Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/426

KANSAS. was estimated at $363,367. Some petroleum is also obtained in this region. Salt is mined in the central portion of the State, the yield in 1900 being 2,233,000 barrels, and giving the State third rank. Stone quarried in 1900, principally limestone, was valued at $424,639. The production of cement and gypsum is also worthy of note.

. Kansas is preëminently an agricultural State. The greatest obstacle to the industry is in the western part of the State, and is attributable to the lack of rainfall. Several elaborate irrigation schemes—canals—have been tried in this section; but they have been ill-conceived, since the surface supply of water and the flow in the streams are erratic. The results therefore have been generally disappointing. A greater degree of success seems to be promised through the utilization of ground waters by the use of windmills and the building of small storage reservoirs.

In the middle and eastern sections the rainfall is sufficient, and almost the entire area is included in farms. The total farm land in the State is 79.7 per cent. of its surface, of which 60.1 per cent. is improved (1900). The greatest absolute increase of farm land was made in the decade 1870-80, and of improved land in the following decade. During the last two decades of the nineteenth century the average size of farms increased from 154.6 acres to 240.7 acres. The most prominent cause of this increase was probably the desertion of numerous farms in the western part of the State, groups of which became united as single holdings in the hands of the former mortgagees. From 1880 to 1900 there was a very remarkable increase in the number of rented farms, the percentage of which increased from 16.3 per cent. in 1880 to 35.2 per cent. in 1900, the tenants on shares being more than twice as numerous as the cash tenants.

Kansas has risen with great rapidity to the front ranks of the agricultural States. In 1900 only one State—Iowa—had a larger acreage in crops. In the census decade 1880-90 the acreage increased 83.1 per cent., and in that following 24.6 per cent. In the last census year the rank in acreage of corn was third, wheat fourth, and hay third. There were in that year 5.6 acres of corn to each inhabitant. The figures given in the table for 1900 are not representative of a normal year, since the late spring of 1899 resulted in less land being devoted to wheat and oats, and more to barley than there would otherwise have been. The increased interest in wheat cultivation during the last decade of the century is the most significant recent development in the agriculture of the State. There was a noteworthy increase in the production of flax and a decrease in the production of rye in the same decade. Potatoes and other vegetables are raised in large quantities. The State also raises a great abundance of orchard fruits. The number of apple-trees almost doubled in the decade 1890-1900, amounting in the latter year to 11,848,000, or 60.6 per cent. of the total number of fruit-trees in the State, being exceeded in number in only four States. Kansas ranks second in the production of broom-corn (34,383 acres), and is important in the production of castor-beans. It has over half the total acreage of Kafir corn grown in the United States, the acreage in 1900 being 154,706 acres. Kafir corn is proving a very valuable crop, since it can endure a much greater drought than can Indian corn. Broom-corn is grown most extensively in the central part of the State, and castor-beans are raised in the southwest corner.

The following table includes the most important farm crops in acres, according to the censuses of 1890 and 1900:

. The raising of such enormous crops of corn and other stock feed has resulted in the development of a large stock-raising industry. In general the greatest development was that between 1880 and 1890, although the following decade witnessed a very remarkable gain in the number of neat cattle other than dairy cows. The value of this variety of farm stock is half that of all domestic animals. Extensive areas of prairie land in the western part of the State are used for grazing. The decrease in the number of dairy cows shown in the table below was only apparent, being attributable to the stricter construction placed upon the term ‘dairy cows’ in the latter years. The sum of $5,936,662 was realized in 1900 from the sale of dairy products, and products of equal value were consumed on the farms. There was an actual decline during the last decade of the century in the number both of sheep and swine.

The following comparative table includes the most important varieties of farm animals returned by the censuses of 1890 and 1900:

. Compared with agriculture, manufacturing is of very minor importance. In 1900 only 35,200 people were engaged in the industries, or 2.4 per cent. of the population. This was an increase, however, in the number of people engaged of 24.1 per cent. in the decade from 1890 to 1900. The total value of the products, including custom work and repairing, amounted in 1900 to $172,129,000. The table appended covers the seven most important industries for the years 1890-1900. It will be seen that the industries are concerned with the transformation of the raw products of the farm into manufactured products. Slaughtering and meat-packing is alone nearly twice as important as the other six industries combined, estimated by the value of the products. The large slaughtering interests of Kansas City—the second largest of any city in the world, amounting to $73,205,000 in 1900—are located on the Kansas side of the State boundary line, and are therefore accredited to the State. Elsewhere in Kansas this industry