slow, but in the ten years that followed 1897 it in- 

 creased about 100 per cent. In the next eight years 

 it increased about 50 per cent. From 1915 to 1917 

 under the stimulus of war conditions farm output 

 again increased 100 per cent, reaching a total gross 

 income of approximately sixteen billion dollars. * 



Acreage of Improved Land and Population 



The upward trend of the farm market has been 

 vitally affected by the relation between the growth of 

 population and the increase in the amount of im- 

 proved land under cultivation. For some years after 

 the close of the war between the states, the acreage of 

 improved land under cultivation increased more 

 rapidly than the population. See Chart 4. From 

 1870 to 1880, while the population of the United 

 States increased 30 per cent, the acreage of improved 

 land increased more than 50 per cent, or in other 

 words, about 96,000,000 acres of land were put under 

 cultivation. In the next decade the population in- 

 creased 26 per cent and acreage of improved land 

 kept pace, also increasing 26 per cent, or in other 

 words, some 73,000,000 acres more were added. But 

 from 1890 to 1900 population increased 21 per cent 

 and cultivated land acreage but 16 per cent. Ap- 

 proximately the same was true in the decade from 

 1900 to 1910. That is, about 1890, population began 

 to increase materially faster than cultivated acreage. 

 At the same time much of the fertility of the land put 

 under the plow in the earlier period has been slowly 

 depleted by continued cropping. 



*The sum of the value of crops and of animal products as given in the 

 Census indicates a total farm output, or wealth produced annually on 

 farms, of about $19,500,000,000, but this includes duplication, as hay and 

 other crops are in part fed to the animals included in the estimate. It 

 seems conservative to estimate the gross farm output, exclusive of dupli- 

 cation, as exceeding sixteen billions. 



[15] 



