Wheat Cultivation in the United States. 37 



It is noteworthy that the increase in acreage in the fore- 

 going statement is due to the extension of the wheat fields in 

 the territory west of the Mississippi river, a process which 

 has been a feature of American agriculture for the past fifteen 

 years. There has been, as Mr. Hyde points out, a 

 " continued westward movement of the centre of production,'' 

 and "a continued tendency towards concentration." This 

 expansion in the west has been accompanied by a contrac- 

 tion in the east, as may be seen from the following comparison 

 of the acreage under wheat in the States, east and west of 

 the Mississippi. 





1889. 



1897. 



Increase. 



Decrease. 



Eastern States 

 Western States 



15,732,098 

 17,847,416 



14,720,600 

 24,744,466 



6,897,050 



1,011,498 



33>579,5i4 



39,465,066 



5,885,552 





In six of the States included in the eastern division, viz. : 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Tennessee, West Virginia, 

 Kentucky, and Michigan, the wheat acreage in iSgy was 

 larger than in the census year. The aggregate increase 

 was, however, only 377,462 acres, against a diminution of 

 1,388,960 acres in the remaining States in this region, leavmg 

 a net decrease of 1,011,498 acres as shown above; but it 

 should be observed that this decrease is accounted for to 

 some extent by the failure of the winter wheat crop in 

 Illinois and Wisconsin, which led to a large proportion of 

 the acreage in these States being ploughed up for other 

 crops. 



The enlargement recorded in the wheat area west ot the 

 Mississippi is due to an increased acreage in every State, with 

 the single exception of Missouri, where there is a decrease of 

 380,000 acres. The States showing the largest increases are 

 Kansas, 1,500,000 acres; Minnesota, 1,200,000 acres; 

 Nebraska, 1,100,000 acres; Oregon and Oklahoma, 500,000 

 acres each ; and Iowa, South Dakota, Washington, and Cali- 

 fornia, 400,000 acres each. 



Of the total area under wheat in the United States, 



