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Show I BILLION BUSHELS OF I WHEAT NEXT YEAR BB United States Department of AKricul- B lliro and State OfflclalH Set High BB Mark for Wheat Production; Win- BB tor Acreage to lie- Increased Tills BB Fall by 18 per cent Over Last Year. B. Washington, D. C, Aug. 9. Tho BB production of over ono billion bush- BB els of wheat and over elghty-threo BB million bushels of rye, through the BB plnntlng of 47,337,000 acree to BB winter wheat and of 5,131,000 ncres BB to rye this fall, Is tho Immediate war BB agricultural program for tho nation, BB announced today by David F. Huston, BB secretary of agriculture Thla rt BB ord winter wheat acreage, nn Increnso BB of 18 per cent over last year, would B yield 672, 000,000 bushels If tho nv- BB crago yield for tho past ten years li BB equaled, or under a repetition of the BB favorablo conditions of 1014 would B give 880,000,000 bushels. In either BB' cano with a spring wheat crop next BB year equal to that of 1015, tho na- BB tlon will havo moro than ono billion BB bushels of wheat for domestic use BB and export. BB" This vastly Increased production BB! of wheat, needed In nny caso. will bo BB, absolutely essential to prevent a scrl- BB ous shortago of breadstuffs next sum- BB , mer should the growing corn, now be- BB hind tho Benson, bo much damaged BB1 by early frosts. BBf Tho program approved by tho sec- BB retary of agrlculturo represents the B best thought of the U. S. department BB of agrlculturo and the stnto agrlcul- B tural officials and stato councils of BB defense. BB Tho study of this question has In- Bfl volved many factors and tho spccl- BB nllsts havo been awnro from tho BB first that tho demands for wheat BB may exceed the supply next year. BBi Effort therefore has been made to BB recommend In each state about as BB largo an ncrengo In wheat and ryo BB as can be sown without upsetting BB, ' proper farm practice, which must he BB maintained In tho Interest of wheat BB nnd ryo crops tills and succeeding BB years, as well as In the Interest of BB ' other necessary spring-planted crops which are not discussed In detail at this time as they aro not food crops In which a marked shortago exists. The estimates, tho department states, aro made with the knowledge) that there Is some shortago of the fertilizer supply but with tho understanding under-standing that thcro will bo no general gen-eral shortage In the supply of seed or of farm machinery which Is necessary nec-essary In tho production of tho wheat crop. It Is understood also that ampin am-pin transportation facilities will b provided and a fair price of wheat will be established. These factora havo been assumed as fixed and satisfactory. sat-isfactory. If any ons or moro fall to bo adjusted In good time, no person per-son can tell how Bcrlous will bo tho effect on tho total crop. Tho plontlng and cultivation of these Increased acreoges of fall-sown grains calls for universal effort on tho part of tho farmers. Plans to placo at tho disposal of farmers all assistance possible, nro being perfected perfect-ed In the U. S. department of agriculture, agri-culture, tho state colleges of agriculture, agricul-ture, and other stato and local agencies agen-cies which co-operato In farming matters. mat-ters. Tho assistance of successful growers of wheat and rye In a campaign cam-paign to turn out bumper crops In 1918 Ib assured. Tho Btato officials will do their utmost to get tho acreages expected of their states Into tho ground. Tho program Is originally worked out by tho federal dopartmpnt of agrlculturo called for somewhat more than 44,-000,000 44,-000,000 acres to be sown this fall. When the proposal was presented to tho officials of tho several states a further Increaso was considered possible pos-sible and deslrablo by them. As a consequence tho recommendation for tho sowing of 47,337,000 acres is made. Following Is a summary of tho department's de-partment's recommendations regarding regard-ing wheat and rye: Wheat. Tho planting of approximately 47.-337,000 47.-337,000 acres of winter wheat, on the basis of the average yield for the past ten years Indicates a total pro- ductlon of G72 million bushels, which exceeds all previous winter wheat crops harvested In the United State? with tho exception of the crops of 1914 and 191 5 when tho acreages harvested and yields per acre wero both above normal. If tho extremely favorablo conditions, condi-tions, under which tho winter wheat crop of 1914 waB grown, are again experienced, tho yield of winter wheat next year wilt bo 880,000,000 bushels or by far tho largest winter wheat crop ever produced and even larger than tho total of both winter and spring wheat crops for all past years except two. It Is too early to detormlno tho area which should bo sown to wheat next year, but If this Is equal to that sown In the spring of 1917, or 19 million mil-lion acres, and tho yield Is up to tho average of tho last ten years, a crop or 251,000,000 bushels of spring wheat will bo harvested, and If tho yield per afcro should equal that obtained In 79 15 the crop will bo 350 million bushels, tho same a3 tho greatest spring wheat crop ever produced. Thus, with no Increase In tho spring wheat ncrengo but with 18 per cent increaso over tho 191C winter wheat sowings planned for this fall, the total wheat crop next year will bo moro than ono billion buBhols, of the crop meets with slightly slight-ly better than 10-year average conditions. con-ditions. With extremely favorable conditions, such ns were experienced by tho winter crop In 1914 and the spring wheat crop In 1915, tho total yield would amount to ono and one-quarter one-quarter billion bushels. A 10-per cont Increase In spring wheat acreage with favorablo growing conditions would add another 30,000,000 bushels. bush-els. The figures quoted nbove nre based upon a winter killing of 9 pbr cont and yields per acre of 15.6 bushels bush-els for winter wheat and 13.2 bushels bush-els for spring wheat, tho averages for the last ten years, and a yield per acre In 1914 of 19 bushels of winter wheat, and 18.4 bushels of spring wheat in 1915. |