464 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Wheat, bushels 



Corn, bushels 



Oats, bushels 



Barley, bushels 



Rye, bushels.. 



Potatoes, bushels.. .. 



Cotton, pounds 



Hay, tons 



Horses, number 



Milch cows, number 

 Other cattle, number 



Swine, number 



Sheep, number 



Period 



7.9 

 31.8 



9.8 



1.9 

 .4 



3.4 

 70.0 

 .74 

 .23 

 .24 

 .55 

 .64 

 .64 



This almost inconceivable increase in agricultural production has 

 been accompanied by changes in agricultural conditions that make a 

 reorganization of American farming methods absolutely necessary. 



Foremost among these changes has been the growth of cities from 

 an urban population of 2,897,000, or 12.5 per cent, of the population 

 total, in 1850, to a population of 24,992,000 or 33.1 per cent, of the 

 total population in 1900. This concentration of the population has 

 brought about new problems of food supply in furnishing the more 

 perishable products such as milk, vegetables, fruits and such products 

 as need to be consumed soon after production. 



Another condition that has arisen is the tendency of the soil fertility 

 of the farms of the older agricultural sections to become exhausted. 

 To remedy this, the use of commercial fertilizers has become general in 

 eastern United States and the statistics of 1900 show that $55,000,000 

 worth of goods were used by the farmers of the United States, which 

 was an increase of 42 per cent, over the amount used in 1890, so that it 

 is probable that not less than $75,000,000 per year is spent for this 

 purpose. 



The opening up of the middle west took from the farmer of the 

 eastern states his market for wheat and other grain. He was thrown 

 in competition on the open market with the farmer who had secured his 

 land for practically nothing and land that was much more fertile and 

 productive. The farmer of the middle west, in turn, has been thrown 

 in competition in the live-stock markets with the live-stock products of 

 the western and southwestern states and territories. Stock that was 

 raised under range conditions and often on government land free of 

 charge competed with stock raised on high-priced farms of the middle 

 west. 



While these conditions are not so emphatically true as they were a 

 few years ago, yet the problem is far from being solved and the Amer- 

 ican farmer is now passing through a transitional stage and the most 



