The area of improved land in farms has increased nearly thirty-fold in
fifty years, but has not kept pace with population. This table shows
the details:
=============+=================================+=======================
| Acres improved. | Acres per inhabitant.
+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+-------
| 1900. | 1890. | 1850. | 1900. | 1890. | 1850.
+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+-------
| | | | | |
Arkansas | 6,953,735| 5,475,043| 781,530| 5.3 | 4.8 | 3.7
California | 11,958,837| 12,222,839| 32,454| 8.0 | 10.1 | 0.35
Colorado | 2,273,968| 1,823,520| | 4.2 | 4.4 |
Idaho | 1,413,118| 606,362| | 8.7 | 7.0 |
Iowa | 29,897,552| 25,428,899| 824,682| 13.3 | 13.3 | 4.2
Kansas | 25,040,550| 22,303,301| | 17.0 | 15.6 |
Louisiana | 4,666,532| 3,774,668|1,590,025| 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.0
Minnesota | 18,442,585| 11,127,953| 5,035| 16.2 | 8.5 | 0.83
Missouri | 22,900,043| 19,792,313|2,938,425| 7.3 | 7.3 | 4.3
Montana | 1,736,701| 915,517| | 7.1 | 6.8 |
Nebraska | 18,432,595| 15,247,705| | 17.3 | 14.4 |
Nevada | 572,948| 723,052| | 13.2 | 15.8 |
North Dakota | 9,644,520| 4,658,015| | 30.2 | 26.0 |
Oregon | 3,328,308| 3,516,000| 132,857| 8.0 | 11.2 | 9.0
South Dakota | 11,285,983| 6,959,293| | 28.1 | 21.1 |
Texas | 19,576,076| 20,746,215| 643,976| 6.4 | 9.2 | 3.0
Utah | 1,032,117| 548,223| 16,333| 3.7 | 2.1 | 1.4
Washington | 3,465,960| 1,820,832| | 6.6 | 5.2 |
Wyoming | 792,332| 476,831| | 8.5 | 7.8 |
Alaska | 159| | | | |
Arizona | 227,739| 104,128| | 1.8 | 1.7 |
Indian | | | | | |
Territory | 3,062,193| | | 7.8 | |
New Mexico | 326,873| 263,106| 166,201| 1.7 | 1.7 |
Oklahoma | 5,511,994| 563,728| | 13.8 | 9.0 |
+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+-------
Total |202,543,416|159,097,543|7,131,518| 9.6 | 9.5 | 3.56
-------------+-----------+-----------+---------+-------+-------+-------
The new farms opened since 1850 are nearly equal in the aggregate to
the land area of the original thirteen states. The new farms opened
between 1890 and 1900 are more than the combined land areas of the
states of Tennessee and West Virginia. North Dakota, with a little
over 300,000 population, has more land by 1,500,000 acres under farms
than has all New England with 5,600,000 people. The average number of
improved acres per inhabitant more than doubled in the West between
1850 and 1890 and showed in 1900 a slight increase over 1890. In the
older agricultural states it is steadily decreasing. Thus, in New
England it fell from 4 acres in 1850 to 1.4 acres in 1900; New York
from 4 to 2.1 in the same interval. The Ohio valley states have held
up steadier. Ohio has decreased from 4.9 to 4.6, and Illinois from 5.9
to 5.7. Indiana has increased from 5.1 to 6.6.
The West has 2,056,748 farms compared with 1,491,405 in 1890, and
119,510 in 1850. Texas, with 352,190, leads the Union, and Missouri,
with 284,886, holds second place. Iowa has 37,000 more farms than all
the New England states combined. While the West has not quite half the
improved acreage of the country, it has 63 per cent of the unimproved
acreage or 269,000,000 acres out of 426,400,000 acres. Farms average
in size from 93.1 acres in Arkansas to 885.9 acres in Montana, 1,174.7
acres in Nevada, and 1,333 acres in Wyoming, where stock raising
predominates and requires large ranges. The average for the West is
229.1 acres against 146.6 acres for the Union.
The proportion of the total land area in farms ranges from 3.7 per
cent in Nevada to 97.4 per cent in Iowa. Kansas has 79.7, Missouri
77.3, Texas 74.9, Oklahoma 63, Nebraska 60.8, and Minnesota 51.8. No
other State has 50 per cent. In the Rocky Mountains and Pacific states
the average, considering the capabilities of the soil, is surprisingly
low. California reports 28.9, Washington 19.9, Oregon 16.6, Wyoming
13, Montana 12.7, Utah 7.8, and Idaho 5.9. Iowa leads the Nation in
this respect, followed by Indiana with 94.1, Ohio with 93.9, and
Illinois with 91.5. It is from these four states, whose areas are so
largely taken up and whose land values are high, that the extreme West
is seeking by reason of its cheap lands and equable climate, to draw
its new population. East of the Mississippi River the percentage
ranges in New England from 32.9 in Maine to 80.8 in Vermont. Along the
Atlantic coast the average is from 59 per cent in New Jersey to 85 per
cent in Delaware. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois have already been shown
in comparison with Iowa. Kentucky has 85.9, Tennessee 76.1, Wisconsin
57, and Michigan 47.8. Florida with 12.6 and the District of Columbia
with 22.1 are the only percentages reported from east of the
Mississippi River, that look like western figures. Values follow:
=================+=================+================+============
Total farm | The Union. | The West. | Per cent
values. | | | in West.
-----------------+ ----------------+--------------- +------------
1900 | $20,514,001,838 | $9,155,558,744 | 44.1
1890 | 15,982,267,689 | 5,872,085,782 | 36.7
1850 | 3,967,343,580 | 276,464,837 | 6.9
| | |
Value of farm | | |
products. | | |
| | |
1900 | 4,739,118,752 | 2,050,766,616 | 43.2
1890 | 2,460,197,454 | 920,823,920 | 37.4
1870[38] | 2,447,538,658 | 499,092,093 | 20.3
-----------------+-----------------+----------------+------------
Productions in quantity of principal crops in the West in 1890 and
1850 and percentages of the total for those years are thus shown:
===================+==============+==============+===========+=========
| | | Per cent | Per cent
Product. | Yield, 1900. | Yield, 1850. | of total, |of total,
| | | 1900. | 1850.
-------------------+--------------+--------------+-----------+---------
Wheat, bushels | 431,963,900 | 5,288,868 | 65.5 | 5.2
Corn, bushels |1,363,983,943 | 70,467,713 | 51.1 | 11.9
Barley, bushels | 93,767,657 | 47,709 | 78.2 | .92
Buckwheat, bushels | 312,456 | 77,341 | 2.7 | .86
Oats, bushels | 454,460,412 | 7,849,962 | 48.1 | 5.3
Rye, bushels | 7,705,068 | 76,255 | 30.1 | .53
+--------------+--------------+-----------+---------
Total grain, | | | |
bushels |2,352,193,536 | 83,807,848 | 53.1 | 9.6
+==============+==============+===========+=========
United States, | + + +
bushels |4,424,800,923 | 867,453,967 | ---- | ----
Butter,[B] pounds | 390,810,814 | 15,184,444 | 36.4 | 4.8
Cheese,[39] pounds | 7,609,331 | 614,732 | 46.4 | .58
Wool, pounds | 193,516,806 | 2,500,885 | 69.8 | 4.7
Flax seed, bushels | 19,791,647 | 16,010 | 99.0 | .28
Hay, tons | 44,799,194 | 253,297 | 53.3 | 1.8
Potatoes, bushels | 87,288,453 | 1,764,969 | 31.9 | 2.6
Hops, pounds | 31,673,821 | 12,719 | 64.3 | 7.1
-------------------+--------------+--------------+-----------+---------
The West leads the East in flocks and herds, viz:
===================+=========================+========================
| The Union-- | The West--
+------------+------------+------------+-----------
| 1900. | 1850. | 1900. | 1850.
+------------+------------+------------+-----------
Dairy cows | 17,139,674 | 6,385,094 | 7,011,333 | 722,221
Other meat cattle | 50,682,662 | 11,393,813 | 35,585,356 | 1,756,059
Mules and asses | 3,366,724 | 559,331 | 1,655,654 | 122,371
Horses | 18,280,007 | 4,336,719 | 10,063,260 | 528,459
Sheep | 39,937,573 | 21,723,220 | 26,940,389 | 1,628,159
Lambs | 21,668,238 | ---- | 13,632,117 | ----
Swine | 62,876,108 | 30,354,213 | 32,274,381 | 4,193,895
+------------+------------+------------+-----------
Total |213,950,986 | 74,752,390 |127,162,490 | 8,951,164
Per cent | | | 59.4 | 11.9
-------------------+------------+------------+------------+-----------