Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-09-24
Secretary Wilson SCOTS at Professor
Crooke's Prediction.
ONLY LET THE PRICE Be RAIOEL
Possible Production in This Coun.
try Practically Unlimited.
THE PROSPECTS ABROAD

Secretary Wilson Of the Department of
Agriculture has returned to the city aaG
his labors.
Prof. Cr3Dk does not know wha, h., Is
talking about" said the Secretary to Star
reporter who asked him oonoerning tho .nl-
inent English scientists statement that the
world Is ent aring upon a wn,at famlu, that
viii amount to panic in 1891. Thy Sec.
rotary had read the article, and was prim-
ed 10 explode the Britisher's latest seuSa-
tional theory.
He says that there are no more wheat
lards in the United States' remarked Nv.
Wilson. ''a2d right there he shows his COM
plete ignor1lce of the subject. I have just
returned from trip through the Geucseo
valley, There | went expressly TO look d.
The lands which years ago grew SO much
wheat
1T is all grass land now. but could easily
he made as fine wheat country as ever.
Take Iowa. FOR instance; in tho northE.sJ
cCrrer the farmers raise about N.pot..1
bushels yearly. but if they cared to do u
trey could raise 3p,uC0oaa. But they loa':
do it for the very good reason that there
ls 10 profit in il. In the early days an Iowa
the farmers were new 10 the wheat ufIrS-
ticn, and they raised mere Of it than of
anything else. but since then they have
increased their possessions by adding live
stock, ard now instead of wheat they grow
corn, oalS. barley ana rye 10 feed f.4.r
livestock. Besides, they cannot grow Whca.
as cheap as can the Red River valley fail
ers, where the farms cost prdCiiCalE Un.a-
ing. In Iowa, all through the staf' / be-
leVe ii a fact that farm land is worth $t1
an acre. Inc same state mCnt Is true Of
Indiana. Illinois and the other states from
the Genesee to the Red River valley. B9t
let wheat sell at 80 cents a bUshCl and y5u
would see how quickly land now used in
growing corn ard other grains could 10
converted into wheat area
Wheat Raised for Feed.
Farmers in those sections nowdd -
don't grow wheat to sell. They grow 1t for
feed. one bushel of wheat will make tnjr-
teen pounds of live hog. The United
States, in my opinion. ought not to export
a dollars worth Of wheat. but should send
away horses, cattle, hogs. poultry, butter
and cheese. There's where the best prices
exist for the farmers.
Il don know what the countries abr .lI
would do for their wheat supply. In,N
are not situated like the United States
with regard TO potential power 60 increase
the wheat supply They can't grow mach
more than they do. Ii a wheat crop il
taken every year from land in ten yeats
its power to grow that grain is practically
! exhausted. The soil has been stripped ~
the elements giving richness. Many Iaria-
ers grow wheat only once in five years.
USing the land meantime for grass growing
and other purposes. and 50 restoIln., AS
richness and productive power.
Te Make the Land Productive.
I'm this country the Agricultural Depart
ments chief work is in instructing farmers
how TO make their land doubly and fully
productive. The chief element in the
growth Of feed products is nitrogen This
is supplied in two ways-one through
leguminoUs plants and the other by &c
pcslt direct from the atmosphere. As TO
the latter niIates are formed 10y bolts OF
electricity or lightning passing through :he
atmosphere, and they fail directly on
the earth. But an acre of clover furnishes
mere nitrogen than the atmosphere over
the state OF Iowa, as an Illustration. The
mere nitrogen in the soil, the richer ana
more productive its capacity. THEORIES ik4
that of Sir William Crooke amount to moth
ing. Raise the price of wheat so that II
Will be worth the farmers while to grow
1t and there is practically no limit to the
amount the United States alone could
grow. N&y, Russia has a kind of what
that grows forty bushels to the acre. as
l have determined by experiments ana
America can do as well with the same seed
have man in Russia now getting DATA
on this subject