Agriculture, Mining, etc.—Illinois takes very high rank as an agricultural State; 32,471,000 acres under cultivation being reported for 1910, as compared with 32,795,000 in 1900, a decrease of 1 per cent. In 1910, the total number of farms in the State was 250,853; the estimated value of the land and buildings was $3,511,194,000 as compared with $1,765,582,000 in 1900. The increase was 99 per cent. In 1900 the average value of a farm with its equipment was $7,600; in 1910, $15,505. The average value of the land per acre in the two census years was $46.17 and $95.02. The total value of farm lands was $1,514,114,000 and $3,081,564,000 or a gain of 104 per cent. The value of farm build ings in the two years was $251,468,000 and $429, 630,000, and the increase was 71 per cent. The larger farms are generally in the north and the smaller in the extreme southern portion of the State.
The census of 1880 showed the number of tenant farmers in Illinois to be larger than in any other State of the Union, and quite a little capital was made of the °eighty thousand tenants* then operating Illinois farms. In 1910, Illinois had 104,379 tenant farms out of a total of 251,872, but her rank had sunk to eighth. In 1910, owners operated 145,107 farms embracing 17,787,063 acres, which, with build ings, were valued at $1,765,992,310; managers operated 2,386 farms embracing 554,463 acres, and valued at $65,008,033; tenants operated 104,379 farms embracing 14,177,411 acres, and valued at $1,691,792,227: The percentage of farms operated by owners was 57.61, by man agers 0.95, and by tenants 41.44. The average size of the farms operated by owners was 122.58 acres, by managers 234.06, and by tenants 135.82. The average value of the farms and buildings operated by owners was $12,170.28, by managers $27,245.61 and by tenants $16,208.17. Of the 145,107 farms operated by owners, 86,713 were free from mortgage, 55,792 were mort gaged, and 2,602 were not reported. The per cent reported as mortgaged was thus 392. The per cent in that year ranged from 5.4 in New Mexico to 51.8 in Iowa; for the United States as a whole it was 33.6. Illinois had 36,938 farms operated by owners owning the entire farm. The value of the land and buildings was $454,857,222, and the amount of debt was $115, 799,646. The average value of each farm was $12,314, and the average debt $3,135, the ratio of debt to the value being 25.5. At the same time the United States had 1,006,511 farms operated by owners owning the entire farm. The value of land and buildings was $6,330, 236,951 and the amount of debt, $1,726,172,851. The average value per farm was $6,289 and the average debt was $1,715, the ratio of debt to the value being 27.3. For Illinois, the ratio of debt to the value of the farm had decreased from 34.6 in 1890 to 25.5 in 1910; for the United States as a whole the decrease was from 35.5 to 27.3.
Illinois has an active live stock industry. On 1 Jan. 1917, there were 1,452,000 horses (farm animals) valued at $153,912,000; 150,000 mules valued at$17,250,000; 1,057,000 milch cows valued at $71,876,000; 1,251,000 other cattle valued at $54,168,000; 898,000 sheep valued at $7,363,000 and 4,440,000 swine valued at $60, 883,000. In 1916, Illinois produced 306,800,000
bushels of corn valued at $257,712,000; 172, 095,000 bushels of oats valued at $87,768,000; 16,225,000 bushels of wheat valued at $26,771,000 (in 1915 the figures were 53,250,0110 and $53, 200,000) ; 4,495,000 tons of hay valued at $50,794,000• and 7,250,000 bushels of Irish nota toes valued at $12,978,000 (in 1909 the figures were 14,924,000 and $9,104,000). In 1909, Illi nois produced 1,125,000 pounds of tobacco valued at $123,750• in 1916, the production was only 525,000 pounds and the value $52,000. In 1916, 1,616,000 barrels of apples (4,716,000 in 1915), 780,000 bushels of peaches, and 354,000 bushels of pears were produced. The wool pro duction of Illinois in 1909 was 4,725,000 pounds, and the value of the product was $1,296,540. In 1915, 975 000 pounds were produced and the average price was 25 cents a pound; in 1916, only 3,855,000 pounds were produced, but the average price was 30.1 cents and the value was about $1,160,355. At the time of the last census, Illinois was producing about 125,000 feet of lumber yearly at a valuation of over $2,500,000. At the same time, her fisheries employed about 5,000 persons and yielded a product valued at $1,500,000.
In 1909, Illinois ranked next to Pennsyl vania in the value of the products of mining industries. The gross value was $76,658,974; the net value, $76,556,994. Bituminous coal mining with a product valued at $53,030,545 was easily the leader. The petroleum and natural gas wells with a product worth $18, 883,102 ranked second. The output of zinc in 1913 was about 2,236 short tons and the value was $250,432; flour-spar was produced to the amount of 85,854 short tons and a value of $550,815; the limestone and sandstone output was valued at $4,140,953; and clay products (bricks, tiles and pottery) were valued at $15, 195,874. In 1913 the total mineral product was valued at $131,825,221; the average year since the last census, however, has seen a product worth over $100,000,000. In 1915, 2,447,220 long tons of pig iron, 5,156,869 barrels of cement, $350,371 worth of natural gas, 24,942,701 bar rels of petroleum, 1,686,998 short tons of coke, and 58,829,576 short tons of coal were produced. The coal fields of Illinois cover an area of about 42,900 square miles. Since 1882 very careful reports of coal production have been kept. In that year, 11,017,069 tons were produced, and 20,290 men employed; in 1914 the figures stood 60,715,795 tons and 80,035 men. The leading counties in the latter year were: Williamson, 7,681,006 tons; Franklin 6,595,799; Sangamon, 5,723,046; Macoupin, 4,981,057; Saint Clair, 4,009,258. All were in the southern or south central part of the State.