The value of our wheat crop, unlike that of corn, which is regulated by the domestic demand alone, is dependent upon other factors than the volume of our own crop. Its price is affected by the supply of the world, drawn from all sources of production, and as a consequence we have had some large crops with high prices and small crops with lower values. The crop of the United States, however, is a prominent element in determining the world's surplus, and to that extent determines values. The farm value of the present crop has advanced to nearly 84 cents per bushel, and the aggregate value is $334,773,678, only $8,000,000 short of the value of the crop of 1889, although the crop is smaller by more than 90,000,000 bushels.

The estimates in detail, by States, are as follows:

An examination of the results of each harvest since 1880 shows that in but two years has the average yield been lower than that of the present crop, in 1881 and in 1885, the only years in which the de

ficiency in an aggregate volume was greater. At the same time the average value of the crop has been greater in five years of the eleven, showing that price is influenced in a large measure by the crops of other lands. The average yield per acre has been very uniform during each of the ten-year periods since 1870, the difference being less than one-third of a bushel.

Years.

Total produc- Total area Total value of Average Average Average value per yield per value per bushel acre.

tion.

of crop.

crop.

There is a decrease from the acreage of 1889 of slightly more than a million acres in the area of oats harvested, but the great falling off in the volume of the crop is the result of the deficient yield per acre. The year was especially unfavorable for this crop from the beginning, and the final yield is the logical sequence of the returns of condition throughout the growing season. The steady enlargement in the volume of this crop has been one of the features of our agriculture during the past decade, and, like corn, the demand has been for domestic consumption. Its use for human food is steadily increasing, though the aggregate thus used is small. Like corn it is used as feed for animals, and there is an intimate relation between the two grains growing out of their interchangeable use. The value of the crop depends partially upon the size of the corn crop, and the present crop, short itself, and coming with a small corn yield, commands a high price. The farm price is the highest in ten years, except in 1881, another year of short corn yield.

The yield per acre averages but 19.8 bushels, the lowest ever returned by this office, while the average for a series of years would not be far from 27 bushels.

As in the case of corn, the short crop of the present year is worth more in the aggregate to producers than the crop of 1889, which was the largest ever grown. With a decline in volume of more than 225,000,000 bushels there is an absolute increase in value of $50,000,000. There is a lesson of wisdom in these figures, a remedy for low prices. The estimates in detail are as follows:

The bushel value of the present crop has been exceeded but once during the past decade, in 1881. In that year the yield was only slightly below the average for ten years, and the crop was one of generous proportions. The price was high because of the short corn crop, admirably illustrating the relations between the two grains. The rapid enlargement of the area devoted to oats is shown by the fact that the average breadth between 1880 and 1890 is more than double that between 1870 and 1880. A slight diminution in the rate of yield, however, has prevented the average product from doubling during the same period.

FARM ANIMALS.

The annual estimates of increase or decrease in farm animals are made in January, and are published in the January-February report, which has not been prepared, the annual going to press much earlier than usual. These estimates will be found in that report, which will be issued in February. The winter of 1890-'91 was unusually severe in the range regions, especially in Northern latitudes and on the Pa cific coast, though the season east of the Missouri was one of extraordinary mildness. The losses in Washington and Oregon were very heavy, according to information apparently reliable, in some districts taking half to three fourths of all the cattle. The April report made the loss about two million cattle, and it is probable that the full depreciation was not revealed, especially as to the Pacific slope. A considerable reduction in numbers of cattle is probable. The facts, as nearly as they can be approximated, will be indicated in detail in the first report of the Statistician in 1891, the issue for January-February.

DISTRIBUTION OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

The increase in the commercial movement of farm animals during the past twenty years is one of the most striking facts in the commerce of agricultural products. It suggests a large increase in meat production and an advance in the rate of domestic consumption.

CATTLE.

The receipts of cattle at Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Omaha are more than three times as large as fifteen years ago, and have increased more than 70 per cent in five years. The increase exceeds 2,300,000, while the increase in exportation is only about 260,000, or including increase of meat exportation about 1,000,000 beeves, leaving nearly three fourths of the increase for home consumption. The total exports of 1889-'90, in beeves and beef, were little short of 1,000,000 animals, much above the average of our beeves in condition.

Receipts and shipments of Western markets.

Chicago.

St. Louis.

Kansas City.

Omaha.

Years.

Receipts. Shipments. Receipts. Shipments. Receipts. Shipments. Receipts. Shipments

Comparing receipts and shipments, we find a decrease in the proportion of shipments, due to the great development of the dressed meat trade, which increases the proportion slaughtered in the West. The use of the refrigerator car has wrought a great change in the methods of transportation of meat, both to the Atlantic seaboard

and to Europe. The rapid increase of the entire movement is a sug gestive fact in the history of our agriculture. The aggregates of these primary markets are as follows:

The enlargement of the movement of sheep is also very rapid, indicating great increase in consumption, which is quite out of proportion to increment of population. The following statement is from the records of the four centers of distribution, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha:

Receipts. Shipments. Receipts. Shipments. Receipts. Shipments. Receipts. Shipments.

The following are the aggregates of these records of receipts and shipments: