4 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to be restored and if European civilization, and, therefore, that of 

 all the world, including our own, was to be preserved. America 

 had again to assist in saving Europe and herself by supplying food, 

 and that in great abundance. It was estimated that Europe would 

 need to import at least 20,000,000 tons of bread grains alone, and that 

 of this quantity 11,000,000 must come from the United States. It 

 was obvious also that she would call for large imports of meats and 

 fats, and that for months, until shipping expanded again, most 

 of these must be obtained from the United States. This burden 

 America was able to assume because of the achievements of her 

 farmers. The full story can not be told; only the outcome can be 

 suggested. 



1919 acre:age:s and yields. 



The farmers of the Nation, in 1919, planted an acreage in leading 

 cereals greater by 33,000,000 than the prewar annual average (1910- 

 1914), which, it is estimated, will yield 635,000,000 bushels more 

 than the prewar average, and increased the number of milch cows 

 over 1914 by 2,700,000, of other cattle by 8,500,000, of swine by 16,- 

 700,000, and of horses and mules by 1,000,000, or a total of 28,900,000. 

 The planting operations for the year began before the fighting 

 ceased. The call was still for more wheat; The Department sug- 

 gested a maximum fall acreage of 47,206,000 acres, an increase of 12 

 per cent over 1918. There was actually planted 49,261,000, the 

 largest acreage in the Nation's history, 6,960,000 acres more than 

 in 1918 and 15,608,000 more than the five-year average, 1910-1914. 

 The spring- wheat acreage was 22,593,000, while the winter and spring 

 plantings combined amounted to 71,854,000 acres, or 7,200,000 more 

 than the preceding record and 19,400,000 more than the prewar 

 average. It is estimated that the yield will exceed that of 1918 by 

 1,000,000 bushels and will be the Nation's second record wheat crop. 

 The estimated corn crop of 2,910,000,000 bushels will be 300,000,000 

 greater than that of 1918 and only slightly less than the high yields 

 of 1915 and 1917. 



If the fighting had continued and the season had been favorable, 

 there is little question that the farmers of the country would have 

 planted an aggregate crop acreage, during the winter and spring, 

 greater than that for any preceding year in the Nation's history. 



