The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-04-09
THE LATE CENSUS AND AGRICULTURE.
Article Contributed to the VAL
ley Spirit by Henry Omwake.

years ago ana the succeeding de
cades will give us an idea Of tn,
agricultural development of oul
country. The wheat product
which in
1850 was 100, 4s5, 943 bushels
1850 was 173, 1O4, g24 bushels.
1870 was PSI, 745, 626 bushels.
1850 was 459, 1873, 137 bushels.
1S9Owas 46s, 373, 96S bushels.
1900 was COS, 534, 255 bushels.
Though our population is now
p times as great as 1t was fifty
years ago, it will be seen from the
above figures that our wheat pro.
duct in 1900 was s! times as great
And while about one. half of this
immense crop Of 1900 was pro-
duced in California, Washington,
Kansas. Minnesota, North Dakota
Nebraska and South Dakota,
states in which there was then no
wheat grown, another fourth now
comes from Illinois, Iowa, Michi-
gan, Missouri, Indiana, Oregon
and Wisconsin, states which fifty
years ago were in the first stage
of development. These facts fur.
nish abundant reason why price
Of wheat is uniformly lower than
it was thirty-tiyeyears ago. With
our population doubled, as it pro
badly will be in thirty years, the
relation between demand and sup
ply may be materially changed
for it is scarcely probable that the
wheat yield Will be increased in
like proportion. Agricultural
scientists talk OF bringing the
wheat yields up to 40 bushels per
acre, but the census crop, though
one Of the largest, was an average
Of only l24 bushels per acre.
The corn crop in 1900 was ..
GGG, $40, 279 bushels, about five
times as6nuch as fifty years ago
OF the >, 666, 44O. 279 bushels,
about five times as much as fifty
years ago Of the 2,6G6,00O now
grown, more than the one half is
produced in five states, namely,
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri
and Nebraska These with lndi-
ana. Ohio, Texas, Kentucky and
Tennessee, produce over 2O3O
million bushels Of corn. Taking
INTO account the entire yield it is
difficult to form a conception of
the immense quantity. To move it
by putting 1000 bushels on each
car would require 2,666, 440 cars,
which if divided into trains of 30
cars each would make SS,SSl
trains, line of corn cars $500
miles long. But only a small por,
tiou is moved in the original form
the greater part goes TO market
in the form of beef and pork,
some as dairy and poultry pro.
duct.
The states above named consti-
tute the principal section of the
agricultural granary of the Uni
ted States. In addition to the
immense corn crop they also pro
duce wheat and oats pretty ex-
tcnsiyely and the aggregate Of all
these products necessarily con
stitutes very substantial source
OF wealth. Surely the ten states
which produce on an average 200
million bushels of corn with the
present high price of beef and
pork, have the evidence Of pros.
perlty well in sight. The i'm
mense corn crop above noted was
produced from 5,9lG,91l acres,
WHICH is an average yield of 2s
bushels.
The yield Of oats as given in
1900 was 9l8,3s9,375 bushels
grown on 29,539, SOS acres, an av.
erage yield Of 30 bushels. OF this
crop Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin
and Minnesota produce over the
one-half, or more than the other
forty-two states combined. The
barley crop was 1l9, 1894, ,s77 bush
els, an average of ~ bushels pei
acre, and California, Iowa, Min
nesota and Wisconsin produc,
three-iourths of the entire yield
IL seems somewhat remarkable
that only these four states ar'