THE Oats Supply oy the United Kingdom. 27 



seldom amounted in the aggregate to more than 360,000 qrs., 

 the major part being provided by the first two countries. 



The export trade in oats from Canada to the United 

 Kingdom has been always more or less intermittent in 

 character, and particularly so during the past decade. In 

 1892 Canadian oats figured in our import accounts to the 

 amount of 669,000 qrs., while three years later the quantity 

 credited to the Dominion was a mere trifle of 1,200 qrs. 

 Similar fluctuations — though not so extreme — can be found 

 in earlier years. 



The recent acquisition by the United States of the premier 

 position among our foreign purveyors of oats may justify a 

 few observations on the principal features of the cultivation 

 of the cereal in that country. According to the census of 

 1880, the area under this crop in the United States was then 

 16,000,000 acres, and the production from that acreage 

 50,000,000 qrs. Ten years later the land under oats had 

 increased to 28,321,000 acres, and the production to 

 100,000,000 qrs. For an indication of the progress made 

 since 1890, the last census year, recourse must be had to the 

 estimates of the Department of Agriculture at Washington. 

 These show that the extent of land devoted to oats apparently 

 suffered little diminution until 1897, when the acreage was 

 returned at 25,730,000 acres, and the total yield at 

 85,000,000 qrs. The principal States in which oats are 

 cultivated are Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota, 

 Nebraska, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, New York, and 

 Pennsylvania. I'he average yield per acre for the entire 

 country is about 26 bushels, though in some 3^ears over 

 31 J bus^bels have been obtained. The average farm-price per 

 bushel in 1897 is stated to have been io|d. Rarely has the 

 exportation of oats from the United States exceeded i per 

 cent, of the crop, but in 1896-97 the ratio of exports to pro- 

 duction was over 5 per cent. The total quantity, including 

 oatmeal, sent out of the country in the year just mentioned 

 was over 4,712,000 quarters, of which the United Kingdom 

 took nearly two-thirds, while the greater part of the 

 remainder was shipped to Belgium, France, Germany, and 

 the Netherlands. 



