Iowa, 51; New York, 38; Pennsylvania, 34; Wisconsin, 33. The
average yield per acre was 25 bushels. Of barley five States
produced over 2 million bushels, as follows:—California, 12½; New
York, 8; Wisconsin, 5; Iowa, 4; Minnesota, 3. The average yield
per acre was 22 bushels. Of rye four States, namely, Pennsylvania,
Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, produced between 3½ and 2
million bushels each. The average yield per acre was 11 bushels.
Of buckwheat 70 per cent. of the crop was produced by the two
States of New York (4½ millions) and Pennsylvania (3½ millions).
The average per acre was 14 bushels.
Hay.The harvested hay crop, as reported in 1880, amounted to 35,150,711 tons from 30,631,054 acres. Thirteen States show more than one million acres mown, with a yield ranging from 0.835 ton per acre in Missouri to 1.554 tons in Minnesota. As we pass southward, the importance of the grass crop diminishes until we reach large and populous States in which but ten or twenty thousand acres or less are mown.
Dairy produce.The statistics of dairy products, taking those both of the home dairy and of the butter or cheese factory, as returned in 1880, show 806,672,071 ℔ of butter made, 243,157,850 ℔ of cheese, 217,922,090 gallons of milk sold otherwise than to cheese and butter factories.
Hops.The production of hops is mainly in two States,—New York, which in 1880 cultivated 39,072 acres in this crop, nearly all in four counties, and Wisconsin, which cultivated 4439 acres. The total area in hops was 46,800 acres, with a yield of 26,546,378 ℔.
Potatoes.The potato crop comprised 169,458,539 bushels of Irish, grown mainly in Northern States, and 33,388,693 bushels of sweet, grown mainly in the South, although the profitable cultivation of this crop extends as far north as New Jersey.
Wool.The statistics of the wool crop in a census of the United States are necessarily defective, requiring to be supplemented by information from the outside. This is due to the great amount of wool obtained from the pelts of slaughtered sheep, to the large number of animals upon ranches and ranges along the frontier, beyond the limits of defined farms, and, thirdly, to the fact that in some regions, notably California and Texas, two clips are made each year. The gross figures for 1880, after making allowance on these accounts, were 240,681,751 ℔.
Hemp and flax.The production of hemp in the census year was but 5025 tons; the products of the flax culture were stated at 7,170,951 bushels of seed, 421,098 tons of straw, 1,565,546 ℔ of the fibre. It is in Cotton. cotton, however, that the United States make their chief contribution to the fibres of the commercial world. In 1879 5,755,359 bales were raised on 14,480,019 acres. The following table (XIV.) shows the distribution, geographically, of this most important crop:—
| States. | Acres. | Bales. |
| Alabama | 2,330,086 | 699,654 |
| Arkansas | 1,042,976 | 608,256 |
| Florida | 245,595 | 54,997 |
| Georgia | 2,617,138 | 814,441 |
| Indian Territory | 35,000 | 17,000 |
| Kentucky | 2,667 | 1,367 |
| Louisiana | 864,787 | 508,569 |
| Mississippi | 2,106,215 | 963,111 |
| Missouri | 32,116 | 20,318 |
| North Carolina | 893,153 | 389,598 |
| South Carolina | 1,364,249 | 522,548 |
| Tennessee | 722,562 | 330,621 |
| Texas | 2,178,435 | 805,284 |
| Virginia | 45,040 | 19,595 |
Rice.The other characteristic crops of the Southern States are rice, tobacco, and sugar. Of rice there was raised in 1879 110,131,373 ℔, of which South Carolina produced upwards of 52 millions, Louisiana and Georgia producing, in about equal proportion, nearly all Sugar. the remainder. The area cultivated for the sugar-cane was 227,776 acres, from which the crop was 178,872 hhds. of sugar and 16,573,273 gallons of molasses. Of the sugar Louisiana produced 171,706 hhds.; Texas, 4951; Florida, 1273; Georgia, 601; South Carolina, 229; Alabama, 94; Mississippi, 18. In addition to the cane sugar of the far South, there were produced in the Middle and Northern States 12,792 ℔ of sorghum sugar and 28,444,202 gallons of sorghum molasses; while in the far North were produced 36,576,061 ℔ of maple sugar and 1,796,048 gallons of maple molasses. The chief sorghum-producing States are Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Iowa. The chief maple-sugar States are Vermont, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. Tobacco. The area sown in tobacco was 638,841 acres, the crop 472,661,157 ℔. Fifteen States raised over 2 million pounds each; ten raised above 10 million each. The chief tobacco States were Kentucky, 171,120,784 ℔; Virginia, 79,988,868; Pennsylvania, 36,943,272; Ohio, 34,735,235; Tennessee, 29,365,052; North Carolina, 26,986,213; Maryland, 26,082,147. The States next in order are Connecticut, Missouri, and Wisconsin.
Other agricultural produce.In addition to the crops which have been mentioned, there were reported 102,272,135 barnyard fowls and 23,235,187 other fowls, producing 456,910,916 dozens of eggs; 25,743,208 ℔ of honey and 1,105,685 ℔ of wax; $50,876,154 of orchard products, $21,761,250 of market-garden products, 95,774,735 of forest products; 29,480,106 ℔ of broom corn; 6,514,977 bushels of pease; and 3,075,050 bushels of beans.
Since the census of 1880 the United States department of agriculture has published annually estimates of the successive crops down to 1886. These estimates take the latest census figures for their basis, the percentages of increase or decrease being carefully computed with reference to the statements of several thousands of local reporters. The following table (XV.) represents the estimated annual production of the cereal crops for the six or seven years quoted:—
| Grain. | Area Planted, in Acres. |
Crop, in Bushels. |
Average Yield, Bush. per Acre. |
| Indian corn (1880-86) | 68,435,634 | 1,639,655,363 | 24 |
| Wheat (1880-86) | 37,098,548 | 447,742,370 | 12.1 |
| Oats (1880-86) | 19,940,322 | 633,012,913 | 26.7 |
| Rye (1880-85) | 2,095,438 | 25,610,067 | 12.2 |
| Barley (1880-85) | 2,300,021 | 50,829,950 | 21.1 |
| Buckwheat (1880-85) | 858,313 | 11,089,007 | 12.9 |
Tenure of farm lands.No statistics are available regarding the tenure of non-agricultural land; but, of the 4,008,907 farms reported, 2,984,306 were cultivated by their owners, 322,357 by tenants for a fixed money rental, 702,244 by tenants paying a share of the produce as rent. It thus appears that, of each 10,000 farms, 7444 were cultivated by owners, 804 were rented for fixed money payments, and 1752 were rented for a share of the produce.
Size of farms.The following table (XVI.) exhibits the distribution of the farms of 1880 according to size, with the further distinction of the kind of tenure under which they were cultivated:—
| Cultivated by Owners. |
Rented for Fixed Money Rental. |
Rented for Shares of Produce. | |
| Under 3 acres | 2,601 | 875 | 876 |
| 3 and under 10 acres | 85,456 | 22,904 | 26,529 |
| 10 and under 20 acres | 122,411 | 41,522 | 90,816 |
| 20 and under 50 acres | 460,486 | 97,399 | 223,689 |
| 50 and under 100 acres | 804,522 | 69,663 | 158,625 |
| 100 and under 500 acres | 1,416,618 | 84,645 | 194,720 |
| 500 and under 1000 acres | 66,447 | 3,956 | 5,569 |
| 1000 acres and over | 25,765 | 1,393 | 1,420 |
Manufactures.
Down to the revolution, the very beginnings of manufactures were prohibited in the American colonies by the policy of the mother country. The history of American manufactures begins with the history of the United States. The natural resources of the country for the purposes of manufacture, whether in field, forest, or mine, were various and abundant in a high degree. The supply of coal was the marvel of the world, while the whole Atlantic coast was dotted over with immense water powers. Iron ores of the greatest variety, and often of high purity, were widely spread. The native woods were remarkable for their beauty, strength, and elasticity. A wealth of building stones, slates, and marbles underlay the surface, from New England to Tennessee and Alabama. Among fibres the soil had a high degree of adaptation to the production of those two which are the chief staples of textile manufacture. Indeed, in the cultivation of cotton this country has from the first been practically beyond the competition of any other.
Yet during the first years after 1790, although nearly every branch of mill and factory industry had been undertaken, the United States at the best attained only respectable standing among the manufacturing nations of the second rank. As yet the American people, as has been explained in a previous section, were employing their thoughts and energies, their resources, their capital, in reaping the first-fruits of a virgin soil. While capital applied to the soil in England was yielding 3 per cent., interest upon purely agricultural loans ranged from 8 to 15 per cent. in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa. While the English agricultural labourer was receiving from 9 to 13 shillings a week, the American farm hand was receiving from a dollar and a quarter to two dollars a day, according to the season of the year. At the same time hundreds of thousands of persons taking up farms in the new States, and paying such interest for capital and such wages for labour, saw their lands rise continuously in value through the growth of population and the intensification of settlement. In a word, it has been the competition of the farm with the shop that from 1790 down to the present time has hindered the development of manufactures.
No attempt was made, either at the first or second census, to obtain the statistics of manufactures. In 1810 Congress provided for a report of all manufacturing establishments; but it was found that this work had been so imperfectly done that no summary for the United States, or for any State, was possible. It is interesting to note that cotton cloth was set down at 80 cents a yard, pig iron at $66 a ton, bar iron at $151 a ton, while the average product of the grist mills was valued at 75 cents a bushel, and the average product of the saw mill at $7.80 per 1000 feet. In 1820 and again in 1840 renewed attempts were made to obtain the statistics of manufactures, but the results were worthy of little consideration.
In 1850, among extensive changes introduced into the census system, provision was made on an ample scale for statistics of
