56 FIELD CROP PRODUCTION 



to the growing of this crop, will doubtless within a few 

 years be put under the plow. In the United States most 

 of the land adapted to the growing of corn is now being 

 tilled, and if our production is to be increased, it must 

 come through a greater yield per acre. The development 

 of high yielding strains, and the practicing of better meth- 

 ods of culture are the means open to us for greatly 

 increasing our production. 



Corn does not play a very large part in the world's 

 commerce. Only four countries export any considerable 

 amount. These in order of their exportation for 1907 

 to 1911 are : Argentina, 60 millions of bushels, United 

 States, 53 millions of bushels, Roumania, 31 millions of 

 bushels, and Russia, 30 millions of bushels. Argentina, 

 while her total production is small as compared with the 

 United States, exports considerably more than this coun- 

 try. The corn crop of the United States is largely utilized 

 here in the feeding of live stock, and while only a little of 

 it is exported as corn, much more finds its way to foreign 

 markets in the form of pork and beef. Statistics giving 

 the population of the United States and the production 

 of corn by decades since 1850, show that our production 

 has been keeping pace with our increase in population, 

 the per capita production averaging slightly less than 30 

 bushels. While the United States as a whole is the leading 

 corn growing country of the world, this position is due to 

 the corn crop of a few states which comprise what is known 

 as the corn belt. The eight states shown in the table 

 and parts of other states lying adjacent to them form the 

 great corn growing section of the United States and are 

 known as the corn belt states. These seven states pro- 

 duce almost two-thirds of the crop of the United States 

 and almost 50 per cent of the world's corn crop. While 



