No. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 7 



storehouse of this valuable niiueral. In other industries, such as 

 oil, gas, limestone, iron ore, cement, rock and slate, Pennsylvania 

 ranks well with other stales ol' the Union; and to such an extent has 

 the attention of the people been turned to these mighty industries, 

 that in the minds of many, agriculture is looked upon as an after 

 consideration and there is a failure to realize its intrinsic importance 

 and magnitude. 



CEREALS 



The statistics shown in detail in the report of the Bureau of Sta- 

 tistics, incorporated as a part of this Annual Report, indicates the 

 distinguished position Pennsylvania occupies among her sister 

 states in the im]jortance and value of her agriculture. The values 

 of the five principal cereals grown in the State during 1915 were 

 more than the national average for these crops. And so great was 

 this average increase that it has attracted wide-spread attention. 

 Pennsylvania farmers produced, in 1915, 2.3 per cent, of all the 

 wheat, corn, rye, oats and buckwheat raised in the nation ; and these 

 same cereals were worth 3.9 per cent, of the value of the nation's 

 crops which were estimated at $3,295,433,000, while the State crops 

 were worth 12.5 per cent, more per bushel than the average price 

 value of the country's crops, the total value of the five cereals named 

 being $95,932,420. ' 



Corn was king in 1915, ranking, in production, twentieth in the 

 United States, with a yield of 54,792,000 bushels, harvested from 

 1.520,000 acres, valued at |41,641,920; wheat came next, ranking 

 ninth in production, yielding 24,928,000 bushels, raised from 1,312,000 

 acres, with a total value of 126,174,400; the oats crop exceeded the 

 production of 1914, the yield being 43.095,000 bushels, harvested 

 from 1,094,460 acres, valued at 119,823,700, and ranking fourteenth 

 in the Union. In the production of rye, Pennsylvania ranked fourth 

 in the nation, with a total of 271,600 acres grown, yielding 4,672,000 

 bushels, valued at |3,971,200. Buckwheat, however, led all the 

 states of the Union, ranking first in production, the vield being 

 5,540,000 bushels, raised from 277,200 acres, with a value of |4.321,200, 

 the production being 85.1 per cent of all the buckwheat raised in this 

 country. As usual, Lancaster county, in value of production of all 

 farm products, is not only the banner county in the State, but leads 

 every county in every state of the Union. 



Other crops in the State show healthful advance. Pennsylvania 

 is sixth in the production of hay. The crop in 1915 was 3,558,000 

 tons, valued at |56,572.200 — the most valuable of any farm product. 

 Potatoes ranked sixth in production, the number of acres planted 

 being 273,360, yielding 20,502,000 bushels, the total value of which 

 is 116,401,600. Including tobacco, hay, potatoes and the five cereals 

 noted, the acreage devoted to staple crops of the State were 7,797,120, 

 with a total valuation of |1 73,473,720. 



LIVESTOCK 



In some instances there has been slight increase in the number 

 of livestock raised in the State and in other cases there has been a 

 decrease; however, the livestock industry forms an important part 

 of the State's asset. The approximate total value of the livestock on 

 the farms of Pennsylvania according to the report of our Statistician 



