-------------+-----------------------------------------+------------- | FROM RETURNS MADE TO MY INQUIRY. |From United |----------------+----------+-------------|States report NAME. | Area of State. | Arable. | Suitable to | in wheat, | | | wheat. | 1897. -------------+----------------+----------+-------------+------------- Minnesota | 84,287 | 66,000 | 50,000 | 7,189 South Dakota | 76,000 | 42,500 | 40,000 | 4,187 North Dakota | 74,312 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 4,300 Illinois | 56,000 | 54,000 | 20,000 | 2,292 Missouri | 68,000 | 64,000 | 64,000 | 2,448 Wisconsin | 56,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 961 |----------------+----------+-------------+------------ | 414,599 | 311,500 | 259,000 | 21,372 |================+==========+=============+=========== Texas | 269,694 | 200,000 | 100,000 | 700 California | 158,360 | 54,000 | 30,000 | 5,062 Montana | 145,310 | 30,000 | 25,000 | 109 Idaho | 87,000 | 30,000 | 15,000 | 192 |----------------+----------+-------------+------------ | 660,364 | 314,000 | 170,000 | 6,063 |================+==========+=============+============ Total | 1,074,963 | 625,500 | 429,000 | 27,435 -------------+----------------+----------+-------------+------------ I do not give the data of the Eastern and Southern States, and I have selected only the most complete data of the other States, choosing the more conservative where two returns have been made from one State. The foregoing States produced a little over one third of the wheat crop of 1897. They comprise a little over one third the area of the land of the United States, excluding Alaska. The list covers States like Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, now very fully occupied relatively to Texas, Montana, and Idaho, as yet but sparsely settled.