The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-26

accord with James J. Hill. It was his apprehension that the growth of our pop ulation might exceed our wheat supply each year which led Mir. Hill earnestly to advocate the opening up to cultiva- ton in the far west, especially in the Dakotas, of vast areas which the men of science whom he employed to make investigation reported to him contained virgin soil very rich in the qualities needed for the successful cultivation Of wheat. MT. Hills appeal to the farmers was successful and his advice was reiter- ated by Howard Elliott who at that time was president of the Northern Pacific Railroad company
 In the mdnineties John W. Bookwal- ter, at one time democratic candidate for governor of Ohio, made an extended l trip throughout the western part of the I country for the purpose of learning what the possibilities for the increase of wheat | production were. MT. Bookwalter's in vestigations justified him in speaking ] with some alarm of the condition as it 1 then existed. He estimated that within
 few years the growth of population
 in the United States would so far exceed our wheat supply that we would have | none for export, but on the other hand would be compelled to import wheat from 1 Argentina and other countries. MT. 1 Bookwalter said that when this crisis
 came it was inevitable that a demand 1 would arise that Congress impose tax 1 ton upon imported wheat for in that way alone the American farmers could 1 be protected.
 Notwithstanding a considerable emigra- tion from the United States to the newly opened Canadian wheat fields, 1 nevertheless immigration more than made up for the loss of our wheat farm CTS and the sturdy Swedes, Norwegians n thAre T.~x~ l,.,h .SI i. wheat cultivation undertook to develop wheat lands in the far Northwest. They were so successful that it was possible to report a few years later that wheat cultivation in the United States would be, for some years at least. sufficient to | meet the demands of the American peo- pie although there would be constant ly diminishing surplus for export
 MT, Brown as a result of his investi- , gation felt Justified in saying that it was not necessary to reclaim arid land or to open up new wheat belts in dis { tricts remote from convenient transpor- l tation. He pointed to the fact that in Great Britain the farmErs have cuti- vated wheat for more than a thousand l years and were still producing large crops and that it was only the com
 paratively small area of England which made it impossible for the English farm
 
 | demands of the British people.
 l Mir Brown estimated that throughout
 the east and especially that part of the east where in earlier days wheat was successfully cultivated there existed what
 in the aggregate was very large acre. age which could be put to successful wheat cultivation In New England Mir.
 Brown estimated that wheat could be I cultivated in fields which for many yea rs | had not been devoted to wheat, suffi- 1 cient in amount to meet the demand of
 the people of New England. He also 1 2 'vocated the return to wheat cultiva- 1 tion upon large scale in western and
 northern New York. in Pennsvlvania an' 1 in Ohio It was recently stated tha'
 in the great central aericultural heh
 stretching from the Great Lakes to the | Cuff there is a very large acreage of | land which is not now and which has l not for years been put to cultiVatloN 1 and it is land adapted to wheat. The war and the appeal of the department of agriculture are likely to result in the
 resumption of wheat cultivation upon . large scale east of the Mississippi and especially east of the Alleehany noun I tains. The department of agriculture l has recently asked that the farmers in ' crease their acrea-e eevnted to whea' so that not less than i5 o00,00a acres VIII
 be utilized for this purpose and If possi- hio a,00o0o9 acres more.
 The estimate is that if the farmers 60 as the department of agriculture \ urges, then. making due allowance TOT weather conditions, the increase in Win T ter wheat acreage would he followed py
 yield of nearly 700,0O0.000 bushels and the
 increase in spring wheat acreage would
 he so great as to make 1t certa'n.
 weather permitting, that the farmers VII
 harvest next summer considerably over
 900. .0000O bushels of wheat. Some parl of this increase in wheat acreage VII
 he made in the east. Before the open
 ing up of the great agricultural lands Q,
 the west the eastern states produced al
 the wheat the American people needed
 At one time wheat cultivation in western
 New York and the milling of the whea
 there ga arnere1 were so great as tr
 lead to the gro~th of Rochester. whers
 excellent waterpower was obtained IT
 mills so that in time 1t became know as the Flour City." When the westswa opened up to cultivation and excellen'
 transpcs ation facilities were furnished
 the farmers in the east were persuadot that they could not compete with th' western wheat growers so that theS