20 THE FARMER'S OUTLOOK 



low prices of 1884-5 appeared generous ! In 1894 

 the lowest price for wheat was recorded, the 

 average official price in England being 22s. iod. per 

 quarter. That prices ruling during this period 

 were considerably below the cost of production 

 is shown by the estimates of cost appearing 

 in the Reports. The Governor of Kansas State, 

 writing in the " North American Review " of 

 January, 1896, shows that more than ten thousand 

 farmers in this State were annually dispossessed 

 of their homes by foreclosures of mortgages and 

 well-to-do farmers were gradually being forced 

 into bankruptcy. It is to be doubted whether the 

 producers of live-stock fared much better, but 

 the exports of live cattle remained at a steady 

 level, and that of live sheep increased. There was 

 also a tendency to increase the exports of hog 

 products, as well as of fresh beef. Shipments 

 of cheese and butter, on the other hand, seemed to 

 have diminished. In such a brief sketch of the 

 position of American agriculture, it is scarcely pos- 

 sible to trace the yearly variation in production, 

 exports, or prices. It is, however, interesting to 

 examine with some minuteness the conditions rul- 

 ing with the object of showing the factors which 

 were at work in settling the general trend. We 

 find, for instance, that in 1893 the drought in 

 England forced a large number of home-bred 

 cattle on the market, and thereby reduced the 



