REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 19 



creased production. The corn crop of 1912 increased 25.2 per cent 

 above that of 1911; the wheat crop, 15.0 per cent; the oats crop, 53.7 

 per cent ; barley, 40.2 per cent. All of the cereals increased, and the 

 average for them is 30.2 per cent, which expresses the gain of 1912 

 over 1911 in quantity of production for the cereals. The gain in value 

 was much less, or only 10.8 per cent. Among the gains of other crops 

 in quantity appear 52.7 per cent for hay, 41.5 per cent for potatoes, 

 53.6 per cent for flaxseed, 16.8 per cent for beet sugar. The only 

 crops for which value increased at least in the degree of increase of 

 production, are rice, sugar beets, and tobacco, while in the case of 

 cotton the production decreased and the value increased. 



LIVE-STOCK PRODUCTS. 

 DAIRY AND POULTRY PRODUCTS. 



The dairy cow is one of the principal producers of wealth on the 

 farm, although not prominent in public notice. The farm value 

 of the dairy products of 1912 is estimated at about $830,000,000, an 

 amount which exceeds the value of the cotton lint and is nearly 

 equal to the combined value of lint and seed. The products of the 

 dairy cow are worth nearly as much as the value of the hay crop and 

 are nearly twice the value of the oats crop. The wheat crop is 

 worth only three-quarters as much. 



Poultry is another industry of great wealth production on the 

 farm. Here is an illustration of how large an aggregate of an 

 immense number of little things can become. An egg may be worth 

 only a cent and three-quarters, and yet 1,700,000,000 dozen eggs are 

 worth $350,000,000, and these are the estimates for 1912. 



If to the value mentioned is added the value of the fowls raised, 

 the products of the poultry industry on farms amounts to about 

 $570,000,000. This is nearly equal to the value of the wheat crop 

 and exceeds the value of the oats crop. It is more than three-quarters 

 of the value of the cotton lint produced this year. The value of 

 poultry products in 1912 has been exceeded in two former years. 



"Wool production has apparentl}'^ been exceeded in two former 

 years, yet in 1912 it amounted to 318,548,000 pounds. This wool 

 had a farm value of about $55,500,000, or about 6 per cent below 

 the average value of the wool clip of the five preceding years. 



The animals sold from the farm and the animals slaughtered 

 on it together numbered about 111,000,000 for 1912, and the farm 

 value of these animals is estimated to be $1,930,000,000. This is the 

 higliest value of animals sold and slaughtered since about 1900, 

 except in 1909 and 1911. 



VALUE OF ALL ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 



The total value of the animal pj'oducls of the farui in 1012 is esti- 

 mated to be about $3,395,000,000. This is a larger value than that of 



