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powerful factors in that transfer of the center of the agricultural industry of the country of which mention has already been made. The cheapness of land, the texture and chemical composition of soil, and the long hours of ripening sunshine that prevail in certain sections of the Northwest, are especially favorable to the production of spring wheat on a large scale and at a minimum cost, and this fact, with a considerable increase of production on the Pacific Coast, and a general and serious decline in prices, practically drove some of the older wheat-growing states out of the field of competition; so that while one group of states added nearly eight million acres to the wheat acreage of the country, another group withdrew nearly ten million acres from it. In 1893 the Department of Agriculture made an estimate of the total cost of the production of wheat per acre in the United States, basing its computations upon returns from nearly 30,000 leading farmers, scattered throughout the country. The cost was found to vary from $8.57 in South Dakota to $26.34 in Connecticut, the New England states showing an average for the entire group of $20.22, the Middle states of $18.18, the Southern states of $10.94, the Western states of $10.89, the mountain region of $15.80, the Pacific states of $13.98, and the entire country of $11.69. Estimates based upon returns from 4,000 experts gave as the extremes $7.48 in North Dakota and $28.81 in Massachusetts. The total area under wheat in 1895 was 34,047,332 acres, as compared with a total of 33,579,514 acres at the census of 1890, and the total production 467,102,947 bushels, as compared with 468,373,968 bushels at the census. The average yield per acre in the census year was 13.95 bushels; the average for six years, from 1890 to 1895 inclusive, has been 13.1 bushels. The average for the twenty years, 1870 to 1889, was only 12.2 bushels; and that for the last six years, 1890 to 1895, would have been less than 12.2 bushels but for the phenomenal crop of 1891, which yielded an average of 15.3 bushels per acre. It would therefore appear that the general average for the United States, based upon a sufficiently long series of years, is about 124 bushels per acre. The average value per bushel during the last six years has ranged from 49.1 cents in 1894 to 83.9 cents in 1891, with a general average of 64.8 cents. The exports of wheat from the United States vary greatly from one year to another, their volume depending to no small extent upon the crops of the world at large. Between 1879 and 1895 they ranged from 88,600,743 bushels in 1888 to 225,665,812 bushels in 1891. Twice within 16 years they fell below 25 per cent of the total crop, six times they were between 25 and 30 per cent, six times between 30 and 40 per cent and twice between 40 and 42 per cent.-Oats. Considering the unimportance of the export trade in oats (the annual exports, including oatmeal, rarely exceeding one per cent of the total crop), there has always been a large production of this cereal in the United States, relatively to population. During the last few years, however, there has been an increase so great as to constitute one of the most remarkable features of the agricultural transition through which the country has been passing. While the total pro

duction was 40 years in increasing from 120,000,000 to 400,000,000 bushels per annum, it rose from 400,o00,000 to 800,000,000 bushels between 1880 and 1890, largely, it is believed, in the closing years of the decade. This increase, moreover, was not due to any phenomenal yield per acre, but represented a corresponding increase in acreage, and it was not only much larger than that of any other crop, but was also more generally distributed throughout the country. On the whole, the increase has been maintained, the production in 1895 being 824,443,537 bushels, from 27,878,406 acres,—an acreage but slightly less than that in 1889. The average annual yield per acre from 1890 to 1895 was estimated at 25.1 bushels, or slightly less than the average for the period from 1870 to 1889. The decrease was probably due in part to the very low yield in 1890, and in part to the increased cultivation of oats in sections of the country to which this cereal is not so well adapted. Oats, in the form of oatmeal or other prepared foods, enter much more extensively into the dietary of the people of the United States than was formerly the case, and the consumption is rapidly increasing. Their superiority to corn as a food for horses and other work-animals is also now generally recognized, and their use for this purpose has greatly increased within recent years. In this larger use, both for work-animals and as human food, is to be found the explanation of the fact that the increase in the quantity grown is far more than commensurate with the increase in the number of animals. No branch of our export trade is subject to greater fluctuations than oats. Between 1885 and 1895 the exports were less than one million bushels five years out of ten, and yet in other years they ran up to five and one half, nine, and even thirteen and one half million bushels, without any progressive increase or decrease. The same may be said of the exports of oatmeal, but not in so marked a degree.Barley. The history of barley-culture in the United States presents many anomalies. Time was when the state of New York produced more than ten times as much barley as any other state in the Union. Then California suddenly came to the front, and it has maintained the lead for forty years, notwithstanding the vast changes that have been brought about through the settlement of the Northwest, one result of which is that there was nearly three times as much barley produced in 1895 as in 1870, and nearly six times as much as in 1860. While the production of barley has been greatly stimulated by the growth of the brewing industry, it has entirely failed to keep pace therewith, for although barleyproduction has increased six times as fast as population, the production of malt liquors, so called, has increased twice as fast as the production of barley. The total area devoted to this crop in 1895 was 3,299,973 acres, and the total production 87,072,744 bushels, valued at $29,312,413,—an average yield of 26.4 bushels per acre, the highest ever reported, and an average value of 33.7 cents per bushel, the lowest ever reported. While the tariff imposed on barley in 1890 checked importations, it entirely failed to bring relief to the producer, by increasing the value of the domestic crop, the average price per

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American agriculture. It was formerly grown somewhat extensively for the fiber; within the last 10 years it has been raised almost exclusively for the seed. In 1869, 1,568 pounds of fiber were produced to every 100 bushels of seed; in 1889, 4,246 bushels of seed were produced to every 100 pounds of fiber. The almost entire discontinuance of the production of fiber is due to the practical donment of the household manufacture of linen, now known to exist only in one of the extreme western counties of Virginia, which until recently was destitute of railroads, and to the fact that there has been no considerable demand for flax for factory purposes to take the place of this expiring industry. The remarkable increase in the production of seed has been in connection with the opening up of new farms in the Northwest; Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska producing, at the last census, over 80 per cent of the 10,250,410 bushels grown in the United States. Of the 241,389 pounds of fiber reported at the last census, the greater part was entirely unfit for spinning, being only a very common quality of tow, of no use except for upholstering purposes. For some years past the Department of Agriculture has periodically called attention to the fact that the American people, among the largest consumers of linen in the world, might be entirely independent of the foreign manufacturer; scutched flax, capable of holding its own against all but the finest imported varieties, having been produced in this country. The linen industry, however, increases but slowly, and there is but little inducement to produce a high grade of fiber. The total value of all flax products at the last census was $10,436,228.-Hemp. The production of hemp in the United States is confined almost exclusively to the state of Kentucky, which contributed, at the last census, 10,794 tons of fiber out of a total production of 11,511 tons, its proportion being thus 93.77 per cent. The total number of hemp-growers was 1,374; the total area devoted to the industry, 25,054 acres (an average of 18.23 acres to each producer); the average yield per acre, 1,029 pounds; and the total value of the crop, $1,102,602,-being $44.01 per acre, $95.79 per ton, and $802.48 to each producer. The production of hemp in the United States falls considerably below the requirements of the country; and considering that it is a product that is successfully cultivated both in northern and southern Europe, and likewise in Asia, Africa and South America, this geographical restriction in its cultivation in the United States is somewhat surprising.

FORAGE CROPS. The area devoted to grass and other forage plants has fluctuated during the last 10 years in a most remarkable manner. Concurrently with the great shrinkage in the wheat acreage, there was a more than equivalent increase in the area devoted to grass, which increased from 30,631,054 acres in 1879, to 52,948,797 acres in 1889, with a more than proportionate increase in production from 35,150,711 tons to 66,831,480 tons. This increase, while widely distributed, was principally in the states where the live-stock and dairying industries showed the largest development, but there is reason to believe that it was to some extent merely an incident in the period of change and unsettlement through which American agriculture in general has been passing, since from returns made to the Department of Agriculture there has been a decrease of several million acres in the area devoted to hay during the last three years. The average yield per acre of hay and other forage crops at the last census was 1.26 tons, the highest averages being those of states in which irrigation is practiced, and where alfalfa, of which several crops are cut each season, is the principal forage plant. In 1895 the average for the entire country was 1.06 tons to the acre, and the value of the crop reported was only $393,185,615,-a great falling off as compared with preceding years. Within the arid region the cereals are not infrequently cut for hay. In California this practice has become quite common; but, taking the arid region as a whole, that most nutritious, prolific and drought-withstanding forage plant, alfalfa, or lucerne, is in greatest favor.

TRUCK-FARMS. Truck-farming is distinct from

favored localties, at a distance from the center of distribution, while the latter is the growing of vegetables in the immediate neighborhood of towns and cities. Truck-farming has attained considerable proportions within a very short time. A special investigation of the industry, made in connection with the last census, disclosed the fact that upward of one hundred million dollars were invested in it at that time, the products having a value of $76,517,155 to the producers, in one year, after paying freights

and commissions.

There were devoted to the industry 534,440 acres of land, and it gave employment to more than 240,000 persons. Since the publication of these figures the business has continued to grow with astonishing rapidity, and it is doubtful whether any other single industry is now bringing as much money into the South as is this one. The finest trucking country in the world is found on the Atlantic coast, from Virginia to Florida. The season appears to advance along the coast at an average rate of 15 miles a day, there being therefore an earlier ripening by about one week for every hundred miles of distance southward. In this way the populous centers of the North are supplied with early fruits and vegetables in continuous succession, from their first ripening in Florida to the placing upon the market of the products of their own local market-gardens. Gross sales amounting to as much as two thousand dollars from one acre of land during 12 months have been made, and as much as one million dollars' worth of truck has been shipped from a single point in one season. One result of this industry has been a great advance in the value of land. Many farms that, but a few years ago were almost worthless are now valued at from forty to two hundred dollars per acre, according to location and convenience to market.

MARKET-GARDENS. There is less definite information available concerning such products of American agriculture as come under this head, than of any other branch of farming. This arises in part from the smallness of the individual patches of ground upon which, collectively, an immense amount of produce is grown, and in part from the fact that no inconsiderable proportion is sold by the producer to the consumer without transportation or the intervention of middlemen. Neither the Census Office nor the Department of Agriculture has attempted to get returns respecting any of the common vegetables, except Irish and sweet potatoes, but as to these products the statistics are fairly complete. The last census reported 2,600,750 acres under Irish potatoes, with a production of 217,546,362 bushels, and of 524,588 acres under sweet potatoes, with a production of 43,950,261 bushels. Since that time there has been an increase of over 350,000 acres in the area devoted to Irish potatoes, and the high average yield per acre that accompanied this increased acreage in 1895 resulted in the unprecedentedly large crop of 297,237,370 bushels, which was, however, worth many millions of dollars less than some preceding crops of half its size. In this, as in almost every other branch of agriculture, the rank of the various states is constantly changing. Not more than from five to ten per cent of the crop is, however, grown in the Southern states, while of sweet potatoes not more than from ten to fifteen per cent of the crop is raised in the North.

SUGAR. The total area devoted to the cultivation of sugar-cane, not including sorghum, in 1889 was 274,975 acres; the total production of cane sugar 301,284,395 pounds, and the total production of merchantable cane molasses, 25,409, 228 gallons. Of this production, 292, 124,050 pounds of sugar and 14,341,081 gallons of molasses were contributed by

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Louisiana. During the same year 80,777 tons of sorghum-cane were sold for sugar-making (almost wholly in Kansas), and 24,235,219 gallons of sorghum molasses were made, chiefly in the Southern states, and those of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio valleys. There were also made in the same year 32,952,927 pounds of maple sugar and 2,258,376 gallons of maple syrup, more than three fourths of the maple sugar being made in Vermont and New York, and more than one half of the maple syrup in Ohio and New York. In 1894-95 the total production of cane sugar was no less than 729,392,561 pounds, of which 710,827,438 pounds were produced in Louisiana, and that of cane molasses 37,617,074 gallons, of which 28,334,513 gallons were the product of Louisiana. The production of beet sugar is ascertainable only through the amount on which bounty was paid, which was 45,191,296 pounds in 1894.

ORCHARD PRODUCTS. Like those of market-gardens, the products of orchards are difficult to ascertain in their entirety, in consequence of the large production on fractions of acres. The figures available, however, help us to realize the magnitude of American horticulture, even though there are extensive sections of the country in which fruitculture is only just beginning to make its way. The last census reported a production of 143,105,689 bushels of apples, a fruit that was raised to a considerable extent in all sections, except in Florida, in the Northwest and in the arid states and territories; 36,367,747 bushels of peaches, raised chiefly in the section of country extending from New York to Florida, and westward to the Mississippi River in its northern and to Texas in its southern portion, and reappearing in California, where its product has a great reputation; 3,064,375 bushels of pears, the production of which was, in the main, well distributed; 2,554,392 bushels of plums and prunes, nearly one half of which were grown in California; 1,476,719 bushels of cherries, the production of which was likewise fairly well apportioned, except in the arid region and the far Northwest; and 1,001,482 bushels of apricots, of which 970,941 bushels were grown in California. These figures must be taken understandingly, for while the census year is known to have been a poor fruit year, there are no other figures with which the foregoing can be compared, and consequently there is no means of determining how far there was a departure from normal conditions in the different sections of the country. That the failure did not affect all sections alike, however, is well known, for in that memorable year hundreds of car-loads of apples grown on what were but recently treeless plains of Nebraska were shipped both to New York and to San Francisco. There are no figures available as to the production of small fruits, but it is known that the crop is an enormous one and is gradually increasing. When many of the present residents of Nebraska and other transmissouri states first settled in those regions few believed that fruit of any kind could ever be successfully grown there. Now, however, successful orchards and fruit-gardens are found far in the interior of Kansas and Nebraska. In some counties apple trees are to be found on nearly every

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farm, and the importation of any variety of fruit, except such as are tropic or sub-tropic, will soon be a thing of the past. The growing of these lastmentioned products is necessarily restricted within narrow limits; so narrow, indeed, that it hardly seems possible that the crop of a single year, including nuts, could have been worth $14,116,227, as was that of 1889. Of this amount the orange represented $6,602,099, the pecan $1,616,577, the almond $1,525,110, the Madeira nut $1,256,958, the lemon $988, 100, the pineapple $812,159, the olive $386,368, the fig $307,272, the banana $280,654, and the cocoanut $251,217.

VINEYARDS. In 1889, 267,271 tons of grapes were sold for table use, 240,450 tons for wine-making, 41,166 tons were made into raisins, and 23,252 tons were used for other purposes,- a total of 1,144,278,000 pounds. The grape, raisin and wine industries of the United States represent a total invested capital of upward of $155,000,000, and furnish employment to over 200,000 persons. To California have to be credited one half of the employees, more than one half of the invested capital, three fifths of the wine-production and the total production of raisins. The figures for New York, the state which stands next in rank, are comparatively small, except as to grapes sold for table use, which exceed 60,000 tons annually, or over 50 per cent more than any other state. While in California the grapes are mainly European varieties, in almost every other part of the country they are improved varieties of native origin. Phylloxera, the scourge of European vineyards, has found its way into California and has done considerable injury. It forms the only serious menace to an industry that gives promise of becoming one of the most important in the country, in addition to effecting a most desirable reform, in the substitution of a pure, wholesome domestic wine for the sophisticated wines of foreign countries, for ardent spirits, and for malt liquors that contain no malt.

MINOR CROPS. There are a number of products that do not fill any large place in the grand total of American agriculture, but which are, nevertheless, matters of no little importance within the geographical limits to which they are confined. Thus there were reported at the last census 128,590,934 pounds of rice, valued at $3,897,334, and grown on 161,312 acres, chiefly in Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia; 39,171,270 pounds of hops, valued at $4,059,697, on 50,212 acres, of which 36,670 acres were in New York and 12,217 acres on the Pacific Coast; 9,378,903 bushels of pulse, grown in considerable proportions in every large section of country except New England, the Northwest and the north Pacific Coast; 38,557,429 pounds of broom-corn, grown on 93,425 acres of land, chiefly in the north central states, and particularly in Illinois and Kansas; 3,588,143 bushels of peanuts, valued at over $3,000,000, and representing an area of 203,946 acres, nearly one third having to be credited to Virginia and another third to Georgia and Tennessee; 1,793,369 tons of cotton-seed, valued at $15,852,525, sold by planters, mainly to oil-mills, and 5,700,239 bushels of grass and clover

seed, upward of 5,000,000 bushels of which were raised in the north central states. The same year florists sold plants to the value of $12,036,478, and cut-flowers to the value of $14,175,328. The products of nurseries are not reported, but the capital invested in the nursery business aggregates the large total of $52,425,670.

Al

II. LIVE-STOCK.-Ranges. Stock-raising has long constituted one of the most important interests in the United States. No only have the American farms contained, in the main, larger numbers of domestic animals than those of almost any other country, but throughout that extensive region formerly included in Spanish America grazing has been a special occupation, under what is known as the ranch or range system. Under this system vast herds of cattle roamed at will over the public domain, their natural increase being distributed among their different owners at an annual "roundup." The gradual settling up of the country, however, under the operation of the United States land laws, has slowly but surely pushed the range industry farther and farther westward, until it has almost crowded it out of existence. While perhaps there is as much stock in the old range country as ever there was, it is now made up mainly of small herds, grazing upon the lands of their owners. It is no rash venture into the field of speculation to affirm that it is the natural destiny of the range system to be completely swept out of existence by the advancing tide of permanent settlement.-Horses. The estimated number of horses on farms and ranches on Jan. 1, 1896, was 15,124,057, valued at $500, 140,186,— an average of $33.07 per head. The largest numbers were in Texas, Iowa and Illinois, each of which had between 1,100,000 and 1,200,000. though the total number corresponds very closely with that reported at the last census, it must not be supposed that the industry has been stationary. In 1893 the number reported was nearly one million greater than in 1896, and so great has been the decline in values that in 1892 the horses reported, while not greatly in excess of the present number, were worth double the present value, or over one billion dollars. This great decline is admittedly due to the rapid extension of electric and cable car systems, and to the increased use of bicycles. So cheap are sound young horses in certain parts of the country that their exportation to countries in which horse-flesh is used for food has been proposed. It is worthy of note that from 1860 to 1890 the increase in the number of horses was far more than proportionate to the increase in population. Mules. The number of mules on Jan. 1, 1896 (2,278,946), has never been greatly exceeded. It is, however, a slightly smaller number than in any year since 1889, and the value of these animals, like that of horses, is gradually declining, the total being $103,204,457,-an average of $45.29 per head. Mules are used on farms most extensively in Texas, Missouri and the cotton states east of the Mississippi River. They are almost unknown as farm-animals in the New England states, and their numbers are small throughout the arid region. -Working-Oxen. The use of oxen as work-animals