$8,926,000,000 in 1910,and has nearly doubled since 1897.
The movement of settlers to the West has reduced the areas of government land and increased the acreage on farms from 536,081,000 in 1880 to 873,729,000 in 1911. The occupation of the rich and unoccupied prairie lands has greatly stimulated the development of irrigation in the West, the acres irrigated having grown from 3,361,000 in 1889 to 11,000,000 in 1907, because a decreasing land-supply has made it both necessary and desirable for the people to find ways of utilizing areas formerly unproductive.
Corn retained for domestic consumption has increased from 1,865,000,000 bushels in 1900 to 2,734,000,000 in 1910, while the 1900 exports of 213,123,000 bushels fell in 1910 to 38,128,000 bushels. In 1900, 361,207,084 bushels of wheat were retained for domestic consumption, while in 1910 there were retained 649,824,682 bushels, and the exports of 186,096,762 bushels in 1900 had fallen to 87,364,318 bushels. This drop in exports tells
