One of the first films in which D.W. Griffith used the technique of parallel editing (a technique he pioneered). It was used to create the effects in the wheat suffocating scene.
The scene in which the farmer sows his seeds is an animated reproduction of Jean-Francois Millet's famous painting "The Sower".
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1994.
Griffith's film is something of a respectful pastiche of the work of the American writer Frank Norris (1870-1902). A scheme to corner the wheat market drives the plot of his novel "The Pit" (published 1903). An unscrupulous capitalist who receives his comeuppance literally smothered in wheat appears in his novel "The Octopus" (1901). Even the film's title is a variation on that of Norris' short story "A Deal in Wheat" (1903).
This film is posted online to the Library of Congress' National Screening Room.