The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-08-23
In Round Numbers Amount to
$5,487, 900, 1000.
BIG INCREASE OVER YEAR 1899
Per Capita $59.66. While in Previous
Decade 1t Was $39.46; Inter-
esting Statistics.
ISpecial to The Free Press. I

Inc total value OF the crops Ol
continental United States in 1903
was, in round numbers, $5,4S7OOO,
900 as compared with $2,999, 0OO, 900
in 1899. The increase was thus
$2,48S,OOO,OOO or SO per cent, accord,
ing to a statement issued today by
E. Dana Durand, director of the bu'
reau of the census. In the case OF
some crops (such as maple sugar
and strip and forest products of
farms), it is impossible to secure a
disable figure showing acreage; in
certain other cases (such as or
chard fruits, grapes, tropical fruits
and nuts, the number of trees and
vines of bearing and not of bearing
age is secured in lieu of acreage.
The value of the crops for which
reports of acreage were secured
amounted in 1909 to $4,953, 900, 900,
or nearly nine-tenths of the value
of all crops. At the census in 1900
the corresponding value was $2,721,-
100000, or about the same per cent
of the value of all crops. The total
ports in 1909 was 81 ,293,O00. In
April, 1910, the land in farms in
the United States was reported by
the census as S7S,79S,000 acres, of
which 47S,452,000 acres were i'm
proved. The crops with acreage re-
ports, therefore, occupied 35.4 per
cent of the total land in farms and
65l per cent of the total improved
land. The same crops in 1899 &C.
cupied 2S3,218,000 acres, which was
1873 per cent of all land in farms
and 683 per cent of the improved
land. While the total acreage OF
farms increased 4.S per cent, the
acreage in these crops increased 9.9
percent between 1899 and 1903.
The improved land not occupied by
the crops specified consists chiefly
of land in improved pastures, land
occupied by fruit and nut trees and
vines, for which acreage was not re-
ported, improved land lying fallow,
and land in house yards and barn
yards.
The total value of crops in 1909
was equal to 1886 per capita of
the population of the United States,
while the value per capita in 1899
was $39.46 Chased on the population
of the United States on April Is,
1910, and June l, 1900, respectively.
There were 6,361,502 farms in the
United States in 1910, so that the
value of crops of 1909 was equal to
an average of 1868 per farm, while
the average value of crops per
farm for 1899 was 1928.
increase in Prices.
A large part of the extraordinary
increase in the total value of farm
crops between 1899 and 1909 is at
tributable to higher prices. This
might be inferred from the fact that,
while the acreage of crops with
acreage reports increased only SO
per cent, the value of such crops
increased 80 per cent. 1t also ap-
pears by comparing the percentage
of increase in the quantity of the
various individual crops with the
percentages of increase in the value.
Thus, for all cereals taken together,
the production increased only II per
cent, while the value increased 1913
per cent; for hay and forage the
production increased % per cent
and the value 7O.2 per cent; and
for cotton mot counting cotton
seed the production increased III
per cent and the value 117.3 per
cent. more precise calculation
of the average increase in unit val.
ues of crops has, however, been
made by the census bureau.
For the individual crops for which
both quantity produced and value
were reported at both censuses, the
average value per unit in 1899 was
computed and this was multiplied
into the quantity produced in 1909
thus showing the total value which
would have been reported for each
crop in 1909 if the acreage value
per unit had been the same as ten
years earlier. For certain crops
the values were not reported sepa
rately in 1899, and for certain 9th
CT crops qudutllIcS WSIS uOt IC
ported at either census, but the an
alysis covers nine-tenths of the
crops of the country as measured
by value.
The total reported value of the
crops covered by the computation
in 1899 was 1881, $4,000, and the
total reported value of the same
crops in 1909 was $4,934, 490, 900, ar
increase of 1873 per cent. Had the
prices of 1899 prevailed, however
the value of these crops in 1905
would have amounted to $2,962,358,
900, or an increase of only 10 pei
cent over 1899. The difference be
tween $2,962,358.O 900 and $4,934. 400,
900, or $1,972.132,oOO, represents the
amount added to the value of these
crops in 1909 by reason of increase