CROP YIELDS AND PRICES 



103 



decrease in yield per acre of corn and attribute this decrease to 

 soil exhaustion in the older states. 



The only fair way of making a comparison is to consider the 

 same region for each census period. Table 2 shows a comparison 

 for the most important crops in states east of the Mississippi 

 River. In this region the best crops of corn, wheat, potatoes, and 

 hay ever produced were in 1909. The best yields of oats and 

 cotton were in the year 1899, with 1909 second. 



TABLE 2. CROP YIELDS PER ACRE IN STATES EAST OF THE 

 MISSISSIPPI RIVER, FROM THE CENSUS REPORTS 



Crop 



1879 



1889 



1899 



1909 



Corn (bushels) . . . 

 Wheat (bushels) . . 

 Oats (bushels) . . . 

 Potatoes (bushels) . . 

 Hay and forage (tons) 

 Cotton (bales) . . . 



25.6 

 14.1 



24.2 



1.08 

 0-37 



25.6 

 14-3 

 27-5 

 81.6 

 1.24 

 0-35 



27.2 

 1 1.9 

 32.6 

 90.7 

 1. 17 

 0-39 



28.0 

 158 



29-5 

 108.4 

 1.29 

 0-39 



A still more accurate comparison is shown in Table 3. The 

 states east of the Mississippi River are here grouped in five 

 divisions and those west of the Mississippi in four divisions. . . . 



A better method of comparing yields is on the basis of the 

 reports by the Bureau of Statistics. The census figures are more 

 accurate, but the census is taken only once in ten years. The 

 crops vary from year to year, chiefly because of variation in rain- 

 fall. The census figures are therefore dependent on whether the 

 year is one of good or poor crops. 



The estimates published by the Bureau of Statistics are avail- . 

 able for every year since 1866. At the present time these esti- 

 mates are based on reports from every county in the United States 

 that is of any agricultural importance. There are approximately 

 32,000 persons who send in crop reports. The yields per acre of 

 the important crops are estimated with a fair degree of accuracy. 

 The yield per acre of the corn crop of 1909 was 2 per cent less 

 than that indicated by the census report ; that of cotton was 3 per 

 cent less. The estimated yield per acre of wheat was 2 per cent 

 too high, for oats 6 per cent, and for potatoes i per cent too high. 



