f
wheat--including interest on the land and deterioration of the
machinery, etc.--is between fifty and fifty-five cents. The market
price, when not affected by "corners" and other gambling transactions,
usually varies between sixty-two and eighty-five cents. The difference
between these figures is divided between the farmer and the "middlemen,"
the share of the latter being in the form of commissions and elevator
charges.

[Illustration: STORING PACIFIC COAST WHEAT]

In addition to bread-making wheat, certain varieties of grain known as
macaroni wheat have a certain importance in the market. Several
varieties are so hardy that they easily resist extremely cold winters;
they will also grow in regions too dry for ordinary varieties. In this
respect they are well adapted to the plains at the eastern base of the
Rocky Mountains. The only detriment is the lack of a steady market.
Macaroni wheat has a very hard kernel and is rich in gluten. It is used
mainly in the manufacture of macaroni paste, but in Europe, when mixed
with three times its weight of ordinary soft wheat, it is much used in
making flour. The small amount now grown in the United States is shipped
mainly to France.

The yield of wheat varies partly with the rainfall, but the difference
is due mainly to skill in cultivation. In western Europe it is from two
to three times as great as in the United States; in Russia and India it
is much less.[28]

The yearly consumption of wheat is increasing very rapidly both in the
United States and in Europe; moreover, China is becoming a
wheat-consuming country. In the United States the consumption is
increasing so rapidly that unless either the acreage of the crop, or
else the yield per acre, is materially increased, there will be no
surplus for export after the year 1931.

[Illustration: THE WHEAT INDUSTRY--GRAIN ELEVATORS AT BUFFALO, NEW
YORK]

In the United States the acreage may be somewhat increased by the
irrigation of arid lands now uncultivated, and by the reclamation of
overflowed and swamp lands. There are far greater possibilities,
however, in the employment of methods of cultivation which will double
the rate of present yield. It is doubtful if there can be much increase
of acreage in the States of the Mississippi Valley, where the acreage
will of necessity be lessened rather than increased.

In western Europe there can be no material increase of the acreage or
the rate of yield; in Russia both are poss