STOCK-RAISING. The raising of such enormous crops of corn and other stock feed has resulted in the development of a large stock-raising in dustry. In general the greatest development was that between 1880 and 1S90, although the follow ing 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 con struction 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 prod ucts 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 re turned by the censuses of 1890 and 1900: 24.6 per cent. In the last census year the rank in acreage of earn 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 mat representative of a normal year, since the late spring of 1S99 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 produc tion 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