Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1904 — RICH YEAR ON FARMS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RICH YEAR ON FARMS

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. Crop Yield of 1004 Aggregates Nearly ss,ooo,ooo,ooo—Equals World's Output Of. Gold Since Columbus Discovered America—Corn and Cotton Lead. The annual report of the Secretary of Agriculture, James Wilson, for 1904 contains extremely, interesting reading and valuable information relating to the agricultural interests of the country. The following is quoted in part: As great as the financial successes of agriculture were in 1905, hitherto without equal, those of 1904 advanced somewhat beyond them. While some products have fallen behind in value others have more than filled the deficit, and the general result is that the farmers have produced in value much more wealth than they ever did before in one year. Wealth in Corn and Cotton. One conspicuous item that has contributed to this is the corn crop. With a quantity closely approaching 2,500.000,000 bushels, near the record crop of 1902, the high price of this year gives this crop a farm value much greater than it ever had before, far exceeding $1,000,000,000. With this crop the farmers could pay the national debt and the in-

terest thereon for one year, and still have enough le'ft to pay the expenses of the national government for a large fraction of a year. The cotton crop, including seed, became the second one in value in 1003, and remains so in .1904. It is now too early to state even with approximate accuracy what the farm value of this crop is,‘but indications are that the farm value of lint and seed must reach SOOO,000,000. It now scorns probable that potatoes and barley reached their highest production in 1904; that the oat crop was never so large by 00,000,000 bushels except in 1902, and that more rice was produced than in any previous year by 300,000,000 pounds, so that the present crop of rice has a preliminary estimate of 900,000,000 pounds. The principal crops that are valued annually by the department or by commercial houses have an aggregate farm value this year which at the date of this writing apparently amounts to $3,583,339,009. The same crops in 1903, ns finally estimated, had a farm value of $3,130,099,35)2. and had a census value for 1899 of $2,520,343,478. In these principal crops, therefore, the farmers find an increase in value for 1904 of 14 per cent over 15)03, and of 42 per cent over the census year five years ago. Unthinkable Aggregates. After a laborious and careful estimate of tiie value of the products of the farm during 15)04, made within the census scope, it is safe to place this amount at $4,900,000,000, after excluding the value of farm crops fed to live stock to avoid duplication of values. A .similar estimate made for 1903 gives $4,480,000,000. and the census total for 18515) is $3,742,000,-

SECRETARY WILSON.