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90
Lon L. Swift

steady and has increased about $2,000,000 every decade except during the ten years from i860 to 1870. The figures for the number of cattle are so confusing as to make an accurate estimate impossible; but it appears that cattle have not in- creased as rapidly as horses, sheep, or swine.

The increase in the production of cereals since 1880 may be indicated by the total number of bushels produced at the end of each decade, the number of acres used in raising cereals, and the percentage of this acreage producing each class of cereals.

TABLE 25.

TOTAL NUMBEB OF BUSHELS OF CEREALS, ACREAGE IN CEREALS, AND PER CENT. OP ACREAGE USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF EACH CLASS OF CEREALS, IN OREGON, BY DECADES, FROM 1880 TO 1900. ([1]) Items 1880 1890 1900 12,933,019 16,423,768 23,225,515 632,871 828,706 1,222,648 Percentage of wheat 70.3 66.7 71.4 24.0 26.4 21.4 4.6 4.6 5.0 0.1 0.8 0.8 0.9 1.5 1.4 The cereal production from 1880 to 1900 was not rela- tively as great as that in the raising of live stock; in the latter decade, however, it was almost as marked. The per- centage of land used in the production of wheat decreased during the ten years from 1880 to 1890, but increased in the next decade; thus, showing that less attention was given to the production of wheat in the Willamette Valley in 1890 than in 1880, and that wheat farming was developed in the eastern part of the State during the next decade. The per- centage of oat ground increased from 1880 to 1890 and decreased by 1900. The percentage of barley acreage has remained almost stationary, and none of the other cereal crops has been large at any time.


  1. U. S. Census Reports for 1900, Twelfth Census, Vol. VI, pp. 68-69.