40 Bulletin N0. 155 _
Taking 90 cents per bushel as the average farm price for
wheat, the gross income per acre for Kentucky for the last
ten years has been $10.35. It does not require any argument
or additional statistics to convince one that wheat is produced
at a loss in this State as a whole. When the cost of- labor,
machinery, fertilizers, taxes, rent on the land and other
expenses are deducted, where is the farmer’s profit? Inci-
l dentally it may be said that the showing for other grain
crops and the hay crops is little better;
There are some of the more fertile sections of the State
in which wheat can be made a profitable money crop,
provided good methods are employed in growing it.
Nowhere should it be grown except in rotations. In the less
fertile and rougher sections, such as the Eastern and South-
eastern parts of the State, it is the writer’s judgment that
there should be no attempt to raise wheat for the markets,
but that persons engaged in general farming should raise
sufficient wheat, in proper rotations, to afford breadstuif for ‘
the family, provided, of course, that there are threshing and
milling facilities. A S
The chief reasons for the low production of wheat in the
State are : 1
1. The use of poor seed.
2. The failure to properly prepare the soil.
3.. The impoverished condition of the soil.
` T/ts Seed.
Different varieties and strains of wheat differ in their
producing capacity, in the quality of the grain, and in the
character of the straw. The first cohsideration is to get a
wheat adapted to the locality in which it is to be grown, that
is, it must yield well, have a grain of good milling quality,
and a straw that will not lodge. There is but one practical
way to determine this, and that is to obtain promising
varieties. and try them out on plots of the same size located
on soil uniform in fertility and other characteristics. When
the wheat is threshed, weigh it carefully and get an expe-
rienced miller to pass his judgment upon its quality. The