PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION. 



367 



wane in fertility and those who have followed the pioneers have 

 been confronted with new and perplexing problems in agricul- 

 ture. We are now applying ourselves to the solution of these 

 great questions in the light of agricultural science. 



We can already see clearly the results of scientific instruc- 

 tion in the United States. Take for example the statistics of 

 New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, for the 

 last forty years and the crops of corn for the four ten-year 

 periods show the following remarkable results : 



Average Production by Ten Year Periods. 



The following table shows the fall and rise of production 

 of four staple crops in the United States for the period from 

 1870 to 1910: 



TEN-YEAR PERIODS. 



A close study of these statistics will show that there was a 

 gradual decline in production per acre of the staple crops from 

 1870 to 1890, and that from the end of that twenty-year period 

 there was ? gradual rise in production for the period from 1890 

 to 1910. 



