i6 



RKADINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



is, therefore, quite naturally regarded by many as more conse- 

 quential for trade than the output of our other crops. It repre- 

 sents an annual income in recent years of more than a billion of 

 dollars, so that even a small percentage of change in its dimen- 

 sions means a considerable fluctuation in the income of the com- 

 munity, and in the community's power to consume other goods. 

 The following table shows the difference in the estimated value 

 of the several crops from one year to another since 1 890 : 



It will be seen that the variations in the value of the corn crop 

 during these fifteen years have reached an average of $83,000,000, 

 those of wheat an average of $68,000,000, those of cotton an 

 average of $42,000,000. The variations in the value of the corn 

 product as estimated have not, to be sure, exceeded the variations 

 in the value of the wheat product by as large an average as might 

 have been expected. Yet they have been, on the whole, more ex- 

 tensive, and, were no other conditions than variations in crop 

 value and their effects upon consumption to be taken into account, 

 the outturn of the cornfields would be rightly regarded as of 



Millions of dollars. 



