Decembee 8, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



741 



value, while swine maintaiu their previous 

 position, and are valued at over $283,000,- 

 000. In the aggregate, the value of farm 

 animals of all sorts has increased over that 

 given in the census of 1900 by 9 per cent. 



During the last fiscal year, exported do- 

 mestic farm products were valued at $827,- 

 000,000. This is below the annual average 

 for the five years preceding, and the rela- 

 tive position of farm products in domestic 

 exports is a declining one on account of the 

 gain in exports of manufactures. Never- 

 theless, during the last sixteen years the 

 domestic exports of farm products have 

 amounted to $12,000,000,000, or $1,000,- 

 000,000 more than enough to buy all the 

 railroads of the country at their com- 

 mercial value, and this with the mere sur- 

 plus for which there was no demand at 

 home. During these sixteen years the 

 farmer has secured a balance of $5,635,- 

 000,000 to himself, out of which he has 

 offset an adverse balance of $543,000,000 in 

 the foreign trade in nonagricultural prod- 

 ucts, turning over to the nation, from his 

 account with other nations, $5,092,000,000. 

 The exports of forest products were $63,- 

 000,000. 



Computations based upon census infor- 

 mation show that farm products constitute 

 56.4 per cent, of the total products of the 

 country, and 86.8 per cent, of the total ma- 

 terials of industries utilizing agricultural 

 products as materials. During the last 

 census year farm products employed in 

 manufactures were valued at $2,679,000,- 

 000. These industries employed 2,154,000 

 persons, and had a capital of $4,132,000,- 

 000. 



One of the most notable outgrowths of 

 savings by farmers is the great multiplica- 

 tion of small national banks in recent 

 years. As many as 1,754 banks, each with 

 a capital of less than $50,000, were organ- 

 ized from March, 1900, to October, 1905. 

 These were distributed mostly throughout 



the south and the north central states, in 

 rural regions. In the south 633 of these 

 banks were organized, and in the north 

 central states 792. The capital of these 

 banks has come from the farmers. The in- 

 crease of bank deposits in agricultural 

 states is most extraordinary. The increase 

 during the year which ended June 30, 

 1905, in Iowa and South Dakota was 14.9 

 per cent. ; in Nebraska, 13.5 per cent. ; in 

 Kansas, 9.7 per cent, and in North Dakota 

 25 per cent. During the same time bank 

 deposits in Massachusetts increased 9.1 per 

 cent. But still more remarkable is the 

 bank statement for the south central states. 

 Throughout the whole area of that division 

 the increase was 22.8 per cent., while the 

 general average increase for the United 

 States was but 13.5 per cent. For the first 

 time in the financial history of the South, 

 deposits in the banks of that region now 

 exceed $1,000,000,000. These remarkable 

 increases in bank deposits in agricultural 

 States and the increase in the number of 

 small country banks are directly and in- 

 directly because of the profits that have 

 come to the farmers. 



The department this year undertook, and 

 has just completed, an investigation of the 

 changes in the value per acre of medium 

 farms since the census of 1900. Inquiries 

 were addressed to 45,000 correspondents 

 distributed throughout every agricultural 

 neighborhood in the United States, and re- 

 turns from these correspondents warrant 

 the following statements : 



During the past five years the value of 

 medium farms in this country has in- 

 creased 33.5 per cent, as compared with an 

 increase of 25 per cent, for the ten years 

 preceding. The increase in the south cen- 

 tral group is 40.8 per cent. ; in the western 

 group, 40.2 per cent. ; in the South Atlantic 

 group, 36 per cent. ; in the north central 

 group, 35.3 per cent., and in the North 

 Atlantic group, 13.5 per cent. 



