U.S.A. AGRICULTURE, 1873-1913 17 



which had a surplus of agricultural products, 

 to sell the produce of their fields, their slaughter 

 houses, and their dairies, in the United Kingdom, 

 which, with certain minor exceptions, placed no 

 restrictions on their trade. 



From 1884 to 1890 the Reports of the U.S.A. 

 Department of Agriculture show the tendency of 

 American farmers to increase the production of 

 Indian corn as an alternative to wheat. The 

 reason for this is clearly stated in the report of 

 1888. " Corn and oats are mainly used in the 

 feeding of animals for milk and motive power, 

 enjoying a vastly more elastic demand and having 

 a wider range of uses. The other cereals are almost 

 exclusively used as human food, the demand 

 of which is uniform." Not only did American 

 agriculturalists have to suffer from low prices of 

 wheat, but in 1884 an outbreak of pleuro-pneu- 

 monia put a stop to the import of American cattle 

 into the United Kingdom, except for immediate 

 slaughter, and not till 1889 was this disease 

 successfully stamped out. The prices of cattle 

 naturally suffered from these restrictions and 

 likewise that of hogs from the enforced limitation 

 of the market for hog products by the action of 

 the other European States. 



The next ten years from 1890 are an extremely 

 interesting period in the development of American 

 agriculture. The problems to be solved had been 



