THE EFFECTIVE USE OF LAND AS SHOWN BY YIELD 17 
from the use of improved methods were known to many, they were 
practiced by few. 
But, improvement had to come, and during the third and fourth 
decades of the century changes were becoming apparent and the use 
of improved methods began to spread in the Kast. Falconer de- 
scribes this period in eastern agriculture as one of soil improvement. 
“It was urged by many that the adoption of the so-called new 
system of husbandry was the most effective way for the Eastern 
States to meet the competition of the West” (J, p. 259). 
On the other hand, the attitude of the Middle West during that 
period was altogether different, as may be illustrated by the follow- 
ing editorial in an issue of the Prairie Farmer published in 1854: 
Anyone who sees the agricultural papers of the Eastern States will be 
struck with one fact concerning them all; and that is, their chief strength is 
expended on matters relating to preparing the soil. The same fact is evident 
in all English agricultural literature; every work relative to the subject, even 
to a book on flowers, is rearly filled with directions for composing the soil, with 
which the beginning is to be made. Manures, how made, how saved, how kept, 
how applied—phosphate, superphosphate, “‘improved” superphosphate, guano, 
composts, and the like, and related things, fill from one-half to nine-tenths 
of their pages. What would they think if they had their soil to start with, 
instead of being obliged to make it? They would then be precisely where we 
are, with our soil made to our hands, ready to be stirred and receive the seed. 
Throughout all the Northwest, with but few exceptions, we have the soil to 
begin with, which these Atlantic shore and English farmers would like to 
make by aid of their manures (J, p. 272). 
But improvement in the Kast went on accompanied by a selective 
process under which lands that probably never should have been 
cropped have been going back to forest and pasture use. During the 
latter half of the century, in many areas, especially in the north- 
eastern quarter of the United States, the results are reflected in the 
trend of crop yields. Development of suitable rotation systems, 
more efficient use of animal manures and crop wastes, employment 
of green manures, liming, commercial fertilizers, development of 
improved varieties of crop plants, and use of selected seed brought 
about a higher level of yields in the areas where these methods came 
into extensive use. Undoubtedly also the reversion of the poorer 
land to pasture and forest, more especially in New England and 
New York, was another factor in causing the higher yields indi- 
cated by the statistics. 
The statistical record of acre-yields for corn, wheat, oats, and po- 
tatoes in the various States shows the marked changes that have 
occurred in the last 40 years.2 Over the greater part of the humid 
portion of the United States during that period the acre-yields of 
corn and wheat especially indicate a consistent upward trend. (Figs. 
7 and 8.) In certain areas, however, owing to the original high 
fertility of the land or, more commonly, to generally poor methods 
of soil management and a continuance of the methods of the preced- 
ing generation through inertia and reluctance to change, even when 
such methods were no longer economically justifiable, yields have 
remained stationary. 
9See Appendix Tables II, III, IV, V, giving the five-year average yield per acre 
for corn, wheat, cats, and potatoes, by States, 1885-1889 to 1920-1924, pages 28 to 30, 
inclusive, 
