PRINCIPLES OF VALUE AND PRICE 443 



138. PRODUCTION AND POPULATION 1 

 BY VICTOR H. OLMSTED 



Frequent assertions that the fertility of the soils is washing into 

 the streams and that the productivity of cultivated land is diminishing 

 are misleading the public into the belief that the agriculture of this 

 country is decadent. The real situation cannot be understood until 

 it is examined historically. 



From the ten-year period from 1866-1875 to that of 1876-1885 

 the production of corn per acre in the United States declined 2 . 3 per 

 cent, and the only states in which there was a gain were Maine, 

 Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, Nebraska, and California. 

 From 1876-1885 to 1886-1895 the list of gaining states was increased 

 by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, New 

 Mexico, and Idaho, while Delaware, Maryland, and Nebraska were 

 transferred from a gaining to a losing production. The decline of 

 production per acre for the United States was 8 . 2 per cent. Advan- 

 cing another decade to 1896-1905, corn production per acre gained 

 in 30 of the 46 states and territories, and the United States average 

 increased 7.7 per cent, in spite of the disastrous season of 1901. 

 The mean production per acre during the four years 1906-1909 

 increased 7 . i per cent over the mean of the preceding ten years. 



Wheat has been disposed to increase in production more generally 

 than corn. From 1866-1875 to 1876-1885 the mean per acre increased 

 in 12 states, and the increase for the United States was 3.4 per cent. 

 In the next decade the mean production per acre increased in 24 out 

 of 41 states and territories, and the gain for the United States was 

 3.3 per cent. In the decade 1896-1905, 35 out of 44 states and 

 territories showed a gain, while the increase for the whole United 

 States was 6.3 per cent over that of the previous ten years. The 

 mean of the four years 1906-1909 shows a gain of 9 . 6 per cent over 

 that of the decade preceding. 



Tobacco production increased 3.4 per cent in the first decade, 

 followed by a decline of 2 per cent, an increase of 5 . 2 per cent, and 

 (for the final four-year period) of 9 . 7 per cent. 



During two of the four years 1906-1909, the cotton production 

 per acre was light because of adverse conditions and the boll weevil, 



1 Adapted from Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, 1910, pp. 1826. 



