10 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



was 124.8; that of 1904 was 129.8; and that of 1905 was 133. The 

 year 1906 was an extraordmary one for aj^riciilture, both in quantity 

 and in value of production. The value increased to 143.4, as com- 

 pared with 100 representing 1899. In the next year, 1907, the value 

 of agricultural products rose to 158.7; in the next year, 1908, to 

 167.3; in 1909 to 182.8; and in 1910 to 189.2, or almost double the 

 value of the croi)s of the census year eleven years preceding. During 

 this period of unexampled agricultural production, a period of twelve 

 years during which the farmers of this country have steadily advanced 

 in ])rosperity, in wealth and in economic independence, in intelligence 

 and a knowledge of agriculture, the total value of farm products is 



$79,000,000,000. 



CHIEF CROPS. 



In the statement that follows concerning the crop quantities and 

 values for 1910, no figures should be accepted as anticipating the 

 final estimates of this Department to be made later. Only approxi- 

 mations can be adopted, such as could be made by any competent 

 person outside of this Department. All values are for products at 

 the farm, unless otherwise stated, and in no item are values at the 

 produce or commercial exchange. 



CORN. 



A National asset amounting to 3,000 million bushels, worth 1,500 

 million dollars, is found in the corn crop. Its production this year 

 was 3,121,381,000 bushels, a crop that exceeds that of even the great 

 agricultural year 1906. It is greater than the average crop of the 

 preceding five years by 14 per cent. 



A notable feature of corn production this year is the growing 

 importance of the South. This has been manifested in a small way 

 in very recent years, but now the increased magnitude of the crop 

 in that section, both absolute and relative to National production, 

 forces itself upon the attention. 



Let a comparison be made with corn production in the South in 

 the census year 1889, or twenty-one years ago. At that time the 

 South Atlantic States produced only 6.2 per cent of the National 

 crop of corn. This year they produced 9.1 per cent, or an increase 

 relatively of about one-half. The relative increase for the South 

 Central States is even greater, being from 14.8 per cent of the National 

 crop of 1889 to 23.4 per cent in 1910. Then the South produced 

 hardly more than one-fifth of the National crop; now it produces 

 one-third. 



The power that this increased corn production gives to southern 

 farmers with respect to independence, release from buying feeding 

 stuffs, in producing meat, and maintaining dairy and other domestic 

 animals is well understood. 



