170 FIELD CROPfi 



from four to seven per cent of the total areas of Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York 

 are utilized for this purpose. A more reliable basis for com- 

 paring the relative importance of the oat crop in the various 

 states is that shown in Figure 67, in which the percentages 

 of the total improved farm' area annually sown to oats in 

 the ten leading states are shown. These percentages are 

 based on the annual acreages as shown in Table X and on 

 the acreage of improved farm land as shown by the Census 

 of 1910. The diagram shows that oats are relatively more 

 important in Wisconsin than in any other state, nearly 

 one fifth of the improved farm land being sown to this crop. 

 The oat crop is sown on nearly one sixth of the improved 

 farm land of Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota, and on one tenth 

 or less than that much of 'the other six states. About 8 per 

 cent of the entire acreage of improved farm land in the United 

 States is annually devoted to oats. 



IOWA —i^— M^— — — ^Mi"^^ ^— 14.7% 



ILLINOIS vm^^Km^^mmm^Kmmm^mamm^mmmm^ i3.o% 



MINN. ^m^mm^a^mm^mm^mmam 8.1% 



WIS. wm^mm^^^mmmi^ 6.6% 



NEBR. mm^amm^^m^^ 5.5% 



OHIO ^^^tmK^^mm^ 5.1% 



N. DAK. wmmmmmmmmm 4.8% 



INDIANA ^^a^mam^m 4.6% 



MICH, wmm^am^mmt 4.1% 



s. DAK. m^^^^am 3.8% 



Figure 66. — Graph showing the percentage of the total oat crop in the United 

 States produced in the ten states of largest production in the ten years from 

 1908 to 1917, inclusive. 



208. Acre Yield. The states which rank highest in acre 

 yield are those in which the acreage is comparatively small, 

 both because large areas still remain to be developed within 

 their borders, and because oats are grown almost entirely 

 on irrigated land, which comprises only a small proportion 

 of the total acreage. The combination of favorable climatic 

 conditions, including abundant moisture supplied at the 

 right time in their development, makes oats a very produc- 



