372 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Compared with average farm prices the actual export prices are 

 given below, the years named being fiscal years following the year 

 of production: 



EXPORTATION. 



The exportation of corn as grain and meal amounted to only about 

 half of 1 per cent, of the crop in 1860, During the next ten years 

 it averaged little more than 1 per cent. Between 1870 and 1880, 

 especially in the latter half of the period, when the harvests of West- 

 ern Europe (not maize) were greatly impaired and prices of all feed- 

 ing-stuffs high, exports were heavy. The annual range of these ex- 

 ports was quite extraordinary: from about 2,000,000 bushels in 1870 

 to nearly 100,000,000 in 1880. This difference is mainly accounted 

 for by the fact that the export price dropped from 93 to 54 cents 

 per bushel. With an increase of exportation almost fifty fold the 

 price was about half as high, showing how little influence the largest 

 foreign demand ever enjoyed had upon prices. _ The following state- 

 ment shows how much corn and corn-meal in its ec^uivalent to corn 

 have been exported since 1880 : 



WHEAT. 



The area of wheat has increased 50 per cent, since 1874, when this 

 country passed France in wheat production, and assumed the first 

 rank in wheat-growing among the nations. There are wheat lands 

 yet to occupy, and the disposition is strong to extend the cultivation, 

 notwithstanding the necessary reduction in prices caused by a plethora 

 in international markets. There has been a halt, however, at certain 

 points, though not all along the line of progress. The problem of 

 cheaper production commands an effort at solution by many who are 



