REPORT OF THE STATISTICIAN. 



347 



flemand for beef of hiplier quality, gave a great impetus to com prodno- 

 tioa ill the decade ending in 1S79. It is a striking fact that the increase 

 is all in the latter half of the decade. The reasons are very obvious. 

 Exiiortation of corn had little to do with it, as it never calls for more 

 than C) per cent, of the crop, usually not more than 3, oven in later 

 years, while the exportation of sixty years past could be supplied from 

 00 per cent, of the last crop ; and the crop of 1885 icas far greater than 

 the aggregate of corn and corn-meal ever sent across the ocean. The aver- 

 age from 1870 to 1874 was scarcely 1,000,000,000 bushels and much less 

 than that in 1873 and 1874 on account of bad seasons. The product 

 advanced by a long stride in the very next year, because the scarcity 

 had made the price high and the demand strong; and it averaged for 

 the latter half of the decade about 1,400,000,000 bushels. This was the 

 period of scarcity and high prices in Western Europe. The exportation 

 was doubled, the shipment of pork products increased immensely, 

 the live-meat shipment commenced, and in the autumn of 1877 the 

 fresh beef movement to Europe was initiated. Then the yields were 

 heavy, above the average each year, causing low prices, which in turn 

 reduced the prices 6f pork and lard, and that reduction largely in- 

 creased the foreign demand. So marked was the effect of this rapid 

 enlargement of production on price, that the average annual values of 

 the cereal crops reported in December were reduced from 64.7 cents in 

 1874 to 42 in 1875, 37 in 187G, 35.8 in 1877, and 31.8 in 1878. 



The area was, of course, considerably enlarged during the period, and 

 the average for ten years was 43,741,331 acres. But it has been larger 

 since. The average of the subsequent five years, 1880 to 1884, is 

 66,045,016 acres, an increase of 50 per cent. 



The production of 1870 to 1879 averaged 1,184,486^954 bushels ; of five 

 years since, 1S80 to 1884, 1,575.104,108 bushels, an increase of 33 per cent. 

 The yield of the recent period was lower, as a result of the poor crops 

 of 1831 and 1883, averaging only 23.9 bushels per acre against 27.1 for 

 the former period, which was about 1 bushel higher than the usual 

 average for a series of years. The law of compensation comes in here, 

 for the average value per acre has been $10.67 against $11.54 for the 

 former decade, an average much raised by the high price of 1870 and 

 1871, when the acreage value was about $15. 



The average price for five years was 44.7 cents ; for ten preceding 

 years, 42.6 cents. The average value, which was $504,571,048 for ten 

 years, is $704,370,178 for the five years since 1879, an increase of almost 

 40 per cent. 



The comparison is as follows: 



Calendar rears. 



Total pro- 

 duction. 



Total 



Annual average. 



Annual average for preced- 

 ing ten years 



1, 184, 486, 954 



Total area 

 of crop. 



Total value 

 of crop. 



Average 

 value per 

 Losliel. 



^^^- acre. 



