366 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



ous, while wheat is restricted to the consumption of man. This dec- 

 ade, so far, has been a period of low production, of yield below the 

 average. Since 188U there has been only a single year (1885) in wliich 

 the crop has been an average one. The yield per acre has been lower, 

 and the price per bushel naturally higher, than in the preceding dec- 

 ade, as the price is made in this country, by the pressure of the homo 

 demand, almost uninliuenced by the foreign demand, which is small, 

 and controlled by the economies of feeding, and therefore restricted 

 by high prices in this country. 



Thus the average value per bushel for seven years has been 41.5 

 cents, against 42.6 for the ten preceding years; and the average yield 

 per acre has been 24.0 bushels, against 27.1 bushels for the preced- 

 ing period. 



There is a considerable difference in the average value of the crop 

 per acre; the comparison standing $9.95 per acre, against $11.54 per 

 acre. 



DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION. 



The annual investigation of the distribution of corn is made on the 

 1st of March, and includes estimates of the proportion of the crop 

 remaining on the farm, which constitutes the main part of the invis- 

 ible supply; the ''visible supply," in commercial phrase, being that 

 stored in public elevators. The returns also include the estimated 

 shipments beyond county lines, the amount left within county bound- 

 aries for consumption or surplus, and the proportion deemed merchant- 

 able, showing its comparative quality, and the average local prices of 

 merchantable and unmerchantable. 



The crop of the past year, now in course of distribution and con- 

 sumption, is one of reduced yield, producing less tlian the average of 

 26 bushels by nearly 4 bushels, though the acreage was larger than 

 ever before, and the product only four times exceeded in volume — in 

 1879 and 1880 and in 1884 and 1885. It is one of a series of six crops, 

 of which only one yielded slightly above the average. These were 

 preceded by six crops all above 26'bushels per acre. 



The amount on hand at this date varies with the size of the crop, 

 especiall37- in the twelve States of principal production, and with the 

 commercial requirement, of which the fluctuating foreign demand is 



