CHESTNUT BLIGHT IS UNCHECKED 207 
of oats decreased less than 1 per cent. Oats made up 10.2 per cent 
of the harvested crop acreage in 1919, the percentage increasing 
slightly during the five years. 
The acreage of hay was affected in a peculiar way by the radical 
changes that occurred during this census peritdd. In the eastern and 
central portions of the country, where there was considerable aban- 
donment of farm land, and for the most part a decrease in the pro- 
portion of farm land:in harvested crops, the acreage of hay actually 
increased. This is to be accounted for largely by the fact that when 
farm land is abandoned so far as cultivated crops are concerned, 
there is already considerable acreage of hay and in most cases some 
new seeding which next hee is added to the hay acreage. The in- 
crease in the acreage of this crop is therefore to be interpreted 
mainly as a result of a change toward less intensive utilization of the 
land. In some of the Western States the increase is due in part, to 
the increasing importance of livestock in the local farming. 
Changes in Cotton Acreage 
Cotton acreage decreased in all the States from South Carolina to 
Louisiana except Alabama. The increase in Alabama is interpreted 
us a revival of agriculture after the panic caused by the advent of 
the boll weevil. The decrease in Georgia, South Carolina, and 
Florida was very large. Only in Georgia, however, did the relative 
importance of cotton decline during the period. 
Along the northern border of the Cotton Belt, and particularly in 
the West, there was a phenomenal increase in cotton acreage. Texas, 
which in 1919 had the lion’s share of the crop, increased the acreage 
during the period 44.5 per cent. For the country as a whole there 
was an increase of 16.2 per cent. 
These increases were the result of the high prices for cotton that 
prevailed during most of the war years and for some years after- 
wards. The increase appears to have gone too far, for at the present 
time the situation of the cotton grower is critical because of low 
rices. 
° Further changes in type of farming are required to balance the 
agriculture of many sections. We now have a surplus of all the 
major crops. Cotton, hay, and oats are in the worst position. 
W. J. SPrIttMan. 
HESTNUT Of the numerous foreign plant diseases which 
Blight is have gained entrance into this country, none has 
Unchecked been more destructive than the chestnut blight, a 
fungous disease from Asia. In the last 25 years 
millions of acres of chestnut growth have been killed by the blight 
and the remaining American chestnuts in the East face certain 
destruction. : 
The chestnut-orchard industry of the New England and the Middle 
Atlantic States has been practically destroyed by the blight and 
there remain only rare trees of the American and European chestnuts 
or their hybrids and a small percentage of the more resistant Japan- 
ese chestnuts. Unfortunately the killing of the chestnut forest 
growth and orchards does not result in the self-extermination of 
the disease, as many of the roots of the killed chestnuts remain alive 
