180 THE SOILS AND CROPS OF THE FAPwM. 



The significance of these figUres may be illustrated 

 by assuming the cost of raising either an acre of 

 wheat or barley at eight dollars. On this basis the 

 profit from an acre of wheat would be $1.97, while 

 from an acre of barley it would be $4.79. 



Practical experience has demonstrated that barley 

 is a paying crop in regions to which it is adapted, but 

 the distribution of barley is very peculiar. It is a 

 maxim that like causes produce like efPects. Here 

 is an example of unlike causes producing like effects. 

 A few years ago California and New York were the 

 largest two barley-producing states. The large pro- 

 duction in California is due to the fact that the climate 

 is favorable for barley and not favorable for the pro- 

 duction of corn and oats, nor for the ordinary cul- 

 tivated tame grasses. Barley is the forage crop of 

 California. In New York the climate is not especially 

 adapted to barley, and is well enough adapted to oats, 

 corn and tame grasses. The partial failure of the 

 wheat crop from the ravages of the Hessian fly, the 

 competition of the western wheat-raising states and 

 probably the demand for barley for malting purposes, 

 are some of the causes which have led to the increased 

 acreage in New York. On the other hand, New York 

 produced in 1888 sixteen times as much barley as 

 Pennsylvania, although the two states are otherwise 

 much alike in their cereal production. 



Seven states raised six-sevenths of the crop in 1888, 

 the order of the greatest yield being: California, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Dakota (north and 

 south), Iowa and Nebraska. 



Our average annual import since 1870 has been 

 eight million bushels or about one-fifth of our annual 



