_1897 and 1930 compared.--Data of 1897._ ------+------------------------+-----------------+---------------------- | Products. |Average per acre.| Area required. ------+------------------------+-----------------+---------------------- Maize | 1,902,967,933 bushels. | 23.8 bushels. | 125,150 square miles. Wheat | 530,149,168 " | 13.4 " | 61,660 " " Oats | 698,767,809 " | 27.2 " | 40,200 " " Hay | 60,664,770 tons. | 1.43 " | 66,290 " " | | |---------------------- Total in square miles | 293,300 square miles. -------------------------------------------------+---------------------- All other farm crops carry the total to less than 400,000 square miles now under the plow, probably not exceeding 360,000. Prospective demand of 1930, at the same meager average product per acre, without progress in agricultural science: ------+------------------------+---------------+---------------------- | Crop called for. | Per acre. | Area required. ------+------------------------+---------------+---------------------- Maize | 3,450,000,000 bushels. | 23.8 bushels. | 226,600 square miles. Wheat | 700,000,000 " | 13.4 " | 81,600 " " Oats | 1,250,000,000 " | 27.2 " | 70,800 " " Hay | 100,000,000 tons. | 1.43 " | 109,400 " " | | |---------------------- Total in square miles | 488,400 square miles. -----------------------------------------------+---------------------- Assuming all land under the plow in 1930 in the ratio as above, the area of all now in all crops 400,000 square miles--an excessive estimate--that year (1930) will call for 667,000 square miles of arable land in actual cultivation. I have been accustomed to consider one half our national domain, exclusive of Alaska, good arable land in the absence of any "speculation" on that point in the records of the Department of Agriculture; but from the returns given by the chiefs of the experiment stations and secretaries of agriculture of the States hereafter cited, that estimate may be increased probably to two thirds, or 2,000,000 square miles of arable land out of a total of 3,000,000 square miles, omitting Alaska. Assuming that we possess 2,000,000 square miles of arable land, capable at least of producing the present meager average product cited above, the conditions of 1930 will be graphically presented on the following diagram: _Prospective Use of Land in the Year 1930 on Present Crop Average._ [Sidenote: Arable land assumed to be 2,000,000 square miles in the outer lines of the diagram.]