Decembee 9, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



829 



production. The average prices for the last 

 five years, including 1910, have been 10 cents 

 a pound and a little better. It seems to be 

 required that the average price of the crop, 

 aU types and grades included, shall not decline 

 if this crop is to maintain its increasing pro- 

 duction. 



Barley this year has hardly maintained the 

 average production of the preceding five years, 

 the production of this year being 158,138,000 

 bushels, as compared with the five-year average 

 of 161,240,000. This year's crop, however, has 

 been exceeded only three times, in 1909, 1908 

 and 1906. In point of value the crop of 1910 

 has been exceeded only in 1907, and the value 

 of this year is 16 per cent, above the average 

 of the previous five years. The price of barley 

 suddenly increased about 60 per cent., to 66.6 

 cents in 1907, after which it declined to about 

 55 cents a bushel in 1908 and 1909, but a 

 higher price than this is indicated for the crop 

 of this year. In relative geographic redis- 

 tribution of the barley crop since 1889, the 

 share of the North Atlantic states has de- 

 clined from 12.2 to 2 per cent., while the share 

 of the north central division of states has in- 

 creased from 60.3 to 62.8 per cent, and that 

 of the western states from 26.9 to 34.4 per 

 cent. 



Flaxseed follows barley in order of impor- 

 tance of value of crop. At this writing the 

 indication is that the value of the flaxseed pro- 

 duction of this year will be about $33,000,000, 

 , which would be the record amount were it not 

 for the greater value of the crop of 1909. 

 Compared with the previous five years, the 

 value of this year's crop is 13 per cent, greater. 

 While the value of this year's crop remains 

 near the top, the production is far below that 

 of recent years, the preliminary estimate being 

 15,050,000 bushels. The low production and 

 high value of the flaxseed crop are reconciled 

 in the high price of flaxseed per bushel begin- 

 ning early in this year. The November 1 

 price at the farm in 1908 was $1.08 ; in 1909, 

 same month, $1.40, and in 1910, same month, 

 $2.29. 



Next in order of value is the rye crop, the 

 32,088,000 bushels being worth at the farm 

 about $23,000,000. This crop is constant in 



production and varied little in value in recent 

 years. A larger share of the national crop is 

 now produced in the North Atlantic states 

 than in 1889, the increase being from 28.4 to 

 33.9 per cent. During this time the north 

 central states have declined in their share 

 from 63.2 to 57 per cent. 



Eice production in 1910 remains substan- 

 tially at the figure of 1909, or, say, a little 

 over 1,000,000,000 pounds of rough rice. No 

 year previous to 1909 produced as large a 

 crop; it exceeds the average of the previous 

 five years by 25 per cent. The price of rice, 

 however, has declined, so that the crop of this 

 year is worth hardly $16,000,000, or about the 

 same as the crops of 1906 and 1907. This 

 value has been exceeded in 1908 and 1909, so 

 that the value of this year's crop is about 2 

 per cent, below the five-year average. 



The estimates of persons outside of this 

 department indicate that the hop crop of this 

 year will be 13 per cent, below the average 

 quantity of the preceding five years, and the 

 smallest crop in a dozen years or more. The 

 farm price of hops in 1910 has improved some- 

 what over the average of the previous five 

 years, so that the total value of the crop of 

 this year is 3 per cent, above the five-year 

 average. 



For transportation purposes and as a rough 

 indication of the production of all cereal crops, 

 a statement of the total production of these 

 crops in bushels is interesting. In no previous 

 year has the production of these crops equaled 

 the 5,140,896,000 bushels of the cereals of 1910. 

 The production of this year is 13 per cent, 

 above that of the five-year average, which is 

 about 4A billion bushels. In value, however, 

 the cereals of this year fall below that of 1908 

 and 1909, principally on account of the decline 

 in the farm price of corn. This year's value 

 is $2,710,000,000, or about $230,000,000 below 

 the total for 1909 and $50,000,000 below that 

 of 1908; however, it is 11 per cent, above the 

 five-year average. 



This is the year of highest production for 

 corn, oats, the total of all cereals, and for 

 tobacco. But the only crop that reached its 

 highest value this year is cotton. The list of 

 crops that stand next to the highest, either in 



