Evening star., 1916-12-03

Last winter wheat freiRhtS were ~
cents bushel from Portland, Ore, to
Liverpool. But before the war and the
opening of the Panama canal they were
II cents, and around Cape Horn at
that. Sailing vessels at present are
getting about 80 cents.
From the price of wheat at such
Atlantic ports as Boston, Philadelphia
and New York must be subtracted the
cost of rail transportation, commits
sons and other expenses, il we want
to ascertain the price the farmer re
ceives from his local buyer. For In
stance, we found when wheat was
bringing $1.14h a bushel in Phila-
delphia. that the farmer in Kansas was
paid 81 cents. The freight by rail was
81 $40 cents a bushel. Other expenses
were 5 7-10 cents per bushel.
''Twenty-seven and a half cents
bushel. then, is added to the Kansas
or, say. in New York; and 25 cents
more must be added to cover the trans
portation to Liverpool. Practically,
therefore, the buyer in Liverpool adds
the cost of the wheat at his own city
dock"
How large, ordinarily. is the wheat
crop in the United States?
Your question:. Mr.. Andrews replied.
cannot be answered precisely. Crops
vary In size. There was an enormous
crop in 1914. 1t was followed by the
great crop of 1915. when more than d
DllnOn DuSnelS were harvested. no
crop this year, far as we can ascer
tain, will be about 607 100000 bushels.
or 405. .000.0 bushels less than the crop
of the previous year. During the past
decade. we nave had four crops eacn of
which fell below 700, 900. 900 bushels.
And the acreage. what is that
Naturally, the acreage from year to
year also varies" Mr.. Andrews answered.
Usually, it ranges from 45,0o0,00O to
1000, 900 and more. Last year 1t was
100000 900. Giving the figures in another
way, the area of our wheat field was
93,747 square miles
1T was about large enough. carrying
the illustration further, to cover Dem
mark, Greece, Holland and Switzerland
in Europe and our own states of Della
ware and Rhode Island. To find the
equivalent of it's size right at home. let
me say that it's area equaled the area
of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New
Hampshire. New Jersey. Vermont, Ohio
and Maryland
"The yield. 1.o12.0oo. 900 bushels. at the
highest farm price reached for the crop
of 1915 could have bought the Pennsyl-
vania railroad, its tracks. locomotives.
cars and real estate extending from New
York to Chicago. and the St. Paul rail-
road extending from Chicago to the Pa
paid of the national debt"
And will the acreage next year be
larger than ever?'
1t would seem so. unless all the prac-
tices OF human nature are reversed" Mr.
Andrews replied. Farmers in Maryland.
] have heard. received this year as much
as $1.s0 a bushel for their wheat. One
can imagine what they mean to do with
their land next year"
How much wheat is consumed In the
United States?"
ut was estimated last year that SOL
$4,000 bushels would be required for
seed and eood." Mr.. Andrews answered.
The yield above that quantity consti-
tuted our surplus. Figures seem to show
that there will be no surplus this year" "
do you agree with the late James ].
Hill that the United States. at no remote
day. Will oe compelled to buy wheat in
foreign countries?" Mr.. Andrews was
asked
II am not a prophet. My work is
with today. ] have said. however. that
we ate and planted 600,000,000 bushels
Of wheat last year. and that our crop
600 bushels. Also 1 have shown that
-FOUR OF our crops within the past
decade have fallen short of 100000. 600
bushels. The population of the United
or poor. a human being eats in good
times and dull times about the same
nxed quantity OF bread. On the other
hand. the wheat acreage, possibly, can
be largely increased or a more inten-
sive system OF farming may be adopt
ed for the wheat lands already in use
The acreage yield of wheat in the
United States has been fifteen bushels
to the acre. New England grows little
wheat. but the acre yield there Is
higher than anywhere else. being 25.s
bushels in Vermont. 1t is 25h bushels In
Maine. The middle west barely beats
the average. the yield Of Ohio being
1876 bushels: of Indiana. 1873 bushels
of Illinois. 16.s bushels. and Of Michi-
gan, 1877 bushels.
"In some states where wheat IL
grown on a large scale tho yield is
small. 1t 10 only 1919 bushels in Kan
sas. 12.6 in Oklahoma, 1874 in Texas
|. 11o in North Dakota, and lis in South