Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1909-02-12
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featured fertilizer, and it Is also ex.
ported extensively employed by
European farmers. who apply 1t to
their soil in its native State.
The phosphate business, already
large and extensively profitable, is
growing by leaps and bounds, says Les
lies Weekly. Experts estimate that
within the next ten years it will as
sumo immense proportions. 1t must.
Rock or pebble phosphate is the very
essence Of plant life and must neces-
surily always form the most essential
part Of all patent fertilizers. Lands
in Florida from which phosphate is
being taken, and ground known to con
tain appreciate beds as yet undevel-
oled, and which, prior to the discovery
Of the commercial possibilities of phos.
phate, could have been purchased for
a dollar an acre, are now almost Who'll
~ withdrawn from the market and
the man or the corporation owning
an extensive phosphate acreage is re-
%arGed as most fortunate.
The Wheat Belt.
The Mississippi valley states n Quar-,
ter of a century ago were c%onspicu.
Gus competitors of the east in the pro
-duction OF wheat. Where formerly only
spring wheat was grown in western
states a large acreage Of winter wheat
Is now sown. The great wheat states
of Ohio. Indiana, Michigan and Mi
nois are gradually being eclipsed by
the wheat-growing states west Of the
Mississippi river, and they In turn are
now menaced by the cheap wheat lands
Of North Dakota and the Canadian
northwest.
Argentina. Australia, India and Rus
STA are competitors Of the United
States and Canada in supplying the
worlds consumption Of wheat. In
1906 the United States produced 1885,
2G1 900 bushels of wheat, France 324,-
$4,000, British India 319,5S6,O0O,
while the total worlds production the
above year aggregated 3,423, 100000
bushels Of wheat.
In the older wheat producing states
it has become a rotation crop of clov-
er and corn instead Of being the prin-
cipal agricultural product. The spring
wheat lands of Canada are being cult
waited on account of their low valuation
and the production of a higher grade Of
hard milling wheat.
Unless irrigated acres on reclaimed
swamp lands are particularly adapted
to the cultivation Of wheat the volume
OF land adapted to Its production in
the United States has nearly reached
Its normal limit. The population is
the present decrease of bushels per cap
tia in a quarter Of a century the ex-
port of wheat from this country will
be eliminated. If wheat holds steady
around 81 per bushel it will stimulate
on land now devoted to
and grass. 1t will also encourage
he extension Of wheat cultivation into
The Hudson Bay and Southern Alaska
districts.
1t has been demonstrated by the agri-
experiment stations that the
of good seed and improved
will increase the yield Of
wheat per acre. In the older states q
hree-year crop rotation of corn, clover
nd wheat will keep up the volume Of
The development Of the
heap wheat lands Of the northwest
nd the extreme northern wheat belt
will end to reduce the area of wheat
n the Mississippi valley states, par
icularly when high priced farm lands
an be made to yield a larger revenue
'hen devoted to the cultivation of 9th
r crops. The cheap lands Of India,
liberia, Argentina, Australia and the
he Canadian northwest present the
reatest possibilities for cheap wheat
reduction in the future.-Goodalls
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