THE EFFECTIVE USE OF LAND AS SHOWN BY YIELD 21 
the tendency toward rising acre yields which is shown by the 
statistics for the Northeastern States and for northwestern Europe. 
RELATION OF RISING ACRE-YIELDS TO EXPANSION OF PRODUC- 
TION IN SELECTED REGIONS IN THE UNITED STATES 
The effects of the rising yield per acre of corn, wheat, oats, and 
potatoes in increasing the total production of these crops in the 
northeastern United States is indicated by the index curves shown in 
Figure 9. The data used in preparing this graph are given in 
Table 5. The trend in combined acreage and total production of 
these crops is shown for three selected areas—the Middle Atlantic 
States, comprising New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; the 
East North Central States, comprising Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- 
gan, and Wisconsin; and the northern section of the South Atlantic 
States, comprising Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, 
and North Carolina. 
Taking the first half decade of the 40-year period as a base, the 
following indexes show the changes that have taken place in the 
acreage and production of these crops. 
TABLE 5.—Trend in combined acreage and total production of corn, wheat, oats, 
and potatoes 
[1885-1889=100] 
Middle Atlantic |East North ap Se Northern section of 
South Atlantic 
States States States 
Year SSS 
Total Total Total 
Acreage | produc- | Acreage | produc- | Acreage | produc- 
tion tion tion 
aS ea ee ee ee eee ee 
Per cent | Per cent | Per cent | Per cent | Per cent | Per cent 
TSS5 1880 2s oS eee eg ee 100 100 100 1 100 100 
18 GO =1 8042 ee eee ee ete ee TN RE 92 92 92 89 95 102 
1895—1899 Ssh wn 2 pee ee 89 107 93 104 90 112 
T9OO= 1904s ea 8 oe oe eh ee Sa 96 110 102 118 91 114 
1. GOST OOS ee rae eae eet ir ee tees 93 117 113 140 89 131 
TOT O69 [Aas eet te Pas ei oe Ve ee 88 121 119 150 91 144 
AGUS 19] Oey sso stare eh ores oe Re 1 94 128 122 159 101 171 
ODO GA aoe Nee eee A a Fe 90 131 120 150 87 155 
Tt will be noted that in the two Atlantic regions there has been 
a decrease of about 10 per cent in the acreage in these crops. In 
the East North Central group of States the total acreage in these 
crops during the 40-year period increased 20 per cent. The total 
production of these crops in all three regions, however, has been 
greatly increased. When one considers the decrease in acreage in 
these crops during the half decade 1890-1894, and its effect in 
decreasing production, it can be seen that the rising trend of the total 
volume of production of these crops in all three regions has been 
consistently maintained since the early nineties. 
In the East North Central States, the downward break of the 
total-production curve during the 5-year period 1920-1924 was due 
in part to the-contraction in acreage, but also to the poor wheat 
yields of 1920-1922, inclusive, and the low corn yield of 1924, 
occasioned by the abnormal weather conditions prevailing during 
