54 American Economic Association [852 



Cereal Cereal 



Acreage, of total Value, of total 



State crop acreage. crop value. 



Per cent Per cent 



Illinois 80.4 77.6 



Iowa 76.3 76.9 



Kansas 72.5 74.2 



Nebraska 79.7 82.3 



Minnesota 74.0 75.9 



North Dakota 71.7 744 



South Dakota 70.2 78.3 



The hay and forage acreage of these seven states, in 

 1899, was 35.6 per cent, of the total hay and forage 

 acreage of the United States 1 and their acreage in 

 cereals and hay and forage was 96.6 per cent, of their 

 own total crop acreage. 2 These seven states constitute, 

 therefore, a region in which the cultivated area is almost 

 wholly devoted to the production of those crops in the 

 cultivation and handling of which farm machinery is 

 most used. Their acreage in the different farm crops, 

 as reported to the Census Office, for the period of 1880- 



1900 was as follows : 



7900 1890 1880 



Cereals 3 .... 82,116,414 . . . 58,522,442 . . . 39,923.160 



Hay and forage* . . . 22,010,381 . . . 19,770,323 . . . 7,998,365 



Tobacco 5 2,587 . . . 4,500 . . . 6,906 



Hops 6 911 ... 46 ... 103 



Cotton 7 153 ... 73 1 



Totals .... 104,130,446 78,298,042 47,928,534 



The average acreage in farm crops, per farm of ten 

 acres and over 8 was, in 1880, 64.4 acres; in 1890, 86.2 



1 Twelfth Census, Agriculture II, p. 215. 



2 The total crop acreage of these seven States in 1899 was IO 8>394>98 

 acres Twelfth Census, Agriculture II, p. 62. 



'Twelfth Census, Agriculture II, p. 63. 

 * Idem, p. 215. 



5 Idem, p. 527. 



6 Idem, p. 540; Eleventh Census, Agriculture II, p. 91 et seq. 



7 Twelfth Census, Agriculture II, p. 424. 



8 Tracts of less than ten acres are excluded as being vegetable, or 

 truck farms, rather than farms for the raising of the crops here con- 

 sidered. For number of farms, see Twelfth Census, Agriculture I, 

 pp. 688 and 690. 



