Seventy-Third Annttal Report 1197 



in it. Viewed from this standpoint, the year 1912 may be justly 

 said to have marked a distinct step in advance. 



CROP PRODUCTION 



As to crop production in New York State the past year, the 

 average yiekl of all crops combined is 115 per cent, and compared 

 with the average yields of recent years, 105 per cent. The aver- 

 age yield per acre of oats was 4.4 per cent, greater in 1912 than 

 in 1911; of barley, 4 per cent, greater; of hay, 22.5 per cent. 

 With the same acreage of hay the production was nearly 1,100,000 

 tons greater. The average yield per acre of corn, buckwheat and 

 potatoes was greater in 1912 than in 1910 or 1911, and greater 

 than the average for the past ten years. The percentage of in- 

 creased production per acre in 1912 over the average of the past 

 ten years was: Corn, 19.8 per cent.; buckwheat, 19 per cent.; 

 potatoes, 17.7 per cent. 



With the exception of Pennsylvania, ISTew York produced more 

 buckwheat than all the other states in the union. New York pro- 

 duced more potatoes than any other state, 38,160,000 bushels; and 

 nearly as much as the adjoining states of Vermont, Massachusetts, 

 Connecticut and Pennsylvania combined. 



New York produced more hay than any other state and nearly 

 as much as the adjoining states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut combined. 



Figures of production and money value of farm products in 

 both state and nation run into stupendous figures, and Secretary 

 Wilson's grand total of nine and one-half billions of dollars as 

 the farm production of this country for 1912, might lead some to 

 the belief that our farmers are rolling in wealth and are them- 

 selves primarily responsible for the increased cost of living. But 

 if even these great figures are used in arriving at the average pro- 

 duction of the average farm, the net return to the individual 

 owner will be found so small as to give little encouragement for 

 investment. 



Most of our agricultural education so far, and the tendency of 

 the extension work of our agricultural colleges and schools, 

 farmers' institutes, and other like agencies, has been to teach the 

 farmers greater crop production. But I fear that this phase of 



