Cotton is now the second crop in the United States, the
first being Indian corn.
WHEAT
Another great industry is the growing of wheat, which is the foundation of
much of our food. Wheat is a very important grain and is extensively
cultivated.
There are a great many varieties, the two main kinds found in the United
States being the large-kernel winter wheat, grown in the East, and the
hard spring wheat, the best for flour-making, which is grown in the West.
Minnesota is the largest wheat-producing State, and I will ask you to go
in thought with me to that Middle-West region. The farms there are very
level, and also highly productive. The big "bonanza" farms, as they are
called, range in size from two thousand to ten thousand acres. Some of
these are so large that even on level ground one cannot look entirely
across them--so large, indeed, that laborers working at opposite ends do
not see one another for months at a time.
[Illustration: A Wheat-Field.]
During the planting and harvesting seasons temporary laborers come from
all over the country. They are well housed and well fed. The farms are
divided into sections, and each section has its own lodging-house,
dining-hall, barns, and so on.
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