REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 5 



Forecasts of meat production for 1919, from partial reports of 

 slaughtering, indicate that the record figure of last year 20,250,- 

 000,000 pounds will be exceeded. The total will probably reach 

 21,000,000,000 pounds, as follows : Pork, 12,900,000,000 pounds, com- 

 pared with 11,248,000,000 in 1918 and 8,769,000,000 in 1914; beef, 

 7,500,000,000 as against 8,500,000,000 in 1918 and 6,079,000,000 in 

 1914; and mutton, 600,000,000 pounds as against 537,000,000 in 1918 

 and 739,000,000 in 1914. 



A rough estimate, based upon the number of milch cows and the 

 census average of milk production per cow, indicates that the num- 

 ber of gallons of milk produced in 1919 will aggregate 8,495,000,000, 

 or 57,000,000 more than in 1918 and 1,029,000,000 more than the 

 average for 1910-1914. The figures for poultry and egg produc- 

 tion have not been accurately ascertained, but it is roughly esti- 

 mated, upon the basis of reported increases from one census to an- 

 other, that egg production in 1919 will aggregate 1,957,000,000 dozen, 

 as against 1,921,000,000 in 1918 and 1,774,000,000 in 1914, and that 

 the number of poultry raised on farms will approximate 600,000,000. 



BXPORTS. 



The exports of foodstuffs, enormous during the war, rose greatly 

 between the armistice and midsummer. The annual average exports 

 of important cereals for the five years preceding the war .were 

 162,000,000 bushels. They rose to 517,000,000 in 1915 and aggregated 

 448,000,000 in 1919. Dairy products, of which 25,000,000 pounds 

 were exported on the average during the five-year period before 

 the war, increased in volume to 102,400,000 pounds in 1915, 217,500,- 

 000 in 1916, 352,000,000 in 1917, 592,000,000 in 1918, and 781,000,000 

 in 1919; while the exports of meat and meat products were 1,291,000,- 

 000 pounds for the five-year average before the war, 1,500,000,000 in 

 1915, 1,800,000,000 in 1916, 2,300,000,000 in 1918, and 3,300,000,000 in 

 1919. 



