The Next American Wheat Crop

Levin Daily Chronicle, 5 February 1918, Page 4

The Next American Wheat Crop

At no period in the history of civilisation have good harvests been so anxiously desired as at present. The fate of civilisation itself, certainly, of liberty, in all tho Allied countries, depends, to a very considerable extent, on the returns from the soil during the next twelve months. It is unfortunate therefore, that the December crop report of the American Department of Agriculture revealed that though the largest acreage of winter wheat that was ever sown had been planted, its condition on December Ist was the poorest on record for that date. Department planned for a wheat crop of a thousand million bushels, and it was hoped and expected that winter wh"at would account for rather more than half that quantity—s4o,ooo,ooo bushels to be exact. It is still hoped that a great spring-sown crop will bring he year's total to somewhere near the required amount. An area of more than forty-s.-ven million acres was: ;he mark sot by the Government for farmers to plant in winter wheat, but the December reports show that 42,170,000 acres were sown, The farmers did their best, but conditions were against them. Dry weather in most of the winter wheat belt was a large drawback, while the late harvest of other crops and shortage of farm help were contributing causes for the failure. If the winter wheat- crop matures to 540,000,000 bushels it would bo the third largest on record, being .exceeded only by the crops of 1914 and 1915. Already steps have been taken for a large increase in the acreage to be planted in the spring. The largest spring wheat crop heretofore was in 1915, when 351,854,000 burdiels were harvested from 19,101.000 acres. Winter wheat's condition on December Ist was 79.3 per cent, of the normal.