BULLETIN L399, U. B. DEPAKTMENT OF AGRK I'LTURE 
Comparing the average areas sown in 1909-1913 to various crops in 
the territories now composing the Republic of Germany with those 
sown in 11)2 1, wheat has fallen off 404,000 acres: rye, 2,188,000 
acres; oats, 817,000 acres; sugar beets, 109,000 acres. On the other 
hand, barley acreage has increased 107,000 acres and potatoes 
45,000 acres. A comparison of official estimates as of December 1, 
1913, with the census of December 1 , 1924, shows a decrease of 1,180,- 
000 in the number of cattle and 5,689,000 in the number of swine. 
This depressed state of German agriculture and, consequently, the 
lessened ability of German farmers to supply from their own liome- 
grown products the food requirements of their own markets is the 
result of a series of complex influences which have affected in varying 
degrees the production of agricultural supplies in the Republic. 
The changes of territory brought about by the terms of the Ver- 
sailles treaty have produced certain permanent effects upon the basic 
relationships of Germany's agriculture to the economic welfare of 
the State. The events of the war and of the years immediately fol- 
lowing have produced other effects, some of which are certainly 
only temporary, being associated with the general economic crisis 
through which all Europe is passing and which has affected Germany 
particularly, intensifying the depressing influences that have so 
greatly Lowered the purchasing power of city dwellers and discouraged 
German farmers, not only on account of unsuitable markets but also 
on account of a series of handicaps that have tended to reduce the 
production of agricultural surpluses nearly to minimum. 
During 1923-24 the general economic status of Germany was 
somewhat improved through the stabilization of the currency by 
means of the renten-mark. At the end of 1924 came the hope of 
the permanent revival of industry through the adoption of the 
Dawes plan. It is probable, beginning with 1925, that German 
industry and German agriculture are entering upon a new era — an 
era of reconstruction. Therefore it is important at this time to 
strike a balance of the situation up to this date to givo a background 
against which to appraise the influence that the revival of German 
industrial and commercial activities and the improvement of Ger- 
many's economic situation will have upon the agriculture 4 of the nation. 
The genera] demand within Germany for food will increase con- 
siderably over the present demand, in keeping with the return of 
German industry toward normal prosperity and a higher purchasing 
power of those engaged in industry and commerce. In an open 
market the German farmer will have somewhat the advantage of 
the farmers in foreign countries thai are competing with him. because 
of his nearness to the demand centers of his own markets. Bui this 
advantage of nearness to markets alone is not sufficient to place 
German agriculture on a plane of prosperity comparable with the 
enviable position it occupied before the war, because the methods 
that the (lerman farmer must employ to force production from 
bos inferior soils are too expensive to admit of his successfully 
competing with the farmers of the Argentine or the Black Sea coun- 
tries or perhaps even with North America, handicapped though the 
latter are by long ocean transportation. Before (he war the German 
farmer was able to compete successfully with farmers oi other lands, 
largely because German agriculture was protected by a tariff adopted 
as a means of national defense. 
