several thousand in the aggregate, who are selected for their familiarity with the local agricultural interests of their respective counties. These men become trained observers of the sections they are appointed to inspect, and make periodical reports which are compiled at Washington, the results, arranged and classified, being then made public. The comparative statistics thus collected and handled are not exposed to the suspicion of prejudice or partiality, and conclusions drawn from them must command respect.

COMPARATIVE RESULTS IN TEN WESTERN FARMING STATES FOR SIX YEARS.

The reports of the Department of Agriculture for the years 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880 present a series of figures which when placed in juxtaposition form this table, showing the average cash value per acre of eight leading productions of the farm, taken together, in ten farming States of the West, during a term of six years. These crops are wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, potatoes, and hay. The States are arranged in the order of precedence.

Average Cash Value Per Acre of Eight Principal Crops of Ten Western Farming States During Six Years.

The average cash value per acre of these eight crops for the year 1881, in Michigan was $19.48.

Without the combination of a fertile soil and convenient markets the precedence which the foregoing table awards to Michigan could not have been obtained. That general farming was more profitable here than in the other great States included in the comparison during the six years covered by it was due to nature and not to art.

PROFITS OF GRAIN GROWING IN THE WEST AND NORTHWEST IN 1879. The principal cereals which seek markets out of the State are wheat, corn, oats, and barley. The same grains are raised also in the other western and northwestern States and territories in which cheap farming lands are to be had, and those who carefully examine the comparative yield per acre and value per bushel of these products in the States and territory named for 1879 will the more readily comprehend the results exhibited above, and cannot fail to be impressed, not only with the bounty of its soil, but with the advantages which nearness to the great markets of the continent affords to the farmers of Michigan.

Average Yield per Acre, Price per Bushel, and Value per Acre, of the four Principal Cereals of the Western and Northwestern States holding Cheap Lands, and of Dakota Territory, for the Year 1879.*

The yield of bushels per acre as given in this table is taken from U. S. Census Bulletin 175, of May 30, 1881. The average prices per bushel are taken from the Report of the Agricult ural Department for 1879, except those for the Territory of Dakota, which were furnished by the Statistician of that Department, at the request of the compiler of this pamphlet, in a letter dated August 8, 1881. The third column under each head, giving the value of each crop per acre, is the product of the other two.

ures.

It is not necessary to speculate upon the conclusions to be drawn from these figThey speak for themselves. In the average productiveness of its soil, the average cash values of its crops, and the extent and cheapness of the new farming lands it offers for agricultural purposes,-taking all these considerations togetherMichigan is unequaled among either the States or the territories in the advantages it offers to farmers of small means.

MICHIGAN WHEAT.

The great crop of Michigan is wheat. Its exports bring more money into the State than all its other surplus crops. The census figures show that its aggregate production has about doubled in every ten years since 1840, and that the average yield per acre has increased from 10 bushels in 1849 to 19.49 bushels in 1879, and, according to the "Farm Statistics," compiled at Lansing, to 17.30 bushels in 1880.

FOURTH IN VOLUME AND FIRST IN CAPACITY OF PRODUCTION.

The total area devoted to wheat culture in the United States in 1879, as shown in the census of the following year, was 35,430,052 acres, and the yield in bushels was 459,479,505. The acreage of Michigan was 1,822,749, and the product 35,532,543 bushels, about one-thirteenth of the whole crop. Illinois, with a yield of fifty-one millions, Indiana, with a yield of forty-seven millions, and Ohio, with a yield of fortysix millions of bushels, were the only States that produced as much wheat as Michigan. The product of this State was nearly four and a half millions of bushels greater than that of New York and Pennsylvania combined.

The wheat crop of the State in 1879, according to the same authority, exhibited the largest average yield per acre of any distinctively wheat-producing State or territory. Out of a national product, as stated above, of about 460,000,000 of bushels, nearly 400,000,000 were grown in fourteen States, and their acreage and total and average yield are shown in these figures:

Price per

bushel.

crop per

Value of

acre.

Comparative Productiveness of the Principal Wheat-Growing States.

Every State whose product reached ten millions of bushels is included in this table. The acreage of Dakota territory was 265,298, and its crop was 2,830,289 bushels, an average of nine bushels and four-tenths to the acre. The average yield of the States which surpassed Michigan in extent of production, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, was seventeen bushels and one-fifth, that of this State being nineteen bushels and a half.

SPRING AND WINTER WHEAT.

The States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska, and the territory of Dakota constitute a section of country known as the spring wheat belt, and the number of acres of wheat sown therein in 1879 was not quite 10,000,000, and the product a little over 107,000,000 of bushels, or an average of less than 11 bushels to the acre. During the ten years preceding the census the yield in the leading States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, was increased about 78,000,000 of bushels. The increase in the spring wheat belt during the same period, which included the development of the large fields of Dakota, was about 34,000,000 of bushels.

WHITE WINTER THE PRINCIPAL MICHIGAN CROP.

The wheat raised in this State is almost exclusively that which is known as white winter. There is some spring wheat sown, producing excellent crops, but the practice is not common, and Michigan spring wheat is almost unknown in the market. It is the influence of the surrounding water upon the climate that makes this general culture possible in these latitudes. The growth of winter wheat in the other northwestern States and in the territories lying east of the Rocky Mountains is almost as rare as that of spring wheat in Michigan. Nearly all that reaches the market from those sections is of spring sowing. The wheat of this State holds a very high rank in the market, and has a standard of its own. Michigan white winter flour is known in nearly every European grain exchange.

SEED TIME AND HARVEST.

Wheat in Michigan is put into the ground between the 10th of September and the 5th of October, according to the forwardness of the season and the condition of the weather. Ordinarily the 10th to the 20th of September is the seeding time. The wheat usually gets a growth of three to four inches before the snows of winter come upon it. In the average Michigan winter the wheat is protected throughout by the snow, and comes out in the spring looking fresh and green. Especially is this the

case in the northern portion of the State. There is very little heaving of the soil by frost in winter, even where it is unprotected by snow, so that open winters are usually not injurious to the crop if the spring weather be favorable.

The harvest generally begins in the southern portion of the State in the first week of July, and that month sees the crop garnered throughout most of the State. Laborsaving machinery is so generally in use that harvesting is quickly and easily managed. On the whole, taking one year with another, there is no crop in Michigan more sure and reliable than the wheat crop, and the past experience of the farmers of the State has been that there is none more profitable.

PROCESS OF CULTIVATION.

Wheat does not rapidly exhaust the soil. Upon the newest lands a crop may be raised every year. There are localities in which the soil is too strong for profitably raising wheat until it is reduced by repeated cropping. The ordinary practice in the newer portions of the State, however, is to alternate wheat with corn, oats, and other spring crops, taking a crop of wheat every second year. In those parts of the State longest under cultivation the practice known as "seeding down" is followed. Clover is sown broadcast upon the field in March or April, before the wheat is harvested. This takes root and yields pasturage the same autumn. The next season the farmer takes from the field a crop of hay. The second season he may plow his clover sod under and plant corn, putting in wheat the following September, after the corn has ripened; or, what is the better practice with careful farmers he may turn under his heavy growth of clover in June and let the field lie fallow until the time for sowing wheat. The clover thus turned under, supplemented sometimes by rotted wheatstraw and barn-yard manure, proves a rich fertilizer. By this treatment a crop of wheat is produced each third year, and the yield per acre of the fields under cultivation for fifty years is kept very nearly up to those but freshly reclaimed from nature.

OTHER CHEAP FERTILIZERS.

Gypsum has long been extensively used in the State. It abounds in the vicinity of Grand Rapids and in Iosco county. It is easily mined and is furnished to farmers at very low prices. The refuse of the salt manufactories, which are numerous in Michigan, has been proven to be a very valuable fertilizer. It is delivered to the farmer at almost any railroad station in the State at $4 per ton. A ton is sufficient for ten acres, and the effect of one application is felt through two or three seasons. The cost of gypsum is about the same, but of this latter a fresh application is required every year. In some localities muck is used in making a compost with barn-yard manure. The only cost is for handling. Within the last few years farmers have been experimenting with super-phosphate, an article made by treating bone dust with sulphuric acid. The experiments are reported to have been successful, and the sales of the article are extending and its manufacture becoming an important industry. There are numerous beds of marl scattered about the State, and this material is easily converted into quick lime, which is used to some extent as a fertilizer, and is found to be very valuable on some soils.

A WHEAT CHART OF THE STATE.

The diagrams which are used in connection with the publication of wheat statistics by the State Department illustrate with great clearness the general productive capacity of Michigan in this important cereal. They are given here for the sake of convenience, and show the acreage, crop, and average yield per acre of each county, in the year 1881, as returned to the Secretary of State. Persons not familiar with the State should be advised that the southern counties, where the heaviest proportion of the crop is produced, are composed of the old settlements. The more northern