568 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



FOOD AND LAND TENURE.* 



By EDWARD ATKINSON. 



nr^HE conditions of Europe in the present year compel attention 

 -L to the food supply of what is called the civilized world. The 

 principal supply of grain exported and a large part of the supply of 

 meat are derived from the central United States, in the northern 

 section of the Mississippi Valley. 



The area of the twelve States of the northern Mississippi Valley, 

 on which main dependence is placed, is given in the subsequent table; 

 also the proportion of each State which is now devoted to the crops of 

 Indian com or maize, wheat and oats, which are the chief dependence 

 for the grain supply of man and beast; rye, barley and buckwheat 

 being of minor importance. In another table the proportion of the area 

 of each State which is devoted to each of the three principal grains is 

 indicated graphically. 



By far the larger proportion of all these States is arable land, 

 portions of the western section being for the present uncertain in their 

 product, because of semi-arid conditions. Ere long, however, these 

 sections may become the most productive, irrigation on a national scale 

 being under way. 



* Read at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, Glasgow, September 11-19. 



