REPORT OP" THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 15 



During the decades of the seventies and eighties, when there was 

 a vast expansion of farm area in the West and crops were grown on 

 a more and more extensive scale, the tendency of crop yields per acre 

 was downward. Since the early nineties, however, the movement 

 has been upward. 



In the decade of the eighties, that is, for the 10 years ending with 

 1890, the average yield per acre of wheat in the United States was 

 11.84 bushels ; for the past 10 years, tha,t is, for the 10 years ending 

 in 1918, it was 14.87 — an increase of 25 per cent. 



For the 10 years ending in 1890 the average yield of corn in the 

 United States was 23.43 bushels; in the 10 years ending in 1918 it 

 was 25.81 — an increase of 10 per cent. 



The oats yield in the 10 years ending in 1890 averaged 25.92 

 bushels, but in the 10 years ending in 1918 it was 32.17 — a gain of 

 24 per cent. 



The potato crop averaged 72.97 bushels per acre for the 10 years 

 ending in 1890, and 9G.84 for the last 10 years — an increase of nearly 

 one-third. 



Bj^ a like comparison, it may be observed that the hay yield rose 

 from 1.193 tons per acre to 1.432 — an increase of 20 per cent. 



Cotton, notwithstanding the ravages of the boll weevil, increased 

 from an average of 169.78 pounds in the decade ending in 1890 to 

 175.73 in the last decade — a gain of 3| per cent. 



Other field crops have likewise shown greater j'ields. The aver- 

 age increase per acre of all crops in the 10 years ending in 1918, com- 

 pared with the 10 years ending in 1890, was about 16 per cent. 



The tendency toward enlarged output per acre is general 

 throughout the United States; it is not due to a shifting of produc- 

 tion from one section to another. For example, in the old agricul- 

 tural State of New York the increases for the two periods mentioned 

 above were as follows: Com 24 per cent, wheat 44, oats 21, barley 

 24, buckwheat 43, potatoes 30, hay 10, average of all (weighted) 

 18 per cent. The facts for the New England States may appeal 

 to many as even more striking and significant. For the six New 

 England States, the following gains are shown in the 10-year period, 

 1909-1918, over the average for 1866-1875 : Com 33 per cent, wheat 

 63, oats 25, barley 27, rye 27, buckwheat 17, potatoes 27, hay 24, 



