A Graphic Simvmary of Amervca/n Agriculture. 3 



topographic, climatic, and soil conditions which determine these 

 regions; also the location and extent of the land available for recla- 

 mation by irrigation, by drainage, and by clearing of forest growth. 

 This first part is concluded by two graphs, one outlining the trend 

 of land utilization in the past, and the other venturing to set limits 

 to the exjDansion of our arable area in the future, (See Figs. 2 to 18.) 



The second part of this study shows the geographic distribution 

 of 50 crops in the United States, according to the census of 1920. 

 For corn, wheat, and cotton both acreage and production are shown ; 

 but for other crops acreage only, since acreage affords a better com- 

 parison than production of the relative importance of the crops in a 

 region. The total area in crops in 1919 was about 370 million acres, 

 an increase of 50 million acres since 1909. This increase of 13 per 

 cent in crop acreage, as compared with 5 per cent in improved land, 

 indicates that patriotic motives, supported by the high prices paid 

 for farm products during the war and for some time afterward, 

 caused the plowing up and planting to crops of much improved 

 pasture. The trend of land utilization in the United States is toward 

 the more intensive use of the more fertile or favorably situated 

 land — ^that is, its use for crops ; and toward the less intensive utiliza- 

 tion of the less fertile or less favorably situated land — ^that is, its 

 use for pasture and forest. (See Figs. 19 to 71.) 



The third part of this article consists of a series of 24 maps 

 showing the geographic distribution of the several kinds of li^e 

 stock, total and purebred only; also of tbe production of butter and 

 cheese, wool and mohair. Fully three-fifths of the crop acreage in 

 the United States is used to produce feed for farm animals, or about 

 225 million acres ; and, in addition, our live stock consume the prod- 

 uct of about 65 million acres of improved pasture, probably of 150 

 million acres of unimproved grassland pasture in farms, and 175 

 million acres of woodland pasture in farms and in our national 

 forests, besides that of perhaps 500 million acres of arid or semi- 

 arid open range land in the West. It seems safe to say that live 

 stock consume two-thirds of the product of the improved land and 

 practically all the product of the unimproved pasture, or fully 80 

 per cent of the total food and feed produced by tame and wild 

 vegetation in the United States. (See Figs. 72 to 96.) 



The last part of this study considers the farm as a whole — the 

 variations in size and value in different portions of the United 

 States; the expenditures for labor, feed, and fertilizer; ownership 

 and tenancy; and. finally, the geographic distribution of country, vil- 

 lage, and city populations. Four small maps also are provided, 

 showing the number of farmers having automobiles, tractors, tele- 

 phones, and running water in the house, as reported by the census 



