2260. NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



Statistics (Thirteenth Census). 



The approximate land area of Idaho is 53,346,560 acres, 

 which includes 32,640 acres in Yellowstone National 

 Park. Of the total land area, 5,283,604 acres or 9.9 per 

 cent is in farms, of which 52.6 per cent or 2,778,740 acres 

 are improved; 584,556 acres are in woodland; and 

 1,920,308 acres are classified as other unimproved land 

 in farms. There are in the state 30,807 farms, the 

 average acreage of which is 171.5 acres. [The total 

 area is 83,888 square miles.] 



The leading agricultural crops are cereals, hay and 

 forage, sugar crops, and forest products of the farm. 

 The cereals in 1909 occupied 847, 138 acres as compared 

 with 369,788 acres in 1899. This showed an increase 

 in acreage of 129.1 per cent for the period. The value 

 of the cereals in 1909 was $16,026,676 or 46.4 per cent 

 of the total value of all crops. Hay and forage increased 

 in acreage 42.7 per cent for the same period, the acreage 

 being 513,656 in 1899 and 732,886 in 1909. The value 

 of the hay and forage for 1909 was $12,099,963, or 35.2 

 per cent of the total value of all crops. The percentage 

 of improved land occupied by the cereals and hay and 

 forage was 30.5 and 26.4, respectively, in 1909. Sugar 

 crops, in 1909, occupied 15,630 acres as compared with 

 21 acres in 1899 and the value of the sugar products in 

 1909 was $815,068. The value of the forest products of 

 the farms in 1909 was $1,280,512, as compared with 

 $315,821 in 1899. 



Horticultural crops grown are fruits and nuts, vege- 

 tables including potatoes, small-fruits, and flowers and 

 plants and nursery products. The value of the fruits 

 and nuts produced in 1909 was $882,526, as compared 

 with $371,273 in 1899. Small-fruits increased in acre- 

 age from 957 in 1899 to 1,673 in 1909, when the value of 

 their products was $201,525. Vegetables lead in value 

 of the horticultural crops grown in Idaho. In 1909 the 

 total acreage of potatoes and all other vegetables 

 was 38,371 and their value $2,591,199. Flowers and 

 plants and nursery products increased in acreage from 

 120 in 1899 to 548 in 1909, when their value was 

 $186,548. 



The total quantity of orchard-fruits produced in 1909 

 was 924,223 bushels, valued at $863,516. Apples con- 

 tributed more than two-thirds of this quantity; plums 

 and prunes most of the remainder. In 1910, there were 

 in Idaho 1,005,668 apple trees of bearing age and 1,539,- 

 896 apple trees not of bearing age. The production in 

 1909 was 659,959 bushels, valued at $610,504. Plum 

 and prune trees of bearing age in 1910 numbered 302,- 

 855; those not of bearing age, 98,017. The production 

 in 1909 was 179,027 bushels, valued at $132,804. 

 Peaches and nectarines are of interest for while the 

 number of trees of bearing age numbered only 73,080 

 in 1910, those not of bearing age numbered 212,995. 

 The production in 1909 was 18,734 bushels, valued at 

 $28,149. In 1909 the production of pears was 42,649 

 bushels, valued at $48,045; that of cherries 22,609 

 bushels, valued at $41,766; and that of apricots 1,108 

 bushels, valued at $2,034. The production of quinces 

 and mulberries was of little importance. 



The grape-vines of bearing age in 1910 numbered 

 68,269; those not of bearing age, 124,806. The produc- 

 tion in 1909 was 604,227 pounds, valued at $18,814. 



Nuts are of little or no importance in Idaho. The nut 

 trees of all varieties in 1910 of bearing age numbered 

 only 1,379 and those not of bearing age, 3,495. The 

 production in 1909 was 3,328 pounds, valued at $196. 



Strawberries are by far the most important of the 

 small-fruits raised in Idaho, with raspberries and logan- 

 berries ranking next. The acreage of strawberries 

 increased from 239 in 1899 to 698 in 1909, when the 

 production was 953,723 quarts, valued at $92,904; the 

 acreage of raspberries and loganberries was 496 in 1909 

 and the production was 575,209 quarts, valued at 

 $59,854. Other small-fruits produced were: 249,984 

 quarts of blackberries and dewberries, valued at 



$24,688; 161,230 quarts of currants, valued at $13,760; 

 and 130,987 quarts of gooseberries, valued at $10,317. 



Of the vegetables, the potato was by far the most 

 important. The acreage increased from 9,313 in 1899 

 to 28,341 in 1909, an increase of 204.3 per cent. The 

 value of the 4,710,262 bushels produced in 1909 was 

 $1,583,447. The most important of the other vegetables 

 grown in 1909 were: 289 acres of cabbage, valued at 

 $43,517; 213 acres of cantaloupes and muskmelons, 

 valued at $15,407; 165 acres of watermelons, valued at 

 $15,016; 85 acres of onions, valued at $17,065; and 42 

 acres of tomatoes, valued $8,840. In 1912, beans were 

 valued at $210,000 and peas at $725,000. There were 

 also grown in smaller quantities, carrots, celery, sweet 

 corn, cucumbers, and turnips. 



The acreage devoted to flowers and plants increased 

 from 5 in 1899 to 18 in 1909. The area covered by glass 

 was 59,477 square feet, of which 58,727 were covered 

 by greenhouses and 750 by sashes and frames. The 

 value of the flowers and plants produced in 1909 was 

 $43,314, as compared with $2,805 in 1899. 



The growing of nursery products was of more im- 

 portance than the growing of flowers and plants. The 

 acreage occupied by nursery establishments increased 

 from 115 in 1899 to 530 in 1909, an increase of 360.9 

 per cent. The value of the nursery products in 1909 was 

 $143,234, as compared with $38,431, the value in 1899. 



C. C. VINCENT. 



Wyoming. 



The agricultural land in Wyoming (Fig. 2526) is at 

 a higher average altitude than that in any other state. 

 Broadly speaking, the range is from about 3,500 feet to 

 twice that height. In a few protected valleys a limited 

 agriculture is practised at even greater elevations, but 

 most of the recognized districts lie below 6,000 feet. 

 Taking the state as a whole, more than one-half the 

 total area is above 6,000 feet. This includes the high 

 mountain ranges which, as a rule, are forest-covered 

 and included in the National Reservations. The con- 

 servation policy has nowhere been better exemplified 

 than in Wyoming, where its beneficent results are seen 

 not only in the husbanding of the timber resources, but 

 also and more particularly in the equalized water-flow 

 in the streams, and the larger, safer and more equitable 

 use of the forests as grazing-lands. Perennial streams 

 flow in every direction from the mountains and furnish 

 enough water for the irrigation of very extensive tracts. 

 In the course of time, when provision shall have been 

 made for the impounding of all of the flood-waters, the 

 areas thus reclaimed will be much greater than at 

 present. It has been estimated that there is a sufficient 

 water-supply to reclaim about 12,000,000 acres, only 

 about one-fourth of which is now under canals. 



Wyoming extends some 355 miles from east to west, 

 and 276 from north to south, embracing something more 

 than 97,000 square miles. It lies in the very heart of 

 the Rocky Mountains, three great river systems, the 

 Missouri, the Columbia, and the Colorado arising within 

 its boundaries. As would be expected, there is great 

 diversity of climate, soil and vegetation (indigenous and 

 introduced). There are protected valleys, bench-lands, 

 and fertile foothills; semi-arid plains, bleak plateaus, 

 and saline deserts; forested slopes and snow-capped 

 mountains. These are further diversified by marsh- 

 lands in the valleys and occasional alkali ponds on the 

 plains, and splendid fresh-water lakes in the mountains, 

 thus preventing even a semblance of monotony in the 

 geographical configuration. A physical environment so 

 complicated readily accounts for the fact that 

 Wyoming's native flora is far richer in the number of 

 species than any of the other states, except possibly 

 two or three of the other and larger mountainous ones, 

 notably California and Colorado. The mean annual 

 temperature varies from less than 40F. to about 50. 



