Omaha daily bee., 1893-09-17

a fact OF tremendous significance
brought out by this table, aud probably
the most significant phase of current
economic conditions, is hat in the five
years ending with 1879 tho cultivated
area OF the United States increased bv
oz,ooo,UOO acres, the annual addition
averaging 10, $50, 600 acres: whereas the
additions made during the last four
years average ABOUT 800, 900 acres a year,
being less than q twenty-first part of
those OF the earlier period.
words could not so clearly show the
exhaustion of the arabic lands as does
this simple numerical statement. espe-
clally when taken in connection with the
TACT that the ratio of would-be farmers
to the total population is no less now
IMAM hfteen years since, when the addi-
Iions TO the cultivated area in any one of
hVe years was greater than would ac-
crue in twenty-one years at the present
rate of increase.
mat the proportion of the population
seeking farms is as great now as fifteen
years since Is shown by the aviditv with
which each remnant of an Indian reser-
WALTON is seized and the tenacity with
which their occupants hold to the sterile
lands OF the semi-arid plains.
During the twenty-eight years tabu-
lated above the population of the United
States increased 90 per cent, and the
area under grain, hay, cotton, tobac co
ana potatoes. the staples dealt with in
the reports of the Departmental Agricul-
ture, increased 154 per cent. One re-
suit OF this disproportionate increase
has, since 1876, been a constantly de-
scendlng scale of prices, the gradual
1mpoverishment OF the agricultural
class. and the destruction, in great
part, OF their power to purchase of the
products Of others.
In the North Atlantic states, Mary
land to Maine, the area under STABLES
expanded but little between the close of
the civil war and 1874, although farm
products then brought the highest
prices we have ever known. This shows
that high prices do not, necessarily,
agricultural production, es-
peclally when concurrent with great
general prosperity and a demand for
Between 1874 and 1879, and imme-
diately after the panic of 1873, but not
necessarily connected Herewith, al
though many people were then thrown
out OF employment in the towns, came
an era OF agricultural expansion in the
seabord states, and in five years the
area under staples here augmented by
a fourth and reached its maximum.
The added acres were probably largely
used to increase the output of dairy
products, an industry then rapidly eX-
pandlng in this region. All the acrearc
gains made between 1874 and 1879 were
not held, however; and while thee is no
probability that 1000, 900 acres have
since zone out of production in these
United States, as the figures seem to in
dictate, they have no doubt been diverted
to pasture-probabIy in ~rotation-and to
such minor products as the fruits and
vegetables required by the immense
population here centcring in the towns.
Whatever the cause of the decrease of
the area under staple crops, it is appar-
ent that no material additions to the
area under grain can be looked for in
this section; the probabilities being that
grain fields will continue to give place
to meadows, pastures, orchards and gar
dens.
This conclusion is in perfect harmony
with the findings of the census, which
that the area under all cereals de-
cllned from III 500, 900 acres in 1879 to
II, 900, OoO In 1883, a net decrease of
| 200, 900 acres.
The Lake States.
The cultivated area Of the lake states
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and
Wisconsin, increased rapidly and con
iD'c w low. FOH lSlD |
to 1889 the increase was comparativelv
small; and the %diminution of the area
since 1889 would indicate so com
plete an occupancy of the arabic lands
to necessitate the conversion of grain
nelds to other products for which the
demand was more urgent, and that no
increase of the area devoted to staples,
than hay, can be expected in this
group. Indeed, the diversion of the
cereal area that has been in progress
these states since 1879 may be ex-
TO continue and increase, as the
new lands being reduced to cultivation
10 not equal the added requirements for
hay, and the secretary of the State
Board of Agriculture of the foremost
agricultural state of the union SAYS
hat:
LAS to The increase in the area in pas
not being commensurate with the
in the principal crops, can
'nly say that pasturage, not being a har-