the adoption by the states of a forward-looking policy of getting all tillable lands into the hands of home-making cultivators, the grazing industry will finally be completely subordinated to farming proper. Practically, it will be confined to the very rough or very stony ground, and to the forest reserves.
In the year 1910 the state of Washington reported 40,920,390 bushels of wheat grown on 13,865 farms. Oregon reported 12,456,751 bushels from 13,202 farms; Idaho 10,237,609 bushels from 12,676 farms. The acreage of wheat in Washington had been multiplied since 1879 by 26; in Oregon by less than 21; and in Idaho by 18. In 19 15 Oregon's estimated production was 20,025,000 bushels; Washington's 50,94,000 bushels, and Idaho's 18,730,000 bushels. The wheat farms are growing larger every year.
Wheat growing in the Willamette Valley. In Oregon the expansion of the wheat area east of the Cascades was offset in part by a gradual decrease in the acreage and the yield of wheat grown in the Willamette Valley. The early settlers raised wheat with extraordinary success. For many years the valley had a national repute as a wheat growing region. But bad methods of cultivation, an almost total failure to supply elements of fertility removed from the soil by successive crops and the destructive custom of permitting the water soaked ground to be trampled by livestock in the winter finally rendered a naturally rich soil unresponsive. The wheat yield dwindled steadily until the margin of profit on its cultivation disappeared.
