REPORT OP THE STATISTICIAN. 



415 



a partial supply only for home use, there is no necessity for reducing 

 production, which is only made as a i)art of a necessary system of rota- 

 tion, or at least of distribution of crop areas, and we find as a rule that 

 there has been no reduction in these States. It is wise rural economy 

 to restrict the present wheat area, which may still be found too large 

 for profit, should the coming season be favorable to large pi^oduction. 



Further returns of the area of winter wheat, for the harvest of 1S8G, 

 will be published in the April report. 



'J'lie following table exhibits the proportions of last season's seeding 

 i!« the areas of the present crop, according to the December returns: 



FAKM PKICES. 



The December returns give local estimates of the farm prices of the 

 principal crops. The increase in the product of corn has reduced the 

 average value of the crop to 33 cents per bushel. The average value 

 of the previous crop in December was 36 cents. The reduction is larg- 

 est in the Ohio Valley and in the Southern States. West of the IMissis- 

 sippi the increase of stock-feeding has corrected the tendency to ex- 

 tremely low prices. The average in Missouri is 25 cents, 1 cent lower 

 than last year. In Kansas it is 24 instead of 22 last year ; in Iowa, 24 

 instead of 23 ; in iSTebraska, 19 instead of 18. It is 28 cents in Dakota, 

 2 cents lower than last year ; 32 in Minnesota, 1 cent lower ; Illinois, 28; 

 Indiana, 29; Ohio, 32; Michigan, 34; Kentucky, 35; Pennsylvania, 49; 

 New York, 58. 



Compared with former prices, corn values are very low. For the pre- 

 ceding five years, nearly all under average in production, the average 

 farm value was 14,7 cents per bushel, and for the preceding ten years 

 42.G cents. 



The price of wheat, though still low, is considerably above last De- 

 cember's average, which was 65 cents. That of 1883 was 91 cents. Tlie 

 j)resent is 77.1 cents, a gain equal to half the unprecedented decline in- 

 (lic;Ued last December. For the five years past the average farm value 

 has been 90 cents per bushel, and for the preceding ten, $1.05. Last 

 year's farm value was 38 per cent, lower than for the ten years ended in 

 1879, due mainly to a fuUer European production and a smaller foreign 

 demand for a surplus nearly equal to a third of the entire crop. 



I'jie range of State prices is from 57*>eents in Nebraska to $1.25 in 

 ]Ma«sachusetts. It is above $1 in several Eastern and Southern States 

 for home-grown wheat. The price in Texas, 80 cents, is 7 cents lower 

 than last December, Irom the increase in the home crop. The value iu 

 New I'ork is i)6, an increase of 11 cents; Pennsylvania 95, an increase 

 of 11 cents ; Ohio 91, an increase of 16 cents ; Kentucky 95, an increase of 

 19 cents ; Michigan 84, an increase of 10 cents ; Indiana 86, an increase 

 of 19 cents ; Illinois 81, an increase of 18 cents ; Wisconsin 76, an in- 

 crease of 16 cents ; Minnesota 70, an increase of 20 cents ; Iowa 67, an 

 increase of 12 cents j Missouri 77, an increase of 15 cents j Kansas 65, 



