| WHEAT, PER ACRE. | BUSHELS. | |
| California | 15.8 | |
| Dakota | 10.6 | |
| Minnesota | 11.3 | |
| New York | 15.7 | |
| Ohio | 18.0 | |
| Pennsylvania | 13.4 | |
| Virginia | 8.6 | |
| Washington Territory | 23.5 | |
| Oregon | 16.8 | |
| Illinois | 15.5 |
The year 1886 was the worst wheat year ever known in Washington Territory: its crop averaged sixteen and a half bushels.
Railroads overwhelmed with freight.It is thought that the wheat crop of East Washington for 1887 will exceed 10,000,000 bushels. It certainly went far beyond the ability of the railroads to carry it away before winter. The most amazing glut of freight I have ever seen was along the railroads in Walla Walla County. Not only were the depots crowded to the roof, but piles of sacks larger than the depots stood outside. It was a common sight through the whole Snake River country to see 10,000 sacks of wheat in one pile outside of the depots.
The price of wheat runs from 40 cents to 60 cents a bushel; whilst the cost of production on good land need not exceed 25 cents a bushel.Price of wheat and cost of production. Mr. Hamilton, of Colfax, has a farm which he cultivates entirely by hired labor, and he told me that the cost of his wheat was from 20 cents to 25 cents, and that his profit was $5 per acre. Good farms about Colfax can be rented out at $2.50 per acre for the whole farm. Mr. Miles C. Moore, of Walla Walla, probably the most exact business man of that region, farms largely by hiring labor. He gave me the following statement of his own operations:
WHEAT GROWING AND DELIVERING.
| Dr. | Cost of ploughing, per acre | $1 50 |
| Cost of twice harrowing and sowing | 1 00 | |
| Seed, 1-1/4 bushel | 62 | |
| Thirteen sacks at 8 cents | 1 04 | |
| Keeping up fences | 10 | |
| Harvesting and hauling five miles to | ||
| depot, 17 cents per bushel | 4 76 | |
| $9 02 | ||
| Cr. | By 28 bushels per acre at 50 cents | $14 00 |
| Cost of production | 9 00 | |
| Profit | $5 00 |
This product could not be expected on inferior lands, but with the working farmer the cost of production is less. The yield of wheat on the best lands of East Washington is large—almost beyond belief. Mr. Houghton, attorney for the Spokane Falls and Palouse Railroad, told me that he had known of 800 bushels of wheat being raised on ten acres; that it was measured by a committee. Mr. Miles C. Moore has known 1,000 acres to average fifty bushels. A farmer (apparently honest) told me that he had raised seventy-five bushels to the acre over his whole wheat area. His crop was harvested by the acre, and the area measured by the county surveyor. It was all sold, except seed. Thus he got both area and product accurately. Many more instances were stated to me on good authority. But there are different grades of fertility in these lands as in other lands, and the amount of rainfall makes a difference also. Wallula has but twelve inches of rain, and is unproductive. There must be fifteen inches for wheat. Walla Walla has seventeen, and is productive. Nearer to the Blue Mountains the rainfall is thirty to thirty-five inches; here are the largest crops. Spokane Falls has twenty-one inches. Yet where else on the earth can such crops be raised even occasionally? I have been growing wheat for thirty-five years on good land in the Valley of Virginia, and I never could reach thirty bushels to the acre on a single field; and I do not believe that my neighbors can do better than I do. We count twenty bushels an extra crop.
Also barley and oats.Besides wheat, these lands produce barley of superior quality, weighing fifty pounds to the bushel, at the rate of fifty to sixty bushels per acre, and oats weighing thirty-eight pounds to the bushel at the same rate per acre. The weight of wheat is sixty pounds to the bushel. Barley sells at 90 cents per 100 pounds, and is largely shipped East to be made into beer.
The wheat usually grown is the Little Club, a short, strong white wheat; but the Little Giant, Red Chaff and Chili Giant are productive. Spring wheat is generally sown, but winter wheat is probably best. Blue stem brings five cents extra in Portland. Freight, $5 a ton from Walla Walla to Portland; thirty-three bushels counted a ton.
The wheat here has no enemies—no fly, nor rust, nor weeds, nor lodging.