Show THE TU I 1 u MACHINE AGE SPOILS A PROPHECY bi B H L RUSSELL advisory council agricultural commission american bankers association A NOTED british scientist forecast thirty years ago that by 1931 all available wheat land in the world would be under cultivation and it if the yields per acre could not be al increased beyond that which then prevailed th 3 are re would be a world shortage the av yield then was bushels per acre during the past seven years the world it L RUSSELL averit over it has been 14 1 on the acres in cultivation this in crease would amount to almost a half billion bushels more production than the world standards ot of thirty years ago in place ot of dire distress due to shortage we have had dire distress due to surplus wheat farmer farmers have shown no great inclination to curtail materially their output perhaps a 10 decline corn com pared with 70 reduction in steel ate ea this unwillingness or perhaps inabel ity to adjust production to current needs makes the problem all the hard er to solve not only are we now growing more wheat per unit ot of land but acreage has been very greatly extended in twenty years canada has increased acreage Australia almost as much another significant fact Is the materially lessened use of wheat A much more diversified diet has developed more vegetables and fruits are used than formerly the reduction of 12 bushels consumed per person per annum since the last generation feces nearly bushels less wheat than was formerly re required machine machines increase supply the factor that has exerted the most potent influence in this rising world flood of grain has been the rapid development of tha the machine the old days of the cradle required from thirty to forty hours of hand labor to harvest an acre of grain then aeme the igind ibind bind er which reduced the process to tour four or five hours per acre now the corn com bine does the work in forty five min utes per acre where it used to cost ten cents a bushel merely to thresh the grain the modern combine cuts ana th at a cost ranging from 3 to 5 cents a bushel with this reduced cost of pro duct lon the possibility of acreage ex Is to tremendous lands heretofore regarded as worthless except tor for grazing have recently come into competition with the older wheat belts the russian effort within the past two or three years another disturbing element has come into the picture soviet russia Is at tempting ft a comeback fraught with possibility that cannot yet be tolly fully avalu evaluated abed russia Is eagerly utilizing the very latest ot of scientific knowledge to enlarge her agricultural bill ties with feverish anxiety she is i literally pouring millions into the ex ot of her university research in experimental stations and breeding farms her scientists are combing the earth tor for new now crops and new methods no country in europe Is 1 manifesting more interest and actie ity in laying hold of the best science wherever it may be found it is of more than passing interest that the wheat yields reported on the huge trust farm known as the giant ran last year as much wa a 18 blis bushels hels to the acre on this single farm the crop harvested is reported to have been 3 bushels A single farm of acres under government con arol and mechanized as fast as human energy can be applied la Is a new factor in the worlds picture there can be but little doubt that the tho russian situation may yet assume quite a different attitude from what obtained even in prewar pre war days |