March 1895.] 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 



295 



YIIL—REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 

 The United States Harvest of 1894. 



The December, 1894, Report of the Statistician of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture of the United States contains the 

 final estimate of the acreage and yield of the principal crops of 

 1894. 



The total area, and production of the cereals, potatoes, and 

 hay are shown below : — 



1 Crop. 



Area. 



Production. 



1894. 



1893. 



1894. 



1893. 





Acres. 



Acres. 



Bushels. 



Bushels. 



Maize 



62,582,269 



72,036,465 



1,212,770,052 



1,619,496,131 



Wheat - 



34,882,436 



34,629,418 



460,267,416 



396,131,725 



Oats 



27,023,553 



27,273,033 



662,036,928 



638,854,850 



Rye 



1,944,780 



2,038,485 



26,727,615 



26,555,446 



Barley - 



3,170,602 



3,220,371 



61,400,465 



60,869,485 



Buckwheat 



789,232 



815,614 



12,668,200 



12.132,311 



Potatoes - 



2,737,973 



2,605,186 



170,787,338 



183,034,203 







Tons. 



Tons. 



Haj 



48,321,272 



49,613,469 



54,874,408 



65,766,158 



As regards maize, the area planted was, in round numbers, 

 76 million acres, but severe drought and devastating winds are 

 stated to have reduced the acreage harvested for its grain value 

 from 76 million acres to 62,582,000 acres. Over 13,500,000 

 acres of this grain were cut for fodder. 



The area under wheat has slightly increased, so that the 

 reduction shown in the acreage of 1893 is not continued. The 

 Statistician remarks that, in view of the extraordinary fall in 

 the price of wheat, it is not surprising that correspondents of 

 the Department should have exaggerated the tendency to reduce 

 the area under this grain, the seeming imperiousness of the 

 reason for doing so leading them to under-estimate the strength 

 of the countervailing force exerted by fixed habit by the 

 disposition to regard the low prices as a merely temporary 

 phenomenon, and finally by that conservatism which in general 

 is a characteristic of the farmer. 



It will be seen that the hay crop of 1894, as compared with 

 that of the previous year, shows a reduction of 1,292,000 acres. 

 The principal cause of this decline was drought, though in some 

 localities there were other contributing causes. 



For fruits, the season of 1894 was a poor one, especially for 

 the larger varieties. 



