PRODUCTION OF OATS 



Yield and Value of Oats for Three Decades. 



315 



About one-tenth the area in field and garden crops, not count- 

 ing pasture, is in oats, thirty-seven per cent *?£ the farms reporting 

 this crop. The value per acre is less than any other important 

 cereal crop and like other cereals is decreasing in value. Ten 

 States produced eighty per cent of the oat crop in 1900, all but 

 New York and Pennsylvania being North Central States. Prob- 

 ably three-fourths of the oats of the United States are produced 

 north of the fortieth parallel and east of the 100th meridian. 



423. Yield per Acre. — The average annual yield per acre 

 of oats during the decade 1 893-1 902 was 27.8 bushels. The 

 areas of maximum production per acre in 1899 embraced 

 the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and parts 

 of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, the yield 

 being more than thirty-six bushels per acre. The yield per 

 acre in the South Atlantic division was less than ten bushels 

 over nearly one-half the area, and with a few exceptions did not 

 exceed twenty bushels. Sixty to seventy-five bushels of oats is 

 considered a good yield and forty to fifty bushels a fairly satis- 

 factory yield in the Northern States. In Canada the yield per 

 acre is considerably higher than in the United States, 100 

 bushels per acre being frequently reported. 



424. Progress of Oat Production. — The production of oats 

 has about doubled in proportion to population during the last 

 half of the century. The production rose between 1880 and 



