Fletcher W. Hewes & Henry Gannett, Stock on Farms by State (1883)

In addition to agricultural production of goods, farms also supplied the space to raise livestock for meat and other animal products. This multi-set bar graph, published in Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States, Showing by Graphic Methods Their Present Condition and Their Political, Social and Industrial Development, demonstrates the variation in quantities of livestock maintenance across state borders in 1880. The display shows in which states farming and agriculture were able to flourish, and in which states urbanization and manufacturing made up the majority of economic production. In northeastern states like New Hampshire and New Jersey, livestock maintenance was relatively low: New Hampshire maintaining only 232,405 cattle, and New Jersey maintaining 223,886 cattle. These numbers are meager compared to the numbers in the Great Plains states: Iowa held and maintained over 2.6 million cattle, and over 6 million pigs. Similarly, Illinois kept several million pigs, over 2 million cattle. After the Homestad Act, many Americans were drawn to the Great Plains to create a new life, much of which relied upon agricultural production and farming. From this graph, viewers are able to observe in which parts of the United States livestock and agriculture were largely maintained, and in which areas these practices were not as popular.