GEOGRAPHICAL PHASES OF FARM PRICES*. OATS. 13 
TREND OF YIELDS TO THE ACRE. 
Yields in bushels to the acre must be taken into consideration as a 
qualifier of price advantage or disadvantage. The trend of yields, 
by States and geographic divisions, is shown in Table 6. 
Increases in }^ield are general. It is only in the West North Central 
States, the western part of the great surplus-producing section, that 
diminishing yields appear. In this section large areas have been 
added to the cultivated land between 1875 and 1915, and the average 
yields of 1915 include areas not included in 1875. The most pro- 
nounced increases in yields per acre are seen in the Mountain and 
Southern States, offsetting declining price advantages in those 
sections. 
TREND OF VALUES TO THE ACRE. 
Prices and average yields have been correlated in Table 7 to show 
average values to the acre. For the period under review, values have 
increased in nearly all States and sections, but in varying ratios. The 
most pronounced improvement in this respect is seen in the Southern 
States. The average for the United States shows an increase, but 
declines are shown in the States of the industrial East and the far 
West. 
SECTIONAL CHANGES IN PRODUCTION OF OATS. 
The changes in the location of the chief oat-producing sections 
from 1871 to 1915 and the relation of production to population and 
other factors are indicated in Table 8. 
During the period under review, production has increased fivefold. 
It has been concentrated to an increasing degree in the North Central 
States, which in 1871-1875 grew 60 per cent of the national crop of 
oats, and in 1911-1915, 75 per cent. The most marked relative 
increases during the last decade are shown in the Mountain and 
Southern States, but in relation to the United States total these 
sections are still comparatively unimportant. The three States con- 
stituting the Middle Atlantic section produced nearly one-fourth the 
total in 1871-1875, and in 1911-1915 their proportion dropped to 
about one-fifteenth. 
PRICE VS. COST OF PRODUCTION. 
Difference in costs of production is an independent factor which 
modifies sectional differences in producers' prices of oats. Costs are 
qualified by varying productivity as expressed by yields in bushels 
to the acre. High yields to the acre may reduce high acre-costs to low 
bushel-costs, and conversely. In the Southern States, for instance, 
the favorable combination of highest price and lowest costs to the 
acre is offset by relatively low yields to the acre; hence these States 
show the highest costs per bushel of oats and the minimum net 
returns. 
