35,000,000 BUSHELS
of almost all No. 1 grade. In 50,000 bushels of wheat graded in Minneapolis, something less than 300 bushels graded No. 2, and none under that figure.
We now give the following condensed statistics for the year 1877.
| Number of acres under cultivation in 1877 | 3,000,000 |
|---|---|
| Crops. | Bushels. |
| Wheat | 35,000,000 |
| Oats | 20,000,000 |
| Corn | 12,000,000 |
| Barley | 3,000,000 |
| Potatoes | 3,000,000 |
| Total | 73,000,000 |
Or 24-1/3 bushels to every acre under cultivation. But the average is much higher than this, for in the above table no account is taken of the gardens and large breadth of flax under cultivation.
The official report, when published, may differ slightly with the above, but not to an extent to make any alteration necessary.
We are informed that, in several instances, land giving wheat for the last twenty years, without being fertilized or manured, produced in 1877 over twenty bushels of wheat to the acre; a fact creditable to the land, but very discreditable to the farmers engaged in such land murder.
While Minnesota has, without dispute, established her reputation as a great wheat producer, and the dangers which always lie in wait for the growing crops are perhaps less here than in most of the other western States, still it must not be supposed that we can expect to be always free from them. If we had any such idea it would have been dispelled by our experience the past season. Never since the State was organized was there a finer prospect of a magnificent wheat yield than we had during the months of May, June and the first half of July, 1878. It was not that the general crop was good, but one could not, in a day's travel, find one poor looking field; but just as the wheat was within a few days of being fit to cut, a fierce, hot sun, lasting a week or so, came and wilted up the grain, so that the crop lost materially in quality, weight and measure.
Yet this evil had its compensating good. Our corn and potato crops were very fine, so that our farmers have learned a lesson in the value of having diversity of crops as a leading feature in their farming system, and be it remembered that without system there is no successful farming.