The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1911-09-05
Interesting Statistics Compiled at
Toledo Disclosing Future Of
.. the State.
100000 ACRES OF FARMS
Grain Dealers Convention at Omaha
to Discuss All These Ques-
tiOns. .-

Toledo, O., Sept. 5-How long will
it be before the United States will
have to import grain?
"a good many years-many gen.
erations,'' is the answer the average
man would give to that question.
But does that answer come close
to the truth? We will see. Last
year the farmers of this country pro-
duced more than 100000 bush
els of corn but less than, 2 per cent
of it was exported The wheat yield
was about $65O,OOO,OOO bushels and
less than 10 per cent was sent out of
the country.
What will happen to us when our
population reaches 100000 peo-
Pile? That time is not far away. By
the year 1850 there will be that
many people in the country.
Will we raise enough cereals to
supply our demands 40 years from
now? Not unless something is done
to increase cur acreage aHd-to make.
our land now under cultivation more
fertile, because practically all the
1nr 1r tl1 ,%,,rr
pied and nothing now remains but to
encroach upon the sGreat American
Desert"
We now have in the United States
about 100000 farms, averaging
something less than 16O acres each,
and yet but 21 per cent of our land
areas is in improved farms and but 10
per cent of it is cropped yearly. We
raise about 60,000,O0O acres of wheat
annually and the average crop for
the past 40 years has been less than
13 bushels per acre. The average
wheat crop in England is more than
81 bushels per acre. We cultivate
almost 1O0,OOO,OOO acres of corn
yearly, with an average yield of only
25 bushels per acre and 29,00O,00OI
acres of oats yielding less than 81
bushels per acre. -
How can production be made to
keep pace with consumption? By
making two blades of grass grow
where but one grew BEFORE"
Soil fertility must be brought back.
Rotation, leguminous crops, deep
ploughing, manure fertilizers, moist
ure conservation by suitable methods
of cultivation, checking Of erosion
these will increase our yields of farm
crops. Through the introduction of
scientific methods the Eastern States,
with their so-called worn out soils,
are in some cases producing more
heavily than the newer fields of the
west. Maryland, for example, raises
more corn per acre than Illinois.
Pennsylvania has a greater average
wheat yield than Minnesota and Yer
mont gets more oats per acre than
does Iowa.
We have great areas of desert to be
brought under cultivation by means
Of irrigation and nearly as extensive
marsh and swamp lands to be made
fruitful by means of drainage.
All these questions, which are of
such vital interest to both the farm
ers and consumers of the country,
will be discussed at the fifteenth an
nual convention of the Grain Dealers
National Association which is to be
held at Omaha, Oct. 9, 10 and II
next --.-.-
The association embraces within
it's membership practically all the
prominent elevator owners, brokers
and receivers of grain the country
from the largest operators in the big
grain centres like Chicago to the
smallest country shipper.
The organization was formed for
the purpose of elevating to high
plane the grain industry of the coun-
try ana to eliminate the abuses that
have in the past SO increased the haz-
ard of business.
The Omaha convention will be adj
dressed by some of the most prom
inent statesmen and educators in the
country as well as number of ofi-
cials from the department of Agri-
culture at Washington.