JuiT 24, 1914] SCIENCE 



1909 second. In the East South Central states 

 1889 is first with 1909 second. 



The Oorn Crop. — The highest yield per 

 acre of com reported by the census for 

 Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, is for 1909. The total 

 for all states east of the Mississippi Eirer 

 gives 1909 as the highest yield, but in some of 

 the groups of states there have been better 

 yields. The fact of a lower yield for the entire 

 country in 1909 is not, therefore, as is com- 

 monly stated, due to a decrease in yields in 

 the older states. 



Wheat. — The highest yield of wheat re- 

 ported in any census year is for the year 1909, 

 with an average of 15.4 bushels. The nearest 

 competition was the year 1889, when the yield 

 was 14 bushels. The year 1909 is the best 

 year ever reported in each of the groups of 

 states except in the West South Central. 



Oats. — ^In the New England, Middle Atlan- 

 tic and East North Central states, the best oat 

 yield reported by the census is for 1899. Eor 

 the southern states east of the Mississippi, the 

 best year reported was 1909. 



Hay and Forage. — The highest yield per 

 acre of hay and forage ever reported is for the 

 year 1909. As stated above, this figure should 

 not be given too much weight, because shifts in 

 acreage of the diiierent kinds of crops in this 

 collective group might affect the result. 



Potatoes. — The highest yield per acre of 

 potatoes ever reported by the census is the 

 last report. This is true for each of the 

 groups of states east of the Mississippi River. 

 The only groups that show a decrease are the 

 West North Central and West South Central. 



Cotton. — The old South Atlantic states re- 

 ported by far their best cotton crop for the 

 year 1909. The best report from the East South 

 central states is for 1899. The cotton yield 

 per acre for the entire United States was low- 

 er in 1909 than in any other census year, 

 but this is in spite of high yields in the old 

 Atlantic states. The area of cotton in the 

 United States increased nearly one third in 

 the ten years. This increase was. mostly due 

 to extending the crop on arid lands and on 

 other lands that were considered too poor to 

 farm ten years before. The West South Central 



125 



states, where most of the new arid land has 

 been added, have shown a steady decrease in 

 yield. Oklahoma increased its area by 190 

 per cent., but production increased only 146 

 per cent. Low yields in Oklahoma should not 

 be charged to soil exhaustion in Georgia. The 

 poor results in Texas and some of the other 

 neighboring states are also partly due to the 

 boll weevil as well as to season and soil. 



Considering the above five different regions 

 east of the Mississippi River and the six im- 

 portant crops, corn, wheat, oats, hay and 

 forage, cotton and potah;oes, we find the 

 following : 



Number of instances of first rank in crop 

 yield : 



1879 1889 1899 1909 



3 5 19 



These figures show very strikingly the gen- 

 eral increase in crops in later years in these 

 older states. 



For the West North Central and West South 

 Central groups, there is only one instance in 

 which the 1909 yield is the best. In these 

 states there appears to be a general decrease 

 in production. This difference is primarily 

 due to the bringing in of arid land that was 

 not formerly used. The Mountain and Pacific 

 states show a general increase in yields. 



EEPORTS BY THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS 



A better method of comparing crop yields 

 is on the basis of the reports by the Bureau of 

 Statistics because these yields are secured for 

 every year. The amount of rainfall in any 

 particular year makes the figure for a single 

 year inconclusive. 



As has been previously shown, the Bureau 

 of Statistics estimates the yields of the im- 

 portant crops with a fair degree of accuracy. 

 The yield per acre of corn for 1909 was esti- 

 mated at 2 per cent, less than the census 

 results. The yield per acre of wheat was 2 

 per cent., oats were 6 per cent, and potatoes 

 1 per cent, higher than census returns. 



Eig. 1 shows the comparative yields of com, 

 wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, potatoes 

 and hay in states east of the Mississippi 



