Show MACHINE ige SPOILS A PROPHECY by 11 L RUSSELL advisory council agricultural commission american bankers association A A NOTED british scientist forecast 41 thirty years ago that by 1931 all a available callable wheat land in the world would be under cultivation and if 1 1 1 tho the yields per acra could not be increased beyond that which then prevailed there would be a world shortage the average yield then was bushels per acre during tho the past seven years the world 11 L RUSSELL averit over it has been on the acres in cultivation this increase would amount to almost a halt hall billion bushels more production than the world standards ot of thirty years ago in place of dire distress duo to shortage we have had dire distress due to surplus 1 wheat farmers have shown no great 1 ine inclination lin atlon to curtail materially their output perhaps a 10 1090 decline compared with 70 reduction in steel this unwillingness or perhaps inability to adjust production to current needs makes the tha problem all the harder to solve not only are we now growing more wheat per unit of land but acreage has been very greatly extended in twenty years canada has increased acreage australia almost as much another significant tact 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 I I 1 bushels consumed por bor person perso n per par annum since the last generation necessitates nearly bushels lose less w wheat heat than thannas was formerly required machines Machi nei increase supply the factor that has exerted the most potent influence in this rising war world id flood of grain has been the rapid development of the machine the old days of tho the cradle required from thirty to forty hours of hand labor to harvest an acre of grain then came the bind or cr which reduced the process to four or five hours per acre now therom the combine does the work werk 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 and th at a cost ranging from 3 to 5 cents a bushel with this reduced cost of production the possibility of acreage expansion Is 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 attempting a comeback fraught with I 1 possibility that cannot yet be fully 0 valuated evaluated russia Is eagerly utilizing the tha very latest of scientific knowledge to enlarge her agricultural possibilities with feverish anxiety she Is literally pouring millions into the expansion of her university research institutes utes experimental stations and breeding farms her scientists are combing the earth tor for new crops and now new methods no country in europe la is manifesting more interest and activity 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 as 18 bushels to the acre on this single farm the crop harvested Is reported to been bushels A single farm of acres under government control and mechanized as fast as human energy can bo be applied is la a new factor actor in the tha worlds picture there can be but little doubt that the russian situation may yet assume quite a different attitude from what obtained even in prewar pre war days |