COST OF AMERICAN WHEAT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2163, 3 July 1889, Page 2

COST OF AMERICAN WHEAT.

■♦ ! It was recently shown In the " Auatra- . lastan" from cffiolal reports that the [ rate of Increase In American wheat proi daotlon during reoent years has been | slower than tbe growth of hcme retirements, and it was suggested „h*t n lprgthoned period of lo«r prioes would result In the United States oeaslng to be an exporter of breadstuffa. Further light (a thrown upon the subject by statements concerning the cost of production m the t Central States. An apparently well-in-formed journal puts forward an estimate of the cost of raining wheat In Illinois, and although the separate items seem reasonable enough, the total ooat of putting In tbe crop and landing it at the market town is lSlols, or £2 14s 2cl per acre, and, with an average orop of 10 4 bu*hels , per acre, thh amounts to 5s 41 per bushel. Whether tbe figures are accurate or not, It seems pretty oertaln that wheatgrowing at a low prloe Is not profitable In the Central States ; and although tbe ooit of production la very much Icbs la O»ll. fornla, tha area available for wheat* crowing In that State Is comparatively small. The estimate of cost m tho journal referred to la backed up by the statement that Id Ohio, IndUna, and Illinois, the great Mlsalwlpd wbeat-produolng States, the Inoreaie of farm mortgages amounted to '6*l per cent, between 1880 and 1887. Tbe &merloan farmer oan turn to other crops, for th 6 ollmale enables him to proddO9 a variety of commodities, and the low wheat values are already oiUßlng him so to turn.