bushels; again. upon One-fOurth
of an acre he planted thirty-twO ounces
OF selected seed, and the product was
eighteen bushels; and again, upon sew
enty-six square feet he planted seventy
six kernels of extra fine seed, weighing.
forty-five grains. and the product was
ten and One-half pounds, or nearly at
the rate of 100 bushels per acre.
These results are not more remarka-
BILE in the excessive yield from given
area than in regard to the yield from a
given portion of seed. Agricultural
discussion too often directs attention to
a result without sufficiently analyzing
the means by which it is obtained. A
pertinent feature OF these experiments
is the saving of an amount of seed
which, averaged upon the entire grain
acreage. would add annually a vast sum
to the wealth of the nation.
If we should throw into the sea an
nually 5O,OOO,000 bushels of wheat and
a prOpOrtiOnate amount of the other
cereals. the world would cry out at our
improvidence. Yet if Prof. Blounts
conclusions are cOrrect-and they are
supported by much collateral evidence
we bury this amount in the ground,
where it actually decreases the resultant
crop.
The economic results that would fol-
low if we should be able to increase our
production. even approximately, to the
above ratio are too far-reaching for the
scope of this article. Our ability to
feed an almost limitleSS increase of pop
ulatiOn would be assured. 1t may be
that over-production would recoil upon
ourselves, but we have already success
fully encountered the lowest wheat
markets of the globe, and, as increased
production would mean decreased cost,
we might eventually be able to make
good our boast of feeding the world.''
With a population increasing at the
rate of Is per cent with every decade,
it is hardly probable that our produc.
tion (after the final occupation of all
the public lands) will at the best more
than keep pace with its needs. AS be-
fore suggested, most progressive de-
velopment will be required if we even
accomplish that.
Farmers generally will say that the
results secured by the above expert
ments are not attalnable upon any eX-
tended scale; probably not, to the aver
age farmer, because. having so much
land to till, he must still sow his eight
acres per day. 1t may occasionally Oc-
cur to one of particular intelligence that
it might be economy to produce his
hundred bushels by the thorough culti-
walton of two acres rather than by SUI
perficially working upon eight. Such a
one will find that exact and scientific
methods are practical as well.
1t would consequently seem that the
pursuit of agriculture can offer induce
Inents to the student who would in turn
become the teacher, to the business
man who would exert his. talents in it
as financial enterprise, to the scientist
who would combine a profitable avo-
cation with the investigation of the
laws of nature. and to the economist
who from his own observations would
add to the general knowledge of how
best to conserve the forces of produc-
tion