56 FIELD CROPS 



Another basis on which the importance of the corn crop 

 in the various states may be judged is by the proportion of 

 the improved farm acreage which is annually planted to it. 

 Figure 15 shows graphically the percentage of this acreage 

 which was planted to corn for the ten years from 1902 to 1911 

 in the ten states of largest production and in the United 

 States. Corn occupied 21.86 per cent of the improved land 

 in the United States, as compared with 10.57 per cent in 

 wheat and 7.13 in oats. In Nebraska, Illinois, and Okla- 

 homa, corn is planted on more than one-third of the improved 

 farm land, while in Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, and 



Fig. 15. The proportion of the improved farm acreage in the leading states 

 and the United States which is annually planted to corn (1902-1911). 



Texas it is grown on more than one-fourth of the improved 

 acreage. These figures are based on the average annual 

 acreage of the various crops as reported by the Bureau of 

 Statistics and on the mean of the acreage of improved land 

 reported by the Census of 1900 and that of 1910. 



61. Acre Yield. The average yield of corn to the acre, 

 even in the best corn states, is seen to be very low in com- 

 parison with known yields in any community. The states 

 showing the highest average yield are those with com- 

 paratively small acreages. The five states showing highest 

 yields are Connecticut, with an average yield of 39.9 bushels; 

 Massachusetts, 38.3 bushels; Maine, 37.3 bushels; Ohio, 36.9 



