from $13,340,000 in 1880 to $30,600,000 in 1895, an increase of 129%, and to $40,590,000 in 1905 or 204%. The average value of cattle exported increased from $19 in 1870 to $73 in 1880 and $92 in 1895, decreasing to $71·50 in 1905. Only the best and heaviest cattle are exported, these, of course, commanding a much higher price than the average of the country.
The total value of farm animals exported from the United States has fluctuated greatly. On the whole, however, the value increased from $16,000,000 in round numbers in 1880 to $46,500,000 in 1905, or 190 %. Table XXXIX. shows the number and value of live animals exported between 1880 and 1905.
| Year ending 30th June. | Horses. | Mules. | Cattle. | Sheep. | Swine. | Total Value. | |||||
| Number. | Value. | Number. | Value. | Number. | Value. | Number. | Value. | Number. | Value. | ||
| 1880 | 3,060 | $675,139 | 5,198 | $532,362 | 182,756 | $13,344,195 | 209,137 | $892,647 | 83,434 | $421,089 | $15,865,432 |
| 1885 | 1,947 | 377,692 | 1,028 | 127,580 | 135,890 | 12,906,690 | 234,509 | 512,568 | 55,025 | 579,183 | 14,503,713 |
| 1890 | 3,501 | 680,410 | 3,544 | 447,108 | 394,836 | 31,261,131 | 67,521 | 243,077 | 91,148 | 909,042 | 33,540,768 |
| 1894 | 5,246 | 1,108,995 | 2,063 | 240,961 | 359,278 | 33,461,922 | 132,370 | 832,763 | 1,553 | 14,753 | 35,659,394 |
| 1895 | 13,984 | 2,209,298 | 2,515 | 186,452 | 331,722 | 30,603,796 | 405,748 | 2,630,686 | 7,130 | 72,424 | 35,702,656 |
| 1900[1] | 64,722 | 7,612,616 | 43,369 | 3,919,478 | 397,286 | 30,635,153 | 125,772 | 733,477 | 51,180 | 394,813 | 43,295,537 |
| 1901[1] | 82,250 | 8,873,845 | 34,405 | 3,210,267 | 459,218 | 37,566,980 | 297,925 | 1,933,000 | 22,318 | 238,465 | 51,822,557 |
| 1902[1] | 103,020 | 10,048,046 | 27,586 | 2,692,298 | 392,884 | 29,902,212 | 358,720 | 1,940,060 | 8,368 | 88,330 | 44,670,946 |
| 1903 | 34,007 | 3,152,159 | 4,294 | 521,725 | 402,178 | 29,848,936 | 176,961 | 1,067,860 | 4,031 | 40,923 | 34,631,603 |
| 1904 | 42,001 | 3,189,100 | 3,658 | 412,971 | 593,409 | 42,256,291 | 301,313 | 1,954,604 | 6,345 | 53,780 | 47,866,746 |
| 1905 | 34,822 | 3,175,259 | 5,826 | 645,464 | 567,806 | 40,598,048 | 268,365 | 1,687,321 | 44,496 | 414,692 | 46,520,784 |
Since 1890 there has been a great development in the production of fruit and vegetables. Local market gardens are numerous in the vicinity of all cities, and highly specialized “truck gardening,” that is, the growing of early fruits and vegetables for transportation to distant markets where the seasons are later, has made rapid progress in the South Atlantic states. The census reports of 1900 use the potato acreage in these states as an index of the rate of development of truck gardening; the southern potato being largely a truck garden crop. In seven counties of Virginia the increase in acreage from 1889 to 1899 was 100%; in eleven counties of North Carolina, 314%; in five counties of South Carolina, 134%; in nine counties of Georgia, 111%; in six counties of Florida, 309%; in five counties of Alabama, 277%. Irish and sweet potatoes are the most important vegetables raised; the North Central states leading in the production of the former and the South Atlantic states in the production of the latter. The growth of the Irish potato industry is shown by the following table:—
| Year. | Acreage. | Yield (bushels). |
| 1870 | 1,325,119 | 114,775,000 |
| 1880 | 1,842,510 | 167,659,570 |
| 1890 | 2,651,579 | 148,289,696 |
| 1900 | 2,611,054 | 210,926,897 |
| 1905 | 2,996,757 | 260,741,294 |
The production of sweet potatoes, as reported in census years, was as follows:—
| Year. | Acreage. | Yield (bushels). |
| 1869 | . . | 21,709,824 |
| 1879 | 444,817 | 33,378,693 |
| 1889 | 524,588 | 43,950,261 |
| 1899 | 537,447 | 42,526,696 |
The total acreage in vegetables reported in 1899 was 5,753,191 or 2% of the acreage in all crops; the value of the yield was $242,170,148 or 8·3% of the value of all crops.
The value of the fruit crop of 1899 was $131,423,517; the value of orchard fruits was $83,751,840; of grapes, $14,090,937; of small fruits, $25,030,877; of sub-tropical fruits, $8,549,863. The development of fruit-growing during the decade 1889–1899 appears from the following table:—
| Crop. | Yield (bushels). | |
| 1889. | 1899. | |
| Apples | 143,105,689 | 175,397,626 |
| Apricots | 1,001,482 | 2,642,128 |
| Cherries | 1,476,719 | 2,873,499 |
| Peaches | 36,367,747 | 15,433,623[2] |
| Pears | 3,064,375 | 6,625,417 |
| Plums and Prunes | 2,554,392 | 8,764,032 |
In 1899 California contributed 21·5% of the fruit crop; New York; 12·1%; Pennsylvania, 7·5%; Ohio, 6·8%; and Michigan 4·5%.
Agricultural Education.
The agricultural schools of the United States owe their origin to the movement against the old classical school and in favour of technical education which began in most civilized nations about the middle of the 19th century. A rapidly growing country with great natural resources needed men educated in the sciences and arts of life, and this want was first manifested in the United States by a popular agitation on behalf of agricultural schools. A number of so-called agricultural schools were started between 1850 and 1860 in the eastern and middle states, where the movement made itself most felt, but without trained teachers and suitable methods they accomplished very little. They were only ordinary schools with farms attached. The second constitution of the state of Michigan, adopted in 1850, provided for an agricultural school, and this was the first one established in the United States. The General Assembly of the state of Pennsylvania incorporated the Farmers’ High School, now the State College, in 1854. Maryland incorporated her agricultural college in 1856, and Massachusetts chartered a school of agriculture in the same year. The agitation, which finally reached Congress, led to the establishment of the so-called “land-grant” or agricultural colleges. The establishment of these colleges was due chiefly to the wisdom and foresight of Justin S. Morrill, who introduced the first bill for their endowment in the House of Representatives on the 14th of December 1857, saw the latest one approved by the president on the 30th of August 1890, and is justly known, therefore, as the father of the American agricultural colleges. The first act for the benefit of these colleges, passed in 1862, was entitled “An Act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts,” and granted to each state an amount of land equal to 30,000 acres for each senator and representative in Congress to which the state was entitled at that time. The object of the grant was stated to be “the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college” (in each state), “where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts . . . in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.” The total number of acres of land granted to the states under this act was 10,320,843, of which by far the greater part is sold. This grant has produced an endowment fund amounting to $12,045,629. The land still unsold in 1905 amounted to 844,164 acres, valued at $4,168,746. The invested land-grant funds yielded these colleges a total annual income of $855,083 in 1905. Including the United States appropriation under a supplementary act of 1890, commonly known as the Second Morrill Act, which now gives each college $25,000 a year, the interest on the land-grant and all other invested funds, all state appropriations and other sources of revenue, these colleges had in 1904–1905 a total income of $11,659,955. Sixty-six
