2 Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture^ 1921. 



smaUer number of farm laborers, probably less than 4 per cent of the 

 farmers and fann laborers of the world, produce nearly 70 per cent 

 of the world's corn, 60 per cent of the world's cotton, 50 per cent of the 

 world's tobacco, about 25 per cent of the world's oats and hay, 20 

 per cent of the world's wheat and flaxseed, 13 per cent of the world's 

 barley, 7 per cent of the world's potatoes, and 5 per cent of the 

 world's sugar, but only about 2 per cent of the world's rye and rice. 

 Totaling the cereals on the basis of tons, and estimating the produc- 

 tion of China as somewhat larger than that of India, it appears that 

 the United States produces about one-fourth of the world's cereal 

 crops. The average production of cereals per person engaged in 

 agriculture in the United States is 12 tons, while for the rest of the 

 world it is only about 1.4 tons. 



Nevertheless, the agricultural production of the United States is no 

 longer keeping pace with our increasing population. The peak of 

 production per capita of the total population was reached about 

 1906 or 1907, and although the decrease in per capita production since 

 has been very slow and is yet very small, it is clearly apparent. This 

 failure of agricultural production to increase as rapidly as popula- 

 tion is not due primarily to the decrease in the proportion of our 

 population engaged in agriculture from over 13 per cent in 1910 to 

 about 10 per cent in 1920, according to the census returns ^ for the 

 acreage of crops per person engaged in agriculture was, apparently, 

 25 per cent greater in 1920 than in 1910 ; but, instead, is owing mostly 

 to a notable decrease in the rate of expansion of our arable area. 

 Improved land increased only 5 per cent from 1910 to 1920, as com- 

 pared with 15 to 50 per cent in previous decades, and this 5 per cent 

 increase was practically confined to the precariously productive 

 semi-arid lands of the Great Plains region. The land in the United 

 States suitable for agricultural use without irrigation, drainage, or 

 heavy fertilization is nearly all occupied. Consequently, one of the 

 great questions before the American people is how to maintain the 

 supply of foods and fibers for the increasing population at that 

 high level to which we are accustomed, — should we cultivate the pres- 

 ent area of arable land more intensively, or, like England, depend 

 upon imports from foreign countries, or should the Nation embark 

 upon extensive projects of reclamation? 



The first part of this Graphic Summary of American Agriculture, 

 therefore, is devoted to a series of maps visualizing in a very gen- 

 eralized way the agricultural regions of the United States, and the 



1 Howevev, as the 1920 census was taken January 1 and the 1910 census was taken 

 April 15, it appears likely that a large number of farm laborers were missed by the 

 enumeiators in 1920. Making allowance for this discrepancy, it seems probable that the 

 acres of crops per person engaged in agriculture increased at least one-sixth between 1910 

 and 1920, and the production even more. 



I 



