Foreign Commerce of the United States for 1878. 545 
50 bushels per acre have been obtained. The average yield 
ranges from 20 bushels in a poor crop to 30 bushels in a large 
one ; the average yield for the United States is, however, 
13 bushels and a fraction. 
" The increase of production from 1849 to 1877 in the three 
great divisions is shown in the following table : — 
Sections. 
1849. 
1859. 
1869. 
1877. 
Atlantic Coast 
Central Belt . . 
Trans-3Iississippi 
Total .. 
Bushels. 
51,657,020 
43,522,646 
5,306,278 
Bushels. 
53,294,137 
94,458,609 
25,352,178 
Bushels. 
57,476,371 
140,877,070 
89,392,185 
Bushels. 
64,344,800 
147,890,000 
152,860,000 
100,485,944 
173,104,924 
287,745,626 
365,094,800 
" The wheat crops this year (1878) have given, it is esti- 
mated, 422,593,000 bushels. The average price per bushel of 
wheat in 1877 was 1 dollar 8 cents, market price, and export 
price, 1 dollar .169 cents. 
" The crop of oats in value exceeds that of wheat, standing 
next to maize in quantity of product, and exceeding annually 
100,000,000 dollars in value. Its cultivation has received a 
great impetus in the South, and farmers are learning to take 
advantage of the exigencies of climate, obtaining the principal 
growth in winter and harvesting early, at the same time select- 
ing carefully acclimated and hardy varieties, popularly known 
as rust proof. There is an increase in area this season of one- 
tenth, mostly in the West and South. For 1878 the produce of 
oats was estimated at 411,854,000 bushels." 
In the year 1877, 332,742,864 acres of land were devoted to 
the growth of maize, yielding a product of 1,342,558,000 bushels, 
at a price of about 36 cents per bushel. For 1878 the crops 
were estimated at 1,371,606,000 bushels. 
The yield of barley had increased from 26,295,400 bushels 
in 1870 to 34,441,400 in 1877 ; and an estimated crop for 
1878 of 42,222,000 bushels. The price in 1877 was nearly 
64 cents per bushel. Of this grain California produces about 
a third of the whole crop, New York comes next, and these 
with the States beyond Lake Michigan make up four-fifths of 
the product. 
Of potatoes, the crop in 1870 was 114,775,000 bushels, 
from 1,325,119 acres, valued at 72 cents the bushel ; in 1877, 
170,092,000 bushels, from 1,792,287 acres, valued at 45 cents 
2 O 2 
