animals at prices sufficiently high to cover all costs and yield a profit.

As shown in Map No. XII many beef cattle are grown in the Pacific slope, in the North Atlantic states and throughout the South, but the cattle trade in these regions is mainly a local trade. The populous regions of most of the eastern and southern states are compelled to draw upon the three principal cattle-raising areas for much of their beef supply. The extent of beef cattle production in the census year 1920 is shown in Map No. XIII.

The Hog-raising Area. The number of hogs in the United States according to census returns also declined from 62,868,000 on June 1, 1900, to 58,186,000 on April 15, 1910, a loss which is counterbalanced by the fact that the number is normally about 18 per cent larger on June first than on April fifteenth. The Department of Agriculture estimates that the number of hogs on the farms of the United States on January 1, 1901, was 56,982,000, on January 1, 1914, 58,933,000, and on January 1, 1915, 64,618,000. Under war and post-war conditions the number advanced to a maximum of 74,584,000 on January 1, 1919 and then declined to 56,095,000 on January 1, 1921. The number reported by the Department of Agriculture for January 1, 1923, was 63,424,000. Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas, South Dakota and Georgia are now the greatest hog-growing states of the country. Many are raised in the South and in the vicinity of the large North Atlantic cities, but the hog-growing area is largely confined to the corn belt. The country's corn crop is used mainly to feed hogs, cattle, sheep and other live stock, and the feeding is done largely within or adjacent to the corn belt.2 (See Map XIV.)

The Sheep-growing Districts.-The flocks from which the country obtains its supply of mutton and lamb are raised mainly in four districts: (1) The northwestern Rocky Mountain foothills and northern and central mountain states, are particularly important as the mutton-producing part of the western sheep 2 See map No. V, p. 41.

MAP XIV.-PRODUCTION OF HOGS IN U. S., JAN. 1, 1920.

ranges. Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Nevada are now among the greatest sheep growers in the United States. (2) The southwestern Rocky Mountain foothills and plains, including Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. (3) The Pacific Coast states,-chiefly Oregon, California, and western Idaho, and (4) the central Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, including Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Kentucky, Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois. (See Map No. XV)

Sheep production did not respond to the high prices occasioned by the war to the extent that other branches of the live-stock industry did. The number of sheep on the farms of the United States was reported by the Department of Agriculture as 48,603,000 on Jan. 1, 1918 and slightly more a year later. then declined to 36,048,000 on Jan. 1, 1922 and 37,209,000 on Jan. 1, 1923.

The entire sheep flock of the United States as reported by the Census Office comprised 55,363,000 on April 15, 1910, as compared with 63,374,000 on June 1, 1900. Since there is a normal variation of about 20 per cent between April fifteenth and June first, it is seen that the number during the decade remained about stationary. From January 1, 1911, to January 1, 1915, however, the estimates of the Department of Agriculture show a decline from 53,633,000 to 49,956,000. Between February first and June first of each year there is a seasonal variation of nearly 41 per cent in the total number of sheep on the farms of the United States.

Nearly 65 per cent of all the sheep in the United States are raised in the first three districts. It is here that the operation of large sheep ranges and ranches constitutes one of the main industries. The majority of the sheep are grazed in large flocks on open Government ranges, on national forest lands, on privately leased lands or on lands which the individual sheep growers or sheep corporations have purchased. Some sheep are raised on inclosed or fenced-in ranges and ranches but they are more commonly handled under the herding system. During the summer they are in many cases driven or shipped to the mountain ranges to graze on native grasses and forage plants