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MONTHLY REPORT
or THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
JANUARY, 1875.
LIBRARY
NEW YORK
BOTANICAL
GARDEN
WASHINGTO}
GOVERNMENT PRINT”
4 A
CONTENTS.
STATISTICS :
Direst of monthly returns. <co<~ -- <= 6.2. ooo = ea pee ee eee oe
Yield of farm-crops of 18732... .-.-<. -.2<-< sec cce con cletes see eee
TICES OL TaTM-CLOPS oo. -geiee eo -c ose choca soe coe pen eee ee eee
Comparative numbers and prices of farm-animals....,....----.---------
Numbers of farm-animals.........--..----..--- eeecca tes «ceo =e
Prices of farm-animals....20-2-2 .o- <2. 200-2, GDEA fiend en oe eee ae
he G0l Wartare son ccc sco ce ceeea sms anen Gen’ ee ees =
Tabulated: returns.<--...--codecesoseseece aca eee sees =e == ee
Extracts from correspondence. <-<sscmoss.---ce~ sa -ee= so5 ssc = eee eee
International statistics........---- Sebo cocosaadeengs= 37 «pao neeleee seen
AOTICHIGHTC INVRUSSIA= = 5-5 clecsa con see epee aeee seem ene eee eee ae ae ee
Pacts fromofiicial sources. .<\- 6... --- ec<escsce- cosa seceded aes e=ee eee
Market-prices of farm-products...-...-..- 454608355 es Re fe
Live-stock-markets 2 327./. Sele cece ste tanec octe see oso s seeas aeons
Moreton; Markets ca ./ocs< ounole Seite esoes oo elene = cess see eine ees -
ENTOMOLOGY:
Pntomological TeCOrd << oe ve» ome,- dae se -e ns aces on sn 5 ceria eee
Recent notes on the phylloxera from foreign sources......----.---- Ppa
MICROSCOPY :
Microscopic observations...-...----.--....- eaten ame © Soe!
Cranberry rot and scald........ ctassccaitne als qa5.acmnns olaateete PEE nce =
LIBRARY
MONTHLY REPORT, , NeW vor«
GARDEN
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Statistical Division, January 30, 1875.
Sir: I herewith submit a report for January, 1875, of the comparative
numbers and home prices of farm animals in the several States, with the
respective rate of yield and current prices in December of the principal
farm products last season. I include, also, an abstract of a plan of in-
ternational statistics of agriculture and forestry, condensed from a doc-
ument received through the State Department from the minister of agri-
culture of Austria; other minor statistics of this and other countries ;
and a current report of progress by the entomologist, and a report of
microscopic investigation.
J. R. DODGE,
Statistician.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Commissioner.
DIGEST OF MONTHLY RETURNS.
The circulars for December relate to yields and prices of the promi-
nent products of the farm for the current year. Those for January in-
quire the comparative numbers and prices of farm animals. From the
October returns of product, as compared with those of the previous year,
and the June and July returns of acreage, the yield per acre can be de-
duced. These direct estimates of the rate of yield in December are,
therefore, entirely independent, and furnish a means of verification, and
when discrepancies appear, of correction of acreage. There is often a
wonderful agreement in the results of these separate returns, and when
differences occur they are usually found to result from a low report of
aggregate product or a high estimate of rate of yield, or both together.
There is a tendency in farmers’ estimates to make a good showing of °
rate of yield, whether from a bias of pride in good culture or soil-capa-
bilities, or from neglect to note the areas of failure or neglected culture ;
and at the same time a disposition to underrate the total quantity of the
crop, especially if it is not a full one. Our correspondents are intelli-
oor with less of this bias than is usually observed in rural estimates of
sroduction, and our aim has been to secure as near perfect impartiality
and accuracy as possible.
~ As to prices, both of products and of domestic animals, it is easy to
eport actual average prices current in the local markets of the county,
‘so that our statements of average prices for each State, made fairly and
carefully by combining county prices in proportion to quantity of local
+
production, may be relied upon as substantially correct. Indeed, they -
furnish abundant internal evidence of correctness in the clearness of
their mirroring of all results of local causes of fluctuation. These prices
are those of home markets, and furnish the only known data for show-
ing what the farmer actually receives for his produce before it passes
into the hands of the shippers and dealers.
YIELD OF FARM CROPS OF 1873. —
Corn.—It was said of the harvest of 1873, ‘there is no State in which
corn is a crop of any general importance which reports the yield of last
year.” The crop of the past yearis not only under average, but it is
less than that of the previous one. The following comparison gives the
figures of the past two years for several of the large corn-producing
States :
1873, | is74.. | States. 1873. | 1874.
States.
ERENTIGSREOY Ase oneness J poe cance | 22,5 AGH Sol! TNs 02 ho eee eee cece ce eee 21 18
Mente eces. eekin-jian-v-atoe | 29.5 2e6h LOWS T6291. Jie seek. Bees 29 29. 2
Wass ciance esis eee scala vlcw aceac 35 36 MISSODT «0. s0t- = faakee= scenes 23.5 16
Ppabiaat OAS AV A. | 25. 6 QT | Mangas) 13.01. De 39.1 12.3
The yields in the New England States are, about the same as those
of last year; those of the Middle States, a little less; and those of the
Southern States in most cases show a small reduction.
The loss was occasioned by—1, drought; 2, chinch-bugs; 3, grass-
hoppers. The latter came in overwhelming numbers, but were more
restricted in range than the chinches, and, unfortunately for them, came
too late to get more than the leavings of their more favored forerun-
ners.
Wheat.—The product of wheat is greater in the aggregate than in
any previous year, exceeding 300,000,000 bushels. There was an increase
of acreage of fully 2,500,000. The estimates of the following States
compare with the previous crop as follows:
States, 1873. 1874. States. 1873. 1874.
NS WaVGRkces es oes SoU bon otc e oe Ts55) 150 | MAW ISCONSIN oo = joo mms aa eee 16.5 TiS
Boennsylyaniant: Lescsol se. ees iee 14.2 1428 || Minnesota..-.02. 22.2022 -c isl leee 18.3 14.8
(LT ia ae 12 15 VOWS ui. cap hres oe ap pe tees 13 11.6
LY ce ee ee eee cenee 12/2 LAPS Ah eMSSOUTL 2Gcccscs cn ccoreeteereeee 12.8 13.5
Wng34ng ons cess Jee te ost See it. 2 ISO Wansash:- co. I25 OLS see 13.3
RINOIS vos cic corde cod ane wéceace 13.5 nO es | FAC OFe9 6 hi't) get Fe Se er MINES = 13,5 13.5
In general terms, the yield of winter wheat was greater than in 1873,
and that of spring wheat less. The line of division between the winter
and spring wheat may be drawn from Chicago to Leavenworth and
Southern Colorado. About all the spring wheat east of this line is the
little produced in New England and Northern New York. California
wheat, often classed as spring wheat, and so given in the census, is
properly winter wheat. It is sown as soon as rains come to aid in
germination, and during the rainy season.
Other grains.—The rate of yield of rye is greater in New England,
nearly the same as last year in the Middle States, and in the West is
not essentially different from the previous record, some of the States
making somewhat higher figures, and others a trifle lower. This cereal
5
is mainly used in the South for winter pasture, and only the seed is
required for the next crop. Product, 14,891,000 bushels, 98 per cent. of
the last crop.
The Eastern States and New York have increased yields of oats;
New Jersey and Pennsylvania show a decrease. The Southern States
mostly report decreased yields, the reduction being marked in Arkansas
and Tennessee; and in the Western States the decrease is generally
heavy. The following figures will illustrate the decline:
|
S tates. 1873. |. 1874. States. 1873. | 1874.
|
Kentucky + noc nOOc ee Sa eB eee goes 24 14. 4 Indians tea keke sete d pe RE ANEG),
_g | ta82 03s Ue ee es Q7 0657) THMo0isee sees inc fesc ote noe eee 30 17:5
Michigan occ a ectoes chs o SBR aeaeed 30. 2 27. | MONEY acres Anoedbostdeciesedeosoce 33 30,
The comparative scarcity is everywhere indicated by increase in
prices. Product, 240,000,000 bushels, a decline of nearly 30,000,000
bushels.
Barley yields somewhat less than last year in the Western States; in
the Eastern, where little is grown, there has been an improvement in the
rate of production. Product, 32,704,000, 1 per cent. increase.
Potatoes.—The yield in all of the New England States, except Rhode
Tsland, exceeds one hundred bushels per acre; of the remaining States,
only New York, Florida, California, and Oregon reach that average. In
the West the ravages of the beetle are ess marked and the rate of yield
generally increased, as the following estimates of yield per acre, in
bushels, indicate :
States. 1873. | 1874. | States. 1873, | 1874.
UGA bi We: a Ss 2S a i 70 76 | WINGS Go. hs ke a ens et ete 40 55
Wenamemyiss iS. fees eh SO. cl. 55 46) || Wisconsin=.|. J22S02 9 Si 2st 3 71 87
li 62 Es a 2 ee 85 71 | METINES OAL SS La seal = Sot ass- ase te 99 70
Tut bib SR lee pee le a ae ae 75 BY, WOW Bice sa Golss setenis a ste eee spk ae 44 63
HOTT sa s8eh6 CeCe gene 56 60 | MASS oma s ONC es es See ea 38 40
The aggregate is 106,000,000 bushels, about the same as the previous
crop.
Tobacco gives the smallest aggregates made in many years, both the
area in cultivation and rate of yield being small. <A special report beh
be made in the next monthly upon this crop.
Hay.—In nearly all of the Atlantic States the yields are greater than
last year, andin many of the Central and Western are somew vbat smaller.
A few figures will serve to illustrate this fact:
States. 1873.| 1874. || States. 1873. | 1874.
WNewaHammshire-- 2522525). 225220205 1.05 | 1.12 bt ane Lvitde weiss abst detee Saek ohie 1. 23 94
Massachusetts. -.22.2..2..2.20.2..- LOST eA. Ohio ch psy shes SRS. Ce. ARES 1. 05 90
ING VRS $2 i t..02/4) 1330 Micnigan ee ens See oe awe ene 1.15 | 1.00
BG cS ee ee ss ee is 7) ADT on Bee ae a. SURES eR OE ces 125 |i site
Maryland .......... 1.00 | 1.25 UTES: een gt ee alee bree a ae 2 a 1.25 | 1.20
WMirvinia: 7.2.05 S. 1.00} 1.05 Wisconsin 1.30 |) 1.10
South Carolina ... 1.10 | 1.00 Minnesota P884\"4 13a
Gtr Pane Sa, 7 ee es! L035 |, lel TOR as eb. Asset ws A Lo eceee 1.25 |, 1.22
The yield in 1873 was avera ged at 1.14 tons per acre ; in 1875, 1.16 tons.
The product aggregates about 25,500,000 tons, an increase of 500,000
tons. .
6
Sorghum.—This crop is still cultivated in all except the New England
States, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Louisiana, Oregon, and Cali-
fornia. It is grown merely for its sirup, and more largely in the West
than elsewhere. The yield per acre is generally about the same as in
1873, the average number of gallons per acre being thus reported in the
following States:
States. 1873. | 1874. States. 1873. | 1874.
ierih) Canolina 4a <n bis sas demee 73 68 OU Ais eee 86 78
(Cage hy Lace et Oe nee Sse eer ROe. 89 67 ndiaits Soto Fee ee eee 85 89
REITER EG cet temrore aise wrote ee errs 80 75 TUN O18 os eae 61 92
ANGI G Revie ecm bra. scmcines apace 73 91 TOW2)'. saveccpe dese. dane aes yet 110
Buckwheat same as last year, nearly 9,000,000 bushels.
For further details of these and other crops, the reader is referred to
the tables in this number.
PRICES OF FARM-CROPS.
Corn.—The price of corn in this country is governed by the quantity
grown, the abundance or scarcity of other feeding-material having a
slight modifying influence. The foreign demand, averaging between 1
and 2 per cent., and reaching in recent years 3 per cent., is too small to
be a disturbing element in the market... The commercial assertion, that
the foreign value of an exported article fixes its home-price, while par-
tially true of wheat, fails almost utterly in its application to corn. So
we usually see the lowest prices of corn when we have the largest pro-
ducts; but an average crop of wheat, with larger foreign crops, may
bring lower prices than a more prolific one with deficient harvest
abroad. A reference to the records of estimated production and cur-
rent prices in past years illustrates this truth, and at the same time
attests the accuracy of the records. The quantity produced and aver-
age prices of recent years are as follows:
In 1868, 906,000,000 bushels, valued at 62 cents per bushel.
In 1869, 874,000,000 bushels, valued at 75 cents per bushel.
In 1870, 1,094,000,000 bushels, valued at 54 cents per bushel.
In 1871, 991,000,000 bushels, valued at 48 cents per bushel.
In 1872, 1,092,000,000 bushels, valued at 39 cents per bushel.
In 1873, 932,000,000 bushels, valued at 48 cents per bushel.
In 1874, 854,000,000 bushels, valued at 65 cents per bushel.
The price in 1873 would have been at least 10 per cent. higher than
in 1871, but for the effect of the monetary panic on prices generally.
The price at the close of 1872 was 15 cents lower than in 1870, partly
from gradual decline in prices and in part because the surplus of old
corn was much smaller in the latter year, the combined product of
1869~70 being 1,968,000,000 bushels ; of 1871~72, 2,083,000,000 bushels ;
a difference of 115,000,000 bushels. At the present time, a season of
continued monetary depression, the average price is 65 cents, 10 cents
less than in 1869, when the crop was 20,000,000 bushels greater. In
1871, a medium crop, with a large surplus of the immense product of
1870, and a tendency to lower values generally, caused a reduction of 5
cents per bushel.
The crops of 1869 and 1874 are the shoitest for many years, and the
prices naturally the highest.
7
The December prices of the past six years, in the States on the
fortieth parallel, are compared as follows :
States. _ 1874. 1873. | 1872. 1871, 1870. 1869.
: Cents. | Cents. | Cents. | Oents. | Cents. | Cents.
STR OUPetestaa ls oiai<ia'vic n(n a e0/n|s'e onion aseceaiscesecsene 82 62 62 15 81 9
TRE leteechelainin a) au) oa alm aie'e(nio's\cinine anes = <id'vec ce 76 60 60 717 15 92
EE eo lateia aig nin w ojo fatabfe heen a= nas moe dceeed 58 42 34 45 48 72
Uthoo) 2-45 20335 eee 51 40 29 a3 ir 38 70
(io. o--s:5 2226S SSSeRSeesessrsomersseoossced 56 32 24 32 35 57
II oe en ialo a) nc (na <ialas omiclnin aie seis a dice cle tatya ott 43 31 18 23 34 50
Ee ietenic sa cians actinic as ss cesses coneivaed =H 73 28 18 25 36 37
These figures indicate plainly the first and last years of the period as
years of scarcity. The present prices are lower than those of 1869,
because the product is somewhat less, and on account of the general
reduction in values, especially since the summer of 1873. In Illinois,
the difference is but 1 cent per bushel, and the rate of yield is less
for the present crop. In Indiana, where the price in 1869 was 19 cents
higher than now, the yield in 1874 is four bushels more per acre than
in 1869. In Iowa the yield in both years was better and the price lower
than in the other States, with: one marked exception—Nebraska, in
1869, giving 42 bushels per acre, worth 37 cents; in 1874 only 10 bush-
els, commanding the extraordinary figure of 73 cents. This constant
variation of local prices of: corn illustrates forcibly the fact that they
are governed mainly by local demand,
The lowest (State average) price of corn of the crop of 1874 is found
in Iowa, 43 cents. The average of Indiana and of Minnesota is 51
cents ; that of Kentucky, 55; of Llinois, the great corn State, with arate -
of yield unprecedentedly low, 56; Ohio, 58. Those between 60 and 70
cents are West Virginia, 61 cents; Wisconsin, 63; Virginia, 64; Mich-
igan, 65; Tennessee, 68. Between 70 and 80 cents, Delaware, 70; North
Carolina, 72; Nebraska, because of chinch-bugs and grasshoppers,
stands with Maryland at 73; Missouri, afflicted with insect plagues
and drought, 74; Texas, 75; Pennsylvania, 76. New Jersey is the
only State making record between 80 and 90. Then comes suffering
Kansas, whose crop last year was worth but 31 cents, at 91 cents; fol-
lowed by Georgia, 92; New York and Alabama, 93; Oregon, 94;
Arkansas, 95; California, 98; Florida, 99. The home-growth of South
Carolina and Louisiana is worth $1; Mississippi, $1.01; and the New
England States, whose corn, always higher in price than Western, is
held at $1.10 to $1.18 per bushel.
Wheat.—The average value per bushel of the large crop of 1869 was
94 cents. The next crop was under an average, estimated at 236,000,000
bushels, valued at $1.04. Another under-medium crop was gath-
ered in 1871, 231,000,000, valued at $1.25. That of 1872, estimated at
250,000,000 was valued at $1.24. The crop of 1873 was a full one, and
the rate of valuation receded to $1.15. Three deficient crops in Great
Britain made a strong demand for wheat, as is shown by the exports
(in wheat and flour) of 182,520,878 bushels in the last period of three
years against 136,192,092 bashels of the previous period of three years,
an increase of 46,328,786 bushels.
Year ending June, 1868....... 29,717,201 | Year ending June, 1871...... 38,995, 755
Year ending June, 1869....... 53,900,780 | Year ending June, 1872...... 52, 014, 715
Year ending June, 1870....... 52,574,111 | Year ending June, 1873......- 91,510, 408
The present crop exceeds 300,000,000 bushels, and the average’ value
has receded to 94 cents. The general European deficiency in’ 1873
8
caused heavy shipments throughout 1874, up to September, mainly from
our crop of 1873, which will aid in swelling our aggregate for the fiscal
year ending June 30,1874. The abundant harvests abroad in 1874
have caused this decline, which will probably go no further unless a
prospect of heavy European production in 1875 should receive general
credence. .
The following statement of prices in several prominent wheat-growing
States, since 1869, will fairly illustrate the range of local prices in those
years.
States. 1874, 1873. 1872, 1871. 1870. 1869.
NODIOM eee eafots oe spe. 5 baee cane See ed ope Boa sp ceed $1 04 | $131) $142) $126] $1 09 $1 03
JCS Ee SE eeee ser acer merrs sorter sae steccsor- se 1 08 1 35 1 46 1 32 1 97
VV GLicl te ne se Seo See Rees Se ree ey et BL 94 1 22 1 32 1 26 1 00 93
PUI OIG w= dewchiara le = + Pays owl eee oe SS SEs bees 86 1 10 1 23 118 94 76
UNC ONSIN Jn 5) batts beat ane sh denise eecies peed 83 97 1 03 LBL 90 68
MMM MUSGbA {223.65 - 65 ob cates i te em SRLS 70 80 83 1 00 83 59
Wee ho daa aha ccc abs cadtcea ccc’ deetameaneeeeceos 65 79 85 96 78 52
SUASSOUPH . ffs ocd coc eet there ee eee eee 83 1 13 1 41 1 16 91 80
BOnsas $22. 2 ore fs oo. Oe ee eS. I eee 84 1 00 1 42 113 86 79
ANB OLAB KA CG oie aie cae cjak om oven oe Soe thes mn = 5, Lee ee 60 15 78 90 64 51
As the smallest crop of corn and the highest prices are seen in 1869
and 1874, so the largest product of wheat and the lowest prices occur
in the same years. In the above. statement of ten prominent wheat-
growing States, the prices for each State in these years are lower, with-
out a single exception, than in any intervening year. Those of 1872 are
the highest, and, in the winter-wheat States, the next highest prices
are in 1873, and, in the spring-wheat States, in 1871. <A large yield
was obtained in 1873, but the continued foreign deficiency sustained
prices, so that the import of United States wheat in that year cost $3.26
per cwt. in gold, against $3.25, the cost of the previous year’s importa-
tion; but the imports of 1864 cost only $3.07, being mainly from the
crop of 1873.
COMPARATIVE NUMBERS AND PRICES OF FARM-ANIMALS.
NumBErs.—A slight increase of horses is reported in most of the
States, largest in Nebraska, Tennessee, Missouri, and Wisconsin. In
mules, the largest ratio of increase has been made in the following
States, in the order named : Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio,
Kansas. In milch cows the increase has been larger than in other
kinds of neat stock. In Minnesota an increase of 13 per cent. is re-
ported, and in Nebraska 8 per cent. This tendency is strong in Maine
and Connecticut, where the dairy interest is a growing branch of agri-
culture, the reported advance being 6 per cent. In Wisconsin the in-
crease is 5 per cent.; 4 per cent. in New York, Iowa, California, and
Oregon. In other bovine stock, oxen and other cattle, a decrease is
reported in all States except Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecti-
cut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, Ohio, Indi-
ana, Minnesota, Iowa, and Oregon. Texas is reported at 98 per cent.
In Kansas and Nebraska many animals have been sold at any available
price, from want of feed to winter them. There is some increase in
sheep in the New England States, in Texas and Arkansas in the south-
west, in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the northwest, and on the Pacific
coast. The largest decline has been in swine, in which nearly every
State has participated. The aggregate percentages of the farm-stock
of last year, as reported by statistical correspondents on the 1st of Jan-
9
uary, are as follows: Horses, 102; mules, 104; milch cows, 102; oxen
and other cattle, 100; sheep, 99; swine, on.
Prickhs.—The average prices and total valuation of farm-animals of
the United States, reported in January of each year, bas been as follows,
since 1867:
Horses. Mules. Cows.
Years. re - i, - mn
verage verage verage
price. Total value. price. Total value. price: Total value.
OGY 3 SAR Oot SECO nae nOnee $79 46 | $429, 271, 818 $92 52 | $76, 094, 954 $39 77 | $322, 968, 141
75 16 432, 696, 226 77 61 66, 415, 769 36 78 319, 681, 153
84 16 | 533, 024, 787 106 74 98, 386, 359 39 11 361, 752, 676
1 38 | 671,319, 461 109 O1 | 128, 584, 796 39 12 394, 940, 745
78 52 | 683, 257, 587 101 53 | 126, 127, 786 of a3 374, 179, 093
73 37 | 659, 707, 916 94 82 |) 121, 027, 316 31 97 329, 408, 983
74.21 | 684, 463, 957 95 15-| 124, 658, 085 29-72 314, 358, 931
71 45 | 666, 927, 406 89 22 | 119,501, 859 27 99 299, 609, 309
Other cattle. Sheep. Swine.
Years. a is
Average verage verage
price. Total value: price. Total value. price. Total value.
$249, 351, 682 $3 37 | $132, 774, 660 $5 43.) $134,111, 424
2495144, 599 2)52 98, 407, 809 4 55 110, 766, 266
306, 211, 473 2 17 82, 139, 979 6 26 146, 188, 755
346, 926, 440 2 28 93, 364, 433 6 99 187, 191, 502
369, 940, 056 232 74, 035, 837 6 20 182, 602, 352
321, 562, 693 2 80 88, 771, 197 4 36 138, 733, 828
329, 298, 755 2 96 97, 922, 350 4 09 133, 729, 615
310, 649, 803 2.61 88, 690, 569 4 36 134, 565, 526
While the above give the average value for the United States of all
kinds of farm-animals, the different local values of cattle may be seen
in the following record of a dozen States of different sections of the
country, showing the effect of proximity to market, of improvement in
breed or condition, in increasing values :
Cows.
Years.
m pate New York.| Virginia. Texas, Ohio. Illinois.
TR pape Ses stem cw kay EE a $59 80 $57 22 $29 71 $11 20 $44 94 $35 90
12S eo og 67 11 52 54 28 11 10 29 43 07 36 62
OSG) as ES oe eee ene 67 59 54 14 28 76 9 12 43 00 38 11
LRG 710) a SEE I 57 00 54 11 30 04 10 67 44 77 37 02
ier ALL SE LO A 59 16 48 51 29 09 12 33 45 09 37 68
S02 ee cpt scese sou. ssl. 39 87 39 53 24 93 14 12 37 36 33 77
UA! 3 fae 41 16 34 00 23 69 13 50 32 18 30 45
Per EEO eet ys VFO L, 45 00 30 50 22 00 15 25 29 57 30 03
Other cattle.
Years.
Massaclu- | New York.| Virginia. | Texas. Ohio Llinois.
“Ee aay At LO et $44 69 $39 46 $17 08 $5 59 $36 39 $23 48
Weiss OAs Peo re 5 46 15 39 79 18 86 5 14 29 58 24 42
Repo Mercer ese se ores ott i 54 41 46 67 20 39 5 78 34 04 27 35
LLG) pe ied Re ee aes 49 48 45 91 20 42 6 10 33 99 25 10
Magapen ectnbes ts o2 AE burr: 01 44 66 42 27 21 34 7 37 35 34 26 02
Ue a a ee eee 35 21 34 10 17 21 g 10 29 50 22 58
Lis. 3 Gel 1 61a OS i NR eo 39 86 34 05 16 87 7 51 ey 23 89
UST Gs CN ema 39 18 28 88 17 20 8 09 26 30 24 03
10 :
As compared with the record of last January, young horses are a little
higher; in the Middle States there is a decline in value of horses of all
ages; throughout the South the depression is still more positive; in
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota prices of last year are well sus-
tained, while elsewhere in the West they are either stationary or declin-
ing. A few examples are given:
1874. 1873.
WETTED ere $32 20 | $51 00 | $78 30 |$114 00 | $28 60 | $49 33 | $73 06 | $106 0
GAT) 20s odessa yensepe ser keaea 36 54} 59 74} 88 30 | 11811] 38 20] 63 67} 9254} 125 50
Pennsyivamare. 9 SSeSSc6 Bi LLCS Ser 37 02 63 72 | 92 25 | 123 20 40 11 68 33 98 08 130 02
Rashi. dhe eee eee 35 00 | 5617] 8095} 106 20} 3850) 61 40| 8420] 110 50
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The prices of mules of different ages have nearly every where declined.
They maintain their ascendency, however, in comparison with the prices
of horses of the same ages.
Milch-cows command better prices on the Northern Atlantic coast, and
in some of the Western States. In the South they generally yield some-
what to the prevailing depression there. The comparison is as follows
in the States mentioned :
Me. Vt. Pa. Va. Ga. Tex. Ohio. Wis. Lowa. Kans.
1874.... $39 50 $36 40 $35 42 $22 94 $18 85 $13.33, $30.42 $26 37 $26 50 $20 65
1873.... 37,50 3550 33.25 22 00,,18.54..15°25,,.29.57, 26 28 2650 25 30
The low price in Kansas results from the scarcity of corn and other
supplies for wintering milch-cows.
In most of the Northern Atlantic States cattle bear somewhat higher
prices. In South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas there is little
change; in other Southern States a decline, partly in consequence of
searcity of money and forced sales. In the upper portion of the Ohio
Valley prices are well sustained; in the region of drought, chinches, and
grasshoppers a decline appears.
Prices of sheep are higher in the Eastern and Middle, on the Pacific
coast, and in some of the Western States, where unequal conditions of
production have disturbed values in this as in other departments of
stock-growing.
Prices of hogs have advanced very materially. The reduction in
numbers, and the high price of corn, have cunspired to make a great
advance in prices, as is indicated by this example of prices of old hogs:
POINTS Pa. Ga. Ohio. Til. Mo. Kans.
USL -o ne See $15 40 $1780 $6 21 $12 12 $10 50. $5.50 $6 67
1873 13 04. 11,20 4 90 9.12 8 50 6 00 8 52
ee ee ie
A few notes from regular correspondence are given as indicative of
the changes in prices and their causes:
Marne.— Piscataquis : A small increase in the numbers of neat stock ; but the price
per head is less than last year, owing to scarcity of money.
VERMONT.—Orleans : Cows constitute four-fifths of the stock of this county. A few
‘farmers have a few large sheep, excellent for mutton. Caledonia: Dairymen, as arule,
raising instead of buying their cows. A falling off in sheep, as butter pays better than
wool. Grand Isle: Milch cows are unusually high; the same of beef cattle, $7 to $9
per hundred, including beef, hide, and tallow.
ConnecticutT.—New London: Since the distemper ceased many horses have been
brought here from Canada; also many mules, oxen, and other cattle have been brought
from the West. ;
New York.—Lrie: Some farmers are getting rid of their old serub cows, procuring
* 11
others, and keeping them better. Tompkins: Nomules raised; beginning toimportthem
from the Southwestern States. Farmers believe that they can do their work cheaper
with them than with horses. Queens: Mules are little raised ; but are getting into favor
for farm and truck-work. Only two towns raise sheep. Many of our farmers purchase
stock sheep from western’supplies. Orange: For several years the systematic breeding
and development of horses has been largely engaged in by some of our enterprising
citizens. Large farms are devoted almost exclusively to this business. The horses are
bred, trained, and kept or sold solely with a view to their qualities as roadsters, speed
being the most desirable quality. These horses frequently command almost fabulous
prices. As they are not reared for ordinary farming purposes, they ought not, perhaps,
be regarded as farm stock, and have not been estimated at their full appraised value
in the list of prices given; if they were, it would raise the price at least 25 per cent.
Warren: No demand for working-oxen compared with previous years, horses taking
their place for labor to a large extent. Sheep sought after for raising lambs for mar-
ket. Jefferson: A prospect that more young cattle and colts will be raised in 1875 than
in any year since 1872.
New Jrersey.—Warren: Very few mules raised; brought from the West in large
droves, three years old and older, and when broke to the harness worth, on the average,
$300 per pair. A great many are used on the canal. Milch cows in demand and prices
better than last year. Lambs were contracted for in May and June for early market
at an average of $6 per head; those not contracted for at that time fell back to about
$4 per head. “Drove-sheep” sold in August and September at an average of $5 per
head. 'Towardsspring a higher price isdemanded for ewes coming in. Live hogs have
higher price than a year ago.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Northampton:/Good cows of good stock bring $65 to $75, while dry
cows of ordinary stock will not; bring over half that price.- Pike: Our farmers are begin-
ning to discover the importance of sheep-husbandry ; a number of flocks have recently
been brought into this county.- Hlk: Under the head “oxen and other cattle” nearly
all over three years are working-cattle, which are worth only a little more than their
value for beef, owing to the almost total cessation of the lumbering business in this
section. Montgomery: The number of horses larger than last year, when our number
had been greatly reduced by the epizooty. Perry: No sale for horses for the last six
months. A decreasein milch cows, oxen, and hogs, owing to the short hay-crop. Clear-
field: The panic times has had. the effect.to reduce the price of all stock very largely,
and the lumbering operations being curtailed to a very great extent, has also effected a
great change in prices. Westmoreland: Very few mules are now raised ; they are gen-
erally brought from the Western States. Indiana: Horses lower in price than they have:
been for twenty years; stock-cattle lower in price than usual at this season; sheep and
hogs in demand at fair prices,and looking up. Lehigh: Horses very plenty, and but
few sales. The furnaces now have their railroads and steam-power for nearly all the
work heretofore done by horses. More than one-half the iron-ore beds have suspended
work, and those in operation work by steam. McKean: Three or four hundred beef-
cattle have been brought into our county from Ohio. Washington: Horses so plenty
and cheap that, compared with former years, few are raised. Cattle for beef having
brought excellent prices for several months, are now pretty well run off. Hogs, scarce
and high. Armstrong: Horses are increasing far beyond the demand; prices tending
downward rapidly. Sheep and hogs in demand at good prices. Chester: Broken oxen
worth $150 to $200 per pair ; steers, $45 per head; fresh cows, $60 ; dry cows, $30; yearling
or summer lambs, $4.50; stock-ewes, $3; wethers, $4.50 ; Hogs, 9 cents per pound, live-
weight. fulton: No sales for horses, colts, or mules. rie: Horses as plenty as one
year ago, and about 15 per cent. lower. Lycoming: Prices of horses and mules consid-
erably lower than at this time last year, owing to scarcity of money and general busi-
ness depression; but owing to the very low prices for cattle and hogs for some years
past, farmers have raised fewer ; consequently they have become somewhat scarce and
are higher in price.
MAryYLanv.— Baltimore: Prices of second and third class horses reduced ; first-class
up to the average at this season. Dorchester: Horses and mules are on the increase,
but work-oxen and hogs on the decrease, in this county. Farmers are beginning to
find out that sheep are paying well. Washington: Hogs are not so plenty, and some-
thing higher than a year ago. Cecil: The demand for the meat of sheep under one
year old makes them more valuable than older ones.
VIRGINIA.— Northampton: A scarcity of hogs and demand for pork. Bedford: The
number of horses increased 10 per cent., but scarcity of money makes prices low com-
pared with former years. Price.of cattle low. Farmers are looking with more favor
on sheep-raising. The stock of hogs has depreciated at least 50 per cent., owing to
“cholera,” which is still prevailing. Henrico: Prices lower for all kinds of stock, ex
cept hogs, which are high, and milch cows, which are not much reduced from last
year. Pittsylvania: Live-stock in general increased somewhat, owing to the higher
price for tobacco and a slight increase in immigration. Dinwiddie: The number of
horses increased from two causes—-increased area in cotton and the raising of colts
12 ;
low in price, owing to short crops of cotton and tobacco. A disposition to increase the
number and improve the quality of cows, and, in fact, all kinds of stock. Sheep
steadily increasing, notwithstanding the ravages of dogs and rogues. Madison: Mules
increasing and becoming more popular as farm-animals. A greater disposition to
engage in sheep husbandry, and sheep improving under better treatment. Hogs
scarce. Prince William: The financial condition has cansed a decline in all domestic
animals except sheep. General attention being paid to the improvement of animals—
improved breeds of cattle. Southampton : Horses and mules not raised ; generally pur-
chased from droves. Small farmers are raising oxen for farm-work. Hogs few, owing
to searcity of corn, but farmers are slowly returning to the old plan of raising their
own bread and meat. ing Wiiliam: But for negroes, hogs would increase greatly.
Spottsylvania: More attention paid to the raising of sheep. Bland: Horses and mules
running very low. Hogs scarce and high. Highland: Many horses raised for market;
not many mules for outside markets; oxen and other cattle more raised than any
other stock, and annually driven to the northern and eastern markets in great num-
bers. Milch cows receive much attention, andare a source of great profit to the county.
James City: The increase of mules is due to purchases by the lumbermen. Have never
seen a dozen mule-colts, all told, in the county. The increase of sheep is due principally
to our enterprising men, who have imported quite a large number from North Caro-
lina. Clarke: No mules bred in the county; most of those now here are vestiges of
the war. Essex: Horses and mules are 25 per cent. lower than last year, owing to
scarcity of money. Joanoke: Oxen not raised to any great extent; a good yoke, well
broken, worth about $30. Wythe: No mules raised ; some bought annually, to work
at the iron-works. Montgomery: A marked increase in the number of cattle, sheep,
and hogs, and great improvements in breeds. The farmers are generally getting into
breeds of Short-horns in cattle, the Cotswold in sheep, Berkshire and White Chester in
hogs, and the Norman or some other improved breed of horses. bath: The decrease
in cattle owing to a light crop of hay.
Nortu Carorina.—Lincoln: Work-oxen are worth 50 per cent. more than other cat-
tle. Lenoir: Very little stock of any kind raised for sale... Nine-tenths of the horses
and mules used are brought from Tennessee, Kentucky, and other places. What cows,
sheep, and hogs are raised are used on the farms, Pitt; Only about 10 per cent. of the
horses and mules required are raised here; but this branch is annually receiving more
attention. We raise our own supply of oxen and cattle, but none for export. Only a
few sheep raised. Beaufort: Cattle increasing in number quite rapidly, but little im-
provement in quality. Franklin: Very few horses and mules raised. The supply is
kept up by purchases from the West. Hogs are sold by weight, and the price is now
10 to 12 cents per pound. Davidson: The short corn-crop last year induced many farm-
ers to kill out their hog stock so closely as to occasion an absolute scarcity this winter.
Mitchell: The average price given for hogs is for common stock. The Chester and Es-
sex breeds are being introduced, for which we pay, at two months old, $6 per head.
Wilkes: The distemper in cattle is the cause of decrease. It has prevailed in several
sections of the county during the past year. As the hog-cholera has about disappeared,
the stock is increasing. Ashe: A decrease in cattle on account of scarcity of hay,
caused by drought. Jackson: Horses and mules increasing on the farmers’ hands for
want of a market in the cotton-growing districts. Oxen and cows have decreased,
from the fact that they could be sold for cash, and this has been the farmers’ only
means to meet taxes and other necessary expenses. Buncombe: Cholera has dimin-
ished our stock of hogs one-fourth. Caldwell: Much inferior stock of all kinds, and
very little demand for any kind.
SournH CAROLINA.—Barnwell: There are toomany dogs for the welfare of sheep, and
the negroes think they have a pre-emption right to the hogs and young cattle. Union:
A very large portion of the horses and mules are brought from other States, principally
from Kentucky and Tennessee. From the same States come nearly all the hogs. Lex-
ington: The prices of all kinds of stock low, corresponding with the panic prices of
1873.
GrorGIA.— Troup : More colts this year than since 1866, and there will be more next
year than this. Moreattention tohogs. Few sheep, but a demand for more. Columbia:
But few sheep and few hogs. The falling off in prices in horses and mules is owing to
the fact that factors have sold to the freedmen, without security, low animals at high
prices and at enormous interest. The freedmen, after paying landlords rent, have not
been able to pay up; short crops, short prices, and extraordinary interest, have put our
freedmen “hors du combat.” The factors have ‘called in” these animals, upon which
perhaps two-thirds of the money has been paid, and they are sold, perhaps at public
outery, to the highest bidder, bringing, of course, but a fraction of first cost. Camden:
No mules are raised; brought from Kentucky and Tennessee, and used principally in
lumbering and the rice-fields. De Kalb: When the war closed there was very little stock
left in this county. The people have supplied themselves with horses and mules and
most of their pork from the West. Some cattle, sheep, and hogs are now raised,
and oncein a while acolt and mule, but none for market, except as occasionally some
13
farmer accumulates more than he needs. Charlton: No improved stock; none but
range-hogs—“ piney woods land-pikes.” Forsyth: Horses, mules, and cattle very low,
owing principally to scarcity of money. Hogs, scarce and high, not over one-fourth
of a supply slaughtered. Schley: Farmers are inclined to raise sheep again, but dogs
are adrawback. Zowns: Horses, mules, cattle, and sheep very low, owing to scarcity
of money ; horses and mules 25 per cent. lower than at this time last year. Chattooga:
Raise cattle and hogs for home consumption, and buy mules from Kentneky and Ten-
nessee. Upson: Some planters grow hogs enough for their own family consumption,
but none for sale; but there are signs of a change; a few have already embarked in a
small way in growiug colts, sheep, and hogs. Decatur: Sheep decreasing in number,
Very few whites are permitted to own hogs, except in localities where there are no
freedmen.
FiLoriwa.— Hillsborough : ‘The cattle business dying out. A very lively interest in
getting improved breeds of hogs. Gadsden: A growing attention to the raising of do-
mestic animals, and a perceptible increase in the number of horses. Our home-raised
horses are as efficient on the farms as mules, and are thought to be less liable to disease
than imported mules,
ALABAMA.— Bullock: A marked increase in stock of allkinds ; planters are giving more
attention to this branch of industry, and are becoming more independent. Covington:
The loss of hogs from cholera islarge. Lauderdale: Owing to the short crop of grain and
forage, the price of horses and mules has declined at least 50 per cent., and the number
of stock-cattle and oxen has been diminished of necessity in the way of beef. Milch
cows have been preserved as a matter of economy. The number of hogs greatly de-
creased, owing to quinsy, cholera, and want of corn to feed them. Calhoun: Not enough
horses and mules grown to keep up the number; they are brought from Tennessee and
Kentucky. The decrease in the number of hogs is mainly owing to cholera and want
of proper feeding. Franklin; Prices nominal; the great scarcity of money has caused
business to stagnate somuch that there are but few sales of anything. Morgan: Money
being exceedingly scarce, there is scarcely such a thing asan exchange of stock for cash.
A good work-horse, 154 hands high and without a blemish, was recently sold to the
highest bidder for $40, and that I think wasaboutan average of the forced sales. Lime-
stone: All kinds very low ; horses and mules sold at public sale at $3 to $50 per head. A
large proportion of the farm-stock owned by the freedmen. Marion: Sheep have been
diminishing for four or five years; do well when properly cared for. Wilcox: Stock of
all kinds much cheaper than heretofore. Blownt: Stock raised for home use; none for
market.
MissIssipPl.—Grenada: Cattle and hogs are about the only stock we try to raise,
and the depredations of thieves on them have so discouraged farmers that they are
about to abandon the raising of them. De Soto: The scarcity of money has decreased
values toa very low figure. Amite: Horses, cattle, and hogs on the increase; mules
and sheep decreasing. The prices of all kinds of stock less than last year, owing to large
supply and stringency of money. Marion: Decrease in hogs owing to hog-cholera;
still raging. Lowndes: Nine years ago there was an abundant supply of all kinds of
stock, cattle, hogs, sheep, and nearly enough mules to supply the demand; now one
may ride through the county and not see a dozen hogs, very few cattle, no sheep,
empty cribs, poor mules, desolation and ruin on every hand, Those who would raise
stock are prevented by the midnight raids of thieves. Succeeded in raising. my weat
till the last three years, but it costs about 25 cents per pound from stealage. Madison :
The hogs are yearly decreasing, owing to the great uncertainty of keeping them from
being stolen, and to the bad fences not protecting the crops from them.
LouisIaANa.— Rapides : No stock of any kind raised for sale. Washington: A falling-
off in stock generally, especially in cattle, owing to the fact that the range in part of:
the parish has been completely eaten out, and farmers are obliged to sell off all stock
they cannot winter ; and in hogs owing to the prevalence of disease, by which the
number is not half as large as last year. Morehouse: Horses, colts, and mules never
raised here for market. The prices of horses and mules at least 10 per cent. lower than
a year ago; not enough sheep.and hogs raised for home consumption, and the number
of hogs is annually decreasing. Assumption: The bad condition and losses of cattle in
Louisiana are due principally to a want of shelter and proper feeding. Diseases here
are seldom heard of; cattle die from starvation and exposure. Heayy losses are gen-
erally confined to one or two plantations, caused by bad treatment.
TExas.—Angelina: The average price of stock, $4 per head; cows and calves, $5 per
head, or $10 for cow and calf; hogs mostly wild, and all depend on the mast for feed ;
very few sheep. Caldwell: The decrease in cattle is chiefly from driving and shipping
to various points, chiefly Kansas, Saint Louis, and Chicago. Cherokee: But little stock
changing hands, and at greatly-reduced prices, owing to the short cotton-crop and
scarcity of money. Dallas: Among some fine Durhams imported from Missouri, the
loss of grown cattle by acclimation was about 50 per cent.; the loss of yearlings was
very small, say 5 per cent. Sheep have gone by. A lively interest in the improve-
ment of hogs. We have some fine breeds of Suffolks, Poland China, Berkshire, and
14
Chester Whites. Henderson: Oxen sell at from $40 to $50 per pair or yoke. Rusk:
Many horses and mules have been driven here for sale, and the low price of cotton and
scarcity of money have reduced the price fully 25 per cent. Titus: Horses of
common stock increasing in number; also mules of the better grade, while the -
Mexican half-breeds are rapidly decreasing. Beef-cattle increasing, but oxen de-
clining, mules taking their place. A rapid decrease in hogs, owing to an unknown
disease which causes sudden death. Kendall: Increasing interest in raising mules,
which are more salable and remunerative than horses. The quality of hogs im-
proving by crossing native with imported stock. They require no feeding; acorns,
plums, wild apples, cherries, and grapes being amply sufficient. Milch cows selling
for nearly three times as much as they did three years ago. A general disposition
to improve the stock by importation. Houston: More hogs than cows, and at least
two milch cows, one horse, and perhaps one mule, to every inhabitant ; few sheep ;
have never known horses, mules, oxen, cows, or sheep sold under three years old.
Grayson: Asthe wild grass of the county is just failing, herds of cattle are being driven
out west. Owing to meager prices, horses and mules are accumulating. Red River:
The number of ponies or common stock makes the average price of horses low. Mules
in demand, but scarcity of money reduces the average price. Oxen and other cattle
are decreased in number from the shortness of crops and scarcity of feed. Hogs very
scarce owing to continued prevalence of cholera. Williamson: The increase in horses
and mules is owing to the fact that there has not been a demand for them. Work-
oxen, well broke, sel! readily for $50 to $65 per yoke. Beeves over four years old sold
last month for $25 per head. Milch cows not sold as formerly to be driven to Kansas ;
it is more profitable to keep them. Several flocks of sheep added to the number in the
county within the past year. More attention to them than formerly ; it has been found
thatit pays better. Only hogs enough raised forhome consumption. Wood: Beef cattle
. killed up very close this year, owing'to the high price of bacon and the scarcity of money
with which to buy it. Hogs have died toa considerable extent with cholera. Fayette ;
Sheep on the decrease in consequence of more attention to farming. Horses rate low
because there are very few good ones in'the county. Cattle decreasing in numbers but
advancing in price; better breeds being introduced. Grown cattle, of fine blood, brought
from the Northern and Western States, do not live long; brought young, they do a
great deal better. Hogs scarce, but better breeds being introduced. Cullin: An in-
crease of horses raised of over 25 per cent., but the Government has bought largely for
cavalry purposes within the past year, which keeps the number down. The decrease
in cattle is due to the fact that several large cattle-owners have moved their herds far-
ther west for better range. Bosque: At least 25 per cent. of the whole number of beef
cattle have been driven off the past year, and the demand seems to be increasing and
prices better. There is also a demand for mules and more attention to raising them.
But few sheep. Burnet: Stock horses have been doing well, the loss of colts being
smaller than for several years. Work-horses are sold at an average price of $80.
The number of mules raised increasing, but still insignificant. The increase in
cattle owing to the fact that very few have been driven out of the county. The price
of work-oxen ranges from $50 to $80 per yoke. For the purpose of improving native
stock, by crosses with short-horns, several small droves of fine cattle have been im-
ported by enterprising men, but the loss by death is so large as to be somewhat dis-
couraging. Bee: During the past year, thousands of sheep have been brought into
this from western counties. Zllis: No young cattle sold separate ; sales are either as
atock-cattle, which include cows, calves, yearlings, and two-year-olds, now worth $6
per head; or milch cows and calves, worth $20; or beeves, worth about $18 per head;
or work-oxen, $25 per head. Hogs only raised for home consumption. Smith: In-
ereased attention to hogs; improved breeds being introduced. De Witt: Raising better
horses than formerly, and mules receiving more attention. Cattle decreasing in num-
ber, but improving in quality. Sheep attracting much attention; more engaging in
raising them; all taking better care of them, and consequently making more money.
Hunt: The decrease in horses owing to the fact that native stock is gradually giving
way to improved breeds; the decline in price owing to general depression in trade.
Mules have been improved by finer stock raised and brought into the county. Oxen
are being dispensed with, on account of transportation furnished by railroads. Milch-
cows and hogs decreasing in numbers but improving in breeds. Live Oak: The falling
off in cattle owing to the fact of so much shipping and driving to Kansas the past
year. The price of stock (and lands) improving. Nueces: During the past year the
sale of cows for their hide and tallow has been partially discontinued, from necessity.
There is scarcely one cow or beef on the range now where there were ten ten years ago.
The ruinous business of shipping suckling calves of both sexes to the New Orleans
market still continues. The decrease in cattle on the ranges of all who practice this,
is making the pernicious results plain to all. Horses have done remarkably well
as regards increase, but poorly as regards remuneration, there being no market for the
surplus stock. A few mules have been sold, unbroken, at $40 per head. Except those
lost by the great storm in September, sheep have done as well as the most zealous
15
sheep-raiser could wish. Wool is the great staple grown here. Bell: Very few hogs
raised outside of inclosures, owing to depredations of bad white and black men. Hogs
greatly improved in quality by importations of Poland, China, and black Berkshires.
Neat cattle have been stolen, sold, and driven out of the county, until there is not
enough left for home consumption. Medina: All the prices reported are in gold.
Bandera: Mules mostly imported. Fat cattle, for shipping, are selling at $20 per head
in coin. Austin: The tendency of horse-raisers is to increase the number of mules.
Oxen fast disappearing, their place being taken by teams of horses and mules. The
number of improved hogs has increased very materially.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Never did we see horses so low. I can buy a horse,saddle, and
bridle for $40, which one year ago would have cost $150. The great increase in cattle
is due to those driven here from Texas. The decrease in sheep, caused by the heavy
consumption at Hot Springs; but about 5,000 are coming from Texas, which will stock
our county again. Van Buren: The decrease in oxen and other cattle owing to the
short crops; every farmer sold off all his surplus stock. Ouachita: Scarcity of provi-
sions has compelled the farmers to kill all cattle that were fat enough. There
have been scarcely any hogs here; they were killed by cholera in 1871. Fulton:
Owing to scarcity of corn and forage, farmers have disposed of their surplus stock, and
consequently all kinds are low in price, particularly cattle and hogs, except fatted hogs,
which are scarce. Jzard: Horses, mules, and cattle as plenty as last year, but no de-
mand for them, and but little to winter them on. Hogs exceedingly scarce. Pope:
Owing to a light crop, stock of every kind is much lower in price than last year. A
great many more cattle have been killed for beef than usual, owing to scarcity of
bacon as well as of feed.. Hogs have been neglected, but there is now a disposition to
give them more attention, and they are increasing. Arkansas: A more ready sale for
mules than other stock ; several droves haye been brought in and sold at $120 per head,
cash, and at $170 on a year’s time. The farmers are now raising mules. Cattle are.
plenty and cheap, owing to the. wantof hay. The wild hogs are mostly killed, and
wild-hog claims are cheap: \ Washington: Owing to scarcity of feed, those that would
buy hold over until spring; the seller would take a reduced price for all kinds sooner
than buy feed at the high figure.
TENNESSEE.—Lincoln: ‘Scarcely any demand for stock of any kind. It probably
would not bring more than half of what it would twelve months ago, if sold for cash,
owing to stringency of money and scarcity of feed. McNairy: Cattle, except milch-
cows, have been killed almost by wholesale, owing to the high price of bacon (for
which beef was substituted) and the'very short corn and hay crops. Coffee: No de-
mand for stock of any kind, except hogs, which have been sold at $7 per hundred,
gross. Bedford: Decrease in stock, owing to scarcity of feed, which has forced owners
to sell off all surplus stock ready for market at reduced prices. Giles: Owing to the
drought most of our stock and pork hogs were sold off in July—not enough fattened in
the county for home consumption. Very little demand for stock, and more on hand
than formerly. Blooded cattle command $50 to $200; blooded or trotting horses, $200
to $5,000; Cotswold and Southdown sheep, $10 to $20. Fayette: The price of every-
thing islow compared with any year since the war. Many complaints of hog-stealing ;
it is almost impossible to keep up the stock. Green: Bacon-hogs scarcer than
usual; more attention to improved hogs. Perry: Except hogs and sheep, stock of all
kinds is lower, and there is less demand for it than for twenty-five years. Smith:
The improvements in breeds of sheep is very decided, and a greatly increased in-
terest in sheep husbandry is growing up in the county. Jackson: Hogs exceedingly
scarce in this county; scarcely a supply of pork for home consumption. Owing to the
low prices of pork heretofore farmers have neglected hog-raising. Woodruff: The fail-
ure of mast for the past two years, with the short corn-crop, has considerably reduced
the hog-crop, both in numbers and quality. Grainger: Very litttle market for live-
stock of any kind, and all except hogs quite low in price, owing to scarcity of money.
The average price of stock-cattle is $1.50 to $2 per hundred, gross; some few fat cattle
‘are shipped East and South at $2 to $3, gross. Fat hogs,7 cents, net. Monroe: Horses
and mules low; no sales, and a surplus on hand. A slow but steady increase of
blooded sheep; and if we had a stringent dog-law, sheep husbandry would be
greatly increased. The low price of pork for a few years past has caused the
decrease in the number of hogs. Robertson: No local demand for stock at any
price. Hawkins: During the first quarter of the past year a larger number of
hogs of all ages died than for some years previous. Gibson: Farmers were com-
pelled to slaughter their surplus cattle to be able to winter the remainder, and
as there is neither corn nor forage to be had except at the most extravagant
prices, it is feared that large numbers of those will fall victims to extreme hunger.
Wayne: Stock of every kind is low down, owing to shortness of crops and a scar-
city of money; might say no sale at all. Blount: While there is a small increase
in numbers of horses and mules, there is a corresponding decrease in price. Quite a de-
¢rease in price of cattle. Think sheep will command a higher price within the year,
as a woolen factory will be in operation here in a short time. Hogs scarce, and in de-
16°
mand. Dickson: The prices of stock of all kinds under that of former years, owing to
scarcity of feed; large numbers of cattle and sheep butchered on this account. Deca-
tur: Searcity of money and of feed makes the prices of stock range low. Morgan:
More than 50 per cent. of the horses, and 75 per cent. of the mules, are owned by con-
tractors from other parts, now here operating on the line of railroad from Cincinnati
to Chattanooga. A larger number of cattle than usual has been slaughtered to feed
the laborers on this railroad. Lauderdale: Stock hogs, cattle, and horses, low, owing
to scarcity of corn and money. Lawrence: From present indications, the county will
be blessed with abundance of stock for all purposes at the opening of spring.
West Vireinia.—WMercer: Less than the usual number of horses sold, owing to
scarcity of money. More mules raised than in any previous year. The number of cat-
tle larger than-usual, owing to a lack of purchasers. Hogs scarce, and not much in
demand. Mineral: Horses more plenty and lower in price than ever known. Sheep
searce and high. Stock-hogs scarce. Marion: A decrease in cattle within last two
years, amounting to 20 per cent. or 10 per cent per annum, owing to droughts and
failure of grass-crops. An overstock of horses; markets low, and no demand at that.
Lineoln: A decrease in hogs, owing to cholera. Grant: Horses more plenty than usual,
and very dull sale. More mules raised of late, but few. The price of cattle a little
better than last year. Hogs selling at five cents per pound, gross. Milch-cows plenty,
and sale dull. Jackson: The decrease in stock owing to drought and scarcity of rough
feed. Ritchie: The falling off in almost all kinds of stock owing to shortness of the
hay-crop. Gilmer: Gradual increase in stock, owing to increasing population. Tyler :
More farmers than usual sold off cattle, sheep, and hogs, owing to scarcity of feed.
Monroe: Sheep rather scarce, andindemand. Horses plenty, and in very little demand
even at the low rates quoted.
KEntucky.—Shelby: The low prices of horses and mules owing to failure in demand
from the Southern and other markets. The falling off in oxen and other cattle is in
feeding cattle two and three years old. A large number of sheep was brought into ~
this county from districts in which drought prevailed. Marion: Last year there were
1,300 mules fed in this county, for the Southern market; this year there will be only
about 300; stock-hogs dying very rapidly with cholera. Jessamine: Hogs dying of
cholera. Jackson: The decrease in sheep is owing to sales to persons in other local-
ities. Fleming: A falling off in prices of all kinds of stock, except sheep and hogs.
Cumberland: Hogs exceedingly scarce, and bringing a high price. Boyle: The decrease
in hogs largely owing to the fact that high prices for fat hogs have caused the feeding
of much young stock. Owsley: Stock of all kinds low, owing to scarcity of money.
More mules in the county than for years, and no market for them; not much trade in
any stock, except fat hogs. McLean: Drought cut short our pasture, which induced a
great many of our farmers to dispose of their entire flocks of sheep. The number of
hogs greatly reduced by cholera. Hardin: Stock-hogs, 44 cents per pound ; fat hogs,
$6.50 per hundred. Breckinridge: Owing to the light crops, farmers disposed of all the
surplus stock they could; all kinds, except hogs, at very low prices. Nicholas: Mules
lower in price than last year ; hogs higher, by far. Graves’: A decrease of 30 per cent.
in hogs, caused by cholera. Metcalfe: More cattle and sheep shipped in the fall than
usual; the county is nearer drained of hogs than ever known before. Russell: Stock
of all kinds, except hogs, very dull; hogs scarce and in demand at good prices—4} to”
5 cents for stock-hogs. ;
OxI0.— Williams : The increased number of horses owing to a decline in prices and
falling off in the Eastern demand; freight-horses at least 334 per cent. lower than a
year ago. Hogs sold off close, owing to the high price of corn. Morrow: More horses,
dull sale, and reduced prices; and the same of mules. Henry: Increased price of corn”
induced farmers to sell short of hogs. Hogs of 100 pounds and upwards have sold
freely, live weight, for 5 and 5} cents per pound. Perry: Only first-class horses, which
are scarce, bring a good price; few buyers for others at low prices. Hogs nearly all
killed or sold, owing to the shortness of the corn-crop. Tuscarawas: The high price
of feed depreciates the price of stock. Hancock: Not half enough of stock to consume”
the immense amount of coin raised in the county last season. Delaware: Owing to
scarcity of feed farmers have sold their stock quite close. Crawford: Horses and mules
cheap; no demand for export. Sheep less in number and lower in price. Very few
hogs alive in the county, except breeding-sows and boars; pork being high and corn
cheap, as many were fattened and sold as possible.
Micuican.— Wexford: Young cattle high; cows very high. Lenawee: We have
many horses that are worth from $200 to $1,000 each. Menomonee: Horses and cattle”
not raised to any extent; the high price of hay and grain precludes it. Tuscola: The
decrease in horses and working-oxen owing to a decrease in the lumber business and
the substitntion of cattle for horses on the farm. Sagamore: The price for horses has
reference to the common class of the county. There is another class belonging to the
lumber-trade, numbering some hundreds, weighing 1,400 to 1,700 apiece, and costing
$200 to $1,000 per pair. Reports show an increase in the number of sheep, but I find
that most of the large farmers have gone entirely out of the business.
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InDIANA.—Perry: Beef-cattle, $6 net; hogs, $8 net. Jennings: Stock-hogs worth 5
cents gross. Franklin: Owing to scarcity of hay and high price of corn, horses and
mules can be sold only at ruinous rates; and the prices of all kinds of stock to be kept
over seriously affected by the same causes ; no market forsuch. Jloyd: Horses, mules,
and cattle lower than for years. Hogs have sold at $4.75 to $7.20 per hundred.
Crawford: No sales for horses and mules; beef-cattle have ranged very low. After
consulting with many sheep owners and dealers I have placed the percentage at 60;
but sheep have been in such demand for mutton and buyers so plenty that, in my own
part of the county, I am sure that 40 represents the per cent. Wells: Mules, not raised
until within the last few years, are being bred to a considerable extent. Sheep are
raised for both wool and mutton, and are ready sale at all times. Hogs are our main
erop, and, having an extra corn-crop, we have sold our hogs at good prices. More
attention to breeding good stock of all kinds; a marked improvement in the last two
years. Farmers do not now sell their calves for veal; they find it more remunerative
to keep them until two or three years old, Washington: Owing to the high price hogs
commanded, $5.50 per hundred, they were sold off very close. About 6,000 have been
sold by our farmers to the pork-packers at Louisville, Ky., and New Albany, at an av-
erage of about 64 cents per pound gross at our depots. Posey: Of mules, which are
taking the place of work-horses, the number raised and now in use is greater than last
year. Less number of cattle raised and fattened than last year, owing to the high price
of feed. More attention to improved milch-cows; also to sheep, the quality of which
is already greatly improved; but hogs have been more improved in quality than any
other stock. One farmer, James Cole, delivered in our market this season 60 hogs, aver-
aging 5014 pounds net; William Warren raised here and sold one weighing 940 pounds
eross—777 pounds net. Orange: Hogs have sold at 6 to 7 cents gross; and every hog
big enough to grunt or squeal has been ordered to the front and captured. Cattle in
moderate demand at 2 to 4 cents per pound gross. . No sale for horses or mules. Noble:
Not much sale for any stock except sheep and hogs. Gibson: Fewer stock-hogs than
for several years. Dearborn: The high. price of corn and the ready market for hogs
have thinned our usual stock yery much. Boone: The stock market, except for
hogs, is duller than for many years., Horses, mules, and the lower grade of cattle not
in demand at all. Feed is high, and very much, stock will consume its value in feed
before May. Huntington: Hogs run from $1) to.$5 per hundred pounds. Hamilton:
Very dull market for horses, mules, and cattle, Cattle lower than for years, and grain
and feed so high that there is no money in feeding any stock. Stock-hogs rule high,
6 to 7 cents gross. Clay: Stock-hogs are being industriously hunted up at 5 cents per
pound. Tippecanoe: We have as great a. number of every variety as at any former
period, except of mules, which, owing to the condition of the Southern market, have
been steadily declining since the war. The prices of horsesand mules are merely nom-
inal, as it is almost impossible to effect sales at quotations. Sheep are much sought
for, and the prices high; hogs range from $4 to $6 (according to quality) per hundred,
and purchases hard to make at that. Stewben: Not more than one-fourth the number
of hogs in the county in 1874 that there were in 1873; price in 1873, $3 to $3.50 per
hundred pounds; in 1874, $6 to $6.50.
Iniro1s.— Morgan : Horses not much in demand; mules sell better; not as many
cattle feeding as usual. Warren: The sheep have been driven west to Colorado and
California, leaving no large flocks in the county. The Norman horses are being very
generally introduced for heavy draught ; the half-bloods are proving altogether superior
to the native stock. Vermillion: The price of all kinds of live-stock has been reduced
fully 20 per cent., owing to scarcity of feed. Feed of all kinds 33 to 50 per cent. higher
than usual. Scott: The decrease in cattle is owing to the cheapness at which they can
be shipped inhere from the West. Lawrence: Stock-hogs very scarce. Edwards: Ow-
ing to the high price of pork, everything available has been fattened, and no store-
hogs are left for sale. Pork has been $6.50 gross, $3 net, and weighed heavy. The
county is remarkable for fine-bred hogs, both Berkshire and Chester; Berkshire pre-
ferred. Putnam: All kind of stock, except hogs, in excess of one year ago. Hogs
sold very short, owing to the short crop of corn. Cass: Horses dull of sale; mules
more in use than formerly. There are, not including yearlings and younger, 4,000 cat-
tle in the county feeding for ‘beef. The raising of hogs would pay better than any
other stock but for hog-cholera, of which hundreds die every year. Carroll: Several
Norman stallions introduced into the county have somewhat increased the average
value of colts, and heavy-draught horses are now being bought up for the Eastern market
at an average of $250 per span. Burrow: But few sheep. Winnebago: Good common
work-horses are worth $100 per head. Shelby: The ravages of cholera among hogs the
past two years have been so great that many farmers are changing from hogs to cat-
tle. The Cotswold sheep have been lately introduced, and are preferred over all
others. Ogle: Prices of horses and mules nominal; but few selling. . Dull market for
oxen and cattle. Fat hogs higher in price, but stock-hogs lower, owing to the appre-
ciation in the price of corn. Johnson: More mules raised than horses, but mules are
a, amuch greater extent; hence the decrease in number. Little attention
A
18
to raising sheep. Our farmerssold all the hogs that were salable, the price being high
and, except breeding-stock, only pigs are left. Cumberland: Very few horses and
mules selling. Cattle of all kinds quite plenty, and very low in price. Young hogs
for stock rather scarce ; average price, $4 per hundred. Saint Clair: Work-oxen haye
become almost obsolete; do not know of a single yoke used on the farm. Mason:
Owing to the high price of corn and the prevalence of cholera, hogs have been shipped
out of the county more than usual. Stephenson: Fifty per cent. less sheep in the
county than ten years ago.
WIsconsiIn.— Waupaca: Live hogs selling at 6 to 7 cents per pound. Juneau: Live
hogs worth 54 cents. Jackson: Cattle quite plenty; market depressed, but heavy
working-oxen range from $100 to $200 per yoke. The hog-crop,is short, and coarse
feed worth more per pound than wheat. Vernon: Quite a depreciation on cattle;
working-oxen cheap and beef quite low, bringing only2} to 3 cents on foot
in the nearest market. Fat hogs in demand; bring readily 6 cents, live weight. Lit-
tle trade in horses and mules. Portage: As in all new counties, horse-teams are stead-
ily on the increase and ox-teams on the decrease. Douglas: Hard to fix on a cash
price for anything; money is so scarce that people are ready to take just what they
can get in cash. Dunn: Stock of all kinds low and dull of sale, owing in part to the
high price of fodder and coarse grains. Richland: Live hogs, $6.50 per hundred to the
growers. Green Lake: Few sales; none buying except at low figures, and none selling
except from necessity. Sheep and hogs the only live-stock in demand, Pierce: Beef
low ; pork, good price, $7 per hundred, Jefferson: Cattle, especially for beef, lower,
and hogs higher than usual. Green: Hogs have saved the farmers of this country.
Minnesota.—Sibley: The failure of the oat-crop has, lessened the price of horses.
The failure of crops for the past two years accounts. for; the inerease in cows. Atten-
tion is more turned to stock-raising, and stock of «ll kinds would be much higher than
now were it not for the scarcity of money. Winona: No live hogs in the market.
Isanti: No demand for horses, work haying stopped on all the railroads, and but little
lumbering. For the same reason, oxen and, beet-cattle are very low in price. Sheep in
good demand. Blue Earth: A staguation in the horse-market, for the past six months;
horses plenty and very cheap ;, the same. is, true. of cattle, sheep, and hogs. Mower:
Owing to the high price of pork hogs haye; been nearly.all killed ; scarcely enough
stock-hogs left for the wants of next,season... Lyon :,The lavge per cent. of increase is
owing to the fact that the county is new. and, we have had a large immigration during
the past year. _ Steele: The market for horses,and mules, dull; cattle have declined in
value and are very slow of sale fur ordinary, grades, Though dairy products are in
great demand, with the price of wheat so low,cows have not quite kept up to last
year’s prices. Improved breeds of all kinds of stock are working into general use,
though not rapidly. Renville: The price of stock of all kinds except hogs is much
lower than last year, owing to short crops.. Not hogs enough raised to supply the
home demand. A decrease in cows, oxen, and young stock, owing to the fact that they
have been bought up for the lowa market. Meeker: The low price of wheat has in-
duced many to turn attention to stock-raising. Aandiyohi: Few mules raised; a good
pair would bring $400; sheep decreasing every year. tock; Scarcity of corn has less-
ened the percentage and price of hogs.
lowa.— Washington: The high price of corn and pork has induced farmers to sell oft
both corn and hogs closer than usual, and consequently to fatten fewer cattle. Powe-
sheik: No sales of horses. Guthrie: A great many hogs have died of cholera, so called ;
many lost all they had. Scott: Oxen but little used, probably not twelve yoke in the
county. For the past few years sheep husbandry has received more attention by a few
men, who makeit a specialty. They are not kept, as a general thing, by the farmers.
The decrease in hogs is owing to the extreme high price in Lecember, when all fit to kill
were sold. Johnson: Live hogs selling at $6 to $6.30 per hui.dred.. Shippers offering $5
per hundred for No. lsteers. Cherokee: Hogs as high as $6 per hundred, gross. Cass :
Decrease in hogs owing to a fearful scourge of hog-cholera; some of our farmers and
feeders have lost as many as 400 each, and from that all the way down tv lots of 8 and
10. No treatment seems to be of any avail, Polk: Cattle lower in price than at any
time since the war, owing mainly to the greatswarms of Texas cattle constantly being
shipped into this section. Hogs higher than usual. Harrison: Increase in cattle,
owing to the number brought in from the grasshopper regions of Kansas and Nebraska.
Every pig that can be got into market being sold, yet many more hogs in the county
now than at this time last year, owing to immigration. _Jda; No sheep in this
county last year; 150 now. Sheep seem to do first rate on this rolling prairie.
Sioux: The decrease in hogs owing to the entire destruction of the corn-crop by grass-
hoppers. Marion: One-third of the fat hogs yet in the hands of feeders; parties hold-
ing for 6 to 7 cents per pound gross. Des Moines: Prices of all kinds of stock receding.
Work-horses very low. Six cents, live weight, has called out all the available hogs
for meat, and the shortness of the corn-crop has stimulated the sales. Hancock: Mules
growing in favor for farm use; more profitable to raise than horses. <A great desire to
increase the number of cows, and the raising of stock receiving a good share of atten-
19
tion. Buchanan: Difficult to fix the prices of horses and mules, because so many are
sold at forced sales. Hogs much advanced in price. Madison: The number of cattle
being fed for spring market about 40 percent. less than last year, and the same decrease
in hogs.
tounePolk: Owing to short crops, farmers have sold all stock which could be
put in condition to sell. Platie: Horses and mules much Jower in price than I have
ever known; no demand for them at any price. Milch-cows in demand. Owing to
searcity of corn and the high price of hogs, all that could be made to reach 150 pounds
have been sold to packers; consequently, stock-hogs are scarce, and meet with ready sale
at 4 cents gross. Jefferson: The loss on hogs from cholera has been great; all killing hogs
and fat. Within 4 miles some 64 were well one day and dead the next. Maries: But
few horses and mules sold, the market being very dull. Scarcity of grain and feed has
compelled farmers to sell cattle and sheep at very low figures, being the only stock
they could sell, except pork-hogs, which have borne a good price, 4 to 6 cents gross.
Chariton: Owing to the scarcity of corn, most of the hogs have been sold into more
favored counties and other States., As the hay-erop was good, very few horses, mules,
or cattle have been sold. Prices rule low, owing to a scarcity of money. Beuton: The
extraordinarily low prices of stock are owing to the destruction of the corn, oat, and
hay crops by drought and chinches. Stone: Twenty per cent. of the hogs have died of
cholera and staggers. Horses, myles, and cattle very low; no demand for the former,
and but little for the latter. Shelby: Horses, mules, and cattle selling low, owing to
searcity of money. Ray: The reduction in cattle and hogs caused by light crops for
the last two years. Caldwell: The decrease in all kinds of cattle owing to drought and
short corn-crop. All salable cattle have been sold, making 25 per cent. decrease in the
whole. No sale for horses. Hogs of ‘all kinds sold off very close; scarcely any
left but sows and small pigs. Daviess; All stock depreciated in price, owing to
the short crops, followed by drought. Nearly all hogs not killed for home con-
sumption shipped out of the county as stock-hogs; not corn here to winter them.
Bates : We lost everything last fall by chinch-bugs and grasshoppers, and all kinds of
stock are down to the very lowest notch: Randolph: All kinds of stock scarce for
want of feed. Cattle and hogs large enough to be fed for market nearly all shipped
from the county. Considerable demand for horses and mules. Laclede: Stock of
every kind, except hogs, very low, owing to scarcity of money. Last year we lost
heavily in hogs by diseases, and have not yet recovered ; not enough in the county
for home use. Howard: Owing to the very short crop of corn a large numbef of farmers
could not winter their hogs, but were compelled to sell them. Clay: But little feed, and
not muchstock to feed. Callaway : The failure of the corn-crop has reduced the number
of cattle and hogs very much. Horses plenty, because the demand islight. Putnam :
Stock meets with a ready sale here, and farmers are having a good time of it. Vernon:
Great falling off in prices of stock, owing to a scarcity of money. Thousands of
stock hogs sold into Iowa and Illinois on account of short crops. Johnson; No sales
of horses for shipment; prices very low. Price of mules higher than horses, as it costs
less to keep them. Nearly all cattle that could be spared have been sold. Very few
other than cows over three years old left in the county. Dent: Value of stock of all
kinds depreciated by bad condition, owing to scarcity of feed. Adair: Most of the
farmers who heretofore raised horses are raising mules. Barton: Failure of corn
caused nearly all the hogs to be shipped out of the county. Carroll: The decrease in
cattle and hogs caused by the short corn-crop.
Kansas.—WMitchell : Stock of all kinds of but little value, there being no money to
invest in it and nothing to feed on—especially horses and hogs. Pigs under six months
old may be had for the asking; but who has feed for hogs? None. Ottawa: Owing to
searcity of feed the price of stock has ruled low, especially cattle and hogs, more
especially hogs. Marshall: The diminution in cattle and hogs is owing to sales in
consequence of the failure of the corn crop. Cowley: Every kind of stock low, owing
to scarcity of feed. Cherokee: Horses very low, owing in part to scarcity of feed, but
many are disposing of their horses and investing in mules, which are less subject to
disease and better adapted to farming on short allowance of grain. Anderson: Very
few hogs can be carried through. Sedgwick: Some losses in horses and hogs for want
of feed. Osage: Horses at extremely low prices; also cattle are scarcely salable at
all. Nearly all hogs sent out of this part of the State to keep them from starving to
death. Over 30 horses have died of starvation within the last six weeks. _Nemaha:
Only enough hogs are wintered to raise another stock from. Lincoln: A falling off in
oxen and cows, owing to the passage of a strict cattle law, in consequence of which
some heavy dealers have driven their stock beyond the settlements. Hogs scarce,
owing to the failure in the corn-crop ; hundreds have been given away to keep them
from starving. Leavenworth : Cattle were sold very close, owing to short feed. Hogs,
all or nearly all, sold off on account of scarcity of corn. Jackson: Farmers generally
raising mules more than heretofore. Oxen and other cattle sold off to lowa and
other places, owing to scarcity of grain; also hogs. Franklin : Horses low in price and
condition, owing to the almost total failure of the corn-crop and no buyers. Many work-
20
horses are not fed one ear of corn per week, and must die before spring. Stock hogs have
been sold to more favored localities, and many of those having pigs have given them
away to whoever would take them. Johnson: But few hogs left. Jefferson: Nearly all
the hogs shipped ; stock low, owing to scarcity of money and feed. A continual decrease
in the number of sheep kept. With our system of open fences and with the depredations
of dogs and wolves, farmers do not find them profitable. Cloud: Farmers turning their
cattle off and going into sheep husbandry as fast as possible, for thé reason that we
have a large per cent. of high rolling-land covered with buffalo and bunch grass, on
which sheep do well the year round. The decrease in bogs owing to the total failure
in the corn-crop. Atchison: Owing to the failure in corn, cattle have declined in price
more than other stock, except hogs. Many pigs have been killed to save feed. Miami:
Owing to scarcity of crops and money, cattle are very low in prices, and a great many
have been taken to the fruitful regions of Iowa for wintering. Wilson: The very low
prices of all kinds of stock owing to a failure in all crops except wheat. Labette: Scarcity
of corn and oatshas depreciated the prices of all kinds of stock 33 per cent. Several
have fattened their hogs on wheat altogether, and many are feeding wheat to horses.
Graham : Hogs are at a high discount, as we have no grain to feed except wheat and
not enough of that for bread. Do not know of a sheep in the county, though the cli-
mate is peculiarly adapted to wool-growing. Clay: Quite an interest starting up in
the sheep business. Shawnee: Decrease in cattle and hogs owing to drought and grass-
hoppers. Sumner: Hogs nearly all sold or killed; worth nothing unless fat and noth-
ing tofatthem on. Everything down in price. — Doniphan: Scarcity of corn hasinduced
farmers to send their stock to places where there is more feed. Probably as much stock
owned in the county as formerly. Butler: Hundreds of hogs killed last fall to get
them out of the way, there being nothing to feed them. Horses are beginning to die
for want of grain; eastern horses will not live through the winter on prairie hay.
Chase: Failure of corn has taken most of our hogs out of the county; no sale for horses;
cattle dull. Montgomery: The shortened corn-crop has reduced the number of cattle
20 per cent. and of hogs about 75 per cent. Shawnee: The large number of “ Indian
ponies” brings the average price of horses very low. ‘The great reduction in oxen and
other cattle was caused partly by the death of such stock last winter and partly by the
destruction of the corn-crop.. Most of the cattle over two years old have been driven
to States farther east—the greatest number to Iowa. Hundreds of pigs were knocked
in the head to keep them from starving.
NEBRASKA.— Dixon: The decrease in hogs owing to the failure of corn-crop. Lin-
coln: Our milch cows, being natives, (not Texans,) average higher than steers. A fresh
milch cow would bring $55 to $60. But few sheep, and none for sale at any price.
richardson: Stock hogs decreasing owing to scarcity of corn. No fattening cattle;
prices low and no sale. Boone: The low percentage of hogs owing to the destruction
of corn-crop by grasshoppers. All hogs that would sell were sold early in the season
at 22 to 3 cents per pound to turn in with fattening steers in Iowa. In these grass-
hopper regions all the pork made was made on wheat. Jefferson: Stock of all kinds
very low; hard matter to get money for it at any price. Owing to loss of corn-crop
hogs are either sold or given away. Many farmers have killed off their entire stock,
though not half fattened. Pawnee: The great decrease in hogs caused by the failure
in corn. Merrick: No feed to keep hogs. Nemaha: Owing to failure in corn, cattleand
hogs have been run out very close, and the farmers are now feeding wheat largely.
Not 50 head of cattle being fed for beef in the county, while usually individuals feed
that number. A great desire to sell horses and scarcely any demand. Antelope: From
searcity of grain horses have depreciated in value, but mules are in demand, and work-
ing-oxen have appreciated in value 25 per cent. Milch cows in demand, but owing to
scarcity of money slightly depreciated in price. Sheep, of which 900 were introduced
the past season, are doing finely, and will increase rapidly. The destruction of the
corn-crop has materially lessened the number of hogs and slightly their value.
CaLIFORNIA.—Sutter: Spanish horses on the decrease; average price, $10. Good,
large American horses bring from $120 to $200, and are in great demand. Wild or
Spanish cattle, formerly so plenty, are on the decrease, while there has been a large
increase of short-horn cattle and milch-cows. Plumas: The amount of neat stock, and
particularly dairy-cows, constantly on the increase, for the reason that this is the surest
and most profitable branch of husbandry in this locality, except sheep-husbandry.
Alameda: For a few years horses have been increasing beyond the demand for farm or
team, and fancy and fast horses are the only ones that are paying for raising. Cattle
have also increased beyond consumption ; and there being no outlet for them on this
coast, prices range low. Sheep doing better in price than either horses or cattle. The
abundance of feed has stimulated large numbers to go into the growing of wool. Hogs
selling at good prices, in consequence of short crops reported in some of the States on
the Mississippi. Placer: Cattle rule low; sheep hold their own; while hogs, which
have fallen off about 334 per cent., command much higher prices than one year ago.
Contra Costa: Farm-work horses, small size, sell for $75 to $100; medium size and
heavy, $150 to $200; any way stylish and large, $200 to $450; thesame of mules. San
21
Bernardino: Cattle, cows, and hogs slowly diminishing, as more attention is being paid
to the raising of sheep, which is found more profitable.
OREGON.—Grant: A slight reduction in the price of horses of the same quality, but,
owing to improvement in bloods, the average is as high as one year ago; considerable
reduction in the price of oxen and other cattle ; 10 per cent. in the price of cows, and a
* decrease in the value of hogs, owing to outside competition. Clackamas: Railroads and
steamboats have done away with the necessity of so many horses. Tillamook: Marked
improvement in the stock of horses ; prices tending upward. Market dull for cattle,
and few sales. <A large increase in milch-cows, dairying being the most profitable busi-
ness in our county. Graded sheep do the best, and there is a marked improvement
over last year. Douglas: The great decrease in horses owing, in part, to the fact that
farmers are raising less, finding sheep more profitable, and, in part, to the many that
were bought up last spring for military purposes. The increase in cattle occasioned
by no demand for them the past year. Sheep in active demand ; very few for sale
asad after shearing. The low price of grain of all kinds creates quite an active demand
‘or hogs.
Pree taring Rio Grande: Stock-raising in this county on a large scale no longer a
paying business; theretore cattle are decreasing. Horses and sheep are increasing.
Sheep pay best. The fleece of the Mexican sheep is improving, both in weight and
quality. Douglas: The county was divided in 1874, and a new county, Ebert, formed,
taking three-fourths of the oxen and other cattle and one-fourth of the cows. As
many sheep have come into the county as the new county took.
Urau.—Box Elder: All cattle, especially beef, are low in price. Montana Territory
produces cattle in great abundance for both Eastern and Western markets, which _—
affects our market unfavorably. Salt Lake: The value of horses, cattle, and cows has
been rapidly on the decrease the ‘past year. Great numbers of wild horses have been
brought here from California and sold as low as $50 per span. They are tough and
hardy, and, when crossed with blooded: stock, make the most serviceable animals for
this region. Large quantities of beef have beenshipped here by rail, which has caused
the decline in cattle. Sevier: Mules not raised; increase in other stock from increase
in population, which is probably 25 per cent.
WASHINGTON.— Thurston : Cattle very low; beef 2 to 5 cents; horses low; hogs ad-
heed in price; bring 6 to 7 cents per pound. No sale for cows. Sheep higher than
ast year. j
THH DOG WARFARE.
The warfare of dogs upon sheep still continues; the direct losses are
a million of dollars annually, in wool and mutton, and, indirectly, even
a larger sum in the repression of sheep-husbandry, and the consequent
waste of a large percentage of the annual crop of grass; a crop more
valuable than that of cotton or corn, throughout the Southern States
and elsewhere in all dog-cursed sections of the country. The canine war-
fare is a badge of vagabondage, an indication of savagery and lawless-
ness inconsistent with a progressive state of agriculture. In communi-
ties where “‘every poor man keeps a dog, and every very poor man
keeps two,” the average legislative candidate dares not pledge himself
to vote for a dog-law. Until recently, only a few States in which wool-
growing is prominent had dog-laws, which is equivalent to saying that
the ideas on which our agriculture was based were primitive, and its
rural processes crude. Laws are now in force in a large proportion of
the States, and in several are quite efficient and protective. Farmers
are agitating for the passage of such laws in the remaining States. In
the Southern States the insane pursuit of cotton to the social ostracism
of every one who dared to produce meat or grow fruit, for many years
kept sheep-husbandry at the lowest ebb, while it was known by all in-
telligent men not stricken with the prevalent mania that millions of
acres of succulent grasses were annually lost in decay in all the south-
ern prairies, the open pine-forests, and the elevated glades of that sun-
ny region. There should at once be enacted there stringent laws for
protection against the ravages of dogs, quadruped and biped, black
and white. The result would in twenty years appear in a degree of
22
wealth to which this section has never before attained, for it would rev-
olutionize and vitalize the entire agriculture of this section.
We have repeatedly attempted to gather some of the items of loss by
this scourge. In our stock-returns of this month there are reports from
five hundred counties, with some losses reported, of course not all oc-
curring, but they make an aggregate of 79,285 sheep killed during the
past year, in counties holding one-fourth of the territory, and nearly
one-fourth of the sheep of the United States. In twenty-four counties
in Ohio, 6,517 are reported killed, or four-tenths of one per cent. of the
sheep. This is probably not more than one-half the real number, as the
State report of Ohio for 1873 makes the loss for that year 35,440, or
seventy-seven hundredths of one per cent. of total numbers. Besides
this, 35,124 were injured in that year by dogs, entailing a loss of $47,210
in addition to $110,044 for those killed outright.
It is very evident that the real losses by dogs amount to one and one-
fourth per cent. of the value of the sheep in Ohio, and more than two per
cent. throughout the country, or $1,000,000. The percentage of loss
is vastly greater in States where no efficient laws exist. As far as the
territory is reported on in these January returns, (as shown in the accom-
panying table,) the annual Josses in Florida amount to 11 per cent. of
value; Arkansas, 6; Georgia, 5.16; Tennessee, 4.6; Kansas, 3.8; Vir-
ginia, 3.4; Missouri, 2.2. In protected States: Ohio, four-tenths of one
per cent.; New York, three-tenths....The reported losses are as follows,
which do not include the maimed or injured :
|
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LUBY TRONS Bees anaes aes eee 3 104 59; 635.1] ATKANS AS apace Ee Sele 14 | 2,258 36, 984
New Hampshire ......-... 5 71 97, 767 || Tennessee .......-....-- 27 | 11, 467 248, 595
Wermont wt 2 25 .s428 rd 525 20 2, 870 185, 257
Massachusetts ......--..- 3 190 31 | 6,026 277, 382
Connecticut... 3 231 24 | 6,517 | 1,523, 074
New York .. 18 2, 693 17 | 3,280 810, 576
New Jersey. ae 2 243 26) 7,394 415, 674
Pennsylvania ...........- 23 | 3,878 6, 413 398, 711
Melawanrevosusy. 3 LO) hs 1 150 14 | 1,658 262, 171
Marylands . ..(305.. oddest: 9 | 1, 222 49,981 || Minnesota .....- ie. 1-0! 11 741 28, 451
WORAINIA Seen eo 34) |. 4, 205, |).197,:952. | owas 2-5-0. 5 - S pte ee 17,| 1,702 203, 841
North Carolina.......... 26/1875, 003 | 1625463) WESsOntt 4. -=— ae 43 | 13,146 585, 027
South Carolina........... 4 925 13;.451" || Vikansas\) 200 so ce 2 ee eee 11 909 23, 497
Greerpiaet .2 O0G.scrad . 20 | 3,363 65, 131 || Nebraska: .25030.2. 5.1% 3 128 1, 435
1D) a te Aes Be SS 5 458 4, 021 ||, California.2s. . 5. i.e<81 9 1,965 681, 146
AIADAMD,. 4 qicaep =o cae mea 11} 1,910 44,137 ||. Oregon ..'\... .x5--0os05--- 5 686 109, 441
IMESRIBSUDDL wero ant cota tee 12 | 1,764 43, 421 ———— —-—_ —_ —_
Louisiana!) 220)..2.227! 4| 466 | © 9,793 Total {!)))>. 2078) 500 | 79, 485 | 8, 572, 744
Temas. i dejed ST oe 1! 1,144 61, 060
|
The losses in detail are thus reported. If too many or too few, we
should be glad to recive corrections: :
Maine: Waldo, 100; Lincoln, 450; York; 154; total, 704; total number of sheep in
these counties in 1870, 59,635.
New Hampshire: Cheshire, 200 ; Sullivan, 30; Strafford, 121 ; Coos, 200; Carroll, 200;
total, 751; uumber of sheep, 97,767.
Vermont: Rutland, 250; Washington, 30; Chittenden, 40 ; Caledonia, 125; Lamoille,
6; Grand Isle, 24; Addison, 50; total, 525; nuinber of sheep, 262,544.
Massachusetts : Dukes, 15; Berkshire, 100; Plymouth, 75; total, 190; number of
sheep, 33,879.
shea ga Litchfield, 100; New London, 35; Hartford, 96; total, 231; number of
sheep, 46,398,
New York: Delaware, 200 ; Tompkins, 320; Steuben, 119; Rensselaer, 95; Schuyler,
/
23
86; Green, 160; Columbia, 350; Albany, 200; Saratoga, 120; Madison, 100; Genesee,
250; Fulton, 50; Cattarangus, 240; Suffolk, 100; Sullivan, 18; Washington, 200; Liv-
ingston, 85; Jefferson, 20; total, 2,693; number of sheep, 858,845.
New Jersey: Camden, 43; Warren, 200; total, 243; namber of sheep,15,352.
Pennsylvania: Sullivan, 125; Perry, 150; Wayne, 150; Union, 50; Columbia, 250;
Bedford, 200; Adams, 100; Warren, 190; Washington, 200; Tioga, 100; McKean, 60;
Indiana, 63; Bucks, 10; Lancaster, 200; Chester, 500; Frie,50; Fayette, 375; Forest,
20; Lawrence, 600 ; Clinton, 73; Cameron, 50; Berks, 60; Luzerne, 300; total, 3,878;
number of sheep, 820,406.
Delaware; Kent, 150; number of sheep, 5,316.
Maryland: Worcester, 250; Frederick, 78; Dorchester, 80; Baltimore, 250; Harford,
65; Saint Mary’s, 200; Wicomico, 80; Howard, 200; Cecil, 19; total, 1,222; number
_ of sheep, 49,931.
Virginia: Sussex, 20; Tazewell, 100; Pulaski, 50; Pittsylvania, 120; Northumber-
land, 90; Henrico, 20; Frederick, 50; Caroline, 50; Bedford, 100; Stafford, 25; Spott-
sylvania, 2; Shenandoah, 75; King William, 50; Floyd, 50; Cumberland, 36; Madison,
100; Loudoun, 376; Dinwiddie, 35; Buchanan, 200; Nelson, 300; Highland, 1,200;
Bland, 40; Washington, 200 ;-Orange, 50; Lonisa, 209; Craig,15; Page, 125; Middle-
sex, 27; Essex, 40; Roanoke, 50; Matthews, 50; Montgomery, 150; Northampton, 300 ;
Westmoreland, 100; total, 4,205; number of sheep, 127,952.
North Carolina: Wayne, 43; Transylvania, 40; Greene, 100; Gaston, 150; Chowan,
5; Cherokee, 50; Rowan,50; Beaufort, 95; Stokes, 200; Randolph, 1,500; Hertford,
250; Alamance, 100; Yancy, 700; Haywood, 200; Alexander, 200; Wilkes, 250; Mit-
chell, 200; Gates, 100; Warren, 100; Montgomery, 200; Ashe, 120; Buncombe, 100;
Jackson, 100; Onslow, 100; Stanley, 200; Guilford, 550; total, 5.503; number of
sheep, 162,463.
South Carolina: Barnwell, 125; Newberry, 200; Williamsburgh, 100; Orangeburgh,
500 ; total, 925; number of sheep, 13,451,
Georgia: Telfair, 300; Harris, 182; Douglas, 25 per cent.; Taylor, 100; Houston,
200; Terrell, 135; Gordon, 300; Floyd, 50 ;;Camden, 20; Banks, 50; Brooks, 500; Ful-
ton, 30; Wayne, 50; Murray, 50; Jefferson, 96; Hall, 500; Forsyth, 50; Wilkinson,
20; Worth, 250; Early, 50; Montgomery, 200; Appling, 200; total, 3,363; number of
sheep, (not including Douglas,) 65,131.
Florida: Taylor, 15; Santa Rosa, 300; Jackson, 35; Columbia, 83; Suwannee, 25 ;
total, 458; number of sheep, 4,021.
Alabama: Saint Clair, 500; Lauderdale, 300; Jefferson, 100; Choctaw, 150; Cov-
ington, 85; Conecuh, 10; Shelby, 115; Monroe, 300; Geneva, 200; Morgan, 100; Frank-
lin, 50; total, 1,910; number of sheep, 44,137.
_ Mississippi: Hancock, 50; Jackson, 300; Covington, 25; Yalabusha, 300; Winston,
200; Tishemingo, 20; Marion, 375; Amite, 180; Holmes, 50; Madison, 80; Smith, 50;
Franklin, 134; total, 1,764; number of sheep, 43,421.
Louisiana: Washington, 50; Caddo, 216; Cameron, 100; Franklin, 100; total, 466;
number of sheep, 9,723.
Texas: Kendall, 20; Comanche, 249; Rusk, 20; Dallas, 20; Cherokee, 70; William-
son, 115; Collin, 125; Galveston, 20; De Witt, 150; Cook, 50; Leon, 125; total, 1,144;
number of sheep, 61,060.
Arkansas: Stone, 200;. Sebastian, 100; Garland, 25; Craighead, 97; Ouachita, 100;
Baxter, 500; Cross, 40; Sharpe, 200; Izard, 200; Fulton, 100; Dallas, 100; Arkansas, .
75; Scott, 18; Benton, 500; total, 2,258; number of sheep, (not including Baxter, Gar-
land, and Stone,) 36,984.
Tennessee: Rhea, 21; Coffee, 405; Giles, 1,750; Sullivan, 150; Perry, 500; Hancock,
100; Hardin, 100; Bradley, 33; Montgomery, 300; Jackson, 125; Heywood, 1,174;
Smith, 150; Warren, 100; Monroe, 150; McMinn, 300; Carter, 75; Fentress, 107 ;
Washington, 400; Wayne, 500; Robertson, 1,115; Sequatchie, 660; Decatur, 1,695 ;
Dickson, 300; Lauderdale, 312; Union, 75; Sumner, 800; Morgan, 70; total, 11,467 ;
number of sheep, 248,595.
West Virginia: Barbour, 20; Braxton, 25; Mineral, 50; Morgan, 40; Mercer, 60;
Preston, 300; Putnam, 200; Tucker, 53; Wayne, 50; Gilmer, 100; Jefferson, 200;
Pocahontas, 52; Cabell, 40; Kanawha, 110; Tyler, 75; Doddridge, 50; Harrison, 400;
Mason, 125; Monongalia, 500; Randolph, 20; total, 2,870; number of sheep, 185,257.
Kentucky: Boyle, 140; Butler, 200; Clinton, 31; Cumberland, 120; Fayette, 230;
Jackson, 30; Jessamine, 75; Lewis, 275; La Rue, 20; Laurel,78; Marion, 100; Mercer,
100; Shelby, 300; Warren, 827; Boone, 350; Breckinridge, 125; Christian, 218; Gray-
son, 50; Hardin, 300; Logan, 483; Owen, 100; Owsley, 50; Spencer, 47; Ballard, 500 ;
Kenton, 25; Nicholas, 182; Carroll, 60; Ohio, 100; Rock Castle, 30; Graves, 580; Rus-
sell, 300 ; total, 6,026; number of sheep, 277,322.
Ohio: Auglaize, 185; Ashland, 250; Henry, 85; Hocking, 263; Jackson, 387; Union,
97; Monroe, 407; Vinton, 120; Williams,71; Fairfield, 800; Guernsey, 190; Hardin,
150; Licking, 160; Lorain, 132; Mahoning, 200; Perry, 200; Sandusky, 300; Warren,
24
525; Fayette, 600; Geauga, 95; Hancock, 140; Tuscarawas, 659 ; Huron, 175; Morgan,
326 | total, 6, 517 ; ‘number of sheep, 1, 523, 074.
Michigan : Menomonee, 50; Livingston, 100; Allegan, 27; Genesee, 250; Hillsdale,
200; Van Buren, 50; Jackson, 500 ; Macomb, 200 ; Sanilae, 21; Tuscola, 38; Mecosta,
ils Ottawa, 70; Barry, 100; Ingham, 200 ; Montcalm, 157 ; Cass, 1,000 ; Kalamazoo,
300; total, 3,280 ; number of sheep, 810, 576;
Indiana: Clinton, 150; Knox, 400; Ohio, 25; Perry, 150; Ripley, 500; Union, 150;
Boone, 78; Cass, 306 ; La Porte, 200 ; Martin, 230 ; Orange, 1 ,200; Posey, "471; Shelby,
400 ; Warren, 100 ; Washington, 150 : . Huntington, 50 ; Pike, 200 ; Whitley, 600; ; Brown,
200; Fulton, 240’; Hamilton, 300; ’ Switzerland, 73; Tippecanoe, 621 ; Tipton, 300 ;
Bartholomew, 450; De Kalb, 150; total, 7,394 5 number of sheep, 415, 674,
Illinois: De Kalb, 500; Logan, 110; Schuyler, 200; Woodford, 20; Edwards, 200 ;
Grundy, 100; Jackson, 127 ; Lawrence, 150; Pope, 500 ; Scott, 437; Stark, 50; Wil-
liamson, 200 + Carroll, 50; Cass, 300 ; Lee, 98 Pulaski, 100; Clay, 200 ; De Witt, 500 ;
Clark, 1,000 ; Clinton, 100; Johnson, 45 5 Shelby, igul'? White, 1,000; ’ Hancock, 125;
Sangamon, 100; Mercer, 100 ; Stephenson, 100; total, 6,413 ; number of sheep, 393, 711.
Wisconsin : Juneau, 55 Vernon, 38 ; Waupaca, 100; Crawford, 185; La Fayette,
500; Pekin, 20; Brown, 20; Columbia, 118 ; Douglas, 2; Sauk, 100; Calumet, 60 ;
Richland, 360 ; Green, 50; Jefferson, 160 ; total, 1,652 ; number of sheep, 262,171.
Minnesota : Steele, IIs) Olmsted, 200 ; Rice, 30 ; Sibley, 35; Sherburne, 135; Isanti,
70; Lyon, 50; Faribault, 87; Nicollet, 75; Todd, 25; Pope, 15; total, 741; number of
sheep, (not including Lyon,) 28,451.
Towa: Washington, 25 ; Allamakee, 90; Cass, 50; Fayette, 100: Jasper, 175; Jones,
75; Scott, 27; Decatur, 500; Fremont, 200; Marion, 200; Winnesheik, 19:5 Benton, 183
Mahaska, 75; Buchanan, 253 Ida, 3; Madison, 5 5; Shelby, 50; total, 1,702; number of
sheep, 203, B41.
Missouri: Pike, 100; Benton, 150; Chariton, 270; Clarke, 300; ; Greene, 1,500 ; Maries,
170; Miller, 25; Moniteau, 1,000 ; Nodaway, 233; "Pettis, 230; Poll, 350; Rolls, 125;
Caldwell, 400; Franklin, 300 5 Madison, 375; Montgomery, 300; Morgan, 130; Newton,
1,000 ; Phelps, 250; Saint Francois, 30; Shelby, 200; Bates, 478 ; Daviess, 200 ; Calla-
way, 760 ; Clay, 250; Douglas, 50; Howard, 500 5 "Randolph, 1, 000 ; Stoddard, 300 ;
Jackson, 10; Putnam, 500 ; “Adair, 400 ; Dent, 125; ‘Lincoln, 300 ; ‘Macon, 100 ; Vernon,
250; Carter, 100; Dade, 90; Henry, 100; Oregon, 60; Ozark, 60’; Schuyler, 20 ; Texas,
60; "total, 13, 146; num ber of sheep, 585, ‘027.
Kansas : Marshall, 20; Allen, 150; Lincoln, 102; Nemaha, 16; Neosho, 100; Wood-
son, 120; Cloud, 7; Lyon, 84; Labette, 355 Wilson, 225; Butler, "50; total, 909 ; num-
ber of sheep, 23, ‘497.
Nebraska: Dixon, 11; Pawnee, 17; Nemaha, 100; total, 128; number of sheep, 1,435,
California: Alameda, 43; San Luis Obispo, 300 : Mendocino, 400; Placer, 300; El
Dorado, 100; Fresno, 25 ; Santa Clara, 500 ; Tulare, 200 ; Humboldt, 97; total, 1,965 ~
number of sheep, 681, 146,
Oregon: Lane, 300 ; Clackamar, 50; Multnoma, 60; Curry, 150; Linn, 126; total,
686 ; number of sheep, 109,441.
25
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29
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
INCREASE IN DAIRYING.—Piscataquis, Me.: The largest increase in
stock is in milch cows, probably caused by the number of cheese-factories
built the past season, and the consequent demand for more cows. '} Waldo,
Me.: With the introduction of cheese-factories, farmers in this" county
are changing somewhat their style of farming. Cows are being kept in
larger numbers, and the numbers of oxen and steers are diminishing.
‘Too many horses have been raised, and too few sheep kept, but these
matters are regulating themselves. Hillsborough, N. H.: The milk.
business is increasing, and milch cows are taking the place of other stock
Rutland, Vt.: Milch cows are increasing, and sheep decreasing in num
bers. Queens, N. Y.: Many of our farmers have gone largely into the ©
milk business, to supply New York and Brooklyn. The stock has been
increased, and the improvement of the same by crossing with thorough-
breds has increased the value. Warren, N. Y.: The demand for cows
for dairy purposes is increasing. Hrie, Pa. ; Milch cows have increased
one-fourth, for cheese-factory purposes. Jackson, Wis.: There has been
a good demand for milch cows for cheese-factories, &e., and they bear
a better price in proportion than beef steers. Sauk, Wis. : Farmers are
generally turning attention to dairying; hence the increase in cows.
Swift, Minn. : Dairy farming is increasing, and as fast as our population
learn to make good butter, it will continue to increase. Mower, Minn.:
‘ilch cows ie e increased, owing to the high price of butter for the |
t
two years. tawa, Kan.: Steps are being taken to organize two or
three cheese-factories in our county, and the “number of milch cows has
- materially increased.
WADENA County, MInN.—This county. was organized two years ago,
the date of its first settlement. It is well adapted to the dairy business,
having great quantities of the blue and red top varieties of grass upon
the river-bottoms and along the margins of the streams running through
the county. The very nutritious blue joint is the principal grass upon
the prairies. There is plenty of tamarac and oak timber at convenient
distances, throughout the county, for fuel and fencing. The county is
settling rapidly by a good, industrious class of American and English
farmers. All crops for 1874 were good, this county having had no ray-
ages from grasshoppers.
A PROSPEROUS: CoUNTY.—Harrison, Iowa: This county has had
' some settlers for twenty-five years, but the last seven has added most
of the 12,000 now here. The population is increasing rapidly ; the im-
A ph elere¢ @ s
migration pang i considerable. Bacept the bottoms of the Missouri
cena fopulo: Though inostly Open axcivia thate are many thou-
sand acres of timber; enough. iv” ' house- ‘build-
ing. The soil is clear oa wwwtng
lying 10 or 12 feet»
value. The Be
vallevs in +h
at
30
quality and texture as far down as they go in digging wells—10 to 75
feet. Everything pertaining to farming is improving and extend-
ing. Almost all farm-work is done by the most improved implements,
mowers, reapers, headers, thrashers, etc.; many thousands are spent
in this way annaally, and perhaps beyond economy or profit. By rea- °
son of grasshoppers and potato-beetles, 1875 and 1874 had been the worst
crop for years ever known here; yet there is more corn in 1874 than
ever before, and more cattle and hogs have been shipped since Septem-
ber 1st than in any former year. The stock of hogs is of good blood, and
though every pig that can be got into market has been, or will be, sold,
there are now many more hogs thanat this time last year. Corn, wheat,
oats, potatoes, buckwheat, barley, sorghum, and garden-vegetables do
well. Prairie-hay is so good and abundant that tame grasses are not
raised, though they might be successfully. Apples, grapes, and such
fruits succeed, but not peaches.
MANUFACTURES NEEDED.—Bedford, Tenn.: The financial pressure
is very great in this State, and I fear will be until there is a larger num-
ber induced to engage in manufacturing. South of this, there is but little
demand for stock, and being forced to get almost all our supplies else-
where, the State is kept drained of money. Under these circumstances
stock-raising cannot be made very profitable.
FAILURE OF WATER.—Columbia, Wis.: Water in the earth, during
the last five or six years, has been constantly, steadily settling ; so that
most of our wells have had to be deepened in order to have water.
What are we coming to? A barren waste? Or can we do something
to moisten our climate?
CULTIVATED GRASSES IN TEXAS.—Bosque: The blue-grass sent me
from the Department was sown on the 1st of January, 1874, on good
timbered bottom-land. It was well plowed and harrowed over twice,
the seed sown, and a large roller run over to press it in. The resalt is,
I secured a good stand which stood the drought well during the last hot
Summer. Since the rains it has grown to the height of about 10 inches,
and to-day looks like the spring of the year. I am satisfied it will sue-
ceed well in our timber-bottoms and be of great benefit in wintering our
stock. The Alsike clover is also doing well and may prove to be of
benefit to us.
GRAPE-CULTURE IN NEW YorxK.—Steuben: The grape vintage in
this county is finished and the crops marketed. The aggregate exceeds
6,000 tons. The wine company have bought 2,500 tons, and the remainder
were marketed in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, at an
average of $100 net per ton. The area in vineyards is about 4,500
acres.
ASSOCIATION.—Steuben, N. Y.: The Granger action for the year has
produced beneficial "es-lts for.farmers. The middle-men have not been
able to redne> ‘ease, pork, barley, corn, and oats
are ' * vo compelled to pay them. —
vou so much,” but,
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Wurtemberg, and Hesse every year for purposes of taxation. Some-
thing in this way is also done in Saxony, Holland, and Ireland. Per-
haps no European state neglects the matter entirely. Live stock is
generally enumerated, and, under land-tax laws, inquiries are periodically
made in regard to the value of land, its proprietary subdivisions, occu-
pation by specific crops, number and calling of the population, Xe.
- These efforts, however, have not given results entirely satisfactory.
Some small states, such as Servia, Roumania, and Greece, have been
able to establish upon their limited areas comparatively effective sys- ,
tems of field-statistics; while Germany and England find it difficult to
procure a system that will embrace all the points of their immense pro-
duction. The great difficulty is found in the variety of laws, schedules,
&c., in force in different states, furnishing but few points for interna-
tional comparison. The necessity for such comparison is more perceptible
and pressing than in former years, when international trade in agricul-
tural staples was mostly by sea. Its grand propelling forces were wars,
famines, extraordinary high prices, and other causes, creating a sudden
and great deficiency in food and other necessaries of life in some localities.
These created a great but ephemeral demand, causing rapid but convul-
sive movements of produce. These exceptional and temporary causes
of enlarged trade have been superseded in modern civilization by a more
differential and permanent relation of supply and demand. The facilities
both of intelligence and transportation of the present day have greatly
narrowed the scope of speculation of middle-men by bringing all parts
of the productive surface of the earth in close competition. No artificial
elevation of prices can long stand against the immense amount of pro-
duce that would be attracted from all quarters.
But the soil itself, as well as its products, has, through changes in
European landed systems, become a prominent article of commerce.
Entailed settlements have been largely superseded. The land, not de-
scending from father to son, as formerly, and not being valued simply
as a means of personal subsistence, has assumed a merchantable char-
acter as real estate, affording a scope of investment of capital and skill
in production. ‘This facility of transfer renders the soil available to the
varied demands of production, and consequently gives rise to a more
general system of culture, which has greatly enhanced its productive
ower.
‘ A general complaint of unequal taxation is rife through European
countries. It is believed that a better understanding of the character
and relations of the soil and its products to other great interests cannot
fail to point out methods of removing this evil as well as the want of
capital, excessive cost of agricultural machinery, and modern processes of
culture, &c., which are severely felt in a large portion of the productive
area of civilization. No government will refuse to adjust its system of
taxation so as to remove inequalities clearly pointed out. Errors of
judgment in regard to the expenses current or to risk of capital,
cause an excessive rental of land. A want of confidence causes the
withholding of loaned capital from the cultivator. These difficulties
spring from known or unknown anomalies in agricultural produc-
tion which a well-digested method of statistical inquiry would detect
and of which it would indicate a remedy. Labor-strikes might also be
removed by careful inquiry into the condition of the laboring popula-
tion. The accumulation and diffusion of information in regard to
markets among both producers and middle-men would largely remove
that uncertainty, the cost of which ultimately falls, without recourse,
upon the producer.
3A
o4
For the preparation of a uniform system of statistics, the Vienna
congress organized a permanent commission, whose duty is to collect
information as to the execution of the decisions of the congress in dif-
ferent countries, together with the difficulties that stand in the way ; to
assimilate statistical publications of different countries, with a view to
the promotion of an international system; to prepare a programme for
discussion of the subsequent meetings of the congress; to set on foot
international inquiries in different countries in all proposed branches,
and to report the results ; to execute all the international work, such as
"was proposed at the congress at'the Hague, and to resolve the questions
pertaining to their execution; finally, to present to the congress an
abstract of action necessary to be taken.
The Brussels congress in 1853, the offshoot of the great London expo-
sition of 1861, defined the scope of agricultural statistics as embracing
such information as is necessary to determine the facts, conditions, pro-
cesses, and results of productive industry at a given time. These facts
should be gathered in in different countries in schedules capable of com-
parison and embracing a single farming year, or an average year. The
last quarter of the year gives the most convenient opportunity for com-
parison. These inquiries should be periodically’ repeated, and more
frequently in countries in which agricultural systems’ and results show
marked changes. Every decennial census of population should embrace
schedules of agricultural statistics. The congress did’ not insist upon
any uniform mode of making these inquiries, nor upon any uniform sys-
tem of questions. The latter should be as few as possible, embracing
the areas devoted to specific cultures, mode of fertilization, value of
products, agricultural laborers, and farm-animals. |’ The congress at Paris
in 1855 recommended a decennial census embracing elaborate details,
with more limited annual inquiries, embracing only the leading points.
These should be made in each locality by private individuals organized
into commissions. The area should be permanently parceled out by
government in order to facilitate such inquiries. These should embrace
the acreage in different crops, total and relative product, weight of the
product in proportion to volume. To these questions as a minimum
should be added others in regard to the price of wood per hectare, the
products of agriculture, silk-production and prices of cocoons, irriga-
tion, drainage, machinery, &c. The decennial census, with more extended
schedules, should show the condition of present culture, land improve-
ment, cost of labor, condition of the laboring population, live stock,
manure, and other matters essential to a proper study of agricultural
production. The London congress, in 1860, demanded an annual deter-
mination of the product of the principal crops of all countries, with
their acreage; an annual, or at least quinquennial enumeration of live
stock, their market-value, &c. The mode of inquiry was left to each
particular country. The Florence congress of 1867 still further elabo-
rated the data to be sought by statistical inquiry, and laid special
emphasis upon the traffic in real estate. The congress at the Hague, in
1869, adopted the resolution offered by the American delegate, Mr.
Ruggles, requesting the delegates to the next congress to furnish sta-
tistics of their respective countries for three years prior to its meeting.
These different congresses seemed to harmonize upon the specific objects
of the international system of statistics, but the members greatly differed
as to the practical methods of attaining them.
Among the reformsrecommended by the late congress at Vienna was a
uniform standard of weights, measures, and money. It was strongly
urged that all schedules should be carefully worded and the different
35
classes of subjects distinctly defined, so as to avoid all danger of mis-
conception by the local agencies for the collection of facts; and that
they shoul1 be so constructed as to admit of modification to suit local
and national variations. The points of inquiry should be as few as pos-
sible and embrace only the points of pressing necessity. They should
be arranged into two general groups: 1st. The soil, its occupation by
specific crops, live stock, number and occupation of the inhabitants.
2d. The actual production, market-prices, transportation, wages, loans,
and transfers of real estate. The first group embraces the more perma-
nent and the second the more variable elements of agricultural produc-
tion. The decennial census should be taken in all countries the same
year, and its results published as speedily as possible.
In regard to acreage of crops, data should be obtained from intelli-
gent residents. Tax-rolls give imperfect information, as the present use
of land is very different from what it was when these were originally
framed. ‘The area of local inquiry should, as far as possible, represent
specific political subdivisions of the country. The schedules should
specify the amount of land lying, waste, woodland, land in pasture, in
meadows, under plow-culture,,under spade-culture, in orchards and
fruit-gardens, in ornamental, parks, in barn-yards, door-yards, roads, &e.
If a larger or smaller number of,.inquiries be used, they should be ar-
ranged so as to be capable of,condensation or division into a uniform
international series.,, Lhe relativeacreage in different grains is a subject
of special importance, which,has been very successfully treated in the
Duchy of Baden..,,There is even here considerable divergence between
the real and estimated:areas, especially of small crops; yet the general
results show the wisdom of, the method of gathering local statistics by
intelligent private individuals. Irance, Belgium, Austria, and Sweden
have made tolerably complete. divisions of crops, and their schedules
approximate the true practical ideal. Austria, composed of diverse na-
tionalities, has had unexpected success in her method.
Only a few countries publish authoritative statements of crop-yield;
hence, reliance must be placed on estimates of residents, which, though
only approximations, may, by careful discrimination between the intelli-
gent and unintelligent reports, between small and largefarming, between
modes of culture and known results, be made to indicate results closely
approaching the actual truth. Discrimination should be made between
rich, medium, and poor,soils, but political divisions cannot be ignored.
The heads of divisions in the schedules of crop-yield should accurately
correspond with those of area; the land measures and weights should
be reduced to hectares and kilograms.
Great inconvenience is felt from the lack of reliable statistics of
woodland and wood. productiou. Estimates in this department should
be made only by men of experience, whose number is small. The points
of inquiry shouldbe few and practical, embracing heaths, hedges, decid-
uous trees, (cultivated or not,) conifers, brushwood, &c. Timber valuable
for industrial purposes should be particularized. An annual enumeration
of all sorts of live stock should be taken at a uniform period of the
year. ‘The maximum season is that in which the young are just born
and the old not disposed of; the minimum is the winter, when every
farmer reduces the amount of live stock to feed during the absence of
pastures. These extremes should, as far as possible, be equalized. This
class of statistics is generally defective. France and a few other coun-
tries have obtained satisfactory data. The schedule proposed by the
congress embraces each class of animals, discriminated according to
36
age, with the number slaughteréd or lost by natural death, and the pro-
ducts either of their living bodies or their carcasses.
The number and size of barns and the number and classification of
the agricultural population are important topics of statistical inquiry,
but unfortunately have received very little attention. The tax-rolls of
Europe are very inadequate to determine the truth upon these points.
It would be desirable, if possible, to divide landholders into groups ac-
cording to the extent of their properties. The number of the popu-
lation, with an exact designation of their occupations, together with the
real estate owned by each class, should be given.
The above inquiries should be elaborated in a decennial census.
There should also be an annual inquiry into the yields of different crops,
prices of farm-products, cost of transportation, imports and exports,
labor-wages, loans, rents, &c. ‘These should be made at a period early
enough to render their information available in arrangements for the
coming winter and spring, although its early publication might saerifice
entire accuracy to desirable promptness. To secure such a statement it
would be desirable to agree upon an average yield in each circle of in-
quiry, and to express the yield of each district’ by a single percentage
of the average. It should be made as early as November.
Reports of prices of land and of fruit products ‘are usually too local
for general statistics. Market reports require a wide and thorough ae-
quaintance with national and local customs in regard to measurements.
Parchases for cash or inmediate delivery should be ‘distinguished from
those on time. Exports and imports aré carefully collated by States
having a customs-tariff, but the variety of classification renders it diffi-
cult to bring it within the range of general statistics. Uniformity of
market quotations is also very important.’ ‘The cost of railroad freights
is also difficult to systematize on account of different prices in differ-
ent countries. It is therefore best to confine the inquiry to the most
important routes and to the extreme and medium rates of each year.
Labor-wages present greater difficulties than, at first sight, would
present themselves, on account of the variety of local influences de-
termining the problem. The rates of interest upon loans is important
and should be gathered from reports of commercial and other authori-
ties. The number of real-estate transfers is matter of public record,
but it would be desirable, in addition, to ascertain’ the proportion of
forced sales and the general influence of transfers upon the average size
of estates. Data concerning rents are not easily accessible, as these do
not always represent the real value of the property.
The first great point in international statistics is uniformity of leading
schedules. When governments shall adopt a common nomenclature,
at least for their leading tables, and promptly publish and exchange re-
ports, statistical inquiry will greedily seize upon them and work their
statements into every desirable form. Perhaps an international bureau
might be established under superintendence of the congress.
AGRICULTURE. IN RUSSIA.
Russia in Europe is ten times as large as France and eonsists mostly
of a vast plain, toward the center of which arise several plateaus less than
a thousand feet above the sea. The country embraces vast forests, in-
terminable prairies, and large areas of arable land of a fertility unknown
37
in Western Europe, yielding, with very imperfect cultivation, from 30°
to 35 bushels of wheat per acre. With improved processes of culture,
and an extension of railway communications, these vast capabilities of
production will yet make themselves felt upon the markets of the globe.
The climate of Russia, however, is much more severe than in thesame
latitudes of Western Europe. Its extremes of temperature are very
trying to all except the most robust forms of organic life. Widely
separated from the Atlantic Ocean, exposed to north winds from the
Aretic, to northeast winds from Siberia, and, in the south, to the dry
winds from Central Asia, none of which bring a supply of rain, the
country is exposed to frequent droughts which very greatly restrict eul-
tivation. The new conquests south of the Caucasus Mountains, and:
portions of the Crimean region, are exceptions to the above statements,.
enjoying a regular and temperate climate.
The vast extent of Russia renders the gathering of reliable statistics:
a matter of great difficulty. Yet, for several years, a statistical com-
mittee has been systematically at work, with headquarters at St. Pe-
tersburg. From its patient. statistical labor it appears that the ag-
gregate area of Kuropean;/Russiai.is, about 1,861,459 square miles, or
1,191,333,701 acres» ,Hrom this,area;deducting 340,926,492 acres, the
estimated surface, covered, by, buildings, roads, lakes, rivers, swamps,
heaths, commons,.and:waste-lands generally, there will remain 850,407,209
acres available for |preduetion, about 7b per cent. of the whole. This
residue includes 468,627,562;\acres, of )forest-lands, 241,382,474 acres of
arable land, and/140,397;173.acres of grazing-land.
The forest area, in) regions accessible.to.general markets, has already
suffered depletion to an:-extent, affecting the moisture of the atmosphere,
and efforts are being made to restore the balance of nature by replant-
ing woodlands and by restricting the cutting of timber. The great mass
of the Russian forests is found in the governments of Archangel,
Vologda, Olonetz, Kostroma, Perm, Viatka, and Orenburg. . These
north and northeast departments, whose united surface is about half
that of European Russia, are, for the most part, covered with forests.
Some of these wooded regions, especially in Archangel, have been but
partially explored. A considerable portion is known to be swampy and
but little capable of cultivation. The grazing-lands are found mostly in
the south and southeast. Here stock-raising will find its greatest exten-
sion. The cultivated: lands are mostly in the central governments and
the region south and southeast of Moscow. In Koursk, Toula, Voronége,
Tamboff, Kieff, Kowno, Podolia, Riasan, and Kalouga, arable lands con-
stitute from 50 to 70 per cent. of the whole area.
The leading crops grown on the arable lands are the cereals, epecially
wheat and millet. The other crops next in importance are the sugar-
beet, hemp, flax, tobacco, and grapes, but all these occupy but a limited
acreage ; sugar-beets cover about 272,000 acres ; hemp and flax, 2,470,000
acres; tobacco, 86.450 acres, &c. The vine is cultivated only in the
South, and on the banks of the Don. Most of the arable land is very
fertile, about 98 per cent. being designated as black land, (tschernozieme or
tchernozéme ;) without fertilization it yields from fifteen to twenty times
the seed sown. This black land produces seven-tenths of the grain-crops
of the country. From late researches by Prof. P. A. Ilyenkow, of the
Agricultural and Forest Academy of Petrowsky, near Moscow, it appears
that this kind of land composes the north half of the government of
Ssamara; the half of those of Ssimbirsk, Tamboff, and Riasan ; the
whole of those of Ssaratoff, Pensa, Voronége, Kharkow, Poltawa, Ye-
kathérinosslaw, Kieff, and Podolia; and, finally, the larger portion of
08
Kherson, Taurida, and the Don region. ‘This soil is noted for its black
color, especially when moist; when dry, it generally becomes gray, but
some varieties retain their deeper tinge throughout. This coloris due
to the decomposition of vegetable matter. It has been ascertained that
in Ssamara 10 per cent. of the soil is composed of organic matter, and
in Riasan from 8 to 84 per cent. But the fertility of the soil depends
not on these elements, but in a very strong mixture of mineral sub-
stances, indispensable to vegetation, which, having several times entered
the composition of plants, have returned to the soil in a more assimi-
lable form. These mineral elements do not embrace more of phosphoric
acid or potash than less fertile soils, but they contain a larger proportion
of soluble silicates. Partially-decomposed rock is also a prominent ele-
ment in the soil.
This region embraces deposits of fossil phosphate of lime, some of
which are remarkably rich in fertilizing elements. These deposits are
scattered over a triangular region, of which the apex is at St. Peters-
burg and the other angles at Odessa and Orenburg. They lie, gener-
ally, in from one to three beds, though in some cases amounting to
seven, with a variable thickness... Sometimes they crop out upon the
surface, and again they are buried; many. feet.. In some cases they
occur in thick slabs, and in others, in, massive blocks; in still others
they exhibit a nodular form. The principal deposit of Central Russia
is in Koursk, where it forms a, basin nearly, one hundred miles long.
The phosphate is here eligibly, arranged for working in large slabs,
about 6 or 7 inches thick, with kidney-shaped nodules on the under
side penetrating the ground for, several inches. In some portions of ~
this region the practicable yield of phosphate of lime is estimated as
high as 10,000 tons per acre. Analyses at. different points show that
from 30 to 60 per cent. of the soil is composed of this material. Other
deposits, scarcely less rich, are noted in different portions of this
region. It is estimated that the central zone of this region, running
through Smolensk, Orel, Koursk, and Voronége, averages not less than |
from 6,000 to 8,000 tons of phosphates per acre, while the Tamboff de-
posits run from 12,000 to 24,000 tons. The exploitation of these depos-
its, as yet scarcely commenced, opens a wide field of industrial enter-
prise, promising incalculabie results to Russian agriculture.
Yet, with these splendid natural resources, agriculture in this country
is anything but prosperous. The soil, ever since the emancipation of
the serfs, is still held in large bodies by a small number of proprietors,
the large proportion of whom are but little alive to their social respon-
sibilities, and most of them are destitute of capital sufficient for the
proper cultivation of their estates. The price of land, except along
railway lines, is extremely low. On the Volga River, about sixty miles
from a railway terminus, farms may be purchased at less than $1 per
acre. More favored localities command as high as $25 to $30 per acre.
The poverty of the peasantry is another barrier to agricultural progress.
Their lack of capital forbids their occupancy of farms from year to year,
with a systematic and recuperative culture, and hence they engage
mostly as day-laborers or share-farmers. Leases of nine years are very
rare; they seldom exceed two or three years. Arrangements for such
a tenure must be provisional and temporary, looking to the realization of
speedy returns of profit to meet the high rental. It is needless to say
that such a system takes no cognizance of exhaustion of the soil.
De Fontenaye, a French traveler in Russia, states ‘that in 1868 the
black land of Ssamara yielded as high as 50 hectoliters per hectare,
39
about 574 bushels per acre, though the average did not exceed 40 or 41
bushels. For such results it is estimated that 120 francs per hectare, or
$9 to $10 per acre, must be invested by the actual cultivator. Allow-
ance must be made for years of drought in which the average yield falls
to 5 or 6 bushels per acre. Under such conditions, the farmer with an
ordinary market realizes from $4 to $5 per acre onan average. A farmer
owning his own land here enjoys special advantages, realizing, without
speculative risk, from 15 to 20 per cent. average profit upon his invest-
ment, including both good and bad years. He is able to sell wheat at
10 to 12 franes per 100 kilograms, or from 58 to 70 cents per bushel.
Agricultural hand-labor is always cheap, the wages of male hands
ranging from $40 to $50 per annum, with board, or from $70 to $76
without board. Good harvesters are difficult to secure at 50 to 80 cents
per day without board, or from 40 to 60 cents per day with board.
Of late years the attention of proprietors has been directed to the
systematic cultivation of their estates. Institutions of credit are also
springing up in some parts of Russia, which will afford the capital
necessary for a more extended farming enterprise. The vast plains of
Central Russia, where thousands of acres lie without a single break in
the surface, will yet witness the complete success of steam-culture and
of the application of agricultural machinery on the grandest scale. Im-
proved farm-implements are brought into the country in increasing num-
bers. English manufacturers have devised patterns for plows specially
adapted to the culture of these regions, as well as threshing-machines
driven by portable engines tequiring little more fuel than the refuse
straw of the crops.
While cereal culture forms the basis of farming enterprise in Russia,
the sugar-beet and textile plants will demand increasing attention.
Sugar-beet culture is diffused through Kieff, Podolia, Tschnernigoff,
Karkov, Poltowa, Koursk, Toula, Orel, and Tamboff, and is enlarging
its scope, especially to the westward. Three hundred beet-sugar facto-
ries have been organized, giving employment to 70,000 workmen. The
necessity of importing coal, however, raises the cost of manufacturing
sugar to a figure higher than in France or Germany. The quality of
the product averages very high. The seed sown is mostly the white Sile-
sian. It is thought that the extension of railways will remove most of
the causes which enhance the cost of production.
Of oleaginous plants flax is most generally cultivated. It extends
over all of European Russia and over part of Siberia. The total pro-
duct of flax in the empire is estimated 441,000,000 pounds, and of flax-
seed over 300,000,000 pounds. Hemp is largely cultivated in Central
Russia. Its aggregate annual product is supposed to average about
275,000,000 pounds. The most of this home-product is absorbed by
domestic manufacture. The export is almost solely of flax, that of Riga
being in great esteem throughout Europe for the fabrication of linens.
About 50,000 acres are devoted to cotton in Central Asia; tobacco
occupies about 86,450 acres. The grape crop, in the southern provinces,
average over 6,000,000 pounds per annum.
The total value of soil-products is thus averaged: Forest-prod-
ucts, $120,000,000; cereals and potatoes, $848,000,000; sugar-beets,
$4,400,000; textile plants and oleaginous grains, $65,480,000; tobacco,
$2,400,000; grapes, $10,000,000; total, $1,050,280,000. Forest-products
average about 26 cents per acre in gross value; arable-culture about
$3.80 per acre. What the French call “industrial plants,” those form-
ing the basis of special manufactures, yield the greatest average values.
4()
Area and production are thus given in tabular form:
Area. Total value of product.
Hectare. Acres. Frances. Dollars.
189, 643, 300 468, 418, 951 600, 000, 000 120, 000, 000
96, 487,200 | 238,323,384 | 4,240,000,000 | 848, 000, 000
110, 000 271, 700 22, 000, 000 4, 400, 000:
1, 000, 000 2, 470, 000 327, 400, 000 65, 480, 000
35, 000 86, 450 12, 000, 000 2, 400, 000
50, 000 123, 500 50, 000, 000 10, 000, 000
287, 325,500 | 709, 694,985 | 5, 251, 400, 000 | 1, 050, 480, 000
ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD.
By TOWNEND GLOVER, ENTOMOLOGIST.
RECENT NOTES ON THE PHYLLOXERA FROM FOREIGN SOURCES.—
In November last, information was received from Henry Erni, United
States consul at Basle, Switzerland, that the Phylloxera vastatrix had
made its appearance near Geneva, and in December the following
letter was réceived, which is published in full :
Referring you tomy dispatch No. 95, about the appearance of the grape-root louse
at Pregney, near Geneva, the riddle received lately an important solution, for the
insect was discovered in the grape-houses of the Baron Rothschild, at his villa near
Geneva. It is proved that some of these grape-vines were imported from England, in
1869, where the disease occurred in grape-houses as early as 1863. From these facts the
origin of the grape-louse at Pregney appears obvious.
At the meeting of the French Academy, on the 19th of October last, Professor Dumas
stated that two substances had now been discovered capable of destroying the Phyllox-
era: 1st, the sulpho-carbonate of potassa ; and 2d, coal-tar. Neither of these would
injure the grape-plant. Experiments made on a large scale at Cognac and Montpelier,
France, by delegates of the academy, were highly efficient. Both ingredients are cheap,
for the price of a kilogram of each does not exceed one franc. The sulpho-carbonate of
potassa is dissolved in water up to 37° Baumé, and 80 cubic centimeter (;§> liter)
poured upon every diseased grape-root. The best time is in November and March,
the ground at that time being moist and the insect sure to be in winter quarters.
The expense per vine amounts to about 10 centimes. Applying coal-tar, each root re-
ceives about 2 kilograms of this liquid, when it will penetrate the ground about 2 feet
deep. In both cases the grape-louse is effectually killed.
Iam, sir, &c.,
H. ERNI, —
United States Consul.
We also give extracts from the report of the international congress
of vineyardists, at Montpelier, France, October 28, 1874, on the same sub-
ject, from the Journal d’Agriculture Pratique, No. 46:
The floor was taken by Mr. H. Marés, permanent secretary of the agricultural society
of Herault, and president of the ministerial commission. He commenced by recalling
to mind the experiments of 1872 and 1873, with the phylloxera, which were unsatisfac-
tory on account of the invasion of the “pyrale.” In 1872 a new experimental field was
selected, near Montpelier, belonging M. Michel Termand. The experiments commenced
the 6th July, and comprise fifty-one methods, applied to squares of 25 vines each, the
squares being separated by two rows of untreated vines, left to serve as means of
comparison, and to prevent confusion in the effects of various modes of treatment.
One hundred and forty methods have since been tried in the same vineyard, of which
thirty-three were beneficial and nine injurious; the others appeared to have no effect.
The most beneficial were as follows, the soil being chalky and ferruginous: Potassium
sulphate disolved in urine; a mixture of the sulphurized manure of Berre, colza cake,
and ferric sulphate; potassium sulphate dissolved in water; potash soap dissolved in
water ; soot ; a mixture of farm-dung, wood-ashes, and ammonium hydrochlorate ; cow-
urine alone or with the addition of gas-tar. Allthe methods which have proved advan-
tageous are also manurial, especially the salts of potash and ammonia. The injurious
41
methods are thoseinsecticides not manures, as carbonic sulphide, turpentine, petroleum,
gas-tar, and phenic acid not diluted. The committee came to this conclusion: that
manures, especially those rich in potash and nitrogenous substances, benefited the af-
affected vines.
The trials were continued in 1874 on the thirty-three squares already improved,
one-quarter of each being left to see if the improvement was permanent. The total
number of experiments made was two hundred and fifty-nine, extending over two
and one-half hectares. The squares which were benefited in 1872 and 1873, have in
some cases this year almost returned to their original vigor, but the phylloxera has
not disappeared.
As regards the fruit, the following treatment has given the best results: 1. Yard-
dung, wood-ashes, and sal ammoniac. 2. Yard-dung, wood-ashes, and fat lime. 3.
Cow-urine and fish oil. 4. Cow-urine alone. 5, Oil-cake. 6. Potassium, sul-
phate, and urine. 7. Cow-urine and gas-tar. 8. Soot. 9. Sulphur, salt of Berre,
ferric sulphate and colza-cake. The vines surrounding the squares treated were also
visibly affected.
The experience of 1874 confirms and completes the results of 1872 and 1873, showing
a diseased vine may at least temporarily be restored to vigor by energetic treatment.
The commission considers itself justified in asserting that manures, rich in potash and
nitrogen, mixed with alkaline or earthy sulphates, refuse of salt-works, soot, wood-
ashes, ammonia, or fat lime, have increased the productiveness of the vines and allowed
the fruit to ripen.
According to M. Mares the vine-disease is the result of combined causes, and subject
to several conditions, viz: 1. The nature of the soil, it as affects the vine and the in-
sect, frequently a determining condition, , 2. The influence of climate on the vine, and
also whether or not it favors the extension of the insect. 3. The strength or vigor of
growth of the vine itself, which varies according to the variety and mode of culture.
The wild vine does not perish; the stock nearest approaching it is hardly attacked.
M. Laliman spoke next, affirming that rooted American cuttings had been cultivated
in localities where the phyllowera had as yet failed to appear, either on the American or
native stocks.
M. Plauchon then discussed the Americans, dividing them into three principal
groups: 1. The Lambrusca; berries, with foxy taste. 2. Gstivalis; berries small,
leaves deeply indented, wooly on the veins, 3. Cordifolia, of which the Clinton is a
variety ; leaves smooth, berries small.,..'The Scuppernong, derived from the Cordifolia,
attains a prodigious development, one stock covering one-third of ahectare, but it is too
wild. All these resist the phylloxera better than our varieties, perhaps because they have
not been so longin a state of cultivation. Theinsect does not extend its ravages beyond
the small roots of the American varieties. But while the Americans do extremely well
in France, they should not be imported where phylloxera is unknown, for fear of intro-
ducing it, as the speaker is decided in asserting that it originated in Ameriea.
M. Max Cornu gave asummary of his experiments. Heconfined himselfto substances
giving off poisonous vapors, among which sulpho-carbonates gave the best results.
M. Bouchet de Bernard, in a communication, advocated grafting French vines on
American stocks, thus obtaining good wine and roots capable of resisting the attacks
of the phylloxera. M. Leissoniere supported these ideas, asserting the positive inferior-
ity of the American wines. M. Terrel de Chénes stated that during five or six weeks
the phylloxera left its subterranean abode and crawled up the stock, hiding under the
bark six inches above the ground. M. Douysset told how well the American vines
grew at Roquemaure. And the session terminated with a communication from M.
Petit, of Nimes, who lauded the value of coal-tar against the phylloxera.
At 8 o'clock, 29th October, the members assembled at Comedy square, to visit the
field of Las Sorres, and view with their own eyes the results spoken of by M. Marés.
The experimental field should give some consolation to-our brethren of the South, for
the squares of green vines in the middle of general desolation show the genius of man
may triumph over the phylloxera, as it already has over the Oidium.
The cellar of Saporta belonging to M. Vialla was visited, and the excursion termin-
ated at the vineyard of M. Gaston Bazille, near Lattes. His yards join others not yet
treated for the phylloxera, and we can hardly describe the extraordinary difference in
the vines. Here they are digging up the stocks to throw away ; there they are covered
with leaves and vigorous branches. A part were treated with cow-urine and calcium
sulphate, a part with urine alone. In another place, submersion has been tried with
success and new ditches are now being dug.
In the session of October 30 M. Lichtenstein continued an essay by M. Roessler, dele-
gate of the Austrian government. In his country the grape-growers believe the phyl-
loxera came from America. They are opposed to destroying the vines, and believe in
studying the insect and fighting it with manure and phosphates, ammonia, and potash.
This treatment succeeds in porous soils, and to obtain this porosity the learned delegate
had made use of dynamite, raising the ground thus from a great depth without injuring
the vines. He then puts some chalk and phosphorus at the foot of the stock and irri-
gates. A gas is disengaged by the humidity, which destroys great quantities of insects,
42
and by this means he obtainsa crop. M. Lichtenstein added to this communication
the result of his personal observations, that from the 15th August to the 15th Septem-
ber the phyllogvera takes wings and departs. He was not able to distinguish the sexes,
but there was a time when the insect laid an egg which gave birth to the mother of
the legions which devastate the vineyards. At this time the insect is within: reach,
and should be destroyed. Instudying the phylloxera of the vine the speaker discovered
the phylloxera of the oak.
Viscount de Saint Trivier, delegate from the Rhone, gave a history of the progress
of the phylloxera in his neighborhood, where it appeared three years ago. He pulled
up his vines in April and June but found no phylloxera ; but in July they appeared,
which fact made him think, with M. Cornu, that the temperature must be at least 15°
cent. He obtained good results by covering the stocks with a sort of paste made of
saw-dust and coal-tar. M. Denis employed boiling water, to which he added one-tenth
of tobacco-waste,
M. Loubet did not believe in medicines, but advocated patient replanting till the
disease disappeared of itself, as he believed it soon would.
MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS.
By THomMAsS Taylor, MICROSCOPIST.
[ CONTINUED FROM THE OCTOBER REPORT. ]
CRANBERRY ROT AND SCALD.—It has been,suggested by several cor-
respondents of this Department. that an application of lime to the decay-
ing vegetable matter composing cranberry /bog-lands would increase fer-
mentation rather than prevent the evil, and that. the application of some
other substance would probably prove more; suitable for the purposes
required. The action of lime on cranberry land differs materially from
its action. on farming land in general. Cranberry lands vary exceedingly
in their conditions. I have found, for example, in New Jersey unde-
composed peat-bogs six feet thick, charged with sulphureted hydrogen
and acetic acids. On such soil cranberry vines grow vigorously, and
become heavily matted. The bloom is plentiful and the fruit grows
in profusion, but under continual high temperature and drought fer-
mentation is induced in the berries, and the cranberry ‘‘ rot” succeeds.
On the other hand, I have found a cranberry plantation -having a soil
of well decomposed peaty matter six feet thick, and free from all dis-
agreeable odor. Other conditions were also favorable to high culture,
such as a plentiful supply of cool water, and cool breezes during hot
weather.
Other plantations presented conditions entirely different from these.
At Pemberton the cranberry vines are planted mostly in black sand, a
soil composed of pure white sand and a small portion of peaty matter,
amounting to only 24 per cent. of the latter. This soil, when sufficiently
moist and subjected to a proper temperature, is quite favorable to cran-
berry growth, and proves very profitable; but during long droughts
and high temperature the berries, even on this soil, also rot. Im the ab-
sence of moisture, the roots fail to sustain the organic functions of the
berry, and it becomes subject to the same kind of decay and rot that
are observed when a healthy berry is removed from a healthy vine and
subjected to high heatof the sun. This fact is well understood by cran-
berry-growers. The soil which accumulates in old mill-ponds differs
from the foregoing. Itis composed mostly of decomposed leaves, moss,
and similar substances, being a well decomposed vegetable sediment,
most of which had probably fermented in the forest before it was washed
by rains into the ponds. By draining the water from these ponds grad-
ually, the sediment consolidates into the condition of humus matter.
43
Sometimes large trées in a state of fermentation are found in the
bottom of mill-ponds, and bad soil and rotting berries have always been
found in their immediate neighborhood. Pure sand, in some cases, has
been used successfully in cranberry culture when irrigated with cool
and running peaty water; and so also clayey sand, but with indifferent
success. In one ease I found a condition of soil differing from all these.
It consisted of ‘‘ black sand,” or “savanna,” as it is sometimes called,
and had on its surface about three inches of a heavy, undecomposed,
fermenting peat, which had been spread over it by artificial means.
Lastly, cranberry land sometimes consists of a thin layer of well decom-
posed peat, six to eight inches in depth, but rendered useless by being
charged with back water from adjacent fermenting bog-land.
In the use of lime, under such conditions, science and common sense
must be exercised. In the first place, a bog consisting of six feet of fer-
menting muck, with a poor supply of pure running water, cannot be
easily brought into the condition of pure humus matter by the use of
forty bushels of lime to the acre. This amount will prove beneficial,
and if the following season should have favorable climatic conditions,
and additional applications should be made, more satisfactory results
may be expected from its use than would occur without it; but if a
long drought and high temperature should follow, the value of the lime
would not be appreciable; and yet the same amount applied to a thin
layer of fermenting peat, with a proper supply of water, would give
marked and valuable results.’ The application of lime to well decom-
posed peaty matter or humus will not cause fermentation, but simply
oxidation, producing a class of organic acids highly beneficial to plant-
growth, being always combined with more or less ammonia. The appli-
eation of caustic or carbonate of lime, especially the former, to savanna
land, may be generally considered as injurious to it in the absence of a
liberal supply of water charged with soluble humus matter; because
the lime, whether caustic or otherwise, will soon destroy by oxidation
the small percentage of vegetable matter contained in it. The savanna
lands of the Cranberry Park Company, at Atsion, N. J., have a
bountiful supply of peaty water at command, and the sour portions may
be safely treated with lime in any form, while the savanna lands, near
Pemberton, in the same State, require very different treatment. All
the land in that neighborhood which I examined was in a healthy con-
dition, and free from sour acid odors; but some mode of irrigation will
be required to keep the soil moist during long droughts. The applica-
tion of sulphate of lime—land-plaster—which absorbs water from the
atmosphere, would be more favorable for such land.
It is acknowledged that the savanna lands have a great tendency to be
impoverished quickly under cultivation. I would recommend the adop-
tion of the following mode of ameliorating such land: Take any quantity
of heavy peat-muck, and make a compost of it with quick-lime, turning it
over frequently, and allowing the full action of the atmosphere on it.
Frost will tend to pulverize it, while high temperature will favor fer-
mentation, destroying its albuminoids. The lime will neutralize its
tannic acid, and allow the proteine compounds preserved by it to pass
through the stages of decomposition, converting the vegetable mass
into humus matter. Any excess of lime will combine with the acetic
and other organic acids present, neutralizing them. The whole mass,
when dry, should be pounded or reduced by a rolling-machine to the
form of powder, and spread over the surface of the savanna lands.*
* The expense of collecting and pulverizing need not exceed three dollars per ton.
Rolling-mills, suitable for this purpose, used in the manufacture of artificial fertilizers,
may be had in Philadelphia, or in any of the other cities of the United States.
4A,
Such a course should have been taken to improveéone of the extensive
plantations near Tom’s River, alluded to in my previous report.
There is much evidence to show that the roots of the cranberry-vine
succeed best when planted in loose, porous soil. While traveling
over the highly-cultivated plantation of Joseph C. Hinchman, he pointed
out a number of barren spots and strips of land, which in former years
had proved as well adapted to the growth of the vine as any other part
of his land. Mr. Hinchman stated that persons who were employed
‘in picking the berries, would frequently draw heavy boxes over the
vines, and in this way compact the sand or soil around the roots.
In other cases they would form in groups, and sit on the cranberry-
vines when taking their meals. In all such places the vines ceased
to grow thriftily. Col. D. Gowdy also remarked that he could not
account for the comparative barrenness of the land on the edges of
his artificial water-courses. He said that formerly the vines grew in
profusion on them, yielding fine crops of berries. On comparing the
edges of the water-courses, artificial and natural, of Mr. Hinchman with
those of Mr. Gowdy, a marked contrast appeared. On Mr. Hinchman’s
plantation the profusion of vines and fruit growing on the margins of
the stream was quite remarkable. On the banks of his principal stream
the runners often extended from one to two. yards in length, and were
frequently seen floating on the surface of the stream, and bearing an
abundance of ruby-colored fruit: -When we take into consideration the
fact that hundreds of persons pass, over all the cranberry lands during
the picking-season, it need not be surprising should a diminution of the
cranberry-crop occur from this cause. While making an examination of
the cranberry-plantation of Joseph J. White, near Pemberton, N.
J., I failed to detect the odor of sulphureted hydrogen in the culti-
vated soil, but under the trodden paths I found it in abundance. In
this fact we have at once a proof of the value of a porous soil, which
will not only allow its deleterious gases to escape into the atmosphere,
but will also permit the atmospheric air to penetrate freely to the roots of
the growing vines.
In company with a committee, I visited the cranberry-plantations of
John Webb, of Jackson Township, Ocean County, who was doubtless
the first cultivator of cranberries in New Jersey. Mr. Webb commenced
his experiments about the year 1843, although having no practical
knowledge on the subject, but relying wholly on such information as he
gained from newspapers coming occasionally into his hands. © Living as
he did in an isolated place, a few miles from Cassville, with no capital,
he was embarrassed with many difficulties; still he persevered with his
rude experiments, studying, as it were, instinctively the habits of the
cranberry-plant, until success crowned his labors. On our arrival we
found that he had just completed the plowing of his cranberry bog. His
plan consisted in throwing up light furrows of vines, one on the other,
without allowing them to cover one another. I believe that Mr. Webb’s
plan would prove very successful if applied to some of the plantations
J have described, as in the case of barrenness, and when polluted with
fermenting matter and sulphureted hydrogen. Bog lands covered with
clayey sand would be much improved by commingling it with the peat
soil, and in this way removing the clayey sand from the immediate roots
of the vines. In such cases, of course, the vines should be resanded
with coarse, sharp, clean sand.
45
e
, FACTS FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES.
WHEAT IMPORTS OF GREAT BrRITAIN.—The United States, as a
wheat-exporting country, more than sustains its usual preponderance
among the contributors to the bread-supply of Great Britain. In a re-
cent report we stated that this country had furnished 27 per cent. of
these supplies during the period of fifteen years ending in 1872, and
Russia 24 per cent., Germany, 17; France, 9; British America, 5; the re-
maining 18 being divided among the Austrian territories, Egypt, Den-
mark, Chili, and other countries. In 1873 this country’s contribution is
45 per cent. ; that of Russia, less than 22. In 1874, to December 31, the
United States, 55; that of Russia, 15 per cent. In wheat and flour our
export to Great Britain of the calendar year exceeds an equivalent of
fifty-two million bushels.
reduced to dollars, the price per cwt. of the wheat of the principal
exporting countries is as follows:
1873. 1874,
Th 8d 2c de co nndet Shbbt So hibsee eres ea Rees raheem ategiamaag emer $3.16 $2.78
Austrian Territories...-.. 2.2L... DW OF OO. MERIT OMNIA? LOIS oe 16? -3e45
Cinnteds States bc. -c--g1j2odt-35 seeiqge 9c... 00.20 nheolt.nge 329618 Dae 07
Pe NOTH AT OTIC A ete Snel ets cee vers IEE « = <b ert. faaqeslexaucdss 2 Sy 30s hy Bide
The average value of maize in 1873, per cwt., was $1.76; in 1874,
$2.11.
Quantities, Value.
1873. 1874. 1873. 1874.
‘Wheat from—
IR W SIE cob Sols SERGE SEER eae aie ewts.| 9,598,096 | 5, 714, 488 |£6, 072, 723 | £3, 180, 723
riers earnest LN sins t Uinicteisies & 0 sive eave viniaeis do.. 301, 758 167, 286 205, 450 103, 956
(He ye oe eo oe a do..| 2, 153, 857 3, 053, 680 1, 544, 850 2, 017, 623
LENIENT beg obs See, Sia elena fh spall tape aed do..| 1,170, 522 300, 299 747, 737 163, 835
Austrian Territories. 0... 02.0.0 .20---.-2--- do... 29, 730 2, 814 18, 616 1, 932
Turkey, Wallachia,and Moldavia.--...--.--. do... 367, 487 659, 676 218, 565 364, 082
Mayne AVY shail ooo do..| 1, 260, 401 293, 880 697, 194 172, 242
Wiirked statese. . O-fin Ril. pg cALe -.< do..} 19, 742, 726 | 23, 048, 552 | 12, 895, 779 14, 178, 791
CUNTILN (8a I ee a a = ca a do..| 1, 557, 128 1, 925, 334 980, 702 1, 180, 455
British North America ..-.....---------.-+--- do..| 3, 767, 330 3, 807, 174 2, 486, 584 2, 238, 167
Opher countriesets ces! -pawd- vader wel beso do.-} 3, 802, 595 2, 506, 277 2,578, 489 1, 599, 256
Mmocan Ce TRG SLY eB RIOT! 2G, 43, 751, 630 | 41,479, 460 | 28, 446, 659 25, 201, 062
Wheat meal and flour from— ee
iceman Poe. Ohl. WIV ISS OSG. .4 ewts. 687, 243 751, 366 679, 885 706, 039
LE TIDGs ae a ee ee ee Se a ae do..| 1, 669, 356 659, 568 1, 598, 878 606, 457
Wabed stabedss. = 22S. eS Sd SI do..| 1,580, 697 3, 290, 235 1, 380, 792 2, 915, 752
British North America :.......-..-.----+---- do... 444, 729 389, 355 399, 130 332, 096
JDDEE LOnTinic 2 pa eee do..| 1,822, 235 1, 139, 084 1, 780, 512 1, 149, 476
Ted gos ee ey ee oe eee ere 6, 204,260 | 6,229,608 | 5,839,197 | 5, 709, 820
Indian Gdammtin anaes. . Jf) Ones. OSL ewts.| 18, 768,127 | 17, 683, 212 6, 621, 720 7, 484, 178
Indian-corn meal, (including maizena)....-..-..-- do. 6, 836 8, 511 10, 570
FRUIT CULTURE IN MICHIGAN.—A State census of Michigan was
essayed in 1874, from which is compiled the following statement of
quantities of fruit grown in 1872 and 1873, with a record of the county
and township making the heaviest product of variety:
46
- toy -od- :
Variety. Year. peal od Leading county. Leading township.
1872 | 7,236,471 | Oakland ... .| 517,642 | Armada, Macomb....-.. 56, 943
Apples......--.---. bush. }| ig73 | 5’ 927’ 875 | Lenawee. .._| 43% 120 Berrien, Berrien ........ 43, 085
Papalios aG ; 1872 318, 454 | Berrien ..... -140, 450 | Benton, Berrien......... 40, 83
RTC a =e 1873 22, 031 ee Buren... 9,072 | South Haven, Van Buren.) 8, 910
§ | 1872 33, 932 errien —b.)7 6, 200 | Saint J oseph, Berrien...| 2,090
POAT. «ooo ncm ones = GO e- 9) | 1873. |, 40,857. |... dQ). 0-0 9,591 |...... dO cep ie 4, 300
Pies ia § | 1872 6,301 | Lapeer...... 693 | Metamora, Lapeer ...... 180
SRE UB “70 | 1873 3, 667 | Oceana ..-. 373 | Saint Joseph, Berrien . .. 217
Giese ado ; 1872 60,958 | Calhoun ....| 5, 640 | Battle Creek, Calhoun. . 1, 271
Seo isstre = - “* 2 [1873 66,746 | Oakland ... 8,415 | Saint Joseph, Berrien..-| 1, 431
4 1872 50, 420 | Ottawa ..... 4, 206 |. sme OO nto de ieee te 8,175
Strawberries ........ do.. ; 1873 | 48,992 |....do ....... 3 948 | do OF EOC S Bh 6, 955
Currants and gooseber- ; 1872 36, 484 | Branch ..-.. 2, 254 | Barry, Barry:_.122-.223. 700-
TIOS|E ert are 3. wee bush. 1873 AO) G2). | Opel fee cn 2,299 Wesex a OD «-.. tcp aeuen eee 800
All kinds, except grapes, ; 1872 | 7, 743, 020 Oakland .... 526, 845 | Benton, Berrien. .--..... 68, 502
pushelsO.- 22. 2°8en¢ 1873 | 6, 150,660 | Lenawee ....| 431, 473 Quiney, Branch... snes 44, 272
Ginicn as § | 1872 | 2, 323, 500 Kalamazoo.. *3, 657 | Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo..| *3, 368
PA Pi ite eis bide 2} 1873 | 2,960,100 | Berrien .... | *5,408 |...... do 4. 3S ee *3, 053
*Cwt.
The area in fruit is reported as follows:
Gres Of Orcharding.<---- so == de += == sete cee Se nae a oe eens Oe ee te eee 237, 061. 00
Acres of: vineyards’. ./.>-.\. 2.0.2. JU LOLI 12009 Amon wat sileleegs 1, 007. 64
Acres of: raspberry-bushes+--<- s22.4- -dypgta 3 bd adig v3 A paehepeses -- -Soaee 946. 52
Acres of strawberry-vines.......--.. --- ae yeees ee ee - ee 1, 647, 32
Acres of currant and gooseberry-bushes.--! 2. 0. . 2 ks eee ee BAB e Ree 386. 37
Total acres of fruit..... aiiG Lele es. A200. Ved [Oo de Byres ae 241, 048. 85
The counties having the largest acreage in orchards are Berrien,
14,001, and Oakland, 12,932; and the next in order of decrease are
Lenawee, Kent, Jackson, Washtenaw, and Hillsdale, the last having
9,186 acres. Those having the most acres in vineyards are, Berrien,
243: Monroe, 136; and Ottawa, 116. Berrien has 374 in raspberries and
947° in strawberries ; Ottawa has 82 in raspberries, and 109 in straw-
berries ; Muskegon, 58 in vineyards, 644 in raspberries, and 1293 in
strawberries. In currants and gooseberries, Branch is far in advance
of all others, reporting 63 acres; the next in order are, Saginaw, 243 ;
Muskegon, 236 ; Ingham, 20; and "Berrien, 20.
The following townships, the leading producers in the years named,
report the following aggregates, not including grapes:
1872. Bushels. 1873. Bushels.
Benton, Berrien County.-.--..-.- 68,502 | Quincey, Branch County. .....--. 44, 272
Saint Joseph, Berrien County---. 59,808 | Berrien, Berrien County..-.....-. 43, 085
Armada, Macomb County.--.--.-- 57,405 | Niles, Berrien County...--..---- 40,112
Reading, Hillsdale County-.---..- 55,342 | Saint Joseph, Berrien County.--. 38,958
Almont, Lapeer County..---.-.- 50,343 | Reading, Hillsdale County ..----- 38, 316
Avon, Oakland County..--.-.-.. 50,055 | Pittsford, Hillsdale County---.-.- 37, 323
The counties producing apples most largely are Oakland, northwest
of Detroit, and Lenawee, the second from Lake Erie, in the southern
tier. The greatest production of peaches in these years was in Berrien
and Van Buren, the most southern counties on the eastern shore of
Lake Michigan. Berrien is also first in pears both years. one lead-
ing county in plums was Lapeer, north of Oakland, in 1872, and
Oceana, on Lake Michigan, in 1873. Calhoun, in the second tier of
southern counties, and Oakland, lead in cherries; Wayne, (Detroit the
county-seat,) in strawberries ; and Branch, in the southern tier, in cur-
rants and gooseberries. Berrien is now far ahead in grapes. Apples
constituting 98 per cent. of all fruits, exclusive of grapes, the apple
counties are those making the greatest total production.
47
It is thought that less than half the orchards in the State have yet
come into full bearing; many are just beginning, and many more have
not yet reached that point. Hence there is a certain prospect of a
rapid increase in average production.
SUGAR-CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED STATES.—The annual state-
ment of the sugar-trade of 1874, by the New York Commercial List,
shows the receipt of foreign cane-sugar as amounting to 652,596 tons,
against 636,497 in 1873. New York received 431,315 tons, an increase
of 54,746 tons; Boston, 69,479 tons, a decrease of 24,508 tons; Phila-
delphia, 38,854 tons, a decrease of 14,440 tons; Baltimore, 77,201, a de-
crease of 19,396 tons; New Orleans, 27,141 tons, an increase of 10,903
tons; other ports, 15,606 tons, a decrease of 1,206 tons. The ton in this
statement is 2,240 poands. ‘The foreign sugar trade appears to be con-
centrating at New York and New Orleans, the other ports showing a
heavy decline.
The stock on hand at the beginning of 1874 and 1873, respectively,
was 71,451 tons and 41,803 tons, making the total supply of the two
years, respectively, 724,047 tons and 679,300 tons. Of this supply
12,045 tons were exported in 1874, against 15,124 tons in 1873, leaving
the stock available for home consumption in 1874, 712,002 tons, against
664,176 in 1873. Of this-available stock there were left over at all the
ports January 1, 1875, 50,133 tons, against 71,451 January 1, 1874,
showing the total amount of foreign sugar consumed or distributed for
consumption in 1874 at 661,889 tons, against 592,725 the previous year.
The increased consumption in 1874 was 69,144 tons, while the increase
of 1873 over 1872 was 25,152 tons. But the consumption of domestic
cane sugar in 1874 was only 48,500 tons, or 10,800 tons less than in 1873,
making the total consumption of cane sugar of all sorts 710,369 tons in
1874, against 652,025 tons in 1873, and 637,373 tons in 1872. That is,
the increase amounted to 58,344 tons in 1874, against 14,652 tons in 1873.
The above figures do not include the States and Territories on the
Pacific coast. The consumption of cane sugar in these States during
1874 is estimated at 30,046 tons, making, for the whole country,
740,415 tons of cane-sugar. Add, for sugar made from molasses, 43,600
tons; for maple-sugar, 15,000 tons; for beet-root, sorgho, and other
miscellaneous kinds, 2,000 tons; and the total amount of ali sorts of
sugar consumed in 1874 was 801,015 tons, against 740,525 tons in 1873,
an increase of 60,490 tons, or nearly one-twelfth.
The population of the United States, according to the ninth census in
1870, was 38,500,000. Allowing 3 per cent. annual. increase, about the
average prior to the late civil war, and the aggregate of 1871 would be
about 39,666,000 ; 1872, 40,875,000 ; 1873, 42,000,000. During 1874 the
decline of foreign immigration materially checked the increase of pop-
ulation, leaving an aggregate of about 43,000,000. During 1870 the
total consumption of cane sugar alone was 1,188,000,000 pounds, or about
30.9 pounds per capita; during 1871, 1,412,623,360 pounds, or 35.6
pounds per capita; during 1872, 1,427,715,520, or 34.9 pounds per
capita; during 1873, 1,460,937,000 pounds, or 34.8 pounds per capita;
1874, 1,591,236,560 pounds, or 37 pounds per capita. Adding about
200,000,000 pounds per annum for molasses-sugar, maple-sugar, beet-
sugar, &c., and the annual consumption per capita will be about 5
pounds greater than cane sugar alone, as stated above. This rapid
increase in sugar consumption is one of the remarkable facts showing
the drift of our civilization.
FRENCH FORESTRY-STATISTICS.—According to a semi-official note in
the Journal des Débats, the total forest surface under governmental gu-
48
pervision in France was 7,416,529 acres, of which 2,743,388 acres belong
to the state, and the remainder to communes and various public institu-
tions. Alsace and Lorraine, ceded to Germany, contained 395,257 acres
of public forest land. The Orleans family had previously recovered
61,915 acres that had been confiscated, making a reduction of 457,178
acres from the former area. On the other hand, 161,598 acres belonging
to the civil list of the late imperial régime have been transferred to the
state, making the net reduction only 295,580 acres, During 1847,
147,211 acres were replanted, making the present total area of forest lands
in France 7,593,740 acres, or nearly 6 per cent. of the national area.
The gross revenues of the French forests average about 15 franes per
acre, of which about 8 per cent. cover expenses of administration. The
Prussian forest service for 1873 reports a gross revenue of 8.26 franes
per acre, of which 22 per cent. are absorbed by the expenses. As the
French system was originally copied from the Prussian in 1827, this
difference of economic results is remarkable.
WINE-CULTURE IN ITALY.—The growth of the vinicultural interest
in Italy during the last few years has lately manifested itself by remark-
able results. At the London Exposition in 1862, of 150 kinds of Italian
wine exhibited, 45 received premiums. At the Vienna Exposition of
1873, of 230 Italian wines exhibited, 101 either received a premium or
an honorable mention. Italy devotes over 6,000,000 acres to vine-
culture, producing, in 1873, over 870,000,000 gallons of wine. Of
this amount about 250,000,000 gallons are credited to Naples and Sicily ;
200,000,000, to Emilia, Umbria, and the Roman marches; 200,000,000
to the older provinces. The average price, as officially estimated by the
Italian statistical authorities, was about 19 cents per gallon, making the
total value of the wine-product about $165,000,000. The value of ex-
ports of Italian wine rose from $2,799,696 in 1871, to $4,692,672 in 1872.
France takes the largest proportion of this export; next in order, Eng-
land, Switzerland, Austria, and the United States. Egypt takes a large
quantity in bottles, while considerable quantities of bottled wine are
shipped to Tunis, Tripoli, Brazil, and Holland.
FRENCH SUGAR PRODUCTION.—Le Journal Officiel gives the follow-
ing comparative statement of sugar production of France during the
last two seasons:
187475. 1873-74.
Mlatalsproduchs: fost. see sane nc sees oe 304, 323,230 pounds. 265,288,313 pounds.
Mncalicondumptiontsct sess S52 se aes 124, 033,247 pounds. 116, 834,176 pounds.
Stock on hand October 31... .---.- <2... 180, 129,990 pounds. 150,791,873 pounds.
Sugar-factories in action.-...-.-.---.---- 514 499
Sugar-factories inactive...--..-.---.----. 10 23
Quantity of juice defecated ........----- 71, 025, 854 gallons. 475,419,519 gallons.
Sugar-beets were more abundant, but the juice was somewhat less
rich in saccharine principles. Consumption, weighed down by taxation,
did not keep pace with production, whence raw sugar did not maintain
prices remunerating to producers. Beet cultivators, sugar producers
and refiners manifest an equal inquietude in regard to future legislation
affecting the sugar industry.
BRITISH IMPORTS OF ALIMENTARY SUBSTANCES.—The imports of
animal and vegetable food products into the United Kingdom during
October, 1874, amounted to £5,823,000, a loss, compared with October,
1873, of £1,061,000. Living animals amounted to £731,000, a gain of
£175,000; butter to £848,000, a gain of £135,000; cheese to £485,000,
a gain of £26,000; eggs to £182,000, a gain of £39,000; salt and dried
fish, £154,000, a gain of £20,000; meat, fresh and salt, to £128,000, a
gain of £54,000; rice to £368,000, a gain of £3,000. On the other hand,
49
wheat fell off £1,047,000; flour, £83,000; lard, £91,000; maize, £235,000
potatoes, £37,000. The total gain was £432,000 ; total loss, £1,403,000
of which two-thirds wasin wheat alone. Leaving out that cereal, the later
importation showsa small net gain. This shows the beneficent influence
of a large domestic cereal crop. Lower prices have made the reduction
in values of larger proportion than that of quantities, which is, however,
quite large.
POTATO-CULTURE IN ENGLAND.—The Royal Society of England has
been unremitting in its efforts to stay the potato malady. One of its
members, Lord Cathcart, has offered a prize of £100 for a memoir upon
the disease and a complete remedy. This offer not having produced any
satisfactory result, the society offered asimilar prize for an early potato
that would resist the malady for three years. The seed was sent to
each of the great potato districts—Yorkshire, north and south, Cum-
berland, Tyld, in Laneashire, Marsh, in Lincolnshire, Essex, Hig-
ham, in Kent, Devonshire, Staffordshire, Bedfordshire, North and South
Wales, Morayshire, Perthshire, the Lothians, Renfrewshire, Ulster, Con-
naught, Leinster, Munster, and other parts of the United Kingdom,
Six varieties were experimented with, but not one escaped the disease.
The experimenters concur in the necessity of rejecting damp soils for
potato-culture, and also.agree that manure should be applied before
planting. They also agree that the seed should consist of whole pota-
toes, of medium size, instead of fragments. The importance of this
tuber in the British Isles is,shown by the fact that it occupied alto-
gether, in 1874, 1,412,851 acres, of which 520,430 were in Great Britain
and 892,421 in Ireland. The product, estimated at £14 per acre, amounts
nearly to £20,000,000, or $100,000,000,
THE ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABORER.—The forces at work through-
out the civilized world for the elevation of the laborer have already
greatly ameliorated the condition of the English peasantry. The ad-
vance in their wages has been considerable, though unequal in different
localities. The number of allotments of gardens for laborers has greatly
increased. No less than 67,422 such holdings were returned in England
alone in 1872. They are more numerous in the corn counties than in
those mainly devoted to grazing. Educational facilities, hitherto en-
joyed sparingly by this class, are more generally improved. There is
beginning to be felt, as the natural though not legitimate result of this
awakening, an antagonism between labor and capital, stimulated doubt-
less by unwise counsels of the laborers and possibly also of the Farmers’
Union. The question was recently discussed quite fully in the London
Farmers’ Club, the leading participator being Mr. Herbert Little, from
whose address the following extract is taken:
Actuated more, apparently, by silly spite than by higher motives, the present policy
of the union seems to be that of wholesale deportation of agricultural laborers to for-
eign lands. A more dangerous game could scarcely be played, or one less likely to ful-
fill the intentions of its promoters. Far better would it be to encourage migration to
the fullest extent from overstocked country districts to those home centers of manu-
facturing industry where labor is already at a premium. There is the danger that if
within reach of their native soil they may at any time be deluded into the idea that
after all they were as happy and well off there, and that they may feel a desire to re-
turn. But get them well out of their native land, argue their present advisers, and
not only is there little fear of their return to trouble us, but those who are left behind
immediately become worth higher wages. But this consequence by no means neces-
sarily follows, while the great impetus given to emigration may be succeeded by a
reflux or paralysis which may entirely upset the calculations of the emigrants’ friends.
There is even danger that a reaction may set in against emigration altogether, if the
hordes of unskilled rustics who are now being shipped off almost against their inclina-
tion, should fail to find in the countries to which they are exiled the blessings promised
by their unscrupulous advisers. Already America complains of a surfeit of unskilled
4A
50
and even of expert workmen, and it is far from improbable that the time is at hand
when the re-emigration of large bodies of men from the United States to this country
may counterbalance all the efforts of the union for the depopulation of our rural dis-
tricts. A far stronger power than any wielded by farmers’ or laborers’ unions will, in
the long run, regulate with inexorable precision the interchange, and determine the
localization of human labor. Iallude to the simple law of supply and demand.
AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT IN AUSTRIA.—The Austrian minis-
ter of agriculture reports that special encouragement has been given
to various special cultures. The organization of agricultural instruc-
tion, the breeding of horses, the constitution of studs, and, finally,
rural administration, properly socalled, have received special atten-
tion. <A traveling professor has been appointed to visit the different
viticultural districts of Dalmatia, to hold conferences upon the manu-
facture of wine. He was specially charged to call attention to the
value of associations for this purpose. The forestry school of Maria-
brunn has increased its pupils 50 per cent. Its course of instruction
embraces lessons in the woods, as well as in the laboratory. Local asso-
ciations have been more active, and have presented an unusually inter-
esting class of discussions.
FRENCH AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.—The French government is
endeavoring to secure the prompt annual publication of a volume of
national statistics, embracing movements of population, wages, benevo-
lent institutions, public and private, charities, agricultural and indus-
trial statistics, &c. The latest issue, however, represents only the year
1871. From its statements it appears that cereal culture occupied 28
per cent. of French territory, or 14,896,525 hectares out of 52,857,657,
the hectare being equal to 2.4711 acres. Their production had risen to
681,000,000 bushels, beside 253,000,000 quintals of straw, with an aggre-
gate value of 5,000,000 francs. Wheat occupied 48 per cent. of the acre-
age devoted to cereals, and produced one-half their total value. Next
stood oats and rye, and then barley, buckwheat, and maize; but the last
three covered but 18 per cent. of the cereal acreage, and produced but
14 per cent. of its annual value. During the year agricultural disasters
footed up a loss of 118,207,256 franes, of which 38,812,953 frances rep-
resented losses from fire; 47,576,202 francs, from hail; 4,763,992 frances,
from inundations ; 27,054,088 frances, losses in farm-animals. In addi-
tion to the above it is stated that losses from frost aggregated
112,500,000 francs, and animal diseases, 18,000,000 frances.
BRITISH COLONIES IN AUSTRALIA.—The following statistics of the
colonies named are from official reports for the year 1873:
a - | Acres cul- :
Colonies. Population. cated: Horses. Cattle. Sheep. Pigs.
SVEROROUNA tat no evinis loin minim iaininins 790, 492 964, 996 180, 342 883, 763 | 11, 323, 080 160, 336
New South Wales...-....--. 560, 275 456, 825 328, 014 | 2, 710, 374 | 10, 928, 590 238, 342
The taxation per head of population was, in Victoria, £2 4s. 103d.; in
New South Wales £2 9s. 4d. In the former the value of the total im-
ports was £16,533,856; total exports, £15,302,454, In the latter, im-
ports, £11,088,388 ; exports, £11,815,829. In Victoria, miles of railway
under construction, 145; of telegraph open, 3,870; under construction,
210. In New South Wales, of railway under construction, 58; of tele-
graph open, 6,521; under construction, 912. In Victoria the inerease
of population in the ten years following 1861 was 35.4 per cent.; the
increase of males, 22 per cent.; of females, 56 per cent.
51
S1zE OF BRITISH FARMS.—According to the agricultural returns
for 1873, the average area under crops, fallow, and grass in each
holding, or separate tenure, was in England and Sotland 56
acres, and in Ireland 26. This was exclusive of land let in “allotments,”
that is, small patches assigned to laborers to be cultivated for them-
selves, out of work-hours. In the eastern counties of England the av-
erage extent of holdings was, for the most part, higher than the general
average, being, in Cambridge, 59 acres; Essex, 82; Huntingdon, 69;
Lincoln, 55; Norfolk, 56; and Suffolk, 72. A comparison of the census
taken in 1871 with that of 1851 shows a diminution in the number of
small, and a corresponding increase in the number of large farms. In
17 representative counties, out of 59,870 farmers making returns in
1871, 12,075 cultivated less than 20 acres; in 1851, these counties re-
turned 12,941 of this class; in 1871, of farmers holding not less than 50
and less than 75 acres, 6,370 were returned; in 1851, 8,253 of the same
class; of farmers holding less than 100 acres, in 1871, 33,162 were re-
turned ; in 1851, 39,139. On the other hand, the number of farms of
300 acres and upward, in 1851, was 7,771; in 1871, 8,410; the number
containing 500 acres and upward, in 1851, 2,755; in 1871, 3,194; the
number of 1,000 acres and upward, in 1851, 492; in 1871, 582; of 2,000
acres and upward, in 1851, 643; im 1871, 90.
Imports OF HAVANA.—The importations of the articles named into
Havana between January 1, 1865, and September 30, 1874, were as fol-
lows:
Jerked beef.| Flour. Lard. Hioeskcad- Box-shooks.| Boards.
Years. JAS
Quintals. | Barrels. | Quintals. | Number. | Number. ae eo:
NOG Neh e a ts she eet el oS. 256, 274 196, 831 55, 926 24, 214 291, 028 5, 872
POGGre . pea skete acws~-i)-i4</5 -- 197, 210 325, 270 83, 651 19, 860 248, 680 10, 928
Lo 324555 ee eee 247, 000 147, 565 96, 808 21, 891 469, 304 8, 223
1 (s(o\32 SE eat See oe ee ee Be 296, 104 144, 020 128, 028 38, 749 491, 298 12, 802
Wepre ccna oS tsa 06 Se 238, 014 175, 620 156, 938 72, 090 362, 850 8, 947
MERU ee ence casieaicesscee 185, 878 257, 144 141, 347 46, 961 495, 554 14, 795
Lye 145 5 2 og 5 2 ee ee 205, 987 192, 577 68, 868 49, 034 868, 976 11, 683
UV 2s SOS oRS: Sen ees FSC ee 143, 598 179, 235 26, 580 43, 685 541, 686 24, 663
LSE Seen ae ort ace ce 208, 497 233, 543 82, 647 Q2, 228 596, 285 18, 511
RGXASt pats Sect oe. 2 4250. -- 8 235, 408 357, 409 121, 907 9, 173 330, 672 9,118
Annual average....... 220, 718 220, 622 96, 380 35, 017 431, 079 13, 015
FOREIGN TRADE OF THE UNITED Statres.—The following table
shows the values of our imports from, and of our domestic and foreign
exports to, the countries named for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874:
I . ; - Domestic ex- | Foreign ex-
Countries. Imports. ports. ports.
etre etch AT, ACS UC AVAL Cia eiclase Siaimiorctarerere-amtuvere werwrewawe Sewet $193, 595, 330 | $373, 566, 508 $7, 587, 644
PARAS HB ROME AT OL ICS a. nicicis acco wes cca scasesescecseeusas 38, 158, 004 42, 505, 914 4, 589, 243
PE MENEMUIO STUN CIOS poo. oot aos wstole oe cn See naceen gaaweseseon 5, 024, 911 9, 472, 948 210, 441
British Hast Indies and Australia ..........:.-.-02.....002. 15, 929, 841 4, 268, 906 68, 844
British Possessions in the Mediterranean and Africa.... .- 2, 023, 281 4, 060, 794 26, 516
ERI 8) 2 = 2 5 co Sic a 51, 771, 109 48, 729, 429 739, 024
itrenehybossessionsiimn “America. lcs .c2. 2s 62s ect ece ee sae 1, 444, 940 1, 385, 356 19, 060
Mrench Possessions in.A fricas «<2 sic bck. cdl ile acebenede 149, 339 135, 560 29, 390
SLU jocsdese cede ce ee see es ae ae eee ee ee 4, 598, 204 11, 643, 715 9, 423
Cuba and other Spanish Possessions..........-..----------> 99, 468, 498 21, 861, 834 2, 164, 758
BN a eH ETNA MOUTON aie on. ies pisiniaic nin c are bin pajoynje wyyere ew dearer 44, 074, 252 64, 344, 622 1, 369, 088
TELS ADLAd Lan SE) eit dyiepeae a he ie dec Sede lean PR aE 2, 516, 623 13, 712, 846 202, 578
Mntchaviesupindies: sere eek eS E ep sog ioe: 1, 654, 960 992, 001 40, 730
LU THGLE OSH aC BEC nS eee eee ae 3, 857, 706 451, 462 122
Denmark and Danish West Indies.................--------- 457, 390 2, 430, 791 22, 156
Russia and Russian Possessions .........---.--.------------ 1, 257, 170 10, 284, 803 15, 937
Austria and Austrian Possessions .-......-..--.------------ 488, 642 1, 682, 249 5, 972
TE SHEEN, och og Se ROSIE Se Re ce ce 506, 135 1, 553, 042 25, 819
52
SILK PRODUCTION IN EUROPE.—In the report for 1872, of the Com-
mission des Soies, read before the Societé d’ Agriculture, Histoire naturelle et
Arts utiles, of Lyons, is found a summary of the status of silk-culture in
France and other parts of the world. During 1871, in France, 100,000
ounces of silk-worms’ eggs, treated according to Pasteur’s method,
averaged 30 kilograms, or 66 pounds of cocoons per ounce, the best results
indicating double the average. The aggregate product of eggs treated
by this process was 6,600,000 pounds of cocoons, representing a value
of 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 of francs. It was used ona large seale and
with great success in Italy and Austria. During 1871 silk production,
as a whole, indicated superior crops both in quantity and quality in
France, Spain, and the Levant, equaling the results of 1860, with, per-
haps, a slight depreciation in quality. Japanese eggs were the most reli-
able, but native eggs were produced in such quantity as to revive the
hope of reproducing the old French worms in a healthy and robust con-
dition. In the seven leading silk-producing departments of France
505,290 ounces or cards of eggs had been hatched during the year, of
which 328,790 were Japanese and 176,600 were native-bred. The gross
product of cocoons was 16,217,411 pounds, averaging 52 pounds per ounce
of eggs. In ten departments, including the above, the average of the
whole was reduced to 28.6 pounds, but about one-third failed to germinate,
otherwise the average would have been 45 pounds. The most satis-
factory results for native eggs were obtained in the departments of Var,
the Alps, and the Eastern Pyrenees. The native eggs also were less
costly than the Japanese. Official statistics gave the aggregate num-
ber of silk-growers at 139,922, of which 103,621 were operating in a small
way and the remainder on a large. scale. These ten departments pro- |
duced nine-tenths of the entire yield of France, which was estimated at
over 23,000,000 of pounds.
The Chamber of Commerce of Turin estimated the crop of Italy at
about 43,827,000 pounds. In spite of the intelligent efforts devoted to
native insects, but partial success had been realized, the best results ~
having been obtained with Japanese eggs—especially the green varie-
ties.
The statistics of 1872 embrace twenty departments of France, in which
807,261 cards of eggs were placed to hatch, but pot over half germinated.
Of the eggs used 61 per cent. were Japanese, 29 per cent. native, and
10 per cent from other countries. The greatest success in hatching was
found in Var and the Basses Alpes. The loss from failure to hatch was
there about 50 per cent. greater than in 1871. The principal causes of
this failure were defective hibernation, cold and rain at the commence-
ment of the hatching period, bad selection of eggs, &c. The largest loss
was in the Japanese eggs. The total product was 22,070,384 pounds of
cocoons, averaging about 26 pounds per ounce of eggs hatched. The
averages ranged from 80.5 pounds in Hautes Alpes to less than 10 pounds
in Loire. The product of raw silk was estimated at over 1,400,000
pounds. Of the cocoon product, about 246,727 pounds were devoted to
the reproduction of eggs, yieiding not quite an ounce of eggs to the
pound of cocoons, or 231,350 ounces on the whole. Most of this branch
of reproduction was in the Basses Alpes, Gard, Drome, Ardeche, and
Vaucluse. The market price of Japanese cocoons was from 2.8 frances
to 2.9 frances per pound; native, from 3.4 frances to 3.8 frances. The aver-
age price of eggs was 14 frances to 16 francs per ounce. The cocoons
were perceptibly dearer in 1872 than in 1871, though the eggs were
cheaper. Mulberry leaves were sold at about 1 frane for 220 pounds.
The official census returned 199,306 silk-producers, of which 35,766
53
hatched over 5 ounces. The average consumption of the whole number
was 4.05 ounces, and the average product was 108.94 pounds of co-
coons.
In Spain the largest portion of the crop was from Japanese eggs,
which have been quite successful in that country; the progeny of the
imported eggs generally improve in size and quality upon their parents;
they are generally green. A native yellow breed, raised in the mount-
ains, is highly esteemed. Some Chinese cocoons are well spun, but are
deficient in weight of silk. The aggregate product was 5,296,000 pounds
of cocoons, from which about 384,000 pounds of raw silk were realized.
The crop of Syria was estimated at 3,771,800 pounds of cocoons and
236,900 pounds of raw silk.
The crop of Broussia was 2,644,800 pounds of cocoons, yielding
170,580 pounds of raw silk.
Greece produced about 2,248,000 pounds of cocoons.
Volo and Salonica, in European Turkey, exported 330,000 pounds of
dried cocoons, equivalent to about three times that quantity of fresh
ones and to 72,600 pounds of raw silk.
Italy stands at the head of silk production, excelling in scientific
study, practical methods, sericultural stations, and publications of all
sorts. From the report of the minister of commerce and agriculture, it
appears that in Piedmont the breeding of silk-worms was very satisfac-
tory, the best results being obtained with imported Japanese eggs,
though some of these failed to germinate on account of imperfect pres-
ervation. Their progeny have had various success in reproduction, in
some cases excelling the parent breed. The product of cocoons in Pied-
mont averaged from 55 to 66 pounds per ounce of eggs. In Lombardy,
the yield was still better than in Piedmont; the reproduced eggs gave
better results. The cocoon product averaged nearly 80 pounds per
ounce of eggs for Japanese and 44 for native eggs. The crop was satis-
factory in Venetia, where the market-prices were enhanced. In Liguria,
where reproduced eggs were more generally used, the result was, on the
whole, good. The silk industry of the kingdom was generally prosper-
ous in spite of the failure to germinate in many localities, though a news- _
paper published at Turin, Zl Commercio Italiano, thinks the official fig-
ures too glowing for the reality. The native white and yellow breeds
and the reproduced Japanese were not generally successful.
Brown Country, MinnESsoTA.—The following items are condensed
from a communication from the secretary of the agricultural association
of this county: Quite a number of the farmers insured their crops in
the Wisconsin Mutual Hail Insurance Company. In June last a hail-
storm did extensive damage, and the insured received as indemnity sums
ranging from $25 to $800. The secretary thinks the liabilities to dam-
age from hail-storms are so great throughout the Northwest that the
practice of insuring crops against them should become general. But
much greater damage was done in the county last season by grasshop-
pers than by hail. Three towns raised about half crops, and the remain-
der from that down to nothing. Corn was damaged the least; many
farmers had full average crops; the secretary, 50 bushels shelled corn to
the acre. The association has introduced a new variety of mammoth
squashes, from which specimens have been raised ranging from 70 to 125
pounds each. They are reported good for stock, but too watery for cook-
ing. Buckthorn plants, one year old, purchased and set last spring,
have done well, and promise to meet a want for hedges. The attention
54
of the association has been directed to the lupine raised in Northern
Germany aS a green crop to plow under. He recommends its more
extensive use in that region, and says: “It grows luxuriously on poor
sandy soil, where no other vegetable will grow; making it an excellent
renovator of poor and worn-out soil.” Headds: “There is no scarcity of
hay, and no disease among: stock, but many farmers suffer for want of
food for themselves.”
INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY.—Our corre-
spondent in Thurston County reports that the Western Washington
Industrial Association has recently purchased, at Olympia, grounds
sixty acres in extent, on which to hold annual fairs, and that $3,000
will be at once expended in permanent improvements. The site has
a supply of water and fine scenery, including a beautiful bay, snow-
capped mountains, &c. The association, of which Dr. J. C. Kellogg, of
Seattle, King County, was president for 1874, was “ organized to develop
the resources of Washington Territory.”
MODES OF CooKING RICE IN InDIA.—Rice, the staple food of India,
is prepared in numerous styles; among these are the following meth-
ods, used by the natives of Bengal: First, paddy (unhusked rice) is
soaked in cold water twenty-four hours, after which it is dried in the
sun, and when sufficiently dry to bear the process is husked in a tread-
mill. In the process the grains broken by husking are separated by a
fan from the unbroken. Second, the paddy is first soaked in water,
then boiled, dried, and husked; different varieties require to be soaked
for periods of different length. If the paddy is oversoaked, the rice is
dark-colored; if overboiled, it is coarse in appearance; if overdried, it
is much broken. Third, the paddy is parched. In this process the
grain in parting with its moisture swells up to about four diameters,
becomes very light and white in appearance, and the husk is split and
separated from the desiccated, puffed grain. Fourth, ‘ flattened paddy.”
This is first boiled well, and then, after being slightly dried, under the
pestle of the tread-mill is husked and flattened at the same time. Fifth,
parched rice. The husked rice, being slightly wet with water and salt,
is placed on a parching-pan or sand-bath, (the latter gives a better flavor
to the rice,) and being briskly stirred, it immediately swells to about
one and a half diameters, and becomes anhydrous and blistered by the
escaping moisture. But if the rice is cured by boiling the paddy twice
before husking, then moistening the husked rice with salt and water and
drying it by fire, it is made to contain sufficient moisture to swell the
grain when parched to three or four diameters. The foregoing prepara-
tions are all white and light. They are eaten generally with salt, pepper,
and mustard-oil. Khai (parched paddy) is specially suited for the sick
as a healthful, dry, and light food. Confections are made of it with
syrup of sugar, syrup of molasses, a variety of spices and condiments,
in various forms. Sixth, boiled rice, called bhat. This is the principal
food of the natives. ‘A Bengali, however richly fed, does not feel sat-
isfied unless he takes his usual bhat; meat, fishes, soups, dols, curries,
and chatnies, however varied and nicely prepared, are aids and second-
aries to bhat.” The modes of cooking boiled rice, either alone or in
connection with other articles of food, as milk, sugar, and almost every
kind of indigenous fruit and vegetable, are too many and diversified to
afford room here for description. Rice also enters as an ingredient into
a great variety of confections.
HD
CAROLINA RICE IN INDIA.—An official report of a highly successful
experiment in cultivating Carolina rice in India is published. The ex-
periment was made in Punjab, on canal-irrigated land. From 34 seers
the yield was 17 mounds, “or about 5 mounds per seer.” As there are
40 seers in a maund, this is two hundred fold. The experimenter states:
The grain of the Carolina rice is much larger than that of the India rice, and, on
boiling the two together, it was found that the former was done sooner, was much
larger, of a whiter color, and possessed a sweeter flavor. The plant of the Carolina
rice is equal to that of good India wheat, but stronger, not being liable to be thrown
down by a strong wind or rain.
GOVERNMENT GARDENS IN INDIA.—The following statements are con~
densed trom a report for 1873~74 of the superintendent of the government
gardens at Ootacamund, presidency of Madras, India. All newly-im-
ported vegetable-seeds are first tested in the gardens, and those specimens
which do not germinate well are destroyed. Hence, those distributed
during the year gave general satisfaction. Seedsreceived from Landreth
& Son, of Philadelphia, are noted as germinating well, and ‘‘ some kinds
grew more rapidly than the English seeds.” In July, 1873, the govern-
ment added to the gardens a new tract, to be “ devoted to the cultiva-
tion of specimens of the choicest varieties of coniferous plants likely to
succeed in the climate of the Neilgherries.” The soil upon trial proves
to be well adapted to the pine and fir tribes; upward of 400 trees of
select varieties have been, planted, and all are doing well. New varie-
ties, imported from Europe and Australia, were to be added the coming
season. Among plants cultivated in the gardens during the year were
eight new varieties of the flowering shrub, Camellia, imported from
England, and doing well—‘easily propagated, either by cuttings or
layers, and require little care when once established.” Several species
of oak, from Australia; varieties of strawberries, also from Australia,
with very encouraging results; the Rhea, a valuable fiber-yielding
plant, and seedling-potatoes. A large number of the latter were raised
from seeds imported from America, some of which promise to be valua-
ble for cultivating onthe hills. With reference to frequent applications
from all parts of India, for trees from Australia, especially the Hucalyp-
tus globulus, the report states :
For all purposes requiring strength and durability, few timbers in the world can
compare with those of Australia. This superiority over other timber lies in their
tougher and more closely packed tissues. Other advantages, possessed by such tim-
ber as the different species of iron-bark, are their flame-resisting qualities. Lately the
Eucalyptus globulus has attracted much attention, not only for the value of its timber,
but as possessing wonderful medicinal properties.
The distributions during the year included 4,475 packets of flower and
vegetable seeds; 6,377 flowering plants and shrubs; 2,528 timber-trees,
and 471 fruit-trees.
AN IMPORTANT INQUIRY.—In Great Britain a prize of 25 guineas has
been offered for the best essay on ‘ The application of sanitary science
to rural districts, with a view to insure the highest condition of health
and the prevention of disease.” The successful essay is to be the one
which best presents the following points: First, means practicable and
easy of application for securing a supply of pure water and the dis-
charge and disposal of refuse; second, the most simple plan of rural
organization for securing cleanliness and pure air within and around
dwellings; third, the best means of carrying out the objects specified
under the most varying circumstances.
ILLINOIS ORCHARDS AND WOODLANDS.—The State board of equali-
zation report that the number of acres in orchards returned by county .
56
assessors in Illinois in 1872 was 320,702; in 1873, 334,067; increase,
13,365 acres, The number of acres of woodland in 1872, 6,289,236; in
1873, 6,928,061 ; increase, 638,825 acres.
COLLEGE-FARM EXPERIMENTS.—Mr. B. F. Johnson, in chargeof farm
experiments in the Llinois Industrial University at Champaign, has is-
sued a programme of proposed experiments. In it subjects for experi-
ment are designated under seven heads; cereals; clovers, and grasses;
the industrial and commercial plants; roots; vegetables ; commercial
and other manures; and fertilizers. A condensed statement of the more
important modes and results arrived at follows : For corn, the great crop
of the State, seven distinct experiments are designated; first, to obtain
and test seed of two large varieties from South America; the Caragua,
unlike any corn cultivated in Illinois, but, where grown, greatly valued
for soiling; and the Casco, a giant kind, with a view by crossing to en-
large and invigorate varieties now in use; second, to give an acre the
best known fertilizing, culture, and care, with a view to the largest possi-
ble yield ; third, in a five-acre patch, to give every alternate eight rows
deep and thorough cultivation continued up to maturity; but the other
half, only “the common cultivation” terminated at the usual
time; with a view to decide the extent in thoroughness and dura-
tion, to which cultivation may be profitably carried ; fourth, in a five-
acre patch, with strips of rows alternated in the same way, to termi-
nate cultivation in alternate strips with the soil turned up to the rows
and a high ridge between them; but in the other half with the
surface-level ; fifth, in a five-acre patch, alternating the same way, to treat
one-half with deep, but the other with shallow, cultivation; sixth, to
plant together several of the largest and best kinds, of different com-
plexions, and from the product select the best ears, regardless of color, for
the next seeding, and so on, with a view to ascertain ‘‘ the true tendency
in color, size, and quality, when nature makes the selection ;” seventh,
to plant one of the best varieties as remote as may be from other corn-
fields with a view to test the practicability of keeping any one kind
unmixed. Without specifying modes, experiments are proposed with
spring-wheat, ‘ quite a doubtful crop in Central [linois,” spring-rye, * a
rare crop,” and oats, with the aim of rendering a doubtful crop more
certain, a rare one more general, and improving one already general and
profitable. Trials of barley-seed from abroad are proposed with the
design of ascertaining why it is now avery doubtful crop, and whether
success is practicable; and of buckweat, also very doubtful, by sowing
the common and the silver-hull varieties two or three weeks earlier than
the usual time; tests of alfalfa, lucerne, Italian rye-grass, and orchard-
grass, with a view to discover grasses for pasture and forage which will
withstand droughts. Under “ commercial and industrial crops” exper-
iments are proposed with cotton, flax, hemp, hops, and tobacco; under
“ vegetables,” potatoes are assigned a prominent place, and next to
them cabbage.
SWINE IN HuNGARY.—From animproved breed introduced from Serbia,
about 1840, have been gradually reared up two distinct varieties which
now constitute the current stock of swine in Hungary. “ One of these
breeds has pale, yellowish bristles; the other is black, with a lighter
shade only toward the belly.” These hogs are covered in summer with
a smooth “ hair-coat,” but in winter with ‘thick curly hair,” which
serves as a protection against rough weather. The season for produc-
ing pigs is usually limited to the month of January. The sow produces
a litter of from five to eight. They do not attain full growth short of
57
twenty months. At that age breeding-sows begin to bear and continue
until the seventh year. The sows are fed on barley-meal until the pigs
are about a month old, after which they are fed once a day only, three
to four pounds of corn, being driven to pasture forenoon and afternoon.
At six or eight weeks the pigs are weaned. The males having been
castrated, they are driven as early as April, when the weather is favor-
able, to pasture, or rather with the better breeders, to fields or lucerne
or clover provided for them. They, however, continue to receive some
grain until the stubble-fields are open to them. In autumn they are
driven to the forests, and in many localities they return the last of De-
cember half fattened on acorns. They are then sold to persons who
make a business of fattening. Swine are rated as *“half-fat” at 300
pounds; when they reach 400 to 460, they are reckoned as “ prime
ware,” and are sold as pork, 40 pounds being deducted from live weight.
The annual export of swine from Hungary, as far back as 1840, did
not exceed 350,000 head, much the largest part being transit trade.
From 1860 to 1865 it averaged 422,000 head per annum, more than
200,000 of which were bred in Hungary. Success gave increased im-
petus to the business. The chief feeding-plaee, a veritable pig-town,
arose in the neighborhood of Buda Pesth, at Steinbruch. In 1872, at
the latter place, the import amounted to 549,620 head; the export,
520,130. The value of the imported pigs was $14,660,285; value of
maize consumed, $2,200,000; total, $16,860,285; value of exports in
fattened pigs, $16,635,285.
TRICHINA.—Mr. Charles G. Boemer, of Vervay, Switzerland County,
Indiana, reports to this Department the result of microscopic examin-
ations recently made by him to determine whether pork in that locality
was affected with this parasite. Out of 187 slaughtered hogs examined,
11 were found to be affected. Three of these contained encysted trichina
spiralis, and eight, various other forms. The parts examined were the
ham, shoulder, and tenderloin. A magnifying power of from 50 to 100
diameters most distinctly revealed the parasite when present; a higher
power cut off the light too much. He also found in the muscles of a
rat he examined, trichina identical with those in the flesh of the
swine.
AGRICULTURE IN UTAH.—A correspondent in Kane County, Utah,
reports as follows: Last season fruit of almost all kinds in that loeal-
ity yielded 25 to 50 per cent. above the average; sweet-potatoes yielded
in some places about 4 tons to the acre; wheat, corn, cotton, sugar-cane,
and all other crops were full average. Farmers in almost all parts of
the Territory are forming co-operative companies, and those who
worked on that system last year did well.
CONSUMPTION OF PAPER BY DIFFERENT NATIONS.—Signor Eugenio
Morpurgo estimates that the Russians consume paper at the rate of 1
pound per capita per annum; the Spaniards, 14 pounds; the Italians, 34;
the French,7; the Germans, 8; the English, 114; the Americans, 171.
He states that there are in the whole world 3,960 paper-making estab-
lishments, the aggregate annual product of which is estimated at
1,809,000,000 pounds of paper. One-half is used for printing, one-sixth.
for writing, and the remainder for packing.
EXHAUSTIVE WHEAT-CULTURE.—Our correspondent in Stearns
County, Minnesota, presents the following trenchant statistical facts to
illustrate the impolicy of the exclusive devotion to wheat-culture which
has so seriously injured the farming interest of the Northwest. For six
58
years past wheat in Stearns County has not averaged over 14 bushels
per acre, nor over 70 cents per bushel, making the average money pro-
duct per acre $9.80. The average cost of cultivation—ineluding 14
bushels of seed, $1.40; plowing, $1.75; seeding and harrowing, $1;
harvesting, thrashing, and stacking, $5.30; and hauling to market,
$1.25—amounts to $10.70, showing a net loss of 90 cents per acre, with-
out allowing for interest on investment, wear and tear of machinery,
&c., which would enlarge the debit balance still further. To work a
farm of 60 acres on this principle would bring the farmer in arrears
annually $114. “Isit any wonder that mortgages are accumulating and
western farmers are complaining of hard times?” Our correspondent
thinks that this destructive system is passing away, and that a new
era is dawning in which farmers of that region, by diversifying their
industry, wiil place the balance on the other side of the ledger.
ANTIDOTE FOR SMUT IN WHEAT.—Our correspondent in Douglass
County, Oregon, fully indorses the recommendation of our correspond-
ent in Sonoma, Cal., in the October report, in regard to soaking seed-
wheat in a solution of sulphate of copper. The only amendment he
suggests is to increase the proportion from six to eight ounces of the
drug to the cental of seed.
WINE-PRODUCTION IN SOUTHERN F'RANCE.—At the session of the
International Viticultural Congress, in October, 1874, at Montpelier,
France, M. Saint Pierre, professor in the medical school of that city, by
invitation, gave some facts in regard to the fabrication of imitated wines,
a branch of business which had of late rapidly developed in Hérault,
especially at Cette and Méze. The product of this manufacture is
mostly exported, the bulk being sent to Russia, Denmark, Holland, Eng-
land, and North and South America. Cette alone makes nearly 8,000,-
000 gallons per annum, worth about 15,000,000 franes. Two-thirds of
this aggregate are consumed in America. The only wines that can be
successfully imitated are those rich in alcohol, such as the wines of
Spain and Portugal. It is not true that grape-juice is the only thing
omitted in the composition of these wines, 4s that is the cheapest ingre-
dient. Nor is coloring matter used to any extent, as the wines to be
imitated are white. |The Portuguese formerly colored their wines with
elderwood, but abandoned it; on finding that it injured the wine. The
imitation of Spanish wines utilizes a large amount of cheap wines in the
south of France, the production of which has been stimulated of late
years. These wines show scarcely 11 degrees of alcohol, but with the
addition of sirup of mulberry and alcohol the strength is raised to 21
degrees. The professor, with great naiveté, pleads for the encourage-
ment of this industry.
Some difference of opinion was manifested in regard to the use of sul-
phuric acid in fermentation. It was contended that in very small propor-
tions it could be used with advantage and without danger. Others
thought that it should be combined with gypsum, thus securing a double
decomposition, in which an equivalent of tartaric acid was evolved,
which is the natural acid of the wine. It was objected that the sulphuric
acid of commerce is too often charged to a dangerous extent with arsen-
ical principles.
The members of the congress visited Cette and Méze, and inspected
several manufactories. One of the largest at Cette had then stored over
280,000 gallons in cellars containing from 80,000 to 100,000 gallons each.
The total value of the whole deposit is stated at a million francs. The
cost of storage, including casks, &c., amounted to 650,000 frances, at 10
acre invested in the soil.
pumping the wine from great cisterns into the casks.
59
franes per hectoliter. Vineland, in the neighborhood, yields 800 franes
per acre in wine product, representing a cash value of 10,000 franes per
If the phylloxera should compel the destruc-
tion of these vines, the value of the land will sink to one-fifth of what it
isat present. At Méze one establishment astonished the visitors by the
vast extent of its cooper-shops, and its steam-engines of great power
This extensive
use of machinery has superseded in a large measure the expensive hand-
In the south of France six hours is counted
labor formerly employed.
a day’s work. A radical change in the conditions of labor is foreshad-
Combinations of workmen have at times
owed in this primitive region.
elevated the day’s wages to 10 franes for six hours’ work. The congress
also inspected the process of imitating Spanish wines.
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS.
The following quotations represent, as nearly as practicable, the state of the market at the
beginning of the month:
Articles.
NEW YORK.
Flour, superfine State ...per bbl.
extra State a
superfine western -..do- -
extra to choice western,
MOEPIDATPEls. o<_- = 322 = = -
common to fair southern
extras. ice co: per bbl.
good to choice southern
Gs) AA eee per bbl.
Wheat, No. 1 spring .-.-per bush
INOS SDLINO =o . .5,- - do...
winter, red, western,
per ae
winter, amber, western,
per bushel ............
“winter, white, western,
per bushel ............
RyO=s. meee oasesieectt per bush
SAME WaeeNicine cide cis cao ajo oc - doz:
CRATE rg 23 BAIS BS ae do. .
Hay, first quality .....-.. per ton
second quality.....-.- do...
Beef, mess /.--.---.2--.- per bbl
extra mess -....-..--. do...
eerk. Messe 6 aoe. AA Soo dots?
extra prime.....-.... do...
prime mess .....-.... do.
OCT ES is ee ee per lb
Butter, western ........--.- do...
State dairy......---. dor.
Cheese, State factory...---. do...
western factory -.-.-do-.
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
Maye ees: - 2 er lb.
low widaling to good
middling ... -.. per lb.
Sugar, fair to prime, refining,
er pound
ESRI cistoes pet lb.
low leaf to medium
leaf per lb
Wool, American XXX and pick-
lock per Ib.
American X and XX, per
pounds. 255. Foe Pre. se
American, combing, per lb.
PMMed ess... 2 n= oe do...
California spring clip, per
pound
California fall clip. .per lb.
Tobacco,
Prices:
00. to $4 50
80 to 5.65
00 to 4 50
75 to 8 00
90 to 5 85
90 to 8 25
20) to’ 225
GON let
20 to 1 32
20 to 1 32
30 to 1 37
92 to 95
40 to 1 60
86 to 97
00 to 19 00
00 to 14 00
50 to 10 50
00 to 12 50
75 to 20 50
00 to — —
00 to — —
133 to _
18 to 33
30 to 42
14 to 16
12 to 15}
11 to 134
132 to 15
81 to 84
104 to 133
123 to 17
53 to 65
47 to 57
51 to 65
33 to 45
25 to 37
18 to 27
Articles.
BOSTON.
Flour, western superfine. per bbl.
common extra ..---- dove
red wheats, good to fancy
northwestern ..per bbl.
white wheats, good to
fancy western..per bbl.
southern family. --- do..
WAR C20 eiemtee sce erases per bush.
COrm See ts2 tease sane eee
(ORME <Adan cscceancorccoecce ne 33
VO cess smostec selene see do...
Banleyie vai cecdse- oo teers
Hay, eastern and northern, per.
DOW ee a stetetat ete afetee raters aetatersiaie
choice western .-.-per ton.
Beef, messueo oss tais <3 per bbl.
extra mess-.......--- do.
familys ss Badls tsciaiae Se do...
Bork prime ee aaa ceaaes esos doze
mess. (ost sees do...
Tardy tet seeps Peete beige per lb.
Butter, New York and Vermont,
per pound S2Fie 2 eeeste
WOSLOEN Jesse er lb.
Cheese, New York and Vermont,
factory
western factory. .-.
Sugar, fair to good refining.do. .
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
NALY) osc ee es per lb.
low middling to good
middling....-. per Ib.
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania,
Per POUNGE ese eee esses
Michigan .. <.-....°- per lb.
other western....--. do...
milled’: Stara anes S22 do
Waliiforniane see siels/-1- do
PHILADELPHIA.
Flour, superfine...-...-- per bbl.
Pennsylvania, extra to
CHOlCBet- 2s. : per bbl.
western extra to patent,
perabanrele ess. o_o si
Wheat, white.......... per bush.
American .......... do...
MOQteeaseeaemede sae do.
RYO saat eects ad sek ee elece oes do...
Ree ee
Prices.
00 to $4 50
50 to 5 00
25 to 9 00
00 to 8 00
50 to 8 00
—— i bO a
90 to 92
66 to 72
00 to 1 05
20 to 1 60
00 to 23°00
00 to 23 00
50 to — —
50 to --
00 to 17 00
00 to — —
00 to 21 50
14 to 143
32 to 40
22 to 37
13 to 16
12 to 154
84 to 8g
124 to 14
14 to 154
53 to 60
50 to 52
45 to 52
40 to 55
— A) —
75 to 400
25 to 5 75
25 to 7 124
35 to 1 40
25 to 1 26
22 to 1 23
00
Articles.
PHILADELPHIA—Continued.
Hay, baled, prime
baled, common to fair ship-
Te AA Sears « er ton.
Beef, western mess -....- per bbl
extra mess .......-..- do...
Warthman’s city family,
perbarrel-s sors hots. bo
Pork, Mess. 2... 5cce6- per bbl.
prime mess. ......-.- do...
(DEW Sab poueenenec do. .
1h 7 a be Jape ep decdeieisie er lb.
Butter, choice middle State.do. .
choice western t
Cheese, New York factory - -do.. Be
Ohio factory
Sugar, fair to good refinin ng -de
ordinary to goo ordi-
Cotton,
aN Yi eee ey Fe per lb.
low middling to cee
middling ......-. per lb
Wool, Ohio X and oe do...
other western ....... do...
tub-washed.......--- do...
polled = sjeae eee. dows
COMpINL Lasse. dose.
BALTIMORE.
Flour, superfine ......... per bbl
(30 Oe ape ae cee IH Oae do...
family and fancy ....do..-.
Wheat, red .........- per babel.
aaa Maryland and Pennsylva-
aa? Se eae ae per ton.
Pork, mess ....-.-..--.-- per bbl.
extra prime .......... do...
LEP Wil SOARS ESR 8 Fee eter per Ib
Butter, western ..........-. do..
CBStORN eat cone doze
Cheese, western factory -...-.do.
eastern factory. .-..- do...
Sugar, fair to good refining. do. -
New Orleans, grocery
geades Pe ia(eelminloaie per Ib.
Tobacco, lugs.....--.- per cental.
common to medium leaf,
por Cental ee sees as
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
mary Jj. icseeecse er lb.
low middling to mid-
dling |. 2.20265 per lb
Wool, unwashed .......--.- do...
Washed. oncceseunces do...
CINCINNATI.
Flour, superfine......... per bbl
OXtEA (eos ciccciae estate do...
FAM cose cle ece= sine dozen
Wheat, eaice red ....per bush.
hill, (amber) sscceetos Ghigee
rWilitte |. of cet. Sods do...
1. Gone Sec Spaceenoeeen per bush
Bales e dese in| cinlesiateleiters do...
fom cae a Bee ode soca en eias do..
Oatiic coe ctenc sce ovicsueeatas do. .
Hay, baled, No. eee per ton.
lower grades.......... doa=s
Beef, plate é per bbl
Pork, mess do..
Ree OBO
an
o
Prices.
60
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued,
11
14
4
4
5
1 10
1
1
1
1
~
=
19
Articles,
CINCINNATI—Continued.
Bard? 3.255. Ose 08 sotbe
Butter, choice
prime
Cheese, prime to choice factory,
per pound -).4-32 2 ss
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good,
per pound). --- eae. aes
New Orleans, prime *to
CHOICE. : 2.525252 per lb.
Tobacco, lugs’:. -\1..55¢-ee do...
leaf, =. ).5kthsy Sa do...
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
NATY - is Fs2ee5 er lb.
low middling to good
middling. .-.--- per lb.
Wool, fleece, common to fine,
per ‘pound sous scant
tub-washed ....... er lb
unwashed, clothing do...
unwashed, combing .do...
pulled -. o.5e sage do...
CHICAGO.
Flour, choice winter extras, per
Ipatrel 4.2.02) o255 sees
common to good ..per bbl.
choice spring extras.do...
patent spring do...
spring superfines..-..do--
Wheat, No.1 spring ...per bush
No. 2 spring...--..- do...
INO.{3 SPLINE. <..--- 52 do...
BVO WIN O. Sic nem no onan eee do...
‘Barloy, N0.2) <4. ncaa do...
Corn: |N032)2520¢ sseeeaeeeee do..
Oats; No. 20.228. 3.2054. 88ee do...
Hay, timothy. ---.--.--. per ton.
PLairie — eee do...
Beef, mess). 2 - J... 32ec8 per bbl.
extra mess....-.-..-- do...
Pork, mess). |: . 5. t:scse, see do..
prime mess........-- do...
extra prime........-- do...
ardissc ee ao ee .--per cental.
Butter, choice to fancy ...per lb.
medium to good .. -d0-
Cheese, prime factory...... dozz=
food: 4.5 .- 3 do...
Sugar, N. O., common to choice
per ‘pound ee pee
Wool, tub-washed .....-..- per lb
fleece-washed....-..- do...
unwashed ...-...---- do...
pulleds.. {. 2ce¢ eens do. --
SAINT LOUIS
Flour, winter, common to choice,
per bbl...-...-..--.-<..
“PAprin gs to Some are er bbl
Wheat, white winter. . -per bush.
red winter....-...-- do...
spring 5.20... oeeee do...
GOrn) co caees soa ee a eee do...
RyOseu ncticcsece sees isis doe
Barloyic 2a c- o4- uses do...
Osis -a2-2b 9-5 eeeeeaee do...
Hay, timothy...-..---.-. per ton
PLAC Ae I Sete = do...
‘Beef, mess. 2. .1-).jipeee per bbl
Pork, MICSS: es 4 ee ee iiaee do...
Gard 2h bis bor wees er lb.
Butter, prime to choice dairy,
per pound. .°. 2 soe
prime to choice countr;
packed........ per 1
Cheese, Ohio factory ......- dere.
SSSSS SSSSSSESSSS
$8 § Ssssssssssssss
61
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
— rc Ee
Articles. Prices. Articles. Prices.
Sart Lovuis—Continued. NEW OrLEANS—Continued,
Cheese, N. Y. factory... --. per lb ‘| 9 13 to $0 1st Cotton, aw to good ordi,
Wool, tub-washed ....... -. do. SUMO ata) i Ob ae DATY. 2 00.655, rlb.| $0 114 to $0 134
fleece-washed....--..do.. 32 to 30 ies] TV niddling to aia
unwashed ......----- do... 28 to 36 middling ....... per lb. 148 to 174
Wool, lake and fall clip... a 25 to _—
NEW ORLEANS
SAN FRANCISCO.
Flour, superfine ......... per bbl.| 500 to — —
GREED jes - Cains 25» = do. 5 25 to 5 624] Flour, superfine 390 to 4 30
choice to fancy ..---- do. 57% to 6 75 OQRGTAG 22) Jono cl nine 450 to — —
Corn, white, ........-.. per bush 92 to 93 family and faney .-.- do...| 475 to 5 12%
WOU OWy soe asisecew tsi do. 90 to — || Wheat, California ...-per cental.| 140 to 1 60
UN hese 5 Sess SSR do 72 to 73 TOLONE jean elec nes do...| 140 to 155
Hay; choice... -.-..2..-.. perton.| — — to — — || Barley ..................-..- do. 120 to 150
il) ee nes a do...| 24 00 to — — || Oats ....---....-....-.-...- do..-| 145 to 1 75
Hpel ORAS. - (2-5 = Ste =i Ber Bbl 11 20.t0 ——"||'Corn, white: ------..--..--- do...| 140 to 1 45
Western. ..-........-- -| 11 00 to 15 50 OMOW =jaba oofs owaas do...| 130 to 135
Fulton market-...per ; bb. 11 50 to — — || Hay, State ..........--..- per ton.| 12 00 to 16 00
ATG NGRAS. <2... ~~ =)-i- 20 00 to 21 00 || Beef, mess.-....-...----- per bbl.| 8 00 to 9 00
Lard’ eee eel aki apes per a, 12} to 143 family mess...... per?bbl.| 650 to 8 06
Butter, choice Goshen ...... dons. 43 to ——t | HEORE MOSS 2s. <c ga2e ane per bbl.} 23 00 to 24 00
choice western .--.. do... 30 to 32 prime mess d 17 50 to 20 00
Cheese, choice western factory, To.i0 Se een es eae 13 to 15
Pe POMNG 22 5.: 25.2.6 16 to 163}; Butter, overland 5 25 to 40
N. Y. cream. .-.... per lb 18 to — Galitomisy. 565. a5- do.. 25 to 50
Sugar, fair to fully fair’..... dows 6% to 73 MTEPON i: Jone. o050 do. 20 to 35
prime to strictly prime, IBREGRG ets ioe - 5a waite nena do. 124 to 16
PEEMOUNG «<5. 5522. 255 7% to 84}|: Wool, native ..-......--.---- do... 12 to 20
clarified, white, and yel- @alifommineeace=sceeeee do... 15 to 22
LOW) y=-b = -22 .- - -pPrabz 84 to o4 Oregons... 4---6 2 -<2-ce: do. 18 to 22
LIVE-STOCK MARKETS.
NEW YORK. cHIcCAGO—Continued.
Cattle, extra beeves...per cental.|$13 75 to $14 00 ||Cattle, choice beeves, 1,200 to
good to prime. .....- do....| 11 50 to 13 50 1,400 pounds, per cental.| $5 75 to $6 25
common to fair.. ...do....| 9 00 to 11 90 good beeves, 1,000 to 1,250
Texas & Cherokees.do....| 8 50 to 10 50 pounds......- per cental.| 525 to 570
milch-cows. ....- per head.| 40 00 to 80 00 medium to fair. .-... do....| 3 75 to 5 25
veal-calves..-.. per cental.| 700 to 10 50 Texans, corn-fed... do....| 400 to 5 00
Sheep, fair to extra .......- do....| 600 to 7 50 Texans, through- -droves, :
LTS Cease 9 = eee do...-| 750 to 8°00 percental: .-2--..2--.--% 175 to 4 00
Sheep ttses--<- sha per cental.| 300 to 6 50
PHILADELPHIA. Sige nceueSebacdsaca-aesee do.....| 625 to 7 25
Cattle, prime beeves -.per cental.| 775 to 8 25 pe he CE
fair to good......... do....| 600 to 7 50 ||Cattle,fair to choice native
common .......-..-- do....| 400 to 5 75 steers, per cental.-...-.. 475 to 600
UGG Ty 234 sae ee bee do. 205 00i to § 00 common to fair natives,
Swine, corn-fed ...-........ do..-.| 9 75 to 10 75 per cental .-.-...--.---. 325 to 4 50
inferior to common, per
els raters GConbali. nee e eae ® ---| 200 to 3 50
Cattle, best beeves....per cental.| 550 to 7 12 Texans, fair to choice, per
first quality ....... do..--|: 4.37 to, 5.50 Centalypsanse = sakes aca 250 to 375
meq... -2.- operant 60). 4°75 || SRCCp seer. are ame per cental.| 225 to 4 75
OLGINAIRg 6-222 3.22 =: dois se) ')3 (00) tto! (3 Wo Swine ci-n. sees naseees sa do. 400 to 690
general average ...do....| 4 62 to — — || Horses, plugs nae pee per head.| 40 00 to 75 00
most of the sales..do....| 425 to 5 50 glories Noo CAN cic do....| 80 00 to110 00
milch-cows..... per head | 30 00 to 45 00 street-car, heavy -.do..-.| 75 00 to 125 00
per cental.| 225 to 6 50 heavy-draught ....do..../130 00 to 170 00
p25 2s58* Bosch ARSees do....| 900 to 9 75 good drivers. ....- | ape 100 00 to bya He
Oxitaee Ja 5o.c= semis o0...-|175 00 to
eas coabioage Mules, 14 to 15 hands high.do....| 75 00 to 120 00
Cattle, good to choice butchers’ 15 to 16 hands high.do....|120 00 to 180 00
Berm creagi geutal: 475 to 6 00 OXfPR: Pas = <i do....|175 00 to 200 00
medium air ....do....| 350 to 4 50 2
Gomndanl 265253... Zeal Mee res RES NEW ORLEANS.
milch-cows..... per head | 30 00 to 50 00 Cattle, Texas beeves, choice, per
veal-calves....per cental.| 350 to 5 50 heads 3) segs Be oan 40 00 to 46 00
Sheep, common to extra....do....| 400 to 6 00 first quality ....per head. | 30 00 to 35 00
Swine, good to choice ..... do....|..7,45. to’ °'7 65 second quality .--.. do....| 20 00 to 25 00
air to medium ..... do....| 715 to 7 40 western beeves, percental.| 4 00 to 6 00
CHICAGO milch-cows...--- per head.| 35 00 to 100 00
C Calves Bo ascnces ae-me do....| 700 to 9 00
Gattle, extra-graded steers, aver- Sheep, first quality.-.-...... do....| 400 to 5 00
aging 1,500 pounds, per second quality ..-.. do. . 300 to 4 00
(DST | ae ie ea GeoO0 tOr ooo) Swine) sac ses ee= eaeinel per cental.| 500 to 7 50
62
FOREIGN MARKETS.
WuHEAT.—The weather in the wheat-growing regions of Europe
threatened a winter of a fluctuating and injurious character, but it sub-
sequently developed a tendency to severe cold. This, however, has been
partially moderated, and the weather, though seasonable, has not been
extreme. A very considerable rainfall has ameiiorated the autumnal
drought, giving more promise to the growing crops. The wheat region
around Odessa had suffered to such an extent that all hopes of a fair
crop had been surrendered, but subsequently the rain fell copiously,
followed by snow. Yet this favorable change, prognosticating a good
yield, did not induce holders of grain to sell, but rather to hold on till
spring, in hope of better rates. British farmers, generally with good
fall sowings, were inclined to take the same view of the situation and
to act accordingly. These facts have checked the downward tendency
of the wheat market, and had, by the middle of December, produced a
slight re-action, which, however, has not shown a very permanent char-
acter, though the confidence in better prices seems to be buoyant in
many quarters, especially in Odessa. In Holland and some parts of
Germany the markets were at once active and steady, but in Belgium
and France there was a tendency to inaction. ~
During the second week in December, the sales of English wheat,
noted by the Mark Lane Express, amounted to 64,783 quarters, at 44s. 8d.,
against 62,380 quarters, at 61s. 6d, during the corresponding week of
1873. The London averages were 46s. 4d., on 2,998 quarters. The week
opened on a moderate supply of English wheat, with reduced foreign
arrivals, almost all from America. There was moderate inquiry, and
transactions fully equaled the prices of the previous week. In Mark
Lane, London, Essex, and Kent, white brought from 45s. to 50s. per
quarter; ditto, red, 42s. to 46s.; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire,
red, 42s. to 46.; Dantzic, mixed, 50s. to 58s.; Konigsberg, 47s. to 57s.;
Rostock, 47s. to 50s.; Silesian, red, 46s. to 48s.; ditto, white, 49s. to 51s.;
Pomeranian, Mecklenberg, and Uckermark, 45s. to 49s.; Ghirka, 42s. to
43s.; Russian, hard, 40s. to 44s.; Saxonska, 45s. to 47s.; Danish and
Holstein, red, 41s. to 51s.; American, 42s. to 46s.; Chilian, white, 51s.;
Californian, 52s.; Australian, 52s. to 55s. In Liverpool, Canadian, white,
is quoted at 9s. 10d. to 10s. 4d.; American, white, 9s. 10d. to 10s. 4d.;
ditto, red winter, 9s. 5d. to 9s. 10d.; No. 1, spring, 9s. 2d. to 9s. 9d.; No.
2, spring, 8s. 8d. to 8s. 6d.; average Saidi, 8s. 3d. to 8s. 6d.; California,
average, 9s. 10d. to 10s. 3d.; Oregon, 10s. 6d. to 10s. 8d.; Chilian, 9s. 3d.
to 9s. 6d. In Paris the trade was calm, with unchanged prices. White
brought 42s. 6d. to 47s. per quarter; red, 41s. to 45s. 6d., the market
closing heavily. The French country markets showed a disposition to
recede. The heavy rains had rendered the roads in Algeria unfit for
transportation, hence the supplies were short. The Baltic, being frozen
in a large portion of its surface, had stopped the movement from Rus-
sia to the western markets, except by rail. The general tone of the
market was against sellers.
FLour.—The recent rains upon the European continent had raised
the streams, and again set in motion the mills which had stopped run-
ning, especially in France. This caused a sudden increase in the sup-
plies of flour, which caused some stagnation in the market. There was
at the opening of the second week in December, in Mark Lane, a good:
supply of country flour, with a fair amount of foreign arrivals, mostly
American, in barrels. An increased demand had stiffened up prices,
63
which were fully maintained. In Mark Lane the best town households.
brought 36s. to 43s. per quarter; best country households, 32s. to 33s.5
Norfolk and Suffolk, 29s. to 31s. In Liverpool English and Irish super-
fines brought 33s. to 36s. per 280 pounds; extra, 38s. to 42s.; French,
37s. to 47s.; Trieste, 48s. to 60s. ; Spanish, 38s. to 39s.; Chilian, 31s. 6d.
to 36s.; Californian, 37s. to 38s.; American western and extra, per
barrel, 22s. to 24s.; Baltimore and Philadelphia, 22s. to 24s.; Ohio and
extra, 23s. to 28s. 6d.; Canadian, 22s. to 23s. 6d.; ditto, extra, 24s. to
27s. In Paris the market was dull at 32s. 8d. to 35s. 3d. per 280 pounds.
MAiIzE.—The supply in Mark Lane was short at the opening of the
second week in December, and prices were higher. White was quoted
at 40s, to 42s. per quarter; yellow, 37s. to 40s. In Liverpool, American,
new and old, brought 39s. 6d. to 40s.; Galatz, 41s. to 42s,
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MONTHLY REPORT
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, /
FEBRUARY AND MARGH 1875.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE,
1875.
CONTENTS.
STATISTICS : Page.
Statistieal returns for’ March 5... 26s .22-6 fe ae- ox wes one cinefa hae 67
Local preferences for fertilizers . 3) aje)acine == - wos 2 aie gnc Spates .* 68
Farm-yard manure ).\2 4): (2 CSE, SUL SNS ihe ee ere Peas 9),
Commercial fertilizers... -\.-.j-....)- 2 a2 ajo once =~ ww oe oe enn es ee 70
Honre-made composts . 2-12 cco aisle aieine en se annie oe eer 76
Green; manuring =! 2.5 22 soe Eth OS Bi So ane ai
Wintering farm-animals ...-...-.-\.200--0)--2- 222 owines eee Sep de ee 84
Local exchanges of ‘farm-products\.2 2... 2. <= - =< ve een eee 95
The tobacco-crop of last year ---...-...---..----- popbiteccoe cee eee 103
Statistics of counties J... ...42. 2.0220 320 hie co See 104
Hstiniates of the last crop....-.o2 02 scceene cece sacle eceeenee mee 2 eee 108
Quality -222 oto 2 ele cl eocewtadcccers boc ea cee bree tats ae 108
‘Wariebies. and 08es).----- .--220 26 2 sod ose meseet- aeiene ee aes eee 109
JE OE A 0) 0 ee Ses eee ee YAS he aM AP EO Se sae 112
Culture and (curing. 28 oo 8502 ele olen een wcln eacleicis eae eer dco) eee
Marketing oo. oo0) 0s csco cbc. ble acee sone saelac ceed lea eee 119
The progress of ,association \.-< 2/0) -)-+ -ciseye oe baie on ne olen ce See een 102
Report of the House committee .-..-..--5-- «=<. -coe-. ose 2 120
Facts from official sources. -~. 6-226 c0--aleincee+ since -247/ene Sees 127
Market-prices of farm-products 2-22 J) 2 j0 5.2022 --4 neve ne ace epee eee 137
Mive-stock markets -c- \as!o venice te wise tiene eae = Sele ae s--. 142
Horeion markets... 2500-226, ecce pos cicesssccGese secs ecna te ee 143
rade of, Odessa duringi874 vie eeu. Sake 8 ee 144
CHEMISTRY :
Chemical-memoranda. 2. 0222 seo oe oc 5 fs oe ela ae te er 123
BOTANY:
Botanical notes! ..s622. +0. oe tne Pe a RSL Ce See eee eee 126
MONTHLY REPORT.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
STATISTICAL DIVISION,
March 27, 1875.
Str: The statistical report of the present month embodies statements
of local preferences for material in soil-fertilization, of the products em-
ployed in feeding and fattening animals, the length of time and cost of
winter-feeding, the local surplus and local deficiencies of crops; a state-
ment of the production of tobacco in 1875, its quality and value; a rec-
ord of minor official statistics ; current market-prices of products in this
and other countries; and bulletins of the work of other divisions of the
Department of Agriculture. .
J. R. DODGE,
Statistician.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Commissioner.
STATISTICAL RETURNS FOR MARCH.
The March circulars sent to our statistical corps, which now repre-
sents 1612 counties, including nearly all of the producing area of the
country, are of a miscellaneous character, and not repeated annually.
It was deemed desirable to obtain a statement of local preferences for
fertilizers and modes of soil-fertilization, and also of the kinds and
proportion of products for feeding and fattening animals, the length
of time and cost of feeding in winter, and some facts indicative of the
local surplus and local deficiencies of the different crops. The following
list of questions was very generally answered in the returns which were
received from: 1096 different counties:
1. What fertilizers are used in yourcounty? What proportions of such fertilizers are
-farm-yard manures? home-made composts? commercial fertilizers? Are the latter
deemed profitable ?
2. What proportion of hay-fields are usually in clover? what in cultivated grasses,
and principally of what kinds? what in native or wild grasses? Is green-manuring
with clover practiced? If so, is the full crop, the second growth, or only the stubble
turned under? Please state the practice and its results in soil-improvement; specific
and significant facts desired, rather than general views.
3. Number of months in the year in which domestic animals are fed exclusively ?
Number of mgnths in which partial feeding supplements pasturage? and what are the
principal kinds of forage used, and proportions of each? Is grain fed to animals? If
so, when, how liberally, and to what kinds of stock? What proportion of your corn-
crop is consumed in the county ?
4. What is the cost per head, in cash-value, of forage, for wintering horses? milch
cows? sheep? What is your estimate of the average valueof each of these classes
-of stock inautumn? in the spring? Is there an average increase of weight during the
winter, or decrease? and how much of either? :
68
5. Waat percentage, if any, of the value of your crops is sold to go out of the
county? What is the leading crop thus sold? What proportion, if any, of your farm-
animals is sold to go beyond the county ?
6. What products of agriculture are brought into the county for consumption, and
what percentage of the home consumption? What farm-animals, if any, are brought
from abroad, and to what extent?
7. Has your county derived any advantage the past year from association and ¢o-
operation, in marketing crops, or in procuring supplies? Ifso, can you give an ap-
proximate estimate of the aggregate sum thus saved? Individual facts in this con-
nection will be acceptable.
LOCAL PREFERENCES FOR FERTILIZERS.
The investigation demonstrates the fact that farmers are learning the
necessity of increasing the store of plant-food in the soil, of having it
in an immediately available form, and of supplementing notable defi-
ciencies with specific fertilizers. They are becoming better versed in the
philosophy of fertilization, and better able to adapt their practice to the
peculiarities of their soils, and to their local resources in material for
fertilization, both by an increase in theoretical or scientific knowledge
and in experience gained in successful application of such acquirement.
Not all are thus intelligent; a large proportion yet see by the dim light
of tradition, and follow only methods found successful in their personal
observation, often with little regard to differing circumstances of soil
and situation. Itis true, nevertheless, that the average practice of these
practical men is essentially sound, and really based on reason and s¢i-
ence. ;
Though half of the counties in the United States are cultivated al-
most literally without fertilizers of any sort, and another fourth with
the casual aid of green manuring, or a little lime, or plaster, or cotton-
seed, or a ‘“‘cow-penned” lot, or some trifling saving of farm-yard
manure, it is still true the practice of systematic fertilization is increas-
ing. It is not only increasing, but is followed with a better adaptation
of means to ends, and with a superior economy in the choice of material.
‘¢ What fertilizers are used in your county?” The following table,
which gives the proportions of farm-yard manures and other fertilizers,
presents the average of the returns of each State, and doubtless with
sufficient accuracy for the purposes of the investigation, of the true
averages of all the counties of the several States. Im examining the
figures it must be remembered that they indicate percentages of what-
ever fertilizers may be actually employed, however small in quantity or
unimportant in value, which are almost too insignificant for estimate in
the States west of the Alleghanies:
Be | Ba | 33/84 a3|82
a | Ain Sef AS =
States. ae ek States. re | 8 States. oe ae
| 88 | 35 54 |34 f4a|23
| I ~ a = N —
Rae roe BO Oo” aH |S
}
| Pict. Pick) PN \eboct: Poth Ee
MIGINGH sae sade 22 EP We: 27 || North Carolina .... 51 49 }| Ohiok0....so eens 85 5
New Hampshire....| 84 16 || South Carolina..... 26 74.|| Michigan .2----2-<< 73 27
‘Vermont: 22). ----.- 85 AS Georeine. some eneocs 33 67 || Indiana.22222 eee 84 16
Massachusetts ..-.-- 75 | 25 || Florida .........--- 45 oo, || linois 25 Jc hese 95 5
Rhode Island ..---.-. ds 22 || Alabama. .......... 53 47 || Wisconsin ...-..22. 90 10
Connecticut ........ i SL 19 || Mississippi .....--. 60 40 || Minnesota .......-.| 98 2
MEW MOrkz cons s>- 68 32 || Louisiana x Lowa ..<-<ssasseheee 100) j. ==.
New Jersey..-..---- | 69 31 || Texas..... = Missouri....- 95 5
Pennsylvania...-...- 76 | 24.) Arkansas : Kansas .-...- oUF PARR LACE CR .
Delaware .........-- 72 28 || Tennessee Nebraska). 5. .ceees 10045 26
Maryland........-.. 40 60.|| West Virginia...-. 7 23 || California-ooo--eee 98 os
Walrpiniian!. 2s oe. 59 41 || Kentucky ..-.-.... 97 3
Tue sesea x + ye eK a
69
The manure of farm-animals is seen to be the main reliance for sus-
taining fertility. Commercial fertilizers—organic and mineral—are
somewhat in use in New England, especially in Maine and Massachu-
setts, including quantities of fish-refuse and sea-weed. They are also
used sparingly in the Middle States; but the cheaper minerals, lime and
plaster, and still cheaper green-manuring, monopolize a large proportion
of the percentages credited to ‘other fertilizers.” The South Atlantic
States from Maryland to Georgia, inclusive, use not only the largest
proportion of manipulated fertilizers, but the largest quantity in com-
parison with other sections. The cost of such material amounts to
millions in each of these States. Little fertilizing matter is applied to
the soil from Alabama westward, with the single exception of such
quantities of cotton-seed as are not required for seeding and for a few oil-
mills. In the eastern portion of the Ohio Valley experiments are tried
with commercial fertilizers by a few progressive farmers, and the use of
clover as a fertilizer is considerably practiced there by immigrants from
Maryland and Pennsylvania. And here we may stop. The remainder
of the country has heretofore practiced the draining of farm-yard
manures into creeks and rivers, or the removal of barns from their
inconvenient accumulations; or, if they all have not literally adopted
this practice, they: have not indicated much faith in the necessity of
manuring. And yet these returns show that the lands of lowa and
Minnesota, and even of Illinois, are made to bear an increase of 20 to
30 per cent. by a single experiment in green-manuring. Thoughtful
western farmers are seriously pondering the economy and profit of
prairie-land fertilization.
As to commercial fertilizers our correspondents generally appreciate
their value for specific uses, acknowledge their utilty in supplying
lacking material for plant-growth; accord to them a positive value in
hastening growth and maturity, but persist in the opinion that there is
fraud in the manipulation of some kinds, and that the genuine are held
at too high a price. They know that for the regular uses of farm-fertil-
ization they can obtain the needed elements at a cheaper rate.
Many examples are given of the renovation of worn and apparently
worthless soils, and the increase of fertility in fresh but unpromising
lands. Fields that have been cultivated exhaustively for twenty and
even forty years have been restored to original productiveness, not by
guanos and superphosphates, at $60 to $80 per ton, but by inexpensive
local resources, the cheapest and most reliable of which is found in
clovering. In one case in Butler County, Pennsylvania, a section of
thin, gravelly land, on which it was thought no one could secure a decent
living, came into the possession of German immigrants at nominal rates.
They cleared off the brush, plowed, cultivated, turned under green
crops; saved every fertilizing material available; never duplicated a
crop in five or six years’ rotation, and that tract is now a garden, and
from worthlesness has advanced to the value of $100 per acre, and is
yearly becoming more productive. These owners, in some cases, have
raised and educated families, lived comfortably, ride in carriages, and
have money at interest. In other instances in which the aid of clover
has been invoked, swine-feeding in the clover fields has been made a
valuable means of soil-improvement. In the South, a region which
many northern writers on agriculture assuine most erroneously to be
unsuited to grass culture, and which southern farmers have strangely
neglected as a meat-producing section for obvious reasons, a new era is
dawning, and clover and orchard-grass are in many places found to be
sources of immediate and heavy profit, and of greatly increased fertility.
70
In light lands of more torrid temperature the cow-pea performs quickly
and inexpensively the work of amelioration assigned to red clover in
argillaceous soils. It is a plant literally worth millions to the South;
possibly as good an ammonia-gatherer as clover; perhaps equally as
good for fattening swine, and grown with greater facility in poorer
soils. This investigation presents prominently three suggestive points :
First, the use of fertilizers is becoming more general and more discrim-
inating; second, few, if any, soils in the country are so rich that they
cannot be made more productive by judicious fertilization; third, farm-
yard manures are the best for general use; green-manuring is the
cheapest means of soil renovation, and commercial fertilizers are useful
for quick results and for specific purposes.
FARM-YARD MANURE.—Except near large centers of population, where
the fertility of the soil carried to market in cereal and vegetable products
can easily be returned in purchased manures, the main reliance for
soil-restoration in every system of prosperous agriculture, is the ma-
nure made on thefarm. The certainty of its adaptation to the wants of
the soil from which it has been extracted, the practicability of securing
it, and that without paying out cash or incurring debt, and the gain in
utilizing much that would otherwise be worthless, must ever give it pre-
cedence for general farming-purposes, over all other fertilizers. Among
the many advantages resulting to the farmer from having manufactur-
ing or mining industries in his own neighborhood, prominent is that of
being able to market for ready cash, hay, straw, and other coarse pro-
ducts, and at the same time cheaply replace the fertility taken from the
soil in their production. The accumulations of manures in manufac-
turing and commercial cities and in the mining districts of Pennsylva-
nia are taken at high prices, often $8 to $10 per cord, not only by gar-
deners and tobacco-growers, but by farmers, and their judicious use is
found to be remunerative to such a degree that he who buys the most
is usually found the most prosperous.
COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.—A majority of our returns indicate a
growing preference on the score of comparative results and relative
cheapness of home-made manures, over the manipulated compounds
known popularly as commercial fertilizers. In many sections the use
of this class of fertilizers is becoming more and more limited to garden
productions, in the cultivation of which, hastening growth and maturity
is an important element, and to special crops upon which the profitable
effects of commercial compounds of established reputation have been
proved by trial for a series of years. Repeated experiments with com-
mercial compounds, which have ultimately proved unprofitable, have
created a prevalent antipathy to new experiments. On the other hand,
returns generally indicate that the use of unmixed organic or mineral
fertilizers is on the increase. Adulteration in these is more easily de-
tected, and the effects on like soils are comparatively uniform and well
established. In the Eastern, Middle, and older of the Northwestern
States neither commercial fertilizers nor home-made composts are used,
to the neglect of farm-yard manure, but only as additions, after that has
been exhausted.
A majority of returns from New England, including all from New
Hampshire, report that commercial fertilizers are deemed unprofitable.
But in Oxford, Me., superphosphates are considered almost indispensa-
ble, especially on corn, and in Penobscot and Cumberland they are used
to some extent with favorable results, particularly gypsum on grass in
the spring; gypsum is also popular in Franklin, Vt., and phosphates in
Caledonia, on buckwheat and turnips, but not for general farming. The
71
same is reported from Norfolk, Mass., except that those which “ tend to
drive special garden-crops, may pay.” In New London County, Connecti-
eut, guano is liked for garden-crops, and superphosphates deemed bene-
ficial on most crops; in New Haven,a great variety is used, which “ pay
well if of good quality and properly applied ;” in Hartford they are used
largely in connection with stable-manure.
About one-half the returns from New York report the profitable use
of gypsum, particularly on clover. In Seneca it is deemed by far the
cheapest commercial fertilizer; in Onondaga, in dry seasons, it nearly
doubles the crop of clover. Lime is used in a similar way, though not
so extensively, with like results. Exclusive of these, correspondents
express the opinion, based upon experiments, that commercial fertilizers
are not profitable. There are a few exceptions. In Broome they are
considered profitable to drill in with wheat; profitable in some localities
of Suffolk, and Chautauqua predicts that they will be more used in the
coming than in any previous season.
In New Jersey, lime excepted, no county reports them unqualifiedly
profitable. in Burlington, while marl, guano, and phosphates are largely
used in some crops, the main dependence is on manure either made on
the farm or purchased in Philadelphia. Guano only is used in Camden,
and ‘“‘less and less each season ;” in Gloucester they are only prodtable
for special crops.
In Pennsylvania, lime holds the foremost place among commercial fer-
tilizers. It is considered one of the cheapest, most reliable, and effectual.
It is extensively used with uniformly favorable results. It is most used
on clover or to facilitate decomposition in green-manuring. In Bucks,
‘plowing under clover with the liberal use of lime is the cheapest and
quickest way to renovate poor soil. Lehigh reports that to keep up a
luxuriant growth of clover and other grasses a field should be limed
every five or six years. Lebanon, that ‘‘ the only practice of soil-improve-
ment is with lime and barn-yard manure, repeated about once in seven
years ; 50 to 100 bushels of lime per acre is put on land for corn, and
manure on oats-stubble for wheat. This process has doubled produc-
tion on all crops within the last twenty years.” Gypsum is used, less
extensively, in the same way, and witha single exception like results
are reported. Butler Connty reports that it is now much less used than
formerly, being “‘deemed only stimulating in its effects by which one
crop is benefited at,the expense of the next.” Returns are almost
unanimous against the general use of compounded commercial fertilizers.
High prices, frauds, and uncertainty of effect compared with farm-yard
manure are the principal objections. One says “it increased the crop
for one year, but had the effect to make the land more sterile after that.”
Another, “ Guano has become so adulterated that its use has been dis-
continued by many.” “Farmers have generally come to the conclu-
sion that barnyard manure pays best.” These are illustrations of the
general tone. The only marked exception is from Adams, which reports.
that the better kinds are used by many of the best farmers, and that
‘the rapidly-increasing demand by intelligent farmers is evidence of
their utility.” In Bucks they are used advantageously to supply defi-
ciencies in barn-yard manure, since the farmers, after having been
extensively humbugged, are now more careful in selecting. Hence it is.
reported that the farmers in that and the adjoining counties control a
large manufactory for phosphates and bone-dust, now in operation in
Philadelphia, worked on the co-operative plan.
In Delaware they are less used than formerly.
In Maryland the current of opinion runs in the opposite direction. In
12
each of the returns the use of commercial fertilizers is reported, and the
proportions indicated are 56 per cent. against 40 per cent. of farm-yard
manure. Queen Anne reports that they are used freely, principally
superphosphates, in the wheat-crop, aud that even when wheat is low
they pay well, as they will double the succeeding crop; Charles, that 90
per cent. of all fertilizers are commercial, and are specially profita-
ble on the after-crop of clover for improvement of land; Calvert, 60
per cent., mostly Peruvian guano and superphospates, and profitable for
the tobacco-crop ; Montgomery, also 60 per cent., and Caroline 50, and —
profitable in both; Harford, that they are the principal fertilizers used,
by far the largest part being bone-dust, and deemed profitable at about
$42 per ton; Carroll, that bone-fertilizers are profitable, but none oth-
ers; Washington, that bone-fertilizers are profitable on all soils. On
the other hand, in Worcester, though 67 per cent. of all fertilizers are
commercial, they are deemed unprofitable—“ in many instances the re-
sult has been injurious to the land and disastrous to its cultivator ;” in
Talbot, though the chief reliance is on them, they are “not always profit-
able ;” in Prince George, about 10 per cent. of the fertilizers are. com-
mercial. chiefly used on tobacco, but now so adulterated as not to be
profitable ; and in Cecil the price is found too high to to admit of much
profit.
Fifty-four returns from Virginia indicate that 40 to 50 per cent. of
the fertilizers used are commercial. They are largely used on special
crops, as tobacco, wheat, and garden-truck. Gypsum and lime, or shell-
marl, are extensively used with special reference to the production of
clover and grass-crops. The general tone of returns indicates a profit.
able use for these special purposes, (and especially crops for market
on which profit largely depends on early maturity,) but not for general
farming. The following extracts, among others, show the direction in
which the views of advanced farmers are tending in respect to the use of
different fertilizers: .
Sussex: Our best farmers now use all their available means in the making of farm-yard
manures and composts, and are realizing conmensurate advantages from such eftorts.
It has become a fixed belief among our farmers that the commercial fertilizers give no
really profitable return, and only embarrass with debts which all the crops made by
using them barely liquidate. Henrico: Peruvian guano and superphosphates largely
used, but bone-dust yields better results than any fertilizer except farm-yard manure.
Powhatan: Profitable on tobacco, followed by wheat, if combined with farm-yard
manure. Lunenburgh: Commercial fertilizers are mostly used, but are less profitable
than farm-yard manure. Loudoun: Extensively used, but, gypsum excepted, the im-
pression is gaining ground that they do not pay.
With respect to their advantageous use in grass-culture the report
from Montgomery states: -‘* Farmers have been very successful in set-
ting grass on exhausted lands by drilling in fertilizers with wheat.
Lime gives good results, and a clover-crop is increased 50 to 106 per
cent. sowing plaster.” In Westmoreland, though for the last few years
they have yielded little if any direct profit, ‘still, considering the im-
proved condition of the land and its increased adaptation to the cul-
tivation of grasses, the use of them is regarded as judicious ;” in She-
nandoah, they are deemed profitable in securing good stands of grass ;
in Wythe, profitable from the certainty with which grass, sown with
wheat, sets; in Chesterfield, ¢ gypsum is least expensive and most effect-
ive, especially on clover and peas; in Prince Edward, desirable on elo-
ver and the grapes. The tide-water regions find fish a great resource
in fertilizing. In several counties the use of commercial fertilizers has
been abandoned on account of frauds; in a large number they are re-
ported unprofitable without qualification.
ee oes oak” eee
7 en
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73
The remaining Atlantic and eastern Gulf States report a growing dis-
position to supersede the use of commercial fertilizers by home-made
composts ; but the former are still somewhat extensively used on wheat
and cotton, and, in North Carolina, on tobacco. Several counties in
this State report that the use is confined to tobacco; in a majority of the
counties reported, they are either not deemed profitable, or only so to a
limited extent under specified conditions. In Caswell, there is a general
disposition to dispense with them ; in Lenoir, less used than a few years
ago; in Martin, not one-fourth as much used in 1874 as in 1873; in
Chatham, less profitable than manure and home-made composts; in
Wake, “ easily handled and well adapted to a thriftless farming com-
munity, they are used by every planter who has the money or the credit
to buy; but the more intelligent and successful planters are learning to
depend on home-sources for ammonia, and only purchasing the phos-
phates.” <A few returns are unqualifiedly favorable. Randolph reports
that on thin, worn-out land, 200 pounds of guano per acre frequently
increases the yield of wheat four-fold; Cleveland, that they pay fully
50 per cent.; Duplin, that they are almost a necessity for the production
of cotton, paying 50 to 100 per cent. on the investment ; and Gaston,
that the use of them is on the increase. Several returns specify the
use of gypsum on clover with profit. In Clay, lime is found very bene-
ficial; only one-third of the returns specify the proportion used, but, so
far as indicated, it amounts to about 13 per cent. against 36 of home-
made compost and 51 of farm-yard manure. ?
Returns from South Carolina make the amount of commercial fer-
_ tilizers used equal to that of both farm-yard manure and home-made
composts. A majority report that they are deemed profitable; Barn-
well, that they yield 30 to 50 per cent. on cost; Williamsburgh, that,
under favorable circumstances, they pay more than 100 per cent. But
there are some important qualifications: in Richmond, they are thought
profitable “if the farmer can pay cash down; in Beaufort, home-made
composts prove more profitable; in Fairfield, while the ammoniated su-
perphosphates are deemed paying fertilizers, the same value in composts,
with acid phosphates, is more remunerative ; in Greenville, the yield of
cotton, per acre, annually decreases, and the expense of fertilizers in-
creases. :
In Florida, returns indicate that the use is very limited and appar-
ently decreasing. Owing to a want of knowledge in their proper use,
and to impositions, they have grown into disfavor in Madison County ;
in Gadsden, with few exceptions, the use of them is abandoned; in
Suwannee, they are deemed unprofitable. Per contra: Orange reports
that they are profitable, and used more and more every year, Peruvian
guano being the favorite; and in Putnam and Santa Rosa they are
profitably used on garden-crops. Phosphates, bone-dust, salt, ashes,
gypsum, guano, and fish-guano are specified.
Though returns from Georgia show that two-fifths of the fertilizers
used are commercial, only about one-fourth report them positively profit-
able; another fourth, either of doubtful utility or less profitable than
other fertilizers ; and the remainder positively unprofitable. There ap-
pears to be a decided movement toward substituting for them home-
made composts, and a growing appreciation of farm-yard manure.
Brooks: It is aquestion whether they have not done more harm than good; thou-
sands of doliars are paid out annually, and when the season is not suited it is demon-
strable that it would have been betterif they bad not been applied. Stewart: Largely
used from 1869 to 172, inclusive, but less now ; certainly have helped to impoverish our
people. Upson: Most are purchased on time, and when pay-day comes round, planters
swear that the stuff did no goed and is the last they will ever buy. But when planting-
74
time comes again they say, “ Believe I will try it once more.” Harris: Not valuable
or profitable, except a few chemicals needed to make compost with manure and cotton-
seed. Baldwin: Farm-yard manure more profitable. Murray: Farm-yard manure pref-
erable by far. Columbia: Farmers have at length found ont that they were “ paying
too dear for the whistle.” Decatur: Not so many use them as formerly. Cherokee:
Home-made composts have proved much more profitable. Troup: Farmers beginning
to see the folly of using so much of fertilizers to the neglect of home-made manures,
Will use next spring not more than one-third the previous quantity. Henry: Will be
less used, as farmers are making two-thirds compost, or phosphate and farm-yard
manure. Gwinnett: Farm-yard manure entered but little into fertilizers until last year ;
then it was composted with “chemicals.” The composts at a cost of one-third of com-
mercial guano were equally valuable. Jefferson: Farm-yard manure composted with
cotton-seed more valuable.
The most prominent returns of favorable results are from De Kalb,
where 1,500 tons are used, mostly for cotton, at an average cost of $60
per ton, which pay a very good profit; in Houston, where 2,000 tons are
used; in McDuffie, giving 20 to 30 per cent. of profit; and in Carroll,
very profitable when the land is well worked. West of Georgia com-
mercial fertilizers are little used.
A large majority of returns from Alabama declare them unprofitable.
Cotton-seed is largely composted with manure and other ingredients,
and farm-yard manure constitutes about 53 per cent. of the whole. In
Shelby, commercial fertilizers, when not used in connection with vege-
table matter, are considered a positive injury; in Conecuh, used in
1867~70, but very little since, proving less profitable each year; in
Bullock, less used last year than for several years previous; in Pike,
while some deem them profitable, many of the best farmers think other-
wise; in Lowndes they have been mostly abandoned; but in Russell
they are considered very profitable if pure; also in De Kalb, (with the
same qualification,) ‘‘especially on cotton, increasing the yield 100 to.
200 per cent.;” in Lauderdale, among them, only gypsum on clover and
other grasses has proved profitable.
From Mississippi few returns with definite specifications have been
received. The use of commercial fertilizers appears to be quite limited
and not increasing, farm-yard manure and cotton-seed being the main
reliance. In Rankin they have been found unprofitable and abandoned ;.
in Clark, profitable, when the land is subsoiled and the fertilizer covered.
deep, but manure and cotton-seed are deemed better. Claiborne reports.
that they increase the yield one-third; and Pike, that they are profita--
ble in the hands of skillful planters.
The returns from Louisiana which answer the inquiry report that.
they are not deemed profitable. In Claiborne they have been tried and
abandoned. La Fourche, where bone-dust has been used, is the only
parish reporting the present use of any commercial fertilizer. Cotton-
seed takes the precedence, then manure and composts.
Among over fifty returns from Texas no one reports the use of any
commercial fertilizer. The same is true of Arkansas, except that Drew
reports that guano, superphosphates, &c., were tried on cotton six or
seven years, and did not pay. In Tennessee, nearly half the returns.
specify the use of gypsum, largely in connection with clover, and, as in
other States, the results are uniformly favorable. Lime is used less.
extensively, principally as an ingredient in composts. With these ex-
ceptions, the use of commercial fertilizers is very limited, and apparently
declining. In Greene and Putnam they are less used than formerly; in
Washington, only used by farmers who drill in wheat, and in that case
are very profitable, as they hasten the maturity of the grain.
In West Virginia the use of commercial fertilizers is very limited.
Not including lime and gypsum, which are used to some extent, two--
15
thirds of the returns report the use not profitable; others, a doubt-
fal result; and only two a decidedly favorable one. Marion reports
that 150 to 200 pounds of Peruvian guano on poor and exhausted land
will increase a wheat-crop about 16 bushels per acre ; and Mineral, that
they are much more used than formerly. The reason assigned is that,
as farmers generally do not house their stock, and therefore have no
farm-yard manure, by using commercial fertilizers they largely increase
their productions.
In Kentucky and Ohio, lime, gypsum, and bone-dust are used to a con-
siderable extent with beneficial results. A few other kinds have been tried
on a small scale, but in Kentucky the returns are unanimous, and in
Ohio, with but few exceptions, against the use of them. In Chris-
tian, Ky., gypsum is very profitably used on both clover and tobacco ; in
Ashland, Ohio, on clover and corn ; in Adams, bone-dust and super-
phosphate of lime were tried last season with marked good results. In a
field made up of clay land, flat and rolling, and marly banks, the owner
drilled in with wheat a commercial fertilizer, omitting the latter in some
rows. The result was, in place of 2 or 3 bushels per acre on the wet
and 10 on the dry, clay land, and 15o0n the marly banks without the fertil-
izer, an average of 20 bushels per acre on the whole with it, and a good
set of grass in place of none. In Washington the practice of using
bone-dust for wheat on old fields is increasing.
In Michigan commercial fertilizers appear to be little used, and for
the most part deemed unprofitable, except gypsum, the profitable use
of which on clover and other crops is noted in almost every return.
Cass reports its extensive use, and the prevalent belief that, at the price
paid, and at the rate of 50 to 100 pounds per acre sown on clover to
pasture or for green-manuring, fertility can be given to soil as cheaply
as with barn-yard manure, at no expense except that of hauling it half
amile. The following extract is from the return of Clinton :
The theoretical rotation for crops is, first year, corn in sod; second, oats, with wheat
in the fall; third, clover and timothy sown with gypsum and the wheat taken off;
fourth, gypsum sown, and pastured ; fifth, gypsum sown, and mowed. This system
does not produce wheat enough to suit many, and they supplement it by plowing under
clover for wheat, seeding the following spring, pasturing, but not closely, the next sum-
mer till July, then plowing up and sowing wheat again. In this case gypsum is sown
every spring. This system has been followed on some fields for fifteen years, with con-
stantly increasing yield.
In Indiana, also, gypsum is extensively and profitably used. Noble
reports that it constitutes 60 per cent. of all fertilizers, and applied to
clover-fields increases the crop about one-third; Elkhart, that it is
applied much more extensively than farm-yard manure, the only other
fertilizer used ; Kosciusko, that on an old field covered with sorrel it
was freely sown while the sorrel was green and immediately plowed
under as‘fallow. In the fall it was seeded to wheat, which yielded 40
bushels per acre. Before the use of gypsum the same field had yielded
only 10 to 15 bushels. A few returns note the use of lime and more of
bone-dust, with good effects. Other commercial fertilizers are but little
used, and, with few exceptions, reported unprofitable. In Floyd, bone-
dust and superphosphates are profitably used, the former for permanent
and the latter for immediate effects. Also, offal from the slaughter-houses
is very profitable; screened coal-ashes in orchards, salt and lime in pre-
paring ground for every purpose except for corn; and wood-ashes when
properly applied.
In Illinois, out of sixty-four county returns, four specify the use of
gypsum and three of lime, in small quantities ; four composts, and one,
Pulaski, ‘ashes and sawdust to a limited extent.” All others return
76
farm-yard manure only, quite a number stating that that is little used.
Fayette and Kankakee report that gypsum has been tried and not found
profitable. Passing into Wisconsin, gypsum again becomes popular.
More than half the returns report the use of it, and none specify unfa-
vorable results. Lime is used to a considerable extent, but no other
commercial fertilizer is reported.
In Minnesota, out of thirty-six returns, the exclusive use of farm-yard
manure is reported in all, except salt in Crow-Wing, with good effect ;
gypsum, lime, and compost, in Olmstead ; limein Isanti, and ashes and
lime in Steele. Out of fifty-three returns from Towa, but a single county
reports the use of any other fertilizer than farm-yard manure. In Dela-
ware County, a small quantity of gypsum was used last year, for the first
time, with profitable results. The case is not much different in Missouri.
Grundy reports the use of some bone-dust with profit ; Nodaway, that
lime, gypsum, and ashes are highly valued by the best. farmers ; Calla-
way, that some guano is used on fine tobacco, as it is thought to yellow
it and make it ripen sooner; Washington, that some lime has been tried
and found profitable ; and ‘Cape Girardean, that gypsum is applied to
clover. These are the only returns out of over sixty which report any
use of commercial fertilizers. In Kansas, Nebraska, California, and the
Territories, their use is as yet unknown.
HOME-MADE CoMPostTs.—Returns generally coneur in reporting an
increasing use of composts mixed on thefarm. They especially indicate,
in the cotton States, a growing conviction, confirmed by the results of
experiments, that it is far more safe and economical to buy commercial
ingredients known to be suitable to combine with manure and other
composting elements on the farm, than to pay the extravagant price
demanded for commercial compounds, which often prove to be adul-
terated and comparatively worthless. In New England, barn-cellars
are the rule with the best farmers, (but unfortunately this is not the
larger class,) and muck, loam, or other material is hauled in to absorb
the liquid manure, while the stock i is at the barn. The same is true of
the hog-pen. In the Eastern States, whenever wood-ashes are made
they are utilized, leached or unleached, in supplementing farm-manure,
sometimes in composts, but perhaps oftener in the hill or drill. Lime,
with scrapings from the road-side, and whatever refuse is available,
enter into composts. In the Northern Atlantic States, on the coast,
manure on the farm is extensively supplemented by marine fertilizers,
as muscle-mud, sea-weed, fish refuse, &c., all of which are very profit-
able. In the neighborhood of cities, fertilizing matter of all kinds,
which accumulates in them, enters largely into composts. The return
from Camden, N.J., for instance, reports that thousands of loads of street-
sweepings from Philadelphia, mixed with stable-manure in the propor-
tion of 2 to 1, are used as a highly valued fertilizer. In the Southern
States mineral or other commercial ingredients enter more largely into
composts with cotton-seed and farm manure. Edgecomb, N.C., reports
a system of composting, which, though it involves a combination of ele-
ments not in accordance with received opinions, has produced the
best results for more than twenty years. The ingredients are soil or
subsoil, (often more valuable in composting than worn soil,) not too
sandy, cotton-seed, or any material which will ferment, any animal ma-
nure, and shell-marl, lime, or ashes. The proportions are about 1 bushel
of cotton-seed (or its equivalent in other vegetable manure) to 25 of
earth, 5 of animal-manure, and from 40 to 60 of marl or lime; all to be
thoroughly mixed. Our reporter has lands which he has cultivated in
Se
a
this way for more than twenty years, and they are more productive now
than at the beginning. The general conclusion in the county is, that
the best results are secured from farm-manures by composting them.
Fairfield, S. C., reports that dissolved bone, ground and made soluble
with sulphuric acid, added to cotton-seed, makes a very cheap and pop-
ular fertilizer, which is coming into general use. The following extracts.
from returns in Georgia, while they indicate the change for the better
in progress, afford hints which may be valuable to other sections :
Harris: Very many planters are making their own fertilizers with farm-yard manure,
top-soil, cotton-seed, and phosphates. McDuffie: Compost made by mixing one ton of
ground bone and different acids with one and a half tons of cotton-seed and one and a
half tons of stable-manure, is far superior for corn or cotton to any of the commercial
fertilizers, and does not cost over one-third as much per ton. Bartow: A compound of
acid phosphate and cotton-seed has been used for the last two or three years, and the
use is annually increasing. It costs about $20 per ton of 2,000 pounds, and is equal to
the regular manipulated commercial manures sold at $55 to.$60 perton. Wilkes : Com-
posting, by one of several formulas, as gypsum, acid, phosphates, &c., is increasing
every year. Camden: The cheapest plan for making manures here is by yarding cattle:
at night in a pen well filled with alternate layers of marsh grass and marl muck—these
materials being plenty. With proper system one cart-load per week of “long manure”
to each animal can be made and well adapted to our sandy soil. Yrowp: Farmers are
seeing the folly of using so much of commercial fertilizers to the neglect of home-made
manure. Jefferson: Farmers are waking up to the importance of the compost-heap,
and it is devoutly hoped that the time is not distant when it will supersede and
crowd out the costly commercials which deplete the pockets of farmers in Georgia of
millions every year.
Returns from Florida and Alabama show that these States are begin-.
ning, and only beginning, to follow the example of Georgia in home-
made composts. In Mississippi and Louisiana cotton-seed is almost the
only fertilizer used; even farm-yard manure is neglected; and in Texas.
and Arkansas both of these are extensively coupled together in the
returns as the only fertilizers. In the States west of the Mississippi
. there is no composting worthy of mention. In Tennessee and West.
Virginia, and the States further north in the Mississippi and Ohio Val-
leys, the practice has as yet made but little progress.
» GREEN-MANURING.—Returns show that the practice of plowing under
clover as a green manure is gaining in all sections where cloveris grown
to any extent. That it proves one of the cheapest and most effectual
means of improving soils,and at the same time one of the most valua-
ble fertilizers for growing crops, and especially for wheat and corn, is
made evident by very general returns, in which testimony, as will be
seen below, is largely fortified by definite facts, as ascertained by ex-
periments continued for a series of years. A very few report that this
process of manuring is not practiced for the reason that some other is
considered more profitable; but only two report that it is positively
injurious. Juniata, Pa., reports that it is ‘considered worse than
useless,” and Duplin, N. C., as follows:
Our farmers are averse to green-manuring with any crops, believing it a positive in-
jury rather than a benefit to the land. A few years since the Bear Marsh Agricultural
Club instituted a series of experiments with the cow-pea as a manurial crop, and in
every instance, where the peas were plowed under green, the land failed to produce as
good a crop as when the peas were allowed to mature and fed off on the land. In 1868,
a gentleman from Pennsylvania purchased a farm in this vicinity, and in September
turned under the growth of weeds &c. green, on part of a field of low ground, and to
this day the portion so treated has never produced so good a crop as the remainder of
the field.
Returns indicate that the first crop,is turned under less frequently
than the second, and that less frequently than stubble. But throughout
the more northern States, in which hay is the most valuable production,
18
and fields are usually contiuued in grass so long as they yield a paying
crop, the all but universal custom in seeding down land is to sow clover
and timothy together. The first crop will be clover almost exclusively ;
after that the timothy gradually gains on it, and usually by the third
or fourth year wholly supersedes it; and, therefore, when the field is
plowed itis timothy rather than clover stubble which turns under.
Owing to the value of clover for hay in New England and some of the
Northwestern States, buckwheat is not unfrequently used as a substitute
in green-manuring. In the South Atlantic and Gulf States, where
hitherto but little clover has been grown, the “ cow-pea” is used quite
extensively, and the reported results are, almost without exception, very
satisfactory.
» Penobscot, Me., Sullivan, N. H., Berkshire, Mass., Washington, R. L,
and Hartford and New Haven, Ct., report the full crop turned under,
to a limited extent, with good results. In the latter county it ‘ serves
as a good basis for a tobacco-crop,” butin Windham it is thought more
valuable for hay. In New York the practice is more general. In
Suffolk some farmers turn under the full crop with benefit; but it
is generally thought that the crop of clover-hay fed to animals,
with the consequent profit on them and the dropping returned to
the soil, is more profitable. In Albany, though better crops can be
obtained after clover than after timothy, yet, as the latter brings
- one-third more than clover, farmers “will crop with it, since they
must have the crop that brings the most money, in order to
meet current expenses.” In Queens, some permit clover to grow till the
early part of May and then plow under for corn, with improvement to the
land; but sedge-hay from the salt-marshes is frequently plowed under with
superior results. Our correspondent says: ‘I haveraised 100 bushels of
shelled corn to the acre, and our agricultural societies have given pre-
miums to crops of 120 bushels per acre from land manured by sedge-hay
raked into the furrows.” In Columbia, stubble turned under ‘‘ improves
the soil to a large extent.” In Niagara, both the full crop and the stub-
ble turned under for wheat give satisfactory results. In Washington,
though only practiced to a limited extent, it is deemed the cheapest
fertilizer known, ‘‘used in any manner convenient for the time.” In
Genesee generally the whole crop is plowed under the latter part of
June, and considered the best way of improving soil and keeping it
fertile. In Ontario, plowing under the full crop has been discontinued,
and the practice is now confined to stubble. Among other counties
reporting the practice are the following:
Yates: The whole of the first crop turned under in full bloom, and the land left fal-
low until seeding-time for wheat; the second crop, and most frequently only the stub-
ble, turned under just in time for wheat. The first mode the best. Seneca: Exten-
sively; the full crop not turned under as muchas formerly. The first year the first
crop is cut for hay, and the second for hay or seed, according as it fills; the second
year the first is cut, and the second for seed, if it fills well, and the stubble turned un-
der for wheat. If the second crop does not fill, the whole is plowed under. Greene:
Usually plow under the first crop in June; raplow the Ist of August, and about the
1st of September sow wheat or rye. A good crop of clover turned under is better than
twenty loads of barn-yard manure. Onondaga: Not extensively ; my neighbor sowed 10
acres to clover; the second year plowed it under in August, and sowed to wheat the
1st of September. Though the land was poor the yield of wheat was 25 to 28 bushels
per acre. But present pay, or all we can get thi year, seems to govern; so most of
the farmers cut the second crop of the small variety for seed; if the large variety,
they feed till the 20th of June, then turn off, and save for seed. Realize 2 to 4 bushels
of seed per acre. Schenectady: The common method is to sow 1 peck of clover-seed
and 14 busbels of plaster per acre; next season pasture or cut the crop; the latter is
considered best. Two or three crops are thus taken off, then the stubble turned under ;
the next crop corn, then oats or barley, with clover as before. Where this rotation is
practiced I have never known it fail to improve any soil where clover will grow.
79
In New Jersey, green-manuring with clover is practiced to a limited
extent. In Gloucester the clover is mowed and pastured, and the stub-
ble plowed under the second year; in Warren, the stubble only for
corn ; in Burlington, plowing under the crop is little practiced, because
pasturing with hogs, cattle, and sheep, and plowing under the sod is
preferred; in Hudson larger crops of corn and potatoes result from
turning under red clover.
In Pennsylvania, green-manuring with clover, in connection with
lime or gypsum, enters somewhat extensively into a system of rotation
in which the culture of wheat, corn, and hay predominates. In Bed-
ford the practice is growing in favor, and “ universally deemed profita-
ble;” in Lancaster, considered by the best farmers a progressive step
in agriculture; in Tioga, the second crop for wheat, next to farm-yard
manure, the best and cheapest fertilizer, and ‘should be at least two years
old before turning under, as the roots are more valuable than the stalks;”
in Fulton, it is less practiced than formerly, because farmers keep so
much stock, and lime their land freely; in Montgomery, top-dressing
with manure, lime, and compost is considered far better; in Dauphin,
also, returning in manure ail the hay grown on the farm, and turning
under the stubble is thought to result in a greater improvement of the
soil than turning under any green crop; in Montour, turning under clo-
ver in either mode is deemed equal to a coat of manure.
The extracts which follow will illustrate the varied practice and
afford convincing evidence of satisfactory results.
Cumberland: The second growth plowed under in July for winter-wheat brings a fine
crop. <A good bed of grass plowed under in the fall for corn produces as large a crop
as if the land was coated with barn-yard manure. Clinton: All who have tried it con-
cur in saying that it benefits the land as much as, if not more than, a full dressing
of barn-yard manure. Bucks: The custom is to sow clover on oats, let it lie one year,
pasture or mow the following season, and plow for wheat after harvest. I have prac-
ticed it for fifteen years with marked advantage to the soil. Adams: To a limited ex-
tent by the better class of farmers who can spare in this way a good crop of grass.
The second or third crop is usually turned under. Washington: In connection with
lime produces excellent crops. This method followed by those who practice rotation,
and it is claimed that by it land may beconstantly improved. Westmoreland : Where
grazing is more of an object than the cultivation of the cereals, clover-fields are pas-
tured in the fore part of the season, and the ripened after-growth cut for seed or plowed
under for a crop of wheat. In the latter way a very good stand of clover is obtained
the next season, while the wheat and soil are both benefited. For many years I have
pursued this course with decided success. Fayette: To some extent; second crop in
high favor with our best farmers. Its beneficial effects not only in affording plant-
food, but in securing a better mechanical condition of the soil. Wyoming: I came
in possession of a field of five acres which had been cropped till nothing but mal-
lows and pennyroyal grew, and it had been left an open common, I planted it in
corn, using plaster for a fertilizer. The next spring sowed oats and one peck of
clover-seed. The third spring sowed plaster on the clover. The last of August
plowed under all that grew; sowed to wheat, and the following spring clover-seed on
that. In the summer pastured the clover a very little, but in August plowed under
the clover, sowed to wheat with clover-seed in the spring. The fifth summer mowed
the first crop of clover, and plowed under again in August for another crop of wheat
with clover-seed. In each instance plaster was sown on the crop after sowing the
clover-seed in spring. The result of this fertilizing with clover and plaster, and crop-
ping with corn, oats, and wheat, was, the land was made rich enough to produce any
crop, The last of the three successive crops of wheat was attacked by weevils, which
commenced on the outside and left scarcely any wheat within 16 or 20 feet of the
fence ; but the five acres yielded 102 bushels—20? bushels peracre. Lancaster: I know
of a tract of land that has been cultivated for twenty-six years and good crops raised
by the application of clover turned under alone. The hay, corn-fodder, and straw
have always been sold, and yet the land improved. Clearfield: The general practice,
mow the first crop, let the second crop grow until after harvest, and then plow
under whatever may be on the ground ; harrow well, give a top-dressing, then pat the
wheat in with a drill. The wheat does wel] and the soil improves under this mode of
treatment. My brother raised 34 bushels of Fultz wheat to the acre last year. Iw-
zerne: The chief reliance of our farmers is barn-yard manure and clover, about half
80
and half. When clover is plowed under, it is usually after the first bloom has been
fed off and a second has grown up and somewhat ripened. This usually gives the best
result, as by this process the roots become larger, there is more growth of top, and
often seed enough to renew the crop. Erie: The most successful rotation is, mow
clover twice, and the next spring put on a heavy coat of stable-manure, plow under,
and plant to corn; the next season, to oats or barley, and wheat the same fall, with
clover the next spring. A
From Delaware, Newcastle reports the practice by the best farmers,
and with most gratifying results, especially on clay lands.
In Maryland the practice is extensive; that and commercial fertiliz-
ers constituting about three-fifths of all used. The following extracts,
ane very full returns, afford specimens of prevailing processes and
results :
Cecil: After mowing and pasturing the sod is plowed under for corn, by which
farms are very much improved; mine yields double, perhaps threefold, what it did
twenty years ago. Dorchester: Generally the first crop is cut for hay, then pasture till
time for stock to come to the barn; then plow under for corn; the best fertilizer we.
can get for that, and tells on the wheat-crop which comes after. Charles: Generally
practiced; the first crop allowed to fall to the ground, as a cover, intead of turning it
under, because regarded as preferable for its fertilizing effects. Have reclaimed an
old worn-out field by using Turner’s Excelsior, at the rate of 200 pounds per acre; a
good stand of wheat and clover, the latter allowed to fall on the land, not grazed.
The following year the increase of corn was threefold, the season not being very fa-
vorable. Clover is wholly regarded as the cheapest and most permanent fertilizer.
Carroll: The full crop turned under for wheat considered by some as equal to a good
coatof barn-yard manure. Queen Anne: On nine-tenths of our arable land red cloyer
is almost invariably sown to succeed the wheat and oats crops. ‘This clover is gener-
ally pastured the second summer, and, if not left over, is fallowed in August for
wheat. We consider a good clover lay the best fertilizer for a wheat-crop. If the
ground is well prepared, and a moderate amountof superphosphate drilled in with the
wheat, to give an early start, a good crop, say 20 to 25 bushels per acre, is the almost
certain result. Red clover is to us what the turnip-crop is to England. Calvert: The
full crop seldom turned under; the usual practice to turn stock on the second year,
when the clover is in full bloom; the stock trample most of it under foot, and it
is plowed under the followiag spring. This system considered quite improving to the
soil. Some years ago I had an odd corner, of five acres, thoroughly exhausted and
dead-poor. I plowed the land, harrowed in commercial fertilizers at the rate of 400
pounds per acre, and planted in corn. The season was favorable, and the crop 40
bushels per acre, which paid for fertilizers and left a handsome profit. I followed the
corn with wheat, drilling in an additional 200 pounds of phosphate per acre. The
wheat-crop did not pay expenses, but the succeeding crop of clover was unusually
heavy. This was flushed under the second summer, and wheat drilled in, with 200
pounds of phosphate. The result was a crop of 22 bushels per acre; worth more than
the land would have sold for a few years before. I have since kept up the use of clo-
ver and phosphates upon that piece, without applying farm-yard manure or lime, and
it is now as productive as any land I have.
From Virginia, forty-four out of fifty-four county retarns note the prac-
tice, either with clover or pease, but in a large majority of instances the
extent is very limited. These returns bear concurrent testimony to
profitable results to both soil and succeeding crop. In Henrico, the
green crop is not turned ynder, because the hay brings so high a price
in the city, and farmers think they cannot afford to wait for the results
of plowing under.
Middlesex : Practiced by al! farmers whose land will bring clover. The full crop
turned in soon as the heads begin tu be brown, so as to insure a second seeding for the
spring following. Wheat is sown, and when a good crop of clover has been turned in a
heavy growth of wheat is considered sure. The soil in a high state of improvement,
compared with other lands; good crops and thrifty farmers are the results of this prac-
tice. Dinwiddie: Generally the second crop plowed under in July or August. If a
good crop of clover is turned under, .a good crop of wheat follows, and the soil is per-
manently improved. Matthews: Field-pease more highly prized. These we sow in our
corn and fallow either green or dry, and generally with good success. Peculiarly
suited to our soil and climate, and of rapid growth, itis more valuable to use as a fer-
tilizer than any crop we can raise. James City: The pea-fallow considered the best.
Craig: To a large extent and with good results; sow plaster on first crop; cut for hay
81
or pasture off; plow under second crop and sow wheat, which never fails to yield a
good crop. This is the cheapest way to improve our lands. Chesterfield: Extensively
practiced; the second crop, when the seed has matured, is turned under. ‘The better
plan is to seed the land with oats in March, and then apply the clover-seed. If the
land is rich enough, this invariably secures a good start, The following spring a good
crop of clover is secured, and the second crop turned under. This continued a few
years, with ten to twenty bushels of lime per acre, will result in increasing the wheat-
crop at least 50 per cent. Clarke: The second crop; the land highly improved by
clover and gypsum without any other fertilizer. Prince Hdward: The second crop
turned under for wheat generally results in a fair crop of wheat and always in improve-
ment of the soil. Mecklenburgh: The second crop turned under, and considered the very
best fertilizer for wheat.
In the remaining Atlantic and the Gulf States the practice is very
limited, one reason being that clover is little grown. Twenty-one of the
returns from Worth Carolina note the practice to a limited extent, five
of them being with the cow-pea. In Burke, peas sowed in time to reach
full growth by the last of August, and turned under with deep plowing,
for wheat, are thought equal to clover, and much cheaper. ‘Peas seldom
fail to yield a good growth of vine, even on poor land.” Beaufort re-
ports that pea-vines turned under after the peas have matured increase
the succeeding cotton-crop 15 to 20 per cent.; in Pasquotank, clover
turned under, though rarely done, is followed by wonderful results; our
correspondent, in 1870, ‘‘ had sixty acres in clover, turned the crop under
in October, planted in corn the next season, and the usual crop was
nearly doubled;” also, about ten bushels per acre of peas sown imme-
diately after a crop of wheat or oats was taken off, and turned under
when they commence maturing, nearly doubled the following crop, and
were cheaper than the use of clover. In Wake, owing to very bene-
ficial results, the practice of green-manuring with peas is increasing.
So far as reported from South Carolina and Florida the practice is
confined to the cow-pea; in the other Guif States, and Arkansas, the
very limited practice is divided between the pea and clover. In Burton,
Ga., clover turned under for wheat increases the yield, “ at the lowest,
one-third, and the land is improved 15 per cent. for subsequent crops.
In Hall, farmers have been cultivating clover for ten years with very
profitable results.” They generally get two crops per annum, and the
third year turn under the stubble, which improves the land greatly. In
Taylor, crab-grass turned under in September “ adds 20 per cent. to the
next crop of corn or cotton.” In Lauderdale, Ala., the second crop is
sometimes turned under “ with fine effect, almost doubling the yield in
corn or wheat.”
The practice becomes more prevalent again in Tennessee and West
Virginia, being noted in more than half the returns. Clover predomi-
nates, but the pea is employed to some extent in the former, and in the
latter State buckwheat and oats are used. Raleigh reports that some
estimate that green oats turned under pay better than clover. In Ten-
nessee, clover turned under has made lands “ more productive now than
they were thirty years ago” in Hancock ; is considered the best fertilizer
in Loudon; makes the best and surest crop of wheat in Sullivan; adds
very much to the production of cotton, corn, and tobacco in Dyer; is
the cheapest way to manure in Smith; increases the crop one-fourth in
Williamson ; improves the land every year in Putnam, and “in connec-
tion with lime proves one of the best fertilizers ever used.”
A large majority of returns from Kentucky report the practice, in
some form, to a greater or less extent, with uniformly favorable results.
“« Always benefits the succeeding crop ;” “ increases the crop of corn or
wheat one-third ;” “considered the great fertilizer of the country by
our best farmers ;” “red clover our best restorer of lands exhausted by
2A
oad
82
corn and other cereals;” ‘has a fine effect on the land, and increases
the crop of wheat one-third”—these are specimens of reported results.
The following more extended extracts are selected from a mass of simi?
lar ones:
Hart: For wheat it is thought best to turn under the full crop when in bloom; for
corn, to turn under the second when in bloom, subsoiling at the same time; preferable
to other modes of soil-improvement because by far thecheapest. Hardin: The second
crop turned under, or the first grazed about a month, then left to grow till plowed
under, in September. This always produces a fine crop of wheat, and when corn
follows the next season the benefit is plainly seen. Russell: Usually pastured very
close and turned under in winter or spring, when the land recejves no benefit except
from the roots. Lands run two years in clover, pastured close, and turned in winter
or early spring, will produce at least 25 per cenf.. more corn than other lands of the
same quality not clovered. Mason: About 1827 or 1830, red clover was introduced,
and from that time has been our chief and almost our only fertilizer, entering into the
crop-rotation on every farm. And, to-day, I have no hesitation in saying that fields
which tired and were thought exhausted forty years ago, will yield a heavier crop of
grain, hemp, or tobacco than when just cleared—never having had one dollar, saye for
clover or other grass seed, expended on them, or a single load of manure applied save
the droppings of stock when fed or pastured thereon. Clover when sown alone is
relied on as pasture only for hogs, and plowed under generally the fall or winter after
the second year, for any and every crop, always with marked improvement.
Out of fifty-four returns from Ohio, fifty-one counties report the prac-
tice, though in a large majority the extent is quite limited. As in Ken-
tucky, these reports concur in ascribing to the practice large advantage
to both crop and soil. A few extracts selected from many, as illustra-
tions, follow:
Fulton: We estimate one-fourth more wheat from the green-manuring. Vinton: The
far better way to let the clover mature and the seed ripen before turning under.
Ashland: Growing in favor every year. When the clover is nearly fit to eut, to
plaster it before turning under, and then summer-fallow for wheat, is the most effectual
and profitable method of manuring land. Loraine: Always improves the soil and often
adds several bushels per acre to the crop of grain. The clover-roots the principal benefit
to the soil. Highland: Judiciously practiced, it reclaims our worst worn-out lands.
Muskingum : No other practice here proves so effectual for preserving the fertility of
the soil. Monroe: By the practice the soil is improved at least 50 per cent. above the
result of the common practice of cropping with barn-yard manure only. Butler: In
connection with manure it is regarded as the great and cheap renovator of the soil.
Washington: I have a field of 16 acres on the Muskingum River, of what we eall bot-
tom or plain land. It had become so reduced by continual cropping that 1t would pro-
duce only about 12 bushels of wheat or 30 bushels of corm per acre. in the winter of
1866 I sowed it to clover and secured a fine set. I let it remain without mowing or pas-
turing of any account, and it gave a fine growth in the summers of 1866 and 1867. In
the fall of 1867 I turned it under, taking two boys to keep the furrows clear, and sowed
it to Mediterranean wheat. In 1868 I harvested from the field 512 bushels of good sound
wheat, (32 bushels per acre.) The next year it yielded 75 bushels of corn per aere.
The seasons have not been so favorable since, but the land is now in better condition
than in 1865.
Returns from Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois indicate that the prac-
tice has made considerable progress, though less extensive than in Ohio.
In Michigan it is found a good fertilizer for fruit-growing. Ottawa re-
ports that if the land is to be set in small fruits the next season, a full
crop plowed under and summer-fallowed brings it into fine condition,
and is much cheaper than commercial fertilizers. In Lenawee it is praec-
ticed by all farmers, and the full erop gives the most satisfactory results;
in Van Buren, on the oldest and best cultivated farms, with the ‘ inva-
riable result of great improvement ;” in Gratiot, is becoming more pop-
ular each year; in Calhoun, has increased the quantity and quality of
wheat, so as to make the average yield at best 20 per cent. more than
ten years ago. The only adverse return is from Oakland, which reports
that it is now less practiced than formerly, since it is deemed ‘ more
profitable to let cattle and sheep eat the clover and plow under the
~
83
manure.” The return from Cass says: “Our lighter sandy barrens,
which, before the use of clover and plaster, very “poorly paid for cul-
tivation, have been raised to nearly first-class for profitable culture.
The average of our grass-crops is fully 50 per cent. better than twenty
years ago, ¢ “and still increasing.”
In Indiana the practice appears to be growing in appreciation in con-
nection with both wheat and corn culture. In a majority of cases the
stubble only is turned under. In Falton, clover is regarded as “ the
great, indispensable fertilizer; ” in Clinton, as “ the economical mode of
restoring lands;” in Madison, the full crop ‘improves the soil 40 per
cent.; ” in Marshall, the second crop for wheat increases the yield five to
ten bushels per acre; in Switzerland, an experiment with corn, sown
thickly, and turned under when knee-high, doubled the yield of wheat.
“The yield was so surprising that the practice of green-manuring is
likely to prevail to a much greater extent.” In Posey, the clover, inde-
pendently of its fertilizing effects, ‘‘ pays a handsome profit.”
From Illinois the only reported exception to uniformly favorable results
is a partial one from Jersey: ‘ Leaves the soil in good condition for
corn, but for wheat, makes the straw weak, and the crop falls.” Macon
reports that the young roots supply the cut- worms with what they need,
and save the corn. In Vermillion, the second crop ploughed under,
after being partially fed off, increases the yields 30 to 50 per cent. In
Hancock. the practice is on the increase, the stubble increasing the
yield 334, and the full crop 50 per cent. In Shelby, the second crop turned
under produces the best and surest crop of wheat, and the seed comes
up thick, making a first-class clover-field again. In De Kalb, the
second growth turned under is ‘‘as beneficial as a generous coat of
compost.”
The practice has taken root in Wisconsin, but as yet has made com-
paratively little progress. Green Lake reports as follows: ‘The best
results. when clover is followed by corn well manured; then two or
three crops of wheat with clover; some use a light seeding of clover
and plaster with each crop of wheat, allowing the sheep to pick
off the clover in the fall. Land treated in this way invariably im-
proves.” In Pierce, the first crop turned under results in great benefit
to two or three succeeding crops of wheat.
So far as returns indicate, the practice has but little more than been
introduced in the newer States of Minnesota and Iowa, though Jackson,
in the latter, reports that the full crop turned under increases the yield of
corn about 50 percent. In Kansas, Nebraska, and California, where
stable-manure is as yet generally regarded as a troublesome superfluity,
the practice is scarcely known. In Missouri, out of over sixty returns,
about one-third report the practice to some extent. In Chariton, the
second crop turned under makes old, worn-out fields produce almost
equal to new lands. In Boone, for wheat, it perpetuates the clover
without the cost of seed or the labor of sowing again. In Stone, land
on which the stubble is turned under produces a greater yield and
better quality of wheat than any other. In Dent, “as the result of
experience, consider it superior to barn yard manure;” in Grundy, also,
“the result is rather ahead of barn-yard manure;” in Cape Girardeau,
itis the most popular method of improving old fields; in Scott, the
best fertilizer yet tried. The following extracts are specially suggestive :
Platte: Our practice in soil improvement is this: Sow tired land in wheat or rye in
the fall; sow clover-seed on the same the following spring; let it remain in clover
three or four years; then (turning under the second crop) put in wheat or corn. The
yield of either will be almost double the amount that would be produced without
84
this process. Callaway: The most common mode is to graze the clover down after it
blooms, or cut for hay two or three years, then plow under in August and sow in
wheat. The best plan to enrich the land is to plow all under after the seed ripens and
let it come up again in the spring. I know that this will enrich land very fast.
Howard: In June, clover is cut for hay, or hogs turned on it, and so treated for several
seasons. Then the aftermath is turned under in autumn, and a good crop of whateyer
is put in is sure to follow. Lincoln: The almost universal practice is to sow clover on
winter-Wwheat in the spring; after cutting the wheat the stubble is pastured by hogs,
cattle, and horses. The next spring no stock turned on before the clover is in
bloom; then what is needed for home-consumption is cut, after which the hogs, cattle,
and horses are again turned on. The third year the same process is repeated up to the 1st
of August, when the ground is plowed and left to mellow till about the 20th of Septem-
ber. It is then planted in wheat, the drill being almost universally used. This prac-
tice insures a good crop of wheat and improves the soil. Johnson: The usual practice
isto pasture with hogs, then turn under what they leave. One farmer, with some 15
acres of red clover and about 200 hogs, says: “That clover-field, for feed alone, is
worth double the amount of land in corn, is good feed while there is no corn, and
when I turn it under I gef nearly or quite one-third more corn the first season than I
should without it.”
WINTERING FARM-ANIMALS.
The care of domestic animals involves considerations of increasing
importance and complexity as civilized settlements advance over our
continent, and as reliance upon the spontaneous products of the soil
becomes more precarious. The necessity of providing in summer for
the unproductive season of winter enforces a practical study, not only
of the methods of increased production, but also of economical feeding.
The inquiries of our March circular elicited a vast amount of specific
information showing the practical treatment of these problems by
American farmers. The field of inquiry being so extensive, embracing
such a variety of climate, soil, and production, it was not at all surpris-
ing that wide differences in ideas and methods should be found in differ-
ent regions. In every part of our country, except the extreme South
and some portions of the Pacific coast, a portion of the year fails to
yield fresh supplies of green food for farm-animals, necessitating the
storage of dry food to tide over the winter. In a multitude of cases
this obligation is imperfectly felt, and in many others entirely ignored.
In some parts of the country farmers manifest a culpable inhumanity
toward the brute creation, which is also a stupid disregard of their own
interests, in failing to supply shelter and food for their farm-animals.
The opposite policy, however, finds frequent illustration in the course
of intelligent farmers in different States. These have discovered that
true economy in live-stock production embraces a generous treatment
of animals, and that in this case, as in all others, true interest is asso-
ciated with humanity and duty.
In interpreting the general results of our. March inquiries, attention
will first be directed to the feeding-material provided for the support of
farm-animals during the inclement season. The most natural food of
cattle and sheep is grass, green in summer and cured into hay for win-
ter. Horses, milch-cows, and swine are generally provided with a moreor
less liberal allowance of grain, and in some cases roots to a very limited
extent. The great staple of winter-provision, however, is hay, which, .
in different parts of the country, exhibits a very great variety, both in
its material and mode of curing.
CONSTITUENT PROPORTIONS OF THE HAY-cRoP.—In New England
the cultivated grasses proper cover {rom two-thirds to three-fourths of
the hay-fields. Of these, timothy (Phlewm pratense) is the prevail
* 985
ing element. This grass is also called herd’s-grass in New England
and New York. Red-top (Agrostis vulgaris) and occasionally orchard-
grass (Dactylis glomerata) are cultivated by farmers for hay; not often
as separate crops, but mingled with timothy. Blue-joint (Calamagrostis
canadensis) is casually mentioned as growing in some meadows in Maine.
Of fodder-plants, besides grasses, red clover, (Trifolium pratense,) white
clover, (Z. repens,) and alsike clover (7. hybridum) receive some atten-
tion, but are seldom found growing alone. In Maine and Vermont,
clover constitutes about one-sixth; and in New Hampshire, probably
one-fourth of the crop; in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecti-
cut, it receives less attention. Wild grasses from salt or fresh meadows
furnish about one-fourth of the hay-crop.
The Middle States manifest a preference for clover-crops, which cover
nearly a third of the hay-fields. The largest proportion of hay from
wild grasses is made in Pennsylvania, amounting to about 20 per cent.
of the whole; in New Jersey it constitutes less than one-eighth of the
crop, and in New York about one-sixth. Of the cultivated grasses,
timothy is the chief reliance, though mingled with orchard-grass, blue-
grass, (Poa pratensis,) Hungarian-grass, (Panicum Germanicum,) and red-
top. Red-top, in Pennsylvania and in regions to the south and west, is
frequently called herd’s-grass.
Of the South Atlantic States, our returns indicate that probably the
larger portion of the hay-crop of Maryland is made from clover, while
a smaller proportion is from wild or natural grasses than in the New
England or Middle States. In Virginia, timothy and clover are in about
equal use, while wild grasses come in for a much larger share of the hay-
crop than in Maryland. Of cultivated grasses proper in these two
States, timothy is the staple, with an occasional mixture of orchard-
grass and red-top. Passing down the coast, our correspondents in the
Carolinas and Georgia made very few efforts to classify the grasses used
for hay-production. Experimental culture with grass and clover seeds
from the Department has been successful in the hands of some pro-.
gressive farmers, but the idea of raising grass for hay to feed stock
during the short southern winter has enforced itself unon but few minds
in that section. Crab-grass, a term applied to different species in differ-
ent parts of the South, is often cured into hay. Pea-vines have also, of
later years, been dried for winter-use. The same remarks apply also
to the Gulf States, though in some localities the experimental cul-
ture of German millet, perennial rye-grass, (Lolium perenne,) alfalfa, or
lucerne, (Medicago sativa,) Kentucky blue-grass, &c., has been attempted
with variant success. Several southern native grasses have occasionally
been subjected to partial curing. Careful experiments are needed to
show how far these grasses are available for winter stock food.
In the inland Southern States grass-culture reappears. Arkansas
and Tennessee show a large proportion of clover, while the wild
grasses are less used for hay-production than farther South. Timothy,
red-top, millet, Italian rye-grass, (Lolium Italicum,) Hungarian-grass,
orchard-grass, blue-grass, and other species and varieties approximating
those of the northern States, are noted in many counties. This ap-
proximation to northern grasses is still more apparent in West Virginia
and Kentucky. The last-named State is the genial home, par excellence,
of the famed blue-grass (Poa pratensis.) In the two States last named
the proportion of clover ranges from a fourth to a third of the entire
hay-crop.
North of the Ohio River the cyltivated natural grasses yield more than
half the hay-crops of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, while the proportion of
86
wild grasses increases in Michigan and Wisconsin; clover occupies from
a fourth to a third of the hay-fields, either separately or mingled with tim-
othy, which is here, as in the Hastern States, the special favorite among
the cultivated grasses. Blue-grass, red-top, Hungarian-grass, millet,
orchard-grass, blue joint, &e., claim attention in many localities.
West of the Mississippi River, Missouri has learned to discard the
wild grass, as a hay-crop, to an extent unknown in other States of this
region. In Iowa seven-tenths, in Minnesota eight-tenths, and in Kansas
and Nebraska over nine-tenths of the hay-crops, are made from indi-
genous grasses.
On the Pacific coast the alfalfa, capable of resisting severe droughts,
promises a special adaptation to peculiar climatic conditions. Large
amounts of forage are also made from volunteer crops of grain—oats, wheat,
and barley—which are mowed and cured in the same manner as timothy
and clover in the Bastern States. No culture of white or red clover of
any extent is found either in California or in Oregon. In the latter
State timothy is found a profitable crop in many sections. Wild hay
is also used in these States as well as in the newly-settled Territories,
whose capacities for grass-culture and hay-production are not yet
tested by experiment. Among the few attempts at grass-culture on
these new soils, timothy enjoys about the same pre-eminence as in the
older States. Occasionally alfalfa and red-top are spoken of; red or
white clover very seldom.
DURATION OF THE FEEDING-PERIOD.—The length of time in which
the farmer expects to keep his animals upon dry feed of course varies
with the latitude, but this general variation is also affected by local
circumstances. In New England the average length of the feeding-
period is about six months, commencing between the 1st and the 15th.
of November. Partial feeding lasts from one and a half to two months.
longer. Contrary to expectation, our returns show a larger average
feeding-period in several of the southerly counties than in those farther
north.
In the Middle States the average period of full feeding ranges from
four and one-third months in Delaware to five and one-fifth in New
York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania averaging about five months. In
these States partial feeding lasts from one and a half to two menths in
addition. Maryland gives full feed about a fortnight longer than Dela-
ware; Virginia about four months; North and South Carolina about
three and one-half months; Georgia averages a little longer period. In
these South Atlantic States partial feeding lasts over two months. Of the
Gulf States, Florida and Louisiana scarcely recognize a winter-feeding-
period. In Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas farm-animals (that are fed
at all, for most are left to the range or cane-brake) are fed from three to
three and a half months in full, with partial feeding for two to two and
one-half months longer.
In the inland Southern States the average full feeding is about three
and one-third months in Arkansas and four and one-third months in
Tennessee and West Virginia, with about two months’ partial feeding.
Kentucky averages a somewhat longer period both for full and for partial
feeding.
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois being very nearly within the same climatic
parallels, and with a small difference of elevation above sea-level, aver-
age nearly the same, about four and a half months’ full feeding and a
little over two months of partial feeding. The northern counties of Iili-
nois, however, somewhat enlarge the average for that State. Michigan,
Wisconsin, and Minnesota range from five and a quarter to five and
81
a half months’ full feed, with a little less than two months of partial
feeding. Iowa, with its more southern latitude, averages but little less
than Minnesota, while Nebraska, though higher up the declivity of the
Rocky Mountains than Iowa, reports a shorter average full-feeding pe-
riod, only five months, with about two and a half months’ partial feed-
ing. Missouri and Kansas average about four and a half months’ full
feeding and two and a third par tial feeding. On the Pacific coast it is
difficult to average the statements of our ‘correspondents on account of
different usages in different localities. In most cases, wintering stock,
in the sense of that term in the Hastern States, is unknown. JHven in
Oregon, a mild winter or rather rainy season supplies farm-animals with
a full proportion of nutritious grasses, thus relieving the farmer of one
of his heaviest cares. Of the Territories, only one county in Colorado
reports stall-feeding, and that not over a month. In Utah it ranges
from three to five months; in Washington very little, if any; in Da-
kota from two to five months. No particular feeding-period is noted in
any of the other Territories.
KIND OF FEEDING-MATERIAL.—The staple of winter-feeding through-
. out the country is hay, either timothy or clover; but the demand for
this material in the towns and cities induces farmers in many portions
of the country to stint their own animals in order to realize the high
prices it commands. Hence there is a great effort to supplement it with
other products. Corn and oats are also: fed to work-animals in nearly all
the counties reporting in different States of the Union. In many of
them grain is given more or less freely to milch-cows and to animals fatten-
ing for market. In quite a number of counties grain is fed to stock-
cattle and to sheep, but these are communities of advanced ideas on the
subject of stock-raising.
In New England, corn-fodder, wheat, oats; and rye-straw, wild hay,
salt hay, and other organic matter are used to save hay and corn. One
adventurous correspondent in Maine has tried feeding flour to cattle,
but is not at all encouraged by the financial results of the experiment.
Millions of bushels of western corn are used in feeding animals. Grain
is fed to work-animals in all the counties reporting from this region ;
in many, to milch-cows, especially in the dairy-regions; in some few,
to all kinds of stock.
The New York farmers practice a more general feeding of grain to
all kinds of stock, especially toward the close of the winter. In addi-
tion to timothy and clover hay, straw, pumpkins, millet, Hungarian
grass, corn-fodder, especially from sowed corn, and other supplementary
materials, are pressed into service. New Jersey consumes about all her
corn-crop on the farm, and uses about the same kinds of food previously
enumerated. There isan increased amount of grain-feeding to all classes
of animals. Pennsylvania produces a larger corn-crop. A generous
-winter-feeding is gaining ground in many counties. A careful use is also
made of straw, corn, fodder, pumpkins, mill-stuffs, &c. Delaware being
more exclusively agricultur al, and with a smaller number of large
towns and cities, is able to spare nearly or quite half of her corn-crop
for market. There is here also a variant usage in regard to grain-feed-
ing; in some cases corn and oats are exclusively given to work-animals,
and in others also to cattle and sheep.
The same may be said of Maryland, where, however, a more enlight-
ened policy leads to a more generous support of farm-animals. Nearly
a third of the corn-crop is marketed, the remainder being consumed on
the farm. Virginia sends about one-sixth of her corn-crop to market,
88
and supplements her hay-crops with corn-fodder, pea-vines, straw, &e.
In North Carolina crab-grass hay is added to the other materials; 89
per cent. of the corn-crop is consumed at home. South Carolina adds
to the miscellaneous list turnips, cotton-seed, rice-straw, rice-bran,
&c. In this South Atlantic coast region the tendency to allow inferior
classes of animals to shift for themselves during the winter-season is
more observable in the lower latitudes. Florida also uses a miscel-
laneous list of semi-tropical matérials to supplement hay and corn. The
Gulf States generally use the same class of feed as Florida. Work-
animals appear to be generally fed upon grain, but to other classes it is,
as a general thing, given sparingly if at all.
Tennessee uses 86 per cent.; West Virginia, 92 per cent.; Kentucky,
87 per cent. In addition to hay and corn, these States use large
quantities of corn-fodder, Hungarian-grass, straw, millet, &c. A more
copious grain-feeding is practiced than in the States farther South.
Work-animals, fattening-cattle, and milch-cows receive the most of this
nourishment, but stock-cattle and sheep are also fed in many places.
So far as indicated by the counties reporting—for it is not given as
the exact average for the entire crop of the State—Ohio feeds 82 per
cent. of her corn-crop in counties where it is grown; Michigan, 89 per’
cent.; Indiana, 80 per cent. ; Illinois, 73 per cent. ; Wisconsin, 91 per cent.
The hay-crop is supplemented by about the same materials as in the
Eastern States within the same parallel. There is the same difference also
in the liberality with which grain is dealt to different classes of animals;
the tendency is toward a more rational and generous diet.
West of the Mississippi, Minnesota consumes at home 98 per cent. of
her corn ; Iowa, 75 per cent.; Missouri, 92 per cent.; Kansas and Nebras-
ka, 93 per cent. In the two States last named this statement should be
taken of average years. The grasshopper devastations last year mate-
rially reduced the crop. They almost entirely absorbed the surplus.
In the older-settled parts of this region the tendency is to feed more
grain to stock of all kinds, while in the newer settlements the traditional
pioneer policy of partial starvation still prevails.
On the Pacific coast the volunteer crops of grain furnish a very nutri-
tive forage when mowed and cured as hay. Corn is not a very abun-
dant crop in that region, and hence but a small quantity finds its way to
market. In some cases barley is used to fatten hogs. In some parts of
Oregon hay is only given to poor cows, those in better condition being
able to forage for themselves. A few counties in the Territories provide
grain for live stock; others utilize straw, fodder, and other vegetable
matter, but in most of our reports it is stated that animals are turned
upon the range to shift for themselves during winter.
Cost OF WINTERING.—Horses: In New Engiand the cost of. win-
tering horses is greatest in Rhode Island. This fact may be explained
by the proximity of the agricultural regions to the town and city mar-
kets. The farmers in this State obtained higher prices for hay and corn
during the last year than in any other State in the Union; hay there
averaged $24.66 per ton; corn $1.18 per bushel, and oats 73 cents. The
averages of States were as follows: Maine, $37; New Hampshire, $37 ;
hadi $38; Massachusetts, $45; Rhode Island, $48; Connecticut,
$45, }
These figures are made from the averages of counties reporting, with
due reference to the prices of feeding-material in those and in the re-
maining counties.
In the Middle States the maximum cost of wintering horses, $48
———
89
per head, isin New Jersey; next in order stand Delaware, $43; New
York, $37, and Pennsylvania, $36. Delaware farmers, last year, re-
ceived the highest average price for hay, $20 per ton, and those of
New York the lowest, $13.10. New York received the maximum price
for corn, 93 cents per bushel, and Delaware the minimum, 70 cents.
The price of oats ranged from 52 cents in Delaware to 60 in New Jersey.
Of the South Atlantic States the highest average cost is in Maryland,
$34 per head; next Georgia, $28; South Carolina, $24; Virginia, $22;
North Carolina, $21. The farm-prices of nay ranged from $14.83 per ton
in North Carolina to $23.83 in South Carolina; of corn, from 64 cents
per bushel in Virginia to $1 in South Carolina; of oats, from 54 cents
per bushel in Virginia to 91 cents in South Carolina.
Of the Gulf States, Florida seems scarcely to know anything of the
necessity of wintering animals. One correspondent rather dubiously
assigns $10 per head as the cost of wintering horses. Louisiana aver-
ges $18 per head; Texas, $20; Alabama, $22; Mississippi, $26. Florida
farmers not raising any hay, our correspondents were unable to name
any price obtained for it; Texas averaged $10.92 per ton; Alabama,
$17.50; Louisiana, $20; Mississippi, $21.09. Corn ranged from 75 cents
“per bushel in Texas to $1.01 in Mississippi; oats from 84 cents per
bushel in Texas to $1.02 in Mississippi.
Of the inland Southern States the average expense of horse-keeping
through the winter averaged $20 in Arkansas, $21 in Tennessee, $18
in West Virginia, and $19in Kentucky. Hay brings from $14.12 per ton
in Arkansas to $19.08 in Tennessee; corn from 55 cents per bushel in
Kentucky to 95 cents in Arkansas; oats from 53 cents per bushel in
West Virginia to 92 cents in Kentucky.
.North of the Ohio River the expense of horse-wintering averages $25
in Ohio, $28 in Michigan, $20 in Indiana, $19 in Illinois, $34 in Wiscon-
sin. The farm-prices of hay ranged from $10.07 per ton in Wisconsin
to $17.82 in Ohio; corn from 51 cents per bushel in Indiana to 65 cents
in Michigan; oats from 44 cents in Indiana to 50 cents in Michigan.
West of the Mississippi the average cost of wintering ranges from
$9 in Kansas to $28 in Minnesota; Iowa averages $16, Missouri $15,
and Nebraska $13. Farm-prices of hay vary from $3.86 in Kansas
to $12.05 in Missouri. The cheaper hay of Kansas and Nebraska is
mostly made from the wild grasses of the prairies. Corn ranges from
43 cents per bushel in Iowa to 91 in Kansas, and oats from 38 cents
per bushel in Iowa to 53 cents in Kansas. The high prices of grain in
Kansas and Nebraska are largely the result of the grasshopper-devasta-
tions and the drought.
On the Pacific coast winter-feeding of live stock is scarcely known.
One correspondent in California speaks of hiring pasture at from $1 to
$1.50 per month. Another states that only-in the wetter portions of the
rainy season are farm-animals housed and stall-fed. At such times the
cost of hay-feeding per month is about $5. Another states that green
pasture lasts all through the winter. Work-animals are fed grain only
when at work. Very little corn is raised, but oats and barley in consid-
erable quantities. The same facts are reported as a general thing by
our Oregon correspondents. Only their stock-cattle and poor cows are,
in many places, treated even to hay; the hardier and better-conditioned
animals take very good care of themselves upon the range. Farm-prices
_ of hay in California, $15.09; in Oregon, $11.50; corn 98 cents per bushel
in California and 94 cents in Oregon; oats 69 centsin California and 42
in Oregon. '
In Colorado wintering horses costs from $5 to $25 per head; in Utah
90
from $10 to $50; in Dakota from $6 to $30. In our reports from the
other Territories no estimates are given.
Milch-Cows : The cost of wintering milch-cows in New England va-
ries from $23 per head in New Hampshire to $38 in Massachusetts ;
Maine averages $29; Vermont, $25; Rhode Island, $30; Connecti-
cut, $37.
The Middle States average $24 in New York, $29 in New Jersey,
$23 in Pennsylvania, and $26 in Delaware.
The average on the South Aflantic seaboard is $20 in Maryland ;
$11 in Virginia; $10 in North Carolina; $15 in South Carolina, and
$14 in Georgia.
In the Gulf States our Florida correspondents report no averages, in-
asmuch as the cows there find pasture during winter. Alabama aver-
ages $10 per head; Mississippi, $8; Louisiana, $7; Texas, $6. These
figures, as well as those for other Southern States, of course, refer to
those animals that are “ wintered” at all, and not to the far greater pro-
portion left to find pasture as best they can. This wintering also means
only occasional or partial feeding.
Of the inland Seuthern States, Arkansas reports $9; Tennessee,
$16; West Virginia, $12; Kentucky, $17.
North of the Ohio River the avera ge cost in Ohio is $16; in Michigan,
$25; in Indiana, $15; in Illinois, $15; in Wisconsin, $21.
West of the Mississippi, Minnesota reports $13; Iowa, $11; Missouri,
$11; Kansas, $6; Nebraska, $7.
On the Pacific coast, cows are generally pastured during the winter,
and the amount of stall-feeding is too small for a reliable estimate.
In Colorado the cost of feeding cows is estimated from $7.50 to $40 ;
in Utah from $9 to $45; in Dakota from $3.50 to $12. *
Sheep : To winter a sheep in Maine costs about $3 per head; in New
Hampshire, $2.50; in Vermont, $2.50. In Massachusetts the aggregate
of these animals is too small and the individual flocks too scanty to give
a basis for estimate. Rhode Island and Connecticut return very high
rates.
The average cost in New York is $2.50; in New Jersey and Pennsyl-
vania, $2; in-Delaware, $275.
In Maryland the average is $2.75; in Virginia, $1.50; in North Car- —
olina, $1.30; in South Carolina, $1.70; in Georgia, $1.50.
Florida has too few sheep to report on. In Alabama the cost of win-
tering is $1 per head; in Mississippi, 75 cents ; in Louisiana, 50 cents.
In Arkansas the average is $1.07; in Tennessee, $1.66; in West Vir-
ginia, $1.21; in Kentucky, $2.07.
Ohio reports $1.75; Michigan, $1.90; Indiana, $1.60; Illinois, $1.55 ;
Wisconsin, $2.
Minnesota averages $1.90; Iowa, $1.60; Missouri, $1.40; Kansas,
$1.20; Nebraska, $1.
On the Pacific coast, sheep shift for themselves on the winter pastures.
These figures show the varying influences not only of different cli-
mates and soils but also of local circumstances. In the smaller New
England and Middle States the agricultural area bears a smaller pro-
portion to the number of commercial and manufacturing cities, and
hence, consumption being in excess, the prices of hay and grain are en-
hanced and consequently the expense of wintering is greater. This ex-
plains the fact that the maximum expense of horse-wintering isin Rhode
Island and New Jersey, and the minimum in Florida and the Pacifie coast,
where the winter months do not entirely arrest vegetation, and where the
supply of green food is almost perennial. The highest cost of wintering
ee
91
cows isin Massachusetts and the lowest in Kansas. The cost of win-
tering sheep is greatest in Massachusetts and least on the Pacific coast.
The quantity and quality of fodder, roots, wild hay, and other supple-
mentary feeding-matter are undetermined elements in the problem of
winter-feeding of live stock.
INCREASED VALUE.—Nearly all the States report some increase in
value in all classes of farm-animals from winter-feeding. The only de-
crease in the value of horses is in Michigan, in which several counties
report an exceptional demand in the fall for horses, causing an increase
of values at that period of the year. Cows and sheep are of lower
average value in spring in Mississippi and Louisiana; cows scareely
hold their own in Delaware.
In New England the margin of differences is narrower in those coun-
ties where animals are expected to pay their expense of wintering
by work or by yield of milk. Horses in the neighborhood of Boston
bear a high average value, subject to trifling fluctuation in different
parts of the year. In the rural districts, however, where the winter-
keep of animals is very partially compensated by use, there is a very
considerable difference in their value before and after wintering. This
increase of value amounts in some cases to over two-thirds the cost of
the food consumed, but the average is less than that. The value of the
manure produced is an unascertained factor in the problem of wintering
stock, and is of variable influence upon the general result, from the fact
of its different treatment in different localities. The largest rate of in-
crease of values of horses and sheep is in New Hampshire and the
smallest in Massachusetts; of cows, the greatest is in Vermont and the
smallest in Massachusetts.
The Middle States illustrate the same general principles. . In New
Jersey the proximity of the great commercial and manufacturing cities,
New York and Philadelphia, besides several large cities within her own
limits, gives rise to more winter employment for work-animals, which
renders the high cost of feeding of less importance in enhancing spriag
values. Animals steadily worked do not come out of winter quarters in
as high condition as those stabled and fed. Hence in this State is found
the narrowest margin of increase in the value of horses, while the max-
imum is found in Delaware, where the opposite class of conditions pre-
vails, A medium range of increment is found in New York and Penn-
sylvania, whose large areas are less within the scope of those urban in-
fluences. A larger proportion of the cows in New Jersey are kept for
the winter supply of milk for the cities, the increased price of which,
during that season, is intended to cover the cost of keeping. Delaware
reports little, if any, increase of value, a fact which does not speak favor-
ably for the care of milch-cows in that State. New York and Pennsyl-
vania show greater margins of increase, from the fact that a smaller
proportion of their cows are productive during winter. New Jersey
fattens a large proportion of her sheep for the meat-market; hence the
actual increase of mutton causes an average increase of over 60 per cent.
in the counties reporting. The other States of this section report very
considerable margins, but less than New Jersey.
On the South Atlantic seaboard, our correspondents, in counties
neighboring to Baltimore, decline to give estimates on this point, a fact
which indicates no great difference between fall and spring values. “Of
other counties in Maryland it is noticeable that the greatest difference
is in Montgomery, on the Potomac River. In Virginia, Accomac, on
the coast, reports but 10 per cent., while Mecklenburgh, on the south
border and considerably distant from the sea, presents the greatest dif-
92
ference—33 per cent. In North Carolina, Pasquotank, on the coast,
increases her values in spring but 10 per cent., while Duplin, in the in-
terior, shows 40 per cent. In the other States of this region, and in the
Gulf States, our reports show about the same range of facts in regard
to horses; but in regard to cows and sheep the figures represent only
that small portion of the animals that are fed during winter, and do not
warrant general conclusions. Their money-value is too often depressed
in the spring through poverty of condition, caused by partial starvation.
The inland Southern States exhibit higher ideas in the care of live-
stock, and exhibit fewer instances of that gross neglect so general in the
far South. The estimates of difference between fall and spring values
seem to be more reliable, but are subject to local variations. Counties
in different parts of Arkansas and Tennessee report no difference of
value, while in neighboring counties margins of 20, 25, and 30 per cent.
are presented. It is noticeable that in Kentucky there are no counties
which do not show some difference; yet the average of the counties re-
porting is less than in the other States of this region.
North of the Ohio River, several counties report the money-value of
horses at its maximum in the fall, on account of the greater local de-
mand at that season. In a few other counties there is no increase of
value, but in most cases there is a considerable difference. Of the coun-
ties reporting, Ohio presents the largest average difference of values of
horses, Michigan of cows, and Wisconsin of sheep. Here, as in the
States east of the Allegheny Mountains, our correspondents in the
vicinity of large cities leave this part of their reports blank.
West of the Mississippi River, all counties reporting show some
difference in fall and spring values. Minnesota shows the greatest in-
crease in horses and Missouri the least; in cows, the greatest increase
is shown by Nebraska and the smallest by Missouri; in sheep, the max-
imum increase is found in Kansas and the smallest in Missouri.
On .the Pacific coast our correspondents seem reluctant to commit
themselves to definite estimates. Local variation is also considerable,
and enhances the difficulty of coming to general conclusions.
GAIN OR LOSS OF WEIGHT IN WINTERING.—In Maine, horses, being
relieyed from heavy work and adequately sheltered, show an increase
of weight and an improvement of condition in spring, as also do milch-
cows and cattle fattening for market. This, however, is the general
rule in all parts of the county, especially in regard to work-.animals;
but in regard to stock-cattle and sheep, the exception becomes the gen-
eral rule. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont show some decline on.
the whole. In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, in spite
of the higher cost of feeding-material, all classes of farm-animals are
kept nearer their normal condition, because most of them are kept
either for work or milk. '
Our correspondence in New York presents a considerable variety of
treatment of animals. Several counties report an absolute gain in
weight, but the larger number acknowledge a decline. Even horses, in
some cases, decrease from 50 to 100 pounds per head during the winter ;
cattle lose from 25 to 75 pounds; sheep from 10 to 15. Dairymen gen-
erally keep up their cows on grain, but the cows of other parties decline
to a greater or less extent. In New Jersey the condition appears to be
more generally kept up. The general practice in Pennsylvania falls be-
low several admirable examples in different parts of the State. In Lan-
caster County it has been tested that good feeding will make a steer of
1,200 pounds, worth 5 cents per pound in the fall, weigh 1,600 pounds
in the spring, and bring 7 cents per pound—a gain of $52, very largely
93
overbalancing the cost of winter-feeding and care. In Delaware all ani-
mals except horses decline in weight.
In Maryland there is also a decline, more perceptible in those coun-
ties in which poor shelter is the rule; the loss of weight ranges from 5
to 15 per cent. Down the Atlantic coast the rate of loss increases—
cause, neglect. In Virginia, while horses almost hold their own, cows
and sheep show losses from 10 to 40 per cent.; yet in some cases it is
reported that fed animals increase 2 pounds per day. The depreciation
of farm-animals grows still more marked in North Carolina, South Car-
olina, and Georgia, the decline of stock-cattle in several counties reach-
ing an average of 50 per cent.
In Florida the winter-grass is abundant, though not very fattening ;
even in this mild climateit is reported that in many places it is esteemed
lucky if cattle and sheep survive the winter. One correspondent in
Alabama estimates the average loss of weight in cattle and sheep in his
county at over 60 per cent, Another presents a pathetic picture of the
faithful family cow “shivering herself away in the beating rains and
winds,” with no shelter except a fence-corner. ‘Sheep are not seen for
weeks, and are very unwelcome visitors at the farm-yard, especially dur-
ing cold sleeting weather.” In more than one county of Mississippi
cattle and sheep die of starvation. A less wasteful system appears in
Louisiana and Texas, yet here are many flagrant cases of neglect, entail-
ing terrible losses upon cattle and sheep.
In Arkansas the percentages of decline are less, though in one or two
cases they amount to 30 per cent. In Tennessee the improvement is
still greater. In West Virginia and Kentucky the average loss de-
clines to 10 or 15 per cent., though some flagrant exceptions are noted.
There is an approach to normal condition in many counties of Ohio,
where the rate of decline varies between 1 and 10 per cent., with iso-
lated cases of greater loss. The value of good shelter is practically re-
alized in the absence of decline and increase of weight in several coun-
ties. In Ross three and four-year old cattle under shelter gain from
200 to 300 pounds, but only 10 per cent. of the cattle are adequately
sheltered. Here two-year-old stock, only half fed, will gain from 5 to 10
per cent. if sheltered. Most of the counties in Michigan report greater
or less decline, though several maintain a good average. The loss in
some cases amounts to 25 percent. In Indiana there is a greater net de-
cline of weight upon the whole. In Illinois the range of decline is about
the same. Our reports from Wisconsin, less numerous than usual, show
‘a generally better condition at the close of the feeding- season. In
Waukesha County it is recommended that sheep be fed hay in yards
Surrounded by a tight board fence 6 feet high, and copiously littered
with straw every two or three days.
In Minnesota the highest average decline does not exceed 10 per cent.
In some counties of Towa old stock falls off about 20 per cent., but this
is partially balanced by the increase of younger animals. Cows gener-
ally lose; sheep and stock-cattle show a still greater decline. The
average loss probably does not exceed 10 per cent. in any county. In
Minnesota the range of cattle and hogs is between 40 per cent. gain and
40°per cent. loss. ‘One correspondent i is very severe on slipshod ‘farmers,
who are satisfied if animals can just kick in the spring. The better
class of farmers, who, however, are in the minority, do not allow their
animals to lose weight. In Kansas the rate of loss has been greatly in-
ereased by the devastations of grasshoppers, though in Crawford County
live-stock have done exceptionably well. In Franklin, on the other
hand, there was a fearful lossin the spring. In some counties the price
94
of animals declines toward spring, from the fact that their owners, hay-
ing laid in too short supplies, are anxious to sell. In Lyon ordinary
horses and cattle lose 25 per cent. in weight; wintered on prairie-grass
alone, they lose 40 per cent., and 25 per cent: of them die. The general
tone of the reports shows a serious decline. In Nebraska, with the same
causes operative as in Kansas, the range of loss is much narrower, sel-
dom exceeding 20 per cent. On the Pacific coast there is a general
falling off of weight during winter, the loss of some counties reaching
an average of 20 per cent. To this, however, there are exceptions. In
San Joaquin, Cal., stock of all sorts held their own and looked well at
the close of winter. Our Oregon reports indicate a decline, though the .
rate is not estimated.
In the Territories are found some localities with mild climate and
abundant winter-grasses where, in ordinary seasons, live stock do well.
But in most cases reported there is a decline in weight amounting, in
several counties, to one-third. In years of unusual severity the losses of
farm-animals are appalling. The merciful policy of good food and
shelter will yet be found the most profitable.
Our March returns afford unwelcome evidence of the fact that Ameri-
can farmers, as a rule, calculate that their farm-animals, with the ex-
ception of working-stock, milch-cows, and animals fattening for market,
shall come out of winter-quarters reduced in weight and depressed in
condition. Numerous exceptions are found in the older States, where
the higher economies of farming have begun to enforce attention, but
these exceptional caseg constitute a minority even in their own sections,
A few farmers in the Westand South illustrate this general policy of de-
pletion by its extreme but legitimate results. The care of stock-cattle
ard sheep, and often of milch-cows, is a responsibility which they calmly
cast back upon Providence, caring very little for the suffering inflicted
upon their brute dependents, whose gaunt frames and uncomplaining
misery awaken no sentiments of pity or compunctions of conseience.
Their shriveled carcasses are allowed to rot upon the range, or are hastily
removed from the field without even suggesting any idea of personal
responsibility for this waste of animal life. The number of such farmers,
in whom a blind and stupid greed has paralyzed the sentiments of
humanity, is happily small, and growing smaller as the true: principles
of production become better understood.
But leaving out of view such extreme cases, the facts elicited by our
March returns give considerable ground for sundry sharp criticisms by
foreigners upon this branch of American farming, criticisms which one
of our leading writers is compelled to acknowledge as just. The general
disposition to allow farm-animals to decline in weight and condition
during winter-feeding springs from inconsideration and neglect rather
than from any lack of humane feeling. It is based upon a false econ-
omy. ‘The food necessary to keep up the standard of condition during
winter will be much less than that which will be required to restore the
depleted carcass in the spring. A very considerable proportion of ‘the
loss of weight of animals during winter results from wasteful feeding
and lack of. Shelter. The dratts upon the animal heat and vitality of
unsheltered beasts amount to a third or a half more of feeding-material
than would keep them in good condition under cover. But few, if any,
of the farmers who expose their animals to the inclemency of the season
make any extra provision of food; they seem rather to diminish the
feeding in proportion to the exposure. Even the pittance doled out to
animals wintered in the field is largely wasted by improper manage-
ment.
es
95
The first great reform suggested by our returns is the enlargement of
the stock of winter-food by the increased production of hay and other
feeding-material. It is true economy to utilize straw, fodder, and other
vegetable matters upon the farm, but these are generally deficient in
some of the elements of nutrition, and need to be supplemented with
hay or grain. Our grass-crops present but small returns for the surface
they cover and the capital and labor invested. The State of New York,
for example, scarcely averages a ton of bay per acre. Yet few of her
farmers would think of entering a crop, for competition at any agricul-
tural fair, of less than two or three tons per acre. With the same acre-
age, then, it is possible to double or triple our hay-crop by bringing up
- the practice to what has been shown to be practicable. Our pastures,
which are more than double the area of our meadows, should be stocked
with a better class of grasses. Experiments should be made with our
indigenous grasses, especially with reference to the curing of hay for
winter. It is believed that intelligent effort will yet make two spears of
grass grow where one grows now. With such an enlarged basis of
vegetable matter, it will be easy to supply our farm-animals with the
amount of food necessary not only to keep up their standard of weight,
during winter, but also to increase it.
But other reforms must be inaugurated. It is necessary to adminis-
ter the food provided for animals with intelligent reference to its nutri-
tive qualities and to their peculiar wants. Experiments should be made
under scientific authority, showing the specific values of different kinds
of food, and the results, carefully gathered and compared, should be
placed within the reach of all our farmers. German farmers carefully
follow the directions for feeding founded upon the latest experiments of
the government agricultural stations. Some such scientific authority
is pressingly needed to direct the practice of American farmers.
Finally, the cruel and wasteful policy of exposing farm-animals to the
inclemency of the winter should be abandoned, even in our southern cli-
mates. These reforms are demanded not only by the spirit of humanity,
but also by intelligent economy in production. Our farmers are called
upon to furnish the markets with higher grades of animals and animal-
products. To meet this demand, the hap-hazard, wasteful methods
which charaeterize extensive regions of our country must be superseded
and more intelligent and effective processes introduced.
LOCAL EXCHANGES OF FARM-PRODUCTS.
The principal cash-bringing crop in Maine is the potato, nearly every
county producing a surplus, which is shipped to Boston, the manufac-
turing cities accessible to the coast, and to more distant markets. It is
often found that two bushels of potatoes will bring more than a bushel of
corn, and more than three bushels to one may easily be grown, so that
exchange of potatoes for corn is common, though the thrifty sunrise
farmer sells somewhat more than he buys, and thus makes two dollars
grow (in the savings bank) where one grew before. Hay is another
product that bears a good price, and all points accessible to navigation,
or to short railway carriage, spare a limited amount, at the risk of the
sustained fertility ofthe acres producing it. Some oats are also shipped.
Aroostook, having a cool, moist atmosphere, in which this plant delights,
sends off 25,000 bushels annually. In some counties there is a surplus
of meat-supplies: 10 per cent. in Piscataquis and Cumberland, a respect-
able fraction in Waldo and Androscoggin, 60 per cent. of cattle and
sheep in York, three-fourths of the beeves of Franklin, large numbers
96
of cattle and sheep in Aroostook, and more or less in all the counties
mainly agricultural in population. In Hancock a surplus of 600,000 eggs
is sold. Some young or store cattle are purchased, a few sheep, and
some improved stock of various kinds for breeding. Corn and flour
are very generally imported, and pork to less extent. The percentage
of home consumption of flour is high in some portions of the State,
amounting to 99 per cent. in Sagadahoc, 90 per cent. in Androscoggin
and Cumberland, 75 in Piscataquis, the proportion declining to 20 in
Aroostook. The town and village population obtain such supplies
from other States almost exclusively, and a large proportion of the
farmers are equally dependent upon the cereals of the West.
Potatoes are also the main reliance of the New Hampshire farmers ;
milk is prominent in the vicinity of large towns ; butter and cheese are
produced in interior dairies ; apples produce in bearing years a fair rey-
enue in Hillsborough and southern counties, and maple-sugar yields
small gains in spring to nearly all sections. Veal, lamb, some mutton
and beef are also sold. Corn, for feeding horses and fattening other
animals, is largely brought from the West, together with nearly all the
flour used in the State.
The surplus of Vermont consists in improved breeds of horses and
sheep, butter of high repute, some cheese, poultry, eggs, potatoes, hay,
maple-sugar, onions, and various vegetablesand fruits. Most of the flour
used is brought from other States, and much corn for feeding and fatten-
ing village and farm stock. Essex, bordering on New Hampshire and
Canada, sells half the horses raised, half the mutton and beef, some
' hay, potatoes, oats, and maple-sugar.
-
As Massachusetts grows less than a quart of wheat to each inhabitant,
flour must be sought from other fields. Nor could it be expected that
72,810 persons in rural pursuits could furnish bread for 579,844 engaged
in all occupations, besides the children under ten years of age and other
non-producers. And yet a large proportion of the vegetables, the
milk and fruits, and some portion of the veal and lamb and other meats
consumed, are home products. Some products are sold to go out of the
State; a considerable quantity of tobacco in Franklin, Hampshire, and
Hampden; cranberries in Norfolk, Plymouth, and Barnstable; onions
in Essex and elsewhere ; lettuce is sent from Suffolk to New York City.
In Hampden the tobacco is manufactured before it is sent out of the
county.
Little Rhode Island sells onions and potatoes, and some gilt-edged
butter, though large supplies from abroad of all the cereals and meats are
required in the manufacturing counties.
_ Connecticut produces eight to ten million pounds of tobacco, much of
which, in the leaf or manufactured, goes elsewhere. Hartford grows two-
thirds of it all. Litchfield and the whole Housatonic Valley sends large
quantities of milk to New York, much veal, poultry, and eggs, some
cheese, potatoes, and fruit. In this county are kept 23,000 cows,
yielding $1,000,000 per annum in dairy-products. Hartford County im-
ports three-fourths of her breadstuffs and nine-tenths of her meat-sup-
plies. Windham sends milk to Boston and Providence. Onions, garden-
seeds, and other special crops are largely sent abroad. Young stock,
cows, and steers for feeding are brought from other States to some
extent.
The dairy is an important element in New York agriculture. Herki-
mer, Jefferson, Saint Lawrence, Montgomery, Oneida, and Oswego, each
producing from one to five million pounds of cheese, are quite as cele-
brated for that product as the following are for butter production, each
97
of which manufactures three to eight million pounds of butter: Saint
Lawrence, Delaware, Chenango, Chautauqua, Jefferson, Oneida, Otsego.
These are the heavy-weights in the production of the dairy-products of
New York. The cereals are principal products in Genesee, Onondaga,
Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Seneca, and Orleans,
and shipped in some cases beyond county-lines. Hay is shipped spar-
ingly. Hops help the revenuesof Madison, Oneida, Otsego, Schobarie,
which usually produce more than half the crop of the State. Potatoes
contribute largely to the resources of Washington, Rensselaer, Saratoga,
Saint Lawrence, Franklin, Schenectady, Suffolk, Kings, Queens, West-
chester, and other counties. Hay and straw are shipped from Dutchess,
and hay to some extent from many other counties, among which are
named Lewis, Franklin, Columbia, Wyoming, Fulton, Onondaga, and
Schenectady.
New Jersey, from its location between the two great cities of the
continent, depends largely upon the products of the garden and orchard
as money-crops. Much of the milk of New Jersey dairies is sent to
market unmannfactured, yet butter is sold toa limited extent. It is
one of the special products of Hudson and Sussex. The meat-production
is veal, spring-lamb, mutton in autumn and winter, and beef to a limited
extent. Most of the New Jersey stock of sheep is changed yearly. The
common custom is to purchase in August, feed and fatten the wethers till
Christmas, keep the ewes for lambs, market the fleece in June, sell the
lambs at four months for more money than the sheep cost, and make
good mutton of the ewes by midsummer. Poultry is quite an important
item of production. Among the counties in which fruits, potatoes, and
other vegetables form the cash staples, are Burlington, Bergen, Cam-
den, and Monmouth. Dairy-products are prominent in Hudson, and
wheat and cornin Warren. For the past three years this State has
averaged about 100,000 bushels of cranberries produced, which is more
than a third of the crop of the United States. The area in this fruit is
not far from five thousand acres, requiring a capital of more than a
million and a half in land and its cultivation. New Jersey is a good
market for beeves, and most of the horses and mules are purchased
from abroad. Western flour and wheat, and some corn, are brought
into most of the counties.
Pennsylvania comes nearer being self-supporting than any of the older
States of large population, producing everything that a system of mixed
farming in a temperate climate can yield, and depending mainly upon
the manufacturing and mining populations of the State for its market.
It does not ship largely any of its products, as New York does butter
and cheese, but sends a small surplus of dairy and fruit products, wool
and mutton and other surplus of the farm, to New York, and butter and
fruit to Baltimore and Washington. Its purchases from other States
are far less in variety and extent than those of New York or New Jersey,
in comparison with population. Animals are brought into the State for
fattening, and liberally for stock improvement. <A correspondent for
Mercer, who has imported Clydesdale horses from Glasgow, English
coach-horses from Hull, and draught-horses from London, recently sold
four for $12,181. Many Pennsylvanians are quite successful as stock-
breeders, and find markets in different portions of the country. Lan-
easter, York, and Bucks send millions of pounds of tobacco beyond
State lines. Susquehanna, with an area of 800 square miles, makes
3,000,000 pounds of butter and sells 90 per cent. of it. The model
farm district, Lancaster, ships four-fifths of its products beyond the
county, and brings little in. Among the counties which have a
oA
*
98
surplus of wheat are Laneaster, (producing 2,000,000 bushels of
wheat,) Bucks, Lehigh, York, Cumberland, Perry, Snyder, Fulton,
Erie, Chester, Dauphin, Franklin, Adams, and Westmoreland. ‘This
is the great wheat-growing State of the East, producing nearly as
much as California; in 1869, according to the census, 3,000,000 bushels
more than that wheat-exporting State. Some of the counties have oc-
casion to bring in considerable flour and grain. Susquehanna buys half
its home consumption of flour, Tioga a larger proportion, and Butler,
Warren, Wayne, Clearfield, Clinton, and McKean are also purchasers ;
and wheat is imported by Luzerne, Cameron, Lehigh, and Lawrence.
Steers for feeding are brought into Erie, Columbia, and Lehigh. Three-
fourths of the beeves of Elk are imported, and 50 per cent. of those of
Clinton and Dauphin, and other counties buy largely. Some counties
have a small surplus of horses and mules, and others a deficiency ; but
the stock of the State is mainly grown within her border, except some
animals for fattening.
The surplus of Delaware is largely fruit and vegetables; Sussex, the
southern county, though exclusively agricultural, imports half its flour
supplies. Most of the animals in use are bred, though a few horses and
mules are bought.
Tobacco is the surplus product of Maryland agriculture, nearly all
going out of the State. The counties producing the bulk of the crop are
Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s, and Saint Mary’s.
These counties lie between the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.
The eastern-shore counties, lying west and south of Delaware and
east of the Chesapeake, ship largely of peaches and sweet-potatoes. It
is the surest peach section of the country. The cash-bringing product
of Montgomery is hay; of Washington, wheat; of Frederick, wheat
and corn. Mixed farming prevails in all the counties of Western Mary-
land to the Alleghanies. Flour is extensively purchased in the tobacco-
growing and fruit-producing counties. Frederick, Harford, Baltimore,
Carroll, Cecil, and Washington are most extensively interested in stock-
growing.
The principal surplus of Virginia is tobacco, which is grown more or
less in nearly all the counties, but extensively for shipment only in coun-
ties east of the Blue Ridge and in the southern portion of the State.
Most prominent among these are Pittsylvania, Halifax, Mecklenburgh,
Charlotte, Nelson, Bedford, Albemarle, Amherst, Amelia, Brunswick,
Campbell, Franklin, and Henry. It also furnishes a portion of the reve-
nues of many other counties, among them Chesterfield, Floyd, Lunen-
burgh, King William, Buckingham, and Prince Edward. Wheat is
shipped from Clarke, Augusta, Craig, Madison, Prince George, Richland,
Botetourt, Loudoun, Pulaski, Frederick, Montgomery, Washington, Cul-
peper, Tazewell, though not in large quantities. The great wheat
_ region is the Shenandoah Valley and the slopes of the Blue Ridge in
Northern Virginia. Princess Anne and Norfolk are truck-patches for
the northern market. Cotton is grown in Prince George, Sussex, Rap-
pahannock, to a limited extent, and a few bales in several other south-
ern counties. In Prince George, wheat formerly exceeded in value all
other crops, but rust so prevails that it is now confined to the banks of
the James River, and cotton, pea-nuts, and winter oats are cultivated
in its place. Wheat is drawn from the valley to Richmond, where it is
manufactured into a superior quality of flour, of which 250,000 barrels
annually are shipped to Rio Janeiro. Cattle and sheep for the sham-
bles are shipped from the section west of the Blue Ridge and from
Northern Virginia to the markets of Washington and Baltimore. Horses
°
99
and mules are brought into eastern counties, and a few stock-growers
are securing well-bred animals for stock improvement.
Coming to the cotton section, which includes the coast States from
North Carolina to Texas, with Arkansas and Tennessee, the principal
money-receipts are derived from upland or green-seed cotton. For-
merly it was scarcely deemed reputable to grow and sell any other crop
in the cotton-districts proper. In northern Central North Carolina, a
few counties derive revenue principally from tobacco. Some of the
western counties sell cereals and a variety of products of the farm and
orchard. Corn is the main crop in Burke, Camden, Catawba, Lincoln,
Clay, Caldwell, and Pasquotank. Some of the best corn-lands in the
country are found in the coast counties of the northeast, in the vicinity
of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. Hyde County, in her deepest soils,
produces a growth of stalk that Illinois scarcely can equal. Ashe, Bun-
combe, Clay, and, to some extent, all the western counties have cattle
to sell. Apples are, perhaps, as abundant a crop in Western North Car-
olina as in Western New York, and so abundant that there is absolutely
no market at any price, except as cut and dried, and in the form of
cider-brandy, from a lack of railroads or other facilities for transporta-
tion. South Carolina has little for sale except cotton. The rice-district
comprises the coast counties, Georgetown, Colleton, Charleston, and
Beaufort, producing in the order named and yielding annually, before 1860,
more than 100,000,000 pounds ; now scarcely one-third as much. The
Georgia rice region includes the coast counties, Chatham, McIntosh,
and Glynn, in which production has declined materially. Florida is a
thinly-settled region, and has little to spare, mainly cotton, upland and
sea-island, some tobacco in one county, oranges, bananas, and various
fruits and vegetables in the east and south, though the trade in the lat-
ter product is mainly prospective. In the entire returns from Georgia
the money-crop is cotton in all the counties, excepting rice only on the
coast, corn in Forsyth and White, and vegetables in Lumpkin. In Hall,
White, Johnson, Gwinnett, Telfair, Schley, and Forsyth farm-animals
of some kind are sold, beef, pork, or mutton. Hall, White, Schley, and
Forsyth have some horses and mules to sell. There are other counties
in-the northern part of the State that supply wholly or in part the home
demand for farm-animals; Telfair, one of these, raises nine-tenths of the
home requirement. Camden sells this season 20,000 bushels of rice
and buys 1,000 bushels of corn, also sells 100 tons of hay. Alabama
and Mississippi counties, almost without exception, find cotton their
principal if not their only surplus. Only Jackson County, in Alabama,
reports any farm-animals sent elsewhere, and Rankin, in Mississippi.
Cotton and sugar are the only crops sold in Louisiana, except small
amounts of farm-produce in the way of local exchanges. Texas, a State
with a rapidly-increasing cotton-product, has other prominent interests.
A large proportion of the well-settled counties make cotton the main
crop, throughout the eastern and central counties, from the Gulf to
the Red River. Sugar is grown to some extent in the southeast.
Wheat is admirably adapted to the northern central counties, and
is mentioned prominently as a shipping-crop in Fannin, Coryell,
Kern, Lampasas, Gillespie, Collin, Williamson, Kendall, Medina,
and Bosque. The western and southwestern counties ship mainly
cattle and sheep, wool and hides. Some counties, ordinarily self-
sustaining, will require supplies this year for immigrants. Arkansas
is almost exclusively engaged in cotton-growing. A few counties
in the northern part of the State are better suited to mixed farming.
Brown ships wheat and corn, Madison wheat and pork, and Washington
100
fruits and breadstuffs and meat. Tennessee, the last of the cotton States,
produces cotton largely in only a few western and southern counties,
The elevated portions, comprising a large part of the State, are better
suited to the farm-products of the temperate zone. -Among the coun-
ties selling wheat are Grainger, Hancock, Greene, Meigs, Sullivan, Wash-
ington, Williamson, Dickson, Monroe, and Bradley. It was once the
great corn State of the Union, and many counties have now a surplus.
Horses and mules and other stock are sold by the eastern and central
counties generally. Dried fruit is a minor product of considerable im-
portance in a large portion of Tennessee.
This whole section, with the exception of the most of Tennessee, a
portion of North Carolina, the mountain areas of Georgia and Alabama,
the most of Florida, and the western part of Texas, 7. e. the cotton-
growing area, procures nearly all its flour, most of the stock of horses
and mules, a smaller percentage of beef-cattle and sheep, a large amount
of bacon and other bhog-products, from Tennessee and the Ohio Valley,
and even from beyond the Mississippi. Some counties purchase all
flour and nearly all meats. Almost everywhere corn is a large product,
next in importance to cotton, but it is rarely sufficient to meet the de-
mand, as it furnishes the principal support for both man and beast. The
State of North Carolina, suited to almost tropical growth and to all the
products of high temperate latitudes, having the sea-coast on one side,
and elevations of 6,000 feet on the other, with hundreds of miles between
of varied surface, should purchase less bacon and fewer horses from the
West. Even an inland county like Lenoir buys elsewhere a portion of
its supplies of flour, pork, and hay. South Carolina is still less inde-
pendent in respect to these supplies. Though most of the counties of
Florida are measurably self-supporting, the cotton-counties all obtain
provisions from abroad; in Santa Rosa “nearly all the products of
agriculture consumed here are brought from the Western States.” A
part of the hay, pease, and potatoes are the only exceptions. A large
number of the Georgia counties buy 50 to 100 per cent. of the consump-
tion of flour, from 25 to 67 per cent. of their corn, and from 30 to 75 per
cent. of bacon, and nearly the full supply of horses and mules. A small
number come much nearer self-support. Alabama and Mississippi
average still larger deficiencies than Georgia; and that portion of
Louisiana on the Mississippi depends upon the Northwest for nearly all
supplies, corn being a partial exception to the general deficiency. The
counties where cotton is grown in the other cotton-States have con-
siderable deficiencies to supply from abroad. That this disproportion
in crop-areas is neither necessary nor profitable is shown by the fact,
everywhere presented, that those who make cotton their surplus crop,
and make their own bread and meat, accumulate more money, and pos-
sess lands with fertility better sustained, than those who purchase most
of their supplies.
West Virginia has a small surplus of mixed products, wool, beeves,
and mutton, poultry and eggs, fruits, &c. Kentucky sells mainly farm-
animals, horses, and mules, and tobacco. Hemp, once prominent, is
now little grown. Eastern Ohio sells large quantities of wool; the
bluffs and adjacent uplands of the Ohio River furnish for shipment by
water large quantities of apples, while the Lake shore and islands of
Lake Brie supply grapes and wine for distant markets; Northern Ohio
makes a specialty of the dairy, and has a large trade in wool; Southern
Ohio fattens and ships cattle from the Scioto to the Indiana line, and
raises some mules for shipment; and the main tobacco-counties are
Montgomery, Monroe, Noble, Brown, Belmont, Clermont, Washington,
101
Warren, Preble, Darke, Morgan, and Guernsey, none of which had a
product smaller than one million pounds in 1873, and the first-named
had about eight millions. Stock-cattle are bought largely from the
West, some fruit is brought from Michigan, and thorough-bred animals
for stock-improvement are to some extent obtained from abroad. The
surplus of Michigan is mainly wheat, wool, potatoes, and fruit of vari-
ous kinds on the Michigan shore and in the southern counties. It has
a variety of productions, and each county, as a rule, furnishes mainly its
own supplies. Some counties send abroad 75 per cent. of their wheat-
product. Indiana has a surplus of wheat and other cereals, raises and
feeds cattle, sells some pork, wool, and mutton, horses and mules, and
disposes of much corn in the form of whisky. One distillery in Marion
uses 1,000 bushels daily. New Albany ships down the river thousands
of barrels of potatoes and vast quantities of cabbage. Tobacco is also
a source of revenue to Indiana. Improved stock is brought into the
State.
Illinois, the great corn State, one-fifth of its area being a corn-field,
feeds cattle, fattens swine, and raises horses and mules for the southern
market, some wool, and a variety of agricultural productions. There
is usually one industry especially prominent in each section. Among
the wheat counties, Adams, Pike, Jersey, Monroe, and Randolph, lie on
the Mississippi, and have a rich soil, much of it well adapted to large
yields of corn; Greene borders on the Hlinois; Montgomery and Macou-
pin adjoin the fertile corn-producing Sangamon; Clinton and Washing-
ton are three-fourths fertile prairie; and Stephenson, on the northern
border, is the finest portion of the Rock River Valley. The great
corn counties are still more scattered, Champaign and Vermillion being
in the eastern central part of the State. McLean, Logan, Morgan,
and Mason occupy central positions; Bureau, Henry, Knox, La Salle,
and Warren are north, and west of the Illinois River, only two of
which border upon it. Tobacco is shipped from Williamson, Saline,
Hamilton, Franklin, Wayne, Johnson, and, in small amounts, from
several others. Corn is shipped from the principal maize-produc- -
ing counties, yet most of it is fed within the lines of the counties
producing it. Hay is a leading shipping-crop in Marion and Han-
cock; fruits and vegetables on the line of the Central Road in South
Illinois; and all the cereals are produced as a surplus in most of those
mainly deyoted to corn and wheat. Texas and western stock for feed-
ing and many thorongh-bred animals are brought into the State. Many .
counties fail to produce their own flour; some furnish a small market
for potatoes, and several for fruits. Farm-productions are shipped
extensively, and few purchased from abroad. The surplus crop of Wis-
consin and Iowa is wheat. Hops are grown in both, mainly in the
former, tobacco to some extent in Wisconsin, and cranberries in the
marshes of the northwestern portion of the same State. Wheat is the
main shipping-crop in eyery Minnesota county reported, except Isanti,
where potatoes and hogs are named. Iowa has immense quantities of
wheat and corn for export, stock and fat animals, from all settled por-
tions of the State. Appanoose farmers have sold in one season timothy-
seed to the value of $70,000, and think they can afford to buy flour and
pay for it in the product of more profitable crops. Most of the iowa
counties ship wheat, most finding a local use for corn, but maize is the
main export of Louisa, Fremont, Appanoose, Dallas, Jackson, Potta-
wattamie, and Story. Very little is procured abroad, except fruits,
young stock, and improved breeds of farm-animals. Wheat is the prin-
cipal surplus crop of Missouri counties, and oats, corn, tobacco, flax-
102
seed, cotton, and other crops increase the aggregate shipment, and hogs,
and cattle for beef, with some horses and mules, constitute the surplus
animal production. Some counties procure flour from abroad, and a
few buy corn, potatoes, grass-sced, &c., though most of them are self-
supporting. The principal corn- erowing counties are, Saline, La Fayette,
Jackson, Johnson, Holt, Henry, Cooper, Clinton, Clay, Cass, Carroll,
Buchanan, Boone, Atchison, Nodaway, Polk, and Ray. Saint Charles,
Saint Louis, Franklin, Saline, Cooper, Howard, La Fayette, and Lincoln
produce largely of wheat. The largest tobacco-growers are Chariton,
Franklin, Howard, Lincoln, Pike, Callaway, and Randolph.
Kansas is a Self-supporting State, with a large surplus, except in
recently-settled districts in very exceptional seasons of drought and
grasshoppers. Even with a third of a crop of corn the past season,
there are more than thirty bushels of corn to each inhabitant, and of
wheat not less than eighteen bushels, allowing more than half the crop
as a surplus. Labette yields half a million bushels of wheat, and Cher-
okee, Doniphan, Brown, Wilson, Saline, Montgomery, Johnson, Dickin-
son, and Crawford have from 200,000 to 400,000 bushels each of winter-
wheat alone. The spring-wheat is about one-third of the crop, produced
largely in Brown, Butler, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Jewell, Marshall,
Nemaha, Republic, and Washington ; none of which produce less than
100,000 bushels. Johnson, Leavenworth, aud Miami contributed even
last season more than a million bushels each of corn to the supply of the
State. A surplus of farm-animals, wool, and various small products is
also made, though the immigration of each year absorbs much of this,
as is especially the case with all the productions of Nebraska. Califor-
nia ships mainly wheat, wool, wine, and fruits.
‘
THE PROGRESS OF ASSOCIATION.
The answers to questions relative to the advantages to be derived from
co-operation of farmers in selling, buying, or for mutual advantage
otherwise, are various in tone and tenor, indicating a general desire to
associate for mutual protection and advantage, but a great diversity in
the degree of effort made in that direction and in the measure of success
attained. These efforts are made by the Patrons of Husbandry, by agri-
cultural societies, and local clubs, have been most general northwest,
frequent in the South, and less so in the Middle and Eastern States.
The purchase of commercial fertilizers by the quantity has saved much
to southern planters, and much more would have been saved if ready
money had been more generally in possession. In Culpeper, Virginia,
an enterprising farmer saved to his neighbors $800 on 100 tons commer-
cial fertilizers, $150 on 100 tons of plaster, and $150 on 150 bushels of
clover-seed. In Wake County $2,000 was saved in the purchase of a
quantity of a certain fertilizer made from the formula of one of the club,
costing $30 per ton. The Piedmont Milk and Produce Association has
saved a respectable sum in the marketing of their produce. In portions
of the cotton States there has been quite a saving in the purchase of
supplies; for instance, in Claiborne, Mississippi, flour was obtained in
Saint Louis for $8 which had brought $14, and meal cost $4.25 per
barrel instead of $7.50, and corn 85 cents instead of $1.50. The county
of Lauderdale, Mississippi, claims a saving of $50,000 by co-operation.
Other counties in the South and West report $40,000 or less; and the
larger number refer to an indefinite, though considerabie saving. There
103
are others that report no saving whatever or attempt at co-operation.
In some cases it is asserted that losses have occurred from attempts of
farmers to do business in the sale of their surplus and purchase of their
supplies. Many business enterprises have been undertaken by granges
and other associations, sometimes with positive advantage, and occa-
sionally at a loss. In some cases the capital employed has been wasted,
and additional assessments have been required. Probably the greatest
advantage derived from these attempts to avoid the services of middle-
men as much as possible has been the habit formed of purchasing for cash
and avoiding debt. Among the many examples given of these enter-
prises, some in California are most prominent. The farmers of San Joa-
quin, connected with the Patrons of Husbandry, have an incorporated
company ; have their own warehouses to store their grain; and an agri-
cultural warehouse where they sell all kinds of agricultural implements.
By this means they have reduced the price of implements from 10 to 15
percent. They have also reduced the price of storage on grain about 30
percent. They have a Grangers’ Bank in San Francisco that will ad-
vance money on warehouse-receipts for grain at a low rate of interest,
thereby enabling the farmer to hold his grain for a remunerative price.
There is also another advantage in storing grain in the grange- warehouse.
It is this: the farmer receives the same number of sacks he delivered to
be stored. Formerly he only received the same number of pounds that
he delivered, and as the wheat is generally stored immediately after har-
vest, when it is very dry, the gain (if left in the warehouse any length of
time) is very considerable. Sometimes the gain in weight between Stock-
ton and San Francisco is equivalent to the cost of transportation between
those points. By co-operation these farmers claim to have saved the
past year in purchasing sacks for grain, agricultural implements, ad-
vantage in storing, procuring supplies, &c., not less than $50,000.
THE TOBACCO-CROP OF LAST YEAR.
The crop of 1874 was known to be exceptionally small and poor, from
Seeding to curing, and in nearly all of the tobacco-districts the de-
struction of seed-beds by insects, and the drought which dried out the
plants before setting or burned them afterward, caused the reduction
of the reported area in July more than half. One county in Kentucky,
Adair, which grew 2,500 acres in 1873, had searcely 25 acres planted on
the 25th of last June. Low prices also discouraged planting in some
sections. The average condition of the crop in Kentucky was 42 per
cent. in July, 31 in August, 31 in September, 44 in October, and the
indicated product in November was 40 per cent. In Virginia the
monthly reports of condition were respectively, 79, 72, 55, and 65, and
the product in November averaged 58 per cent. In November our.
summary said, ‘‘The reduced yield of tobacco was sufficiently foreshad-
owed in our previous monthly reports ; all the large tobacco States show
results indicating a disastrous year to the tobacco interest;” and a
special report, from a careful census of the principal counties, was
promised, which is herein presented. It willinclude the quantity grown,
the acreage, the price and total value, the quality, kinds, and uses, mode
of culture and curing, and other information.
There are 211 counties in the United States producing more than
100,000 pounds each ; and all others combined contributed but 12,000,000
pounds, or little more than 5 per cent. of the crop. Of these 211, there
104
are 154 representing in the census 71 per cent. of the total production
that appear in our present exhibit. These counties made a total of
186,276,726 pounds in 1869, and now return 99,805,602 pounds. In the
census year 49 counties in Kentucky, which now report 19,306,835, pro-
duced 84,593,456 pounds. In 26 counties of Virginia, the decline is from
25,000,000 to 19,000,000, while the same counties last year yielded
33,000,000. In Ohio 10 counties give little more than half the census
record, which was very incomplete. The estimate for Montgomery
County is 2,500,000 pounds, less than a third of its usual product. Seven
counties in Maryland that produced four-fifths of the crop of 1869, yield |
three-fourths as much as in that year, and about six-tenths as much as.
last year. In Tennessee the business has been nearly abandoned, 9
counties declining in production from ten millions in 1873 to one and a
half in 1874. The decline has been small in most of the Connecticut
Valley counties; in Hartford County the estimate was six millons in
1873, and six and a half in 1874, The reduction is large in Onondaga,
New York, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The summary, by States, of
the present returns is as follows: .
# Dphic = z é is
= to a = & =
ce a e 3
[Ser ee ae ype ee
. = 5 oe are
States. a pe ap ce Sb =
A a prt A a e
|
F | Cents.
New Hampshire ...-... (ape eoe aoe sbaeeb d 1 151, 189 173, 300 130 20 $34, 660
MPmpAchusetts .. os -.lonaa-t-<---beyep 4 - 1] 1,095, 423 616, 000 385! 28 172, 480
Connecticut -...... ..| 4] 7 513,739 | 8, 350, 000 6,475 | 32.3} 2, 696, 500
New York....- 2 1, 408, 143 789, 670 1, 215 13.1 104, 054
Pennsylvania. . 3 | 3,371,764 | 9,877, 400 8 427 | 15 1, 489, 410
Maryland.....- F 7 | 12,536,259 9, 568, 958 15, 553 9.2 886, 943
Warginita: <==. 2)... < 26 | 25, 131, 788 | 19, 474, 980 35, 180 12.1 2, 224, 506
North Carolina......- BOCE 7 6, 859, 716 | 4, 260, 375 12, 737 16. 3 696, 875
OLGA 2 = See Las cee an gen osocice sme baibe 1 118, 799 200, 000 300 22 44, 000
PRGIMIGHSOG). 52 nes ser = Rod resent SeRE - 9 | 10, 666, 858 1, 450, 000 2, 402 9.:7 140, 775
WMS VAT CUNT oe oe nod oBa te shstalesasio b et 5 976, 694 488, 308 600 14.1 69, 313
Heniciy oo hee hae), NP ed 49 | 84,593, 456 | 19,306,835 | 39,025] 12.4] 2383, 948
OOP iain cepa cee ne te Bbpetolnine 25 oes a 10 | 14, 662,840 | 7, 680, 333 10, 638 8.3 04, 78k
To TSS be a EO Bi | 3 | 3,603,043 | 3,795, 000 8, 295 9.4 357, 150
“1 RGR ie AR oo TS Be 8! 3,285,644 | 1,782,500 1,382} 10.9 195, 900
WWARCGGOUD cy cm nicis xl ae mcmelew RRS 2 875, 076 775, 000 760 ao 58, 125
Migatingees tear roel ped 16 | 9,426,995 | 11,216,943 | 13,843} 11.1] 1,241,973
iptaleneemere steer tere | 154 |186, 276, 726 | 99,805,602 | 148,277 |........ 13, 201, 391
| |
3 | a g
| ort eH
a. | we :
5S ° Gd © *
or oe —
Counties. qos te a = sy
eH as tered ES
the Es = =
5 5a =} Ci
& ga Z bo
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ALEGRE Se oro eeepc seared enter erern 151, 189 173, 300 130 | $34, 660
| S| Se —————
MASSACHUSETTS.
amin dens esas Bs. d- Shs acc on EO RR ER sie 1, 095, 423 616, 000 385 172, 480
——————————— ——————————__
Haratord ssa ne. 0. 2 ..| 5,830,209 | 6,500, 000 5, 000 2, 275, 000
TORO ee Sey boos os --| 1,048, 569 1, 260, 000 1, 600 , 000
New Haven ap 103, 562 150, 600 125 31, 500
TOMMNO os cols cee ae les cc cowed suo. 531, 399 500, 000 350 150, 000
otal soe setaar sere s ccs cceedeeeere set 7, 513, 739 8, 350, 000 | 6, 475 2, 696, 500
fenk
=
or
v4 nD M? al a
B fie 2 5
=I a 8 5 *
SE 9 Sx is &
Counties. gn Eps Be 35 =
ied as g o 5
5 EBS i) ES.
=) S 5 ‘2 3
iw a & Z a >
NEW YORK.
DURE SEMI Sora de was’ ores Fd one «sce 1, 257, 603 800 $84, 500
SoM MEII oe ca cinalec sss ce accccce checcnas 150, 540 415 19, 554
cist! CA, Ue 2a Se ae 1, 408, 143 1,215 104, 054
PENNSYLVANIA. Bast hinine rita
See ee aes oe Ce eso 151, 372 475 90, 250
Lancaster .-5254.-.2-22 25. re Paoe re MS Reser 2, 692, 584 7, 602 1, 368, 360
(o-oo Cees ae ae a 527, 808 350 30, 800
Trl O5G Sie a eer nef 3,371, 764 8, 427 1, 489, 410
MARYLAND. Tie
(DL. Til aStentsckhR eee ele ale eae 3, 158, 200 5, 250 4 267, 750
Whanie ee cteiect 668 2! os. eo lganh 2, 102, 73! 2, 500 127, 500
Donn. Als ES ee ee OE TS Ta 2 91 ee 40, 162
Howard ....-. Jon yee eR Sasi ee ee 182, 980 200 12, 600
PMNS UST eal ie nae cote Seclea diene. 630, 000 450 26, 0006 °
PMPRCHG COUPE Sis s= 2's) o05 2 -\c eos scale seat ns 3, 665, 054 4. 000 300, 000
SUITE 1 Svs Sy pS a aa a 2, 522, 917 3, 153 113, 531
CRIN SUR) Ae Oe | a 12, 536, 259 15, 503 886, 943
VIRGINIA. aca) naman ae ha
Ltd Aik oA ae as BS a ee. 1, 037, 731 650 37, 400
aj) purtay pee JU SR 656, 944 550 60, 000
Leda cai (02) se Se a a 196, 459 1, 500 90, 000
LEV Sng US) AN CoS OE a Sl 809, 937 800 54, 698
LOPSTLTHT ASS Gls Ly a a 1, 761, 9OL 2, 073 137, 849
(Ge ICA, lh oN a SS a eee 417, 848 250 20, 000
MRO Ge eel en be wcwdcccecle ddvees 194, 510 400 11, 000
1) ULE ae rae 844, 504 660 46, 200
iia. Soe UNy ees Sa 5 a a 157, 467 800 60, 000
LM. Tig eh EEE Se er a YO 894, 023 1, 000 96,000 |
22s TLE UN NS oR OO 1, 696, 549 3, 000 105, 000
(EUs 2a SANE Sot Ea Cd AS a OY) Bbc soy el ial WU: oll beets peice 12, 084
oo SUT CSS GS Sec 1, 129, 617 2, 500 281, 250
Titi Ee eoeen. oto GL. | SCR Odeo 930, 226 500 40, 000
iipnemiansh sek...) Oot C8 | OBE EYE Ul. 963, 673 1, 600 64, 100
Meckienwbureh fool... Te). foo.) SIE oe eo . 2, 166, 628 4, 000 240, 000
MESHUHOMery Joos es nc eS. U0 US | 204, 747 1, 250 188, 000
ices etna cst oe oe =| OOO Gr 1, 199, 182 1,000 96, 000
AME ania tose res eNO SOR SE 4,282, 511 10, 000 399, 000
BeOS BY) a ee 541, 430 130 16, 800
Pmceunidwardeer..-.) So OF. bob 080 SF 960, 700 1, 500 75, 000
IRMORDRUED drag... } Seen | UUU ORs 186, 469 300 11, 250
SUL UE Ss Lees OE) BR SA 132, 502 150 12, 000
Wamibetiand.j.947.-..) 027 2...) DO ey 956, 855 BN fal eee AS BS HRI E:
RON Lrg SB 2) a en 409; 28O || @> 520; 000g) sone occa 70, 875
eee oye MOeR eMEss SRC POSTE SSeS EGOS TOO tree COU OOO intra rostere ale} seins ane hate eg eae
Pihitlneet ie sealsce cee sles ccle. pele enn, 25, 131, 788 35, 180 2, 224, 506
155, 570 1, 200 112, 500
2, 262, 053 3, 000 200, 000
1, 227, 150 1, 702 225, 000
1, 441, 971 5, 000 30, 000
\dnian? 5528 4 = eee ee ee Se ieee 751, 045 500 3, 300
SUGGES... 6 Uh See ae er re 844, 145 1, 000 100, 000
ea Sa ere 177, 782 335 26, 0735
SMa ee te nets sila dace cthcs fakes cede: 6, 859, 716 12, 737 696, 875
FLORIDA.
SUG as soc 4452 Boe eee 118, 799 | 300 44,000
TENNESSEE
LOTS 57 eRe a ee 462, 130 100 5, 006
CE 6s ati! Cae AG SCS GBe BS eee ee Ee Eee aoa 412, 440 45 3, 500
MO eer girls RE MURS SR a ee pee ewes See 950, 768 100 5, 000
Witbn tet heeaeO Rae ee ae 645, 937 50 7, 500
IROMORUSONM Solo fo oc eS oe Leia) he be J OAL UGe 2, 103, 322 200 10, 400
Crimea tices elnge et Aan cae. | 2, 250, 202 757 60, 000
Secures et fore es Wap 2 lena ede: 909, 568 300 11, 375
AWS ISIS Ge ee ee ae oe ange Bo 2, 599, 590 600 20, 000
SAT AS ot ea aS Pa a 332, 901 250 15, 000
LEEDS tg ES ee pee 10, 666, 858 2, 402 140, 775
Counties.
WEST VIRGINIA.
Mercer
Breckinridge
Barren
Clinton
Daviess ..
Edmonson
Fleming
Gallatin
Monroe
ee ee ee eee eee eee eee ee ee eee
Trigg
DOBRO Poe ae, Bah OS eee Seiclonts
Warren
Adams
POU an icloitic'cc cine ov olc tele ceitine sare eei as wine
Belmont
Brown
Guernsey
Monroe
Montgomery
Morgan
Noble
106
Pounds, census
of 1870.
135, 410
128, 165
412, 469
117, 429
123, 221
976, 694
1, 231, 665
2, 863, 455
279, 740
4, 188, 039
3, 338, 471
2, 473, 939
1, 008, 582
1, 924, 502
669, 875
5, 384, 137
117, 238
1, 304, 366
6, 273, 067
414, 840
305, 954
157, 050
164, 295
859, 760
4, 474, 195
1, 375, 091
284, 178
281, 704
2, 315, 212
570, 287
3, 012, 053
360, 983
368, 106
1, 086, 578
2,707, 571
132, 293
1, 416, 282
2) 262) 037
539, 000
1, 310, 381
674, 696
1, 821, 988
3, 392, 633
2, 890, 670
1, 651, 593
1, 648, 201
240, 435
1, 072, 401
1, 209, 830
2, 620, 193
3, 614, 363
658, 465
2, 096, 260
2, 035, 159
3, 511, 649
84, 593, 456
102, 473
207, 839
1, 480, 478
2, 687, 743
474, 178
2, 845, 525
3, 963, 183
486, 125
2, 304, 557
110, 739
14, 662, 840
esti-
mated for 1874.
Pounds,
10, 000
125, 000
183, 308
130, 000
40, 000
488, 308
150, 000
984, 485
150, 000
600, 000
800, 000
900, 000
100, 000
100, 000
150, 000
500, 000
125, 000
100, 000
500, 000
50, 000
140, 000
100, 000
200, 000
275, 000
220, 000
211, 250
20, 000
166, 500
250, 000
100, 000
80, 000
250, 000
160, 009
100, 000
485, 000
9, 680
40, 000
400, 000
60, 000
100, 000
100, 000
200, 000
225, 000
800, 000
800, 000
100, 000
100, 000
60, 000
150, 000
500, 000
500, 000
200, 000
2, 000, 000
495, 000
500, 000
_
19, 306, 835
18, 000
191, 693
2, 360, 140
445, 500
150, 000
1874.
Price per pound,
1874.
Nunber of acres,
~
eRe Pesan Ess
SESEESSEIEEESEELE HEY
ra
RP
136, 000
1
107
n ie nD al
Ss es o =
5 28 3 2
“5 °s eS iodoteee Pine
Counties. oa on Pie S55 a
/ Ss 33 = 5 s
a gs E Evil =
5 58 5 i ic
my aa zy 7 &
INDIANA. Cents.
TO oae5c NSE Pee) oe ee 358, 948 | 1, 100, 000 1, 400 85 $93, 500
_ SCE SOSpge Bee eee gress ccc escseacecess 224, 125 195, 000 325 y! 13, 650
(ER Gore Ange aoc epee GE a ee 3,019,970 | 2, 500, 000 6, 500 10 250, 000
TRV SIC LS, 2 I SO a Oe 3, 603, 043 | 3, 795, 000 8, 225 9.4 357, 150
133, 150 100, 000 130 11 11, 000
387, 382 200, 000 230 12 24, 000
471, 860 400; 000")... = Sako urs iL 44, 000
307, 013 150, 000 187 9 13, 500
157, 000 32, 500 65 12 3, 900
541, 605 100, 000 250 2s5 12, 500
i 135, 045 100, 000 120 10 10, 000
PUINETIMAON | joes ob ee ee oe ee OUR 1, 152, 589 700, 000 400 11 77, 000
Monee es oo) etslas 2 aa. le ov Sas na as 3, 285, 644 1, 782, 500 1, 382 10.9 195, 900
WISCONSIN.
ene ot eens} eet weed UNS UOC LS. 229, 568 75, 000 60 oe 5, 625
10 OF a SOB Ea ei sal ee amg a 645, 508 700, 000 700 Tels 52, 500
Total 875, 076 775, 000 760 tao 58, 125
Reo an) ee ce fg UU UE 149, 634 75, 000 135: Wie weiss cl rae niGe Re es
Callaway 938, 228 1, 238, 200 1, 250 12.5 154, 775
Chariton 2,993,981 | 3500, 000 3,000 | 10.5 367, 500
Franklin - 783, 270 401, 270 QS 1283. 50, 159
Howard 788, 132 1, 000, 000 2, 000 9 90, 600
PP AVOUTOMse maliat cociatsasce.dsee0 se... 2. 113, 735 35, 000 50 9.5 3, 325
MMM fee ate ee neat, SO ae tai aa ONG OOE 891, 727 360, 000 400 ales 54, 000
Wot GOD seo: Se 3 Bee aes UT ee 3955, 767 350, 000 3, 500 10 35, 000
Jest Taya) 2 Gel ges Se, ee ge GO 187, 091 500, 000 1, 000 9 45, 000
Pee tee rigm sick eee Oise anda eee ste o ee ee 119, 617 150, 000 200 10 15, 000
SRG) S5cec CEES SRS BU Ee Le 632, 552 2AOOO} QOD» precetarors aferocte 14 280, 000
a SC OS 873, 776 1, 000, 000 1, 400 8.5 85, 000
a) eee BE er Se Sa ee ee 190, 335 280, 000 400 9 25, 200
S/F 5 CATER ES va Sage Oh 146, 754, aS IS > brerrvarcerncee tee 9 6, 612
cs) TCE sO | A Be ee 118, 534 54, 000 45 10 5, 400
OE REVENGE es Ue ee 143, 162 200, 000 250 12.5 25, 000
TDD 32 el oe a 9, 426, 295 | 11, 216, 943 13, 843 11.1 1, 241, 971
Twenty-five years ago Virginia stood at the head of tobacco-growing
States.
It retained its position teu years later, when the crop had
doubled. Since 1860 it has given place to Kentucky, which is credited
by the last census with 105,000,000 pounds, and doubtless actually pro-
duced 140,000,000 in the census
year. |
Three Atlantic States, with four
Western, at one time monopolized the production—how fully may be
seen by the following table:
States.
Virginia
Kentucky
Tennessee
Maryland
North Carolina
wee ee cee eee eee ee weet eee Cece eee es
Total
1850.
Pounds.
56, 803, 227
55, 501, 196
20, 148, 932
21, 407, 497
11, 984, 786
10, 454, 449
17, 113, 724
193, 413, 871
6, 338, 784
199, 752, 655
1860.
Pounds.
123, 967, 757
108, 102, 433
38, 931, 277
38, 410, 965
32, 853, 250
25, 528, 972
25, 086, 196
392, 880, 850
41, 328, 61i
221, 855, 567
434, 209, 461
1870.
Pounds.
37, 086, 364
105, 305, 869
21, 465, 452
15, 785, 339
11, 150, 087
18, 741, 973
12, 320, 483
40, 879, 774
262, 735, 341
1874.
Pounds.
35, 000, 000
34, 500, 000
5, 780, 000
16, 500, 000
8, 500, 000
13, 000, 000
13, 860, 000
127, 140, 000
51, 215, 000
178, 355, 000
108
Combining the county returns in the foregoing tables with various
data from other tobacco-growing areas, and carefully estimating for the
fragments of areas unreported, the following statement is presented as
the estimated tobacco-production of 1874, the acreage on which it was
grown, and the value of the crop in the hands of the producer :
States. Pounds. | Acres, Value.
Dloweetemipabire 2: . ccs es “cls sl BI-b = om oo eee Ma ee es ideo bee 180, 000, 141 $36, 000
INTER ees ae iclota sin sted sigs ain Claes Sige eee Oe See eee oe a nll itera 105, 000 99 21, 000
NISIRRAGHNSOUES -- 94 ELIS SSS dU SS Lee Ee: pas sae ee cto ee eee 4, 920, 000 3, 393 1, 377, 600
GOVINERHGH bi. ce Sct id cae bse vice wee we pe EM Ree De ce oda ae DRE ate rete opty iae 9, 030, 000 7, 224 2, 889, 600
aes re we Mew a ae cto nu dsle’s cites nels a we em ee mene cts ctinne ewopee 1, 593, 000 2, 451 7, 090
Peansyivania.. 22582535: ss Ga Ee AY SO EBS eRe 10, 500, 000 | 9,130 1, 575, 000
Ss Se ES pa Se NE DE HS Sm Ce 16,500,000 | 27,049 | 1,567, 500
eI eie as- n le se Chie tes Sn se Cate eee ee ciel eee eee e ect ole am raat 35, 000,000 | 63, 636 4, 200, 000
Pere Caroline £451. vO cso LEbs - ULE eee a G1 LEE 8, 500,000 | 25, 757 1, 360, 000
SHUSUITL CN TE ee ee ae ee Py Ta 8 Vee ORO o Ir 45, 000 100 6, 750
Greameiat 7.24 VE bt Ce Ee toe «crt ataae 291, 060 502 | 37, 830
DOr a. = 22 ange shea ee ih eckt sees: bes pec bees adore: - c++ o-}- -ypeee 216, 000 327 47, 520
PMS ETE A cic ous Saaphn Se ees ok alee anger ee ates eee S es SRR EERE re mievein Tour tela 166, 000 | 302 33, 200
IMISSISSIp pie + ice SI. SSeS ES Lice st eA Uae. 80, 000 133 16, 800
AES Ne Pe Te Ls 3. 141, 000 188 31, 725
PRUPICATINAS tare Sn sos 708, 000 1, 348 106, 200
Tennessee ..-..--. 5, 780, 000 9, 633 578, 000
West Virginia 1, 690, 000 2, 224 236, 600
Kentucky ..-.....- 34, 500, 000 53, 906 4, 278, 000
Olioee. = 42623 bbe: --| 13, 000, 000 18, 055 1,170, 000
MOTTA eet LER Se LE Cae Ma Seen eee ae See eT Shee te 12, 000, 000 26, 086 1, 122, 000
Dhneis isso. OI Ion Ae. AY Ne 7, 000, 000 8, 974 735, 000
WWABCONSIN G2 Lis. Pee eS ee Ret ete a eee ores oats 2) 250, 000 2, 250 168, 750
NETS OTP Le oe ees cae nee ae co eake Suie Semele ane ELom ne pains canine nee 1s 860, 000 18, 237 1, 524, 600
PANS AG LST OE GAS Mb... UE TOL VAR aS ESOS 300, 000 S17 30, 000
Hoa 3 TID PNY 93) DOG EAS A Ae AGA DAS | 178, 355, 000 | 281, 662 | $23, 362, 765
QUALITY
Dry weather cured the crop of the northern portion of the Connecti-
cut River in the field, and left it brittle. In the Hartford district there
is loss of quality from drought. Part of the crop of Hampden, Mass.,
is of extra quality, especially where it was matured early and was ware-
housed in good order. In the New Haven district quality is fine, but
color various; if this unevenness of color is lost in the sweating process
it will be the best crop raised since 1871. In Tolland there was wet
weather during the culture, and very dry weather during curing, which
proved unfavorable to the best quality. Quality is not superior in
Onondaga County, New York, in consequence of wet and cold weather;
it is only medium in Steuben, dry weather affecting the leaves some-
what, many of which are injured by worm-punctures. In Pennsylvania
the crop is inferior to that of 1873; in Lancaster it grew slowly, and
encountered heavy rains when nearly ripe; in Bucks dry weather pre-
vented the maturing of fine leaves, and caused them to dry too rapidly,
and contract when housed.
The quality of the Maryland crop is nearly everywhere reported lower
than in recent years. In Prince George’s it is deemed better than last
year, on account of being handled at the proper time, and from favora-
ble curing-weather. It was late in growth and of a dark color in Saint
Mary’s. Only 60 per cent. is of average quality in Montgomery, from
injury by the fly, and the drought of June and July. In Howard there
is much immature frosted tobacco. It is thick-leaved, small, and dark-
colored in Frederick. Lateness of growth and early frosts were injuri-
ous in almost every portion of the State. Similar causes affected a por-
tion of the Virginia crop; that planted before the 1st of June generally
was very good; that planted later suffered from drought, and was eut
109
when immature to avoid frost. While a majority of the counties return
inferior quality, many others with a smaller area to cure or a more
southern location claim a superior crop, as Floyd, Fluvanna, Henry,
Patrick, Pawhatan, and others. Counties in North Carolina, with few
exceptions, have crops of more than average quality. The fly worked
among the young plants to some extent, and drought, a severe storm in
September, and frost wrought further injury.
Qualityis rather below average in Tennessee, owing to a wet spring,
drought, and early cutting to escape frost. In Robertson about half is
good; a fourth was cut before it was ripe, and the remaining fourth was
frosted in the field. In Mercer, West Virginia, superiority in quality
was obtained by favorable weather for maturing and curing. The erop
was good in Fayette, and fair in Kanawha, but very poor in Cabell,
from early drought. The quality is generally inferior in Kentucky,
from the destruction of young plants by the fly, injury from drought,
causing imperfect growth and late maturing; so that much was either
cut immature or frosted in the field. In some places the early-planted
was good; in Clinton, one-fourth good, one-fourth medium, and one-
half poor. Among the exceptions are Hardin and Meade, above aver-
age in color, but light in weight; Hickman, very good; Larue and
Clinton, early planted, above average; Graves, good; Pendleton, good
fiber, well colored; Owen, above average; Simpson, fine; Todd and
Trigg, one-half excellent, the remainder frosted.
Counties in Ohio return comparatively poor quality. Montgomery had
one of the poorestcrops everraised. A small insect destroyed a large por-
tion of the plants in Vinton. Fifty per cent. deterioration is returned
from Monroe. Late planting and subsequent drought were prominent
causes of poor quality. In Washington the crop is claimed to be good.
In Indiana and Illinois the quality is quite uniformly good; it was in
some counties more carefully cultivated and handled than. usual.
Drought injured the Wisconsin crop. Most of the Missouri counties
make favorable report of quality, many indicating an improvement over
last year, and some admitting injury from drought.
VARIETIES AND USES.
Few, if any, plants are so modified by peculiarities of the soil on
which it is grown, and by circumstances of fertilization and culture, as
tobacco. Whether the crop is worth in market five cents or fifty per
pound depends more upon these points than upon the variety grown.
And yet there are many varieties, showing the most marked points of
difference. Fashion, as to color and other points, contributes to widen
the range of prices.
The Connecticut seed-leaf, used for wrappers for Havana fillers, and
lower grades of fillers, or binders to cheap cigars known as seed-cigars,
is cultivated almost exclusively in New England, i. e., the Connecticut
Valley, from Cheshire County, in New Hampshire, to the sea. The
Housatonic Valley, in Connecticut, has recently made this crop some-
what prominent; and, by a superior system of warehouse classification,
it realizes returns almost equal to those secured on the Connecticut. In
the town of Westfield, in Hampden, Massachusetts, the Havana seed is
grown, said to be a cross of the Connecticut with Havana; a plant of firm
leaf, better flavor, and greater value for wrappers of fine cigars than
the broad-leaved common variety. In the vicinity of Hartford are vari-
,eties bearing the names, Connecticut seed-leaf, broad seed-'eaf, Belknap,
Puritan, and Ohio broad-leaf.
110
The Connecticut seed-leaf is the kind grown in New York, almost ex-
clusively in Onondaga, Chemung, and Steuben. The best quality is
used for cigar-wrappers; and the coarser and imperfect stock is manu
factured into smoking or chewing, and some of the refuse is ground into
snuffs. .A cross from: Havana seed is mainly grown in Bucks Connty,
Pennsylvania, much resembling imported Cuba tobacco.
The Maryland tobacco is of two principal varieties, the broad-leaf
and the narrow-leaf. The former commands a higher price; the latter
yields a larger quantity. Much of it is exported; a large order is
usually filled for the French government. It sells at a moderate price,
has no peculiar value for wrappers, and is used for cigar-fillings, ordi-
nary snuffs, twist and plug chewing, and for manufactured smoking
brands. In Montgomery County a kind known as Bay tobacco is grown.
The Big Pryor variety is deemed the best in Botetourt County, Virginia;
the Blue Pryor is popular in Amelia. The White-stem, a dark-colored
shipping tobacco, is quite extensively grown in strong, heavy lands,
finding a geod market in England. The Cumberland correspondent
claims that as the banner county for shipping and stemming tobacco. A
fine grade of tobacco is made from Orinoco seed. The Frederick, a vig-
orous grower, is cured toa dark “ nutmeg color,” and is principally shipped
to Europe. The crop of Montgomery has a large leaf which cures bright,
and is useful for wrappers, with careful assorting. The red lands gen-
erally produce too coarse and strong a quality for cigars or fine chewing
brands, bat suitable for shipping. Several kinds are grown in Henry,
but growers aim to produce a bright, yellow leaf, suitable for plug
chewing-tobacco. The new lands,-and old fields on which fertilizers are
used, yield a light yellow, manufacturing grade.
The soil of several counties in North Carolina, near the Virginia line,
is peculiarly adapted to the production of light-colored and high-priced
wrappers. Person, Caswell, aud Granville claim to “surpass any other
portion of the United States in adaptation to the growth of the first and
most remunerative grades of tobacco.” The average price of the last
crop in Person County is placed at 30 cents, of the Gooch, White-stem,
Yellow Pryor, Big Orinoco, and Little Orinoco varieties. The first is
‘distinguished by fine texture and small fiber, and is successfully grown
on light, sandy soil, almost valueless for grain or grass, and brings from
40 cents to $2 per pound for wrappers. The White-stem is second in
quality, Yellow Pryor third, and. Big Orinoco fourth. The respective
area of each in cultivation widens in the order named, except that the
Pryor’s liability to injury from frost is driving it from the field. All
these are usually coal-cured and used for wrappers. The Little Orinoco
is coarse-grained, grown on rich soils for weight rather than quality, not.
adapted to yellowing, and air-cured or dried with wood fires, is used for
fillers, and sells at 15 to 25 cents. It is reddish brown in color; some-
times nearly black. In Caswell the broad-leaf Orinoco is most eulti-
vated, though some prefer the Yellow Pryor variety, less in weight and
richness, but of finer texture. Light lemon-color commands the high-
est price. The White stem and Orinoco are mainly cultivated in
Stokes.
Gadsden County, Florida, has produced for forty years a variety
grown from seed obtained in Cuba, having a small, narrow leaf, and pos-
sessing to a remarkable degree the peculiar aroma and delicate fragrance
so highly prized in the Havana cigar. Since the advent of German
buyers an article was introduced which produces the “ Florida wrapper,”
and is now the main growth. Its leaves are sometimes three feet in
length and twenty inches in breadth, of a fine silky texture, admirably’
111
adapted to use as wrappers, the coarser leaves being used very accept-
ably as fillers. Another variety, medium in size, introduced since the
war, highly aromatic, even somewhat pungent, makes a strong cigar.
There are different varieties in Tennessee, as the White Stem, Big
Stem, Big and Little Frederick, Blue and Yellow Pryor, Orinoco, yet when
grown several years they appear to assimilate in quality and appear-
ance. Much of it is cured a red or mahogany color, and finds a large
sale in European markets.
Kentucky, the tobacco-field of America, has many varieties. That
grown in Christian, Trigg, Todd, Logan, and in Stewart, Montgomery,
and Robinson, in Tennessee—known to the trade as the Clarksville dis-
trict, though Hopkinsville is now a rival point for the traffic—has a
heavy body and is well adapted to the export trade; it is largely used
in Germany, Austria, and the north of Europe, though a portion is sent
to Mexico and the coast of Africa. It has no competition in the West,
and is only approximated on the manured lands of Virginia. The soil
on which it is grown is limestone, with a deep-red clay subsoil. Its
peculiar mode of curing contributes largely to its recognized character-
istics. It is cured in close barns in the course of two or three days’
heavy firing, which gives greater body than the air-cure. The White Bur-
ley is a favorite in many counties, among which are Bracken, Fleming,
Pendleton, Grant, Shelby, Trimble, Kenton, and others. This is cured
of a bright-yellow color, and is used for cutting into “ fine-cut,” and
sometimes for wrappers. Old land, well manured and cultivated, will
yield a heavy shipping tobacco from almost any variety; and a red or
black oak soil will make a bright wrapper from the same varieties.
Fleming County is working exclusively for the cutting trade. Good
chewing grades are made from the Yellow Pryor and the Long Green in
Hardin; and the Pryor is also the favorite variety in Hart, in Muhlen-
burgh, and in Adair. The Little Frederick.is most grown in Clinton.
The one-sucker variety, producing only one sucker to the leaf, is favor-
ably regarded in Adair, Clinton, Hart, and other counties. Cumberland
produced good shipping leaf; Hickman grows shipping grades used
largely in plug-tobacco; that of Hopkins is manufacturing and ship-
ping, and about one-fourth of the crop is made into strips; and ship-
ping leat is prominent in Logan, sought by English and French buyers,
for wrapping and manufacturing purposes. There are many other names
of assumed varieties, but the above are among tbe best known.
The leading variety in Montgomery, Ohio, the Baltimore Cuba, is
from seed sent out by this Department. It has a long and broad leaf,
and when properly cured makes good wrappers. ‘This seed has been
worth millions to the county,” says our correspondent. The white
tobacco, grown in Adams County, is used for wrappers and fine-cut.
The Monroe crop is similar to the Maryland tobacco, and goes to Europe
for smoking-tobacco. It is used to some extent in the manufacture of
cigars. The Connecticut seed-leaf and the Kentucky are the best varie-
ties in Vinton. in Spencer, Indiana, the Pryor is grown for fillers and
black wrappers, and the White Stem and Twist-bud are shipping leaf sorts.
The White Burley and Yellow Pryorare favorite varietiesin Edmunds, Ili-
nois; in Johnson, three kinds are grown, the Pryor, the Big Shoe-string,
and Big White Stem, the two latter yielding most; that grown in Southern
Illinois is mainly used for fillers and wrappers and in the ecutting-trade.
The Crown-leaf, in Rock County, Wisconsin, is exported, though choice
lots are taken at home for wrappers and binders for cigars. The Yellow
Pryor appears to be largely grown in Missouri for the shipping-trade.
The Little Frederick, Twist-bud, Long Green, and Fine Small are other
112
desirable varieties, the latter liked by many experienced and careful
growers. That grown in Boone County for exportation ranks high as a
chewing-tobacco.
ROTATION.
A sort.of irregular rotation is to some extent practiced in the Con-
necticut Valley. In the vicinity of Hartford it is customary to take off
from one to three crops of tobacco, then a hay or grain crop, followed by
grass for several years. Lower down the valley rotation is observed to
some extent, and the general testimony accords therefor better returns.
Our Hampden (Massachusetts) authority deems the quality better if
repeated crops are taken.
In the Onondaga (New York) district a clover-sod, with a good spring
growth, and fifty to sixty loads of manure per acre, all well turned under
and reduced to a fine tilth, is the favorite soil for tobaceo-planting. Wheat
isthenext crop. Sometimes crops of tobacco are repeated, with eighty to
one hundred loads of manure per acre, but more than two or three crops
are indicative of bad farming. In Steuben the preferred order is clover,
corn, tobacco. In Lancaster, which county produces a large proportion
of the crop of Pennsylvania, tobacco is preceded by corn and followed
by wheat. The rotation in York is similar. Quite uniform Maryland
practice is to follow tobacco with wheat. In Calvert County it is grown
every third year, the crops being clover, tobacco, wheat. Itis preferred
in Charles to have it follow corn rather than “a fresh fallow.” New land
in Frederick, after a crop of tobacco, is sown to wheat, then grass. Three
crops are sometimes taken from new land in Montgomery, but further
continuous cropping results in larger plants of inferior quality. The
regular three-year rotation is generally practiced in Prince George’s,
though some planters prefer the four or five year plans. Where new
land is taken for tobacco in Virginia, two or three consecutive crops are
usually taken, followed by wheat, afterward clover or grass. In old
ground the common rotation is clover, tobacco, wheat; in some counties
wheat precedes tobacco; where only two fields are used, which get all
the manure from stables and cattle-pens, the crop is only alternated with
wheat. Corn comes in between tobacco and wheat in Patrick. In some
counties a year or two of fallow comes after wheat; in other counties a
similar rest follows two or three consecutive crops of tobacco on new
land. New land is preferred in North Carolina, and soils peculiarly
desirable for particular kinds and qualities of tobacco are selected with
great care. No attempt at rotation is reported from Florida. A sys-
tematic course of cropping is by no means the rule in Tennessee. Wheat
is most frequently grown after tobacco, but corn or other crops some-
times occur in suecession. On new land wheat is sometimes grown
between two crops of tobacco, followed by a similar period in corn,
wheat, and clover. Old ground is manured for the tobacco-crop. Fer-
tilizing for tobacco is virtually unknown in West Virginia. Wheat, as
elsewhere, is usually adopted for the succession, followed by clover, on
the best-managed lands; but the more careless farmers follow with pro-
miscnous cropping until the land is exhausted and turned out to grow
mullein, pennyroyal, and rag-weed. Some sort of rotation is deemed a
necessity in Kentucky, though some counties do not practice it; itis held
that to grow the crop “on the same ground two or three years in suc-
cession would everlastingly ruin it;” also that it cannot be successfully
grown on timothy-sod; but that it may be cultivated in successive crops
by sowing rye and turning under in spring when a foot high. The pre-
ferred course appears to be tobacco, wheat, clover; if longer, two years ~
113
in clover. In Ohio several crops are in many Cases grown in succession ;
sometimes two of tobacco, two of corn, and one of wheat, and then grass
or tobacco again; in other places tobacco, wheat, clover, as in other
tobacco regions. Farther west, where new lands are abundant, tobacco-
growing is either confined to such lands, or alternated with wheat, with
little thought of any regular course of rétation.
CULTURE AND CURING.
A comparison of the local modes of culture and curing reveals great
differences in the modus operandi of. tobacco-husbandry.
The cultivation in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, substantially
the northern limit of Connecticut Valley tobacco-growing, is essentially
the same as in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The soil is a warm,
sandy loam, manured with ten or twelve cords of stable-manure and
two to five hundred pounds of guano per acre, harrowed in. The surface
is ridged up to bring the manure around the plant. Sometimes the
ground is lightly marked with the plow, and guano or superphosphate
of lime placed in the hill. When the plants are set they are mulched
with straw or hay to prevent their withering. In Hampden, Massachu-
sett, ten cords of good manure, horse-manure preferred, are applied.
At the time of transplanting, which occurs from the 5th to the 25th of
June, the land is plowed, and then a light furrow is cut, sowed with
300 pounds of guano or superphosphate, and covered with ridges, leav-
ing the rows somewhat elevated. The Havana plants are set 18 inches
by 3 feet, the seed-leaf 2 feet by 3. The yield of the former does not
equal that of the commen sort. The seed is usually sown in April in
Connecticut, in a carefully-prepared seed-bed liberally manured with a
rich compost or concentrated fertilizer. Horse-manure for the field-
culture is obtained as far as possible, and supplemented with any avail-
able well-decomposed farm-yard manures, and also with Peruvian or
fish guano, superphosphates, wood-ashes, bone-dust, tobacco-stems, and
other fertilizers. The ground is plowed and harrowed sufficiently to
pulverize and mix the-fertilizers. The plants are set in Hartford County
from July 1 to July 10, in rows 34 feet apart, and from 18 to 25 inches
in the row. The best cultivation is given; the seed-blossoms and all
suckers are broken off; the plants are cut in August or September and
left on the ground to wilt; then bundles of five to seven plants are strung
on a lath, four feet long, and hung in the curing-house in tiers.
The district known as the Housatonic Valley comprises all of Litch-
field County, five towns in Fairfield, two or three in Berkshire, and one
in New Haven. low prices have reduced the acreage to a lower figure
than for eight years past, and the product is estimated at 3,500 cases,
of which Litchfield produced 3,000 on about 1,000 acres. This district
has had considerable experience with special fertilizers, and the conclu-
Sion is reached that they aid the growth of the plant while injuring its
quality. At the present time most of the crop is grown with barn-yard
manure, yielding a product of better color and texture, and one that
comes out of the sweat better than that made with such special fertil-
izers. In New Haven the main resource for fertilizers beyond the com-
mon use of farm-yard manure, is a double-refined poudrette. In Tolland
the liberal use of horse-manure, say eight to ten cords with 359 pounds
of guano per acre, is deemed sufficient to keep up soil-fertility without
rotation.
The main reliance in Onondaga, New York, is upon clover-sod and
farm-yard manure, though various kinds of commercial fertilizers have
4A :
114
been used. Ourcorrespondent says, ‘ three acres of tobacco wiu require
the manure accumulated from 100 to 200 acres.” In Bucks County,
Pennsylvania, the tobacco section is Falls Township, along the Dela-
ware River, where the surface is nearly level, and the soil a rich, dark,
sandy loam. During the winter 35 loads of manure per acre, brought in
boats from Philadelphia at $1.25 per load, are spread upon the fields,
and plowed under at a depth of 4 to 6 inches as soon as frost is out, and
left till about May 20, when the soil is well pulverized and worked into
hills 3 feet apart each way. A compost of well-rotted manure is applied
in the hill. Fertilizers are believed to injure the burning qualities of
the leaf, and their use has been discontinued. The culture is similar to
that of cabbage, until the leaves are 6 inches in width, after which the
fields are gone through two or three times per week in search of worms,
which do not increase in abundance from year to year. The crop should
be cut in twelve weeks from planting. In Lancaster, the largest to-
bacco-county in Pennsylvania, plants are set 20 inches apart in the rows,
which are three and a half feet apart. The culture is about the same
as for corn; the soil is kept well pulverized and free from weeds. Farm-
yard manure is the main fertilizer, which is so extensively used that.
other crops suffer from lack of it.
In Maryland, seed is germinated from January 1 to March 15, in a
well-prepared bed, enriched with barn-yard manure and Peruvian guano.
As the plants attain the size of a man’s hand they are transplanted when
the earth is moist from rain. The distance apart varies somewhat, 24
feet each way being the usual distance in several counties; in some
cases 3 by 2 feet; in Prince George’s 3 by 3 feet. In Calvert the land
is well fertilized with farm-yard manure, guano, and superphosphate.
When the plants begin to grow, the crust around them, with the starting
grass, is scooped away with the hoe; this process is called weeding.
Subsequent cultivation consists in ‘stirring the soil every eight or ten
days with a one-horse cultivator, as long as it can be done without in-
jury to the leaves. When the blossoms appear the top is broken off,
and -the plant is allowed to stand until mature, when it is cut and hung
on poles in the barn to cure. Suckers are broken off and worms killed
during the growth. It is cut between August 20 and October 20, the
first cut being the best. In Prince George’s, growers prefer to plow
both in fall and spring. They want very rich beds to start the plants,
but do not care for heavy fertilizing of fields. They use guano, Turner’s
Excelsior, and the Old Dominion fertilizer. In Saint Mary’s 20 to 30
loads of manure with 300 pounds of superphosphate per acre are spread
in drills.
The housing and curing is thus reported in Calvert: When the leaves
are sufficiently mature, and soft from moist weather, they are stripped
from the stalk and tied up in small bundles, care being taken to keep
the several qualities separate. When in proper condition these bundles
are packed in hogsheads for market. Nearly all the crop is air-cured ;
afew planters use the curing apparatus of Bibb & Co., and by proper
care and attention produce a superior article. In Montgomery, when
cut it is hauled to the house and hung on sticks 4$ feet long. On one
end of these sticks is an iron spear, on the point of which the plants
are pressed, while the other end is made fast in the house, and thus
about ten plants are strung upon each for curing, tlre sticks being hung
10 to 12 inches apart upon poles. Fires are kindled beneath the tobacco,
which is hung 10 feet above. The curing process requires great experi-
ence to secure the desirable color, and caution to prevent the burning
of house and tobacco together. The fires are kept up till the tobacco is
115
thoroughly dry. Itis stripped from the stalks in damp weather and
assorted, usually making four grades, yellow, spangled or red, ground
leaf, and tips.
The following extracts from Virginia returns give a variety of infor-
mation on culture, fertilizers, and curing:
Amelia: Land is sometimes, but not often, checked, or laid off both ways. When
not checked the beds are thrown up with two furrows of a double-turning plow, and
usually about 250 pounds applied to the acre of some one of the commercial fertilizers
in the market; everybody uses different, changes every year, and alternately praises
and blames. All agree in this, that there is no money in the use of them, either in
the first or any subsequent crop; all agree that the commercial fertilizer has been a
curse to the land instead of any benefit. What little stable-manure is raised is spread
on the land before marking off. The ridges being up, hands with flat hoes pass along,
and at intervals of 23 to 3 feet strike off the crown of the bed and press it with a shor$
blow from the flat of the hoe. In May or June, so soon as a rain has fallen and a “‘sea-
son has come,” the plants are set, one in each hill. They live easily, and if the plants
are of tolerable size, and no insects attack them, a stand is se¢ured without difficulty.
So soon as the plants give signs of growth in their new places, a 3 or 5 tooth cultivator
is lightly run twice between the rows, one tooth being guided as near to the line of
plants as possible without covering or disturbing them. Hoes follow, gently breaking
the crust around the plant. This is a weeding operation, and if omitted serious con-
sequences sometimes follow. Fields under a nice rain and warm san become as a
carpet in one week, with a grass here called ‘ crab-grass.” It incloses the plant and
cannot be removed without imminent risk of death to it. This is the critical period,
and if passed in safety the planter regards his crop safe. After this, until the 25th of
August, the ground is kept stirred with shovel-plows, and kept level, or nearly
so. The plants being now up, ‘‘primed” and “topped,” single-turn plows are
put in with four furrows to the row, the soil thrown up as high around each
plant as the plow will heave it. By some this is not deemed sufficient, and
they cause hoes to pass over the field, drawing the soil still higher up around
the stalks of the plant. This sometimes proves of great benefit. The winds or
the equinox, accOmpanied with soaking rains, are prevented from throwing the plants
down into the mud. After this last hillingy no further cultivation is required. The
last of August and the whole of September is spent in quest of worms. Appomattox:
Cultivated chiefly on newly-opened land without fertilizers, and upon lots with farm-
yard manure. Sotetowt: For old land, deep plowing, hilled with a two-horse plow.
Our best farmers say it. pays well to use a fertilizer, dropping a small quantity in the
hill. Caroline: The beds for seed require the same preparation as for cabbage-beds;
sow as soon after the Ist of January as the ground is In order; transplant soon as the
plants have sufficient roots to sustain them ; say the last of May or first of June. When
the crop is planted out early, so as to ripen before the frost, and is kept clear of grass
and worms, we never fail to make a fair crop. Various fertilizers are used; the one
generally preferred is a preparation for tobacco by the Old Dominion Fertilizing Com-
pany, Richmond. Chesterfield: Land well plowed, stable-manure spread, listed both
* ways, the hills 3 to 34 feet apart each way, flattened with the hoe ; in season for the
plants as early as they are large enough; and ‘‘a bud in May is worth a plant in June;”
unceasing vigilance required in August and September to prevent its ruin by worms.
Cumberland: Our leading idea is, to make a heavy, rich, long plant, either very early for
the stemmers, or later in fhe season for shipping. The soil and climate are remarkably
suited to tobacco, and by heavy manuring and thorough cultivation, 2,000 pounds per
acre may be raised. Dinwiddie: Plow the land early in winter; in April spread on it
all the manure we can find, from stable, farm-yard, and pig-sty, and plow it under;
cross-plow and harrow early in May; mark off hills 34 feet apart and fertilize at the
rate of 300 to 500 pounds per acre, by hand ar trill; then bed up the land, four fur-
rows together, mark across 3 feet apart and chop and smooth with the hoe midway be-
tween the checks. Plant as early as practicable after the 10th of May. When ready
for topping the best farmers always prune off the small leaves at the bottom, and
break out the bud, leaving 8 to 12 leaves, according to the strength of the land or the
time of topping. If planted any time before the 12th of June the farmer can select his
own time for cutting, but if later he must beware of frost, or cut his crop green. We
use all kinds of fertilizers. Peruvian guano acts better than any other. Our barnsare
principally built of round logs, the spaces being pointed with clay-mud to make them
close. These are considered the best for curing, as they retain the heat better. To
make dark stripping, or fillers, we commence firing soon as the tobacco is housed and
keep the fires up for three days. It is only rich, strong land that makes this class of
tobacco. To make red wrappers or fillers we put the tobacco in the barn, allowing
plenty of space, and using no fire except in very damp or rainy weather to prevent
mold. This tobacco is grown on almost any variety of soil, the richer the batter. To
116 F
cure bright wrappers, plant on light-gray soil in fair condition as to fertility. Let the
tobacco ripen on the hill before cutting; if the weather permits, scaffold three days in
the sunshine, then put in the house and start fires of charcoal, slow at first, and grad-
ually increased to the desired temperature ; keep the heat at this point until the leaf-
stem and stalk are thoroughly dried. Wrappers cured by this process are known as
“‘eoal-cured wrappers,” and sell for 40 to 120 cents per pound. Jluvanna: A great
portion of so-called fine, or high-priced, tobacco is grown on light-gray granite land.
This is of a light yellow or brown color and rarely grows to a large size. It is often
planted on new ground or lands that have grown up in pine. We have also strong,
heavy lands on the Rivanna and James rivers which produce a coarser and larger
growth of tobacco adapted to what are called strippers, and wanted for
the English market. Our most snecessful tobacco-growers use fertilizers at the
rate of 300 or 400 pounds per acre, with or without farm-yard and stable-manure.
Henry: Old ground not often planted in tobacco more than once; new ground twice.
Stone flues are*generally used in curing, but charcoal-curing is growing in favor.
Louisa: The two principal things are, to get the plants out early in May, if possible
by the 15th, and to keep the crop well worked. An early stand insures against frost.
The most popular fertilizer is that known as “ Gilham’s;” but it is sold too high, $70
per ton. It is generally sown at the rate of 300 pounds to the acre, and with a small
amount of stable-manure acts well. Lunenburgh: Land for raising the plants is pre-
pared by thoroughly burning in the latter part of December or early in January; the
seed sown soon after. In a favorable season the plants are large enough for trans-
planting about the first of May. For the crop new or fresh land is usually taken, To
insure a good stand, the transplanting must be in wet weather. Montgomery: Seed-
beds prepared in January and February by burning the ground thoroughly; the earth
and ashes well mixed and pulverized; the seed brushed in; the ground tramped or
packed, and covered with a thin layer of brush. A wet season is indispensable for set-
ting the plants. When the tobacco attains a sufficient size and number of leaves, the
lower leaves are stripped off to the height of about eight inches, and the top taken off,
leaving eight to ten leaves growing on the stalk. No fertilizers are hereused, Nelson :
Soon as the plant is large enough it is topped from eight to ten leaves, after taking off
three or four of the bottom leaves. Soon as topped it begins to throw out suckers or
sprouts just above each leaf. Then comes “the tug of war” to keep the crop clear
of suckers and horn-worms. This requires the entire crop to be gone over, and each
plant carefully examined about once a week. Fertilizers—such as bone-phosphate,
Hureka tobacco-fertilizer—are used to some extent; but stable-manure is universally
preferred, as being cheaper and more reliable. The ripe plants are cut out from time
to time as they ripen, and are either hung up in the sun for two or three days or car-
ried, as some prefer, immediately to the house. After wilting for several days, and
until yellow spots begin to show on the leaves, slow fires are made under the tobacco,
and gradually increased until the leaf is entirely cured. Powhatan: Stable or cow-
yard manure is generally spread on the land, and plowed under in the fall, and the
jand refallowed in the last of April or first of May. The most popular fertilizers are
the Pacific soluble and Gilham’s tobacco-fertilizer. Pittsylvania : Commercial fertilizers
are used. It is supposed that barn-yard manure will not produce as fine quality of
tobacco as some artificial fertilizers, though it is acknowledged that most of these are
not beneficial te the land. Prince Edward: As the season advances the plants are
pruned and topped lower, leaving a smaller number of leaves, in order to bring a uni-
form ripening, as far as practicable. The tobacco is cured by making fires of logs on
the floor of the barn, extending across the floor, and four or five feet apart. Peruvian
and soluble Pacific guano are most used. Soft gray land is selected for the plant-beds,
and prepared for the seed by burning with wood cut for the purpose. Spottisylvania:
Peruvian guano and other fertilizers are extensively used. Old land manured makes a
thicker, heavier leaf than fresh or new land from the woods. New land will produce
only three-fourths as much in quantity as old. Not half the tobacco-growers put out
a single plant, the fly having destroyed all the plants; but a few made better erops
than for years. When the tobacco-bed was made beside a running stream, and a diteh
ent around the bed, making it on an island, the plants escaped the fly.
The coal-cured tobacco of North Carolina is cut when it begins to yel-
low in the hill. In the barn it is first heated gradually until the leaf is
nearly cured, when the temperature is raised to 175°, and kept at that
point until the cure is complete. Heavy fertilizing is avoided for the
bright, charcoal-cured, high-priced grades, to. obviate the danger of a
dark color and bad bloom from too much sap. On this account it is
grown usually on new land, in a light, gray soil, for two consecutive
vears after the removal of the forest, with a small quantity of fertilizers,
if necessary, to give the plants sufficient size. In Warren, seed-beds are
a
te 117
made by burning a moist, rich bottom, dug thoroughly four to five feet
deep; the seeds are raked in quite shallow, the bed trampled with the
feet, and covered with brush. Well-decomposed stable-manure is freely
applied as a top-dressing to the plants, to keep up a high temperature,
to hasten growth, and prevent the depredations of the fly; and in some
eases, tobacco-stalks, chopped fine, Peruvian guano, hen-manure, and
hog-hair. While fertilizers of all sorts are used in field-culture, the
main reliance of the best farmers is found in farm-manure and wood-
ashes.
In Gadsden, Florida, “‘ the heretofore prevalent opinion that freshly
cleared land was essential to the production of a fine quality of tobacco
is fast givinge*way as the result of experience, it being found that suc-
cessive crops may be grown on the same land without any deterioration
in quality, so long as the fertility of the soil is maintained at its original
standard and it is kept from being fouled with grass and weeds.
Usually upon lands appropriated to tobacco no fertilizers are used for
the first and second crops; after that a compost of barn-yard manure
and cotton-seed, applied in the hill, is found to give the best results. In
cultivation, if a lighter article is desired, the plow may be dispensed
with after breaking up the land, and the cultivating done with the hoe.
If a thick, heavy leaf is desired, the plant is topped so as to leave
twelve or fourteen leaves; if a lighter article, it may grow until it
begins to throw out the seed-branches.”
Fertilizers are little used in Tennessee; growers in certain counties
have scarcely heard of their use. New land is the main reliance. In
Smith, where the soil is very fertile, ‘‘ the practice of the tobacco-raiser
has been to begin at the bottom of the hill, clear off a few acres, put
them in tobacco trom year to year till they become exhausted, and then
go up the hill a few acres higher; thus wearing out, as it is called, and
too truly, one field after another, until the tobacco-growing part of the
county, which is a little more than half its area, is greatly exhausted.”
In West Virginia tobacco is grown almost exclusively on recently
cleared land, the best crop being obtained the second year, without
fertilizers, and a sure crop of wheat follows.
Kentucky, the great tobacco State, is thus reported on the points of,
culture and curing:
Adar : The best piece of ground the farmer has is set apart for tobacco. Jt has for
along time been the habit to clear up a piece of woodland and plant it in tobacco
until it is too poor to produce that crop; but since most of the good timbered lands
have been cleared out, the farmers use manure to produce the crop, generally placing
a good spadefulin each hill. Ifthe seasonis wet, manure increases the crop greatly but
if dry, it burns it, andis notof muchuse. Ballard: No fertilizers used. Bracken: We
use no fertilizers except well-rotted stable or barn-yard manure, which does well on old
land. But new ground is best for tobacco, except for the finer qualities, and to this end
farmers are constantly clearing up new land and old thickets and waste-places for fresh
soil. Christian: The best landsare selected, as tobacco will not grow to any profit on poor
Jand. Manure from the farm, but no fertilizers used. Clinton: No fertilizers except
stable-manure. Cumberland: A large amouut of our tobacco is cured without firing.
Edmonson: Generally new ground is used for tobacco and then planted in corn. J'lem-
ing: The crop from new land is always superior in quality, and farmers endeavor to
clear up a sufficiency for it. Grant: No fertilizers used. Grayson: My neighbor’s
ground and mine were about equal in condition, planted abont the same time, and the
crops grew very much alike until topping, worming, and suckering commenced. Dif-
ferénce in management after that caused the following results: My six acres made
5,600 pounds; his twelve acres, 5,300 pounds. Graves: The best tobacco raised on new
land. No commercial fertilizers used. Hardin: Grown on new ground, without any fer-
tilizer. Hart: Generally raised on new ground, and no fertilizer used. Stable-manure
is used on thin soil. Letit stand until thoroughly ripe; cut and handle very care-
fully ; house immediately in close barns; place several charcoal fires in each room, and
keep them up until the tobacco is perfectly yellow, or,as some term it, white—the
118 / *
lighter the better. ‘Then increase the fires, and continue them until the stem is per-
fectly cured and dry. This produces a fine wrapping-leaf, worth 20 cents to $1 per
pound. . Flues and other modes of curing have been much used, but all growers who
have tried it now conclude that the method of charcoal-curing is preferable to all
others. Henry: The very best lands available are selected; new land preferred; but
frequently a series of crops are taken ffom a newly cleared field before it is too much -
exhausted to render further cropping in tobacco profitable. Then it is put in small
grain and grasses and is soon renewed. No fertilizers are used. Hickman: No fertili-
zers are used,‘as the ground used for tobacco is mostly fresh land, and seldom planted
in tobacco more than two years. Hopkins: No fertilizers used. Larue: No fertilizer
on new ground; on old, stable-manure well rolled. Rarely grown on the same land
more than twice. Livingston: Mostly grown on new land; when on old, it is enriched
by barn-yard manure. Logan: Farmers use little or no commercial fertilizers. They
select new ground, or the best old they have, and use as much manure in the hill as they
can scrape up from the stable, barn-yard, &c. Mason : Generally cultivate new ground
and use no manure; orif any, stable-manure. Marshall: No fertilizer, except barn-yard
or stable-manure when raised on land which has heen cultivated afew years. Generally
raised on fresh land. McLean: When old land is used, barn-yard manure is put in
the hill or spread; no other fertilizer used. Meade: Generally clear up fresh land, but
some plant on old by using manure from the stable. Ohio: Fertilizersseldom or never
used. Fresh ground is generally selected and cultivated in tobacco three years, and
then some other crop is cultivated. Owen: Fing tobacco must be grown on fresh but
thin land; usually an oak-growth is best adapted to it. Nothing is used in the enring
except to let it hang under a shed where it is not exposed to sun orrain. No fertilizer
used. After being cleared up the ground is usually put in tobacco two or three years,
and then not again till after years of rest in grazing. Pendleton: Generally cultivated
on new ground; no fertilizers used. Lobertson: Use no fertilizers; either plant on
new ground or sod-land. Four-fifths raised is on the former, which will stand two
crops in succession. Shelby: Generally, though not exclusively, cultivated on new or
fresh lands. White-oak lands are the best for a fine article. No fertilizer is used ex- -
cept stable-manure, and that seldom, as its product is a dark, coarse article, not very
salable. The plants are not allowed to blossom before they are topped, as recom-
mended by writers on tobacco-culture ; it would be too exhausting to the plant ; topped
as soon as they have as many leaves as will mature before frost. If set out early,
twelve to sixteen leaves are left; if late, a less number. If the season is not too wet,
fire is seldom used in curing in the tobacco-house. Simpson: No fertilizers used ex-
cept barn-yard manure and wood-ashes. Todd: Stable-manure is used on old lands.
Follow clover with tobacco when we do not have fresh-cleared lands. Trigg: Usually
set in ground newly cleared, but latterly farmers’ are rotating their crops; tobacco
first, then wheat with clover and timothy; the third and fourth years the hay is cut
and the land pastured, then planted in tobacco again. No fertilizer except stable-
manure made on the farm is used. Warren: The best land is generally selected for
the crop, and barn-yard manure only is used. Webster: Well-rotted stable-manure the
only fertilizer used. Boone: No fertilizers used. Gallatin: Generally planted on new
land or old soil, and no fertilizers used. Bad peculiarities mostly preceed from bad
culture: First, neglecting too long to thoroughly work the plant after setting, causing
it to run up in aspindling manner and the main stalk to harden and make™ho leaf.
In such case the best plan is to cut the plant off at the ground, leaving one leaf and
bud for a second plant, which, properly caved for, may yet make good tobacco. A sec-
ond cause is too much wet weather after the plant starts to grow, causing it to ‘ French,”
as we term it: the leaf thickens, grows very narrow, dagger-shaped, frequently not
broader than a case-knife, and often as many as fifty leaves on a plant, all of them
spread out on the ground. In this case the best plan is to pull the plant up, as i6 is
worthless. Carroll: The White Burley takes its name of “ white” from the peculiar
whitish appearance of the plants just before maturity. There is nothing different in
the mode of cultivation from the old kind, except that it is desirable to plant on new
ground. The plants then grow rapidly and mature before the sun has lost its full _
warmth, thereby insuring the light and bright color which is so desirable with pur-
chasers. The beds should be sown as soon as the ground is dry enough to work, the
land well prepared by plowing and harrowing—a ridge made by throwing three fur-
rows together, three feet apart and marked across same distance—thaf the crop may
be mainly cultivated with the plow. The plants are topped at from twelve to twenty
leaves. The time for cutting can only be learned by experience, but will be indicated
by the breaking of the leaf when pressed between the fingers. Afteritis cut and hung
en scaffolds out of doors it should remain so, exposed to the sun for ten days, or until
the leaf has acquired a bright yellow hue. It must then be put under cover inahouse,
not ventilated, so that there may be no danger of “ house-burning.” This kind of
tobacco has been sold this year at from $15 to $25 per cwt., and often as high as $50
when prepared for market with care.
: erg
Fertilizers are not used in Ohio when new land is cultivated ; farm-
yard manure is preferred and used almost exclusively in most tobacco
counties for old land. In Vinton County, after stripping off the leaves
in the field, hauling to tightly constructed houses, and stringing on
strings with a flat needle, and curing three days with furnace heat, the
stock is ready to take down and pack for market.
In Indiana also farm-yard manure is required for old ground, on which
the largest crops are secured. In most tobacco-growing counties air-
curing is practiced, first on scaffolds and then in houses. Hickory lands
are in great request for tobacco. Very rarely are fertilizers used in IIli-
nois, fresh lands being mainly employed, yet farm manure is used some-
what upon fields long cultivated. Curing is done in open barns, or on
scaffolds, and in houses.
Missouri tobacco is largely grown on fresh soil, land being plenty, and
the culture given to this crop being an excellent preparation for wheat
and other crops. If a fine quality of manufacturer’s leaf is wanted, a
thin soil is selected on ‘oak and hickory uplands. If more than two
crops are taken, inferior quantity and quality result. In rich soil on pin-
oak land a dark, heavy article is grown. Fertilizers are scarcely ever
used ; on a small portion of the area, always in old ground, farm ma-
nure is applied. Clover-sod is also cultivated profitably in tobacco.
The old mode of curing is largely practiced; in some districts charcoal-
curing has been introduced, with increase of price to the extent of 25 to
50 per cent. What is called the “ Yankee plan” has been adopted by
‘some—stringing the leaves with a needle and fastening the strings to
the ends of the sticks.
MARKETING.
Some of our correspondents make note of the mode of packing and
marketing. The crop of Litchfield County, Connecticut, was mainly
bought, hanging on the poles, at 20 cents per pound. It is mostly de-
livered at the packing-houses of New Milford in bundles of 8 to 12
pounds, where it is sorted into four to six qualities, and packed in cases
of 375 to 400 pounds each; and, during the months of May and June,
undergoes a sweating, and becomes ready for market in August and Sep-
tember. Much of the last crop in Tolland County was sold before curing
at about 35 cents. Little of the New York production was sold until
February.
In Maryland the stripping is done through the winter and spring;
packing into hogsheads during spring and summer; and about one-half
is usually sent to market as early as August. A portion of the finer .
qualities is used in this country, but most of the crop goes to Europe,
where much of it is used for smoking. The Montgomery County pack-
ages vary from 500 to 1,000 pounds.
The fine tobacco of North Carolina is mostly taken to local manufac-
tories in a loose state. The coarse grades are, in part, sent in the same
manner, and a portion is packed in hogsheads, under pressure. The
Warren County crop is packed in hogsheads of 1,200 pounds, and sold
in Virginia, at Petersburg and Richmond.
The Robertson County, Tennessee, crop goes mainly to Germany,
France, Italy, and to Africa, except a small quantity of very fine dark
wrappers taken by home manufacturers. In Barren County, Kentucky,
after stripping, it is tied in bundles of twelve leaves each, and put into
hogsheads holding about 1,500 pounds. In Christian it is assorted gen-
erally into two classes, known as leaf and lugs, two-thirds to three-
fourths being leaf and the remainder lugs, packed into hogsheads of
120
1,400 to 2,000 pounds, according to quality. In Simpson, most of the
crop is sold in the hand to speculators. Most of the western tobacco
is exported,
EXPORTS.
A statement of the exports of tobacco in all forms, since 1866, is as
follows:
} i “a
Years. | Leaf-tobacco. Value. Birr Se “| Value. Snuff. | Value.
|
|
Pounds. Dollars. Pounds. Dollars: | Pounds. |Doilars.
Pit ate ek Gat Snell gp Beet ret 12, 221, 843 10, 008,606 | 1,869,157 | 86,055 | 20, 050
Bre eee ee LEELA A ARO RR Oe 7o 7, 456, 666 | 1,447,027 | 50,401} 11,526
TOO FG cteie mk meses paisa inte te Uhomtnie eS mine See 17, 009, 767 11, 210, 574 2, 400, 115 37, 245 10, 109
DE ork. SESE OCC AIDS BeO CARSHO) eS Soar a 21, 074, 038 14, 912, 811 3, 334, 401 239, 148 68, 090
ROOM: fresh. towel recess er bse, 15, 906, 547 17, 697,309 | 3,372,974} 39,923) 11,354
CETERA AROS haciendo, Dee pitt Th eae 13, 784, 710 14, 783, 363.| 2,742,828 | 81,465 | 17, 703
HAGE SNELL BE eS HIT BIOs ety 12, 325, 356 4,071,963 | 1,068,730 | 38,839 | 7,914
LBRdt cee te hase see OS. ce Eee ee 19, 752, 076 7, 025, 248 3, 384, 544 44, 924 13, 633
PRG Se aise ciswis tp amtie ieee’ He eee ee eee ee 22, 845, 936 8, 586, 494 3, 603, 756 28, 277 16, 813
1bhG: AG Thee PEO OE | ate 41, 592, 138 7, 294,165 | 3,439,979 | 93,159 | 39, 129
SF OE ee nate he cee epiwlac emis lures mine 180, 826, 248 29, 456, 145 6, 515, 709 1, 794, 689 18, 920 7, 981
PSO Ue we weer cocetccimt es easen 184, £03, 065 19, 620, 159 9, 601, 142 2, 795, 008 24, 342 12, 576
WRER? CAE Jsasseee eh 206, 020,504 | 22, 898, 823 10, 470, 024 | 3,100,084 | 11,393] 8, 730
TCO ook oeet cine Reel cinch ae 181, 527, 630 MO esNeR OAS: | o 2h. rain cpe'o saat 2, 759, 005 31, 497 20, 252
TOs oe cuss mete n cs eee 185, 748, 881 PNR |i Oe: 22 ee 1, 582, 995 20, 181 12, 226
TOA ees Cid sakes gan Stig 215, 667, 604 POVOOE 97 |osaspe lee 8 oe 2, 022, 434 18, 724 11, 683
BSS AR eis aD Et a tv ie 234, 936, 892 PE gE OLOO 68 ois ox o'aicie's 2" me 2,511, 866 15, 092 5, 241
LGUs Se ROR AS A ends ait 213,995,176 | 22,689,135 |....-. pean ies 2, 627,585 | 12,196 | 7, 462
TST ERA VT eS 318,097, 804,| 30,399, 181.|.-.....---.---- 2,537,782 | 15,716 | 7,092
A small quantity of cigars exported is not included in this table.
REPORT OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE.
Mr. Begole, from the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-
resentatives of the United States, to whom was referred so much of the
President’s message as relates to agriculture, submitted the following
report ; which was ordered to be printed :
The committee have spent considerable time in examining the working and opera-
tions of the Department of Agriculture, and find it in charge of a practical and expe-
rienced farmer and able and efiicient officer, assisted by a corps of efficient heads of
divisions. Notwithstanding the Commissioner has been to some extent hampered by a
lack of adequate appropriations, the operations of the Department for the year 1874
show a very satisfactory exhibit.
After a very unusual delay, Congress at its last session provided for the printing of
a small number of the annual report of the Commissioner of this Department. Fifty
thousand dollars was appropriated for this purpose. The Congressional Printer printed
and bound about twenty-seven thousand copies of the report for 1872, and one hundred
thousand copies of the report for the year 1873. Between forty-five and fifty thousand
copies of the report for 1873 have been delivered at the folding-rooms of the House of
Representatives and Senate, and are now available for the use of members of the two
Houses.
The committee find that the delay in the printing of these reports was a great dis-
appointment to the farming community all over the country, as it is the only work is-
sued by the Government in which the farmers are personally and directly interested.
When it is remembered that the last census established the fact that one-half of the
population of these United States are either directly engaged in agricultural pursuits
or are wholly dependent upon them for their support, that would certainly be a wise
policy which would foster the only branch of the civil service devoted entirely to the
interests of this great producing class. The commercial and manufacturing interests
of this nation are of great importance, but they are both secondary when compared
with the important interests involved in agriculture. Notwithstanding the vast im-
provements in agricultural machinery, the recent wonderful discoveries in agricultural
chemistry, and the still greater discovery in the growth and formation of plants, the
Government seems to take less interest than formerly in fostering this important and
really paramount branch of industry. .
121
We are pre-eminently a nation of farmers, and as such are likely to remain for many
generations to come. Our temperate and stimulating climate, the variety of our soil,
and the great diversity and range of latitude and elevation, give us almost every cli-
mate and condition of temperature necessary for producing all the valuable plants
and fruits in the greatest abundance. The rural tastes of our people and the vast do-
main of territory yet unopen to homestead occupancy combine to assure not only a
continuance but an increase in the interest hitherto manifested in agricultural pur-
suits.
It is a source of regret that so few members of either House of Congress visit the
Department of Agriculture and examine its workings. The committee have derived
both pleasure and profit from visits to this Department. If members from agricultural
districts, without regard to their professions, would give this Department of the Gov-
ernment a sniall share of their time and attention, it would be a source of great en-
couragement to the officers of this Department, and very much lighten their labors.
The extensive correspondence of this Department is strong proof of its importance
to the entire country. At this season of the year the letters received and answered
will average one thousand per day, and some days amount to two thousand, and even
three thousand, and yet, with this amount of work, the correspondence of the Depart-
ment is usually kept up to date.
Not only as evidence of the importance of this branch of the public service, but as
proof that the Commissioner of Agriculture properly appreciates the great work in-
trusted to his care, the following quotation is given from his last preliminary report to
the President, which will accompany his annual report for 1874, and which has already
been made to this House and ordered to be printed:
“Tt gives me great pleasure to know that the operations of this Department for the
past year have served to awaken and greatly increase a spirit of improvement in the
agricultural interests of the country. A territory so extensive as ours, possessing
every variety of fertility aud every diversity of climate which are congenial to the
preductions of the earth, and with a population whose habits, manners, customs, en-
_joyments, and wants differ as much as the climate in which they live or the countries
from which they come, requires a supervision which shall adapt itself as much as pos-
sible to an appreciation of their condition, meet their wants, and make that provision
for their necessities and improvement which their situation will not allow them to
make for themselves. The isolated situation of the farmers affords them few opportu-
nities of keeping step with the rapid march of the world’s progress, and any aid which
can be given them by this Department is as strongly marked as it is highly appreci-
ated. For their benefit, it has been the province of this Department to seek for the
best seeds which the world can supply, to study their adaptation to the soil and climate
of the country, and to put them into the hands of those who will make them profita-
ble to the section where they respectively reside. When any discovery is made in
the method of cultivation or propagation, it is promptly communicated through the
medium of a monthly publication. Many persons, in this and other countries, are
constantly engaged in experiments’to improve seeds and plants, as well as the discov-
ery of new methods for their cultivation, whereby the work of the farmer may be made
more profitable. These are anxiously watched and the results promptly communi-
cated, and, when successful, availed of by extensive distribution. The counsel, advice,
and information of the Department are cheerfully given to all persons who apply on
any subject which pertains to the interests of agriculture.”
The principal means of communication between the Department of Agriculture and
the farmers of the country is the annual report of the Commissioner. This work con-
tains statistics of vital importance to the farming community, and its non-appearance
creates dissatisfaction among that large class engaged exelusively in the tillage of the
soil and other classes dependent upon them for support.
It is sincerely to be hoped that Congress will hereafter promptly provide for the
printing of the usual, if not a larger, number of copies of this valuable work. Ii is
only through its statistical division that reliable data can be obtained as to the condi-
tion, prospects, and results of the cereal, cotton, and other crops of the country.
With from one to four correspondents in each county of almost every State and Ter-
ritory of the Union, the Department is enabled to furnish information of great value,
at stated periods of each month, as to the probable production of any given crop. The
returns from these correspondents are carefully studied, estimated, tabulated, and pub-
lished, not only for the benefit of the farmers, whose interest is paramount to all oth-
ers, but also for the benefit of the merchants and manufacturers who deal in the vari-
ous productions of the farm and garden. By this means legitimate parties are pro-
- ok from the rapacity of the speculator, who deals most profitably upon fabricated
reports.
So reliable has this information become that its effects upon the markets of the coun-
try are very perceptible by nearly all business men, and it has therefore been found.
necessary, of late years, to carefully guard this information up to the hours of publica-
tion. These are current facts which appear in the monthly reports.
122
The annual report contains a condensed statement of the operations of the year, and
of course embodies information concerning the growth and development of the country
which cannot be obtained through any other channel.
As this information is intended for the benefit and encouragement of the great pro-
ducing class of the country, Congress should not hesitate to grant whatever appropri-
ations may be deemed necessary to render the Department useful and efficient in
the discharge of the important duties intrusted to it.
Referring to the Congressional Record, it is shown that Congress authorized the
publication and made adequate appropriations for the printifg of 165,000 copies of the
annal report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1865, 225, 000 copies for
the year 1870, 225,000 copies for the year 1871, and but 25,000 copies for the year 1872,
and 100,000 copies for the year 1873.
What disposition of the report for the year 1874 will be made by Congress remains
to be seen.
+ From the daily correspondence in the hands of the Commissioner of Agriculture, the
importance of procuring new and valuable seeds is made quite obvious. Varieties of
the cereals formerly prized here haye been from year to year deteriorating, and the
product per acre of staple grains has been steadily diminishin Perhaps one of the
principal causes of deterioration is the slight attention paid by Nl to the selection
of seeds; but, while this is the case, it should be remembered that securing the very
best seeds is not all that is necessary. The very best seeds, those that yielded most
abundantly on the best-prepared soils, will either fail or show a poor return on worn-
out or poorly-prepared soils. While this is the case, there seems to be no good reason
why farms that at one time yielded thirty bushels of wheat per acre should now pro-
duce only from twelve to fifteen bushels per acre.
As evidence of the great benefit to accrue to the material and productive interests of
the country, as reached by the operations of the Department of Agriculture, it willonly
be necessary to call your attention to a single instance to fully illustrate this. As
shown by reliable returns, the oats-crop of 1868 amounted to 254,960,800 bushels ;
acreage, 9,665,736 ; average yield per acre, 26.36 bushels ; value of crop, $142,484,910 ;
average price per bushel, fifty-five cents.
Reports of experiments with the “Excelsior oats,” a new variety imported by this
Department for this and former years, show an average production of forty bushels
per acre, sixty bushels not being an uncommon yield. Estimating the average produe-
tion per acre, if generally introduced, an increase of but four bushels per acre over the
average yield of 1868, and the addition to the wealth of the country in the item of
oats alone would be 38,622,944 bushels, or $21,264,619 in value. The weight of the
produet of this variety of oats, fora few years afte its introduction, may be fairly aver-
aged at twenty-five per cent. above the common Binds, estimating the latter at thirty
pounds per bushel and the former at thirty-six pounds, although in many cases forty
and forty-five pounds per measured bushel have been repor ted. Add twenty-five per
cent. to the sum above ascertained, and an increase will be shown in the productive
industries of the country of the enormous sum of $25,517,542 per annum.
Other new and valuable seeds introduced by this Department have shown equally ~
gratifying results.
As before stated, our great diversity of soil, climate, and elevation gives our country
an advantage over any other single sovereignty in the civilized world, Unlike most
. other countries, we export all the productions of the soil necessary to sustain life. There
is scarcely a cereal, a plant, or a fruit that we cannot produce here in the greatest
abundance. Our territory.is extensive, and its climate is as varied as its miles and
degrees in latitude and longitude. While on the north we have a climate in which all
the hardier plants and fruits may be raised in the greatest abundance, on the south
we have a climate varying from temperate to tropical, whereall the semi-tropical fruits
and plants may be raised at a profit to the producer.
Your attention is called to the efforts of the Commissioner to impress upon the peo-
6 of the Southern States the importance of the cultivation of the jute-plant, which
has become an article of great commercial importance.
The report of the directors of the State Agricultural Society of California for the year
ps oe that the wheat-crop of that State alone amounted to about thirty millions
of bushels.
Owing to the high price of sacks and no timber in that country suitable for making
flour-barrels—the product must always be shipped in the grain in sacks—and the lim-
ited facilities afforded for transporting this immense yield of grain to market, the produ-
cer receives but a small return from the crop. After appealing to the farmers of the State
to provide against such contingencies hereafter by purchasing their sacks rly in the
season, the directors say: ‘‘ Nearly all of our grain-sacks are now made of the fibers of
a plant called jute. The principal place of production of this plant is now in India, in
the British possessions of that country, and the principal place of its manufacture, not
only into cloth but into sacks, is Dundee, Seotland. The cost to the farmers of Cali-
fornia to sack their last crop of wheat was not less, but probably more than $2,450,000.
123
At the ruling prices of wheat at the time these sacks were bought and paid for, it
required 2,722,220 bushels of wheat, or a little more than one-eleventh of all the wheat
produced, to pay for them. This large amount of money was subtracted from the
profits of the farmers of the State to pay for the labor of producing the raw material in
India, the freighting of that raw material to Dundee, the manufacturing of it into sacks,
and finally freighting them to San Francisco and distributing them throughout the
State, with the addition of the profits of the merchants, brokers, insurance-houses, &¢.”
Since this report was made it has been demonstrated that the rich bottom-lands of
California, particularly those in the southern section of the State, and large sections of
our other Southern States, where facilities for irrigation are at hand, produce not only a
good plant and material, but actually as abundant as the best localities in India. Last
year the Commissioner of Agriculture imported, direct from India, a large amount of
jate-seed, which was principally distributed among the farmers of California and to
those of the Southern or Gulf States, where it has been shown that it can also be pro-
duced abundantly and profitably. .
The “ramie plant,” another fibrous plant of great value, was some years ago intro-
duced by this Department, and is succeeding well in the Southern States. So impor-
tant are these new sources of industry regarded that immense sums of money are now
being invested in perfecting machinery for the manipulating and manufacture of the
fiber. Specimens of both the raw material and the manufactured goods are to be seen
at the Department of Agriculture.
Tt is certainly the duty of the Government to encourage the growth and development
of all new enterprises that promise to better the condition of our people, to assist in
developing new interests that are likely to add to our prosperity and happiness as a
nation, by causing us to be less dependent upon foreign governments for supplies which
ean be produced most abundantly here. The soil and climate of California and many
of the Southern States is adapted to the successful cultivation of jute, ramie, New
Zealand flax, cotton, silk, coffee, tea, opium, rice, and the various kinds of tropical fruits,
such as the pine-apple, banana, mango, cocoa-nut, plantain, and many other valuable
fruits, and medicinal and coloring plants, while the Northern and Middle States pro-
duce abundantly of hemp, flax, all the cereals, pork, beef, mutton, and wool.
The past year was one of more than average prosperity to the farming community,
and since the marketing of the crop of 1874 a very perceptible improvement has taken
place in the commercial interests of the country. The question of cheap avenues of
transportation is one that still claims the attention of those engaged in farming opera-
tious. While the farmers of the country do not desire to interfere with the lawful and
just rights of transportation companies, they feel that they have important and even
Vital interests involved in the controversy, and are of the opinion that some equitable
means might be devised whereby tNese companies would be compelled to show less
discrimination in favor of certain market points.
A very large portion of our western territory and several of the newer States of the
West was overrun by grasshoppers during the growing-season of last year, and immense
damage was caused by their ravages. Portions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minne-
sota, and the Territory of Dakota suffered fearfully. Such a scourge has never swept
over any part of this great country before. The growing crops, in fact all vegetation,
were all swept away as by a devastating fire, leaving neither food for man nor beast,
and the people in a destitute condition. Notwithstanding the many noble efforts for
the relief of these people, much suffering has already been felt, and it is feared that the
worst has not yet been experienced.
The Goyernment promptly authorized the distribution of one hundred thousand dol-
lars’ worth of Army rations for the relief of the sufferers, and more recently-Congress
has appropriated thirty thousand dollars for the purchase and distribution of seeds for
the renewal of their crops in the coming spring. The help thus afforded has relieved
much distress and suffering, but still further assistance is called for.
The committee would recommend Congress to grant without delay whatever assist-
anenses within its legislative province for the relief of these distressed and sufiering
people.
r]
CHEMICAL MEMORANDA.
By Wm. McMurtriz, CHEMIST.
Mr. Abram McMurtrie, of Belvidere, Warren County, New Jersey, has
for many years past made use of the dark, steel-gray limestone of that
locality, for agricultural purposes, and has repeatedly found that the
lime produced from it seemed in nearly every case to have a rather
124
injurious effect, but was wholly unable to account for it. When the
lime was placed out in open fields to slake, the spots occupied by the
heaps, even when the lime was removed very carefully and no ap-
preciable quantity was left behind, remained perfectly barren for two
or three subsequent years. Very frequently the crops to which the
lime was applied showed indications of an injurious action in a very
decided manner, and this influence always appeared more marked in wet
than in dry seasons. In fact, a wet season sometimes determined a
complete loss of the whole crop, especially when it happened to follow
immediately upon the application. Believing that a change in the kind
of lime employed would at least occasion no loss, Mr. MeMurtrie was
induced to try alime produced from stone taken from a quarry three or
four miles distant, and said to be particularly beneficial in its results.
This limestone was of very light gray color, somewhat resembling gran-
ite in appearance, and the lime produced from it, when thrown out in
heaps to slake, though rather dark at first, upon siaking changed to a
light buff-color. Its effects seemed to be almost directly opposite to
those of the lime previously employed, and the difference between the
effects being so decidedly marked, it was considered of some impor-
sance to investigate the cause of this action by means of chemical analy-
sis. Samples of the limestone were therefore obtained and analyzed
with the following results: ,
No. lis a sample of that producing the beneficial results. It was
obtained from a vein running across the farms of George Radle and
Philip Raub, near Oxford, and has the following composition :
IM OISTHTO: 27255 0 e's os ee ee ee 6h eS ee ee eee Ou7
Carbonate Of lithe 2 8228 eli ee ee os. a eee eee 92. 61
Carbonate ofmagiesia® 2 PPbeo8 ede SS eae io sae ee 0.914
Oxidevof*iron and‘aluminalitees. Joss St ee eee eee 2. 06
Silla vs. 2 betes See eee its thle eel tates aoe ers
" 100. 034
No. 2 was obtained from the quarries of Mr. A. Depue Roseberry,
near Belvidere, and has the following composition :
Moistureand organic’ matter 2.2 ../-\es2a0% 4-0 ee ees Soe Je = 1. 30
Sila sce she Sio3 4e6 sweces shes eed-eeGhe «tented Jeeeee 46 eee rr 3.31
Peroxide of ironsand .aluminga. .. .. .. 2). co sas nlsic soos Jeet eee eee 2.12
Carbonate of lime.....-.--.-. cid mcabuteieceec.. secwenpbe pee zeeeenty 51. 20
Carbonate of sMAGNeSIA .2-. ci0 Soe o sas teen ss ete ee ee vee ee eee ee 42.10
PHOsphoric¢ iacid 2... oe oon see nca sme clee == a = heme trace.
100. 03
No. 3 was taken from the quarries of E. J. Mackey, located very near
the boundary of Belvidere. The analysis resulted as follows:
Tae ee oe eee ee Oe RE. SORE 2.13
Peroxide of iron and alumina sso. 4S ee. ee eee 0.82
Garbonate of lime’. .2c.b oes). not ote eee. Sect ee eee ee 56. 80
Carbonate of magnesia 2.1225... 2c seek. -- 2 sone aoe ene ie ee 38. 31
EAHOSPNOTIC: ACIG., -../c- dae scene eeeemeee ++) see aeee eee eee Ere Trace.
99. 46
A glance at these analyses is sufficient to show that the deleterious
effects of the lime produced from the limestone from the quarries rep-
resented by Nos. 2 and 3 are due to the high percentage of magnesia
they contain, and that the beneficial effects of the other lime is due to
‘the absence of this constituent.
Many agricultural chemists acknowledged as authorities fail, in their
125
writings upon the subject of mineral fertilizers, to note the fact of the
injurious action of caustic magnesia upon vegetation, and in fact the
only writer who seems to have recognized it is Sir Humphrey Davy,*
who reports experiments upon this subject made by himself, and others
made previously by Mr. Tennant. He explains the injurious effects
upon the theory, since confirmed by experiment, that caustic magnesia
in presence of caustic lime absorbs carbonic acid very slowly, and that
on this account remaining a long time in the soil in the caustic state
exerts the deleterious influence noticed in the limes mentioned above.
The limes in question were applied to rather light sandy or gravelly soil,
but, according to Davy, the same lime might be applied to heavy soils, con-
taining considerable quantity of organic matter with decidedly good re-
sults, and that upon light soils, where pure lime is not obtainable, the
magnesian limestone should be applied in small quantities. The caus-
tic action of the magnesia may in such cases be very materially amelio-
rated .by a tolerably heavy application of stable-manure. In the local-
ity in New Jersey referred to, however, we would advise those farmers
who have suffered the inconveniences and losses resulting from the use
of magnesian limestones to employ the other, even though they may be
subjected to greater expense in the matter of transportation.
It has been suggested that the magnesia combining with water and
silica forms a hydraulic cement in the soil, and that the injurious effects
are due to such a combination.
This can not, however, be considered a correct theory, since these
magnesian limestones have been used upon clay soils and their applica-
tion to such soils has no deleterious effects. It would seem that the
magnesia reacting upon the silicate of alumina forms a double silicate of
alumina and magnesia, thus neutralizing its causticity, and that the
injury consequent upon the application of magnesia lime to sandy or
gravelly soils is to a large extent due to a deficiency of clay.
The following are the results of a sample of dark-colored cranberries
from New Jersey :
a feo ENS Se, 25 eee Re RA of a le 85. 50
es sted ae ue te been Hae 13. 25
UR a no ns cecnce ean ons Hotes chen Soicaseebeasee sede 0. 25
100. 00
The inorganic matter contains :
aE Pa ah A he 0. 874
SP MOU@ null ta) SS A Sa Desa Seg) ile ak tea ae 2. 563
ean 2s oo oe 3's aloes gene - oie ae aba eas Se ee 2.710
a Eh A em ey co Oe: 2 Py ACen een Bee th a trace.
Ta a ee oe ose So no ene cE Wace mrem ice iba Ss
a tepals RR See cl i AA glare RL tga ad 19. 309
Sulphuric acid .......-..-. De SCS Seeeete Bas | HANNE onc casa BEle, Mei eetie ELS e Ouc 5. 870
Nee 8 en cmon wip mula indepen inns Vice Alseeey 1. 260
a ESA Lr Bs ane tae, eer 56, 683
Nee ee rariplmnmnein ahah clacn meade pete 9. 338
99. 860
* The supplement to the Mark Lane Express for February, 1875, con-
tains an interesting paper communicated by Professor Church to the
members of the Cirencester Chamber of Agriculture, showing the results
of a number of analyses made in the interests of agriculture. The sub-
stances analyzed consist principally of fertilizing and feeding mate-
rials. One peculiarity in mixed-seed cakes analyzed, which had an
*Elements of Agricultural Chemistry, London, 1814,
126
injurious effect upon the animals fed with them, was the presence
of tin scraps in small particles. This amounted to not more than
one part in one thousand, but in the case of a waste bran which
was analyzed it reached five parts per thousand. He also notices the
fact that spent bran obtained in England often contains oxalic acid, sul-
phurie acid, and blue vitriol; that barley-meal is adulterated with
wheat-flour, and that both are often adulterated with sulphate of baryta,
and more frequently with ground gypsum. In fact, he cites one “ mix-
ing stuff” which contained 72 per cent. of gypsum and nearly 8 per cent.
of fiber. These facts, while they are of very great value to English ag-
riculturists, are not devoid of interest to American producers and con-
sumers, especially in the easterly portions of our country, where adul-
teration is being practiced to considerable extent.
Among other analyses he gives the following, showing the composi-
tion of Gallega officinalis, a leguminous plant which has been proposed.
as a substitute on clover-sick lands, and which is somewhat similar to
lucerne :
Analysis of Gallega officinalis.
In 100 parts of the—
Fresh | Dry
plant. | plant. Seed.
Mioistama o Sel MACs Ack ee ee eee eee Coe fe eee 61, Oey eae 14.9
ORs 2 SHA ERT RRS fet pa 2 PRS eee Renee es Pewee Tae? CS 13 6.5 7.0
UVM S04 eens yy SRE Soe e ner aios ne aeeee 4,1 22.9 33. 2
Sugar, starc#, mucilage, and digestible cellulose - - 6.9 38. 8 31.6
Ihe Velveresihl Veal ec Aaa see ere ce eee aes me af MSE 4.5 24.8 10. 4
eR eae Vowe = Oke teen Saat eee ce ie oe Gatco te steels Sen ane ee ete 1.3 7.0 | 2.9
BOTANICAL NOTES.
By Dr. Gro. Vasry, CHEMIST.
In the Garden (London) for February 13, mention is made of an
American plant, Xerophyllum asphodeloides, which has found its way into
cultivation in England, although very little known here in its own
country. The writer says:
I saw this rare and beautiful hardy plant, which grows in grass-like tufts, flowering
freely in the York nurseries last summer. Its leaves are from 4 to 20 inches in length,
and not more than the eighth of aninchin width. Their upper surface is flat, the under
sides convex and furrowed, and the edges are furnished with minute teeth resembling
those of a miniature saw. The longer leaves are gracefully recurved, while the shorter
ones, which are in the center, are more or less erect, forming altogether a graceful cir-
cular plume. The flowers, which are white, are produced in an erect spike from 12 to
18 inches high; and although the individual tlowers are not large, yet, owing to the
abundant. way in which they are produced, the general efiect is most beautiful, the erect
stem contrasting, in a striking manner, with the tufts of graceful recurving leaves at
its base. When this plant comes to be better known, it will doubtless be extensively
used for table and other decorative purposes, for which it is admirably adapted, as the
leaves are of such a texture as to withstand the effects of dry air and gas. ThisI have
proved, having had a plant of it in a room during the past three weeks. The pot in
which it grows is placed on the stand of a moderator lamp, the base of which is sur-
rounded with ivy-leaves interspersed with a few flowers, while the longer leaves of the
Xerophyllum gracefully recurve, and fall over and conceal the upper portion of the
stand, thus forming a very pleasing and ornamental object, and one which has been -
greatly admired. Although this plant will grow and thrive tolerably well in ordinary
garden soil, yet it succeeds best when planted in a compost consisting ot equal parts
ee ;
of peat, loam, and white sand. It forms a handsome object planted on rock-work. It
is acommon plant in the pine barrens of North America, from New Jersey and Oregon
southward.
The closing sentence will, perhaps, need a little explanation. It would
seem to convey the statement that the plant grows over the entire
country from New Jersey to Oregon, and thence southward. It is really
confined to a somewhat narrow belt of sea-coast from New Jersey to
North Carolina, but what appears to bethe same or aclosely allied species,
is also-found on the. Pacific coast from Oregon to Mexico. Why is it
not as deserving of attention in cultivation at home as abroad?
In the same paper is a list, accompanied with commendatory remarks,
of “some flowering trees and shrubs of North America,” in which are
named the Stuartia and Gordonia, (Loblolly Bay,) the magnolias, the
tulip-tree, red bud, fringe tree, silver-bell tree, (Halesia,) dogwood, (Cor-
nus florida,) catalpa, witch-hazel, mountain-ash, (Pyrus Americana,) crab-
apple, and several species of Prunus, among which, by some error, is
mentioned the Prunus cerasus, the sour or Morella cherry, of which it
is said; “The sour cherry is the most valuable of the native American
cherries.” The fact is that the Garden Red or sour Morella cherry is
an introduction from Europe.
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.
CHEESE-MAKING AT HIGH ALTITUDES IN FRANCE.—A writer in Le
Journal Pratique @ Agriculture presents a characteristic phase of Freneh
rural economy in his account of the cheese-manufactory of M. Charles
Durand, who took the prize medal at the Concours Regional Agricole of
Mende in 1874. Mende is one of the three arrondissements of the de-
partment of Lozére, in Southern France, an isolated, mountainous region
consisting mostly of a plateau from 2,300 to 3,000 feet above sea-level,
above which numerous mountain-crests rise beyond the line of perpetual
snow. Grain-culture in such a region is limited toa few localities, and its
scanty yield of food is eked out by chestnuts, acorns, and other spontane-
ous products of the forest. The population is scanty, poor, indolent, igno-
rant, and, as might be supposed, intrenched in local prejudices. Many of
the workingmen migrate to neighboring departments during the sum-
mer months to win a precarious subsistence for their families by day-
labor at low wages. Agriculture here is mostly pastoral and primitive.
Farming capitals are smal], and the amount and character of live-stock
held are generally indifferent. The processes and implements of culture
are also very rude. Yet this unpromising region has attracted a few en-
terprising and intelligent agriculturists, whose labors in utilizing its im-
perfect resources have developed very unexpected and gratifying results.
Among these M. Durand has made a tract of bleak mountain-land the
scene of a profitable stock-raising and cheese-manufacturing industry.
His estate, known as Salles-Basses, consists of 1,010 acres, of which 185
are in meadow, and the remainder in natural pasture, iuterspersed with
“bouquets” of trees. It is located in the mountains of Aubrac, about
fourteen miles from Marjevols, and at an altitude of 4,382 feet above sea-
level, where heavy snows, long winters, and rigors of climate render ce-
real culture impossible. Here, comfortable dwellings, large stables and
granaries, and two large cheese-factories (burons) have been built; large
areas have been inclosed, and extensive labors for sanitary and soil im-
provement and irrigation have been executed. Meadows already exist-
128
ing were brought to maximum fertility by judicious fertilization and
irrigation; good pastures were transformed into meadows, and in the
ordinary pastures the sod was made to extend itself gradually over
heather and moor. These results have been accomplished by soiling
animals, leveling, draining swampy declivities, and utilizing the surplus
waters for irrigation, &c. The pastures are fertilized successively by
shifting the stock-inclosures, and the meadows by stable-manure, which
is careiully preserved. In the case of milch-cows with calves, only the
latter are kept constantly inclosed; the mothers, being allowed free
range, are kept by maternal affection near their offspring, thus concen-
trating their droppings upon a small surface. The fences are high and
close, in order to protect the animals from the severe winds of the region,
and consequently to increase their flow of milk.
The herd consists of 400 animals, of which 200 are milch-cows. The
latter are gathered into two large ranges. Of the 400 animals, about 150
belong to M. Durand, and the remainder to other parties, who pay for
their sustenance and care. He usually charges 25 to 30 franes per
- head for pasturing young cattle from May 25 to October 13. In the
case of milch-cows, M. Darand generally uses the milk for cheese-mak-
ing and allows the owners a money equivalent. This it is difficult if
not impossible to average, for cows vary in the proportion of caseine in
their milk. His own animals consist of 30 calves, 6 beef-cattle, 24 bulls
of one, two, or three years of age, 25 heifers, and 65 milch-cows. Only
100 of these animals are wintered on this estate, the residue being sent
to another property of Lis in the department of Aveyron. Defective
and inferior animals are sold in October. The small product of milkand
butter during the winter season is mostly consumed on the farm.
Six or seven hands are employed perpetually at $50 to $60 per annum,
with board and lodging. About as many more are employed daring
the summer, at $30 to $35 for the season, with board and lodging. M.
Durand resides on this place about three months during the year, usually
from June 20 to September 20, and makes occasional visits during the
remainder of the year. The farm is in charge of a foreman. All the
draught labor is performed by oxen; half a dozen horses, half Arab and
half linglish blood, are used for the pleasure of the owner and his family.
The specific industry of Salles-Basses is cheese-production. M. Du-
rand, after ten years’ experiment, gave up the raising of fat calves. In
winter the dry food is too rich and unheaithy. It indaces chronic,irrita-
bility in the mother and a destructive diarrhea in the calyes dropped
during that part of the year, very few surviving. In summer the restric-
tion of cows to green grass produces other equally fatal intestinal diseases,
involving a burden of care and expense which has induced the proprie-
tor to abandon calf-raising altogether and to concentrate his efforts
upon cheese-making. One of his neighbors, an intelligent agriculturist,
criticises this policy, and intimates that the above-named difficulties
could be disposed of by proper management.
The main productive element of M. Durand’s enterprise, then, is the
cleese-product of 200 cows, which leave the stable about May 25, and
return October 13, making the average pasturing and milking season
one hundred and forty days. During the first eighty-one days, from
May 25 to August 15, the daily average yield of milk per cow-is 5 liters,
or 1.32 gallons. M. Durand estimates the average cheese-product at
1134 grams per liter, about equal to 15.2 ounces per gallon. The
daily cheese-product of the period is then 113.500 kilograms, or nearly
250 pounds. The total product for the eighty-one days is $1,000 liters,
or 21,398 gallons of milk, yielding 9,193.5 kilograms, or 20,270 pounds
129
of cheese. During the next twenty-five days, from August 15 to. Sep-
tember 9, the average daily yield of milk per cow is reduced 20 per cent.,
amounting to 4 liters, or 1.0567 gallons. The daily cheese-product falls
in the same proportion, amounting to 90.0080 kilograms, or about 1985
pounds. The total product of the period is 20,000 liters, or 5,285 gallons,
yielding 2,250 kilograms, or 5,960 pounds of cheese. During the closing
period of thirty-four days, from September 9 to October 13, the daily
average yield of milk per cow is stated at 2.6 liters, or 3.8 quarts. The
daily cheese-product of the herd is 59.92 kilograms, or 130.12 pounds.
The total eae of the closing period is 17,680 liters, or-nearly 4,660 gal-
lons, yielding 2,007 kilograms, or 4,424 pounds of cheese.
The total yield of milk for the season of one hundred and forty days
amounts to 118,680 litres or 31,353 gallons, averaging 847 liters or nearly
224 gallons per day. The total cheese-product was 13,450 kilograms,
29,754 pounds, averaging daily 96.07 kilograms or 212.52 pounds.
The established price of cheese is 1.20 franes per kilogram, or nearly
11 cents per pound. The total receipts of a season are stated at 16,165
francs, from which deducting 4,640 franes for the use of cows belonging»
to other proprietors, and about 7 ,000 franes for the total expense of the
estate, there remains a profit of 4,525 frances from the cheese industry
alone. The sale of animals, especially hogs, fattened upon the refuse
milk and whey, raises the average annual profit of this enterprise to
about 12,000 francs, or $2,400. The amount of whey left from cheese-
manufacture is sufficient to fatten not only the hogs raised upon the es-
tate, but also about 24 hogs belonging to neighboring proprietors, who
pay about 25 frances per head from June 1 to October 13. Hach day’s
residuum of whey is placed in vats, and kept for four to eight days, in
order to allow the butter which it holds in solution to come to the sur-
face. This butter is gathered and used for cooking; it is also placed
upon the tables of the workmen. It is of course not remarkably pala-
table, as it contracts a certain sourness of taste in the acid whey, which has
also dissolved a portion of its substance. The whey is, on the whole, a
good diet for hogs, though as the weather becomes warm it acquires a
strong odor from partial decomposition. The hogs devour it greedily.
At first its effect is cathartic, but this is only temporary. The growth of
the animals in size, flesh, and fat is normal, producing excellent meat.
The two buildings, denominated by courtesy cheese factories, (burons
or chalets,) are very simple structures, with earthen floors and surmounted
by lofts which serve as dormitories for the workmen. The main story
is divided into a large room furnished with implements for making
cheese and a cellar for storing it. The utmost cleanliness and thorough
ventilation are strictly enforced in every portion of the building. All
the utensils are daily scalded, washed, and dried, and the last trace of
acidity is removed before they are again used. Even a fine lady would
find no need of her vinaigrette to ward off any disagreeable odors.
The workmen are jolly, robust peasants, from twenty to thirty years of
age, who in all respects meet the writer’s ideal, except in kneading the
eurds with their knees, a practice which he justly veprobates on the score
of decency.
The cows are milked daily, at 4 o’clock a. m.and at 3 o’clock p.
m. Three or four men milk 100 cows with a remarkable promptness
and address. The animals are brought near the inclosure and treated
to a handful of salt, when the calves are allowed to draw the udders for
a few seeonds; these are then drawn back a little and the milking is
rapidly completed. Without these precautions the cows would retuse
to yield their milk; greater care is necessary in hot weather than in
5A
130
cold weather. The milk-buckets are immediately emptied into large
wooden vessels, which are carried to the factory on the shoulders of
porters by means of flexible poles. The milk, which is seldom heated,
is immediately strained into large vats holding about 30 gallons each,
and treated with rennet. The writer thinks that the excess of coagu--
lable matter produced by the copious infusion of rennet accounts for
the sharp taste of the cheese-product.
In about an hour the curd, having acquired proper consistence, is
cut with a wooden blade, ealled mésadou, and then worked upon a small
round board, pierced with holes, with a sort of staff or club, called me-
nole, in order to expel the whey. By slow manipulation a larger quan-
tity of cheese is obtained, but, according to common opinion, at some
sacrifice of quality. The curd is then placed in a large, shallow wooden
vessel, (faisselle,) with holes in the bottom and sides, and the operator,
with pantaloons drawn half-way up the thigh, presses it with naked hand
and knee, in order to eliminate the last remnant of whey, the animal
heat of the body imparting a special quality to the cheese. M. Durand
has been persuaded to substitute a more rational process for this rude
and primitive one, which in some cheese-farms of that region is carried
to a disgusting extreme; the workman, entirely nude, impresses his
inferior and posterior muscles upon the curd.
The curd, divided into cakes, after the last-named operation, is sub-
jected for twelve hours to the action of a press, and then allowed to fer-
ment for thirty-six hours in the cellar, where they enlarge in volume,
showing, like bread, an immense number of interior cavities. They are
then brought out and placed upon a low table, (selle,) made of a single
piece of wood, creased through the middle with a slight slope and small
trench, which carries off the final dripping. The workman then breaks
up the cake into small bits, first with a heavy club, and then with his
hands. ‘This is for the purpose of salting the cheese, which is then again
worked up, placed ina mold, and again subjected to pressure. The
mold is composed of three parts: 1, the /aiselle, or shallow wooden
vessel, before mentioned ; 2, the /feuille, a strip of beech-wood, 12 to 16
inches wide, bent into a cylinder; 3, the guirlande, a band 2 or 3 inches
wide, encircling the mold. The cheese having received the permanent
impress of the mold is remanded to the cellar, but it is continually cared
for till the time of its delivery. When a month old, it is sold by whole-
sale at 1.20 franes per kilogram, or nearly 11 certs per pound, to the mer-
chants of Marjevols, who send it to retailers of Paris and of Southern
France.
The writer, on the whole, thinks M. Durand’s system is the best for
utilizing the natural pastures upon the heights of Lozere. The breed of
cattle employed is the Vendéen, improperly called the Aubrac, breed.
The animals are selected while calves, and raised by the proprietor.
Their excellence is attested by one hundred and forty prizes taken by
them in the regional agricultural fairs.
WATER-SUPPLY OF THE SUABIAN ALPS.—From a memorial prepared
for the Vienna Exposition of 1873 the following facts are condensed :
The Suabian Alps form a table-land 3,000 feet above sea-level, with a
southeastern slope, broken up in terraces and occasional deep valleys.
A few beech forests are almost the only natural vegetation; bare and
stony fields greet the eye, relieved by scattered straw-roofed hamlets,
inhabited by genuine Suabian peasants, who adhere sturdily to their
antique customs. The name of Bauer (cultivator) is aristocratic, and
only applied to those who own four horses; he that has two or less is a
131
sdldner, kuhbauer, (renter, cow-farmer,)&c. The eastern portion of this
district embraces some of the wildest of the Alps. On the land which
is tilled the crops seem as if they grew out of the white dolomitic lime-
stone, which is barely covered by a thin soil, sprinkled with bowlders
and outcroppings of the rock strata. The average temperature is 46°
Fahrenheit; the rain-fall, 30 to 45 inches. The rain-water collects in
natural basins, near which the early settlers placed their dwellings,
but as population increased the supply soon became insufficient, and
cisterns were built. These were left open, and in summer covered with
algee, and defiled by the putrid streams from the numerous dung-heaps
and surface-drainage that was allowed to flow into them.
For a hundred years slight efforts have been made for improvement.
The use of cement linings and of tiles in place of thatch have been ben-
eficial, but the supply falls short every summer, and necessitates toil-
some carriage from the distant valley up the steep mountain-slopes.
Three remedies presented themselves—artificial reservoirs on a large
scale, deep wells, or pumping-engines by the valley-streams below. The
last seemed most feasible. The king of Wurtemburg authorized an at-
tempt to supply in this way sixty towns, containing 27,500 inhabitants, at
a cost of 1,500,000 gulden. Hight streams were selected, and the region
divided in eight corresponding districts. In addition to the inhabitants,
the stock was to be provided for at an estimate of 40 to 50 liters daily for
horses and cattle, and 20 to 25 for sheep, hogs, and young stock. The
first proposition from the royal council met with strenuous objec-
tions from the inhabitants ; the cost was too great; the supply insuffi-
cient, &c., &c., showing a want of confidence in the whole scheme.
The town of Justingen alone, by the efforts of Justice Fischer, expressed
@ willingness to make the experiment in connection with two neighbor-
ing villages, Ingstetten and Hansen. Work was commenced on the 11th
May, 1870, and on the 18th February, 1871, though the thermometer
was near zero, the water gushed from the hydrants in the high Alps
amid the rejoicings of the inhabitants who gathered from far and near
to witness the wonderful sight. Communities that strongly opposed the
innovation now begged for its introduction, and the government
engineer was accordingly instructed to execute the work as rapidly as
circumstances would permit. About twenty square miles have been
_ included in the system, at an average cost of 30 florins per head, of
which one-fourth is defrayed by the general government. The yearly
running expenses are about 2 florins per head, the water being raised by
overshot or breast wheels; and the increased value of land, the capacity
for keeping more stock, and security against fire, are amply recompens-
ing the government and people for the outlay. .
FRENCH AGRICULTURE IN 1874.—The Journal Pratique @ Agriculture
says that France during the last year, on the whole, had good harvests of
grain, but very poor ones of forage plants. The winter was of moderate
temperature, succeeded by severe spring frosts, occurring as late as May,
and inflicting serious injury upon grapes and other fruit. The high tem-
perature of summer, though not injurious to wheat, considerably reduced
the yield of oats, barley, and mowed crops. The lack of forage shows
its legitimate results in the condition of farm-animals in different regions
of the country. Scarcity of food compelled the marketing of live-stock
' with very imperfect fattening. The destructive Phylloxera ravaged the
southern vineyards, while the silk industry was embarrassed by the
presence of insect enemies. Agricultural hand-labor in some depart-
ments was in unusually short supply, and commanded exceptionally
high wages. In the agricultural regions where the Phylloxera caused
132
the pulling up of the vines, labor was superabundant, but here proprietors
and laborers were stricken by the same blow. Upon a general review
of the situation, the editor strongly dissents from the official statement
of President McMahon that the agricultural production of 1874 was
unexampled in the history of France. Ashi
Those parts of the country devoted to sugar-beet culture have but
little to complain of on the score of crops. They were favored with
seasonable weather, and contributed largely to feeding the population
by furnishing employment for labor, feed for live-stock, and fertiliz-
ing refuse for the soil. The journal, however, complains of the heavy
excise duty upon beet-sugar, which has approached that extreme limit
in which it ceases to be productive to the treasury. ‘Those parts
of France which, from lack of labor, capital, and fertilizers, failed to
put in a large crop of sugar-beets will long remember the droughts of
1874. The failure of forage-crops was a severe blow to the farming
interest. Many intelligent and practical agriculturists are directing
special attention to green maize as a forage-crop, though lucerne, clover,
sainfoin, roots, &c., are by no means to be neglected. Maize, however,
is recommended for those regions which are not favorable to the pro-
duction of sugar-beets and their transformation into sugar and alcohol.
During the year a great impulse was given to the trade in fertilizers.
more or less chemical in their character. . Preparations of nitrogen,
phosphates, and potassa were extensively used in all sections of the
country. The necessity of restoring to the soil all the elements extracted
from it was more generally recognized. Natural manures were supplie-
mented with commercial fertilizers. _Chemical science has simplified
its processes of analysis and multiplied its agencies of investigation
through agronomical stations and other institutions. The fertilizing
preparations offered the agriculturist have been analyzed at small cost
and their true value indicated. It is regretted that Peruvian gnano
was not subjected to the same test, and that its specific value as a fer-
tilizer was not authoritatively ascertained before going into the hands of |
the cultivator.
The trade in agricultural implements and machinery seems to have
opened upon a new era during the last year. Harvesters, horse-rakes,
mowers, drills, straw-cutters, and root-cutters were disposed of in greatly
increased number and variety. The steam-whistle was heard in the field.
Rival machinery was subjected to numerous public trials. Hand-labor
is yielding before machinery.
The improvement of animals for butchery continued, and numerous
large regional fairs were held for the exposition of live-stock generally.
A new école des haras was organized for the multiplication of horses
suited to the labors both of war and of peace. The Journal does not
very highly appreciate the necessity for this measure in view of the
excellent veterinary schools which furnish ample instruction to horse,
raisers. It is objected that this measure will do injury by weakening
still further the association of the horse-raising interest with general
agriculture.
Several large agricultural congresses were held at different points in
the country for the discussion of matters of importance to the agricul-
tural interest, such as the reclamation of land, the raising of horses, the
preservation of vines, the establishment of agronomical stations, &c.
A viticultural congress and a sericultural congress, both held at Mont-
pellier, bronght together the leading men in those important branches
of French fmdustry.
The Journal complains of themismanagement of the agricultural school
133
of Montpellier, and reiterates the general wail of French agronomists
over the suppression of the National Agronomic Institute of Versailles.
The regional schools, though excellent in their local sphere, cam never
meet the necessities of agriculture, which demand a national agronomic
university of the highest character.
The ministry of agriculture was reconstituted in its higher official
personnel as well as in its staff of inspectors. The Journal, however,
seems to draw but little consolation from this fact, as it suggests a
variety of abuses to which the new organization is liable. Among these,
political influence is especially dreaded. Yet great hopes are conceived
from the high character of the leading agronomical minds of France,
and the thorough organization of the agricultural interest. A more
intelligent use of capital and labor promises more hopeful results for
the future.
SHIPPING CRANBERRIES TO ENGLAND.—Efforts have recently been
made by the New Jersey Cranberry Growers’ Association toward estab-
lishing a permanent business in shipping cranberries to England. It is
hoped by this means to substantially enlarge the general market for that
article, and to check the downward tendency of prices consequent on
the increase in cranberry-cultivation. In the latter part of 1874, Mr.
P. T. Quinn, on behalf of the association, visited firms in London and
Liverpool with a view to trade arrangements. He found ‘that American
cranberries were virtually an unknown article in te London market,
but better known in Liverpool. A business ho ~< in the latter city
informed him that eight years ago five barrels of cranberries would have
filled demands of that market, and that in 1873 over one hundred barrels
of the fruit were sold there. Heremarks that one great difficulty in the
way of introducing the raw fruit into England is the entire want of knowl-
edge there respecting proper methods of preparation for table use. Mr.
Quinn concludes his report to the association by saying that it will require
time, perseverance, and some outlay to fairly introduce American cran-
berries into England, but that, with well-directed efforts, a large demand
for them can be created in that market. Other papers emanating from
the association show that some small shipments made to England by that
organization at the close of 1873 were unremunerative, and that the late-
ness of shipment contributed largely to the result. At the time of Mr.
Quinn’s visit cans of superior cranberry sauce or jam were distributed
by him among members of the English press and other parties, and elicited
warm commendation. More recently a certain London firm had been
constituted the foreign agent of the association.
In a letter to the Commissioner,in March, 1875, from Mr. HE. W.
Crane, of Caldwell, N. J., a gentleman prominent in the cranberry in-
terest, he says:
Until within the last eighteen mouths no organized effort had been made to intro-
duce American cranberries into European markets, though small lots had been shipped,
generally at a loss, by private individuals. My own firm (there being at the time no
organization disposed to undertake the enterprise) sent specimens of our fruit in the
natural state, and also prepared in various ways, to the Vienna Exposition, where .
they attracted much attention and received an award.
The large American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, is not an in-
habitant of Huropean countries. England, Scotland, and northern coun-
tries of the Huropean continent possess, instead, the small cranberry,
Vaccinium oaycoccus, (V. palustris, or V. vulgaris,) which is found also
in our peat-bogs from New England to Wisconsin, and is not in this
country considered a marketable article.
PROTECTION TO FARMERS.—The legislature of Vermont recently
passed an act constituting a board of commissioners, whose duty it is
134
to examine, from time to time, and report upon the various commercial
fertilizers offered in market within the State. They are expected to
ascertain and report the component parts and the intrinsic value of
each. The example is a good one for all the States to follow. ;
WHEAT FOR PORK.—A correspondent in Marion County, Oregon,
reports that, in that section, when the price of wheat is low, farmers
find they can profitably feed it to hogs, since wheat makes finer pork
than any other feed. Some of the best farmers believe it always pays
to feed it to hogs when pork will bring 6 cents. The present price is 6
to 7 cents net, and the price of wheat 65 cents.
PROTECTION TO THE BANKS OF THE On10.—Mr. J. H. Mather, of
Washington County, Ohio, sends to this Department the following com-
munication on this subject :
Every year the river encroaches more and more upon its banks, and thousands of
acres of valuable land are annually lost. A simple, practical method of preyenting
abrasion has been tried by Mr. A. P. Sherman, which now, after thirteen years, gives
perfect satisfaction. Mr. Sherman’s land lies on a point in the river where the current
exerted its full force in washing away the bank. Finding it was washing away so fast
that his house was in danger, he determined to prevent further encroachment. When
the river was low he set, between the foot of the bank and the water, three rows of
posts, 10 feet apart each way. The posts were 6 inches in diameter, 7 or 8 feet in length,
and set in the ground five feet deep. He then scattered brush between the posts, care
being taken, in cutting and placing, to make it compact as possible. He next pressed
it down and confined it by placing over it poles, crossing each other at right angles,
-and pinning them to the posts. The object of the brush was, to form a lodging-place
for the earth washed down from the banks, and to retain the sediment deposited by the
water. After the next spring-freshet had subsided the brush was covered with a de-
posit of sand. In this he planted willows thickly, and protected them from the depre-
dations of cattle. He has never since put any work on it. Now he has a regular
grade from the top of the bank to low water, and the bank, instead of washing away,
is gaining steadily every year. For several years he has been getting hay from what
was formerly the naked beach. His river-front is 22 rods in length, and he estimates
the cost of the work and material at not more than $100. For those who have the
materials on their own premises it of course would be less.
It is the more important that the banks of the Ohio should be protected, from the
fact that the earth washed from them helps to form the bars which are such obstruc-
tions to its navigation; moreover, if they were protected the river would become nar-
rower and its channel be deepened. The shoals of the Great Kanawha, which were
dredged during the late war, have not yet filled up, because the banks are protected by
the timber that has been allowed to remain upon them. If the shoals of the Ohio
were to be dredged and its banks protected all along its course, it would be many years
before they would fill up. In that case the Government would be saved much of the
expense which it is annually incurring for its improvement, and many thousands of
acres of valuable land would be reclaimed. ;
BEET-SUGAR IN EUROPE.—M. Licht, a German statistician, estimates
the beet-sugar crop of Central and Eastern Europe for the last two sea-
sons as follows:
1873~74. 1874-75.
Tons. Tons.
Zollmerein. -9:1) 7:1 csole-anc ce neeeed 2 -- comes a= 288, 972 255, 000
ESTOS & Ste 1 ae pe ee oe ee NI IS 5 ee Oe Sts 169, 000 140, 000
inmssiaiand POlANG - 2. sok cps oe ee Eee oe eee 150, 000 130, 000
Borrinm +. -o-- 2225S IE OE ES ee. Shy Pee aie eet 70, 366 65, 000
Highland [&o0. 2s... eR eck. Bamee Suit aye foists 35, 000 30, 000
a To. 7 trie oan...
713, 338 620, 009
These figures show a falling off of 93,558 tons.
It is stated in the Journal d’Agriculture Pratique that the amount
of sugar taken in charge after defecation, in France, during the first
eleven months of 1874 was 237.798 tons, against 206,288 tons in the
twelve months of 1873. It is estimated in certain quarters that the
French produet of raw sugar during the season of 1874-75 will reach
ee ae
4
;
3
135
450,000 tons. In 1865 the export of French raw sugars was valued at
8, 000, 000 franes; in 1869, 10,000,000 francs ; in 1872, 47,000,000 franes.
The export of refined sugars rose from 68,000,000 francs’ in 1869 to
105,000,000 in 1872; 108,000,000 in 1873; and 130 ,000,000 during the
first eleven months of 1874.
MONEY-VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.—Mr. G. W. Hunt,
corresponding secretary of the agricultural society in Marion County,
Oregon, states that the farmers in that section are accustomed to turn
the statistics of this Department to profitable account; that is, they are
largely influenced by them in deciding what crops and other farm-
products to raise for market. As arule, the result proves the basis of
calculation a safe one. By way of illustration, he instances that when
our first of January statistics indicate a prospective decrease in pork
raised on the Atlantic slope, they take the hint and feed every shoat
and pig they can muster. This hint has been acted on for several years
with success.
CULTIVATION OF SUGAR-CANE IN InpI1A.—In the Shahjah-anpur dis-
trict 41,584 acres, being about 6 per cent. of all the land under cultiva-
tion in the district, are reported as planted with sugar-cane. The cul-
‘ture is mainly confined to the central and northern parts. In upland
cultivation the land receives from five to fifty plowings, the number
varying according to the circumstances and the resources of the culti-
vator. In estimating expenses, twenty plowings are assumed, costing 8
rupees per acre. The fertilizer used is from heaps collected outside of
each village, the main ingredient being ashes. The quantity varies
according to the efficiency of the planter in gathering it rather than
the requirements of the crop. The ordinary limits are 5 to 8 tons per
acre, and the average cost per acre about 1 rupee 8 annas. It is some-
times applied after planting and worked in when hoeing. On the ground
of economy, the top portion of the cane alone is used for planting, since
that. is immature and contains very little juice. As each cultivator
Saves his own seed its value is not estimated in the cost of cultivation.
These seed-canes are cut about one foot in length. In planting, a man fol-
lows the plow and places them lengthways along the furrow at intervals
of about a foot. The distance between rows is not given. The cost of
planting is put at 1 rupee per acre. Irrigation is seldom required be-
fore planting. The namber of subsequent waterings depends on the
Season and the means of the planter; the extremes being 1 and 3, the
average may be placed at 2, of which the cost, including wear and tear
of machinery, is estimated at 9 rnpees 7 annas per acre. The cane is
hoed about three times before irrigation and once or twice after each
watering ; in all 6 or 7 times, the average cost being 5 rupees 8 annas.
The growing canes are usually, though not invariably, tied up. Stalks
from the same stool, or those from two or three adjoining stools, are
tied together; cost, 8 annas. The cane is cut close to the ground, and
at the same time the leaves and arrows cut off and also the top pieces
for seed. The cutters are always paid in kind, receiving the arrows
(used as feed for cattle) and five canes per day. As the part which
goes to the cutter is not taken into account in estimating the product,
no allowance is made for expense in cutting. The average cost per acre
of carting the product to the cane-mill is 2 rupees 8 annas, and the an-
nual rent of land per acre, 15 rupees; total cost of the product of an
acre at the mill, 43 rupees 7 annas. As the value of a rupee is about
46 cents, 43,7. _ would be just about $20.
In the river- valleys manure is seldom used and irrigation not needed,
P 136
but the crop is inferior in quantity and quality and liable to destruction
by floods.
ORANGE AND BANANA PLANTING IN FLORIDA.—The following state-
ments are condensed from a paper on the production of semi-tropical
fruits, by J. H. Bostwick, United States inspector of customs. The
present number of bearing orange-trees in Florida is estimated at
50,000; the number of groves averaging 100 trees each, at 100,000; to
which are to be added many larger groves in which the number of trees
ranges from 200 to 7,000. The estimated increase of orange-groves in
the State, in 1874, was 25 per cent. The larger portion of the orange-
crop goes to Savannah and Charleston, from whence it is distributed by
steamers to northern cities, and by rail to the interior. A smaller por-
tion goes to Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, and other large cities.
The production of bananas, mainly limited to the southern section of
the State, has proved quite successful and is extending. The plant is
easily propagated. One cultivator in Marion County has a thrifty plan-
tation of 12 acres, and it is estimated that the area covered by plants
in the State equals 500 acres, and that the number of growing plants:
exceeds 300,000.
ORANGES ON THE APALACHIGOLA.—I¢ is reported that orange-cul-
ture is very successful, and is rapidly extending, on both sides of the
Apalachicola River, in Liberty and Calhoun Counties, Florida. There
are now large numbers of thrifty young orange-groves in that locality,
many of them not yet in bearing, but coming forward rapidly. It is
claimed that results have already proved both soil and climate to be
specially adapted to the production of oranges in Middle Florida. The
following are instances of the rate of production reported for the last
season: One orchard of 40 trees produced 85,000 ; 16 of these trees, oc-
cupying ~, of an acre, produced 40,000; from another orchard of 60°
trees, over 104,000 were shipped ; some trees in both these orchards
yield, annually, 6,000. From a third orchard of 40 trees 75,000 were:
shipped; a fourth, of 50, yielded 57,000; and a fifth, of 20, 30,000, the pro-
duct being estimated as only half an average crop. One grower reports.
that he realized $900 from six trees; and another, that he realized over
$100 from one tree. It is claimed that, as the soil is richer here than —
on the Saint John’s, the trees mature earlier, and bear more fruit than
in Eastern or Southern Florida. It is said that $10,000 has been offered
for a young orchard of 200 trees not more than four years old.
CO-OPERATION IN THE SALE OF LIVE STOCK.—The Sangamon County,
(Illinois) Stock and Produce Sale Association was organized August 1,.
1874, by about. forty representative farmers of the county. The object
of ti is enterprise is to bring together the producer and consumer vt live
stock and other farm- products, “and to eliminate, as far as possible, the-
large profits of middlemen, especially in commissions, expenses of
shipment, &c. Regular auction-days are designated, and every facility
is secured for the sale of animals at reasonable prices, regulated by the
association. The membership in October consisted of 118, with numer-
ous additions since. Four monthly sales have been held since the
organization, and will be repeated during each month of the year. E.
F. Iles is the president, and Charles EF. Mills secretary. Both these
gentlemen reside in Springfield, Il.
SHIPMENTS OF BUFFALO-BONES.—Mr. T. F. Oakes, general freight--
agent of the Kansas and Pacilic Railway, reports to this Department
that, in 1874, 3,160,000 pounds of buffalo-bones were shipped over that
137
road and its connections. Mr. M. L. Sargent, general freight-agent of
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad, reports that, in the same
year, buffalo-products were shipped over that road as follows: pounds
of bones, 6,914,950; of hides, 1,314,500; of meat, 632,800; and in 1873,
of bones, 2 743, 100; of hides, 5, 180 480 : of meat, 1 617, 600.
BUTTER-MAKING.—A correspondentin “Ashfield; Franklin County, Mas-
sachusetts, states that the principal incomes, in that strictly agricultural
town, are from butter and beef. The butter is packed in circular boxes,
holding about 10 pounds, and costing 11 cents each. Itis sent, through
‘‘ the storekeeper,” to commission merchants in Boston. The freight and
commission amounts to about 3 cents per pound. In the winter, good
lots bring producers 47 cents per pound; the price declines to 33 cents
in the summer.
FORAGE IN ARKANSAS.—Our correspondent in Garland County com-
municates the results of experiments by him in raising pea and corn
forage. On a lot of two and a half acres, immediately after taking from
it a crop of oats, he sowed and plowed in peas; on two and a half acres
of new ground he sowed corn broadcast. The. expenses were: Putting
in the peas, $12; clearing, fencing, and breaking up the jcorn lot, $35;
gathering and housing both crops, $8.60; total, $55.60. Returns: :
Seven loads of pea-forage sold, at $10 per load ; twenty- eight loads of
corn-forage, exchanged for 10, 000 feet. of fencing stuff, valued at $15
per thousand ; sufficient forage reserved for winterin g nine head of cattle,
estimated at $180; total, $400; gross profits, $344.40. The corn was
cut when about waist-high, left in the sun two days, and then housed
or stacked. The pea-vines are put in an inclosure, with a tight inclined
floor, and 6 inches above that a floor of poles. By trampling the vines,
the peas are shelled out, roll down, and are gathered into sacks.
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS.
The following quotations represent, as nearly as practicable, the state of the market at the
beginning of the month.
Articles. February. March.
NEW YORK.
Flour, superfine State. --...-..-...- per barrel..| $3 90° to $4 30 $4 25 to $4 75
Gxtrpy SEAGELQO. iTS. TIOTLOLLU dots.72 475 to 5 30 480 to 5 2
superfine western.--..-.-----.do--...-| 3.90 to 4 30 425 to 475
extra to choice western..---.- ko ws See 465 to 8 00 480 to 8 00
common to fair southern extras-do..---- 475 to 5 50 480 to 5 50
good to choice southern extras.do..--.- 555 to 8 00 5 55 to 8 00
Wheat, No. 1 spring....-......--- per bushel... 118 to 125 116 to 119
No. Pepringt S30. Ineo nccew.do Llgaoy 109 to 1.12 109 to 1 14}
winter, red, western...--..--. (i Co eee 1 20 to 1 274 1,.22,; to) Lk. 27
winter, amber, western ..--..- O0be se s= 1 25 to. 1 28 1 22. to,..1 27
winter, white, western ..-._-. Cs ele eae 1 274-tor 1-32 Poo hO) ler
Huyenese sheer =. VALET OOe ella i do...8913 91 to 96 84 to 94
DTG \ OJ 225 Cee ee doiz=-=, Nominal 105 to 1 30
Mormesgenou-/o-. 3 BSartist enear yeh IM 2 dogessee 83 to 844 80 to 844
Hay iinstyq Walitiyys 336 plys6 bh SLL - per ton.--| 15 00 to 20 00 15 00 to 20 00
Second quality.c: -—:-s4eccca—-- / dO) 14. 13.00 to 14 00 13 00 to 15 00
1 SVE; 2) Ey) 01S) ei a ae a a per barrel..|. 9 50 to 10 50 9 50 to 10 50
eximammess ssi ts ee eS COnes sa: 10 50 to 12 00 10 50 ~to 12 00
138
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles.
February.
March.
New YorkK—Continued.
Ove WUCSS eee Wate eo. ence ems per barel..
extra prime -----..52- Peo e. . dows.
PTMAB mess. VS Js 09 UR A ot BO 255022
aT NN oo old won hime een per pound. -
putters, western..29... 98990. Ldoss: 00.
Stave-dairy. so. Oy, VOL IS Ly do fa: T2
Cheese, State factory -..---..---.--..- Eo w52 OD.
western factory-. .09..8V.s..deqta! :
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary....do-..--.
low middling to good middli’g.do......
Sugar, fair to prime refining. --..-...-do.....-
PPABACCD, IUDs ..- tor Oe oes kao} do s2502.
‘low leaf to medium leaf... -- Go -=- 05),
Wool, American XXX and picklock.. do.....-
American X and XX ...-2.----.do.2.-..
American combing...-.-..-----. does ss
pulled so. .40 22.0. ON Gk. ook GoOz55 02).
California, spring-clip -.. .-.--.- dozss 02.
California, fall-clip......-......do...-..
BOSTON.
Flour, western superfine. --...---.per barrel...
common western extras_--...-do.-----
red wheats, good to fancy northwest-
erney os. .S0 2. On eee: per barrel. -
white wheats, good to fancy west-
OLN gee cece eoier eee per barrel -.
southern family ......-..--..-. dows: Lt
Carn’ 62 - - R622. - che gk eh ES per bushel. -
71S ot 34 2 -.2- 25-8 --49-'-Gb-b-<-|-00n2-,5-
NE Ae oe ke pce ce te dozen: |
Barleys = yo. 24. FR 5 «cet. coke oo qn Ones
Hay, eastern and northern..........per ton---
choice westernzc.: -..s--se -: -- J. dO. soar:
wept, MESE.-j--.-!--G-5--54- s42-2-per barrel. -
Beef; extramess |. 95. - 2. ate see2- per bushel. -
PRUE oat. Me ocak ks oe ees i) Beas
ORK UID os 1. 4-70 -.4 ape One
MESSY. F212 ARP) We oot 2 oe ee pe s.
LUE ONS SOS Sp Ne tra aes per pound..|
Butter, New York and Vermont .... -- ihe |
Western). G6 2 Sone. sep os cab dors -
Cheese, New Yorkand Vermont factory-do....--
western factory’. .+ 2). + - --4- dOob==—e -
Sugar, fair to good refining--..---.-.--- dO-e =*.-
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary..-.do..----
low middling to good middling.do......
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania..-.-. .- GO ee.
Miehigam | 2) naib: als Ae te Gores:
other western (5! 2 eae oe Chay a
pelled «oo: Seek cy ee QOj-'4-
¢ombing fleece:2.. --2-s5.82245 dorses . >
California: = 20. SSO ee eee COne-e
PHILADELPHIA.
Mlonrisapermne.. 12. 2. ak A per barrel. -
Pennsylvania extra to choice...do..-.-.
western extra to choice....--... dogrsut -
Wheat, white .....-...--2..-..--per bushel:-
amber. =. st. O82 Plc. 2 Sue Ok see
POG. Bo sae isa s eieticclee aces (i Pope
to$19 75 | $19 35 to
$15 00 to 1550 | 14.50 to$15 00
18 00 to 18 25 18 00 to
132 to
16 to
Die to
14 to.
12. to
122 to
14% to
>
et
i)
or
S
—)
et
i)
14 132 to
30 16 to 28
40 22 to 40
164 144 to 162
154 124 to 164
142 132 to 15%
164 152 to 174
72 to 7h
132 | 10 to $
il4. 124 to a ly
65 60 to 65
57 52 FONT INST
62 57 to 62
45 30 to 45
3710} 30 to 37
27 17 to 27
4 50 425 to 4 50
5 00 5 00° to 5 25
8 50 5 25 to 8 00
eS |
7 50 5 50 to 8 50
8 00 650 to 8 00
88 87 to 90
70 70 to 74
1 00 | 95 to 1 00
1 95 r 20.. to,. 1460
23 00 22 00 to 23 00
22 00 21 00 to 22 00
12 00 10 50 to
14 00 to 13 00
17 00 16 00 to 17 00
17 50 16 00 to 16 50
21 50 20 00 to 20 50
142 144 to 15
36 23 to 34
31 18> to 28
16} 143 to 16}
163 14 to 164
gt 7k to OM 74
15 134 to 154
164 152 to iy¢
60 50 to 60 :
ae 47 to 53 }
52 45: tp. poe
55 25. to 5D
6 | 58 to 65
40 15 to 40 @
]
4 00 3eb0xato 3.75
5 75 400 to 5 75
diay 5 25 to 6 00
1. 32 1 2ot te: 1 3k
to
118 116 to 120
139
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles. February. March.
PHILADELPHIA—Continued.
Dees tee sl, kode per bushel $0 95 to $0 95 to
REL! WW... cele Sd- d--0D-cs-n5 05-2445 1 40 to $1 50 140 to $1 45
eerewe rn. cio. $f... 35555-5068 doe scce 77 «to 79 79 to 81
tS OS RS ee Ser eerie do. -- <5 62 to 66 66. to 67
ay, prudesbaled).-0,----c: -.-8 ---- per ton..-}| 21 00 to 22 00 21 00 to 22 00
baled, common to fair shipping--do.-.---. 20 00 to 21 00 20 00 to 21 00
Beef, western mess ---..-.---.---- per barrel.-| 700 to 9 00 700 to 9 00
@minial Mess |-gh5.--- 55-35 5-.-4-6 do.-3.:-| 800. to 9.00 8 00 to 9 00
Warthman’s city family....-.--- do... 2s 16 00 to ———| 1600 to
LE OTL TEP cE a ee ee do--- a+ 19 50 to 20 00 19 50 to 20 00
smumnmess.L25. -..53-20}------.00---55). 17.90. to 18; 00 18 50 to 19 00
“TH 9012) os ee gay See do... of 17 00 to 18 00 17 00 to 18 00
1 ope ee ee ees 2 ae per pound... 138 to 18 13% to 174
Butter, choice Middle State......---. dQ.-<a5, 32 to 40 35 to 40
clipice. western -..a+-.02-..---. do. == af. 28 to 31 26 to 30
Cheese, New York factory....--.---.-do...--. 16 to 17 16 to 17
Olmo factorys..--53.-G2-- ..-. 0, == 655 15 to 164 h),40°" 16
Sugar, fair to good refining -....----.- dG. -=0f 7Z to 84 73 to 8
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary .--.do..---. 122 to 144 13 to 148
low middling t to good middling- Gi inees 142 to 162 154 to 175
Wool, Ohio X and a gamba orais | dose. 524 to 57 54 to 564
HuRer EVeSteriasb.-63--G2-h---) Os cect « 334 to 54 49 to 56
fpubweshed 05. 2..-93--aF-4-.-1 do. 55. 60 to 624 54. to 61
» (PNG es ee ees Doras <iez 35 «to 45 46 to 54
Bonbpiaies J. -$3.8...95--80.a--<. COs cxpaid s 60°" to 65 58 to 66
BALTIMORE
Pout superine|-.—-. --.-..25--- per barrel. 400 to 4 25 400 to 425
Glu AS Bae ea ef Oneieee 450 to 6 50 450 to 6 50
family and fancy -2-.-.----- doses 7 00 to 8 50 7 00 to 8 00
OORT To! Sa ee Sa --per bushel. - 1- 14-- to - 1-21 110 to 1 20
SCT pele i set I ae dowea 120 to ~1 22 to 1 25
TR ETTS Cee ea ee Sepals inn Be doeesoes 1-AY*- to: ~ 1+ 25 110° ‘to 1 25
8) oo ands eae sgea heen eel E apes ss 95 - to 1-00 104 to 1 05
risen es eet ee per Jase 65 to 69 65 to 70
(C3 77ELL See sees A Eee eed meee 3 (0 eee 76 to 79 79 to 82
Hay, Maryland and Pennsylvania. - - per ~ fon --| 16 00 to 21 00 19 00 to 22 00
Buona cel tise) igs A adi a dee ee eee per barrel.-| 19 75 to 20 00 19 75 to
(225. Hiei] Date Ce ee Sel Ciapreeses ae to 16 to
LO eee ee or per pound.. 132 to 144 to
ier WVESherN + —- 5 cone ees eos doen: 17 to 32 17 ‘to 32
DSP eS eee eae OD Sears 22° to 35 22 to 39
Cheese, western factory -.....---.---- mer s<Ce: 144 to 154 144 to 15%
PaSHern TAChOLY = <1 c-2-— 5-542 do:t2->s 15 to 17 15 to 17
Sugar, fair to good refining -.-....--- Wore e 72 to 8 7% to 8
New Orleans grocery grades..-do..---- 72 to 84 84 to 84
MG ACCO mI eS 9-1. -.--6- seme ese per cental..| 8 00 to 12 00 9 50 to 12 00
common to medium leaf --..do,.---. 10 00 to 14 50 12 00 to 14 50
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary - - per pound. . 14 to 142 to 143
low middling to middling. -.... does ere: 15 to 153 158 to 16
CINCINNATI.
Hisnr siperine:....2))--....-+.- per barrel. 5 00 to 6 00 38 to 415
exiles 24.0 Sk. ope DS ot dosssa-: 465 to 4 90 465 to 4 85
family and faney <..-++-.)----- do sas f 400 to 4 25 495 to 6 40
Wheat, winter red 2) .2..03.-0--2- per bushel.-| 108 to 1 12 107 to 1 09
iilivam ber &F jo. aun oot... 2: dO sizset = 110 to 116 108 to 115
720 a: ae ae AO....<n2 - 114 to 1 20 114 to 1 20
17d) 2 1 I BS ae ne a ee to 1 10 1. tL, to ba
140
Market-prices of ‘farm-products—Continued.
Articles.
CINCINNATI—Continued.
DMMGY canes eel. nsec c- -2e sos per DESHOL.s
Corn} )- 54. 26-2... 33. 3% od. 02-48 do. Joga:
ape ett seidin 35 4 OE. - Oden Sonia's USES es
Haysbaled, (Nop -!.-90-G¢-0t.-00. per ton...
fower (grades |. ..9. $5-af-.00. 85. doa
Meets plate As 6) 99 ay od. Ob per barrel...
Porkajmess2 4. |. las.f.53.. 08. 8h dn sees «
Lb i BEES See ee aoe © aie, San cl 3 per pourfd..
Butter, choice... ... arf SEER al 2 eee oe 3
ARETE eps a donee 4
Cheese, prime to choice factory. -....-- does 3
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good.-----. dose ns
prime to choice. .do..-..-
Tebacco,sluge -..'. |. 05... .=53-- ---- dog. 3
leafy: 52. 5b ee eae. BGS do e..4
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary....do......
low middl’g to good middl’g-..do..--..
Wool, fleece, common to fine.-..-.-.. dowees-
tob-washed /. 2.0... 44.- 295 4.- do... fas
unwashed, clothing ...-- “i yberae dost
unwashed, combing.-..--..... -00- eee
puillediass a By do... 45zh
CHICAGO. |
Flour, choice winter extras-...-.-. per barrel ..
common to good ....-.---.---- do. \as4s
choice spring extras .....----- doze eae.
patent spring: sp: -j-i. +). 42 EE do. 453
spring superfines ....-....--.- do. (59x
Wheat, No. 1 spring -...........- per bushel..
No. 2apring .g3--. 3¢- 28 -=- dG-F2h3>
No, ScSpling of... <a 2th -- dO eere=
Bye vNO. 2 aes eee canna nn adt tah coc dose eae
‘Barley: INO ro. Lone. ot at eee ne dose: :
Oats, NOACr eek 8h pee cc eg ea oe ce doze.
Pig, MINOGRY -. c204 S25 - 2 Sg SE per ton..--
rey, uplAIrigy 2.221. 8-82 Lope toe eke per ton-.-
Beef, mess. --.. - Ristosekococes ore! per barrel..
OXUra MESS) 22 -ES boone Lf =< dome ese
MOLI MOSS) i Ja te sib oes ae oe SE rene doveezps
PEIMO/MOSS 2). Keio se keke we deze. -«
extra iprimectene. tess eee dossee =
LESTE Nop oI Sina WS pee ee eee per pound..
Butter, choice to fancy)< -.---: - 434 - -do.-feew
medium.to goqd . ....-. ..:-.- domeeace
Cheese, good prime factory ....------ dozeese.
Sugar, New Orleans, com. to choice...do-----.
Wool, tub-washed --..-.......---.--- Goer,
fleece-washed -.22-2. 2-2 -2- don soo.
unwashed <6) oie. cote ue eB doe se.
TET Lys PSS es ae my SSeS a Eee doze sce:
SAINT LOUIS.
Flour, winter, common to choice--. per barrel --
SPLING He. ot - (Sse GG ase ae cee do. te
Wheat, white winter -....-...... per bushel-.
Ted wartery: se2t...lotsefeoe do. - tee;
BPEURO ceria s ssh > mesa o> doaeee,-
Com: 4 32 epee sen). «eke GR Ses dovsee:
February.
$1 25 to $1 55
to 68
57__to 62
21 00 to 22 00
14 00 to 19 00
14 00 to 14 50
19 00 to 19 25
132 to 144
29. to 30
26 to 28
154 to 16
7% to tor
82 to 94
12 to 15
25 to 374
11% to 132
144 to 154
43 to 47
49 to 52
32. to 33
ad. to 38
36 to 38
5 25 to. 6 50
425 to 5 00
450 to .4 7a
5 00 to 9 00
3,00 to 3.75
to 944
88 to 902
"322 to 83
94 to 97
1 231 to 1 28
5228 to 524
15 50 to 17 50
9 50 to 12 50
8 25 to
9 25 to
18 40 to 18 423
16 00 to
13 25 to
134 to 13%
30 to 37
23 _ to 26
16 to 18
7. to 9
55 to 57
46 to 48
27 to 37
42 to 47
400 to 7 00
400 to 550
95. to 1 05
95 to 1 08
87 to 98
60 to 70
100 to 105
March.
$115 to $1 32
65 to 66
59. . to 63
20 00 to 21 00
14 00 to 19 00
14 50 to 15 00
18 50 to 19 00
13} to 144
27 «to 28
24 to 26
154 to 164
7% to BE
8% to 94
12 to 15
15 *to 40
121 to 132
144 to 152
43 to 47
49 to 52
32n1bS 33
37. «to 38°
36 to 38
5 25 to 6 50
425 to 5 00
425 to 4 50
5 00 to 9 00
3 00 to 3 90
90 to 91
852 to 864
82 to 824
98 to 99
bisr7ae 1s
532 to 56%
17 00 to 18 75.
13 50 to 14 50°
825 to
9/25: -to
18 20 to 18 224
to
to
133 to 13%
30 to 36
23. to 23
17 to 18
7 to 8%
45 to 58
40 to 50
27 «to 37
42 to 47
400 to 7 00
400 to 5 50
95. to: 1 05
95 to 1 08
87 to 98
62 to 71
100 to 105
141
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles. February. March.
Sart Louis—Continued.
emlovege sen) ---- 4-00. .--0b se per bushel.-| $1 10 to $1 55 $1 10 to $1 55
SRS RE EG 25 - = 1 ela 0 oe o> Seta ani dDiaswad 53. to 59 55. to 60
Hay, timothy.-.--.--.-.----.----. per ton.--:| 19 00 to 22 00 19 00 to 22 00
Mrammiowd DL.) 90.05. o7...00, 22. Dieses 12 00 to 13 00 12 00 to 13 00
epimers Cc bE). De. NL al ON per barrel..| 14 00 to 15 00 14 00 to 15 00
femueamresn (40 20 _ 2}. 30. OF ou. 0007. (ilo eee 18 50 to 18 75 18 50 to 18 75
Rat ..oj.42!.... st pel....0b £¢l per poumduc 12 to 14 12. to 14
Butter, prime to choice dairy........-do....-- 30 to 33 30. to 33
country p’k’d..do..---- 23. to 25 23 to 25
Cheese, Ohio factory o/....-22-32...-- Cl. ee 13. to 134 13 to 134
Wey York factory -. 2/50. -.-.d0....+4 13 to 134 13! to. OF TBF
Wool; tab-washed -|. 50... .. oJ. 25... ..d02....-=4 50 to 54 50. to 54
fleeceswashed -2U_.. .s0.252-2-- Dinard 32. to 52 32 to D2
impyaened . Le... Den sibe~ == EO nines 28. to 36 28° to 36
NEW ORLEANS.
Hipur; superime -... 22-2 sulk per barrel..| 475 to 450 te ——
2: eee Se ee es a dove 5 00 to 5 75 465 to 5 25
choice to fancy ...--...--..-.-do eromaranaie 575 to 6 75 550 to 6 25
Cann yeuowt-..-3-.00....08..02 per bushel... to 88 to 1 05
VLOG) O30 6e Se do.uass.. 86 to 87 to 1 023
Oi. 3 5 deel re de. ==2- 71 to 73 71 to 73
LEN COC Sete = per ton..-.| 26 00 to 27 00 30 09 to 31 00
jprmmews-g---) 0822 2b ohn do..---- 24 00 to 24 00 to 25 00
Beet grexaseg fs 22). .00 42. -0t. per barrel..| 10 50. to 11 50 10 00 to 11 50
Wiennennan.- 1.20. sul Neh doveenne 12 00 to 16 00 14 00 to 16 00
Fulton market --..-.--- per half barrel..| 11 25 to 11 50 11 40 to 11 50
Pash messs0e. o...4.425 22-02. i0 per barrel..) 20 50 to 21 124 | 1900 to 20 00
Ib Te Se eS eo eS oe per pound... 132 to 15 14 to 15
Butter, choice Goshen ..--..-.-..---- Ct 38 to 40 35 to 38
WeSberILS... .0U.gA..- COmeres 27. «to 30 25° to 28
Cheese, choice western factory -..-...do..-.-. 164 to 16 to
New York cream. .....-2:.... CO.ccues 164 to 17 183 to
Sugar, fair to fully fair .....2.2.2---. doxzcte 64 to 74 62 to 72
prime to strictly prime -..--.. do.===06 74 to 7 8 to 84
clarified, white and yellow....do..--.. 84 to 92 9+ to 102
Cotton ,ordinary to good ordinary-per pound... 123 to 134 13 to 144
low middling to good middling -do...... 144 to 154 15 to 163
WitoBtlake 96-82 ..)4508 AL et QA RL dO<<csecs to to
SAN FRANCISCO.
Migur, superiine - 0. 52... 28: per barrel.-| 400 to 4 50 400 to
CREETARA Son ot ode a 3 OL ee AOe cece 475 to 425 to
family and fancy .....---.-.-.- do.csece 512 to 5 37 5 00 to 5 25
Wheat, California....--:.-.... .--per cental..| 150 to 1 60 140 to 1 60
See ot eG dozscess 150 to 1 60 150 to 1 60
IBgeley eanene ef ek AA doz2sces 145 to 170 125 te 1 50
Pena es ioe = 0S. s 2 dOske ces 160 to 1 85 1 60P tem 85
Cami wimien. -- a5... 5002.88. ..dosesccs 150 to 1 55 160 to
FOLIO 205 6a A eee 5 [cee 145 to 1 50 140 to 1 45
ee per ton...} 12 00 to 17 00 9 00 to 16 00
ISS SSIS GS GANE IS Aaa E es ees ae per barrel..| 800 to 8 50 800 to 9 00
family Mess._....2:..-.. per half barrel.-| 650 to 8 00 650 to 8 00
inenmapmers 60 oO. 36 0.62.92 5209 per barrel..| 24 00 to 25 00 22 00 to 23 00
PMMNEWMESS)\. 4.0222 LO wos oO. does 222 17 50 =~to 20 00 17 50 to 19 00
a See BS Rs per pound.. 13 to 164 13 to 164
Bwetser, overland 1.22 ....0). 22.2 dose=s22 30 to 40 25 to 50
California ato 220 3. abo be doecet zz 40 to 50 30 to 35
Orecen' f.2 225.20... ated be dozccece 30 to 35 20 to 25
142
Market-price of farm-products—Continued.
Articles.
SAN FRANcCISCO—Continued.
CRRESE See ses oe mth Gee nae relacosd per pound
Weel mative .39.63 25. 2.522. AR 38 Ob palate
Califorme o-.) Ah wh oi ARS dove ares
Orerpa S266 2136.2. 25 DES dOree=s
February. March.
$0 ra to $0 16 $0 123 to $0 16
to 20 10 to 20
15°. to 22 15 to 22
18 to Ape 18 to 22
LIVE-STOCK MARKETS.
NEW YORK.
Cattle, extra beeves ....-....---.-per cental..| $13 00
to $13 50 $13 00 to $13 75
good to primes. 22. 25.2. 2. doreuce < 12 00 to 1275|1175 to 12%
common to fair...-.. -.-.-2--- dO teuen. 850 to 11 73 950 to 11 50
average of the market....--.-do...--- 10.25. to 11 2 to
Mexang) US. Sue Ber ae ee Sy HO poss 700 to 10°75.) 725 toc 8 50
milch-cows) -. /2). 05. DLL per head..| 45 00 to 90 00} 40 00 to 80 00
wealicabves ss. 5) let -percental..| 700 to 1000} 750 to 10 50
Sheep, ordinary to extra........----- do jece. 550 to 800] 5 374 to 775
PWM s. Has tee Set ee URE ae dosicee. None in market. | None in market.
PHILADELPHIA.
Cattle, prime beeves ...--.-.----. per cental.. 7 50. to, 8004 TiS Sto sgee8
fair tO PO0d. ' aoc 2-d 25 cee ae dossot2- 5 25 to 725) -550 to 725
COMIMNOW eet seis so 2 ono eee dotcs- 400 to 500; 400 to 500
Bheepies. Hs PN OA Ue A ee do tse28s 5:75 to 725 | 4 50 tos) 750
Hoes; corned )45 tS A at? dolls. 900 to 1050} 11 00 to 11 50
BALTIMORE.
Cattle, best beeves.--2---.-.22--. per cental..; 525 to 725) 525 to 97 00
hrspiqualiby -. I 22 SS dO tewe 462 to 525) 450 to 525
Cattle, medium or good quality...percental..| 350 to 462| 400 to 450
ordinary 222% 200.8.. 2.65. 2026 doi. Let 300 to 33| 325 to 400
general average...-.....-.--. donna o<. 4 62 to 425 to :
most of the salés--_-. 2222-2 2d0-2222- 400 to 5507} 400 to “S700
milch-cows, fair to good... - per head..| 35 00 to 50 00 | 3000 to 50 00
WHOOP! loz tics aa ote sole See's See Sate per cental..| 450 to 700; 450 to 7 2%
SWAN, NOb A. .fon.4 vst se3 oot ee dof-f) .- 850 to 900| 950 to 10 2%
CINCINNATI.
Cattle, good to prime butchers’
steers .......:...-....-per cental.:| 475 to 5751 525 te, 600
fair to medioniss=.- f- Ses see doa soe 350 to 450] 400 to 5 00
GONMNON 27-0 fantasy ee eee dbase: 2.50 ‘to °3 25 | 2 50° 316) secs
milch-cows ......---.-.----per head..| 3000 to 60 00 | 30 00 to 50 00
Calves CULM ses orises OL _.per cental.. 550 to 700) 625 to 750
Shicepye 4 3- fo. 12 yea lssehae-be Be d0icd-32 400 to 600} 400 to 600
Swine, good to choice.-....--...---.. ‘iF oeereeane 7.20,,to 750). 7 007 toe
common to medium.....-.--. (i pee ee 635 to 715| 615° fe) eae
CHICAGO.
Cattle, extra-graded steers, 1,400
to 1,550 pounds ..--....-per cental..
choice beeves, 1,250 to
1)450 poundste 22. Sial27e 6 oje.e
good beeves, 1,150 to 1,300
pounds .... EI sess ae
5 60 to 5 60 to
500 to 550{| 500 to 550
143
Live-stock markets—Continued.
Articles. February. March.
CuicaGo—Continued.
Cattle, medium, 1,100 to 1,250
amas 2.4. NS... per cental..| $4 25 to $4 75 | $4 25 to $4 75
0 eee ee ee ea dotecnex 225 to .4 00}. 2.25 ‘to 4 2
less eS) ee aa a Sa GO pees 3.00 to 525] 275 to 5 2%
oni? . 2.2) 358s a eee By ee 37> to. '5.75 |.3 50 to 6 00
2 URD 2 i663 35S aaa eae WOss2 2-2 6225 tor, 740) | bebe to) Waau
SAINT LOUIS.
Cattle, fair to choice native steers.per cental.-| 475 to 600] 475 to 6 00
common to fair natives. ..--.. doueoz =: 3 25 to 45093 25 to — 450
inferior to common....--..--- dopeewse 200 to 350) 200 to 350
Cattle, Texans, fair to choice.........do...--. 2.50). to... 3.50) #27607 tora dene
SING 2) 2 2 oe Secs oe id MSR I oy ee SCA (0) Se 225 to 475) 250 to 5 00
Biome ssaseese. 1) oe LL ok AS d0?....|06 450°) to ....7 O07? 5) 00s htop. 25
Horses; plups--—-.- -68.55..52.-58 perhead.-.| 40 00 to 75 00 | 40 00 to 75 00
PLUMES. 5.) oe AE ok LE dOU-2e- 80 00 to 110 00 | 80 00 to 110 00
street-car ).--2..2L- scl cbt doyeckas 75 00 to 125 00 | 75 00 to 125 00
heavy draught ..-........--. dot. Let. 130 00 to 170 00 |130 00 to 170 00
Saodwielvers) 20 2. . 2. 1 dois... 100 00 to 150 00 |100 00 to 150 00
Pina Aeoe! 3) tadseos Lecce dovies. 175 00 to 180 00 |175 00 to 180 00
Mules, 14 to 15 hands high. -.-.........do..--.. 75 00 to 120 00 | 75 00 to 120 00
15 to 16 hands high -.-.....-.do}..-.. 120 00 to 180 00/120 00 to 180 00
GARD aon See eee dove 2oe5 175 00 to 200 00 \175 00 to 200 00:
NEW ORLEANS.
Cattle, Texas beeves, choice.--...-per head.-.| 40 00 to 46 00/ 40 00 to 46 00
AIPA UAliGy 6582 SLL. 2k. DG Pdotsso22 30 00 to 3500] 30 00 to 35 00
RECOMAMUUALIGYR - 22 --cc~0 2 == - CORA. &- 20 00 to 2500} 20 00 to 25 00
western beeves .:..-....--percental..| 400 to 6 50 300 to 7 50
milch-cows ..---..-.-------per head.-| 35 00 to 100 00 | 35 00 to 100 00
CANNES. eed Soe oo he = aoe 6 CO,.|-Lek 700 to. 9,00 7.00 to 9 00
Sheep, first quality.......... ut. Sek dos. 2. 400 to 5 00 6 00 to 7 00
second quality...:-.-2.---:-- dow. - bat 300 to 4 00 300 to 4 00
Shite Soe 3 pele ae ee per cental..| 500 to 8 00 5 00 to 8 50
FOREIGN MARKETS.
WHEAT.—January, in England, was warm and damp, but February
closed with heavy storms of snow and sleet, with severe frosts. This
closing type of winter prevailed over Northern Europe generally. In
some regions the absence of snow was regarded with apprehension as
exposing the winter-grain toinjury from frost. Spring planting was con-
sequently delayed, and many of the lowland districts were helplessly
swamped. The season, thus far, has baffled the calculations of the most
experienced and weather-wise, but British farmers were hopeful that
this rough opening of the vegetative season would be succeeded by
more geuial growing weather in March and April.
An advance in the wheat and flour market was noticeable in Western
Europe, though the rise has not generally been of much moment. Bel-
gium and Holland had passed their ebb-tide, while in Germany prices
had improved. In Hungary, copious snow-fall protected the wheat-
crop. The weekly transactions in England had increased over those of
|
144
1874. Sales of English wheat during the last week in February amounted
to 59,094 quarters, averagec at 41s. 6d., against 53,964 quarters at 62s.
10d. during the corresponding week of last year. The London averages
-were 44s. 1d. upon 3,584 quarters. The imports into the United King-
dom during the third week in February were 479,083 cwts. The last
week in February opened upon moderate supplies of English wheat in
Mark Lane, with fair arrivals of foreign, of-which about a third were
trom Odessa and the remainder mostly from New York and San Fran-
cisco. In Paris, growers demanded from 39s. to 44s. per quarter. The
wheat-trade of the French provinces was quite firm, showing an ad-
vance of 6d. to 1s. per quarter. The Marseilles market had subsided
into calmness after large sales. The Belgium trade was firm, while in
Frankfort the cold weather, unaccompanied by snow, made holders
indifferent in offering.
In Mark Lane, London, Essex, and Kent, white commanded 44s. to
49s.; ditto, red, 42s. to 44s.; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire red,
42s. to 44s. Of foreign wheats, Dantzic mixed was quoted at 50s. to 54s.
per quarter; Konigsberg, 46s. to 53s.; Rostock, 44s. to 48s.; Silesian red,
43s. to 49s.; Pomeranian, Mecklenberg, and Uckermark red, 44s. to 46s. ;
Ghirka, 41s. to 42s.; Russian hard, 40s. to 43s.; Saxonska, 43s. to 45s.;
Danish and Holstein red, 41s. to 47s.; American red, 40s. to 42s.; Chilian
white, 49s.; California, 50s.; Australian, 50s. to 51s.
In Liverpool, Canadian white brought 9s. 1d. to 10s. per cental; Amer-
ican white, 9s. 6d. to 10s.; American red, winter, 9s. 2d. to 9s. bd. : ; Spring
No. 1, 8s. 10d. to 9s.; spring No. 2, 8s. Ad. to 88. 8d.; ; Californian, 9s. 1d.
to 9s. "10d. ; ; Oregon, 9s. 10d. to 10s. ; ; Chilian, 8s. 10d. to 8s. 11d.
At Odessa; foreign advices being very discouraging, inferior kinds
were rapidly put upon the market at rates advantageous to buyers.
FiLour.—The imports, during the third week in February,-into the
United Kingdom, amounted to 132,615 ewts. The fourth week opened
in good supplies of English, with fair arrivals of American in barrels.
In Mark Lane, the best town households brought 36s. to 40s. per 280
pounds; best country households, 30s. to 31s.; Norfolk and Suffolk, 27s.
to 29s.; American, per barrel, 21s. to 25s. In Liverpool, English and
Irish superfines were quoted at 31s. to 35s. per 280 pounds; extra, 35s. 6d.
to 40s.; French, 37s. to 45s.; Trieste, 48s. to 60s.; Spanish, 38s. to 39s. ;
Chilian, 31s. 6d. to B08; Californian, 36s. to 37s. 6d.; American, West-
ern State and extra, 21s. to 23s. per barrel; Baltimore and Philadelphia,
21s. to 23s.; Ohio and extra, 22s. to 288. ; ; Canadian, 21s. to 26s. In
Paris, the best flour was sold for consumption at 30s. 1d. to 34s. per 280
pounds.
MaizE.—In Mark Lane, white was sold at 39s. to 40s. per quarter;
yellow at 34s. to 36s. At Liverpool, new American brought 356s. to 36s.
6d. per 280 pounds; Galatz, 37s. 6d. to 383. Large supplies of American
had been received in London, yet the market had advanced 6d. per
quarter.
GRAIN-TRADE OF ODESSA DURING 1874.
The annual Bulletin du Marché des produits Agricoles for 1874, issued
by N. Willenz and Simon Bernstein, Courtiers jurés, states that the
spring and summer of the year lately ended were times of only sufter-
ing and losses. The stagnation of business in foreign countries and
the enormous decline in the values of grain shook the financial position
rae Eee eee
<
; 145
of many of the exporters at this point; but the rally of prices in
autumn and the resumption of active movement have given satisfae-
tory results. Experience has shown an important fact that, in spite of
the abundance of the crops, prices fell only to a certain limit. The
London speculators hoped to purchase at their own prices, but when
the market touched 38s. per quarter there was a speedy reaction to 40s.
6d. ‘The crops in the immediate vicinity of Odessa were, as last year,
total failures.
Transactions in wool were about on the same scale as in 1873. Pur.
ebases of fine wool in grease were made partly for France and partly
for Russia, at 8 to 94 roubles per poud, (15$ to 18 cents per pound.)
French and Russian speculators declined to bid against agents of Aus-
trian factories for fine washed wools, at 24 to 274 roubles per poud, (463
to 534 cents per pound.) :
Other shipping points on the Black Sea have entered into competi-
tion with Odessa. Nicolaicff has extended its sphere of operations,
and Sevastopol, profiting by its natural advantages for maritime enter-
prize, has also entered the lists. Ko6nigsberg, in Prussia, by its railway
connections, has also trenched upon a portion of the field of production
hitherto marketed at Odessa. These, however, can but very little
atiect the main sources of supply of the Odessa trade. It is expected
that the gigantic grain-producing interest of Russia will build up
numerous commercial centers and primary markets. But in order to
maintain her ancient prestige, Odessa must erect new buildings,
enlarge her accommodations, and reduce tke cost of handling grain.
The railroad and navigation companies centering in the city are called
upon to reduce their charges of transportation to the lowest practicable
limit. The controlling authorities of these lines are credited with too
much sagacity to kill the goose that lays their goiden egg.
Iuxchanges were less fluctuating than in 1875; the English pound
sterling varied from 7.29 roubles to 7.15 roubles. In French exchanges
the rouble has varied from 3.46 francs to 3.524 franes. This increasing
steadiness is hailed with especial satisfaction as foreshadowing a nor-
mal and permanent relation with foreign markets. The improved con-
dition of the imperial finances is shown by the reduced premium on
gold as compared with the Russian paper currency. This premium is
still too great.
The following tables will give a summary of the transactions of the
last three years:
1872. 1873. 1874.
wees SAP Gage and
placed in warehouse. yaa CE 24 oy fi EP: i
Quantity. Seer on | Quantity. Rae ee Quantity. See ea
Soft wheat. tchetverts*| 733,500 7.55 to 12. 623) 390,300 | 9.55 to14.624| 621, 400 5.25 to14. 75
Sandomirca. Pe. 87, 300 9.70 to 12.50 38, 000 9.75 to14. 00 109, 100 7.25 to14. 123
Guhamlkan ees soe: do. .../1, 363, 100 8.25 to 13.05 712, 000 9,50 to 15. 00 261, 160 6.75 to 15. 00
GAS hee ouds..| 749,300 | {0.82 to 1.26 733, 500 | ¢1.12 to 1.40 909, 900 | ¢0.69 to 1.43
Hard wheat.tchetverts 6,900 |} 8.50 to 10.75 1,400 | 13.00 to 14.00 3,900 | 10.65 to 12. 50
MV hicintm aw am a Byers do.-..} 308, 500 4.25 to 6.624) 194, 700 5.30 to 8.20 252, 900 4.45 to 7.60
Maize: ... 2e4- Ghee se 47, 300 5.25 to 6.623) 419, 200 5.45 to 8.50 11, 400 7.624 to 8.00
BaMleVaes ta .<ae do..t* 92, 609 3.80 to 4,55 35, 300 4.25 to 6.25 82, 900 4.50 to 6.60
Cha eee UT «AN GISAC ee | Sa ee emcees ie 2,200 | 3.40 to 28,600 | 4.50 to 5.75
Flaxseed ....... do.. 40,900 | 11.95 to 13.80 35, 400 | 11.50 to 13.623! 33,500 | 10.50 to 13.25
Rapeseed ....... do.. 22, 700 4.00 to 6,124 9, 700 4.12ito 6.80 | 36,700 4.50 to 6.00
Wizae ss. ok. do.. 2,609 | 10.75 to 11.50 9,700 | 10
. 50 to 11. 624 7,800 | 9.624 to11. 65
*A tchetvert is equal to 5.5205 bushels.
tA rouble varies, according to date of coinage, from 73 to 80 cents.
i agen pe itéa are here stated by pouds; a poud is equal to 36.1050 pounds, and a tchetvert to about
09 ponds.
6A
1872, 1873, and 1874 were as follows:
a
The bau Seoaibts amounted to 2,359,200 ichenv ents aan
tchetverts in 1873, and 3,454,700 tchetverts in 1872. The
last two years is attributable in part to the short crops. of
marketing their grain at Odessa and partly to the grow
wheat-markets. The above tables do not embrace the recei
neighboring farmers which pass, without the interposition of |
tors, directly into the hands of the exporters.
The stocks of grains and seeds remaining in warehouse Decea }
|
| Soft wheat. \Sandomirea.
Tehetverts, | | rts.
Tehetverts.| Tehetverts.| Tchetverts.
2 RS SR eae es 140, (00 30, 500 693,000 | 135, 000
2s RS Bi Oe 346, 000 95, 000 350, 000 ;
MR eee. Ree 514, 040
Rapeseed.
73, 500 | 383, 000
ba Barley. Oats. a |
Flaxseed.
e Tehetverts.| Tehetverts.| Tchetverts.| Tehetverts.
fs 7s ite aA ea ee a Oe 46, 000 | 14, 500 3,
DOSS = SSR eR Les Red as! 13, 000 11, 900 11, 000
Biel (: ani SE HERS COD res 26, 000 | 3, 500 3, 500
three years was as follows : 1872, 1,194,500 tchetverts ; 1873, 9
tchetverts; 1874, 1,030,000 tchetverts. 3
The export trade. will be presented in a future report, and. will b
produced in a future monthly report of this Department. €
io)
MONTHLY REPORT
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
ee Ey Li ES re,
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1875.
2 st Bs cath ih a ols EEE
i pysikk iy nist * : t = 49 ne 1108 HOR
MONTHLY REPORT.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
STATISTICAL DIVISION,
April 19, 1875.
Srgz: I respectfully present for publication the matter for the April
report, comprising a digest of returns showing the condition of winter-
wheat; those illustrating the status of farm-animals at the close of winter,
and the diseases and losses of such stock during the past twelve months ;
the monthly records of prices of farm-products in this country and in
Europe ; and material from the Divisions of Chemistry, Entomology, and
Botany.
J. RB. DODGE,
Statistician.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Comnvissioner.
DIGEST OF APRIL RETURNS.
WINTER-WHEAT PROSPECTS.
The area in winter-wheat appears to have been increased last fall
about 7 per cent. A small portion of this area, partially or wholly de-
stroyed by the severity of winter, will be replaced by other crops; how
much, will depend upon the vicissitudes of April weather and the press-
ure of spring work. The Middle States made a very small increase
2 per cent. in Pennsylvania, 1 in New York, with a decrease of 4 per
cent. in Delaware; an aggregate increase of about 135,000 acres. The
Soutkern States, from Maryland to Tennessee, inclusive, have made a
large increase, adding half a million acres to an area of three and a half
millions. It is largest in Mississippi; 70 per cent. in the counties re-
ported, 42 per cent. in those of Texas, 30 in Arkansas and Tennessee,
and 26 in Georgia. Ohio counties return no increase in acreage, Michi-
gan but 1 per cent., Indiana a decrease of 2 per cent., and Illinois an
advance of 10 per cent. Missouri has enlarged her area in nearly the
same proportion, and Kansas 30 per cent. in the counties reporting.
The aggregate increase in acreage planted considerably exceeds a million
acres, and with that of California will equal one and a half millions.
The condition of the crop, as far as can be judged by its appearance
in April in the more northern latitudes, before the ground is bare and
free from frost, is below an average, and far below the status of last
Spring. In the South generally the prospects are quite flattering, and
150
the crop secure against all probable contingencies excepting rast. Jn
California a large breadth has been seeded. Prompt germination and
vigorous growth have followed the winter-rains. The early-sown area is
probably secure, but drying winds and the absence of the latter rains
excite apprehensions of failure of late plantings. The States in the yval-
leys of the Ohio and Missouri report inferior condition of wheat, as a
result of winter-killing. Those sections in which drought prevented
early seeding and suflicient root-development before winter set in, have
suffered most. The protection afforded by snow bas been exceedingly
valuable in all the area north of the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude, the
injuries sustained resulting mainly from thawing and subsequent freezing
in March. In the Middle States this protection has been more uniform
than in the West. The more exposed fields present a brown and lifeless
appearance, but the roots are tound to be sound, except in patches coy-
ered long with ice. Everywhere the superiority of wheat seeded with
the drill, and the great advantage of this mode over broadcasting, are
conspicuously apparent.
The winter-wheat of New England is a scarcely appreciable quantity.
The covering of snow has been deep, and on the coming of Aprila depth
of one to three feet lay upon the few fields sown, from Connecticut to
Maine.
In two-thirds of the wheat-growing counties of New York a medium
condition of winter-grain, so tar as freed from the trammels of snow and
frost, is indicated; of the remainder, there are two making reports of
inferiority to every one showing superior condition. Some damage by
freezing in Monroe has been done in spots where water has stood on the
frozen surface. Genesee is one in which the prospect is. poor, the ground
being frozen in places four feet deep, and winter-killing has been severe
in Chautauqua, Madison, and Schenectady. The fall growth in Onon-
daga was not so good as usual, and only moderate expectations are
aroused by spring condition. A disposition is manifested to wait‘and
see what April will do for the crop. In Washington 115 inches of snow
in the aggregate are reported. The covering of snow has prevented the
almost total destruction of the crop of the State.
Wheat in New Jersey presents an appearance of somewhat less than
average promise. In Warren County a good covering of snow has made
the prospect in April as good as in December last. In Burlington dry
weather in autumn delayed germination and left the plants in poor con-
dition to withstand the severity of winter. Salem and other southern
counties make unfavorable returns. A similar state of the crop exists
in Delaware.
A fair condition, so far as could be judged, where frosts had disap-
peared, is returned from twenty-five counties in Pennsylvania, and fully
half the remainder report higher than average. An uninterrupted
blanketing of snow has generally warded off the effects of severe cold.
There have been eighty-five consecutive days of sleighing in Franklin.
On the southern slopes of knolls, where the snow has melted, plants
are partially destroyed by freezing. In a considerable area of the wheat-
breadth the plants are brown, in some instances apparently lifeless, but
the roots are mostly alive and comparatively vigorous. The drilled
wheat looks well in counties in which broadcast sowing has been fol-
lowed by winter-killing. The fresh lands are far greener than the old
fields, and the soil in best condition in the autumn, bears now a more
promising burden than the areas badly cultivated.
There has been a positive injury to wheat, by the severity of the
winter, in Maryland. Few counties can claim average condition. A
151
better appearance than was expected in Washington is reported; there
has been much injury in Frederick and Montgomery, and the other
wheat-grewing counties in Western Maryland. i&t looks well in Anne
Arundel and Queen Anne, and promising in Worcester and Dorebester.
In Howard, Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles, and Saint Mary’s the
prospect is not flattering. An absence of snow and the prevalence of
sleet in the tobacco-counties has been injurious to wheat-fields.
Returns from sixty-eight counties in Virginia, most of which produce
wheat, indicate a condition below average. Of the returns that express
‘a positive opinion, twenty-eight report average, twenty-seven inferior,
and nine high condition. Among the more favorable returns are those
from Pittsylvania, Middlesex, Spottsylvania, Orange, Madison, Craig,
Matthews, Grayson, Henrico, and Greenville. Clarke presents the most
unpromising appearance since 1836; in the iron-ore lands crops appear
better. The coldest season in twenty-one years is reported from
Spottsylvania. The absence of snow is complained of in the lower
counties, with frequent and sudden changes of temperature. Clover-
fallows in Westmoreland, manured with fish-guano and superphosphate,
present a fine appearance, while neglected fields are bare and dry.
There is a fair prospect that a more hepeful appearance will be presented
in May.
There are fifty-six reports frem North Carolina, and in all but four of
the counties represented wheat is grown to some extent. A medium
condition may be claimed for the whole area, about a dozen counties re-
porting above average, and as many below. The crop is quite promising
in Gaston; 20 per cent. better than usual in Pitt; a good stand in Davie,
the early sown being superior; above average on land well prepared in
Wake; looks extremely well in Greene ; better than for years in Duplin ;
and oives a fair promise in thirty- three other counties. Farmers are
not only giving this crop great breadth, but are paying far more attention
to a preper preparation for seeding. In South Carolina but little atten-
tion is paid to wheat, and the crop is somewhat below average in con-
ditien. It promises well in Greenville, Richland, Barnwell, Edgefield,
and Marion.
There is a marked inerease ef the small area of wheat in the Gulf
States, except Florida and Louisiana, where it is scarcely grown af all.
Of seventy-four counties reporting in Georgia, fifty-eight refer to the
wheat-crop, thirty indicating average prospects, twenty-three superior,
and only five inferior condition. In McDuffie the finest condition in six
years is claimed; and high expectations are raised in Dooly, Lumpkin,
Oglethorpe, De Kalb, Muscogee, Gwinnett, Jefferson, White, Meriwether,
Hlbert, Spalding, Coweta, Baker, Macon, and Maury. In Alabama the
eondition is also above average, but few counties give much attention
to small grain. The early sown is better than the late, and that sown
on uplands better than on bottom-lands, on account of rains and over-
flows. Jn Franklin the practice of harrowing wheat promises great re-
sults. The crop is quite a promising one in Mississippi, though covering
‘a very small area. In Smith County the wheat prospect is better than
for ten years, and in Le Flore five times the area of last year is sown. In
Noxubee that grown upon soil fertilized with twenty-five bushels of cot-
ton-seed is vastly superior to that on unmanured fields. Wheat experi-
“ments in the northern part of Louisiana are mere frequent than usual
this year, and more promising.
There are returns from fifty-nine Texas counties, thirty-seven of which
produce more or less wheat. Of these there are eighteen indicating av-
erage, fifteen superior, and only four inferior condition, which makes
152
Texas prospects for bread quite flattering. The crop is quite advanced
in some sections, standing four feet high in early-sown fields in Fannin,
while late seeding is less promising. ‘That sown in the black soil of the
wheat region is superior to the growth on other soils. A few spots in
several counties appear bare or brown, destroyed by the vicissitudes of
winter. In this State, too, it is said that drilled wheat invariably looks
better than broadcast. In Arkansas, of thirty-two counties growing
wheat, half report average condition, and all but three of the remainder
above average, many of them from 20 to 50 per cent. better. Some
counties have doubled their wheat-area. Of fifty-five county returns
from Tennessee, forty-eight include wheat, twenty-two making it above
average, twenty average, and six below. There has been too much rain,
and injury to wheat from overflow. Some reporters say they never saw
wheat looking so well.
Winter exposure in West Virginia has left the crop in comparatively
bad condition; more than half the returns indicating inferiority, while
only four give high promise. .
Wheat has been injured materially by freezing in Kentucky; about
one-fifth of the counties reporting better than usual, the remainder being
nearly equally divided between medium and low condition in various
degrees of inferiority. On old fields and all thin soils the promise is not
flattering; on the richer soils, well cultivated lands, and drilled areas,
the prospect is far better. There was not snow enough generally, for the
best protection.
The general condition of Ohio wheat is below average, in about the
same proportion as that of Kentucky. Considerable areas in flat lands
are killed. That grown on the hills in the eastern part of the State is
generally in fair condition. In Huron and Erie, where it was well
covered, it has a promising appearance. In Sandusky the early sown is
the brownest. In many localities where the top is destroyed the roots
are found to be alive. In the central and western portion of the State
the condition is more variable, according to degree of protection afforded
by peculiarities of soil and surface and the protection afforded by snow.
In Ashland wheat well put in looks well; in Henry that on sandy soil
is promising; in Logan, injured by freezing and thawing, yet much of
it well rooted.
Athens: Not so good as last year, but about an average condition. Many fields
broadcast sown are greatly injured by freezing and thawing. Drilled wheat stands well.
Ashland: Although put in with care and showing remarkably well in the fall, the extreme
hard winter and searcity of snow has no doubt materially injured some fields, but to what
extent cannot be easily determined till perhaps near the Ist of May. Scioto: Wheat has
been very badly injured by the. severity of the winter, and but little snow to protect it.
Present appearances indicate at least 20 per cent. below an average at this season of the
year. Tuscarawas: Winter wheat and winter rye is in bad condition in consequence of the
tits of extreme cold weather upon a bare surface; then again the sudden freezing of pools of
water over smooth, flat surfaces and the holding of the same for a length of time, excluding
the air to give it life. Champaign: Winter wheat is much damaged by the hard freezing
and by water lying on it and being frozen on it for so long atime. The ice remained on
much of the level land and in low parts of all fields for weeks, entirely killing many large
patches in most of the fields. Severe cold killed a considerable part of that which was
not covered with ice, it being generally of short growth, caused by the very dry weather last
full at and after sowing time.
Michigan fields were not fully emancipated from icy fetters, the ground
being frozen from two to four feet, and as arule deeply covered with
snow; yet, so far as could be seen, a promising appearance was pre-
sented. Among the counties reporting quite favorably are Lapeer,
Monroe, Macomb, Ottawa, Saginaw, Van Buren, and Shiawassee. That
drilled is best.
153 :
_ Nearly haif the returns from Indiana are unfavorable, and two-thirds
of the remainder are only average. Drought ir seeding gave a poor
preparation for winter. Wheat is more injured in Ohio County than
for nine years previously ; is 50 per cent. below average in Scott; makes
a very poor show in Washington; badly injured in Jennings; in a large
number of other counties the injury is less positively asserted. In
Dubois drilled wheat looks positively well; and in Cass and Clinton
better prospects are reported than for several years. Specimen extracts
of remarks of correspondents are given:
Dearborn: From all accounts and from personal observation, I do not think one acre
in fifty of wheat will be left. It may be set down as a total failure. The same is
true of what little rye was sown. Franklin: Winter wheat looks very badly ; little snow
and long-continued severe freezing. Barley is an important crep here, yielding generally
more money than any other small-grain crop. It appears now to be almost entirely. killed
by the severe freezing. When the mercury fell below 12° there was no snow to protect
grain, and barley will not endure such a degree of cold. Much of the wheat was also
killed. Fuéton : Winter wheat is one-half killed by hard freezing without snow. Howard:
Wheat and rye have wintered admirably ; the snow has disappeared and the wheat looks
green and promising ; no winter-killing or spewing out as last winter. Prospects 25 per cent,
more favorable than last spring. Marion: Wheat is in first-rate condition. It has made
scarcely any growth yet in consequence of the very protracted cold weather ; but it is well
set and the roots in a very sound and healthy condition, and I should say that present pros-
pects are decidedly favorable for a good crop. Ohio: Wheat and rye are the worst winter-
killed that they have been for nine years; from present appearances there will not be more
than one-fourth of an average crop. Ripley: Winter wheat is looking very poor at this
time, it being badly winter-killed from the long, dry, freezing weather, from the Ist of
January until the 10th of March, 1875, when we had a deep snow. SBefore that time there
was not two inches of snow altogether. Spencer: Fair average condition. We have had
a severe winter, and many supposed that wheat was nearly all killed; but since spring has
opened it has shown that the suppositions concerning it were erroneous. Steuben: Winter
wheat comes out very nice. It has started out wonderfully. It was very dry last fall and
did not get a good start. MWabash; I have examined some fields and find the roots alive,
but the top looks bad just now. We have had the longest severe winter that has ever
been experienced on the Wabash. Ice was twenty-seven inches thick on the river.
Warren: Winter wheat is looking fine, and the prospect is good fora full crop. Wash-
ington: Several of our farmers, last season, sowed their wheat in the month of August;
it came up well, and looked very well for a short time. In September it was entirely eaten
up by a worm that resembled the army worm. Wheat that was sowed in the fore part of
September on cood ground, and drilled in, looks well. All the wheat that was sown a little
broadcast and harrowed in makes a very poor show; in fact, in some neighborhoods farmers
report it all killed. Veils: Wheat and rye look unusually well, and is not frozen out. The
blades are browned, but the roots are sound.
The appearance of winter grain in Illinois is considerably below an
average. The number of counties reporting this month is sixty-nine.
Of these forty-eight grow winter wheat, though some of them only a
small quantity; of which twenty return below average, nineteen aver-
age, and nine above. To avoid repetition, a few extracts concerning
wheat have been given; and the following digest of the wheat-returns
of this State will illustrate the peculiarities of the situation in April:
Alexander: It has stood better than was anticipated. Early sowing that was drilled
or plowed in looks very well, but late sowing, broadcasted and harrowed in, in corn
ground, is damaged badly. Bureaw: Winter wheat and rye prospects splendid. Crawford :
Badly injured by severe winter. Cumberland: Wheat and rye are both in very fair condi-
tion apparently. Clinton: From present appearances 20 per cent. of the winter wheat killed.
Cass : Condition of winter wheat 50 per cent. worse than last April; winter rye 25 per cent.
worse. Clark: Unusually good; never had a better prospect for a good crop. De Kalb:
Wheat will be almost entirely killed; rye in fair condition. De Witt: Better than for some
time, especially that which was sown with a drill. The past few days of warm sunshine
have developed it wonderfully, and from present indications the harvest will be bountiful.
Effingham: Wheat and rye as fine as we ever sawit. Fayette: Wheat and rye looking well,
and the prospect is flattering for a good crop. Franklin: A large proportion of our wheat
was sown with drills, and with but few exceptions the wheat has come through well. A
much larger breadth was sown last fall, and much more pains taken in preparing the ground
and putting in theseed, than has heretofore been practiced. Jord : Although the winter has
154
been unusually severe, wheat and rye look well, as far as I have seen or heard. Grundy +
Winter wheat and rye made a very slim growth before winter set in, owing to dry fall.
But the winter ana spring thus far have been quite favorable, and these crops are now an
average. Hancock: Winter wheat is much injured, I would think at this time 50 per
cent., but a week or two may lessen this estimate. Rye seems to be unharmed. dJer-
sey: Wheat has been injured to some extent, but the season is so backward that the
true condition cannot be ascertained. Johnson : Owing to the extremely hard winter,
the condition of winter wheat is gloomy. There are many fields that were sown broadcast
that will not make half an average crop, the wheat plants being frozen out of the ground,
winter killed. Lawrence: Rye is coming out in fine condition, while wheat is not looking .
so well. However, the present prospect is more favorable than at this time last year.
Logan: Wheat is in better condition than average at this time of the year. We have had
more snow than usual, which has been a protection to it. Rye in good condition, better
than average. Kankakee: Better than usual. Montgomery: The farmers begin to ery out
as usual that wheat is badly winter-killed, but I think from what I can learn that it will
come out when warm weather sets in much better than expected. Mason: Wheat and rye
have recovered greatly by being covered with snow during the month of March. Macon:
Winter wheat was seriously damaged in early winter, but fields sheltered from the winds
look well; asa general crop, poorer than last year. McHenry: The condition of winter
rye unusually fine, owing to the protection given to it by a constant covering of snow. Ma-
coupin: Winter wheat appears to be but little injured. Massac: Wheat that was sown
broadeast is nearly a failure, not more than one-fourta standing; that put in with drills will
be three-fourths of a good stand. Marshall: Winter wheat considerably damaged. Rye
very poor. McLean: Winter wheat and rye were more than average the last of March, but
dry weather since has reduced it more than 20 per cent. Peoria: Frozen outbadly. Piatt:
Wheat not quite as good as last spring, but where it was sown early and acquired a
good growth in the fall it looks well; but little injured by the freezing of winter. Rye
about the same as last spring. Pike: Iam of the opinion that we shall have a crop of
wheat. Pope: Winter wheat does not give promise of a good crop at the present time.
Pulaski: Wheat sufiered from freezing. Putnam: It is generally thought that wheat is
mostly killed on account of the severe cold and dry weather in the early part of the winter, -
No snow fell untilin January. Richland: The condition of wheat will average well with
former years at this season. Fears that it was winter-killed have been dispelled in nearly
every case. Sangamon: It is thought by most people that the germ is yet alive, and with
favorable weather from now it will bea good crop. Rye uncertain yet, but comparative
condition, I should say, not more than 75. Schuyler: The unusual amount of snow and
cold weather—no freezing and thawing, thereby lifting the plants out of the ground—leaves
‘the wheat in unusual good fix at this season of the year. Stark: Winter wheat and winter
rye do not look well at present, but may improve this month. Scott: Farmers feel very
despondent about the wheat crop. Some say they will have half a crop ; others say one-
third; for my own part, I think we cannot tell as yet how it willbe. Saint Clair: Winter wheat
is very good, as we had noFebruary and March freezing and thawing weather to throw it up
and freeze it out as itis called, and it now promises a full crop. Yazewell: Full average
with the past three years. Think the prospect for a good crop above average. Vermillion:
Wheat and rye went into the winter in bad condition, owing to the drought and chinches,
but has come through without injury from freezing, is now growing and doing well, and
the indications are that the crop this year will be an average or nearly so. Warren: The
winter wheat appears to be killed, and rye looks badly. Wayne: The comparative condi-
ition of winter wheat and ryeis good. Wabash: Early sown, well put in wiuter wheat is in
good condition. Late and carelessly sown is badly frozen. MWashington: Winter wheat is
looking well. White: Wheatis badly frozen out. Had an extremely cold winter, with but little
snow. Broadcast-sown is damaged far worse than drilled. MWitliamson: Wheat which was
drilled in looks very well. The same may be said of rye, but all of either sown broadcast is
nearly a failure. MWoodford: Io poor condition. We have almost abandoned the idea of
ever again succeeding in raising either winter or spring wheat,
The Northwestern States, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska’
do not grow wiuter wheat except in experimental patches. The ground
was so well covered with snow in Wisconsin that the small area sown
looks better than heretofore. In some counties in Minnesota and Lowa
a little was sown with quite as good success as usual. In Appanoose,
Towa, ‘the drill and the snow have saved the wheat.” In Des Moines a
new practice has been adopted with good results, that of plowing only
as deep as the drill runs and leaving the seed on a solid bed, with about
three inches of mellow soil above.
Of fifty-seven counties reporting wheat in Missouri, thirty indicate
average condition, twenty-two below, and only five above. The fields
155
looked quite brown on the opening of spring, a portion of the plants
being killed outright, with an indication of vitality of root in a large
proportion. The drilled areas are invariably superior to those sown
broadcast. A partial thaw in March, with subsequent hard freezing,
wrought much injury. Drought in the autumn prevented vigorous
growth in some counties, except in the best bottoms and in well-culti-
vated soils, giving a poor appearance this spring to thin upland areas.
Timber shelter has had a favorable influence.
There are forty-three county reports of winter grain in Kansas, of
which nineteen are below average, seventeen average, and seven above.
Drying north winds have been destructive since the lst of March, kill-
ing much wheat that up to that date gave fair promise. The winter
has been spoken of as the hardest ever experienced in Kansas. Some
of the new counties return a very promising appearance of wheat. In
Cowley a volunteer crop is springing up, which is being harrowed,
and expectations are raised of a remunerative yield. The efficacy
of the drill is affirmed positively and repeatedly.
Oregon produces very little winter wheat.
California wheat is put in from November to April, or in the rainy
season. It cannot be called spring wheat, nor is much of it fall-sown.
Itis literally winter wheat, sown in winter and grown in part in winter,
ripening in spring or early summer. Reports are generally favorable,
with the exception that more rain is needed, and drying northerly winds
are to some extent injurious. In Stanislaus, on adobe land, wheat looks
well; on sandy land a lack of rain threatens to shorten the yield. In
San Joaquin, itis in high condition on land summer-fallowed and sown
early... Many farmers are pasturing or topping the more luxurious
growths. On the west side of the river considerable rain is needed.
In Alameda a great breadth is suffering from want of rain. In Contra
Costa it is well seeded and growing, but the late-sown is suffering from
drought. In Sacramento the crop is forward and promising. It looks
wellin Amador, though alittle dry; is promising in Sutter, but north-
ern winds are rapidly taking the moisture from the soil; and is in good
condition in Sonoma, Kern, Nevada, Mendocino, Placer, and other coun-
ties.
CONDITION OF CATTLE AND SHEEP.
The status of farm animals for the whole country is fully up to
the average of spring condition in a series of years, notwithstanding
the remarkable severity of the winter, and far above average, taking
into consideration comparative numbers of animals represented by
the counties making the best reports. There has been no _ prevail-
ing disease during the winter in any section. Searcity of feed that
could not be met by better housing and care, or purchased supplies,
has been confined within very narrow limits, and though, in the sec-
tion north of the thirty-sixth degree of latitude, and east of the Pacific
slope, the cold weather was of extraordinary intensity and duration,
the atmosphere was dry and the temperature comparatively uniform.
While this induced more careful shelter and feeding, it stimulated in
the animals vigor of appetite and muscle. In some localities in Texas
the winter was severely cold and unusually wet, but over the greater
part of the State the conditions were favorable for unsheltered and un-
fed stock. In the remaining Southern States winter rains were more
abundant than common, occasioning much depreciation and loss among
stock left to find their own shelter and food. On the Pacific slope,
especially throughout California, all kinds of sheltered stock were
156
favored with extraordinary immunity from suffering. The weather was,
uniformly mild and free from hard storms. The rains were timely and.
gentle, and pasturage was abundant.
Almost the only drawbacks to the health and thrift of cattle and
sheep, in any part of the country, have been the want of proper shelter,
care, and feed. Even in sections where, from the combined ravages of
droughts, chinch-bugs, and grasshoppers, scarcity of feed has been great-
est, and this aggravated by cold of extraordinary intensity and duration,
precaution in husbanding resources in hand, and in seasonably providing
such others as could be ‘made available either for increasing or saying
feed, has resulted in bringing stock through in better condition than in
previous milder winters with abundant feed, under indifferent treatment.
In Kansas, cattle and sheep are reported in better condition in Leaven-
worth and Woodson Counties, because, feed being short, special precau-
tion was taken beforehand to prepare for this exigency. In Labette the
condition is 25 per cent. better than in the spring of 1874, because * the
farmers have made the discovery that other agencies besides feed are
required to keep stock in good condition. He whoallows hisstock tobe fed
in an open and bleak field, without any shelter, is surprised to find that
his feed does not go very far, and that his stock, with an abundance to
eat, are always poor and weak in the spring, and have a dull, rough,
weather-worn look. The sad lessons of past years and the scarcity of
feed in the autumn caused the farmers to prepare good shelter for their
Stock, and to give them unusual care by regular feeding, watering, salt-
ing, and exercise.” In Caledonia and Lamoille, in Northern Vermont,
under one of the severest winters known, cattle and sheep arein excellent
condition, ‘owing, largely, to the better housing, feeding, and care.” For
a like reason, in Berkshire, among the mountains in Western Massachu-
setts, ‘some cattle with ordinary keeping are fit for beef.” Similar re-
ports come from representative localities in all sections visited with ex-
traordinary cold, scarcity, or both.
Returns from the Southern States afford not a few indications that
the old practice of making no antecedent preparation for stock in inclem-
ent winter-weather is being slowly, but in an annually-inereasing ratio,
Superseded by the more humane and far more profitable economy of
suitable protection from cold, storms, and starvation. In Maryland, bet-
ter shelter and feeding are becoming popular. In North Carolina, cattle
and sheep are beginning to receive better shelter and eare, and they
“show the beneficial results very plainly.” In contrast with the losses,
and *‘ the pitiable existence ” of the surviving, among those left to search
out their own food and shelter, ‘ the superior condition of the few cattle
and sheep that have been well sheltered attests the sound economy of
that treatment.” In Clayton, Georgia, cattle and sheep are in improved
condition, with fewer losses than formerly, “ owing to the fact that farm-
ers are making less cotton and more grain ;” and in Troup, the condition
is better than for years, and the losses 50 per cent. less, because of in-
creased production of forage and better protection in cold weather.
Among the profitable results is specified “* not so many naked sheep, and
consequently more wool.” The return from Kaufman, Texas, furnishes
this contrast between the results of care and neglect; while our re-
porter, whose stock was well provided for, lost only 1 per cent., in the
county about 25 per cent. died, ‘‘ owing to the severity of the winter and
the neglect of farmers to provide the hay necessary to carry them
through.” From Arkansas, where the relative condition of cattle is
worse than in any other State, and where losses from exposure and star-
vation have been extensive, Van Buren reports that, though the winter
Geet ’
157
has been extremely hard, yet the farmers, in view of a scarcity of feed
of all kinds, took the precaution to furnish their stock with better quar-
ters and to feed them with more regularity and care, and therefore have
brought them through in good condition and with very few losses. In
Tennessee, West Virginia, and Kentucky, farmers are reported as making
some progress in the discovery that suitable shelter for stock in winter
results in greatly-diminished losses, and a fair condition with less feed.
In all the States north of the Potomac and Ohio, and in Minnesota,
stock, being generally housed, has come through the winter in remarka-
bly good condition. Out of four hundred and eight definite returns for
the condition of cattle from these States, only sixty-three are below aver-
age; and out of four hundred and seventeen for sheep, only forty are be-
low. The reduced condition in these few instances is chiefly ascribed
to local scarcity of feed; though, in southern Indiana and Iilinois, quite
as often tolack of shelter. The returns of condition are tabulated as
follows:
Cattle. Sheep
States, Se lod! o 3 | 5 od log 3..| 3
ee ib2| ¢ (es) ee 221.2 |22| By
See e | eeu | So ate | S| ee
xj < oS a i] < ins} 7
Mainerti39o./..6scRs 10 5 4 DeFenos 5 3 u 1
New Hampshire... 7 3 eat eerie 1 3 3 Oy hae es
Vermont. -.5.-.- 12 5 MWe SIA 2 IG GD FSS
Massachusetts... 9 oa oT | Sey Re eae 3 ce eee 2
Rhode Island.. Me erica UT Veskee tel sine a ae eeeis wie bby eee
Connectieut. . Bg) See D FEEL GU EROS REE ES BH ihess cele siege
New York.. 37 10 Cie eee el eee 10 25 1
New Jersey. 6 il oF tM sae eee 1 3 2 ee 2
Pennsylvani f 43 10 24 Qeleteer 7 23 8 5
Delaware..... é 1 ae a wip 9) sia 0 PE ae |e a fe pe Tiles
Maryland..... < 20 7 12 We S333 4 13 1 2
Virginia ...... 68 15 33 18 2 21 29 14 4
North Carolina. . 56 23 20 10 3 14 26 8 8
South Carolina... 13 4 4 SUA. 4 5 3 1
Georgia .-.<.-).. 74 25 20 27 2 27 26 8 13
BulOMGa. so. ocsn = 14 6 3 4 L 2 5 2 5
Alabama.-....-. 5 3 12 11 Slew. 2 12 7 9 3
Mississippi. «1-2... j-5---2- 7 26 5 3 16 2 7 7 6 6
HAGuInaucho asin .Uvsta sec. a on 18 2 8 6 2 2 9 2 5
WERARO. EIT GTR. 37s... & 59 19 19 Plwlaeoher 19 23 6 11
Bea er A ee io mn cen donnie ne sicls 38 4 10 23 1 7 15 12 4
SUOITIERSEO ee senor oe eet yee w ec reawe es 55 14 19 22 IAS al 34 9 1
DWORte Waroinint ch tay. toa ous dos owe we J.-S 35 15 13 Fe Gs See 15 16 Cees
US a6 SGa ae A ae ee 52 17 25 9 1 18 25 7 2
WDIGR se SETS ARO OU GE gE. 59 17 31 Mbie Sse 17 38 3 al
WUC TET Ue eye Sener Bae ee 34 4 23 Ye ae 6 21 4 3
PRN ee eee ccaescesatceccnuaccec: 49 ile 19 12 1 14 Q7 7 i
Mingip sO FOR O19. Bless. 69 12 36 17 4 12 32 10 15
CMSs, OLS Ls ee a 25 3 19 2 1 8 12 2 3
RITMMEN ite eee eas vee. See bet as eee s ely 33 6 21 2 4 4 22 1 6
MWe eed seseuk £3 fh. d32 ce ctewes. Se. 58 7 33 16 2 7 30 5 11
Whe. ae Se 65 8 17 BOM slic == a 35 20 3
iQ iyal Gs SERS aS a TIS DS Oe Se Ge 8 ee Pa 44 19 19 5 L 5 25 3 11
Weprgekaree tree osu! tec ects cee Ee ae 13 LE tere 2 12 2 8
(CEST TT Soo J os ee oe 22 12 Ortaca 2 9 FO psy ee 3
CREED dee tate se eS AOE 9 2 4 Ol Ge af} 1 5 2 mt:
eg Meme ee nencac aa esececatesecccens 1,181 | 313 | 524) 314 30 | 286) 591} 162 142
CATTLE.—Returns for condition in all the States foot up as follows :
Total, 1,181; above average, 313; average, 524; below,314; not specified,
30. In elassifying returns, those which specify good condition without
qualification (as large numbers do) are placed as average, while only
those which are characterized by some stronger epithet are placed above.
The general condition in the several States is sufficiently indicated by
158
the table. Returns from the whole northern section of the country,
where the winter was severely cold but dry, often refer to the obvious
fact that deficient protection increases the demand for feed as well as
induces emaciation, weakness, disease, and loss, while good housing and
careful feeding insure comfort, health, and thrift, bat do not report any
local causes affecting condition worthy of special notice. In the South,
cattle appear to have suffered more than sheep from the prevalent cold
rains. In Virginia, owing to this cause, counties in which cattle receive
‘*no shelter and but little care,” generally report bad condition— poor
and weak ; reduced to mere skeletons.” But there has been no difficulty
in securing good condition with proper protection and feeding, Tn
Buckingham, where there has been a decided improvement in manage-
ment and care, ‘many are now in good beef,” and in Page and other
counties, for the same reasons, the condition is above the average,
Returns of similar import come from the States farther south. In Texas,
though the general condition is above average, in a few counties suffer-
ing and deaths, from want of shelter and feed, have been frightful.
Titus and Kaufman report that 25 per cent. have been lost from these.
causes; Rusk, Wood, and Waller, that many have died; Dallas, that the
loss has been fearful; and Hamilton, that the prairies are dotted with
the carcasses of the dead. On the other hand, in Wilson, cattle have
stood the winter remarkably well; in Collin the condition is much
better than usual, owing to the dry winter; in Ashley, good beef is being
taken from the range; and in De Witt many are fat enough for beef.
Arkansas and Missouri report an equally dark side, with no favorable
contrast. These two States are the only ones in which a majority of the
returns for cattle are below average. In the former State, Garland
reports that about one-third of the stock at large and fully one-half of
work-cattle have died, nearly all from starvation; Independence, that
all are poor and feeble, and many have died through neglect and want
of feed; Baxter, that the condition is worse than for many years. In
Missouri, Cass, Clay, Lafayette, Washington, and Moniteau are coun-
ties reporting very bad condition and heavy losses for want of proper
protection and feed. In Iowa the dividing-line between good and bad
condition coincides with that between good and bad treatment. The
same is true in Tennessee, where the report from Campbell will answer
for the State, namely: “‘ Those sheltered from the coid rains look well;
those not sheltered, in bad plight.” In Kansas and Nebraska, owing
chiefly to precaution in storing up prairie-hay, better protection, and
more careful feeding—these measures being doubly stimulated by
extensive failures of crops and by recollecting losses in the previous
winter—cattle have been brought through in a condition above average,
and with very much less sacrifice of life, vigor, and flesh than in the
winter of 1874. In California, for reasons previously stated, the con-
dition was never before excelled, probably never equaled.
SHEEP.—The condition of sheep is still better than that of cattle.
In the table for condition (also in that for losses) counties reporting
no sheep worthy of mention are classified with the ‘not specifled,”
and all simply reporting “ good condition” are under the head of
“average.” For all the States, out of 1,039 definite returns all except
162 are average or above. From the States north of the Potomac and
Ohio, with Minnesota and Iowa, but 45 returns of condition are below,
while 426 are average or above, and 57 are not specified. Relatively, as
with cattle, the poorest conditions are in Arkansas and Missouri, the
figures being in the former 7 above, 15 average, 12 below, and 4 not
specified, and in the latter, in the same order, 7, 35, 20, and 3. Returns
a a) eS Pe
159
from Pennsylvania indicate average condition with, few extremes. In
Virginia, in counties which practice wintering sheep without shelter,
some of the bad results are as follows: In Westmoreland, flocks which
started in the winter fat are now thin and in low condition, and
though more grain than usual has been fed, some sheep and
many lambs have perished; in Greenville they have suffered greatly,
while many are losing their wool, and ewes are ‘too poor and weak
to sustain their lambs;” in Northumberland they are also poor, and
the loss is 20 per cent. greater than last year, while in Cumberland it
is 10 per cent, less, and the condition good, ‘‘ owing to better protection.”
‘Like effects from the same causes are reported from the Carolinas and
the Gulf States. In Texas, Crittenden reports that while three-fourths
are poor, those properly cared for are in fine condition. In Rusk they
do well when fed with turnips and cotton-seed ; in Walker their condition
is fine, and. the lambs are healthy; in Gillespie the good condition is
limited to those sheltered and fed on rainy days; in Bee, where the
whether has been cold and wet, flocks in sheltered places suffered but
little, but on the open plains some lost more than one-half. Dallas,
Live Oak, Bexar, and De Witt are among those which return a superior
condition.
The following suggestive report is from Laclede, Missouri :
The condition is better than for years. Previously most of the farmers have left their
flocks without shelter or sufficient feed, and let wethers, ewes, lambs and all run together
the whole year round. The result was that they “had no luck.” They raised but few
lambs and little wool. But last fall they generally built sheds, and so arranged them that
they could separate their flocks. The consequence is that their ‘‘luck’’ has changed, They
have raised nearly all their lambs, and the woo-lclip will be much heavier. °
In Benton, Iowa, about 5 per cent. have died for want of shelter; also
many in Calhoun, and “quite a number of early lambs” in Des Moines.
Throughout. California sheep are reported as having passed through the
winter in a condition of extraordinary thrift. The return from Sacra-
mento states that ‘‘ the increase of the flocks will be greater this season
than ever before known. The lambing season is well past, and. good
luck is reported everywhere.”
LOSSES OF CATTLE AND SHEEP,
As there has been a remarkable exemption from diseases among both
cattle and sheep the past winter, losses, except incidental, have resulted
almost exclusively from a want of due shelter, feed, and care. The fol-
lowing table aftords a condensed, general indication of relative losses
in the several States :
Cattle. Sheep.
ss at oy
Bfates, 23 Bs [ight |/Bx ~- SHES,
= = 8 2 os — 8 v ors
=i) of aH = no oS ak 3 D
a Ba A 08-9 Se =r a0 es
On S08) ey Secon et LEY SV ehiia
Meio eee ie steep baer: a dawase nla. 42543. 10 7 3 0 0 7 3 0 0
rs SUPER VTE DSCC elie ohn\n'nis.nivin'a waite Sanne enn cd 7 5 1 1 0 5 1 1 0
VERON OMAR ee oe doscide eh CIEE, ok) 12 12 0 0 0 12 0 0 0
Massachusetts 9 8 1 0 0 7 0 0 2
Rhode Island 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Q 1
Connecticut 5 4 1 0 0 3 1 1 0
New York 37 25 10 0 2 24 10 0 3
New Jersey... 6 3 2 0 L 2 1 0 3
Pennsylvania .. 43 23 9 3 3 25 8 3 7
Delaware 1 (0) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
Maryland 20 il 6 2 1 10 6 2 2
t L
160
Cattle Sheep.
States—Continued. os 5° a S3 ee i
a3 lab] 8 |e ae] B | ag
ao n om oe me a oe oS 4
Se) S | oe] Bol Ss pop o ee le tee
PP eh. ke Re hee fl ig my eS | aod ee
VACUA nae eicle cn cles <oraic Sena bicer'ae ae 68 45 12 8 3 43 10 6
Worth Carodlmal! AITO) JOOS Ces 56 32 14 5 5 30 1k 5 10
Savi Carolinas. ioc tee on byw ep «mince ban 13 7 0 4 2 ii 1 3 2
Reon laaceatiicabce atest csanenman leeing teats 74 44 15 13 2 39 16 12 7
Mlorida fe ieee? . SOrlacerte to. ce yt ie 14 5 3 4 2 5 5 1 3
PS EipTa rien fore Nei cee ets ee ie lee ee ee 31 14 12 4 1 uC 0 ca 2 2B
MERSIESIP PIs eee Sow eS eee oe ee 26 8 5 9 4 10 5 4 7
Ipuisiania TECL Gye. sco. arcael de we ee tesee. 18 9 3 4 2 9 4 2: 3
BUCRER teeter aia, SelG me Aina Gace nae ain argerm ee eens 59 31 1L 14 3 29 10 9 19
AnkangsaghsJiuuo dual SEUOCEh EP ey ne 26 38 10 10 16 2 13 10 10 5
Menneassed +.- -baadcas ae decapah-ccumaaatacuct 55 31 12 9 3 33 11 8 3
CAT OVALO ING coals get watiae ce Gat meee eee 30 21 6 6 2 Q1 5 6 }- 3
Wantitelsy,. Jif SPSi SEE EN Rees ee eee 52 29 15 7 1 29 14 8 1
TIS Agee oe ere Ne ote tte eae ee 59 42 12 5 0 42 13 4 0
MACHIE SID obs vente re seth ecto eae ee 34 19 1i 3 1 18 9 4 3
Indiana 49 25 BL 9 4 26 1L 8 4
Thinois,. ~~ ey ee 69 35 15 13 6 34 15 12 8
Wisconsin. -. 25 11 10 2 1 13 10 1 §
Minnesota. -. 33 20 10 2 1 20 10 2 1
TOW Are cca 58 27 17 11 3 27 15 11 5
Missouri 65 20 8 32 5 24 10 22 9
WRANGAR Ee Soe cee teste 44 33 6 3) 2 30 5 1 8
WNebraskace sie Sk <peettegace Below omacane 24 11 4 6 3 9 3 5 8
(GRlifomipg ees seas 2 eee) ke eee 22 17 2 0 3 iy 2 0 3
UNO BON s wees ac ceinewestc menue wa cet tuebiee ee 9 5 2 iL 1 3 3 2 1
otal Leds. 2col. kos he..2 Sheth Lee 1, 181 654 259 198 70 640 251 159 131
It will be seen by the above table that in 1,111 speeifie returns for
catle, only 198 report losses exceeding those of 1874; and in 1,050 spe-
cific returns for sheep, but 159 are greater.
In New England the per cent. of losses, compared with the previous
winter, ranges from 5 to 75 less, except that New London, Connecticut, ©
reports the loss of sheep 10 per cent. greater, while that of cattle was 10
per cent. less. While there is no return of greater loss from New York,
Steuben returns 20 per cent., Monroe and Washington 25, and Ontario,
Saratoga, and Warren 50 less. In Wyoming, Pennsylvania, the losses
were less than ever known; in Northampton and York, none; in Mer-
cer, 50 per cent. less than last year.
In Virginia losses of sheep appear to have exceeded relatively those
of cattle; in Northumberland, while the loss of the latter was 5 per
cent., of the former it was 30 per cent. greater, ascribed to want of shel-
ter; in Matthews the loss of sheep was unprecedentedly great; in
Spottsylvania, greater than usual; in Clarke, 2 to 4 per cent. greater,
“owing to blind-staggers, confined almost exclusively to ewes with lamb ;”
in Frederick, 40 per cent. greater; in Caroline, the loss of sheep and
lambs much greater; Greenville reports a loss of cattle and sheep 10
per cent., and Gloucester 15 per cent., greater. On the other hand, the
loss is less in Nelson, Charlotte, Patrick, Essex, and Cumberland, by 10
per cent.; in Dinwiddie, 20 per cent.; in Henry, 25; in Smyth and
Floyd, 50; and in Craig, 75. In North Carolina, Wilkes reports losses
less than in previous years, owing to better sheltering and feeding; in
Mitchell, Yadkin, and Lincoln, 10 per cent. less; in Cumberland and
Montgomery, 50 per cent. Jess; in Cherokee, 80 per cent. less. Carteret
reports no loss of sheep, but the loss of cattle 125 per cent. greater; in
Harnett the general loss was 50 per cent. greater. Barnwell, South
Carolina, returns losses double those of the previous year. In Georgia
the losses for the whole State were much less than the previous year.
161
The extremes of variation are great in different localities, according to
treatment; in Schley they are 10 per cent. less than any year since the
war, owing to better feeding; in McDuffie they are 50 per cent. less
than in any winter for ten years; in Heard 50 per cent. less than last
year; in Hancock, 75 per cent. less; in Scriven the loss of sheep is 100
per cent. greater, while the loss of cattle is 50 per cent. less ; but in Lin-
coln, while the loss of sheep only equals that of last year, the loss of cattle
is 100 per cent. greater. Precisely the same report comes from Santa
Rosa, Florida. In Choctaw, Alabama, the loss of cattle was 25 per cent.
greater, but. the loss of sheep less, ‘‘ owing to a statute for restraining
dogs.” From Mississippi, Rankin returns losses 100 per cent. greater than
last year; Pike, the loss of cattle much greater than for many years.
Hancock reports that the loss of eattle arises wholly from starvation, none
of the farmers making any provision for feeding; Amite, that the loss
in cattle greatly exceeds that of previous years; Wilkinson, that 10
per cent. of the stock have perished. In Louisiana, Avoyelles reports the
loss of both kinds 100 per cent. greater; Washington, of cattle, more
than 100 per cent. greater, with an average loss of sheep; in Franklin
it was 90 per cent. less; in Madison, 50 less; and Richland, less than
ever known.
TExas.— Wood: Many cattle have died from the severe cold weather; 25 per cent. more
have died. Titus: Twenty-five per cent. of the cattle have starved to death, and by the
time grass rises the loss will reach 334 per cent. Hunt: Cattle, 22 per cent greater; sheep
10 per cent. less. Gonzales: Much less than usual. Bell: Much less than for many
years Angelina: Cattle, 100 per cent. greater; sheep, equal. Marion: Fifty per cent.
less. Cherokee: Less 50 per cent. Live Oak: Less'50 per cent. Kendall: Sheep 124 per
cent. greater; cattle, equal. Coryell: Less 50 per cent. Dallas: Greater 25 per cent.
Blanco: Less 50. per cent. Kaufman: Greater 15 per cent; about 25 per cent. have
died. Collin: Less 15 per cent. Falls: Much less. Comanche: Cattle, 80 per cent.
less; sheep, 95 per cent. less. Fannin: 25 per cent. greater. MWaller: Cattle, 100 percent.
greater. Milam: Loss in flesh, 25 per cent. Ellis: Greater 25 per cent.; all from star-
vation. Ashley: More than 90 per cent. less. Bexar: Less than for several years. Pa-
nola : 50 per cent. less.
Jackson County, in Arkansas, reports that nearly 50 per cent. have
died. Losses in Tennessee have been comparatively small. In Mis-
souri, scareity of feed combined with want of due protection and care
to make the losses heavy. Kansas is rewarded for the decided improve-
ment reported in the care of farm-stock by greatly diminished losses.
Losses in Nebraska, also, notwithstanding unusual cold and scarcity of
feed, were less than in the previous winter. In the other States in the
Valley of the Mississippi and Ohio, including West Virginia, there were
no unusual losses worthy of special notice. In California there were
scarcely any losses, and comparatively few in Oregon.
DISEASES OF FARM-ANIMALS.
All kinds of farm-animals during the past year enjoyed a marked
exemption from prevalent diseases, with the exception of the class of
unknown maladies loosely designated by the term “ hog-cholera,” which,
however, presented a less formidable list of losses than the previous
year. The losses from exposure and starvation consequent upon the
increased severity of the winter and the failure of food-crops in many
sections, are larger in those counties where the policy of merciful treat-
minent of domestic animals has never been understood or practiced.
During the past year, even horses and mules, which generally receive
better treatment than other classes of farm-animals, have been allowed
to perish in increased numbers. The external causes of disease, how-
162
ever, were much less active than the previous year, and were found
most prevalent in those regions where the least care was bestowed upon
farm-animals. In our “ Extracts from Correspondence” will be found
an instance of short-sighted policy in the defeat of the law for the pro-
tection of sheep against dogs in a county in Missouri. As long as the
majority of farmers in a community can thus be arrayed against their
own interests it is idle to expect any remarkable agricultural progress
there.
DISEASES OF HORSES.—Horses, like other classes of farm-animals,
were generally healthy during the last year, though the severe and pro-
tracted winter, with its long confinement and shortening supplies of
food, produced more or less abnormal symptoms in the northern sections
of the country. The most general type of disease was the catarrhal,
which was noticed in all quarters of the Union. This, with other affec-
tions of the breathing apparatus, constituted the great majority of the
cases of disease reported. The following is a brief classification of the
horse-maladies of 1874.
Catarrhal.—The epizootic influenza, commonly called the epizooty,
So prevalent two years ago, left traces of its malign influence which
Still exist in some sections of the country. These are found in close
association with the common distemper, which appears to have been
aggravated or modified by the results of the former “ epizooty.” There
is a tendency to confound the two types of disease as though it were
difficult to distinguish them. Cases of this character occurred in Ox-
ford and Waldo, Maine, and in Addison, Vermont, but with trifling
loss. Catarrhal symptoms, sometimes resembling the ‘ epizooty ” and
sometimes the common distemper, are also noted in Onondaga, Wash-
ington, Genesee, Chenango, Ontario, Albany, Delaware, Monroe, and
Franklin, New York; in Westmoreland, Bedford, Lancaster, Beaver,
Adams, Tioga, and Forest, Pennsylvania; in Frederick, Baltimore, and
Saint Mary’s, Maryland; in King William, Pittsylvania, Craig, Gooch-
land, and Washington, Virginia ; in Yancey, Gates, Mitchell, and Clay,
North Carolina; in Lexington, South Carolina; in Laurens, Towns, Lib-
erty, Catoosa, Wayne, Whitfield, Echols, Walker, Wilkinson, and Frank-
lin, Georgia; in Santa Rosa, Florida ; in Mobile and Calhoun, Alabama ;
in,Franklin, Mississippi; in East Baton Rouge, Louisiana; in Blanco,
Texas; in Sharp, Arkansas; in Johnson, Loudon, Cannon, Jefierson,
Fentress, Cocke, and Monroe, Tennessee; in Wirt, Tacker, and Gil-
mer, West Virginia; in Clarke, Bracken, Grayson, Rockcastle, Adair,
and Robertson, Kentucky; in Ashtabula, Noble, Montgomery, Union,
Williams, Perry, Adams, Ross, and Champaign, Ohio; in Genesee, Ing-
ham, Kent, Ottawa, Saginaw, and Menomonee, Michigan, in Vander-
burgh, Indiana; in Morgan, Illinois; in Washington, Dodge, and Sauk,
Wisconsin; in Faribault, Morton, Stearns, and Winona, Minnesota; in
Hancock, Iowa; in Jefferson, Miller, Macon, Marion, Pike, Platte, Bates,
Christian, Scott, Howard, Holt, Franklin, and Vernon, Missouri; in
Johnson, Jackson, and Brown, Kansas; and in San Luis Obispo, Cali-
fornia.
Throat and lung affections—Lung-fever is reported in Franklin
lin, Lawrence, and Cambria, Pennsylvania; in Manatee, Florida; in
Harris, Texas; in Adair, Kentucky; in, Benton, Iowa; in Neosho, Kan-
sas. The glanders affected horses to some extent in Colorado and Mat-
agorda, Texas; in Howard, Arkansas; in Hancock, Tennessee; in Alex-
ander, Illinois; in Buena Vista, lowa. Farey was noticed in Henry,
Alabama. In Cherokee, Iowa, some cases of swelled throat attracted
attention.
a
163
Brain-diseases.—Blind staggers, vertigo, &c., were more or less prev-
alent in Tyrrell, North Carolina; in Bullock, Floyd, and McDuffie,
Georgia; in Columbia, Florida; in Tishemingo, Mississippi; in Angel-
ina, Texas, where nearly every case was fatal. Post-mortem examina-
tion showed a marked congestion of the brain. This malady was also
noted in Garland, Benton, Independence, and Crittenden, Arkansas, in
some cases causing a loss of 10 per cent. ; in Dyer, Cannon, Cheatham,
Fayette, Lauderdale, Haywood, and Robertson, Tennessee ; in Calloway,
Graves, Hopkins, Livingston, Logan, and Simpson, Kentucky. The
mortality in some of the foregoing counties was large. The disease is
- mostly attributed to feeding worm-eaten corn. It appeared in but one
county north of the Ohio River, Pope, Illinois, where three-fourths. of
the cases terminated fatally. A few cases of cerebro-sSpinal méningitis
occurred in Mercer, Pennsylvania. |
Gastric diseases.—Bots, colic, &c.,were troublesome in Dooly, Scriven,
Henry, Towns, Catoosa, White, and Coweta, Georgia; in Columbia, Flor-
ida; in Sebastian, Arkansas; in Wirt, West Virginia; in Logan, Ken-
tucky; in Henry, Ohio; in Clay, Nebraska. In different parts of the
South, horses were poisoned by musty corn.
Charbon.—This disease was confined to the Southwest, being reported
in Coahoma, Wilkinson, and Holmes, Mississippi. It was especially
fatal to mules in Wilkinson, where stimulating and tonic treatment was
the most successful. Its greatest prevalence and virulence was in local-
ities where insufficient food was provided and where stinging insects
were most annoying. Many protected their animals by the smoke of
burning rags, stumps, brushwood, &c. In Holmes carbolic acid and
lime constituted a good disinfectant. This disease decimated the work-
ing animals of Avoyelles, Louisiana, and destroyed 400 or 500 in Hast
Feliciana, besides large numbers in Madison, West Feliciana, and Jack:
son. In some localities it was more prevalent than any year since the
war.
Miscellaneous.—In Madison, Florida, horses suffered from swallow-
ing sand in cropping the early grasses of spring. Rheumatism in the
hinder parts is reported in Wakulla Florida.. In Hays, Texas, loin
disease has prevailed. ‘ Bighead” and resulting debility are reported
in Nicholas, Kentucky, Scott, Missouri, and Stanislaus, California, But-
falo-gnats killed many horses and mules in Madison, Mississippi. Only
parts of the county suffered from this nuisance, the pine-timbered. sec-
tions being free. Pennyroyal infusions were found to bea good pre-
ventive, while rubbing the skin with grease or oil was also effective.
These insects were also troublesome in Crittenden, Arkansas. In one
locality of Fayette, Oaio, the * blackwater” was observed. In Douglas
and Cloud, Kansas, the failure of the corn-crop caused wheat to be ted
to horses, which it is claimed produced some disturbances in the animal
economy. In many other instances, in different parts of the country,
improper and insufficient food subjected animals to the operation of dis-
ease by reducing their vitality. In York, Maine, horses were “ used up.”
Several new diseases appeared in different parts of the Union. Un-
usual symptoms attracted attention in New London, Connecticut, and
Union, Pennsylvania, but vanished upon the opening of spring. In
Cumberland, Maine, a drooping languor took some animals which sub-
sequently fell into convulsions and died within twelve to twenty-four
hours. Some fatality resulted from unknown disorder in Menomonee,
Michigan. In Victoria, Texas, horses cut off from their usual winter
range by boundary fences grew restless, fell away in flesh, and died in
considerable numbers, but whether from disease or starvation, cannot
2A
164
be ascertained. In Titus, Texas, a singular and incurable malady was
observable for the first time. The symptoms were loss of sight, stupor,
loss of power to void urine, skin thick, with some eruption on the belly
and behind the shoulders, great thirst, hacking cough, constipation, and
a general tremor throughout the system. In Columbia, Wisconsin,
horses were attacked with swellings at the root of the tongue, discharg-
ing great quantities of matter. But one death had een known to re-
sult from the disease.
DISEASES OF CATTLE.—From our April reports it is evident that
during 1874 no general causes of epizootic or prevailing forms of dis-
ease were operative in the country, and that where only very ordinary
care in regard to food and shelter was exercised the casualties were very
few. Even the long severe winter has given rise to comparatively few
complaints as to diseases caused by the depressed vitality of farm ani-
mals. The greatest prevalence of disease is found in the Gulf States,
where the winter is the shortest. In the New England, Middle, and
South Atlantic Coast States the exceptions to general healthfulness are
neither numerous nor of serious import. In the inland Southern States,
in the West, Northwest, and Pacific States scarcely any forms of * pre-
valent” disease are noted, The cases mentioned in the following gen-
eralization are mostly sporadic and dependent upon local conditions.
Among these, neglect of food and shelter is prominent.
Texas fever.—This malady is heard of from points farther east than
last year. A few cases, mostly fatal, were noted in Litchfield, Connec-
ticut, and Schenectady, New York, caused by the importation of Texas
cattle from the West. Traces of the same malady are found also in Me-
Nairy, Tennessee, Boone, Kentucky, Carroll, Illinois, Cass, Missouri,
and Furnas, Nebraska. The losses were much less numerous than
last year and the disease showed itself at fewer points.
Murrain.—Until some authoritative exposition of cattle diseases shall
have been given, embracing the local facts of all parts of the country,
statistical inquiry is compelled to tolerate the unmeaning term murrain,
which, with its variations, bloody murrain and dry murrain, is used to
designate very diverse forms of disease. It is often used to indicate
some new or startling types upon their introduction merely from the
fact that no other term is suggested. The farmers of Oxford County,
Maine, have been startled by some strange symptoms supposed to
characterize the dreaded murrain of the West. Gradually this supposi-
tion will harden into a popular belief, and another local elementof confusion
will be introduced into the nomenclature of cattle disease. A disease
by this name to a considerable extent affected the cattle in Floyd County,
Virginia, and was noticed also in Burke and Stokes, North Carolina,
and in Henry, Catoosa, Whitfield, and Walker, Georgia. Dooly gives a
partial description of the malady there known as “ bloody murrain ”—
swelling tongue and glands and frequent bloody discharges from the
bowels. Wis declared to be not contagious. Murrain is also reported
in Lawrence, Alabama, and in Pike, Wayne, and Tishemingo, Missis-
sippi; in Amite it swept 25 per cent. of the cattle. It is noted in How-
ard, Sebastian and Arkansas Counties, Arkansas. A few died in Sauk,
Wisconsin. Bloody murrain is reported to a small extent in Saginaw,
Michigan and Linn, Oregon. In the last three cases these are the only
cases of disease reported in those States.
Black-leg.—This disease, which is present in all portions of the United
States, is occasionally so prevalent as to call for special local mention. It
made a serious havoc among calves in Pendleton County, West Vir-
ginia, last year, during the past winter attacking older cattle, from two
165
to three years of age, causing numerous deaths. Pendletonand Harrison
Counties also report this malady. One herd in Carroll, DJinois, mani-
‘fested the same symptoms which were also noted in Chippewa and Pope,
Minnesota, in Hardin, Iowa, in Harris, Missouri, in Douglas and How-
ard, Kansas, and in Hall, Dixon, and Lincoln, Nebraska.
Pleuro-pneumonia.—A. few cases of this disease appeared in Chester,
Pennsylvania. It has prevailed extensively in the vicinity of Baltimore
among the milk-dairies that supply that city for several years, and ap-
pears to be increasing, both in its range and severity. It generally
breaks out about midwinter and lasts until April. It is attributed to
the fact that cows are crowded into filthy, ill-ventilated stables. It is
reliably stated that cows affected by this disease are sold to meat-ped-
dlers at suspiciously Jow rates. These reckless triflers with human life
do not hesitate to sell this poisoned material to the poorer classes of the
people, thus swelling the lists of mortality. In the April report of 1874
the same nefarious practice was noticed by our correspondent in Hud-
son, New Jersey. It doubtless prevails more or less openly in all our
great cities.
Mad itch.—This cutaneous disorder shows itself mainly in the head
and neck. The animal endeavors to allay the irritation by rubbing the
affected parts against trees, fences, &c.; the hair is rubbed off and the skin
lacerated by repeated rubbings, but the pain increases until the animal
becomes raving, refuses food, and finally dies in great agony. In Tippe-
eanoe County, Indiana, 140 animals died of this malady, which, however,
was limited to a few localities. It was also quite severe in Benton,
Missouri, and destroyed aiew cattle in one herd in Jefferson, Kansas.
Distemper.—This disorder is reported in Surrey, Wilkes, and Randolph
Counties, North Carolina, to asmall extent. In Yancey it occurred only
among cattle brought from the lowlands. <A few cases are also noted
in Cherokee and Pickens, Georgia.
Abortion.—A tendency to abortion, especially in dairy cows, is noticed
in different parts of the country. It is especially mentioned in Liteh-
field, Connecticut, and in Orange, New York. In Cattaraugus a dairy
of 110 cows, fed upon their own skim milk, thickened with corn-meal,
had twenty-three cases of abortion, while none of the neighboring dai-
ries had a single case. A few abortions also occurred in Ashtabula,
Ohio.
Milk fever—in Rockingham a few cows in good condition were taken
with milk-fever, caused by neglect of providing food and shelter at calv-
ing time. The curative treatment employed aimed at the reduction of
inflammation by cooling and cathartic medicines, bathing udders in cold
water, &c. The same disorder is also reported in Towns, Georgia. The
same disease is probably meant by the term udder disease in the report
from De Kalb, Illinois.
Miscellaneous.—In Carteret, North Carolina, some cattle in good con-
dition died of an unknown disease. Some undefined influences in
Stanly caused the death of many milch-cows in the last stages of preg-
nancy. Losses from new and undescribed maladies are also reported in
Wayne, Georgia ; Santa Rosa, Florida; Perry and Covington, Alabama ;
and Boone, Kentucky. In La Fourche, Louisiana, a large number, in
good condition and with good appetites, died suddenly... They be¢ame
very weak in the loins, and their blood was found to be thin and watery.
The black-tongue appeared in Dale, Alabama, and Jackson, Louisiana.
The “ salt-sickness” found no adequate remedy in Orange, Florida,
and Garland, Arkansas. An occasional case was ebserved in Wilkinson,
166
Mississippi. Foot-diseases are reported in Telfair, Georgia. In Lamar,
Texas, sore eyes affected some animals, occasionally destroying sight.
DISEASES OF SHEEP.—Sheep have been comparatively free from disease.
But few complaints are heard from New England, and those of rather
trivial character. In passing westward the dog nuisance begins to
claim attention in New York and Pennsylvania, while from every quarter
of the South there comes a wailof despair over the prospective annihila-
tion of sheep-husbandry through the ravages of worthless curs. One face-
tious correspondent calls this nuisance the * dog-cholera.” In the West
such complaints are not so numerous or bitter as formerly. A corre-
spondent in Missouri says that the State census shows in his county
only 16,000 sheep for 9,000 dogs, a very inadequate provision for the
canines. With the exception of lack of food and the long severe win-
ter, which have produced frightful destruction of sheep in some locali-
ties, no general disease has been reported. The few local types re-
ported owe their existence largely to lack of food and shelter, and to
general neglect. The following isa brief abstract of the cases presented :
Feot-rot.—An occasional case of this disease is reported in Rocking-
ham and Sullivan Counties, New Hampshire. In Berkshire, Massachu-
setts, it has become chronic, in a mild form, in fine-wooled sheep of high
grade. It has been frequently cured, but tends to re-appear. This has
caused the farmers to restock their flocks largely with hardier coarse-
wooled animals. It is also noted in Onondaga, New York, Salem, New
Jersey, and Frederick, Maryland, but is by no means viralent. It
appears in Bandera, Texas; in Hardin, Tennessee; in Boyle, Kentucky;
and in Champaign, Harrison, Logan, Mahoning, and Warren, Ohio. It
appears here to be on the decline, and is mostly confined to fine-wooled
sheep, causing an increased use of combing-wool animals. It is reported
also in Ottawa, Michigan, Whiteside, Illinois, and in Marion, Iowa.
Rot.—This malady was very destructive in Gloucester, Virginia, and
troublesome in Scott, and also in Madison, Wilkes, and Haywood,
North Carolina, in Georgetown and Richland, South Carolina, in Ca-
toosa, Whitfield, Bartow, and Murray, Georgia, and in the lowlands of
Wilkinson, Mississippi. It also appeared in Harris, Texas, where it
destroyed 25 per cent. of the flocks; in Franklin, Arkansas, in Came-
ron, Meigs, Blount, Monroe, and Jackson, Tennessee; in Grant and
Barbour, West Virginia; in Montgomery, Illinois. Our correspondent,
in Grant, West Virginia, has found an effective remedy in Scotch snuff.
Scab—A. few flocks in Rockingham and Sullivan, New Hampshire,
were troubled with this malady. It was noted also in Suffolk, New
York; in Palo Pinto, Red River, Williamson, Collin, Milam, Mason,
Galveston, Victoria, Matagorda, and De Witt, Texas; in Benton, Arkan-
sas; in Grant, West Virginia; in Whiteside, Montgomery, Crawford,
and Jasper, Dlinois; in McLeod, Minnesota; in Marion and Madison,
Iowa. In Clinton and Jasper, Missouri, the disease was quite severe,
the loss in the former amounting to 25 per cent. It is also reported in
Allen, Montgomery, and Riley, Kansas ; in Webster, Nebraska; in
Kern, San Diego, Del Norte, Amador, Mendocino, Stanislaus, Lake,
Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo, California; in Douglas, Oregon.
Grub in the head.—This disorder is reported in Carroll, New Hamp-
shire ; in New London, Connecticut; in Washington, New York, where
40 died in a single flock of 300; in De Witt, Texas; in Lenawee and
Montcalm, Michigan. ;
Oatarrhal diseases.—Distemper, influenza, and other catarrhal affec-
tious are reported in Spottsylvania and Prince George, Virginia, in
167
Yancey and Stokes, North Carolina; in Lewis, Boone, and Boyle, Ken-
tucky ; in Franklin, Mississippi.
Miscellaneous.—The goitre appeared among lambs in Ontario, New
York. Montgomery, Maryland, lost one-fourth of her lambs from un-
described causes. In Vernon, Missouri, half the lambs dropped died
of starvation, their ewes being too emaciated to afford them nourishment.
In Greenville, South Carolina, new-born lambs in many cases were aban-
doned by the ewes.
The staggers appeared in Greenville, South Carolina, and in Mont-
gomery, Hliinois. Echols, Georgia, lost about one-sixth of her flocks by
“ sore-head.” Something like “pneumonia” was seen in Mecklenburgh,
Virginia. The scours is reported in Wilkes, Georgia, and Smith, Mis-
sissippi. In Pope, Arkansas, one flock was afflicted with worms—a
lamb eight months old is said to have passed a tape-worm 61 feet long.
In Mineral, West Virginia, some sheep died from eating laurel. In
Belmont, Ohio, some sheep had parasites in the bronchial tubes.
Kenton, Kentucky, lost 200 sheep by the “stiffs.” Licking, Ohio, lost
10 per cent. by the “ white skin.” Winnebago, Illinois, reports ‘ con-
sumption.” Flukes in the liver is noted in Douglas, Oregon.
Numerous reports of an unnamed disease have been received. In
Schenectady, New York, the flocks were decimated by a disorder char-
acterized by irregularity of the bowels and voracious appetite, in spite
of which the animals became very thin. Post-mortem examinations
showed the lungs shrunken and full of matter, and the intestines full of
_lumps and knots. Unknown diseases were more or less destructive in
Beaver and Lawrence, Pennsylvania; in Wayne, Georgia; in Coffee,
Alabama, where 20 per cent. of the flocks died ; in Avoyelles, Louisiana,
which lost 25 per cent.; in Fulton, Indiana; in Wright, Minnesota.
Our correspondent in Grant, West Virginia, claims that the Alleghany
district of that county is almost impervious to sheep maladies. It is
beyond doubt that a very large proportion of the foregoing cases of dis-
ease directly result from neglect.
DISEASES OF SWINE.—The record of swine diseases, though still for-
midable, is not equal to that of last year. In the Bastern and Middle
States maladies bear, as usual, a smaller proportion to the number of
animals, but unpromising symptoms seem to be advancing from the
West, creating some alarm in a few localities. In the South the preva-
lence of epizootic types is still marked by heavy losses, but in the West
the scarcity of animals in many counties cut down the number of cas-
ualties below last year’s.
Cholera.—In the confusion of popular nomenclature this term is made
to designate a variety of diseases, a fact prominently noted by several
of our correspondents. In Lincoln County, Maine, a new malady de-
stroyed 5 per cent. of the hogs, causing great fears that it might turn
out to be the dreaded cholera of the West. In several localities in the
Middle States hogs brought from the West have shown abnormal symp-
toms, which were at once set down as those of cholera. Such indi-
cations are reported in Chautauqua, Wyoming, and Chenango, New
York; Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Chester, and Cambria, Penn-
sylvania. Some counties lost 10 per cent. of the stock of animals,
while in others the mortality was nominal. In most cases it is speci-
fied that native hogs were free from this infliction. It was some-
what extensive in Maryland. Several farmers in Queen Anne lost
168
all their hogs. It was more or less prevalent also in Frederick, Bal-
timore, and Washington. Virginia reports it in Shenandoah, King
William, Caroline, Pulaski, Pittsylvania, Spottsylvania, Mecklen-
burgh, Goochland, Chesterfield, Washington, Rockbridge, Northampton,
Floyd, and Bedtord. In these counties the scourge was comparatively
light, the aggregate loss, in no case, amounting to over 15 per cent. of
the animals ina county. In Gloucester the loss ranged from 25 per
cent. to 75 per cent. in some sections, though fhe average of the county
was probably not much over 10 per cent. In Rappahannock and Nanse-
mond half the hogs died; in Southampton, 33 per cent.; in James City
and Montgomery, 25 per cent. Heavy losses are also reported in some
counties of North Carolina. Harnett, Polk, and Perquimans lost 50
per cent. The last county reports this loss under the head of an un-
known disease, but it is probable that it was as much entitled to the
name of cholera as many cases to which it was applied. Mitehell lost
40 per cent.; Madison and Columbia, 33 per cent.; Chowan and Greene,
25 per cent.; Duplin and Wilkes, 20 per cent.; smaller losses were
felt in Lincoln, Gaston, Surrey, Edgecombe, Franklin, Davie, Ashe,
Yancey, Yadkin, Wilson, Stanly, Caswell, Hertford, Cumberland,
Currituck, Rutherford, Macon, Henderson, Haywood, and Alexander.
In South Carolina, Union, Richland, and Williamsburgh lost 10 per
cent. or less. In Georgia, Telfair lost 90 per cent.; Lee aud Wilkinson,
50 per cent.; Dawson, Milton, Wayne, and Rabun, 33 per cent.; Dooly,
Henry, Bullock, Towns, Terrell, Worth, and Montgomery, 25 per cent.;
Laurens, De Kalb, Johnson, Effingham, Forsyth, Gwinnett, McDuffie,
Catoosa, Pickens, Gilmer, Floyd, Lincoln, Butts, Baker, and Charlton,
lost 20 per cent. or less. In Wayne an effective remedy was found in
doses of turpentine and laudanum. In Florida, Santa Rosa lost 15 to
20 per cent., and Madison 5 per cent. In Alabama, Lawrence lost 75
per cent.; Dale, 67 per ceut.; Crenshaw and Mobile, 50 per cent.; Cal- —
houn, 33 per cent.; Covington, 30 per cent.; Coffee, 25 per cent.; Bibb,
Saint Clair, Clarke, Lowndes, Madison, Pike, De Kalb, Bullock, Henry,
and Autanga, 10 per cent. or less. In Mississippi, Le Flore and Grenada
lost 50 per cent.; Pike, Attala, and Smith report a considerable mor-
tality. In Louisiana, this malady was confounded with the charbon in
Washington, where the loss was 50 per cent.; it also raged in Hast Felici-
ana, Morehouse, and Bossier. In Texas, Titus lost 60 per cent., and found
no effective remedy; Red River and Fannin, 50 per cent.; smaller lossesin
Smith, Lamar, Kaufman, Harris, Dallas, Blanco, Austin, and Victoria.
The range of mortality grows somewhat smaller in the inland Southern
States. In Arkansas, Gariaud and Pulaski lost 50 per cent.; Stone, 20
percent.; Dallas, Pope, and Sebastian, Howard and Franklin, smaller
percentages. In Tennessee, Cocke, Lauderdale, and Sequatchie lost
about one-third ; Dyer, Marion, Bledsoe, and Hawkins about one-fourth.
Smaller lossesin Anderson, Lincoln, Campbell, Madison, Sevier, Trous-
dale, Houston, Loudon, Cannon, Fayette, Meigs, Jefferson, De Kalb,
Fentress, Blount, Hardin, Sullivan, Polk, Hancock, Perry, Dickson,
Jackson, Macon, Weakley, Robertson, and Montgomery. In West Vir-
ginia losses not ‘averaging above 10 per cent. in any case were noted in
Wirt, Cabell, Boone, ‘Kanawha, and Mason. In Kentucky the losses
were ‘heavier, amounting to 50 per cent. in Mercer and Edmonson; 33
per cent. in Franklin ‘and Pulaski. Smaller mortalities in Jefferson,
Cumberland, McLean, Shelby, Boone, Boyle, Carroll, Daviess, Fayette,
Graves, Hopkins. Jessamine, Livingston, Lincoln, Logan, Marion,
Meade, Simpson, Woodford, Clinton, Johnson, Rockeastle, Monroe, and
Adair. North of the Ohio River the losses decrease. Highland, Ohio,
169
lost 2,000. Montgomery and Fayette lost 10 per cent. Hamilton,
Hume, Marion, Sandusky, Van Wert, Butler, and Scioto met with smaller
losses. Michigan and Wisconsin report no cases. In Indiana, Pike lost
33 per cent. Brown, Daviess, and Hamilton, 10 percent. Smaller losses
in Jennings, Marion, Martin, Orange, Ripley, Clay, and Franklin. In
Cass, 140 hogs from Missouri died, but native hogs escaped infection.
- In Dearborn, only hogs near the towns were affected. In Illinois about
a third of the hogs died in White and Wayne, and about a fourth in
Seott, Wabash, De Witt, Logan, and Sangamon. Losses are also noted
in Alexander, Pike, Fayette, Johnson, De Kalb, Lee, Saint Clair, Jasper,
Crawford, Douglass, Franklin, Jersey, Kankakee, Macoupin, Macon,
Mason, Montgomery, Lawrence, Peoria, Piatt, Putnam, Richland, Ver-
wnillion, Williamson, Whiteside, Warren, Clark, Edwards, Effingham,
Morgan, Scott, and Washington. In several cases it is stated that the
disease was first developed in hogs brought from Missouri. In Edwards
our correspondent, after several years of success with tartar-emetic as a
remedy, finds it no longer effective. Many farmers thought they avoided
some of the force of the disease by feeding hogs corn upon the ashes of
freshly-burned cobs. The mixture generally used as a preventive and
cure in Shelby was one bushel of powdered charcoal, three bushels of
wood-ashes, half a bushel of slaked lime, one peck of salt, five pounds of
sulphur, and one pound of copperas, kept accessible in an open trough
and moistened with swill. No cases are reported in Wisconsin or Min-
nesota. In Iowa, Cass lost 3,000, and Lucas several thousand ; Pot-
tawattamie, $5,000 worth; Tama, 33 per cent. Smaller losses in Adair,
Poweshiek, Story, Appanoose, Greene, Marion, Montgomery, Polk,
Louisa, Dallas, Decatur, Delaware, Guthrie, Hancock, Hardin, Harri-
son, Mills, Madison, and Linn. In Missouri the loss averages from 50 to
75 per cent. in Saint Genevieve, and 40.per cent. in Bates, with smaller
losses in Jefferson, Macon, Marion, Pike, Christian, Clinton, Nodaway,
Boone, Chariton, Iron, Lincoln, Perry. Bollinger, Pemiscot, Meniteau,
Holt, Vernon, and Ripley. A trace of cholera was found in Johnson,
Kansas. In Spencer, Kentucky, this disease is called by some erysip-
elas or St. Anthony’s fire.
Quinsy.—This malady is reported in Duplin, North Carolina, and
Coahoma, Mississippi. In the latter the loss amounted to 20 pér cent.
The most effective remedy was feeding corn soaked in a solution of
copperas. Some losses were felt also in Marion, Kentucky ; Bureau, Ili-
nois; Poweshiek and Story, lowa; and Washington, Missouri.
Red mange.—This disease is reported in Gloucester and Elizabeth
City, Virginia; De Kalb, Alabama; Holmes and Tishemingo, Missis-
sippi; Wood, Texas; and Benton, Arkansas. The remedy most popular
here was doses twice per week of a teaspoonful of sulphur, alum, and
saltpeter. It was also noted in Kanawha, West Virginia.
Miscellaneous.—Franklin, Vermont, lost 10 per cent. of its store-pigs
by a new disease characterized by paralysis of the back and hind legs;
few recovered. Young pigs also died of undescribed symptoms in
Ontario, New York, and Northumberland, Pennsylvania. The thumps
were bad in Volusia, Florida, and in Cannon and Union, Tennessee. A
few cases of crooked neck terminated fatally in Rappahannock, Vir-
ginia. Lice were extirpated in Campbell, Tennessee, by anointing
with kerosene. In Caroline, Virginia, a dropsical affection yielded to
no remedies. The measles are reported in Cherokee and Chowan.
Cotton-seed poisoned some in Jackson, Georgia, and Milam, Texas.
Some of onr Southern correspondents suspect that to this cause should
be referred many cases reported under the head of cholera. In Mont-
170
gomery, Texas, some died of eating cockle-burs. Lung-fever was noticed
in Pike, Ohio, causing a loss of 10 per cent. Some cases of blind stag-
gers occurred in Iowa County, Wisconsin. Kidney-worms were trouble-
some in Poweshiek, Lowa, and Cass, Missouri. The severity of the win-
ter and the short supply of food were the causes of heavy losses in
mnany parts of the country.
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
DESTRUCTION OF SHEEP BY DUGS.—Kandolph, Missouri: There is
one impediment, and only one, in the way of making sheep-raising
very profitable in our county. It is explained in the universal cry of
“Dogs.” At an election in January last, upon the acceptance or rejection
of a law taxing and killing dogs, there were printed on the tickets, ‘ For
a dog-law,” and “Against a dog-law.” Upon the same tickets were
printed the names of candidates for delegates to the convention for re-
vising the State constitution. But the important question of constitu-
tional revision was lost sight of in the bitterness of the contest over the
dog-law, which was badly defeated, and that by the farmers themselves,
the people of the towns leaving the question to be settled mostly by
votes in the rural districts. An old and wealthy farmer, a large sheep-
raiser, came to me the morning after the election, and expressed his re-
gret for having opposed the law. His change of feeling was brought
about by the fact that during the previous night dogs had killed forty
of his fine sheep.
RESULTS OF SWINE-FEEDING.—Gavrland, Arkansas: A pair of China
hogs produced 88 pigs, which sold at $20 per pair, bringing $380. De-
ducting $30 for cost of original pair, $23 for corn, and $48 for hotel-
slops, total cost, $101, and there remains a profit of $279.
Hillsdale, Michigan: A neighbor fed 6 hogs one year old, and weighing
1,600 pounds, 25 bushels of ear corn within two weeks, gaining 200
pounds.
PROFITS ON MILK.—Fairfax, Virginia: From milk sold in the Wash-
ington (District of Columbia) market during 1874, the yield of 27
cows, I received at the railroad-station $1,600, or $59 per cow. They
grazed on 100 acres and consumed the wheat-straw produced on 25
acres, fodder from 30 acres of corn, besides 2 acres of broadcast, 15
tons of clover-hay, and 100 bushels of wheat-bran and corn-meal.
Garland, Arkansas: A Durham milch-cow, with calf, cost $50, and
consumed, during twelve months, food valued at $73. She yielded
during the year 630 gallons of milk, averaging 50 cents ver gallon, and
worth, in the aggregate, $315. Her calf, one year old, sold for $20.
cae receipts, $335; cost of cow and feed, $123, leaving a clear profit
of $212.
MANAGEMENT OF THE RYE-CROP.—Story, Iowa: But little rye is
grown here, but there is more money in it than in corn, if properly
looked after. Ten acres sown in the fall (September) make good fall
pasture, and an excellent spring pasture for young calves and lambs
until June 1. Then take them off and let the grain head. When it is
ripe turu on 20 to 26 hogs per acre, and let them eat till they have begun
to shrink; then take them off and put them on corn. Two or three
bushels per head will make them No.1 pork hogs. The hogs take
171
nothing from the rye-field, but add materially to its productiveness.
There will be enough rye left in the ground for seed, which will become
well rooted, and yield good fall pasture as before. It is only necessary
to sow once for all time to come, and I will guarantee the last crops
will be the best. It is the safest, cheapest, and most. profitable way to
manure an old field I ever tried.
COUNTY EXPORTS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCIS.—Smith, Tennessee :
The following estimate is based on inquiries instituted by the subordinate
granges of Patrons of Husbandry during the last twelve months: Live
stock and their products, $335,960; grain, $71,807 ; tobacco, $175,000;
poultry, eggs, butter, Xe., $52,345 + total $635, 112. Inquiries are on
foot to ascertain the amount of our imports. I fear they will be found
to balance or exceed our exports, as we manufacture scarcely anything.
FULTZ WHEAT.— Vinton, Ohio: The Fultz is doing better than any other
variety. Of this we are about to have a fair trial. This year I sold 147
bushels of it for seed, at $1.30 per measured bushel. It weighed 64
pounds per bushel. Other varieties weighed from 56 to 60 pounds, and
brought $1.10 by weight.
Bap EconoMy.—Machine-agents and money-shavers have brought
hard times on farmers. Five years since a neighbor, through the per-
suasion of an agent, purchased a reaper, giving an “iron-clad” note. To
meet the payments, he was compelled to borrow money at 2 per cent. per
month. This winter he paid off the debt, which, principal and interest,
amounted to $525, or ten times the cost of manufacture.
UNPROGRESSIVE FARMING.—Shelly y, Alabama: Although this county
is somewhat ancient, its agriculture is very rude and imperfect ; it con-
tains but a limited number of thinking, practical farmers. When corn-
fields have been plowed up for wheat, more than half the corn-stalks are
left untouched by the plow. Very rarely is there any shelter for stock,
except for horses, and many a faithful cow is allowed to shiver herself
away in the beating rains and winds, cowering in the fence-corners.
Sheep are often not seen for weeks, and are very unwelcome visitors at
the farm-yard, especially during cold, sleeting weather. Everything
during farming months is neglected for cotton-patches. Old established
farmers in spring are found buying their sweet-potato seed at extrava-
gant prices. A new era, however, seems to be dawning. Farmers are
beginning to look around them, to seek for improved agricultural seeds
and implements, and to experiment in farming, according to suggestions
from reliable agricultural sources.
VALUE OF PURE BONE-DUST.—Medina, Ohio: There are two estab-
lishments in Cleveland for grinding bones; one asks $20 per ton, and
the other $50. The latter accuses the former of adulterating. The one
‘ asking $50 will not sell much, for we read in the papers that pure bone-
dust can be bought in the eastern cities for $35 to $40 a ton. What
is its value on lands needing it?
A CHEAP FERTILIZER.—Duplin, North Carolina: Many of our best
planters use a compound composed of 60 pounds of sulphate of ammonia,
40 pounds nitrate of soda, $ bushel of salt, 250 pounds fine ground bone,
250 pounds land plaster, 3 bushels of ashes, and 20 bushels of stable-ma-
nure or rich earth. They apply the above amount to 6 acres. Labor in
preparing included, it costs about $15. It gives as good results as most
of the commercial fertilizers costing $50 per ton.
RESULTS OF SEED-DISTRIBUTION.—Lee, Mississippi : Wheat invari-
ably deteriorates; the first cropis always the best; rye holdsits own;
£72
oats retrograde; corn of all kinds improves in size of ears, but gets a little
later every year. Beans, melons, squashes, pumpkins, and all vines
grow better and larger the longer the seed is run in the climate. The
first pumpkin-seeds sent me from the Department produced a multitude
of small pumpkins; but by planting the seed raised here they have
grown largerevery year. From the paper of French seed sent me three
years ago I have stocked the county with pumpkins superior to any
ever tasted here. The little black bunch-bean is prolific, and has become
a favorite. The vine and bean improve in size each year. Cabbages of
all varieties run to long-legged collards. All kinds of okra improve;
melons also improve yearly in quality and size. I have stocked the.
county with the ice-rind melon sent from the Department, and beat
Florida’s best. Having found that most persons will not properly attend
to the original seeds received from the Department, so as to make a fair
test, my plan now is to carefully test every kind sent me, myself, and dis-
tribute the seed produced. Having ascertained, by testing, what is good
and what is not, [encourage the propagation of the good alone. Though
I save seeds by the bushel, propagated from those sent by the Depart-
ment, I give them away, and have never yet sold one cent’s worth.
The upland Peeler cotton-seed sent to me received extra care, and, dry
as the season was, the cotton did well. Thestalk is large, bolls large
and plenty of them, and the lint fine and long. It kept green through
all the drought, but it had the very best of land. J intend to save every
seed, plant of the best land again, and after further trial will report defi-
nite results.
DEPARTMENT SEEDS.— Waller, Texas: In answer to some doleful
grumblers, who evidently are not supplied with them, I will state that
every seed sent from the Department to this office germinates; there
has not been a failure from fault of the seed. I have requested my
assistants to give special attention to this subject.
DESTRUCTIVE FRESHET.—Sevier, Tennessee: We are literally ruined
fora year. The oldest inhabitant never dreamed of such a flood. Just
think of our little river, (Little Pigeon River,) not more than 50 yards
wide, spreading out over a mile, and from 8 to 10 feet deep on the banks.
UNRELIABLE CENSUS-FIGURES.—Somerset, Pennsylvania: I desire to
call attention to the unreliable statements of the United States census
of 1870 in regard to this county. The returns give: of improved land,
16,124 acres; unimproved land, 28,606 acres; other land, 133 acres;
total, 44,863 acres. Now this county has in round numbers 500 square
niles of territory almost entirely covered with heavy timber, containing
at least 300,000 acres of forest area. Again, Jones Township, of this
county, is credited with an amount of crop-production in 1869 equal to
its entire production since its first settlement.
THE FARMERS’ DEPARTMENT.— Union, South Carolina: It has given -
me great pleasure to make known to my brother farmers the efforts
which your Department is making in their behalf by disseminating
valuable information, by distributing new and improved seeds, and,
more than all, by doing manful battle for them against their natural
enemies, the factors and manufacturers. It is gratifying to know that
there is at least one Department of the Government on our side.
POULTRY-DISEASE.— Webster, Nebraska : Though fowls generally have
done well, nearly all the roosters in this and the adjoining counties are
dead. They did not die from lack of food, nor did they exhibit any
specific symptoms of disease, but naturally “dropped off.” We are 4
anxious to know the reason.
173
DANGER TO STOCK FROM GyPsuM.—Roanoke, Va: There is great
' danger in turning stock on a grass-field on which plaster has been
recently sown, or until the plaster has been taken up either by rain or
heavy dews. Two years ago some stock was turned upon a field on the
same day on which it was plastered, and they all died in a few hours.
There were no indications of “ hoven,” the stock being in good condition,
and the sudden death was believed to be solely the effect of the sulphate
of lime.
JUMPING-SHEEP.— Highland, Va.: Take a board about 2 feet long, 5
or 6 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Fasten it to the sheep’s neck so
that it will come flat against the knees. When the sheep attempt to
jump, the board prevents a foot-hold on the fence and throws them back.
A few trials satisfy them. The worst jumpers can be cured in this way.
Last summer I had nine which were such bad jumpers that no fence
could stop them. I fixed them in the way above described and had no
further trouble. At the same time the board prevents much running
about, and causes them to fatten better. Try it.
\
THE COTTON-CROP OF LAST YEAR.
Manipulators of cotton-statistics desirous of reducing prices below
a rate warranted by the probable production, waged all last season
a most mendacious warfare upon the cotton-reports of this Depart-
ment. Their own estimates are now proved to be not far from a half
million bales too high, while the figures of this office are verified with
remarkable closeness. The following is from our December report,
indicating an aggregate about 300,000 bales less than the crop of 1873,
in the very face of an increase of receipts, up to December, of more
than 300,000 bales :
The cotton-product of 1874, as estimated by our correspondents on the 1st of November
ageregates about three and two-thirds millions of bales. The yield per acre is reported less
than in 1873 in most of the States. The weather for ripening and gathering the top-crop
has been very favorable. The reports are nearly unanimous in stating that the proportion
of lint-to seed is large. The percentages of last year’s aggregate of bales in the principal
cotton-States are as follows: Virginia, 89; North Carolina, 89; South Carolina, 92; Geor-
gia, 93; Florida, 100; Alabama, 95; Mississippi, 90; Louisiana, 85; Texas, 90; Arkan-
sas, 60; Tennessee, 57. This result corresponds very closely with the indications of the
monthly statements of condition made by the Department. It is larger than that fore-
shadowed by the Cotton Exchanges. It is as high as an honest rendering of returns war-
ranted on the Ist of November; and though the fine weather since that date may add
something to the quantity opened and safely gathered, and the large proportion of lint may
swell the aggregate, the highest estimate that could be based fuirly upon these returns could
scarcely reach 4,000,000 bales.
The New York Cotton-Exchange sums up the receipts at the ports,
up to April 16, 1875, at 3,259,907 bales, against 3,506,942, making a
decrease of 247,035 bales. Since December the decline has been con-
tinuous and almost unprecedented in its rate. If this decline should
stop at this date, which is altogether improbable, the present difference
would reduce the total from 4,170,000 bales Jast year to 3,922,965 bales.
Should it continue and the overland receipts make as high a percent-
age of the whole crop as last year, the crop will exceed, by a very small
margin, 3,800,000 bales. With the present indications of an exhaustion
of the stock on hand in the interior, it seems scarcely possible that the
latter figures can be exceeded except by ‘“ doctoring ” overland receipts
174
to break the fall of cotton-statisticians who are self-deceived by their
interests.
Kuropean authorities, though prone to accept the views of ursine
operators, are compelled to acknowledge the unreliability of commer-
cial reports of cotton. The Monthly Circular of Smith, Edwards & Co.,
of Liverpool, of the date of March 1, makes the following acknowl-
edgment:
The current of feeling in America represents the predominant interests of speculators’
This year the ‘“bear’’ interest predominated, and large-crop opinions followed as a matter
of course. In former seasons the ‘‘bull”’ interest usually prevailed, hence the crop was
usually underestimated. The Agricultural Bureau is, after all,coming out most nearly
correct ; its reports were treated with contempt most of the season, but next year it will be
regarded as an oracle.
A Liverpool letter of April 9 to the statistician acknowledges the
verification of our cotton-estimates, and refers, in language of condemna-
tion, to certain “ shamefully-edited ” commercial journals, in New York
and elsewhere, ‘‘ whose false estimates of the crop, and, we may add,
jJalsehoods, have been the cause of a loss of millions of dollars to the
cotton-growers.” °
A correspondent, after referring to the culmination of the increase,
which, according to one authority, amounted to 305,290 bales on the
12th of December, and had declined to 225,743 on the 24th of the same—
month, remarks as follows:
During the following five weeks, from the 25th of December, 1874, to the 29th of January,
1875, the receipts in the ports fell off with the corresponding period of last year exactly
259,000 bales ; and on the 29th of January the total receipts stood thus: From Ist Sep-
tember, 1874, to 29th January, 1875, total receipts in ports, 2,530,000 bales. Corresponding
date of 1873-74, 2,540,000 bales.
During the next seven weeks the weekly receipts at the ports as compared with the cor-
responding receipts of last year were as follows ;
Receipts at | Receipts at
ports, 1875. | ports, 1874.
Bales. Bales.
Week ending February 5........ 108, 000 146, 090
Weck ending February 12..... 104, 000 131, 000
Week ending February 19... 97, 000 116, 000
Weekvending Bebrmiary 20. .-osn6G.. ceenese emcee ens we eae ane ee deak ees aienle ee . 78,000 106, 000
NW Gak ending Mare RD Aaa Ie warn kein erator mimi rm an al am el lela 77, 000 : 95, 000
Week ending (Marche c soni. 5.5 nism ee sweeten es ails ale ah ee io a aes 63, 000 82, 000
Weoekiending Warcid Oe Saar. o. .. teeoeecs wace cecntc coeso cece Maes awe se= ee 52, 000 67, 000
Lotal in:s6wenrweGkS sess oo< os ecwiclie's sc mabame cea ew woeceswslas sees caesar 579, 000 743, 000
A total falling off in seven weeks of 164,000 bales, and a steady weekly decline averaging
22 per cent.
These statistics seem most, naturally to be the true basis for an estimate of the crop that
has not found its way to the ports, or has not been otherwise accounted for.
The crop of 1873-74 footed up, according to cotton-exchanges, as follows :
Bales.
Total cotton received at the ports .--.-..---------------- Toliaka con. 3, 804 000
Total cotton received over Vand... ...-)4-cceemee <5 ache Sees Sele. 238, 000
Consumption at the South......---..--- Se ARB ern seo 4oc2 Soba = 2 2 =: 129, 000
Potal crop ss ssckcuoee = hs BSL ES ses 2 Se oe eee 4, 171, 000
Now, up to the 19th March, 1874, the total receipts at the ports were 3,283,000 bales,
leaving 888,000 to be accounted for further receipts at the ports up to September, for over-
land cotton, and southern consumption. If, therefore, the seven weeks’ steady decline of 22
per cent. be applied to the 888,000 bales accounted for last year, this would give for the
present year’s cotton-receipts in the ports, overland and southern consumption, from the 19th
March to the Ist of September, exactly 692,640 bales ; add to this, cotton received at the ports
up to the 19th March, 3,109,000 bales, the total crop estimated is 3,801,640. Thisis certainly
175
now the most favorable estimate that could possibly be made, while there may reasonably be
expected a decrease from this es‘imate, as the tendency of weekly receipts as compared with
last year is toward a decline of the estimated reduction of the assumed 22 per cent. smaller
receipts.
From the 19th of March to the 18th of April, the receipts have been
167,642 bales, against 217,090 last year—a falling off of 23 per cent.
instead of 22, thus more than sustaining our correspondents views.
ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD.
By TOWNEND GLOVER, ENTOMOLGIST.
As horticulturists are .very apt to clear their trees in spring of
eggs, cocoons, &e., of insects, imagining that they are all injurious to
vegetation, it will be well to warn them that some species are benefi-
cial, by destroying injurious insects, and their clusters of eggs should be
preserved, wherever found. Among these, a hexagonal mass of eggs will
frequently be met with, cemented together with a species of gum or
resin, which is said to be gathered from the tree by the female. This in-
sect is commonly known in Maryland by the name of devil’s horse, or
nine-pronged wheel-bug, Prionotus cristatus of Linn., or Reduvius novena-
rius of Say. These hexagonal masses of eggs are deposited on the bark of
trees, on fence-rails, under the eaves of out-buildings, or wherever the
female chances to be at the time of oviposition, to the number of 70 or
more, each egg, when separated from the mass, presenting the appear-
ance of a somewhat isquare flask, standing on its own bottom. The
larve when young, are blood-red, with black marks, and do not resem-
ble the adult insect, excepting somewhat in form and habits. The tar-
vee, pups, and perfect insects feed upon all other insects they can over-
come, not even sparing their own brethren. Whenvery young, they
176
destroy great numbers of plant-lice, Aphides, and when older, they prey
upon caterpillars, or indeed upon any other insect they can overpower.
They kill their prey by inserting the proboscis into it, and which emits a
most powerful poisonous liquid into the wound. Thevictim thus pierced
dies in a very short time, They then leisurely suck the juices out, and
drop the empty skin. The perfect wheel-bug is a large and very singu-
lar looking insect, of very slow and deliberate motions when undisturbed,
and stealing up to its prey. Itis of a gray color, and has a high semi-
circular ridge or projection on the crest of its thorax, armed with nine
perfectly arranged teeth, or cog-like protuberances, like very short
spokes or cogs of a wheel; hence the vulgar name of wheel-bug. The
young shed their skins several times before attaining their fullsize. As
this insect is constantly employed, from the moment it is hatched, in
searching for and destroying noxious insects, it may be considered a
friend to the horticulturist and farmer. A dozen or so of these insects,
placed near the nest of some of those caterpillars so destructive to our
fruit and forest trees, will destroy almost every caterpillar in it in a
short time, as they are exceedingly voracious, and each insect will de-
stroy several caterpillars daily. Great care must be taken, however,
when handling the adult insects, as they are very apt to sting, or rather,
insert their strong curved beaks into the naked flesh, and the poisonous
fluid ejected, when the wound is inflicted, is extremely powerful, and
much more painful than the sting of a large wasp or hornet. One of
these insects having stung the writer, the pain lasted for several hours,
and was only alleviated by applications of ammonia. Several days af-
terward, the flesh immediately surrounding the puncture was so much
poisoned that it sloughed off, leaving a small hole in the injured thumb.
CHEMICAL MEMORANDA.
By WILLIAM McMurRTRIE, CHEMIST.
SUGAR-CORN.—The difficulties accompanying the prosecution of proxi-
mate organic analysis of sugar-corn may have been considered sufficient
cause for our failure to find upon record any reliable statement concern-
ing its composition, but it appears to be a fact that chemists have thus far
either avoided it or have failed to come in contact with it. When called
upona short time ago by Mr. T. Worthington, of Morrow, Warren County,
Ohio, for information concerning its composition and comparative value
as a material for the manufacture of alcoholic liquors, we found it neces-
sary to resort to analysis to determine the facts desired.
The. method employed in our analyses was essentially the same as
that made use of in previous analyses of corn as published in the
Annual Report of this Department for 1873, the only difference being
a slight modification in the separation and estimation of gum and
dextrine. Methylic alcohol dissolves dextrine without attacking gum,
and we therefore employed it in their separation.
For comparison we have also made an analysis ofa sample taken from
a lot of corn held by this Department for distribution. There seems to
be considerable difference in the composition of these two samples, but
this may naturally be expected on account of the different qualities as-
cribed to the several varieties of this kind of corn. The sweet taste is
evidently due to the high percentage of dextrine it contains, and we
ia
should expect to find greater variation in the amount of this constitu-
ent than in that of the others, since it is so well known that some vari-
eties of sugar-corn are so much sweeter than others. However, further
analyses will be necessary to determine how far this variation extends.
The analyses resulted as follows :
No. 1 is a sample from Ohio.
Caleulated for
Air-dried. dry substance.
he gn vw a Gin Sm mine nn clainc.o ocih a= eo nsejemacicgs con 10.00 aus
Pe eww. ccc teeaghscsere t lacas taesma case 6.00 6.67
PE ts fois sal sl outdo wehkan Joo aldghewecelee's 7.25 8.06
RICE PP eS SS ns Sb wiclda die o wehie Mid a ccidvidadce eee ep PEE 5.20 5.77
Pe oe eo lee wield: minis wa oe aie apes oinamin aie cpenide ates 5,95 6.61
eds an Sone wane vinwem a anne es one ace sne anna neaeee ea 1.60 Bei
Ee oe oie cn cc caice cone peameececeas clases ainrwenmece 50.56 56.17
(1. SOND ON Shs ee heggalie Ie i aih 2 Y f a A se 8 ihoth _ &61
PEI eres ms ctor 22 Cs Sie alas) cise Skin clasjeeciareeene 4,24 4.72
ES eee 8 Poe ow cent mesa’ «sce Ge, cama mateseen 1.45 1.62
f 100.00 100.00
No. 2. Sample obtained in Department.
Calculated for
Air-dried. dry substance
Eee ao a, Sls et l(olaia esti ciejaieoleb ala Scle'nin‘elsjmaidio Sh) wiaieretialom 6.40 Pens
OTL RU 2 a et gare hte mat pe hpi oi ot SL Sal lo Prepare eae eas 7.30 7.79
aI ir a a ats, a ainsi ey SSA inin) d ciaraiaiap be Ses elelo ewig 6.15 6.58
WOBRbNO@ R= eee es =- ---)----- == ---- AES AT SS SEES Oe ee es, Se Mabey FS 5.15 ' 5.50
ane ee et ia Si bho Saas fais uimicle sis gS pei cfalnsle: SEOs iad teen 5.25 5.61
RU Nee erie eo oa =a 2)nin jo 'w nia 61 a= <'nm) [nmin sin wie] 5 oi i=, sie wlnje'wisin minj= i= = 1.65 1.76
REIT 0 nS on al a Zilia nlcin 4 popeiniomininmiais mnie sicins eajemimlesia) 5 49.85 53 27
NN IIMA E TPE eo ooo SLSR) wil Males ajen evict ayaicis myeiela aie eiereuu/a 10.45 41.16
MINER SUI hae Sos aos ease a rarer dja oie. d' adel «sees Bees cles tyme ans 6.33 6.76
fog ead eo LS a ae ee Fe RRS ee eS eect ae 1.47 Si.
100.00 100.00
With regard to its value for the manufacture of alcoholic liquors as
compared with common field-corn, little can be said in its favor. For
comparison in this particular I quote analyses, published in a previous
report. In this case the results are calculated for dry substance:
No. 1. No. 2
Oi I ge A a oi tesa ajnainie nid wee nininiemaieeisiaisminnyer= 5, 67 6.10
ae ao OIE im nn om mae wae mne one = onl amen meine am wom 1.21 2.66
GiiGnanGldextiine.-. -satsecel~< 00 cacclacs FE is we ssa ae ELE aacate cia 1335 1. 06
ep a SeNS cine acai ci ala |b o Rbaels «len 2 apncy hema aacaeie ad ald, 1.58
Sith 0. ae ee Oa eenrge Soe Se eee Viaod 76. 50
ce pr Acaveri dS 5 pk ARN ana a IEA = SO aU = Sn eS 8.71 9, 09
TR I Ss Sn ws were wien nina n ena wcals aaeipaitaatee Sesscle 1.89 1. 66
Ee se cc cae c de nleiseces's odes sean sae secaiee 1. 46 1.35
100. 00 _ 100. 00
No. 1 represents the composition of a yellow corn grown in Pennsyl-
vania, and No. 2 that of a white corn, from Maryland.
These tables of analyses show that the sugar-corn cannot be recom-
mended for the purpose suggested, since its contents of starch, guin,
and dextrine amounts to only 61 and 63 per cent., while that of the field-
corn reaches about 72 per cent. With this fact, and its incapability of
producing as large a crop as the field-corn, against it, it is doubtful
whether sugar-corn will ever have any application other than that
which it at present has; viz, for food in the green state.
178
BOTANICAL NOTES,
By Dr. GeorGe Vasey, BOTANIST.
FLORA OF JAPAN.—The following notes on the flora of a portion of
the Japanese Empire, by Mr. Thomas Hogg, who is well known as the
introducer of many Japanese horticultural novelties, will be read with
interest. The governmentoperations in experimental agriculture, which
are alluded to in Yesso, are doubtless those conducted by General
Capron, formerly of this Department. The report is communicated to
us through the State Department:
A hurried journey through a section of country, however limited, is insufficient to enable
the investigator to give anything like a full description of its flora. As the area of country
is enlarged, the difficulties of doing so are increased, and a residence of weeks or months
combined with frequent journeys becomes necessary, in order to describe with even approxi-
mate completeness its floral treasures. It is therefore impossible for me to more than take a
hasty glance at the vegetation, as the results of a tour of a few weeks in portions of the
islands of Yesso and Niphon.
Occasionally I shall take the liberty of departing in a slight degree from the direct subject
of my report to a consideration of the country with reference to its agricultural capabilities
and productions, as suggested to my mind during the journey. -
The flora of the island of Yesso, though in some respects resembling that of high altitudes
on the island of Niphon, still exhibits a marked difference, owing to its higher latitude, isola-
tion, and narrower limits. Its peculiarity in these respects is apparent, in the absence of
many trees common throughout Niphon. On no portion of the route over which I traveled,
with the exception of the immediate neighborhood of Hakodate, did I find growing, ina
natural state, either Cryptomerias, Pines, Retinospora, Planera, or the Wistaria. Those
seen at Hakodate were probably grown from seed or young trees brought from other districts.
On the high hills, at the base of which Hakodate is situated, are found growing a species of
Tilia, resembling, if not identical with, T. europe@a, Pyrus aucuparia (?) Hydrangea panicu-
lata, Berberis vulgaris, and several species of Euonymus.
On the level plain northward are found Wahlenbergia grandiflora, Aconitum fischerii, (?)
Also found growing abundantly allover the island, Lythrum virgatumand Cimicifuga racemosa.
Passing over the mountain-ridge toward, Voleano Bay, on the road leading to the town of
Moie, on its shores, I first met with the elm and beech plentifully distributed. A species of
poplar is also common. It attains a larger size than other trees of the forest, which here are
not generally of large growth, owing to the volcanic, thin, gravelly soil. :
Crossing over Volcano Bay to Mororan, the first portion of the road leading over the
mountain-spurs that terminate abruptly at the sea-side, the variety of forest-timber is in-
ereased by the addition of alder, birch, Hsculus, and Magnolia hypoleuca in quantity.
Descending the mountain-spurs, the road runs close to the beach, and its course is almost
devoid of arboreai growth. The most conspicuous plant to be seen is the beautiful Gentiana
pneumonanthe, (?) with an occasional MWahlenbergia grandifiora. Bothof these plants appar-
ently find a more congenial home on the eastern than on the western side of the island,
where I occasionally met with the first, but with the latter not once.
A short distance from Tomokomia the road turns toward the interior, passing over a flat
country, swampy in places, and mostly covered with oak-trees of low growth, the soil being
thin and poor. About five ris from the coast more elevated land was reached, and covered
with somewhat larger timber. Some of the species, seen on the mountains near the sea-
coast, here disappeared, and among others that took their place was the ash, more closely
allied to the American than the European species of that tree.
Soon after leaving Chistosi, seven ris from the coast, the appearance of the country im-
proved. Ascending a hundred or more feet, the plateau was of moderately good soil and
covered with oak-timber. Approaching Shimamadzer the soil lost its volcanic character,
and was apparently fertile, and continued to improve all the way to Satsporo. Oak-timber
predominated on this richer land, and attained a good size.
My limited time of four days at Satsporo, portions of which it rained, did not permit an
extended investigation of the surrounding country. It presented, however, no features
specially different over that which I had already passed. On the drier soil, oak still prevailed,
but along water-courses, with a moist soil, there was a dense growth of a variety of trees
already enumerated, with undergrowth of dwarf bamboo and shrubs.
Beyond Satsporo, toward the Ishkaro River, the country becomes lower and somewhat
swampy. Oak disappears, and elm takes its place. The nature of the soil in all this sec-
tion of country is shown in the luxuriant crops of farm-produce within the inclosures of re-
cent settlers. Cereals had all been harvested, but later crops, as buckwheat, beans, &c.,
179
were prospering finely. Undoubtedly the country is capable of abundantly producing
cereals, with the exception, perhaps, of maize, which, for its successful cultivation as a farm-
crop, may require a warmer climate. Hemp of equally excellent quality, as cultivated else-
where in Japan, there is every reason to expect would succeed.
Approaching Ishkara, at the mouth of the river of the same name, the soil becomes drier,
and the elm less plentiful, the maple and linden, with other trees, taking its place. From
Ishkara southward toward Otaranai, along the sandy beach, the vegetation exhibits no re-
markable peculiarities. The lower part of the plain, extending from Satsporo to the sea, is
a dense growth of scrub or dwarf oak. Immediately bordering the sea the sandy hillocks
are covered with Rosa rugosa, which is also plentiful on the gravelly soils near Volcano
Bay. Its large, fragrant flowers, succeeded by its bright-colored fruit, has rendered it one
of the most highly-prized Japanese plants introduced abroad.
Crossing the mountains from Yoichi to Iwanai, in these higher regions, in addition to the
catalogue of deciduous trees, we find several species of Abies, or spruce. The most plenti-
ful is Abies pichta found also throughout Siberia. Besides these, of lesser growth,
among deciduous shrubs are found Sophora japonica and Styrax obassia, one of the most
elegant shrubs in all Japan. Cercidophyllum japonicum, a tree of the largest growth, and
peculiar to Japan, attains here its greatest size.
The road from Iwanai to Kuromats does not differ in its general character from other por-
tions of the road from Ishkara. Wherever mountain-streams enter into the Japan Sea, there
are valleys of alluvial soil expanding in width as they approach the coast. They are sus-
ceptible of easy cultivation and of supporting a large population, but at the present time
are simply wastes.
The road from Kuromats to Oshmambe, at the head of Volcano Bay, has also the same
general features as that from Yoichito Iwanai. The rngged mountains are covered with the
same varieties of trees, and the valleys between them are in places rendered almost impass-
able by dense thickets of a species of bamboo. The valley extending back from Oshmambe
into the interior is equally fertile with those on the west coast, and as equally undeveloped.
From Oshmambhe to Mori the road follows the shore of the bay, andis comparatively unin-
teresting in a botanical point of view, within the range of this report, to that passing through
the interior of the island.
Before leaving the island of Yesso I cannot refrain from again referring to its agricultural
resources. The-efforts of the government toward developing them are worthy of praise.
Much remains to be done, and the fields of action are even closer at hand than at Satsporo.
In the immediate neighborhood of Hakodate the experimental farm cannot but have in time
a good influence in improving the modes of cultivation as at present conducted there. The
introduction of nutritious grasses for pasture, or hay for horses and cattle, is to be desired
in place of the coarse weeds that are gathered to serve the same purpose and in a very in-
sufficient manner. The planting of a larger variety of hard timber useful for purposes of
utility, to take the place of inferior woods, in districts not well fitted for the cultivation of
crops, would, in course of time, be an additional source of wealth to the country.
At. Awomori, on the island of Niphon, we find at once trees peculiar to the island, to which
I have already referred as being absent in Yesso, and indicate the milder climate of Niphon.
Proceeding farther southward, the change is still more apparent in the growth of various
species of Laurus, Osmanthus, Camellia, and ivy; also the pomegranate and Lagerstreemia,
found frequently in the neighborhood of dwellings.
FACTS FROM VARIOUS OFFICIAL SOURCES.
CHAIN-BOATS ON THE NECKAR.—A borse can draw 20 cwt. on a
turnpike, 200 ewt. on a railway, and 1,200 cwt. on a canal, says the old
proverb. Horse-towage, which has taken the place of the immense
wagons formerly used on the Neckar in Germany, annually transports
2,000,000 cwt. An accumulation of freight often causes great delay,
and the cost of towage has increased 15 per cent. since 1872. Paddle-
wheel steamers and locomotives on the river-bank have both been tried,
and found impracticable. It is now proposed to introduce the chain-
boats which have proved successful on the Rhine, Neva, Weichsel, and
Havel, and which are now or shortly will be placed on the Seine, Rhone,
Volga, Oder, Saale, Spree, and Elbe. The system requires a chain laid
in the river-bed, which passes over the vessel, being wound on friction-
rollers in its course, that are turned by steam-power. The Upper Elbe
ow
180
is in the hands of a company that paid 54 per cent. dividend in 1872,
and 64 per cent. in 1875. They have thirteen steam chain-boats, and
forty-seven miles laid with chain, and in 1872 transported 2,727,045
ewt. an average of 17 miles, and in 1873 2,945,627 ewt. an average dis-
tance of 20.17 miles.
CALIFORNIA TOBACCO.—The early attempts to grow tobacco in Cali-
fornia, according to methods in use east of the Rocky Mountains, proved
futile; though the plants grew luxuriantly, the product was very indiffer-
ent. Within the last three or four years a planter in Santa Clara County,
after several years of study and experiment, succeeded in producing a
fair merchantable article. A patent was taken out for the new process
of culture and preparation, and a company of capitalists was formed for
operations under it. The first crop, in 1872, amounted to a few thou-
sand pounds; in 1873 it rose to 500,000 pounds, and to about 1,500,000
pounds in 1874, including other parties using the process under permis-
sion. A portion of the crop was from Havana seed adapted to cigar-
making, the remainder being from Florida seed, better adapted to pipe-
smoking and chewing tobacco. The manufacturers, having no confidence
in the quality of the new product, refused to take it, and the company
were compelled to manufacture their own material. They are now mak-
ng 200,000 cigars per month, besides packing about 10,000 pounds of
smoking-tobaeco. They have recently determined to enlarge their pro-
duct a million cigars per month, and 1,500 pounds of smoking-tobacco
per day. The area suited to the srowth ot tobacco under this process
in California is said to be unlimited.
AMERICAN JUTE.—Mr. E. Lefranc, of New Orleans, who has devoted
much attention to the culture of the jute in this country, informs the
Department that he has succeeded in raising the first regular crop in
America, of which he recently shipped nineteen bales to the markets of
Saint Louis and New York, to be tested by the manufacturers. His
crop was raised in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, and he believes the
cultivation of the fiber will be rapidly multiplied by other planters of
that section. Mr. Lefranc writes to the Department as follows:
As explained before, this jute fiber was decorticated from dried plants which had already
given their seed. It isthe second product of the stalks, and for that reason the staple may
not be highly classed in comparison with the India article worked in green. But I have
put enough of good quality in the bales to prove that we can advantageously compete
against foreign jute. The decorticating machine cleans it more thoroughly and secures a
larger quantum of strong filament than the ordinary hand-work of Hindostan. The refuse
of the machine is good for paper.
Regarding the economy of this new industry, I am now practically satisfied that the fig-
ures of cost [ have given in my treatise were sufficiently nigh. Our expenses for cultiva-
tion scarcely reach $4.75 per acre; for manipulation, $15. These are still subject to im-
provement wherever a closer organization can be established.
The yield is also satisfactory. Wherever the stand was normal, we obtained the propor-
tion of one ton per acre. In average the lint is of over two pounds per foot high on the
surface of an acre, and the plant averages ten feet in any favorable season, and in rich,
moist land.
Mr. Lefranc speaks very confidently of his success in organizing the
labor of this new and promising industry. His machine, he says, is
actually a producing fact. It works very well, and on dried stalks,
which have first furnished their seed, as well as on green plants, thus
securing the important result of obtaining both seed and fiber from the
crop. The fiber obtained is strong and fine enough to bring from four
and a half to five cents a pound, in gold. The faculty of working the
plant dried is important, as it extends the manipulating period through |
the dull winter season, when labor is abundant and cheap. Myr. Lefrane
remarks:
181
The production or yield is as large as the ability of the feeding hands can reach. The
bunches of fifteen and twenty stalks engaged at the time are almost instantly trans-
formed into clean filament. Hemp, ramie, hibiscus, and any long fibrous plant are
equally well treated by the apparatus, which capacity and power can be increased as to
produce tons and tons daily.
These assertions are based on true, practical facts, and as soon as they will be believed
and applied in our long-textile growing sections, the country will cease to be tributary for -
our actual enormous import of foreign staple. From new observations, I can re-assert that
ordinary jute growth gives an average of at least one ton per acre of fiber, and that the
whole cost of production will not exceed $25. In good; moist land jute grows ten feet in
average, and has one-third of its body in fiber. The mower and reaper applied on wheat
cut jute perfectly well.
INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION.—A grand interna-
tional exhibition, under the patronage of the German Empress and her son
the Crown Prince, will be opened at Cologne August 25, and will continue
a month. The exhibition will comprise all horticultural plants and pro-
ductions, except vines and grapes, all kinds of tools, implements, and
machinery, and collections in any way connected with rural life and
the development of garden culture.
The following classification has been adopted:
J. Horticulture, including glass-house plants, open-air plants, fruit-
trees and shrubs, cut and dried flowers.
Il. Horticultural productions, including fruits, fresh, dried, and pre-
served; produce of vegetable juice and fiber, viz, wine, beer, liquors,
oils, rosin, gum, coloring-matter, hemp, cotton, flax, sugar, starch, &c.,
with manufactures of these substances; rearing of bees and their pro-
‘ducts; vegetables, fresh, dried, and preserved ; seeds of all kinds.
III. Garden architecture, including plans and models of gardens, parks,
glass-houses, summer-houses, garden furniture, bridges, roads, walks,
rock-work, tunnels, grottos, fences, gates, espaliers, &c., with prices
of construction.
IV. Garden decoration, including fountains, statues, vases, urns, pedes-
tals, borders, beds, flower-baskets and stands, hanging-lamps, illuminat-
ing-materials, &c.
V. Garden tools and machinery, pumps, water-pipes, conduits, carts,
water-engines, spades, hoes, rakes, clippers, tlower-pots, labels, survey-
ing and leveling instruments, &e.
VI. Garden collections, of woods, seeds, insects, both injurious and
beneficial, &e.
VIL. Artificial fruits, flowers, and plants, singly and in collections.
VILL. Garden literature, in all its branches.
Eminent horticulturists of different nations have been solicited to
act upon the various juries, and motive-power for machinery will be
provided. A lottery will be established for the disposal of articles.
Exhibitors must engage to allow their articles to remain to the close of
the exhibition, and to receive them within a week after its close.
The general committee in charge of the exhibition consists of lead-
ing civil and military officials of the German Empire, of eminent scien-
tific men, and of opulent and respectable private citizens.
NATURE’S RECORD OF DROUGHTS.—A correspondent in MeLennon
County, Texas, informs this Department that he is examining the annual
rings on trees with reference to the effect of very dry seasons upon tree-
erowth. He has a theory that a series of such seasons may return in
regular periodicity, the discovery of which would be of great value to
the farmer, since it would enable bim to anticipate short crops and, by
previous surplus ones, prepare for them. Lie has selected fur his pur-
pose the burr-oak, on some of which he finds a record of the growth of
three hundred years.. So far as he bas traved back human records, he
finds each very dry season marked by rings of extraordinary thinness.
He is still tracing back the records of man and nature in the hope of
182
discovering the law above referred to.
EGYPTIAN COTTON.—About nine years ago the Department procured
through the United States consul at Alexandria some Egyptian cotton-
seed, which was distributed among southern planters. The reports
hitherto have been almost invariably unfavorable.
from Mr. Savage, of Montgomery, Ala., though late, is worth noting
He says:
Two years ago I procured about a peck of Egyptian cotton-seed from the Department. I
planted it by itseif in a sixty-acre cotton-field, and found that it was four or five weeks earlier
than the native cotton ; consequently I had a good crop before the worms made their appear-
I believe if I had had the whole field in Egyptian cotton, I would have made from
Last year (1874) I planted five acres of it, and
packed and sold two bales before the other was ready to pick. I consider it 25 or 30 per
particularly.
ance.
twenty-five to thirty bales instead of six.
cent. more prolific than either the Boyd or Dickson cotton.
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS.
APRIL, 1875.
The following quotations represent, as nearly as practicable, the state of the market at the begin-
ning of the month:
Articles.
NEW YORK.
Flour, superfine State-. per barrel.
extra State.......... dose
superfine western....do....
extra choice western..do.--.
common to fair southern ex-
tras, per barrel...........
good to choice southérn ex-
tras, per barrel.......-.--
Wheat, No.1 spring.--.per bushel.
No. 2 spring---...--. Ove
winter, red,western.-.do....
winter, amber, western, per
[EHING) \ GASES BS SSEASs
winter, white, western, per
BUS NGl eee ye area ene
RYO noe nicincusnic== =~ = = per bushel
Barley. ..-.---.02--+-----+-- MOjjaro>)
COUN er wcinalses nt cicin'= im mim nim dose:
Hay, first quality..-.----. per ton.
second quality...-...-. do. =: ;
Beef, mess...-..-..-.--- per barrel.
extra, Mess..-..-.----- douse:
PPOVESMICES icine visu aie oe miaie smn do...
extra prime....-...... dou=ss
prime mess..-..-.----- Gs is
ara re slelnenisinlainan coin per pound,
Butter, western..-.-------.. Goe
State dairy.-....-... dorset
Cheese, State factory.-..--.. do....
western factory...-.. (hore
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary,
Der Pounds...) secs e ee es
low middling to good mid-
dling, per pound.........
Sugar, fair to prime refining, per
POUNG). cnc ncecsmcn nn ccenerscee
Tobacco, lugs.--..----- per pound.
low leaf to medium leaf,
POL PONG. o4 oncecis.
Wool, American XXX and pick-
lock, per pound..-...----.-.
American X and XX, per
POU An ee. wesc nse
American combing, per
POUDGS oe cee sete eeiminle =
DUGG) oe wo seees per pound.
California spring clip.do....
California fall clip....do....|
Value.
to $4 70
to 5 40
to 470
te 8 00
to 5 60
to § 00
to" 1.28
to: eae
to 1 29
to 1 29
tone? oo)
to 1 00
to. 1 22
to 8&7
to 23 00
to 16 00
to 10 50
to 12 00
to —-—
to 16 50
to — —
to 24
to 33
to 164
to 153
to 15}
174
to 4)
to 133)
17
to 60
to 53
to 58
to 50
to 35
to a
Articles,
BOSTON,
Flour, western superfine, per barrel.
com. western extras, per bar-
red wheat,good to fancy
northwestern, per barrel.
white wheat, good to fancy
western, per barrel.......
southern family, per barrel.
Ogre nek ARE seines SEAS: do...
Oats sane tees cee ene eer do...
Rye lovee ees
Barley
Hay, eastern and northern. per ton.
choice western....--- per ton.
Beef, Messe o-oo ok an i- = per barrel.
Lard, extra mesS...-..-..--- do...
Povk; pRmMe. 2) tesa sete eae dows
MEkS ..---------- Bae ste (Ciseic
ard . ase see: PE nous per pound.
Butter, N. Y. and Vermont -..do.-..
WeBtern 222 365.2 dosses
Cheese, New York and Yt. factory,
Per ponpnd ee eee ase
western factory, per pound.
Sugar, fair to good refining, per
pound <) esses eee
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary,
per ponndse oe. - ena
low middling to good mid-
dling, per pound. -....-. -3
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania, pe
POURQs-S sce ewer k= tee
Michigan........ per pound,
other western..-...--- do...
Pulled eee cee eel OG ew
combing fleece......- do...
Californias. 2 ao do...
PHILADELPHIA.
Flour, superfine... ..---. per barrel.
Penn,, extra to choice, per
barrel22) is) Ss aes
western, extra to choice, per
H HeMel.: win ccd stent ees
Wheat, white. .......-.. per bushel.
AIMNDC? s2 -ice = wai cote
PEG sia sci aiatae ccleaner do...
CBA NRCG sah Senger Seni do ..
The following report
Articles.
PHILADELPHIA—Continued.
Me Unie ais'a bie s= «ic enn per bushel
ROME Mette de svi nit <isimninc sna nie do...
We 022 2 ae does
Hay, prime baled.....-.-- per ton.
baled, com. to fair, shipping,
per ‘ton ew ana se eocaneenenns
Beef, western mess...-- per barrel
extra mess ....-.--- Gos. sans
Worthman’s, city family, per
IAENOU ies wun sa cine on se 0/0
Work; Mess .....-.... per hundred
prime mess....--.-- @ozit25.
jo tel: Oe EE ee pers Ovens
ROMS ESE meh tac ee ee. 6.- per pound.
Butter, choice Middle States, per
“nnd ae Se eee eee
choice western..-per pound.
Cheese, New York factory..do....
Ohio factory..-...--. do....
Sugar, fair to good refining do.....
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary,
ET OMO Geko an ain) a'sle =m -
low middling to good mid-
dling, per pound......-..
Wool, Ohio X and XX.-.per pound.
other western........ do...
tub-washed .......... aos.
DUG ce <ncicuja ssn = « do...
combings......-.-.-..- d0-—-
BALTIMORE,
Flour, superfine....-...-per barrel.
(2.0 a ees Gos-a5
family and fancy....do....
Wrheat, redsees.ss8s52 per bushel.
AO ein o> sp wes doz- =,
TV ILLES tata rn oie aletn'a's wim wip do...
A tetper citactate winia saison’ (dn
(Opies Ak as eet eee aoe— 55
CONtoe ee senses eet eee: do...
Hay, Maryland and Pennsylva-
Mid, Per LON gece ces a= -
POMK, MER .-5o-ssc.555 per barrel
extra prime .....-..-. do:-"s
Uo vidi se ple Sallie Sa ae per pound
Butter, western ............ Or sa:
BASel Nae aes | oa a do....
Cheese, western factory -.--. dole eo:
eastern factory.....do...
Sugar, fair to good refining. -do,
New Orleans, grocery gr ades,
per pound......
Tobacco, lugs ...-...-- per pound.
common to medium, leaf,
PEL POUNG. a cec! scsi cs
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary,
PEMNOUNG:)S.f 2 osc icc ses
low middling to good mid-
dling, per pound........
CINCINNATI.
Flour, superfine........ per barrel
Cee Lis ie er do...
family and faney...-. dorian!
Wheat, winter red...... per bushel.
hill, (amber,)..-..--. doses.
WHO. Sues scot aol 2
Jolene coacidet doe renscacengee dour:
Barley. <5 | tentes's oie kas ae do...
NOOR ys a clain aisle vise ajo emo cess do...
(URIS . 3 Sac e og eap So Hee sare don J2:
Hay, baled, No. 1......-.. per ton.
lower grades.....-.--. do....
Beet Plate. .-n-- 5200's - per barrel.
POW PMNOSR = ass seco ap nce s- do. .
Lond as a ee per pound.
Butter, choice ....-....--... do....
Value.
183
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
$1 20 to $1 50
oa to a4
to 70
21 00 to 22 00
19 00 to 20 00
700 to 800
800 to 900
1600 to -—
2150 to -—
1975 to -—
16 50 to 17 00
144 to 12
23 to 30
18 to 24
16 to 17
154 to 16
7% to 8s
13% to 15%
163 to 18
54 to 544
— to a,
55 to 62
334 to 50
— to —=
425 to 475
5 00 to 6 50
700 to 8 00
1502-<toy, 134
152 tO hod
125 to 135
105 to 1 08
66 to 73
79 to 87
20 00 to 24 00
22.60 to — —
TAO LOm———
15 to 153
14 to 22
16 to 25
144 to 16
15 to 17
7% to 8%
84 to 9
8 to 114
12 to 14
— to 15%
16} to 162
400 to 4 25
470 to 490
5 00 to 6 40
110 to 114
TiS to ade
Plato 122:
W125 to VL
100 to 1 40
71 to 72
60 to 64
19 00 to 21 00
14 00 to 18 00
I HC TE
21 50 to 22 00
14ito 15
26 ‘to 28
Articles.
CINCINNATI—Continued.
Butter, prime........-- per pound
Cheese, prime to choice factory,
Per Pounders. esa
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good,
per pound..............
prime to choice..per pound.
Tobacco, lngs)ass7cmccves do...
TEBE cio Sjaratapate ane do...
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary,
Per POUNndee ee sense
low middling to good mid-
dling, per pound.....-.-
Wocl, fleece, common to fine, per
pfereye ys Ey ae he Lee
tub-washed. --.. per pound.
unwashed clothing....do.-.
unwashed combing... do...
pulled eee en ace do. .
CHICAGO.
Flour, choice winter extras, per
barrel.........
common to good extras, per
Mathes since ee ae ee
Darrel osctidic «San eoenetes
patent spring-.-..per barrel.
spring superfine....do-..-.
Wheat, No. 1 spring..per bushel.
No. 2 spring......- do....
No. 3 spring. .----- Gover
Ry onNon2 ito wclea en per bushel.
ATIOVIINOs oe stem icn sig oo seine dove
OstgeNoy Qe oe osetien tes cee dozs--
Corn No nal nee ane ses see dow.
Hay, timothy a Caio per ton
OVAITIO Sains inte eteiaie wiele ts do..
IBGel MENS. cies eislleroroe per barrel.
extra mess.....--.--- dove
Pork. WEshiec cmon sale sees do...
prime mess.......... dower
extra prime.......... dozens.
Bard’ Sic 23eee -secean per pound.
Butter, choice to fancy...-- do..
medium to good..-..do.-..
Cheese, good to prime factory, do-n
Sugar, New Orleans, common to
choice --)- -..922-<50s per Soe
Wool, tub-washed........-- doz:
tfleece-washed......- do:.2--
unwashed..........- docze.
pulled) ean oxi nistss do...
SAINT LOUIS.
Flour, winter, common to choice,
per Gol Ps Peete See ees
Flour, springs. = 23/2! per barrel.
Wheat, white winter ..per bushel.
red winter... 22. .-)-5 ao.
SPLID Bee te sean ad
WS OTH s Same rata airs etme ta cesta do
Nase neeo-ocecde donot do.
Barley ioc Pocintaaeeenee eet do.
Oats: . ee Sb oeeinuee scien do..
Hay, timothy............ per ton
prairies: 2.2 S225; sutedo- =:
per barrel.
Pork, Mess) 2- le ce ewes oe do..
Diss jos = cle ereteeeeteot .per pound
Butter, prime to choice dairy -.do-.-
country-packed. ......do..
Cheese, Ohio factory.....-..- do..
New York factory .. do-.
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary,
per poupaa- pecs ee.
low middling to good wid-
@ling ee. ce. per pound.
Value.
$0 23 to $0 25
5 50 to
4 50
4 623 to
5 00 to
3 50 to
100 to
to
ayers
S
PreoA
16
184
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles, Value. Articles. Value.
Saint Lovuls—Continued. NEW ORLEANS—Continued.
Wool, tub-washed.....- per pound.| $0 53 to 0 55 || Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
fleece-washed........- Gone. 32 to 52 nary:.--2. per pound | $0 13§to $0 143
unwashed ........-..- do. 28 to 36 low middling to good
MODRCCO, INE wae nessae soc 32 doers 10 to 12 middling..... per poud 154 to 164
common to shipping leaf.. 11 to 15 || Wool, clear lake...........- dense 28 to — —
NEW ORLEANS. SAN FRANCISCO,
Flour, superfine ......- per barrel.| 5 00 to — — || Flour, superfine....... per barre]l.| 400 to 4 37}
Eb. tT et Se las SR do. 5 374 to 6 00 CXtrau. 5 jose heres do 450 to 4 80
family and fancy.-.--.do...| 6 00 to 6 75 family and faney..-. do..-| 500 to 5 25
Corn, yellow......----- per bushel. 86 to 88 || Wheat, California..... per cental.| 150 to 170
Rute meee meeatan seen eet do 86 to 88 Oregon epee esas 0.24) R50" toe 270
(ORV Oe ee ems do.. 74 to W8)\\ Batley ten mcieew\seple eens do...| 140 to 1 60
Hay, choice.. .--.--..-.-. per ton.| 29 00 to — — || Oats..--....-----..---.---- do.|- 155 to 1°80
ETO dotssaasicnan AAs do...| 24 00 to — — || Corn, white ......--.----..- do...| 160 to ——
Beef, Texas.-...-...... per barrel-| 10 00 to 11 50 Velo came ep ceeseeeeee do...| 140 to 1 45
WIOStOLMe saan ei eemate alee do!)--|/14 00" to 16/00 |) Hay, State... 20525. Sco ue do...| 10 00 to 17 00
Fulton Market.per half barrel.| 11 40 to 11 50 || Beef, mess..-...-..--- per barrel.| 800 to 9 00
Pork, Mess... 25 -- 155 - = per barrel.| 22 374 to 23 00 family messp.er half barrel.| 6 50 to 8 00
HALO eee ewes ee coe ke es per pound. 144 to Tor|| Pork, Wiens): (occ ee. per podigs 22 00 to 23 00
Butter, choice Goshen..-....-. do... 30 to 32 prime mess .......-..-* -| 17 50 to 19 CO
NVORLCER aces eee eee te do... 12 to Oa Wuatds = aa eee eee eee per patna 13 to if.
Cheese, choice western factory . do... 15 to 16 || Butter, overland - Saas do... 20 to 254
New York cream..... do:=. 18 to 184 California .........- do... 25 to 30
Sugar, fair to fully fair..-.--. do. --. 7 to 74 Oregon <0. occas do... 20 to 224
prime to strictly prime.do. - - 8 to 8hi| Chees6..; - 2-2 oaanemcie nose do... 123 to 16
clarified, white and yel- Wool, ative =. deepal tete do.. 10 to 20
TOWs sce essere per pound. 9} to 103 Palifornig\tt tie. sae do.. 15 ‘to 22
Mabacco lugs 2-2-8 os. eoe do... 9 to 114 (Oregonians on sede mae do. 18 to 22
low leaf to medium. .do- -- 12) to 14
LIVE-STOCK MARKETS.
|
Articles. Value. Articles. Value.
NEW YORK. CINCINN aTI—Continued.
Cattle, extra beeves.-..per cental. Asites 50 to 7 00 || Cattle, fair to medium..per cental.| $4 00 to $5 00
good to prime...-.... do....| — — to 25 COMMON .- Sees aoe do. 275 to. 375
common to fair..---- do.. 10 75 to i. 00 milch cows....-. per head.| 25 00 to 55 00
average of the marketdo....| — — to —— calves....-.- .--per cental.| 550 to 7 00
SE ATIN mete cons ler do....| — — to — — || Sheep «+ - on SE a9 OO zainin| OREO emenEeED
milch cows......---- do....| 50 00 to 75 00 Swit, good to choice 850 to 8 75
veal calves.......--- do....| 450 to 10 50 common to medium do...., 6 50 to 8 00
SiG je Sap Sande seceeocanere do....| 550 to 7 50
WINE... ose cceeweme sa n-0n do....| Few in market. CHICAGO,
PHILADELPHIA. Cattle, extra graded steers, 1,400
to 1,600 pounds, per |
Cattle, prime beeves....percental.| 7 50 to 8 00 cental 2) ost. oeeeeeiae 640 to 690
fair to good.......... do.. 625 to) 725 choice beeves, 1,250 to |
COMMON. - se seen nee= do....| 525 to 6 00 1,450 pounds, per cental | 585 to 6 25
SG SSeS as Bese eras do.-..| 450 to 7 75 good beeves, 1,150 to 1,350
Hogs, corn-fed.........--22. do....| 12 00 to 13 00 pounds, per cental. . 550 to 5 75
medium, 1,100 to 1, 250. :
BALTIMORE, pounds, per cental....... 500 to 5 50
inferior. --pss -- per cental.| 3 00 to 5 00
Cattle, best beeves...... per cental.| 6 25 to 7 30 "PEXANG<- > a= ene stan do....| 2 50to 525
first quality.----.--- do....| 512 to. 6 25 || 'Sheepc-2e. 3. - 5.2 en 2 do....| 3% to 6 50
mesium or good quality, Swine.c2i2- 4222s --2-2-'s- do.--.; ‘710 to 875
per centals2e ape sianbe ce 462to 512 |
ordinary.-.....- per cental.| 350 to 4 62 SAINT LOUIS.
general average....- do....| 550 to ——
iwwost of the sales..... do}. 53), 3 O0ntoy MBKO Cattle, fair to choice native steers, :
milch-cows, fair to good, per pervcental j2252 32 .2noee 500 to 6 25
CONAN aa oily elein eet Manin | 30 00 to 48 90 cominos to fair natives, per |
Hie) oe Soe eae ARE percental.| 450 to 8 00! cental.. 2-10 eee 350 to 475
SIWANG Jae she eiecenislve acle'nan do....| 975 to 11 50 | inferior to common, per
Cental... .wtess wee 200 to 3 50
CINCINNATI. Texans, common to choice,
it per,cental...245- (aaae 175 to 400
Cattle, good to prime butchers’ SDEEDee ssn dee te eee percental.| 400 to 6 25
HLCOLS ead euls's 2 per cental.| 550 to 6 25 aSwinese lees: deeceeeesees do....; 5 00 to 25
185
Live-stock Markets—Continued.
Articles. Prices, Articles. | Prices.
| |
SarntT Lovuis—Continued. i NEVY ORLEANS.
Horses, plug......-...-.. per head. |$40 00 to $75 00 | Cattle, Texas beeves, choice, per
Sates cls «tos eas do 80 00 to 110 00 Head's toe aw eases heen eel $40 00 to $46 00
street-car.....-...... do....| 75.00 to 125 60 first quality .....-. per head. 30 00 to 35 00
heavy draught. ...... do..../130 00 to 170 00 second quality.....-.- do....| 20 00 to 25 00
nel drivers........ do....)100 00 to 150 00 western beeves-..per cental. . 00 to 7 59
Seeaseiatie's lsi= a do....|175 00 to 180 00 milch-cows...--..per head-| 35 00 to 100 00
Mules, 4 15 hands high. - fat 75 00 to 120 00 Galvedsuceceacisdniet © do. 700 to 900
15 to 16 hands high...do..../120 00 to 180 00 |/Sheep, first quality.........- do....; 600 to 700
2b A 5 ae aire 00 to 200 00 second quality.....- do....| 300 to 4 00
WING. caniqeacde sashes ae do....| 500 to 600
FOREIGN MARKETS.
The first half of March in the United Kingdom was all that could
be desired for field-work, but the spring was considered backward, so
far as vegetation was concerned. Everywhere warmth was greatly
wanted for grain and meadows, but the growth had nowhere been atf-
fected by frost to an extent injurious to subsequent growth. The coun-
try markets were from 1s. to 2s. per quarter for wheat ahead of the
London market, which showed considerable indecision in regard to
further advances. In London it is observed that the sales of English
wheat amounted to only a third of the arrivals. During the last week
in March the sales amounted to 29,873 quarters in excess of those of the
corresponding week of 1874, while prices averaged 19s. per quarter less.
The financial necessities of farmers compel them to accept such prices.
The Paris market was dull but steady, the provinces showing more buoy-
ancy. Belgium, Holland, and Germany show a firmer hold on prices
already obtained, a tendency also observable in Denmark and Hungary.
Egypt was doing little in the way of export to weaken prices, while in
New York there was an advance of 2s. 6d. per quarter. The large
amount of cargoes bound for British ports—one and a half million quar-
ters—will only snffice to bring up the aggregate receipts to last year’s
figures. If it couldall be retained it would furnish six weeks’ consump-
tion, but a large portion will be reshipped to other countries. More
than half the British crop has been marketed, and prices have evidently
touched their lowest point. The increasing demand for a higher stand-
ard of living among the poorer classes of the English people causes an
increased demand for wheat diet and counteracts the downward tendency
of the market. The deficiencies of two short crops are not to be over-
come by a single good one, and hevce the late decline of prices is con-
sidered not as a permanent tendency but as a temporary reaction which
has already reached its limits.
The sales of English wheat in the United Kingdom during the last
week in March amounted to 67,153 quarters, at 41s. 9d., against 37,280
quarters at 60s. 9d. in 1874. This fact is very significant to American
wheat-farmers who look to the British Islands for a market for their pro-
ducts. These destructive variations in prices result from temporary and
le conditions, and hence can form no basis for a steady, remu-
rative demand. The London averages were 43s. 10d. on 1,955 quarters.
The imports of the previous week into the United Kingdom amounted
to. 313,898 cwts. After March 19, sixteen cargoes of foreign wheat are
noted, of which fifteen cargoes were disposed of at the following rates,
186
viz: Berdianski, 43s. to 45s. per quarter; Ghirka, 42s. to 44s.; Califor-
nia, 49s. to 45s. oe Oregon, 47s. 3d.; American spring, No. “yee 6d.;
Milwaukee, No. 2 , 42s,
The last week in March in Mark Lane opened on moderate supplies
of English wheat, with about double the quantity of foreign, principally
red wheat from Marianopoli and New York, with some ‘trom Dantzig
and Hamburg. The show of fresh samples from the near counties was
quite limited and their condition moderately good. The continued short
arrivals caused a firmness in the market for good samples, though poor
and ill-conditioned lots were a drug.
In Mark Lane, London, Essex and Kent, white, brought 44s. to 49s. per
quarter ; ditto, red, 42s. to 44s. ; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire,
42s. to 44s. Of foreign wheats, Dantzic mixed brought 50s. to 548. 5
KGnigsberg, 46s. to 53s.; Rostock, 44s. to 48s. ; ; Silesian, red, 43s. to
49s.; Pomeranian, Mecklenberg, and Uckermark, red, 448. to 46s.;
Ghirka, 42s. to 43s. ; Russian, hard, 40s. to 43s. ; Saxonska, 43s. to 45s. ;
Danish and Holstein, red, 41s. to 47s. : American, 41s. to 43s); Chilian;
white, 49s. ; Californian, 50s. 5 ; Australian, 50s. to 51s. In. Liverpool,
Canadian, white, was quoted at 9s. 3d. to 10s. per cental; American,
white, 9s. 9d. to 10s. 2d.; ditto, red ante 9s. 2d. to 9s. Gd. ; ; ditto, No.
1, spring, 9s..to 9s. 2d. ; ‘ditto, No. 2, spring, 8s. 6d. to 8s. 10d. ; Califor-
nian, 9s. 4d. to 9s. 10d.; Oregon, 9s. 10d. to 10s.; Chilian, 8s. Tid. to 9s.
In Paris the wheat- trade was dull, quotations ranging from 39s. to 45s,
per quarter. No complaints from the rural districts in regard to the
growing wheat-crop. The French provincial markets showed a tendency
to advance. Belgian farmers were disposed to hold on for higher prices
in view of severe , weather, the Brussels market being very firm at 46s.
6d. average for native. Growers near Hamburg were reported as holding
still three- fourths of their previous crops, and an advance of 9d. per
quarter was stated.
FLouR.—The imports into the United Kingdom during the third
week of March amounted to 94,296 hundred-weight. The subsequent
week opened on a good supply of English flour, with a moderate supply
of American in barrels. The latter showed increased transactions at
previous rates. In Mark Lane, the best town-households brought #s.
to 40s. per sack of 280 pounds; best country-households, 30s. to 31s. ;
Norfolk and Suffolk, 27s. to 29s.; American, per barrel, 21s. to 25s. In
‘Liverpool, English and Trish superfines were quoted at 30s. 6d. to 32s.
Gd. per 280 pounds ; ditto, extra, 33s. to 36s.; French, 35s. to 44s. ;
Trieste, 48s. to 60s.; Spanish, 33s. to 39s.; Chilian, 31s. Gd. to 35s. ; Cali-
fornian, 35s. to 36s.; American, western "and extra, per barrel, DIs. to
23s.; Baltimore and Philadelphia, 21s. to 23s.; extra Canadian, 233. Od.
to 26s. The Paris trade was slow at former prices, ranging from 30s. 1d.
to 34s. per 280 pounds.
MaizE.—With fair arrivals this grain had fallen 6d. per quarter
in the British markets. On Wednesday, March 24, the market supplies
aggregated 5,110 quarters. In Mark Lane, white brought from 37s. to
40s. per quarter ; yellow, 34s. to 36s. In Liverpool, American new
brought 33s. 6d. to 36s. per 280 pounds; Galatz, 37s. to 38s.
)
es
MONTHLY REPORT
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
MAY AND JUNE, 1875.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1875.
CONTENTS
STATISTICS :
Dicestt/of, crop-returns' for June 2... -. --. 222. 2
Wiheat . 2.02.5 2.2. seca ee ste eee) eo este ede eee ches = rr
@otiongeeee ees see Sen Ries a=
IS EMLOY, sie im ais oscil ats x tne mais a aro) want se ee a
Olover sc. sos ek Sec ec os eee cg eto a eben oes Sees rrr
TER ySUTENGS) eee Aaa ers eles Eae Soe Dee ie aie clea ae (site Seer
Jeo ARB CEA See se BS be ee Se beset jogs Jo. Se 2 eo
‘Maple sugar and molasses-.:-......------ -.--------22s0e= =e
Cows and calves...-..5..2::42 4/02 E! WE. 2.2 sca. eee
edn GAG LAMDS os ne eee a eee wooo shoes
Tables showing condition of crops &c., J uniey] .:icijs2- Ty. eee eee
Extiactstrom :correspondence.s 45). - 2082 2c. Gecjc- is 2 - toe see
Statisties of dairy-factories.t soit Sh Los of. tun L220 te Ae
Facts'from various sourees.-2-1.. 210.202.2052... 202. ais U0 Vn
Market-prices :of farm-products -223 22.2250 (0201.25. 5545 2A ee
Tive-stock ‘markets... 22! Shi 5 llas.. LSUEl LL. Le
Poreion (markets .02c4/42/.102). A OSL. Al, LO See
ENTOMOLOGY :
Entomological record)... 2 VS Se. ta 4 eee
CHEMISTRY:
Chemical: meméranda..-2.. 2 Seceeen-- ne sc wees ces eee s
MONTHLY REPORT.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Statistical Division, June 15, 1875.
Str: I respectfully present for publication a digest of the crop-
returns for June, with the results of investigations in the divisions of
entomology and chemistry, the current domestic and foreign market-
reports, and minor official and other statistics of rural industry.
Respectfully,
J. R. DODGE,
Statistician.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Commissioner.
DIGEST OF THE CROP-RETURNS FOR JUNE.
WHEAT.
The condition of winter-wheat is still reported low. There has been
material improvement in some of the Western States, and Kansas,
especially, seems determined to maintain her high reputation as a wheat
district. The averages for condition in the winter-wheat district be-
yond the Alleghanies are as follows: West Virginia, 60; Kentucky, 81;
Ohio, 57; Michigan, 80; Indiana, 71; Illinois, 64; Missouri, 55; Kan-
sas, 97. In West Virginia freezes have been followed by drought. Im-
provement has been marked in Kentucky, but the losses have been too
serious to be repaired. In Ohio the remnant still alive is generally
late, and in some places has been injured by the fly, chinches, and by
drought. The prospect is better in Michigan than elsewhere between
the mountains and the great river. The crop is light and patchy in
Indiana, but is improving. The crop of Llinois was too badly injured
for more than partial recovery.
In the Gulf States the wheat is a positive success, particularly in
Texas, where a large increase in acreage has been made, and where
our correspondents insist upon making the condition very high, the
average of the percentages of condition being 115. In Arkansas and
Tennessee there was some injury from frost, which the genial season
has not since repaired.
_ Going north on the Atlantic coast, the high condition of winter-grain
becomes gradually reduced, State by State, until Maryland is reached.
Pennsylvania, by its good culture and use of the drill, maintains a higher
condition than Maryland. New York succumbs to the severity of win-
ter’s frosts, and reports a prospect for scarcely more than half a crop.
The condition of spring-wheat is higher, but is scarcely a full average, -
190
except in Texas, Michigan, and Nebraska. In the Western States the
percentages are as follows: Illinois, 91; Wisconsin, 94; Minnesota,
99; Lowa, 97; Missouri, 57; Kansas, 97; Nebraska, 105.
The prospect in California, which was darkened at the last report by
the drying winds and absence of the latter rains, has improved some-
what in certain sections from the influence of atmospheric moisture in
fogs or dews; yet the injury from drought will materially reduce the
expected yield.
The average condition of winter and spring combined is 80 per cent.
for the whole country.
The following extracts from correspondence will illustrate some of the
exceptional or peculiar features of these returns:
NEW YORK.— Queens : Winter-wheat about half killed. No spring-wheat. Steuben:
Prospect of less than half a crop. Livingston: More than halt killed in the winter; most
of the remainder past saving. Genesee: More than half of our extended wheat-area en-
tirely bare of wheat; much of the remaining has only a thin and sickly appearance. Wy-
oming : Winter-wheat looking very bad. Spring-wheat not forward enough to judge.
Jefferson : Winter-killed where the snow was blown off. Wayne: Many fields plowed up
and sown with other crops. Chautauqua: Winter-wheat will not yield over 5 bushels
per acre. Seneca: The crop of winter-wheat will be shorter than any within recollection.
Orange: Injured by winter-killing.
New JERSEY.—Mercer: Suffered from the severe winter; many fields will not average
more than 5 bushels per acre. Warren: Will not be more than half a crop. Gloucester :
Greatly injured by the severe winter, and by the extreme drought now prevailing.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Bucks : Nearer a failure than I ever knew; many fields will not more
than give back the seed. Cumberland: Thriving. Lehigh: Anaverage amount of plants, but
retarded by the unfavorable season. Perry: In low condition owing to the April freeze.
Westmoreland : Many fields have been plowed up and planted in corn. Warren: Looked
well early in April, but very much injured since by cold weather. McKean: Injured by
severe freezing this spring. Franklin: Prospects better than in any of the adjoining coun-
ties. Elk: Late but looks well; 25 per cent. more than usual sown. Clearfield: Very
materially injured by the late severe freezing. Armstrong: Extensively killed; that on
new ground generally good. Columbia: Stands middling well on the ground, but very
much behind time. Cambria: Prospect not good. Indiana: Some fields plowed up and
put in oats and corn; that standing in the ground is doing well. Lycoming: On heavy
clay-lands, badly frozen out; not so bad on sandy loam, though damaged. Lancaster =
Winter-wheat rather poor, owing to unfavorable weather during the winter and since.
Fulton: Seriously injured by drought in May. Tioga: Winter very severe on wheat.
Montour: Does not look as well as when the snow left. Beaver: Winter-wheat very
thin.
MARYLAND.—Cecil : Very much injured by the winter and by drought. Prince George's =
But little hope of more than 50 per cent. of a crop one month ago, but now promises 95
per cent. Baltimore: That put in early with the drill looks well, notwithstanding the
drought; late-sown, miserable. Farmers are sustaining heavy losses owing to late sowing.
Frederick: Looks bad, butis improving slowly. A greatdrought prevailing. Montgomery:
Some very good fields, but the condition for the whole county about 70. Wicomico: The
Clawson wheat sent out by the Department last fall is now shooting, and looks most prom-
ising. Dorchester: Fully up to the standard, and promises a full crop. Talbot: Suffering
severely from drought. Washington: Has improved lately, but cannot be over half a crop.
Calvert: Much destroyed by the intense and long-continued cold, with almost entire absence.
of snow. Howard: Hardly two-thirds of a crop.
VIRGINIA.— Craig: Heading very short. Chesterfield: The crop the most promising for
many years. Culpeper: Winter-wheat looking well when sown early,on good, well-pre-
pared ground. Mechlenburgh : Considerably injured by frost in April. Madison: Greatly
injured by cold weather, followed by drought. Spottsylcania: Very promising; straw short
and heads very fine. Richland: Injury threatened by the drought now prevailing. Flu-
vanna: Weather very favorable to the development of the heads. Wheat that had grown
to the first and second joint, cut down by the late freeze, sprouted again, and now looks as
fine as though it had not been cut by the frost. Caroline: Looking quite well. Tazewell:
Badly damaged by the freeze. Rappahannock: Unfavorable weather will cut short late
wheat 50 per cent. Warwick: As yet but slightly affected with rust. Sussex: Fully up to
average. Rockingham: The crop necessarily short, owing to the severe winter. Floyd:
Injured by the cold in April, but not so seriously as at first supposed. Campbell: A large
proportion inferior. Bland: Hurt by late frosts. Frederick: In some instances, where the
natural fertility has been well kept up, the land well cultivated, and the crop sown season-
ably, it promises to make 8 to 12 bushels; on other farms of equal natural fertility it will
191
not beworth harvesting. Page: Not making a favorable show. . Pittsylvania : Some wheat
injured by late frosts. Washington: Heading very low, and short heads; very dry weather.
Patrick : The cold in April injured forward wheat. Very dry. Nelson: Damaged by the
cold in April, but has rallied wonderfully. Fairfax: Where drilled early, and on land in
good tilth, promise of a full average crop; fields broadcasted and late look badly. Din-
widdie: The grain now in the milk, and promises a fair crop. Cumberland: Dry weather
just as the wheat began to head will cut itshort very much. King George: Not promising.
Matthews : Very slightly affected with rust. Orange: Seriously affected by backward spring
and protracted drought. Pulaski: Early stalks entirely killed by the freeze in April; late
stools came out finely; now suffering from drought. Charles City: A few farms, improved
by green clover, plaster, and farm-yard manure, present a very handsome promise of wheat.
Clarke: Will not be half a crop. Halifax: Injured by frost, and now has rust on the
blade. Highland: Now coming in head and only about 6 inches high, owing to a dry May.
Essex : Growth small, but heads fine. Prince George: Damaged by rust on the blade.
NortH Carouina.—Chowan: Injured by late cold weather. Gaston: Healthy and
promising. Transylvania: Damaged by freeze in April, but very much recovered. Four
times the usual amount planted. Surry: Injured by freeze in April. Gates: Very much
injured by freeze in April and frosts in May. Haywood: An excellent stand of late wheat ;
early injured by severe freeze in April. Fultz wheat from the Department exceedingly fine.
Ashe: Somewhat injured by a severe freeze. Forsyth: Good. Franklin: Has improved
and promises well. Stokes: Looking well, except symptoms of rust. Camden: Injured by
rust. Wake: Injured by cold and drought. Alamance: Improving. Person: Prospect
never better. Burke: Prospects encouraging. Wilson: Injured very much by cold in April.
Caldwell : Much injured by the April freeze and by a five weeks’ drought. Hertford ; The
prospect for a good return better than for years. Montgomery: The fears that wheat was
badly injured by the frosts prove groundless. Perquimans: Rust on the leaves. Anson:
Somewhat injured by frosts. Alexander: Injured by severe freeze in spring ; what survived
is the best for years.
SouTH CAROLINA.—Laurens : Weather favorable for-wheat. Lexington: Somewhat in-
jured by late frosts and rust. Edgefield: Unusually fine.
GrEORGIA.—Columbia : Ten days back, would have reported wheat 10 per cent. above
average; butthe rust has taken it, and is spreading like wild-fire. Gordon: Early, dam-
aged by frost and overflow. Rabun: Never better. Troup: Injured some by rust. Webster :
Injured by rust. Taylor : Half already harvested; promises a goed yield, Alc Duffie: Never
better. Catoosa : Looking well, notwithstanding the rust ison the blade. Chattooga: Very
‘dry ; May favorable to wheat. Douglas: Very promising. Walker: Badly rusted, which
is unusual with dry weather and cool nights. Garnett: Light straw; weather favorable for
filling and good grain. Laurens: Good. Clayton: A fair stand on the ground, now be-
ginning to turn, and no appearance of rust. Coweta: More than half will be harvested
this week. Floyd: Has improved wonderfully the last two or three weeks. Marion: Spring-
wheat being harvested; crop good. Hancock: Suffering very much for want of rain.
Heard: A fine prospect. Carroll; Head short but full of large grain; weather most favora-
ble for several seasons. Upshur: Good. Morgan: Heads rather short, but well filled with
grain.
ALABAMA.—DeKalb : Short straw and short heads, but well filled. Franklin: Exceedingly
fine, with a greatly increased area; no appearance of either rust or smut. Limestone : Good
but very rusty. Bullock: Rust, but confined principally to the blade. Lawrence : Crop
early and unusually good. Calhoun: Good; being harvested. Amite: Spring-wheat greatly
damaged by rust. Walker: Now harvesting, and the best crop since the war. Marion:
Crop as good as jast year’s, which was better than usual, and acreage 50 per cent. greater ;
harvest beginning. Colbert : As promising as ever known. Morgan: Prospect better than
for several years.
MissIssppi.—Nozubee: Fine; now being harvested. Winston: Looking better than for
years. De Soto; Ripening, and looks splendid. Tishemingo: Good, and twice the usual
quantity.
Lovuistana.—Jackson: The Fultz and Clawson wheats, from the Department, had put
forth large, full heads, when the rust struck and ruined them. Spring-wheat has not been
so badly affected by rust, and many fields have turned out good crops. Bossier: Entirely
ruined by rust.
Texas.—Blanco; Fall-wheat injured by the drought; spring-wheat promises 20 bushels
peracre. Dallas: The crop all that could be desired; now being harvested—May 22d.
Upshur: Fair prospect ; no rust as yet. Collin: Being harvested; crop very fine. Wood:
Better than for years before; heads large and full. Red River: Nearly ready to cut ; pros-
pectgood. Polk: Has not done well, owing to excessive rains in the winter. Lamar: Will
yield better thanever before. Williamson: Looks very well; the Tappahannock and Red rust-
proof Ohio, now cutting, will average from 16 to 30 bushels per acre. Spring-wheat prom-
ises equally well. Navarro: Nearly all harvested; condition, 150. Cooke: Harvest com-
menced; aheavy yield. Bosque: Most of it harvested in good condition; quality good, and
acreage and yield larger than usual. Waller: Fultz wheat from the Department headed at a
height of 30 inches, and wastken struck with rust. Hunt: Nearly all harvested; Tappa-
192
hannock ahead of any other variety except the Clawson from the Department, which, for
yield, surpasses any other variety ever produced in the county.
ARKANSAS.— Bradley : Rust has appeared in almost every wheat-field ; very little as yet
on the stalk. Van Buren: Never better, but, owing to continuous rain for the last ten days,
rust has appeared in a few fields. Montgomery: Acreage about doubled, and prospect very
fine. Prairie: Average yield for the county estimated at 20 to 25 bushels per acre. Now —
beyond damage from any cause save storms. Have seen many specimens ranging from 20
to 82 well-filled heads from a single stool or grain. Izard: Some fields entirely winter-
killed, and others are too thin; but that standing is good. Drew: Four or five times the
acreage of any previous year and a most excellent crop. Dallas: Harvesting has begun,
and the weather is favorable. /Vashington: In some fields almost worthless, owing, appar-
ently, to being pastured too late in the spring; fields not grazed promise above average.
Woodruff : No wheat raised before this year; some 2,000 acres sown, and promise a good
yield. Bazter: Better than since the war; will be three bushels this year to one last.
Arkansas: Generally good. Some complaint of rust, but chiefly in the blade. ;
TENNESSEE.—Carter : Injured by freeze in April, except Fultz. Now suffering from
drought. Cameron: Looks well, but rust appearing on the blade. Fayette: A good pros-
pect. Knox: No rain for the last five weeks, accounts for the bad condition. The freeze in
April nearly destroyed the crop. Rust has appeared in some places. Hawkins; Suffering
from drought. Blount: Cut short by drought. McMinn: Has filled well, but the
heads very short and some rust on the blades. Lincoln: Early wheat injured by the ex-
treme cold in April, but the crop as a whole promises more than average. Lawrence: Both
winter and spring so damaged by the last crop that not half a crop will be made. Warren:
Appearance was very fine, but very small heads are putting out. Rhea: Good on upland;
on river-bottoms and lowland, injured by high water. Trousdale: Very promising. Mont-
gomery: Healthy, but thin on the ground. Giles: Owing to the great seareity of feed
wheat was grazed very close, thus saving it from the late frost. Wilson: Looks remarkably
well. Gibson : Promises an abundant yield. Washington: Badly killed by freeze in April.
Sullivan: Badly injured by the April freeze. Robertson: Heading low, but the heads long
and fine. Polk: Looks dwarfish. McNairy: Seemed badly injured by the late frosts, but
has come out surprisingly. Jefferson: Injured by frost and fly. Bradley : Generally, half-
crops will not be made. The fly, rust, and freeze have thinned it. Lauderdale: Larger
acreage and prospect for larger yield than for years. Grainger: Much early wheat killed by
ee and that not killed heading out low, with very short heads. Dickson: Injured by
rosts.
WEST ViRGINIA.— Berkeley : Largely killed by hard winter. Marion: Badly winter-
killed and cut short by drought. Monroe: Looks bad, owing to the freeze in April and
severe frosts since. Pocahontas ; Badly winter-killed. Jefferson: The prospect decidedly
gloomy. Wayne: Suffering from severe drought. Putnam: Unpromising. Grant: A
poor stand. Harrison: Prospect for halfa crop. Taylor: Almost a failure. Pendleton:
Greatly injured by freezes in April. Hancock: Improved by recent rains. Mercer:
Injured by winter-killing, freezing, and drought. Upshur: Will be light.
KENTUCKY.--Warren: Acreage more than doubled; promise of much over an aver-
age yield. Oldham: The plant not on the ground; frozen out in the winter. Shelby:
Backward and low, owing to cold and dry weather. Anderson : Thought to be ruined by
the freeze, but has come out amazingly. Edmonson: Very much put back by the April
freeze, but has recovered and looks very promising. Harrison: Has not rallied from the
freeze in April, and is now being damaged by the chinch-bug. Logan : Has improved very
much within the last few weeks. Mason: Hope of half a crop. Breckinridge: The
deficiency in yield will be made up by increased breadth. Butler: Thin andlow. Metcalfe :
Looking very bad, owing to cold weather through April and May. Gallatin: The prospect
gloomy, though now changing for the better. Greenup: Suffering from severe drought.
Henry: Damaged to a greater extent than was supposed a month ago; not more thana half
crop expected. Livingston: What wheat is left standing will make about two-thirds of
a crop. Callaway: Too thin, but heading well. Bracken: Clawson wheat from the
Depa .ment very promising: less winter-killed than any other kind. Meade: The amount
living very small compared with the amount sown. Monroe: In bloom and looks well.
Simpson: On strong land, drilled, looks well; on thin soil, broadcast, worthless. —
Oun10,—-Delaware : Prospect greatly improved since the 15th of May. Gallia: Past
redemption. Sandusky : Improved very much by the rains of May, but injured 40 per cent.
by winter-freezing. Adams: Has not recovered from the damage by freezing and frosis,
and the best left shortened by drought, fly, and chinches. Fairfield: What is left is short
and late. Pike: Badly killed on clay-land; on black loam, looks promising. Williams:
What is left does not look encouraging. Jackson: Has improved some, but cannot be over
a half crop. Warren: Hardly one-third of a crop. Coshocton: Materially injured by
winter and spring freezing. Hancock: Badly killed and frozen, in April. Monroe:
Great improvement since the May report, Hampden : Winter-wheat looks the best for sev-
eral years. Ashland: Terribly injured by the April freeze. Crawford: Injured much by
the severe weatherin April.
MICHIGAN.— Barry: Very fine where there is any, but the fields very spotted. Mecesta:
£93,
Never more promising. Washtenaw: Very badly killed. Allegan: Never looked better.
Antrim: Both winter and spring wheat number one. Shiawassee: Prospect of something
over halfacrop. Lenawee : Indications that there will not be as much winter-wheat gathered
as sowed; spring-wheat sown largely in excess of former years. Calhoun: Do not expect
over halfacrop. Athens: Injured much by winter and spring freezing, followed by drought.
INDIANA.—Stark: The few pieces that have survived the winter look well; cannot be
over one-third of a crop. Wells: Injured by April freeze. Franklin: The poorest prospect
for four years. Washington: Will not make one-half that was sown in the fall. Bartholo-
mew: Improving. Dubois: What there is looks well, but has fallen off one-half. Gibson:
Generally thin. Harrison; Badly frozen out. Noble: Injured in the winter; cannot be
more than half a crop. Perry: Thin, but looks well. Wabash: Prospect poor. Tippe-
canoe : Prospect has considerably improved. Steuben: Growing finely. Shelby: Very light,
butimproving very much. Ripley: What was not plowed up looks moderately well; fully one-
half the acreage was plowed up. Jennings: Almosta total failure. Decatur: The county
. will not produce enough for seed; no failure half so bad since the first settling. Dearborn:
A few pieces promise half a crop, but they will not amount to 1 per cent. of the acreage
sown. Warren: Looks well in places, on clay-soil. Vandenburg: At least 49 per cent. was
winter-killed; that left looks remarkably well. Fayette: So frozen out that much was
plowed up. Brown: Many fields a total failure; that drilled looks best. Fountain : Favor-
able weather has made a wonderful improvement in the crop. Hamilton: Came out be-
youd all expectatious during May.
ILLINOIS.—Clark : Some fields injured by the April freeze, but recent favorable weather
has brought it out finely. Massac: Not more than one-third of a good stand, but that very
good. St. Clair: Too much rain to make good wheat. Shelby: Winter-wheat anything
but encouraging. Crawford: Chinch-bugs plenty, and working on the wheat. Ogle:
Spring-wheat backward, but the prospect good. Franklin : Where the ground was highly
cultivated and the seed drilled in, it stood the winter and the cold wet spring much better
than where sowed broadcast. The heads very short and not well filled. Boone: Condition
of spring-wheat low, on account of chinch-bugs.. Fulton : Winter-wheat will not return
the seed sown; one-fourth more spring-wheat than usually sown, which looks well. Jer-
sey: Mostly very short and thin, and a great deal of cheat with it. McLean: Winter-wheat
mostly killed ; the little left growing finely ; very cold and dry weather caused considerable
damage to spring-wheat. Montgomery: Much better than was expected. Schuyler: Win-
ter-wheat all killed on the prairies; a little left on new timher-land ; more on bottoms. Pope:
The four-tenths left on the ground looks healthy and very well, but will be late in ripening,
and may yet be destroyed by chinch-bugs. Kankakee: Spring-wheat making a splendid
growth. Cook: Spring-wheat left thin by the April weather. Vermillion: Badly injured
by late freezing ; will make about half a crop. Alexander: Very poor; many plowing up
the ground sowed. Mason: The few fields left will not make half a crop. Edwards: Con-
siderably damaged by chinches. Cumberland : Looking well. Pike : Winter-wheat almost
a failure on hill-lands; winter-killing, dry weather, Hessian fly, and chinches. Fayette:
Has improved greatly.
Wisconsin.—Dodge : Winter-wheat looks well, having been- sown only in sheltered
places. Spring-wheat looks very well, but there is much complaint of chinch-bugs. Iowa:
Winuter-wheat nearly all destroyed by chinch-bugs. Jefferson: Chinch-bugs making sad
work with the spring-wheat. Milwaukee: Some fields of spring-wheat quite destroyed by
chinch-bugs. Fond du Lac: Chinch-bugs have commenced their ravages on some pieces of
spring-wheat. Sauk: A few pieces of wheat have been plowed up, owing to ravages of
chinch-bugs ; winter-wheat as yet looks splendid, but the roots are completely covered by
chinch-bugs, laying their eggs. ‘
MinNESOTA.— Wright : The deficiency in the acreage of spring-wheat is owing to fear
that grasshoppers would destroy the crop. Insome parts of the country they are now very
numerous, and threaten to destroy all before them. .Jsanti: Spring-wheat very much
stunted by drought. Winona: Decidedly good in the western half of the county. Sibley:
One-half already destroyed by grasshoppers. Crawford: Good prospect for a big yield.
Chippewa: Spring-wheat, our staple crop, is looking well, but in some fields the grass-
hoppers have hatched out and are eating the young blades.
lowa.—Van Buren: Winier-wheat nearly a failure. Hardin: Very thin. Harrison:
Hardly more than half as much sown as last spring, but three times as much standing now
as the grasshoppers left them. No grasshoppers’ eggs here now. Howard: Early sown
came in patches; later-sown, regular and promising. Washington: Injured by drought for
the last six weeks. Buena Vista: The little winter-wheat there was, killed, freezing and
thawing in April. Des Moines: Will not be one bushel of winter-wheat raised where fifteen
were-sown. Spring wheat very thin; not over one-fourth of a stand in some fields. Jeffer-
son: Winter wheat almost wholly winter-killed. Spring, damaged by late frosts and dry
weather. Muscatine: Injured by drought. Louisa ; Winter-wheat entirely killed.
Missour!I.— Bates : The cold winter killed nearly all. Lawrence: Looked fine till May,
when the Hessian fly took about all except the Fultz and weevil-proof. Montgomery:
No end to chinch-bugs ; most of the wheat sown in the fall has been plowed up. Saint
Genevieve : Uncommonly fine until May 20th, when the army-worm appeared in force, and is
194
now rapidly devouring it, in some cases cutting the heads entirely off. Schuyler: Looks
well. Calloway: Badly winter-killed, and the chinches at work on whatis left. Crawford: A
little late and chinches numerous. Dallas: Injured in some places by the Hessian fly.
Hickory : The chinches quite numerous, but not yet doing much damage, owing to wet weather.
Dent : Our only hope for wheat is in the red varieties, particularly the “‘ Red May.” Tappahan-
nock almost a failure. Last fall I turned under 20 acres of meadow, which had been run in >
timothy seven years, and sowed it in Tappahannock, the seed being perfectly free from cheat,
rye,&c. It came up and grew finely, giving every indication of a plentiful crop. Now at
least 75 per cent. of it is cheat. In other fields adjoining is the same kind of wheat, and no
cheat. Would like to know the cause of the cheat. Jasper: Grasshoppers and chinches
doing no damage as yet. Moniteaw: Chinches more numerous then ever, but thus far kept
from serious damage by frequent showers. fron: Chinches commencing their ravages.
Greene; Promised a large yield up to the Ist of May; since then the Hessian fly has de-
stroyed a large number of fields; most destructive to early-sown; that sown in November
but little affected. Boone: Never before in the county have the depredations of insects been -
so terrible—chinches, cut-worms, army-worms, and grasshoppers; many wheat-fields eaten
up by chinches. Perry: Has improved rapidly during the last month, and were it not for
the army-worm appearing in great numbers, it might be put at an average. Stoddard:
Nearly doubled in acreage, and in good condition. Bolivar: A total failure feared, chinches
being more than numerous. Vernon: Grasshoppers have entirely destroyed all growing crops
in part of the county, and done injury in the whole. Chinches more plentiful than ever before,
but kept from damage as yet by rains. Caldwell: The stand of winter-wheat very poor, and
what is left full of chinches. Franklin: In exposed localities a total failure from frosts ; in
sheltered valleys will be average if the chinches keep off. Jefferson: Will be a third of a
crop. Macon; All killed; not 50 acres left. Miller: The Tappahannock and Fultz, from
the Department, looking finely; the Touzelle not doing much; too late for this county.
Platte: Three weeks ago wheat promised a splendid harvest, but the grasshoppers are upon
us more numerous than ever before, and our crops entirely destroyed. Maries: Will be
light., Many have plowed up, and others pasture. Clay: Little left by the grasshoppers.
Henry: The great loss is from ravages by chinch-bugs and grasshoppers. Nodaway: A
large amount of winter-wheat plowed up on account of chess or cheat. Considerable damage
by chinches and Hessian fly. Dade: The Hessian fly has made sad havoe of the growing
wheat. Laclede: Not over half a crop; much winter-killed, and the remainder injured by
the fly. Pettis: At least one-third frozen out, and the chinch-bugs have appeared by the
million.
Kansas.—Allen: Except some of the uplands, the county stripped of wheat by: the
grasshoppers. Chase; As we are near the eastern line of total destruction by grasshoppers
last year, We are now entirely escaping their ravages, and the prospect for winter-wheat as
fine as ever seen. Doniphan: Grasshoppers the only crop flourishing. Nemeha: Injured
by young grasshoppers, which are now at work. Brown: Grasshoppers the cause of low
condition. . Cherokee: Condition, aside from grasshoppers, would be 95; reduced by them
in some places as low as 20. Crawford: Injured by grasshoppers. Greenwood: Could
searcely be a better prospect for a crop of winter-wheat. Lyon: Much killed by the dry
weather in March. Ravages by grasshoppers as yet confined to a small area. Chinches
reported, but no damage as yet. Montgomery: Wiuter-wheat looking remarkably well;
never better. The grasshoppers now flying, and hopes entertained that they will leave be-
fore doing serious damage. Rice: Never better; no grasshoppers worth mentioning. Wash-
ington: Best prospect for years ; no grasshoppers, and no damage by chinches. Anderson :
Less sown than ever before, on account of ravages by chinches last year, and hundreds of
acres are entirely cleaned out by grasshoppers. Franklin: Largely destroyed by grasshop-
pers. Jackson: Looked well up to the last week in May. Since then the grasshoppers
have commenced their ravages. Atchison: Greatly damaged by grasshoppers. Neosho:
Most of the wheat destroyed by grassHoppers. Jefferson: Nearly all late-sown wiuter-wheat
killed by the severe cold; grasshoppers at work on what is left. They have eaten nearly
all the spring-wheat. Republic: Never since 1869 a promise of so large a yield; but the
young grasshoppers are at work. Douglas: The grasshoppers have already entirely de-
stroyed 25 per cent. Marshall: Destroyed by grasshoppers. Butler : Chinches doing much
damage on high land; no grasshoppers. Graham: Spring-wheat looking fine. Leaven-
worth: All destroyed by grasshoppers. Miami: All destroyed by grasshoppers. Osage:
Badly damaged by frosts, and worse by young grasshoppers. Cowley: Looks fine.
Wabuunsee : Very much injured, and a prospect of being wholly destroyed by grasshoppers.
Labette: One-third of the county already devastated by grasshoppers. Wheat one month
ago 100; now down to 88, é
NEBRASKA.—Pawnee: About 20 per cent. taken by the small grasshoppers, which are
still at work. Otoe: The cold and snowless winter destroyed most of the winter-wheat.
The grasshoppers have already taken a large share of the spring-wheat, and are rapidly
destroying the remainder. Boone: Winter-wheat entirely lost by the hard winter and
spring. Spring-wheat looking very fine. Richardson: The grasshoppers have made a
clean sweep of everything green, Jefferson: Looks well; but the grasshoppers have done
a
195
some damage, and more is feared. Thayer: Prospect never better; no grasshoppers to
speak of.
Searrsuk sts. ~Ban Joaquin: Injured the first part of April by a cold wave. No rain
since February. Alameda: The severe drought since the Ist of February with hot north
winds has injured all grain-crops very much. Large breadths of wheat have been cut for
hay to save it. Contra Costa: The promise, until the 1st of April, was never excelled.
Then the entire failure of the usual spring-rains and the setting in of desiccating winds from
the north begin to tell on sandy soils and on lands poorly cultivated. Merced: Think the
Clawson wheat sent me by the Department will surpass any variety in yield I have ever
seen. Stanislaus; The fields very spotted, owing to drought.
OrREGON.—Lynn: The best prospect for both fall and spring wheat that I have seen for
twenty-one years. Umatilla: Never looked better.
CoLorapo.—E£l Paso: Spring-wheat deficient, owing to grasshoppers.
Urau.—San Pete: Both winter and spring wheat promise well. Morgan: Injured on
low lands by frost on 26th of May.
New Mexico.— Taos : Looks bad, owing to frosts.
DakoTa.—Davison: Never saw better-looking. Lincoln: Never looked better.
COTTON.
In a larger portion of the cotton area, at the usual time for planting,
the soil was wet and cold in Atlantic coast districts, and in a less de-
gree in more western areas, aud germination was retarded, but not de-
stroyed. Afterward, the weather became favorable for growth and the
chopping out process, with a tendency in places to an injurious lack of
moisture. A frost on the 19th of May, in North Carolina, destroyed
cotton on certain swamp-lands. Late frosts were somewhat injurious
in all the States except Florida and Texas.
The stand is much better than that of last year, and the plants more
advanced in growth, notwithstanding their late start; and the crop is
generally quite clean. No serious injury has been done by insects,
though the cut-worm is noticed in some counties of Florida, Texas and
Arkansas ; the plant bas been infested with lice in some fields in Florida.
The threatened reduction in area has not been accomplished. While
there has been an increase in corn and wheat, it has not been at the ex-
pense of cotton. Nor has the reduced area of last year been much
enlarged. Our returns make only 1 to 2 per cent. increase. There is
only one State (Georgia) which has an official bureau for the collection ot
crop-statistics, which makes the reduction of acreage 5 per cent., which
is within 1 per cent. of the result returned by our own corps in that
State. The comparison with last year is as follows: North Carolina,
102; South Carolina, 106; Gecrgia, 96; Florida, 99; Alabama, 104 ;
Mississippi, 102; Louisiana, 101; Texas, 108; Arkansas, 101; Tennes-
see, 92.
The maximum June condition of cotton, for a period of five seasons,
was reported in 1872. The order for the other four is 1875, 1873, 1871,
1874. The comparison with a crop of full vitality and normal growth
in all respects is for the present month as follows: North Carolina, 92 ;
South Carolina, 97; Georgia, 91; Florida, 94; Alabama, 101; Mis-
sissippi, 100; Louisiana, 95; Texas, 96; Arkansas, 90; Tennessee, 99.
An investigation has been undertaken for the correction of the basis
of area in cotton in vogue for years past. The statistician has for years
had strong reasons for believing the area heretofore reported in cotton
to have been too small. For the past two years he has had a demon-
stration of that belief, and has not printed an estimate since 1573. The
figures published in all the commercial journals are those originally re-
turned by our correspondents, with annual modifications in accordance
with yearly percentages of increase or decrease. There are extant no
other systematic data for obtaining the acreage; there is otherwise, in
.
196
fact, nothing but individual guessing from personal observation or des-
ultory facts. Now the difficulty is this: In estimating average rates
of yield per acre of any crop whatever, farmers almost invariably as-
sume too high a figure; whether from pride in the reputation of their
neighborhood for fertility and good culture, or from the controlling im-
pression made upon their minds by the appearance of the best fields.
On the contrary, with reference to comparative aggregates of yield, to
an inquiry whether the total area in a given crop is greater or less, or
the harvest better or worse than usual, their judgment is usually aceu-
rate. If there is any bias, it will be likely to be in the direction of an
underestimate. These general facts will be acknowledged by all who
have any practical knowledge of crop-statistics ; they have been effect-
ually attested by the experience of the past ten years of this Depart-
ment. This being the case, all our estimates of yield per acre are now
made, not alone from the direct estimate of yield of counties of all
crops, but after harmonizing results of reported local changes in the
rate of yield and in comparative aggregate of production.
With regard to cotton, we have obtained an actual census, wherever
it was possible, for a given district, whether a large or a small portion
of a county, both of bales produced and the number of acres upon
which they were grown. Our correspondents were urged to avoid esti-
mates, and give only ascertained facts. Soa census of a few farms ©
would be taken here, a neighborhood there, and occasionally a larger
district. The local officers were in some instances enlisted in the work.
The results are not complete, and are not deemed quite sufficient for an
authoritative estimate which can be relied on, in the future, as a per-
fectly accurate basis of comparison; yet they are too important to be
withheld, and will be received by a fair-minded public as the best known
data for an approximate estimate of the real area in cotton.
In the following statement the number of counties are given in which
such enumerations were made, either for their total or partial area,
respectively, with the number of bales produced on the acreage given,
in 1874:
| | |
States. oe Bales. / Acres. ae ae
North Carolina-...--.--..----- oe ae oS een oe se ese 12 70, 402 202, 412 2. 87
Routh Caroling. ues. sc ee se 2 ele - 4. qeaeee Mes ~ -destexke Sspcee - 9| 84,249} 271,477] 3.21,
Panini eae TR MER i ee 3 5! ana e 41} 199,810 707, 187 3.54
OTIO ee is alas ot om aie =n nnn male's mle ph cre lm = ae m mw wim mimi mieten sm oe imi = 6 17, 513 | 67, 751 3. 86
JOT Gy Ss els ee ES e Sie OAS M Ee SO Ooe Hoot Sap paiots ae 13 62, 534 | 245, 094 3.92
Mississippi-..--.--- Bhs eneltiels hs staat mie = min winnie Sate ip mit Rist lati obese ele 12 | 105, 280 | 308, 060 | 2.92
POUisianas. |. --\.-j'1>- 62 = === 85 735 “Dees aoe Se Eee een ae nee - x16 56, 450 124, 016 2.19
ER ee oi oa ayaa mmiemje'w ld we wee =e = ae pineal min Bian nan 0 = ohio 38 | 139, 762 404, 005 2. 89
OTC S BA SSS SS SoSH See Se (a8sSs SSeS See SSed-<se50 45 Radessescss 13 49, 544 140,690 |* 2.84
2) OARS EYE2 SS eas tet ssi Smee es ores clo, a EIS NO | 11 25, 654 83, 934 3. 27
Pept alee ts o's S-pecitses - sb of oot econ = sameeren et =~ uae he ae| ees 811,198 | 2,554, 626 3,15 >
This makes the average in over 40 per cent. of the cotton-breadth of
Georgia, 3.54 acres per bale, while the official report of the State of
Georgia makes the number 34 acres—results almost exactly alike, as in
the reports of the area of the present crop.
Without perfecting these estimates, it is evident that the true acreage
of 1874 cannot fall very much short of three times as many acres as
were produced of bales in 1874, or at least 11,000,000 acres, possibly a
figure a little larger. This corresponds with the mass of facts brought
to our observation annually for two years past.
qo"
In connection with the investigation to fix the basis of area, prelimi-
nary returns relative to the present crop were received. A synopsis
of those received after the middle of May is as follows:
During May preliminary returns were received from 316 cotton
counties. The season is reported late in nearly every instance, from ten
days to two weeks generally, but in some cases three and even four
weeks. More than two-thirds of the returns make the season too wet,
especially in time of planting and gerfninating. In some districts the
past two weeks have been too dry. The stand is reported good in a
majority of the returns from North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas, rather above the average in Arkansas
and Tennessee, and scarcely average in Louisiana. The condition is
represented below average in Florida, Tennessee, and Arkansas, slightly
below in Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and average in
Alabama and in the Carolinas.
The following brief extracts are from the correspondence of the
present month:
VIRGINIA.—Greenville : A good stand, but very backward.
NORTH CAROLINA.—Gaston: About all up; a few fields in fine order: the stand gen-
erally good, but a large per cent. backward. Gates: Now up, but looks sick. Columbus:
Seriously injured by frosts. Franklin: Stand fair; farmers busy in ‘‘ chopping.” Lincoln:
Checked by dry weather and cold nights. Wayne: Late, but the appearance superior to |
that of last year. Camden: Standgood. Mecklenburgh: The stand very good; more fer-
tilizers used than last year. Pamlico: Frost, May 19, killed all the cotton on loose swamp-
lands. Wake: Stand injured by cold and dry weather; rapidly recovering. Alamance:
Looks badly. Edgecombe : Generally the stand is very good. Duplin: Planting retarded
ten days by bad weather ; that planted before May came up promptly and looking unusually
well. It was too dry, until the 25th, for that planted later to germinate ; at least one-half in
the county just coming up; stand unusually good. Wilson: The stand not good, and the
plant small. Onslow: Stand notgood. Perquimans: Fair stand, but backward, and looks
much worse than usual. Anson: Two to four weeks late.
SouTH CAROLINA.— Georgetown : Good stand, and growing. Orangeburgh : Two or three.
weeks late. Edgefield: Indifferent stand, but, according to an old adage, half a stand will
yield a full crop. Greenville: Last year the rule was, ‘‘ cotton-fields and corn-patches ; ”
this year, ‘‘corn-fields and cotton-patches.’’ Union: A remarkably wet and cold spring
seriously retarded the planting and growth, rendering it ‘‘ possum-eared ;” now suffering for
rain ; stand generally good, but deficient in all red lands. Newberry: Stand generally good,
but two weeks backward. Barnwell: More promising than usual. Laurens: Early planted,
small and dying; late, not yet up to a good stand. Lexington: Late good stand, and
growing finely. Darlington: Good stand@and doing well.
GeorGia.—Columbia : Looking well in some localities; in others, sickly. Muscogee:
Very small, stand imperfect; two weeks late. Randolph: Much killed by the frosts.
Troup ; Never saw a better prospect. Wilkinson; Planting unusually late, owing to rains.
‘Webster : Small, but healthy, and good stand. McDuffie : Dry weather prevents the cotton
from coming up in stiff clay-lands; twenty days later than in any spring for thirty years.
Douglas; Area planted equals that of last year, which was 10 to 12 per cent. below average.
Walker: A good stand, butlate,and very small. Gwinnett: Good stand, and fair prospect.
Hart: Stand good, but very small. Laurens: Very small, and not healthy. Clayton; A
fair stand; most of the farmers have it chopped. Coweta: Excellent promise. Marlborough:
Plants very small, but healthy. Floyd: A dry May ; late planted failed to come up ; stand
poor. Putnam: May a first-rate month for cotton. Hancock: Very backward, owing to
late spring and excessively dry weather. Cherokee : Kept back by extremely dry weather.
Carroll: Much killed by cold nights, and that standing looks badly. Lincoln : Small; no
rainin May. Upshur: Two to three weeks late, but good stand and fine prospect. Pu-
laski: Good stand, but two weeks late.
FLORIDA.—Jackson: Complaints of cut-worms and a bad stand, but has grown finely
the last ten days. Gadsden: Two weeks late, but healthy and vigorous. Columbia:
Looking bad; too cool and wet. Leon: Has suffered from lice, butis doing well. Suwan-
nee; Very backward and defective in stand, owing to late wet spring. Much injured by
cotton-lice.
ALABAMA.—Hale : Small but good stand and usually free from grass. Saint Clair: A fair
stand. Clarke: Stand good; rain badly needed. Montgomery: Clean cultured ; good size
and with a fair show of fruit-forms. Franklin: Looks wonderfully well. Lawrence: A
month behind, but the plants vigorous and growing. Conecuh: Very clear from grass ;
prospect never better, Maller: Small but in good condition. Wilcox: Favorable weather
198
for cotton. Marion: Better stand than last year, and more forward. Colbert: As promis-
ing asever known. Winslow: Very promising. Dallas: Good stand and favorable season.
Mississipp1.—Pike: Injured by cold nights in April and May. Marion: Backward,
owing to cool nights. Wilkinson: Early planted all killed by cold; replanted. Coahoma:
Recent rains have improved the condition. Noxubee: Small but in fine condition. Kemper:
In good growing order. De Soto: Late but good stand and growing finely. Clark: Good
stand and well worked. Adams: Stand good and looking very healthy. Holmes: In many
places dying out from the effects of cold nights and lice. Jefferson: Stand not good in early
planted; in later, good and growing finely.
LovIsIANA.—-East Baton Rouge: Damaged very seriously by wet weather and late frosts ;
many plowed up and replanted. Franklin: Three to four weeks late; looks tolerably well.
Richland: Late. Union: More backward than ever known. Washington: Owing to much
cold weather, the stand very poor and the plants dwarfish and sickly. Madison: Stand
good. Hurt to some extent by lice. Concordia: Stand defective. West Feliciana: Better
stand than last year, but smaller. Jackson: Not so large as usual, but the condition entirely
satisfactory. East Feliciana: The crop curtailed about one-fourth, and corn, oats, and
forage-crops planted instead. Blanco: Doing well. Harrison: Looks very fine.
ARKANSAS.— Bradley: Late ; good stand and looks well. Craighead: A few weeks later
than I have seen for the last seventy-five years. Hempstead : ‘The finest prospect for years.
Saint Francis: Looking well, but cut-worms have injured the stand 10 per cent. Prairie:
The cut-worm has ruined 2 per cent. of the cotton planted ; excellent stands. Jzard: Owing
to the cold, wet spring much seed rotted in the ground, and that standing is unusually small
and feeble. The cut-worms are making sad havoc. Dallas: Looks unusually healthy and
strong. Scott: The damage by cut-worms has been terrible; many have planted the second
time, and some even the third. Sharp; Damaged very materially by cut-worms. Boone:
At least 50 per cent. cut down by cut-worms. Ashley: Stands not so good as last year, but
the condition better. ¢
TENNESSEE.— Fayette : A little late, but in good thrifty condition. Lincoln: The plant
very small and backward, but looks healthy. McNairy : Came up badly and is remarkably
small. Lauderdale: Better stand and more promising than last year. Gibson: A good
stand and doing well.
TEXAS.—Lavaca : Two weeks late. Dallas : Owing to the late cold spring, the stands
very sorry; many have had to plant over. Titus: The large increase in acreage in cotton
and other farm-crops, owing to the rapid settling of the county. Washington: Looks quite
promising. Bandera: Some fields entirely destroyed by cut-worms. Collin: Slow in coming
up, owing to dry weather; a fair stand; one-third of the farmers abandoning cotton for grain.
Wood: Somewhat late, but in fine condition. MWilson: Was doing well until last week, when
the web-worm made its appearance in many places; they have already done great damage.
Red River: Up well; good stands; prospect of a heavy crop. Rusk: Brought forward
finely by favorable weather in May. Matagorda: Failure in stands in many places; some
planted over. Polk: The plant generally healthy. Montgomery: Never looked better.
Lamar: Prospect never better. Anderson: Condition unusually good. DeJVitt : Prospect
never better. Henderson: Bad stands owing to cold spring. Cooke: Very small, but now
thriving. Bexar: Two weeks late; good stand. Angelina: A great deal better than last
year. Bosque: Great complaint of cut-worms, drought and cool nights. Waller: Many
planters used damaged seed, which gave bad stands. Shelby: Very backward, owing to
cold spring ; many fields replanted. Hunt: Late and not more than half a stand in the
larger part of the county. Gillespie: Injured by drought, but since rain growing rapidly.
Austin: Late, but worked clean and doing well. 7
RYE.
The condition of rye is much higher than that of wheat, yet only eight
States reach a full average, viz: Maine, New Hampshire, Florida, Ala-
bama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and Kansas. Average for the cen-
tral western basin, 86 per cent. ;
RHODE ISLAND.— Kent: Suffered severely in consequence of ice.
New York.—Orange: Damaged by winter-killing.
New JeRStY.—Mercer: Suffered from the severe winter. Many fields will not average
more than 5 busheis per acre. ,
PENNSYLVANIA.—Cumberland : Shorter than usual, yet appears well. Lehigh: Average
of plants, but retarded by the unfavorable season. erry: The low condition owing to the
‘April freeze. Warren: Early in April looked well, but much injured since by cold weather.
Clearfield : Very materially injured by late freezing. Lancaster: Very backward; just
coming into heads. Fulton: Seriously injured by drought in May. Jefferson: Winter-
killed where the snow was blown off.
MARYLAND.—Dorchester : Promises a full crop. Howard: Not more than two-thirds of
a crop. ;
VIRGINIA.— Campbell: Rye-culture not extensive but increasing. A quart of seed sent
199
from the Department in the fall of 1873 yielded about three bushels. That from seed sent
last fall is doing well.
: arg CaAROLINA.—Surry: Injured by freeze in April. Wake: Injured by cold and
rought.
GEORGIA.— Rabun: Very promising. Cateosa ; Winter-rye from the Department look-
ing very nice, though the rust is on the blades.
Mississippi.—Scarcely ever fails in this county; a full crop. Wilkinson: Winter-rye
nearly all destroyed by rust.
TEXAS.—Collin: Winter-rye from the Department a week later than the common, but.
the heads are larger and very fine. Lamar: Will yield better than ever before.
ARKANSAS.—Prairie: Wheat extraordinary, and rye, if anything, better. Izard: Very
little in the county, but that is good. Arkansas: Six feet high, and over; very good.
TENNESSEE.—Looks well. but not much raised.
WEST VirGiINnIA.— Pendleton: Greatly injured by freezes in April.
KENTUCKY.—Oldham: Frozen out in winter. Lincoln: Was pastured late, for want of
feed, and does not look so well on that account.
OHI0.—Crawford :. Much injured by the severe weather in April.
MicuHiGan.—Allegan: Never looked better.
Iowa.—Des Moines: Winter-rye damaged more than ever before by the cold and dry
weather in April. Jefferson : Damaged in winter.
MissourI.— Bates : The dry fall and cold winter killed nearly all. Jefferson: Unusu-
ally good. Platte: Promised a splendid harvest, but already destroyed by grasshoppers.
Kansas.—Allen : Mostly taken by the grasshoppers. Brown: Grasshoppers the cause
of low condition. Washington : Best prospect for years. Jackson: Looked well up to last
week; since then the grasshoppers have commenced ravages. Jefferson: The reduced con-
dition owing to ravages by grasshoppers. Leavenworth: Destroyed by grasshoppers.
NEBRASKA.— Pawnee: Grasshoppers have taken 20 per cent., and are still at werk.
Boone : Seemed to stand the freezing and thawing much better than wheat, Cass: Cut
short ene-fourth by grasshoppors. Thayer: Looking splendid.
OATS.
The breadth of oats is slightly increased. The comparative, area of
some of the largest States is as follows: New York, 105; Pennsylvania,
99; Ohio, 98; Michigan, 100; Indiana, 104; Illinois, 105; Missouri, 103.
In New York and New Jersey this crop has replaced winter-killed wheat
to some extent; and in the West the area has been similarly enlarged.
New YorK.—Queens : Look well. Genesee: Acreage increased, from the wheat area.
Wyoming: More than usual being sown; coming up well. Rockland: Suffering from
drought. Orange: Materially injured by drought prevailing through May.
NEw JERSEY.— Warren : Acreage increased by sowing in place of wheat plowed up. Stand
short on account of late sowing and protracted drought.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Bucks : Started badly, owing to drought. Perry: Low condition, ow-
ing to latespring and drought. Lycoming: Very backward, owing to cold and very dry
weather in May. Lancaster: Very backward. Berks: Very backward, owing to drought.
MARYLAND.—Baltimore : Exceedingly backward and suffering for rain. Montgomery :
Will be a failure. Wicomico: Acreage smaller than usual, owing to the late spring. Dor-
gic : Look poorly, owing to the backward season. Cecil: Very much injured by
drought.
VirGINiA.—Fluvanna : Weather very favorable for the crops. Bedford: Seriously dam-
aged by protracted dry weather. Augusta: Injured by hard freeze about the Ist of May,
and now suffering from drought. Highland: The poorest show I have ever seen. Amelia:
Farmers think they will not reap the seed sown. Caroline: Very late, but may make a.
fair crop. Tazewell: Looking very badly. Rappahannock : Will be cut short 50 per cent.
by unfavorable weather in May. Sussex: A greater acreage than usual, but 5 per cent.
below average. Campbell: Well-nigh destroyed by the cold and drought. Bland: Nearly
ruined by the dry weather. Pittsylvania: Greatly affected by late spring and unfavorable
weather. Washington: The worst prospect ever seen. Dinwiddie: Late spring and searci-
ty of seed reduced the area; look badly. Cumberland: Suffering very much for rain.
Henrico: Winter-oats, average; spring, scarcely. Orange: Seriously affected by late
spring and protracted drought. ‘Pulaski: Will be an entire failure without rain soon.
Clarke: Will be an entire failure. Craig: Cannot make more than half a crop. Chester-
field: Winter-oats badly killed, but branching finely ; spring-oats look bad. Greenville :
Will be a failure without rain soon. Mecklenburg: Injured by frost in April. Madison :
Very small and indifferent. Spottsylvania: No growth. Prince Edward: Very backward.
King and Queen: Poorer than for many years.
NorRTH CaROLINA.—Chowan : Injured by late cold weather. Gaston: Healthy and
promising. Gates: Spring-oats very much damaged by frosts in May. Ashe: Injured
to some extent by a severe freeze. Forsyth: Very small. Stokes: Unusually late. Cam-
200
den: Winter-oats good. Pamlico: Injured by frost May 19. Wake: Injured by eold
and drought. Wilson: Look better than wheat. Culdwell: A failure, owing to drought. |
Hertford: Unpromising, from cold and dry weather. Alexander : Suffering from drought,
SouTH CAROLINA.—Union : Hopeless failure, caused by drought. Newberry ; Unusu-
ally promising. Edgefield: Unusually fine.
GEORGIA.—Gordon : Short for want of rain, Troup : Spring-oats injured by dry weather ;
winter-oats fine. Webster: Good. McDuffie: Suffering for rain. Chattooga: Very dry
May ; likely to cut off oats sown in the spring, Walker: Spring-oats almost cut off by
dry weather. Laurens: Good. Clayton: Have suffered materially forrain. Coweta : Con-
siderably injured by dry weather. Floyd: Spring-oats on thin land wiil be almost a total
failure. Wilkes : Fall oats, fine, but spring too low for want of rain. Hancock : Suffering
from drought. Carroll: Injured by dry weather. Lincoln: Spring-oats almost a failure ;
norainin May. Pulaski: Cut short by four weeks’ drought.
FLORIDA.—Cadsden: The harvesting completed and the yield very satisfactory. Colum-
bia: Harvested; injured 20 per cent. by rust. Leon: Most of the crop harvested; some
varieties rusted. Suzannee: Much injured by what is known as rust, but believed, by
some planters, to be caused by a smali greenish or whitish bug, always found on the oats when
attacked by rust.
ALABAMA.— Covington: Rust has appeared, not yet general, but sufficient to seriously
lessen the crop. DeKalb ? Retarded by dry, cool weather. Madison: Injured by drought.
Bullock: Suftering greatly for rain. Lawrence: Good. Calhoun: Very poor, owing to
drought. Perry: Greatly injured by the dry May.
Mississippi.—Pike: The growth never more luxuriant and healthy. Wilkinson: The
increase of acreage (200 per cent.) is noteworthy. The Sandy, Somerset, and White Schonen
oats from the Department, utterly destroyed by rust, while the Mississippi red rust-proofs are
perfectly healthy. Smith: Asfineasever known. Noxubee: Winter-oats very fine; spring,
hardly worth cutting. Rankin: An excellent crop of fall-sown being harvested; spring-
sown almost:a failure from drought.
LoutIsiaANa.—Jackson : Oats from seed from the Department have proved a decided success.
TEXAS.— Uvalde : The White Schonen oats improve ; the Somerset is doing well. Upshur:
No rust up to this time. Red River: Very fine. Rusk: Fall-oats were killed last winter ;
spring-oats not so good asusual. Lamar: Willyield better than ever before. Williamson:
The crop promises 40 to 80 bushels per acre: The acreage four times greater than ever before.
De Witt : Those who have sown the anti-rust oats have succeeded admirably. Henderson:
Good. Cooke: Very short, owing toa droughtin May. Bexar: Never better; yield of some
fields ,estimated at 80 bushels per acre. The red oat the only variety which never rusts
here. Bosque: Much larger acreage than usual, but damaged by frost and drought.
Waller : Red rust-proof oats from the Department a success; free from rust. Blanco: Will
yield about 30 bushels per acre.
ARKANSAS.—Van Buren: Extra; promise a large yield. Jzard: Never more promising.
- Benton: Looking very fine.
TENNESSEE.—Carter: Almost a total failure, owing to protracted drought. Knox: The
low condition is owing to a drought of five weeks. Sevier: Will be a failure without rain
soon. Hawkins: Suttering from drought. Blount: Look like au entire failure, owing to
drought. Rhea: Short; no rain since April. Wilson: Excellent. Washington: Look very
bad, owing to cold and subsequent dry weather. Sudlivan: Damaged too much to make
anything like an average crop. Polk: Look dwarfish. Grainger: Very short.
WEST VIRGINIA.—Pocahontas: Late and dwarfed’ by dry weather. Wayne: Suffering
from severe drought. Cabell: Suffering from drought. Grant: A poor stand. Pendleton:
Greatly injured by freezes in April. Hancock: Improved by recent rains.
KENTUCKY.—Shelby : Backward and low, owing to cold, dry weather. Anderson: At
best will be short and very inferior, owing to severe drought. Boyle: Almost beyond re-
demption, from drought. Jessamine: An entire failure threatened by drought. Butler:
Very thin and low. Lincoln: Not promising. Metcaif: Looking very bad, owing to the
cold weather through April and May. Gallatin: Promising a good crop. Greenup: Will
be almost a total failure, from drought. Henry: Short, and suffering for rain. Callaway:
Small crop. Coshocton: Early sown; injured by late frosts and drought. Erie: Prospect
of fair crop. Meade: Looks bad.
OnI0.— Delaware: A very large acreage, with more than average prospect. Adams: Did
not come up well; coming torward very slowly.
MICHIGAN.—Mecosta : Looking well. Allegan: Planted late, but look well.
INDIANA.—Franklin: Injured by severe freeze in April, and by dry weather. Gibson:
Backward, but growing fast. Harrison: Very late, and do not improve well. Steuben >
Look well. Brown: Very backward and short.
ILLinots.— Ogle: Promising. Putnam: Damaged by the freeze, which makes the early-
sowed thin, McLean: The early-sown damaged by cold, aud dry weather; some fields
plowed up. Kankakee: A little damaged by the freeze in April, but now making a splendid
growth. Cook: Badly injured in April. Mason: Look well. Edwards: Some damaged
by chinches. Pike: Weather too dry. Fayette: Small acreage, owing to scarcity of seed.
MINNESOTA.—Isanti: Very much stunted by drought. Winona: Decidedly good in the
western half of the county. Sibley: One-half already destroyed by grasshoppers.
uw ee
201
Iowa.— Hardin: Very thin on the ground. Howard: Those sown before the 17th of April
perished by the freezing of the ground 4} inches deep; those sown after that lool: well.
Washington : Injured by drought for the last six weeks. Des Moines: Very thin on the
ground. Muscatine: Injured by drought.
Missouri.— Daviess: Doing well. Saint Genevieve: Being rapidly devoured by the
army-worm. Callaway: Look well; chinches plenty, but wet weather keeps them back.
Hickory : Chinches quite numerous in oats, but not yet doing much damage, owing to wet
weather. Lafayette: The only crops the countless millions of grasshoppers are leaving are
corn and oats ; after destroying everything else they may turn attention to them. Moniteau :
Very promising. Iron: Chinches commencing their ravages. Perry: Look bad. Caldwell :
Looking very healthy. Platte: Began to show off splendidly; now not a single field left—
entirely destroyed by the grasshoppers, more numerous than ever before. Maries: Never
better. Henry: Great ravages by chinches and grasshoppers. Pettis : Prospect never better.
Kansas.—Allen: Mostly taken by the grasshoppers. Brown: Grasshoppers have de-
stroyed most of the oats. Cherokee: Fine; attacked by grasshoppers in but few instances.
Crawford : Never looked better; may have a good crop if spared by the grasshoppers, which
have already done some injury. Rice: Never better. Anderson: An extra effort made to
get out a crop for early feeding, but itis cut short, and in some parts entirely ruined by grass-
hoppers. Fields that stood 10 inches high two weeks ago are as bare as the road-bed.
Franklin : Cut short by grasshoppers. In this school-district the area sown in flax-seed and
oats, this spring, was 290 acres; now not a vestige remains. Jefferson: A large amount
destroyed by grasshoppers. Douglas: Most of the oats already destroyed by grasshoppers.
Marshall: Destroyed by grasshoppers. Graham: Seem to be failing—turning yellow and
dying. Leavenworth: All destroyed by grasshoppers. Osage: Very few sown for want
of seed. Wabaunsee: Being destroyed by grasshoppers. Johnson: Of my 106 acres of oats
the grasshoppers have taken 80, and are still walking. Labette: So far free from pests: the
most promising crop we have. Neosho: Mostly destroyed by grasshoppers. Atchison:
Greatly damaged by grasshoppers. t
NEBRASKA.—awnee : About 20 per cent. taken by grasshoppers, which are still at work.
Franklin : Decrease in acreage, owing to scarcity of seed; look well. Merrick : Farmers
could not obtain seed; small grasshoppers destroying green stuff. Otoe: Being destroyed
by grasshoppers. Madison: Poor; owing to bad seed. Antelope: The large decrease in
acreage due to scarcity of seed, and to fear of destruction by grasshoppers. Cass: Cut
short one-fourth by grasshoppers. Thayer: Looking splendidly.
UTau.—San Pete: Very good.
COLORADO.—El Paso: Deficient, owing to grasshoppers. t
NEw Mexico.— Taos : Look bad, owing to late frosts.
DAKOTA.— Davison: Never saw better looking. Lincoln: Never looked better.
BARLEY.
Spring barley has not quite its usual area in the Middle States, but
its acreage has been increased beyond the Mississippi. Ohio and Wis-
consin appear to have a full breadth, while other Western States indi-
eate a slight falling off. Condition is generally placed very near an
average, with some deterioration from insect ravages and drought,
NEw YorK.—Genesee : Acreage increased from plowed-up wheat area. Wyoming : Being
sown where wheat has been plowed up, and looks well.
Texas.—Lamar; Will yield better than ever before. Bosque : Much better than usual.
ARKANSAS.— Prairie; About 50 acres sown in the county; most of it now ready to cut ;
estimated yield 20 to 50 bushels per acre.
TENNESSEE. — Washington ; Coming into notice and promises to be a good crop.
KEeNTUCKY.—Oldham: Froze out in the winter.
Onto.—Pike: Short and thin. Warren: Winter barley an entire failure ; spring, fine.
Micnigan.—Allegan: Planted late but looks well.
INDIANA.—Franklin: An entire failure. Ripley : Winter barley almost an entire failure.
ILLINoIs.—Cook: Badly injured in April.
WISCONSIN.— Dodge: Poor enough, many pieces being plowed up. Chinch-bugs and
grasshoppers plenty. Jowa: Nearly all destroyed by chinch-bugs. Jefferson: Chinch-bugs
making sad work with some pieces of barley. Milwaukee: Some fields quite destroyed by
chinch-bugs. Sauk: Chinch-bugs materially injuring the barley, so much so that some have
plowed it up.
MINNESOTA.— Winona: In the western part of the county, decidedly good. Sibley : One-
half already destroyed by grasshoppers. ,
Iowa.—Howard: That sown before April 17, perished; that sown later looks well. Des
Moines: Very thin. Muscatine: Injured by drought. °
Kansas.—Brown: All destroyed by the grasshoppers. Jackson: Looked well up to last
week, when the grasshoppers commenced ravages. Jefferson : Nearly all destroyed by grass-
hoppers. Graham: Looks fine. Labette: Every acre killed by dry freezes in March.
202
NEBRASKA.— Madison: Promises a good crop. Thayer: Looking splendid. :
CALIFORNIA.—San Joaquin: Injured by a ‘‘ cold wave” the first part of April. Stan-
islaus : The fields very spotted, owing to drought.
UtTau.—San Pete: Very good.
. CLOVER.
The acreage in clover was increased in all the New England States
except Rhode Island. New Jersey maintained her previous area, but
the other Middle States reduced theirs from 4 per cent. in New York to
18 per cent. in Delaware. Maryland and Virginia reduced their acre-
age to some extent, but the other southern coast States enlarged. In
the Gulf States this crop has as yet been slightly cultivated. Alabama
and Mississippi increased their small clover-fields, while the other
States of this region makeno returns. Arkansas slightly increased her
area, while the other inland Southern States showed a considerable de-
cline. The reduction of acreage was still more general north of the
Ohio River and west of the Mississippi, though Wisconsin nearly held
her own. The Pacific States enlarged their acreage.
The condition of the clover-crop was greatly depressed by agencies,
both animate‘and inanimate, though the former caused but a small por-
tion of the general disaster. It is remarkable that this crop suffered
more severely from winter-killing in the southern than in the northern
sections of New England ; while Connecticut reports only 82 per cent.
of an average, and Rhode Island 60, the other States of this region
were nearly or quite average. All of the Middle States were below av-
erage, the crop being winter-killed or greatly dwarfed by the extreme cold.
The same causes operated in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, though
Mississippi reports a full average condition for her small elover-crop.
In Arkansas the crop was above average, but in the other inland South-
ern States it suffered severely from the extreme low temperatures of
the winter and spring. North of the Ohio the crop shows the same
superiority of condition in the northern sections that was observable in
New England. Michigan and Wisconsin show a higher condition than
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. West of the Mississippi River the crop is
cultivated to a small extent ; and it showed a very serious depreciation,
suffering most in Kansas, where it was subjected, with other crops, to
the devastation of grasshoppers. On the Pacific coast it was reduced
20 per cent. below average in California and 5 percent. in Oregon. The
following notes of its condition are condensed from our reports :
MAINE.—Cumberland : Needs rain. Sagadahoc: Needs rain.
VERMONT.—Grand Isle ; Clover winter-killed. ;
RHODE ISLAND.— Kent: Clover winter-killed almost universally.
NEW YoORK.—Senecu: Clover largely plowed up for corn, Queens: Much winter-killed.
Kings: New clover greatly destroyed. Genesee: Badly killed.
f ache JERSEY.— Monmouth: Largely killed. Warren: Very short; cold spring and
drougnt,
PENNSYLVANIA.—Beaver : Most of the young clover winter-killed, and plowed up. Ches-
ter: Young clover sown with wheat is very poor. Bucks: Half winter-killed. York:
Shortened by cold and drought. Columbia: Tolerable. Lycoming: Very poor.
* MARYLAND.—Cualvert: Greatly dwarfed. Howard: Shortened by late, dry spring.
VirGinia.—Highland : Dried up. Halifax: Half crop. Richmond: Young clover mostly
frost-killed. Spottsylvania: Very poor. Madison: Very indifferent. Mecklenburgh: In-
jured by frost, April 18. Henrico: Short 25 per cent. Dinwiddie: Promising clover-crop
badly frozen. King William: Greatly injured by frost. Washington: Half crop. Camp-
bell: Greatly injured, but improving. Rockingham: Very unpromising. Prince George:
Damaged by May drought. :
NoRTH CAROLINA.—Caldwell: Clover injured by drought. Hertford: Looks fne;
snearly ready to cut.
Groreia.— Walker . Looked well in March, but has suffered from drought.
; 203
TENNESSEE.—Grainger: Clover short and small. Lauderdale: Injured by drought.
Loudon: Almost a failure. Sumner: Young clover a good stand, and {[vigorous. Lincoln :
Drought of last summer and army-worms ruined the crops. Coffee: Killed by drought of
last year. Greene: Below average. Carter: A failure.
WeEstT VirGInia.—Jefferson : Largely destroyed by grasshoppers and drought.
KenTUCKY.—Gallatin : Short. Graves: Winter-killed. Calloway: Mostly frozen out.
La Rue: Old clover indifferent ; young, very fine. Simpson: Drought. Meade: Drought.
Oxnto.—Warren: Badly frozen out. Union: Badly frozen out for two years; all overa
year old destroyed. Coshocton: Short. Ashland: Mostly frozen out. Delaware: Badly
frozen out. Gallia: Badly frozen out. Perry: Mostly frozen out in April. Lucas :
Winter-killed.
MICHIGAN.—Lenawee: Very poor; many have lost their last seeding. Ottawa: Looks
well.
InpDIANA.— Decatur: All killed. Ripley: Injured by the extreme cold of winter. Fa-
yette; Old clover mostly winter-killed, and plowed up for corn. Washington; All that was
mown or pastured last fall was entirely frozen out. Gibson: Mostly killed. Wabash: Old
clover all frozen out. /Vells: Badly winter-killed. Brown: Badly frozen out. Fulton:
Largely winter-killed.
ILLINOIs.—Probably 99 per cent. of the seeding of 1874 was ruined by drought; old
clover badly winter-killed. Fulton: All frozen out. Schuyler: All killed except last
spring’s seeding. Tazewell: Froze badly in both old and new meadows. Clark: Badly
winter-killed. Monac: Old clover badly frozen out. Franklin: Badly frozen out, espe-
cially old clover. Pike: Winter-killed; drought. Macon: Old clover mostly dead. Iro-
quois : Winter-killed. Vermillion: Winter-killed. Cook : Winter-killed. Logan: Winter-
killed.
MiInNneEsota.— Wabasha: Badly winter-killed.
Iowa.—Henry: Winter-killed. Jefferson: Winter-killed. Louisa: Entirely killed ;
searcely a field escaped. Guthrie : Alsike came through the winter well,
MissuuRI.—Caldwell : Somewhat frozen out. Jefferson: Clover nowin bloom. Perry :
Short; badly frozen out.
Kansas.—Nemaha: Mostly killed by drought of last year. Brown: Swept by grass-
hoppers. Cherokee: Large acreage sown, but two-thirds eaten by grasshoppers. Neosho:
Destroyed by grasshoppers.
NEBRASKA.— York : Clover tried with indifferent success in a few cases.
PASTURE.
The condition of spring pasture was above average in Maine and Ver-
mont, but below in all the other New England States, the greatest de-
preciation being in the southern counties. <A need of rain was generally
noted, and a lateness of growth. The depreciation was general through
the Middle and South Atlantic States, where drought and low tem-
perature combined to check vegetation. Fine local rains and improved
growing-weather has improved the prospect in many counties. The
condition was above average in all the Gulf States except Alabama,
and in Arkansas and Tennessee. In West Virginia and Kentucky grass
was much injured by cold weather and very backward,,.but the prom-
ise was improving. North of the Ohio River the condition was slightly
above average in Michigan, but below average in the other States, the
minimum, 81, being in Ohio. West of the Mississippi, Kansas reports
a condition above average, but the other States below. In some dis-
tricts, as in Renville, Minnesota, grasshoppers were devouring the spring
pastures. California reports very short crops; but Oregon is above
average. Our few reports from the Territories indicate a late growth.
MAINE.— Androscoggin: Pasture promising. Sagadahoc: Well forward, but needs rain.
Cumberland: Needs rain.
New HampsHire.—Hillsborough: Grass promising, but needs rain. Carroll: Grass but
little winter-killed.
VERMONT.— Orleans : Pasture about sufficient to sustain animals without other feed.
MASSACRUSETTS.—Norfolk : Late and below average. Berkshire: Good for the season.
Plymouth : Unpromising.
RHODE ISLAND.—Kent : Grasses badly winter-killed.
CONNECTICUT.—Litchfield : In many places grass is a dead failure.
New YorkK.— Greene: Burning up. Rocklund: Rain greatly needed. Queens: Very
2A
,
204
poor, Steuben: Very backward. Genesee: Tolerahle. Chenango: Wants rain. West-
chester; Very short. Wyoming: Slow in starting, but rapidly progressing. Fulton: Needs
rain, Jefferson: Late rains have given a fine start. Warren: Fair average. Orange:
Drought. Allegany: Grass frozen stiff June 4. ;
NEW JERSEY.—Monmouth: Rain much needed. Warren: Very short; cold spring and
drought. Mercer: Very short. Burlington : Drought. : :
PENNSYLVANIA.— Montour : Grass very short. Sullivan: Pastures and meadows very
poor; cold and drought. Mifflin: Scarce. Cumberland: Fields bare. York: Shortened by
cold and drought. Franklin: Very short. Elk: Pasture late and farm-animals suffering.
Crawford: Promises a full average. Columbia: Backward. Lycoming: Very poor. Wayne:
Drying up. Lancaster: Very short. Fulton: Grass-crops unusually bad. Berks ; Shortened
by drought.
Win eich. <-Calvert Very short. Frederick: Poor. Howard: Shortened by drought.
Cecil; Grass injured by drought.
VirGinta.—Highland: Dried up. Augusta: Drought. Goochland: Drought. Madison:
Poor. Pulaski: Very short. Bland: Drought. Nelson: Destructive drought. Washing-
ton: Dried up. Floyd: Needs rain. Rockingham: Very unpromising. Tazewell: Shorter
than for years. York: Poor.
NorTH CaROLINA.—Pastures injured. Caldwell: Injured by drought.
‘ ALABAMA.—Perry: May drought shortened pastures. Lawrence: Unusually fine.
Texas.—De Witt: Grass-crop fine. Woodruff: Pasture and meadows never better.
ARKANSAS.—Van Buren: Range our only pasture; looks unusually fine. Arkansas:
Very good,
TENNESSEE.—Robertson: Spring pastures a failure. Lauderdale: Very little. Loudon:
Bad season for grasses. Blount: Very short and dry. Hawkins; Drought.
WEST VIRGINIA.— Monroe: Pastures short. Pocahontas: Spring pasture very backward.
Jefferson: Pastures backward and hay searce. Braxton: Injured by cold weather. Grant:
Grass very scarce and drying up. Harrison: Pastures very short. Barbour: Dried up.
Pendleton: Drought. Hancock: Greatly improved by late rains.
KENTUCKY.— Robertson : Pastures short and backward. Lincoln: Unpromising. Gal-
latin: Backward, but improving. Greenup: Almost worthless. Henry: Becoming luxu-
riant. Simpson: Drought. Meade: Drought.
OuI0.—Jacksonw: Pastures very short. Coshocton: Short. Geauga: Grass-crop better
than for years. Ashland: Hardly half average. Belmont: Grass-crops very uupromising.
Crawford: Short. Gallia : Pastures bare.
MICHIGAN.— Ottawa: Grass looks well. Shiawassee : Spring pastures rapidly improving.
INDIANA.— Fayette: Pastures short. Decatur: Backward; poorer than ever before. How-
ard: Very backward. Ripley: Pastures in good condition. Shelby: Grasses backward.
Steuben: Doing well. Dubois: Fine. Harrison: Grass poor. Perry: Grass-crops fine.
Fountain : Remarkably good; cattle never doing better.
ILLINOIS.— Sangamon: Greatly benefited by late rains. Fulton: Grass-crops look well.
Mercer: Slow growth. McLean: Fair average. Tazewelt: Grass-crop light. Clark: Grass
starting finely. McHenry: Grass-crops abundant. Fayette: Spring pastures good; excel-
lent rains. Pike: Too dry.
WISCONSIN.—Juneau: Grasses never looked better; promise of the largest hay-crop ever
made here. Saint Croix: Grass growing finely.
MINNESOTA.—Renville: In the big woods near Saint Peter grasshoppers have taken
nearly all the grass, and live stock is driven away for food.
Iowa.—Very poor; drought. Mahaska: Grass looks finely. Muscatine: Seriously in-
jured by drought and hard winter. Dallas: Injured by cold weather. Henry: Light. Guth-
rie: Cultivated grasses on the increase. Fayette: Kept back by drought, but promising.
MissourI.—Caldwell: Pasture late and poor. Knox: Very backward. Moniteau: Timo-
thy meadows killed by drought; hardly worth cutting except on low land. Bates: Swept by
grasshoppers. Daviess: Doing well. Schuyler: Badly winter-killed. Henry: Cut short by
chinches and grasshoppers. Maries: Very good.
KANSAS.— Miami: Pasture good on high prairies; in the timber-belts it has been swept
by grasshoppers. MWashington: In fine condition; abundant rains. Anderson: Early
grass cut off by grasshoppers.
NEBRASKA.—Antelope : Grass starts slowly.
DakoTa.— Yankton : Grass late.
FRUIT.
Our statistical reports indicate a widespread disaster to the fruit-
growing interest, as will be seen from the following notes. Insect-dep-
redations are recorded only in Maine, in some counties of which tent-
caterpillars were troublesome. In New England generally the crops
were late, and in some parts a tendency to simuitaneous blooming ex-
205
cited remark. In the Middle, Southern, and Western States generally
the climatic conditions were very unfavorable. The severity of the
winter not only destroyed the fruit-germs, but also the trees. The cold
snap in the spring enlarged the scope of this injury, and heavy late
frosts in many places destroyed what had survived the winter. In some
cases it is noted that plums stood the severity of the season better than
other sorts of fruit. In other cases only the hardy crab-apple remained.
Grapes in many cases escaped on account of late blooming, but the
vineyards of several counties were greatly depleted by the extreme
cold. Small fruits were less severely affected, and are frequently re-
puted as producing very luxuriantly. The following is a brief résumé
of the condition of the apple and peach crops:
APPLES.—The apple-crop suffered severely in all parts of the coun-
try. In New England, Vermont reports an average amount of bloom
and condition of the fruit on the 1st of June, though the crop was gen-
erally late. Several counties in Maine report injuries from earterpillars.
The crop-yield promises to be full average in Vermont and Rhode Island,
but in the other States below; Connecticut will gather about two-thirds
of a crop.
In the Middle States the fullest bloom was in Delaware, but the best
promise of a crop, as inferred from the condition of the fruit, is in
New Jersey. In many counties there will be a great scarcity of this
fruit.
The same depressing influence marks the crop in the States along the
Atlantic coast.
The amount of bloom was from 2 to 20 per cent: below average in
the Atlantic-coast States, but the crop grows poorer as the latitude
decreases. The condition was but 10 per cent. below average in Mary-
land, while in South Carolina it is depreciated about 70 per cent. ; in
Georgia, however, it loses but 25 per cent.
In the Gulf States, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas report an amount
of bloom full average or above, but in the other States it was below, the
minimum, 75 per cent., being in Florida. The condition of the fruit
ranged from 77 in Florida to 108 in Texas.
In the inland Southern States the bloom was average in Arkansas,
but declined to 60 in West Virginia. The condition of the fruit varied
from 80 in Arkansas to 33 in Kentucky.
North of the Ohio River, apples seem to have resisted the cold and
other depressing influences better in the northern zone of Michigan and
Wisconsin than in regions farther south. The average bloom of coun-
ties reporting from Ohio did not exceed 25 per cent. of an average, and
the condition of the fruit was but 30 per cent. Indiana and Illinois did
not suffer so severely, yet they may not expect probably much over a
half-crop. Michigan and Wisconsin will realize considerably over three-
fourths of an average crop.
West of the Mississippi the promise is better. The’ most severe in-
jury is reported in Kansas and Nebraska, where the grasshopper, last
year, stripped the trees of foliage and of young wood-growth; yet the
two last-named States, if exempted from further visitation, may look for
60 per cent. of an average crop.
On the Pacific coast the crop of California was cut down one-half by
_the disturbing atmospheric conditions. Oregon, however, presents acon-
dition of fruit nearly up to average, while the bloom was 14 per cent.
above.
PEACHES.—The late season kept back the small amount of peach-
206
growth in Northern New England too late for our June report. <A few
counties in New Hampshire show an amount of bloom above average,
though the condition of the fruit was slightly below. In the other New
England States the condition of the crop was nearly average, on the
whole, the bloom being rather above.
In the Middle States, Delaware showed a profuse bloom, 25 per cent.
above average, but the subsequent condition of the fruit was only aver-
age. In the other States of this section the crop was considerably
reduced, though its condition was more promising than was indicated
by the amount of bloom. Pennsylvania and New Jersey will have
considerably over a half crop, while New York will probably harvest
nearly three-fourths of an average. In some counties the winter-freezes
killed the trees.
In the South Atlantic coast-region the bloom was from 2 to 12 per
cent. below average. The condition of the crop was 30 per cent. of
an average in North Carolina; 40 in South Carolina; 35 in Virginia;
80 in Georgia ; and 92 in Maryland.
In the Gulf States, Mississippi and Louisiana were 5 per cent. above
average, considering the amount of bloom and the subsequent condition
of the fruit. In Alabama the bloom was above average, but the subse-
quent condition was 20 per cent. below. Florida and Texas were below
average both in bloom and condition. The extreme cold in some locali
ties even as far south as Texas killed the trees. =
The crop was greatly injured in Arkansas and West Virginia, and
well-nigh ruined in Tennessee and Kentucky, though the bloom, except
in West Virginia, indicated nearly a full crop. The fruit condition ou
the 1st of June was 90 per cent. in Arkansas; 30 in Tennessee; 50 in
West Virginia; and 30 in Kentucky.
North of the Ohio River the disaster was still greater. The amount
of bloom varied from only 15 per cent. of an average in Ohio to 70 in
Wisconsin ; the fruit-promise ranged from 25 per cent. in Ohio to 45 per »
cent.in Michigan. Wisconsin makes no returns, her scanty peach-cul-
ture not indicating its results in the tardy season.
West of the Mississippi River, Minnesota makes no returns. In the
other States of this region peach-bloom was scanty, ranging from 25
per cent. in Nebraska to 80 in Missouri. The best eondition, 72, is in
Kansas, and the worst, 30, in Iowa.
On the Pacific coast, California, with a peach-bloom but 5 per cent.
below average, reports a condition of fruit 50 per cent. below. In Ore-
gon the bloom was 20 per cent. below average, and the condition of the
fruit 25 per cent. below.
The following notes, condensed from the reports of our correspondents,
Ss ow something of the local disasters to the fruit-crops :
MaINnE.—Ozford: Apples and peaches -injured by caterpillars ; otherwise the crops would
be good. Piscataquis: Promise of a fair apple-bloom. York : Apple-bloom just coming out;
fair promise for an odd year; caterpillars abundant.
New HampsuHire.—Hillsborough : Apple-bloom promises to be full.
VERMONT.—Franklin : Bloom late but pomising. Orleans: Apple-bloom late.
MASSACHUSETTS.—WNorfolk: Peaches bloomed well; not largely grown. Berkshire: Apple
and peach bloom abundant. Plymouth: All kinds of fruit bloomed simultaneously.
New York.—Lewis : Apple-bloom not full. Wayne: Very little apple-bloom. Queens:
Apples blooming well; pears winter-killed. Cattaraugus: Fruit promising. Wyoming :
Bloom scanty.
New JERSEY.—IWarren: Three-fourths of the apples did not bloom. Burlington: Ap-
ple-bloom scanty ; peaches look well.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Show for fruit not great. Lehigh: Many peach-trees winter-killed.
Warren: Fruit, especially peaches, suffered severely from the hard winter. Clearfield: Very
light apple-bloom; peach-trees mostly killed. Cambria: Fruit-bloom scanty. Indiana =
a ee = 4
ee ee
207
Very little bloom of any kind. Lycoming: Poor prospect. Lawrence: Frost very de-
structive.
DELAWARE.—Sussex : Peaches greatly injured.
MaRYLAND.—Calvert: Fruit prospect improving. Dorchester: Apple-treés loaded
with fruit. Wicomico: Fruit injured severely by frost. Baltimore: Peaches a short
crop; other fruits medium.
VirGINIA.— Amelia: All the peaches and many apples killed in the April cold snap.
Highland: A few peaches but no apples. Smyth: Early fruits fatally frosted. Augusta:
Nearly all killed. Bedford: Frost killed all the peaches and most of the apples. Gooch-
dand: Most of the fruit, including all the peaches, killed. Spottsylvania: Apples half
crop; peaches one-eighth. Mecklenburgh : Few apples and no peaches. Prince Edward:
All the peaches and most of the apples destroyed. Lancaster: All fruits injured hy winter-
cold and pring niroets, Louisa: Bloom very abundant, but almost all killed except winter-
apples. Greenville: A few apples left; no other fruit. Chesterfield: Apples generally
frosted; Wine Sap and Fallawater have most successfully resisted the cold and are showing
good crops; very few peaches. Craig: Apples and peaches all killed by the April freeze.
Clarke: Apple-bloom average, but the fruitage is 40 per cent. less. Charles City: Fruit
mostly destroyed. Southampton: All killed. Henrico: Fruit very scarce; two-thirds
of the vine-shoots killed. King George: Extraordinary bloom of dewberries and black-
berries. Dinwiddie: Frost swept four-fifths of the crop of apples; other kinds swept clean.
James City: Few apples or peaches. Elizabeth City: April cold very destructive. King
William: Mostly destroyed. Princess Anne: All fruits badly damaged. Bland: Mostly
killed. Ne:son: Mostly destroyed. Patrick: Peaches mostly destroyed. Washington :
Apples mostly killed: no peaches. Pittsylvania: Killed. Page: Nearly all killed.
Campbell: A tew apples, no peaches. Sussex: Cold snap killed most of the apples and all
the peaches. Tazewell: Freeze of April killed the fruit, leaving a half crop of apples. King;
and Queen: Damage by cold, but improving. Lee: Fruit a failure.
NortuH Carouina.— Yadkin: Most of the peaches killed; about a third of a crop of
apples. Wilson: Fine bloom of apples and peaches nearly or quite all killed. Edgecombe :
Fine prospect for apples and peaches nearly ruined by April frost. Burke: Apples and
peaches mostly killed; there will be some fruit in orchards protected by timber from the
western winds. Person: Apples and peaches frost-killed. Alamance: Fruit a failure.
Wake: Fruit almost destroyed by frost. Camden: Except plums, fruit is mostly cut off.
Franklin: April frosts destroyed all the peaches and most of the apples. Columbus : No
fruit of any kind. Ashe: Fruit mostly killed. Gates: Fruit all killed. Caswell : Peaches
entirely failed; a third of a crop of apples. Surrey: Apples badly injured by frost; peaches
a total failure. Transylvania: Peaches all killed by frost in April; apples escaped, not
being in bloom. McDowell : Peach and apple bloom 10 per cent. above average and 50 per
ent. above last year. Caldwell: Many apples and nearly all the peaches killed by April
frosts and cold weather. Yancey: Apples injured and nearly all the peaches killed by: the
freeze of April 13. Hertford: Fruit mostly cut off; grapes doing very well. Montgomery :
Fruit mostly killed. Bladen: All fruit frost killed. Anson: Peach and apple bloom very
abundant, but the fruitage mostly frost-killed.
SoutH CaRo.Lina.—Darlington: Peaches, apples, and pears frost-killed; small fruits
good. Marion: Apples and peaches mostly destroyed. Lexington: Apples and peaches
mostly failed. Zaurens: April frosts very destructive. Richland: A few peaches; no ap-
ples; grapes killed, but a second crop has appeared. Fairfield: Apples badly injured by
frost: peaches mostly killed. Greenville; Frost left very little. Orangeburgh : Many apple-
trees died from some cause; peaches frosted.
FLoriIDA.—Santa Rosa: Fruit-blooms injured by extremes of heatandcold. Columbia:
Peaches frosted and shedding; halt-crop. Jackson: Peaches fully up to last year.
GEORGIA.— Morgan : Late frosts cut off the fruit. Carroll : Apples and peaches frost-killed.
Clayton : Apple prospect poor; plenty of peaches. Whitfield: Apples and peaches largely
frost-killed. Gwinnett: Prospect for peaches the best for ten years; apple-crop short.
Fannin : The late freeze killed many apples and all the peaches. Gordon; Fruit destroyed
by late frosts.
ALABAMA.—Perry : Peach-crop unusually good. Calhoun: Apples mostly failed; three-
fourths of a peach-crop. Madison: Apples and peaches frost-killed. Livingston: All fruits
killed. DeKalb: Greatly injured by frost. Montgomery: Apples and peaches bloomed well :
fruitage healthy, but apples not so great in quantity as usual; strawberries a full crop.
Marion : Apples thin on the trees but large ; peaches plenty in high lands but frost-killed on
low lands. Walker ; Nearly all frost-killed.
MississipPI.— Holmes : Peaches bloomed abundantly, but rains, frost, blight, and worms
injured the crops greatly. Kemper: Fruit a comparative failure. Noxubee: Scarce and
small. Smith: Apples and peaches a full average in spite of the late cold weather. Wayne:
Fruit will not be as good as last year, except in a few localities. If the Early Beatrice prove
to be as prolific a bearer as the Hale’s Early, it will be the most valuable market-fruit of our
section. Amite: Peach and apple crops fine; small fruits doing well. Pike: Peaches and
apples very fine.
208
LOUISIANA.—Concordia : Fruit prospects very promisiug. Washington: Prospect tolera-
ble. East Baton Rouge: Large and promising crops.
TEXAS.—Henderson : Apples never better ; January cold weather killed half the peach-
trees, and left the remainder in bad condition. Wovd : Applesshortened by worms. Kendall:
Greatly injured by a hail-storm. Bandera: Late frosts killed three-fourths of the apples and
peaches. Austin: Peaches injured by dry, cold winds.
ARKANSAS.— Boone: Apples and peaches frost-killed. Benton : Apples and peaches badly
injured by cold. Washington: Very few apples or peaches. Jzard: Half crop of apples ;
other fruits mostly killed. Saint Francis : Peach-crops good, but late; apples considerably
damaged by caterpillars. }’an Buren: Fruit mostly frost-killed; what escaped is indiffer-
ent. Jefferson: Prospects remarkably good. Stone : Apples and peaches killed by late
frosts. Arkansas: Apples good; peaches extraordinarily large and fine.
TENNESSEE.— Putnam: The spring freeze thinned out the apples to about a good crop,
which is very promising; peaches mostly killed. Jefferson: Fruit a failure. Dickson >
Late frosts made a clean sweep of apples and peaches. Grainger: Small fruits abundant.
Lauderdale: Late frost killed two-thirds of peaches and apples. Sullivan: Fruits badly
injured by April freezes. Bedford: Frosts in April killed nearly all the fruit. Trousdale:
Very few apples or peaches. Sequatchie : Apple and peach bloom full, but frosts have cut
off the crop one-half. Warren : Summer apples and peaches a failure; fall and winter ap-
ples injured; loss estimated as high as $100,000 in the county. Lawrence: Apples and
peaches all killed. Lincoln: April cold-snap destroyed the fruit. Blount: Apples half
average bloom and afterward depleted by frosts; peaches full bloom and mostly frost-
killed. Hawkins: Fruit mostly killedin bloom. Sevier : Fruit failed ; no peaches except in
afew mountain-gorges. Knox: Fruit mostly frost-killod. Greene: Few apples and still
fewer peaches. Fayette: Fruit greatly frost-killed; apples worse than peaches. Carter:
A large apple and peach bloom killed by spring frosts.
WEsT VIRGINIA.—Marion: Badly injured in April. Monroe: A fine premise of fruit
ruined by frost April 16; trees more or less injured; sweet-cherry-trees fatally. Raleigh:
Total failure of fruit. Wayne: Apples and pears mostly destroyed by cold weather, April
16 and 17. Braxton: Badly frost-killed. Fayette: Freeze of April 16 and 17 killed nearly
all the apple-bloom; small fruit and grapes badly injured; tame raspberries generally
killed down to within a few inches of the ground, except where they had been covered; we
will have only small fruits this year. Harrison: Apples a failure and peaches but little
better. Jackson: Severe April weather killed most of the apple-bloom and much of the
peach-wood. Boone: Fruit killed except a few apples. Cubell: A few late apples only.
Barbour : Apples, cherries, and peaches killed. Nichols: Ail killed by April frost. Pendle-
ton: All destroyed. Mason: Poor prospect. Upshur: Apples and peaches frost-killed.
Preston : Destructive frosts. Mercer: Nearly all the fruit killed.
KENTUCKY.—Clinton : All of the peaches and most of the apples killed ; some apples that
had not bloomed may escape. Jefferson: Severe cold destroyed nearly all the fruit-buds.
Anderson: Severe weather in April very destructive ; fine promise of fruit blasted. Boyle:
All sorts of fruit killed by the April freeze ; even the blackberries were cut offi. Edmonson:
All forward fruits badly injured. Logan: Apples will not average more than fifteen or
twenty to the tree; peaches, five or six; no plums orcherries. Mason: Small fruits toler-
able; others a failure. Breckinridge: Apples and peaches badly frosted. Butler: Apples
about a fifth of a crop; peaches still less; a few plums and cherries; grapes one-fourth of a
erop. Lincoln: Fruit-crop not worth notice. Metcalfe: Few apples and no peaches.
Gullatin: All fruits failed except blackberries. Graves: Half the apples killed; the rest
doing well; three-fourths of the peaches killed. Greenup: Apples and peaches mostly de-
stroyed. Henry: All kinds of fruit destroyed. Callaway: Fruit mostly destroyed. Larue:
Apples and peaches mostly killed. Owsley: Fruit all killed.
On10.— Williams : Apples largely killed ; peaches seldom makea crop. Hocking: Fruit
mostly killed. Jackson: April cold-snap made a clean sweep of fruit. Medina: Apples
overbore last year, and would have had a light crop this year without any frost; it had but
little damage to do; other fruits badly injured. Vinton: Fruit injured by the hard freeze.
Coshocton: Apples and peaches failed; there will be some cherries; plums and grapes a
full crop. Hancock: Apples badly frosted. Mercer: Fruit nearly all killed. Rechland:
Apples and peaches mostly winter-killed. Tuscarawas: Apples and peaches a failure.
Ashland: Apples and peaches a complete failure ; pears a shade better; grapes very prom-
ising. Belmont: Greatest fruit-failure on record. Crawford: All winter-killed except some
grapes and currants. Highland: No fruit except currants and gooseberries. Brown: Not
an apple or peach blossom; winter destructive; many peach-trees killed. Carroll:
Apples and peaches a failure. Delaware: Fruit an entire failure. Jefferson: Apples and
peaches mostly winter-killed; not over 10 per cent. of average bloom, Sandusky: No
peaches ; most of the trees killed. Pike: Only a few late apples; no peaches, Lucas:
Very few peaches. Athens: No apples or peaches ; peach-trees generally injured,
MICcHIGAN.—Lapeer: Peaches all killed by cold weather. Hillsdale : Peaches failed.
Ottawa: Peach-buds mostly killed; trees injured. Saginaw: Apples damaged; peaches
killed. Van Buren: No fruit except a small amount at South Haven ; grapes much injured.
Tuscola: Peaches almost nothing. Barry : Peach-trees killed down to the ground; very
209
scanty apple-bloom. Ottawa ; Only the hardiest apple-trees living; no peaches. MWashte-
naw : Fruit-trees badly killed. Allegan: Fruit-crops mostly ruined. Antrim; Fruit se-
verelyinjured; Baldwin apples frosted. Manistee: Three-fourths of the peach-trees killed ;
pears also suffered, but other fruits are very promising; pears considerably blighted. Ma-
son: Peach-trees mostly destroyed. Shiawassee : Scanty apple-bloom ; no peaches. Char-
lecoiz: Fruit killed; cherry and apple trees injured to a great extent.
INDIANA.— Madison : No fruit except a few currants and cherries ; peach-trees mostly
winter-killed. Dearborn: Frost made a clean sweep of apples and other fruits; half the
strawberries and most of the blackberries killed. Howard: Few apples, and no peaches ;
small fruits generally killed. Jennings: Fruita failure, except grapes and a few late apples and
pears. Fruit killed April16 and 17. Shelby: Noapples or peaches; small fruit scarce. Wash-
mgon: Apples and peaches nearly al) killed. Dubois: Apple-bloom large, but fruit dropping.
Gibson: All sorts will be scarce. Harrison : Badly injured by frost; a few apples; pears
and peaches nearly all killed. Tippecanoe : Fruit prospect poor. Jasper : Some kinds of
apples bloomed well, but are fruiting poorly. White: Poor fruit-crops. Hendricks : No fruit.
Monigomery : Fruit badly frosted; mostly a failure. Wells : Peaches nearly all killed ;
few apples or cherries. Franklin: Apples and peaches a failure ; many trees killed. Foun-
tain : Apple-trees put out considerable bloom, but the fruitage is almost nothing; no pears
or peaches ; many peach and cherry trees killed. Carroll: Many apple-trees killed. Ful-
ton : But little fruit.
ILLINOIS .—IJroquois : Fruit will be very scarce. Vermillion : Few apples and no peaches.
Cook : Apples:injured by four years of drought. Pope : Apples and peaches mostly frost-
killed. Mercer : Peaches all killed; Morello cherries, a moderate bloom; pears half a crop ;
apples differ according to their varieties; small fruits moderate. McLean: Apple-bloom
light, but fruitage fair. Bureau: Winter apples very few. Jasper: Three-fourths of the apples
and peaches failed. Johnson : Peachbloom heavy, but two-thirds killed by frost. Pulaski:
Fruit injured by hail. Shelby : Very little fruit. Franklin: Fruit very scarce. Fayette :
Apples half a crop ; peaches scarce. Mason: Apple-bloom good, but fruitage small. _
WISCONSIN.—Juneau : Apples and pears mostly destroyed by frosts early in May. Col-
umbia : Long, cold winter killed many fine fruit-trees. Dodge : Apple-trees suffered greatly
the last two winters. JVashington: Small apple-crop. Calumet : Fruit-trees badly injured
by the severe winter. Waupaca : Last winter was very severe on fruit-trees; whole orchards
killed ; only crab-apples stood the test unharmed.
MINNESOTA.—Martin : Wild plums successfully cultivated; better than the tame va-
rieties.
Iowa. —Muscatine : Apple-crop almost a failure ; cherry and fruit trees dead in large num- .
bers. Van Buren : Grapes and berries promise an abundant crop ; several varieties of cherries
damaged. Cerro Gordo: But one peach-tree bloomed in the county. Fremont : Apples,
peaches, and cherries entirely failed. Hardin: Apples bloomed well, but blighted badly.
Harrison : Scanty apple-bloom but promising fruitage. Jefferson : Peaches winter-killed.
Missouri.—Caldwell : Fair prospect for apples ; ‘fair show of peaches in sheltered locali-
ties, but the trees were generally injured severely by the hard winter. Macon: Good pros-
pect of apples; no peaches. Knox: Peaches winter-killed. Perry: Apples bloomed fully,
but early varieties were frost-killed; peaches mostly killed ; small fruits promising. Stod-
dard: Peaches mostly frost-killed. Bates: Peaches and apples taken by grasshoppers.
Daviess ; Peaches winter-killed; many trees destroyed. Montgomery : Almost a total fail-
ure of apples and peaches. Callaway: Abundant bloom, but fruitage largely taken by
frost ; apples and pears have dropped off, but grapes look well; vines full. Crawford :
But little bloom. Pemiscot ; Peaches frosted, April 16. Nodaway : Young apples falling.
Maries : Generally frost-killed. Taney: Peaches mostly frost-killed.
Kansas.— Douglas : Peaches promise a partial crop; apples almost a failure; cherries
bloomed full, but show little fruit ; grapes cut by the grasshoppers. Butler: Peaches promise
a large crop. Washington: No peaches and few apples. Lincoln: Fruit-trees so damaged
by grasshoppers last year that they have not bloomed this spring; all of last year’s
growth of wood was destroyed. Republic: Peaches all dead, as well as nearly all the new-
set orchards. Sedgwick: Grasshoppers last year destroyed this year’s peaches. Marion:
Peach-trees largely winter-killed. Nemaha: Fruit-trees and vines largely injured by
drought and grasshoppers last year. Greenwood : Trees injured by grasshoppers last year.
Montgomery: Apples destroyed by grasshoppers last year. Atchison: General failure. Ne-
osho: No fruit; foliage and young growth of last year destroyed by grasshoppers.
CALIFORNIA.— Mariposa: All sorts failed except grapes. Santa Clara: Frost has short-
ened all stone-fruit crops ; cold winds injurious. Alameda: Badly frosted. Contra Costa:
Apples aud plums, half a crop; pears and peaches, three-fourths; apricots, very few.
Kern: Fruit mostly killed by late frost. Butte ; Most of the fruit frost-killed. Tuolumne:
Apples and pears, a fourth of a crop; otker fruits destroyed. Amador: Late frosts destruc-
tive to fruit in bloom ; grapes, being still later, escaped, and promise a fine crop. Stanislaus:
Frost killed half the apples, three-fourths of the peaches, and all the apricots.
OREGON.— Clackamas : Lawton blackberries injured by frost. Grant: Peach-blossoms
killed by extreme cold winter; trees injured. Douglas: Peaches all killed; other fruits
promising.
210
MAPLE SUGAR AND MOLASSES.
New England considerably enlarged her product of sugar. The only
State reporting a decline upon last year is Connecticut, in which the
product is 95 per cent. New Hampshire is full average; Maine, Vermont,
and Massachusetts very considerably above. In Rhode Island the product
was too small to attract attention. The product of molasses was not so
large, being below average in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Con-
necticut, a deficiency which the increased product of Maine and Ver-
mont will not bring up to the standard of last year. Of the Middle
States, New Jersey and Delaware make no report. New York declines
15 per cent. from last year, both in sugar and molasses. Pennsylvania
will yield about three-fourths of last year’s crop. With one exception,
the South Atlantic coast and Gulf States failed to note any sugar pro-
duction. Virginia reports a product of sugar equal to 87 per cent. of
last year, and 96 per cent. of molasses. Of the inland Southern States,
Arkansas makes no returns. Tennessee reports a decline of 15 per
cent. of sugar and 12 per cent. of molasses. West Virginia and Ken-
tucky are a little in advance of last year. North of the Ohio River the
sugar and molasses product declined from 11 per cent. in Wisconsin to
39 per cent. in Michigan. West of the Mississippi the sugar product
increased in Minnesota, and declined in Iowa and Missouri. The mo-
lasses produced declined in all three, being not over 64 per cent. of last
year’s product in Iowa. No returns from the other Western and Pacific
States. The season was generally shortened by the cold weather. ,
COWS AND CALVES.
_In New England the condition of cows was about average on the
whole, Massachusetts and New Hampshire being slightly above, and
Maine and Connecticut falling a little below. The number of calves
dropped was somewhat above last year’s returns in Maine, Vermont,
and Rhode Island, but below in the other States of this section.
In the Middle States, the condition was average in New York, and
below in the other States. New York and New Jersey report as many
calves dropped as last year, while in Pennsylvania and Delaware there
is a Slight falling off.
The condition of cows was full average or above in North Carolina and
Georgia, but in the other Atlantic coast States a decline is reported.
Only South Carolina maintains last year’s number of calves dropped,
the other States declining from 1 per cent. in Maryland to 4 per cent. in
Georgia.
Texas alone of the Gulf States maintains an average condition of
cows, and a number of calves dropped equal to last year’s. Mississippi
shows a loss in condition of 5 per cent., and a decrease of 9 per cent. in
calves. The other States of this region make a better report.
The inland Southern States show a decline in condition of cows,
ranging from 2 per cent. in Arkansas to 14 per cent. in West Virginia.
The loss in calves varies from 2 per cent. in Arkansas to 11 per cent.
in West Virginia. In some localities our correspondents complain of
neglect of cows, many of which did not give any attention to their
calves.
All the States north of the Ohio River failed to maintain the condition
of cows, the greatest decline being 7 per cent. in Wisconsin. Indiana
dropped as many calves as last year, but all the other States came
short, Ohio 6 per cent. In Medina, Ohio, there were more farrow cows
211
than ever known before. Even where bulls ran in the pasture with the
cows the latter failed to get with calf. Effingham, Illinois, reports a
great loss of calves from the severity of the season.
West of the Mississippi, Kansas shows an improved condition of cows,
3 per cent. above average, while the other States decline, Missouri as
low as 17 per cent. In all the States of this section, except Missouri,
the number of calves dropped equals or exceeds last year’s. In some
parts of Minnesota the severe winter caused many cows to drop their
calves prematurely. In some localities in Kansas cows lost calves
through defective feeding.
On the Pacific coast, California returns an improved condition of cows,
and a decrease in calves ; Oregon a slightly depressed condition of cows,
but an increased production of calves.
SHEEP AND LAMBS.
The losses of mature sheep are reported to exceed two millions. The
actual percentage of loss is made 6.7.
The small but well-kept flocks of Massachusetts show a loss of but 3
per cent. of grown sheep, and 6per cent. of the lambs dropped. The
greatest loss of sheep in the other New England States—9 per cent.—
was in Rhode Island; the greatest loss among lambs dropped—13
per cent.—was in Vermont, where the winter was quite severe in the
sheep-raising districts. New London, Connecticut, reports an unusual
mortality, the cause of which is not stated.
In the Middle States, New York lost 6 per cent. of her grown sheep,
and 16 per cent. of her lambs dropped; New Jersey, 5 per cent. of sheep,
and 9 per cent. of lambs ; Pennsylvania, 7 per cent. of sheep, and 13
per cent. of lambs; Delaware, 5.3 per cent. of sheep, and 20.3 per cent.
of lambs. The mortality of these animals was greatly increased by the
extreme cold weather, but it is remarkable that the greatest loss of
lambs was in Delaware, the most southern of these States.
Along the South-Atlantic coast, Maryland reports the smallest mortal-
ity of sheep—6 per cent.; but the greatest mortality of lambs
dropped, 17 per cent. In Virginia, the losses of these two classes, re-
spectively, were 10 and 12 per cent.; in North Carolina, 10 and 13 per
cent.; in South Carolina, 9 and 14 per cent. ; in Georgia, 13 per cent.
ote In Maryland, the lambing season was reported as very unfayor-
able.
In the Gulf States the mortality among sheep and lambs was very
large. The large loss of lambs in many counties was attributed to the
unusual cold of the lambing season and the lack of care on the part of
farmers.
Arkansas and Tennessee lost 12 per cent. in sheep, while West Vir-
ginia lost only 74 per cent., and Kentucky 8 percent. .The loss of lambs
was lightest in Tennessee, 12 per cent.; and heaviest in Arkansas, 19
per cent.; West Virginia lost 16 per cent.,and Kentucky 17 per cent.
Unusual snow-storms prevailed in many counties during the lambing
season, causing great destruction.
North of the Ohio River, the rate of mortality declines. Here sheep-
husbandry is more merciful in the treatment of the animals and more
thrifty in its results. The severity of the winter, however, gives a high
average mortality of sheep, ranging from 4 per cent. in Wisconsin to 7
per cent. in Indiana and Illinois; Ohio and Michigan average 5 per
cent.; Indiana lost 14 per cent. of her lambs dropped ; the other States
lost 12 per cent.
212
West of the Mississippi River the smallest loss of grown sheep—5 per
cent.—was in Nebraska ; Kansas lost 6 per cent.; Lowa and Minnesota,
7 per cent. ; Missouri, W per cent. The losses of lambs were as follows:
Minnesota, 12 per cent. ; Iowa and Kansas, 10 per cent. ; Missouri, 18
per cent.; Nebraska, 9 per cent. Our correspondent in Butler, Kansas,
touches the real point in the case when he attributes the mortality
among both sheep and lambs to defective feeding. One flock in Ellis
County, of that State, which dropped 3,000 lambs, did not lose 1 per
cent.
California lost 6 per cent. of her sheep, and 9 per cent. of her bia :
Oregon, 10 per cent. of sheep, and.13 per cent. of lambs.
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EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
MIGRATION OF COLORED LABORERS.—Giles, Tennessee: There has.
been of late a great exodus of negroes to the promised land—Kansas.
There is, in consequence, a great opening for industrious farm-hands,
mechanics, and house-help. I know of no section offering so many ad-
vantages as East Tennessee.
DESTITUTION.— Montgomery, Tennessee: The saddest thing we ever
saw among us is the gathering of people at the mills for food. Their
money and their provisions are now gone. How hundreds of our people
are to escape starvation till the crops come we cannot say,
GRASS-CULTURE.— Guthrie, Iowa: Many of our farmers, for fear of
being driven to grass, have concluded to go to grass. Tame grasses are
to be seen in almost every neighborhood. My Alsike clover came
through the winter in good order. Rye also finds favor in some places
for pasture; it has stood the winter well.
CO-OPERATIVE STOCK-SALE.—Frederick, Maryland: The Patrons of
Husbandry of this county held a “stock-sale” April 27, which was.
quite a success. It is to be followed semi-annually by others. The
Patrons have started a cheese-factory on the co-operative plan. It
promises well.
REED-HAY.—Edgecombe, North Carolina: Our farmers, to a consider-
able extent, are using reeds for long forage. The old reeds are cut down
and the young sprouts from the roots are mowed, making a very superior
hay, which is well relished by horses.
DEPARTMENT SEEDS.—Cherokee, Texas: I can fully substantiate the
remarks of your correspondent in Waller, Texas, in regard to the seed
sent out from the Department. Very few failed to germinate, and the
product is the best of their kind. Giles, Tenn.: A poor man residing
near me says that the Fultz wheat which he received from the Depart-
ment through me two years ago will benefit him this year to the ex-
tent of $200. It is the finest wheat in the neighborhood.
HUMANE TREATMENT OF LIVE STOCK.—Lincoln, Kansas : Sheep have
done better the past winter than lever knew them to do before. Stock-
men of all kinds are beginning to learn that it pays to take better care
of their stock through the winter than they have been doing. hereto-
fore.
CORN-CULTURE.— Clay, Indiana: In 18741 raised an acre of a new
variety of corn ; product, 100 bushels. The ears were from 9 to 14 inches
long, with 16 to 22 rowsof grainon each. Some ears counted contained
1,430 grains. It was planted May 15, on a very rough sod of new
ground, without manure. It ripens before the October frosts.
MORTALITY AMONG OLD PEOPLE.—Trimble, Kentucky: More old in-
habitants of our county have died of the prevailing pneumonia than
ever before. The type of disease is very severe.
ORCHARD-GRASS.— Butler, Kansas : I sowed some orchard-grass seed
this spring, and some of the grass has already attained the height of 15
inches.
A FINE AGRICULTURAL REGION.—Perry, Tennessee: We have a fine
county. Itis situated, for the greater part, between Buffalo and Ten-
216
nessee rivers; the rivers through this county run almost parallel, and
are about twelve miles apart. At an average distance of about one and
one-half miles from Buffalo River, and about four miles apart, creeks
arise, which flow westward into Tennessee River, affording inexhausti-
ble supplies of never-failing water. We have the greatest variety and
quantity of timber; a great many of our oaks and poplars measuring
21 feet in circumference, and frequently 60 feet to the lowest limb. The
river and creek bottoms—one-fourth of the county—are exceedingly
fertile, yielding, when properly cultivated, 50 bushels of corn or 40
bushels of wheat per acre, and grow all the grasses in luxuriance with-
outany manure. Our climate is all that could be desired ; winters mild,
summers not too hot, plenty of rain about equally distributed through-
out the year, and a good home-market. Still, despite all these ad-
vantages, we make a specialty of the pea-nut, which is exhausting our
soil, destroying the prosperity of the land-owner, and bringing the
renter to bankruptcy. That no community of farmers can prosper by
the cultivation of a specialty was first taught me by the present com-
missioner, and experience has since verified the truth of his position.
To thrive, we must diversify our crops. Acreage of pea-nuts 50 per cent.
more than an average, and the crop is promising—to bring us to the poor-
house.
CLAWSON WHEAT.—San Joaquin, California: When sowing my wheat
in December last, I left a strip of land 10 feet wide and 150 yards long
unsown. In February, when the wheat sown in December was about
8 inches high, I sowed on the land so reserved 6 pounds of Clawson
wheat, received from the Department. We have only had one rain
since. Some of the grains never germinated, and when it came up the
stools were about 12 inches apart. I never saw any grain stool or
tiller out as it did. To-day it stands higher than the wheat on both
- sides of it, sown in December. The heads will average 6 inches in
length. It is now in the “dough,” but with such large heads the proba-
bility is the grain will be more or less shrunken. The ground is very
dry now, and rain is not to be expected after this. So far I think very
highly of it.
‘¢ FRENCH TOBACCO.”—Gallatin County, Kentucky : The term “ Freneh
tobacco” is old, having been in use by tobacco-growers in Northern
Kentucky as far back as I can recollect, which is at least forty-five
years. Why this term was first applied to that particular blight I can-
not state, but time and use have so sanctioned it, that its application is
well understood by most tobacco-growers. The causes that produce
the blighted tobacco called French are local. There are certain local-
ities, in flat, beech-timber lands peculiarly adapted to this kind of
growth under any circumstances. The best remedy or preventive is
early and prompt cultivation as soon as the plant has shown any signs
of growth after being set, but never working or stirring the soil when
wet. A very wintry or wet season will produce more or less French
tobacco on almost any kind of soil. The little attention or work that
can be given under such circumstances is not sufficient to prevent this
kind of growth. A lazy man, on soil not well adapted to the growth
of the plant. under unfavorable circumstances, will be sure to raise the
worthless French tobacco.
A FLOOD IN TENNESSEE.—Sevierville, Sevier County: It commenced
raining here on the 23d of February, and poured down all day and night.
At 3 o’clock in the afternoon on the 24th, Little Pigeon River was 4 feet
deep in our streets, our town being on the level river bottom between the
217
east and west forks. Thewater subsequently fell back about 2 feet, but at
9 p. m. it commenced rising again and continued to rise till 45 a. m. on.
25th, when it was 10 feet deep in the streets, and was in every house in
town. All had to go up stairs, and a sad time wehad. No human lives
were lost, but the destruction of property was great—not less than
$100,000 worth in the county. Nearly every mill and saw-mill was car-
ried off, and not a bridge is left. River farms were swept of everything,
and some of the finest were so washed that they are ruined. Nearly all
the grain and hay stored along the French Broad and Little Pigeon
Rivers was swept off. Cattle, sheep, hogs, some horses and cows, and
nearly all the calves in Sevierville were drowned.
THE BUFFALO-GNAT.—Fayette, Tennessee, May 10: This section has
suffered very great loss of mules and horses by the buffalo-gnat. The
loss of Fayette County is estimated as high as $500,000 by some. This |
however, I think anexaggeration. Ihave been here nine years, and this is
the first season in which they havedoneany serious damage. They appear
regularly in the river swamps every year, and every planter has a remedy.
The best and only sure remedy is to put the stock at once in a dark
stable and build smokes. Various preparations for greasing the vul-
nerable parts are recommended; the best is a half-and-half mixture: of
_pine-tarand lard. What is remarkable about this visitation is that those
of our citizens who have lived in the swamps and thought they knew all
about it applied their grease and kept on working, and yet lost heavily,
while those who knew nothing about it, becoming alarmed, stabled their
animals and lost nothing. The visitation lasted about three days. Death
doubtless is partly caused by loss of blood, but mainly by poisoning the
circulation.
AGRICULTURAL LIGHTS AND SHADES IN MISSISSIPPI.—Hinds: In
some townships every man, woman, and child appears to have a worth-.
less dog, very hungry, and generally mangy. One consequence is that
sheep cannot be trusted out of sight by day or out of the yard by night.
Crops are looking well, especially corn. People are working better and
buying less from market than at any time in the last ten years. We
are hopeful of better times. The only thing we have to fear now is
reckless extravagance of State and county officials.
STATISTICS OF DAIRY FACTORIES.
The following averages of milk and cheese production are deduced
from statements of dairy factories in the State of New York. Many
factory reports have been set aside on account of omissions of neces-
sary particulars, an omission the more tobe regretted from the fact that
factory men generally have not been in the habit of publishing accounts
of their operations, and hence material of this description has never
been abundant. In reducing pounds of milk to gallons, we take the
specific gravity of milk of fair quality at 1.03, accepting this as suffi-
ciently determined by theinvestigations of Dr. Voelcker, of England, and
other chemists who have had large experience in examinations of milk.
The weight of the standard gallon (distilled water) in this country be-
ing officially placed at 8.3589 pounds, we hence calculate the average
weight of one gallon of milk at 8.589 pounds.
Reports of one hundred and seventeen cheese and butter factories in
218
the State of New York, for the season of 1874, show the following par-
ticulars: Aggregate of average number of cows for the season, em-
ployed by these factories, 36,429; milk received, 118,093,222 pounds;
average per cow 3,241.73 pounds, or 377.42 gallons; lowest average
number of cows for the season employed by a single factory, 55; high-
est, 800. General average 311; average length of factory season, aver-
aged on the number of factories without regard to size, 6.24 months;
regarding the average numberof cows in each,6.44 months. Of the one
hundred and seventeen factories five are exhibited as devoted wholly
or in large part to butter; one hundred and twelve show an average of
331 pounds of cheese per cow; average amount of milk required for
one pound of cured cheese, 9.82 pounds. These one hundred and
twelve factories also report 36,141 pounds of butter, averaging 1.02
pounds per cow. Four factories, averaging a season of 9.58 months, ex-
hibit 1,388 cows as the average number for the season, and 4,356.8
pounds, equivalent to 507.25 gallons, of milk per cow; each cow aver-
aged 451.9 pounds of cheese and 8 pounds of butter. These averages
of milk and cheese must be somewhat above the true average per cow
for the season, since the number of cows contributing to the factory is
always largest during the largest flow of milk. The factories rarely
open with their full quota, and in the fall a part of the cows are with-
drawn for butter-making on the farm.
So far we have considered only the average number of cows employed
by the factory for the season, but ninety-nine of these factories report for
1874 both the average for the season and the greatest number contrib-
uting at any time. They exhibit an average for the season of 31,405
cows, but a “ greatest number” of 36,084, being 14.89 per cent. in ex-
cess of the average number. In the tables of the New York State cen-
sus of 1865, one hundred and twenty-seven factories, reporting for the
season of 1864, show 16.62 per cent. excess of “greatest number of
cows” over “average number,” and one hundred and thirty-three
factories show an average of 307 cows per factory.
The tables presented in the reports of the American Dairymen’s As-
sociation are quite imperfect as regards the average number of cows per
factory for the season. It appears that the “greatest number” is often
put in place of the average, and vice versa. The particulars in the fol-
lowing table have been collected from detailed statements appearing in
these reports :
Seal oO | Ss
ce | 23% a
me i} ; a
Year. ae | 5 gs Average length of season. * _ aL yee gs :
Bs PAS >a 2
Z < ¢ <
Months.| Pounds. Pounds. |Pounds.
i eseeece . sondaaceseae rue 12} 4,529 | For eleven factories. ...6.4 | 15,575,583 | 1,565, 723 345.
Te AS eg aeeeae CODOpOEe o 19 | 8,161 | For seven factories..-..5.9 | 25,238,505 | 2,574, 101 315.
PAD ENER Ses pnnninnis a Satcatns < 25 | 14,049 | For twelve factories....7.3 | 48, 784,656 | 4, 932, 656 351
WS00-- Se Sn Se A ope eC besegas 21 | 10,056 | For eleven factories....6.6 | 36,711,856 | 3, 760, 992 374
21 7,209 | For five factories ...-.. 6.1 | 23,904,722 | 2,425, 816 336-
16 | 6,895 | For eight factories.....6.4 | 21,650,993 | 2,195, 700 318
9 4,310 | For eight factories.....6.1 | 14, 127, 004 1, 464, 824 339
6| 3,495 | For five factories...... 7.1 | 11,153,377 |. 1,124, 034 321
4 | 2,015 | For three factories .....6.3 | 6, 633, 601 678, 634 336
3 | 1,665 | For two factories ...... 8.1 | 6, 130, 896 626, 472 376
3 | 1,660 | For three factories -...7.4 | 5,515,451 559, 119 336-
* Many factories did not report the length of season.
For 1864 we here give only those returns that are not presented in the
State census exhibit of one hundred and thirty-three factories in 1864.
219
For all the reports in the above table the average of milk per cow, for
the season, is 3,363.7 pounds, or 391.63 gallons ; of cheese, 342 pounds ;
of milk for one pound of cheese, 9.833 pounds. Average length of sea-
son of seventy-five statements, 6.7 months. Some of the factories re-
ported butter from whey or from cream of partly-skimmed milk. At
many factories patrons were allowed, during a certain portion of the
season, to skim night’s milk.
The average product per cow for 1864 was relatively small, owing to.
unusually severe drought during the summer. The State census of 1865
in reporting statistics of one hundred and thirty-three factories, each
employing 300 cows or more, exhibits the average of milk per cow at 2,801.9
pounds, or 326.21 gallons, for a season, averaging about 6.1 months; the
cheese-product averaged 283 pounds per cow, showing 9.915 pounds of
milk for one of cheese; aggregate average number of cows for the sea-
son, 67,034,
In illustration of the differences between herds contributing to facto-
ries, we present certain averages obtained by summarizing statements
of fifty-seven factories for 1874, which, in each case, give statistics of
best dairy and poorest dairy for the season. Average length of season,
6.5 months. Average net receipts, by patrons, for 100 pounds of milk,
$1.229, or about 2.63 cents perquart. Average net receipt per cow, by pat-
rons, $40.336, showing 382.11 gallons of milk per cow. Best dairies, aver-
age net receipts per cow, by patrons, $52.99, showing 501.99 gallons of milk
percow. Poorest dairies, average net receipts per cow, $30.63, showing
290.17 gallons per cow. . Excess of average yield, per cow, of best dai-
ries over that of poorest dairies, 211.82 gallons, or 73 percent. The state-
ment of the well-known Weeks factory, in Oneida County, exhibits, for
a season of 7.2 months, a net receipt by patrons, per 100 pounds of milk,
of $1.2825 ; average number of cows for the season, 750, yielding 425.94
gallons per head. Best dairy, 10 cows, average net per cow, to patrons,
$77.85, showing 706.73 gallons per cow; poorest dairy, 10 cows, net per
cow, $37.11, showing 336.89 gallons per cow. Excess of yield per cow,
of best dairy over poorest, in 7.2 months, 369.84 gallons, or nearly 110
per cent. The factory of E. L. Stone, in Mannsville, Jefferson County, re-
ports one cow which yielded in 7.3 months 7,937 pounds of milk, or
924.08 gallons, and one which yielded for the same season 7,690 pounds
of milk, or 895.33 gallons. Net money to patrons, $91.36, and $90.82.
We return to the point of the average yield per cow, for the factory
season, and for aterm of years, in the New York dairy regions. We
have had in review three hundred and eighty-nine factory statements,
of which one hundred and fifty-two, or 39 per cent., arefor the excep-
tionally unfavorable season of 1864, and this large proportion of low
exhibits will prevent us from combining all of the statements for an
average for a course of years. Omitting, now, the statements for 1864,
we have two hundred and thirty-seven factory reports, representing
92,512 cows, aggregate of averages for the season, and a yield per cow
of 3,339.5 pounds of milk, or 388.81 gallons, for a season of a little more
than six months. From two hundred and thirty-two of these state-
ments we obtain an average of 340 pounds of cheese per cow, for the
factory season. Judging from all-attainable data, these figures for milk
and cheese are the highest at which the factory average for a term of
years can be placed; and we have already shown that, from the manner
in which the averages are made up at the factory, the true yield per
cow must fall below even the factory average. But the approximate
which we have attained is sufficiently close to serve a valuable purpose
3A
220
as a means for comparison, and for the correction of frequent exagger-
ations of general dairy production.
AVERAGE YIELD OF MILK-HERDS.—Dr. E. L. Sturtevant of Massa-
chusetts, furnishes an account of the milk-product of a herd of cows
in Pennsylvania, comprising five Ayrshires, three and one-half years
to nine years old; one Jersey, ten years old; two Jersey grades, six
years and seven years old; and two Durham grades, four and one-
half years and nineteen years old. The account is for the year April
1, 1874, to April 1, 1875, and shows 4,148.9 pounds of milk as the average
yield per cow, which, at 8.589 pounds of milk per gallon, would be
equivalent to 485 gallons. Average number of days in milk, 286.7.
A statement of the Messrs. Sturtevant on their herd at South Fram- —
ingham, Mass., exhibits the following particulars: In the first year
of the record the herd was composed entirely of “natives,” but it was
afterward, by gradual elimination and substitution, converted into
an Ayrshire herd. In the second year the herd included one Jersey and
four Ayrshires; in the third year, two Jerseys and four Ayrshires; in
the fourth year, thirteen Ayrshires, the rest being natives. In the sub-
sequent years the cows were all Ayrshires. In. the table we convert
pounds of milk into gallons, on the above-mentioned basis:
; ———
Fa she = = as =
| Bo see 2 | z 255 ‘g
We On ole Sepa ree ° Ab Pes
| B+ .|-.9%8 ee ot ons 5
Year. | a | 80.0 oo | Year. sy Whe, 5°
| a js) pe BONO aD g, | ® aoy ED
ape ces Hie (nai 2 = ae | Hee £z
=| vos oo 5 oo's Oo
petuatt= shed us Sen =. > FE] Pak >
Wh WS i es < Z < <
Gallons. | Gallons.
LLG Ae see ee aa ene eee | 25 278 Doo WiESRLE EE eee sae 14 296 585, 2
SEL eee eT: | 29 | 301 | DOe. 8 lh sos pe <n 13 300 704, 0
Heth) SUE ee 20 | 292 | AST tl Aa cokes ae ee eee 13 291 636.0
Tce SEAR SA eer | 18 | 298 GTIPOW| Bide op sae eae 7 316 660.7
} }
Reducing the record of eight years to the basis of one year, we have
556.4 gallons as the average annual yield per cow of 68 natives, and
639 gallons as the average annual yield of 68 Ayrshires.
From the records of the Agricultural College of New Jersey we sum-
marize the yield of a herd of Ayrshires, short-horns, and natives as
follows: For the year November, 1870, to November, 1871, seven Ayr-
shires and five natives, average yield, 735.2 gallons. Average of Ayr-
shires, 782.6 gallons; of natives, 669 gallons. For the year November,
1871, to November, 1872, six Ayrshires, two short-horns, and seven na-
tives, average yield, 742 gallons. Average yield of Ayrshires, 814.5
gallons; of short-horns, 557.7 gallons; of natives, 732.5 gallons. For
the year November, 1872, to November, 1873, five Ayrshires, one short-
horn, and six natives, average yield, 674.7 gallons. Average yield of
Ayrshires, 663.9 gallons; of natives, 652.7 gallons; yield of one short-
horn, 867 gallons. Two of the Ayrshires were very old; one of the
short-horns never recovered from injuries received during importation,
and died in 1873. In the first year of the record one of the natives was
only six months in milk. The two short-horns were actually connected
with the herd in 1870~71, but are not here reckoned for that year, their
yield having been greatly affected by the voyage of the previous year. |
221
ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD. .
By TOWNEND GLOVER, ENTOMOLOGIST.
Cut-worms.—Cut-worms or surface-grubs are the caterpillars which
eventually produce dark-brown or gray moths, so plentiful in houses
during the evening, flying around lights, and during the day remaining
motionless on walls or hiding in corners. These insects have been
very abundant and injurious during the present season in many parts
of the United States, the caterpillars destroying all kinds of garden
and field produce, especially vegetables, as cabbage, &c., and in the
fields injuring maize or corn when young and tender. In the more
southern States it has been reported as particularly attacking young
cotton-plants this season, as will be
shown by the following extract from a
letter received from a correspondent,
Mr. J. Pettigrew, of Charleston, Frank-
lin County, Arkansas, who has given a
very interesting account of the damage
done by this insect in his neighborhood,
and who, also, to a certain degree, has
described its habits. Mr. Pettigrew writes:
I have sent you some specimens of the cut-worms which have been exceedingly destruc-
tive to many species of vegetation inthis county. They appeared about the Ist of April, and
have destroyed hundreds of acres of cotton, which has had to be planted over. In the vege-
table-gardens, cabbages, onions, and tomatoes are the special objects of their attacks, and they
have greatly damaged the potato-crop. During the night they teed, and with the appearance
of the sun they seek a retreat from its rays by getting under something, or by burrowing in the
ground. In the cotton-field they feed during the day. The crust of the ground, raised by
the spreading of the cotton-seed, affords them a sheiter from the sun. The worm has been
more destructive here this spring than at any time in the history of the country, but they
are now disappearing. :
The moths of this insect are very inconspicuous in markings, and are
almost all of a gray or brown color, with ornamentation of a dark brown
or almost black in some species, but more faint and indistinct in others.
When settled on walls or in crevices during the day the moths assume
a triangular or rather cone-shaped attitude, with the
upper wings closely folded over their backs. The cut-
worms themselves (Fig. 1) are fat, greasy-looking,
naked or hairless caterpillars, of a gray or brown color,
marked and shaded with a darker brown or gray on
each segment of their bodies, and when nearly full-
grown they have a disproportionately small head,
When disturbed they often assume more or less of a
semicircular or circular form, and remain motionless as-long as molested.
(Fig. 2.) When thus rolled up they seem so fat and full of juice that
their skins appear almost tight enough to burst open.
The chrysalids (Fig. 1, lower figure) are formed more or less deep
in the ground, and the early brood of moths emerge from the earth in
a short time after the caterpillar has buried itself, while the late brood
remain as pup or chrysalids all winter, and are the small brown mo-
tionless bodies or cases so often plowed up and overlooked by the
horticulturist or farmer; some species, however, remain as caterpillars
through the winter and only assume the chrysalis form Jate in spring or
early in summer.
There are a great many species of cut-worms or Agrotis in the United
222
States, and all of them are more or less similarly marked, and of simi-
lar habits ; some feed during dull, cloudy days, while others feed only at
night, or in thesevening or morning; some dig holes near the plants
they injure, and draw the leaves they have cut from the plants into
their hole or receptacle to be eaten at leisure during the day, while
Fig. 3. others attack only young plants, eating
- them off close to the ground; one or more
species are said to climb trees and shrubs
and cut off their shoots, leaves, and buds.
Among the most common of the cut-
worms in this part of the country is the
“‘ dingy cut-worm,” Agrotis jaculifera, (Fig.
3,) Which cuts off the plants near the sur-
face of the ground, and either eats them at
night or draws them into the hole it inhabits during the day, and de-
vours them at leisure. A species of digger-wasp (Ammophila) is said to
destroy this cut-worm, carrying the caterpillars to its nest and stor-
ing them as food for its young.
Agrotis suffusa, (Fig. 4,) the dark sward-grass worm or moth, is of
somewhat similar habits; the caterpillar of the lance rustic, Agrotis teli-
era, (Fig. 5,) or greasy cut-worm, is nocturnal, and an omnivorous feeder.
This insect by some is said to be the same as A. suffusa. The unarmed
rustic, or variegated cut-worm, in the young caterpillar state, before
the first moult of the skin, is said to be somewhat gregarious, and to
have a peculiar leaping gait, and to live on leaves, but after the first
moult they lose the habit of leaping, and begin to show the true cut-
worm habit of hiding in the day under the surface of the ground, and of
cutting down vegetables, &e. ra
Agrotis clandestina, or the clandestine owlet moth of Harris, is said to
drag its food, consisting of leaves of young plants, to places of conceal-
Fig. 4. ment, under stones, &c., and also
h to have the habit of climbing
mel OF DOL pae trees and shrubs, to cut off their
ee ee leaves and blossoms during the
evening. The caterpillars of
Agrotis subgothica, (Fig. 6,) or the
western striped cut-worm, eats
stems and lower leaves of plants,
and the insects appear in sum-
; a mer, while the cabbage cut-worm
of Harris, Agrotis devastator, deposits its eggs in the autumn at the
roots of plants; these are said to hatch in May, and while in the cater-
pillar state (about four weeks’ duration) feed upon the lower leayes of
vegetables. The caterpillars of Agrotis scandens, or the climbing rustic,
at night ascends trees and shrubs to cut off their blossoms and leaf-buds.
There are other species of cut-worms known to our naturalists, which
we will not mention in this article, as enough has been said to give some
general idea of the habits and food of the principal species of eut-worms
In our own neighborhood, all of which are shared by the agrotidw or cut-
worms in general.
Many of these insects are destroyed when in the caterpillar state by
the footless larva of a Tachina or two-winged fly, which lives in their
bodies. Many species of ichneumon-flies also destroy them in a similar
manner. Wasps carry them off to their nests as food for their young,
while multitudes of the grubs are destroyed by crows, black-birds, &c.,
when plowed up in the spring and lying helpless on the surface of the
223
ground. Fall plowing will turn up and expose these insects to the
inclemency of the winter. Manuring the field with sea-mud is said to
be useful.
Searching for the worms when they
come out to feed, or digging them from
their holes near the plant, and killing
them, is doubtless the most effectual
remedy we can employ. Curtis says
one-quarter ounce of salt dissolved in
a quart of water will drive the grub
away, and preserve the plant till washed
off by rain. ‘ Tobacco-water will kill them if it comes in contact
with them. Quicklime will also destroy them if put on the plants
when wet, and dry soot dug into the ground is very offensive to the
grub.” Suds made of one pound of soap to ten gallons of water,
and applied warm, will cause them to dart out, when they can beimme-
diately killed. Four ounces of aloes dissolved in a gallon of water
and applied to the plants, is said to preserve them from the cut-worm
Smooth holes made with arake or hoe-handle near the plants will serve
as traps into which the worms fall, and may there be destroyed. Coal-
tar and water, a spoonful of the former to a gallon of the latter, will, it
is said, drive the worm away without in-
juring the plant. Where a few choice
plants are to be protected, this may be
done by wrapping stiff paper or walnut-
leaves around the stem when setting them
out, leaving the paper a little above
ground, and an inch or two below. Cow-
dung stirred in water, and poured around
the plant so that the solid part will re-
main and form a hard surface, through
which the worm cannot penetrate, has been recommended. For a similar
insect in Europe, K6llar advises lime-ashes applied to the land, or lime-
water in damp weather. If the female moths are attracted by sweet
liquids, many of them may be killed, and as they are also lured by lights
in the evening they may be destroyed in this manner to some extent.
PHILLOXERA VASTATRIX IN AUSTRIA.—The following account of the
appearance of the Phylloxera vastatriz in Austria is condensed from a
late official publication of the Austrian minister of agriculture:
In France, in 1865, at Pujaut, near Roquemaure, department du Gard,
for the first time an insect was observed injuring the roots of grape-
vines so that they died. The occurrence excited chiefly the interest of
scientists, and it was believed to be the same insect found in galls on
grape-leaves by A. Fitch in North America, and by him called Pemphi-
gus vitifolia. The newly-discovered insect, first scientifically described
by Planchon, evidently belonged to the Phylloxera* family, and on
account of the extraordinary damage its increasing numbers inflicted
on the vineyards, it was called vastatriz.
In 1868 France awoke to the necessity of adopting energetic measures
for the suppression of this scourge, which almost unnoticed had assumed
fearful dimensions. The question was asked, (and it is not yet an-
*The name Phyllozera comes from phyllon, a leaf, and xerainein, to dry, a name given by
Fouscolombe in 1334 to the species found on oak trees. Four species of Phylloxera are now
known; viz: P. quercus on summer oak, Quercus robur, L.; P. quercus, on white oak, Q,
ane i P. Lichtensteinti on Q. coccifera; P. vastatrix on L. ‘vitis. The first three are probably
armless.
224
swered,) is this insect of native or foreign origin? In some places, as
Bordeaux, they believe in its introduction on American vines, which
nevertheless withstand its attacks much better than their own. Then
there is the fact that, except in a few instances in France, it is only
found on the roots in Europe, which renders it possible we have two
species of insects to deal with. A French scientist, Loarer, thinks the
Phylloxera was introduced from the East Indies* by eggs brought to
Marseilles in bales of merchandise. But after all there is nothing to
hinder the presumption that the insect has always accompanied the
vine,t though formerly unnoticed, and that favorable conditions of
weather, &c., have.enabled it to increase at the present time with such
alarming rapidity.
The number of remedies which have been proposed and tried is
enormous. The Herault commissicn alone experimented with 124 in the
domain of Las Sorres from January to June, 1873, including the follow-
ing substances: Verdigris, phenic acid, sulphuric acid, garlic, aloes,
alum, ammonia, nitrate of silver, potters’ clay, arsenious acid, arsenic
‘sulphide, asafetida, gypsum, calomel, camphor, carbonate of lime, caus-
tic lime, chloride of lime, carbonate of potash, wood-ashes, charcoal in
powder, bone-meal, chlorate of potassa, corrosive sublimate, chrome,
sealing-wax, decoction of poppies, leather-scraps, blue vitriol and other
salts of copper, sea-water, compost, turpentine, sulphate of iron, horse-
dung, wood-tar, Peruvian guano, bran, sulphur, oil of juniper, olive-oil,
naphtha, petroleum, potassic permanganate, mercuric sulphate, saltpe-
ter, bone-charcoal, nux-vomica, walnut-leaves, benzine, ground apatite,
goat-hair, sulphate of potash, pine sawdust, poudrette, Peruvian bark,
sea-sand, white and black soap, slate-meal, flowers of sulphur, and sul-
phur in various forms and combinations, soot, tobacco, oak-bark, rape-
seed cake, pignuts, sesame, castor-oil, urine, vinegar, creosote, carbolic
acid, suds, &c. Some of these are used in mixtures the composition
of which is unknown. To these remedies must be added various modes
of treatment, such as boring the trunk of the vine and impregnating
the sap, the planting of certain herbs near the stock, as hoarhound,
garden cress, chamomile, pyrethrum, “c.; also the introduction of
natural enemies of the “Phylloxera, as lady-bugs, pselaphus, chrysopa,
ants, and spiders. None of these have proved completely successful
remedies. Many of them certainly destroy the insects, but the difficulty _
lies in obtaining the necessary contact, which it is often impossible to
accomplish.
In 1869, Louis Faucon proposed to flood the vineyards, and the rem-
edy proved successful. It can, however, only be applied on level
grounds, where the necessary supply of water can be obtained. Re-
cently it has been said only to prove effectual on sandy soil with clay
subsoil, a condition not always to be obtained. Perhaps in some cases
the water destroys the insect, but not its eggs.
* Drouynde l’Huys, in his address before the grape-growers’ congress at Montpelier, 26 Oct.
1874, appeared to agree with this opinion. In the East Indies proper there are, however, no
grape-vines, these being grown only in Afghanistan and Nepaul.
+ Experienced gardeners in Klosterneuburg have stated that the vineyards in which the
Phyllozera first appeared were destroyed about a hundred years ago by some cause which
_ wasnever satisfactorily explained. And it is said that in Hungary,near Szegedin and There-
sienopel, between sixty and one hundred years ago, an insect appeared on the roots of the
vine as destructive as the Phyllozera now is. It was finally extirpated by the use of ashes
and lime. In the neighborhood of Goyrz, fifty to sixty years ago, a vine-root louse appeared
that was checked by a wet season; and it is to be observed that a special prayer in the
Talmud includes the vine-louse. But these allusions may refer to something different from
the Phylloxera.
~
225
Lichtenstein observes the insect is not found in sandy soil, and pro-
poses dressing the vine-roots with sand by raising them as far as possible
and placing a layer of sand in the hole before relaying them.
Thenard, in 1873, found that the vapor of carbon disulphide pene-
trated the soil to a considerable distance from the place in which the
liquid was deposited, killing the insect and its eggs; but it also destroyed
the vines, so that it can only be applied when necessity arises for the
exterminat on of the pest.
In the report of Dumas to the Paris Academy of Science, June 4,
1874, the following summary remedial measures are recommended: As
preventive, when the plague first appears, all infected stocks should
be dug up and burned, and the soil thoroughly poisoned with carbonic
disulphide or some of its alkaline salts. Heavy manuring and the ap-
plication of poisons is recommended when the evil has obtained '
such foothold as to render its extirpation doubtful. New vineyards
should only be planted on sandy ground or ground that may be flooded.
So little has been accomplished by way of remedy, that, in consideration
of the frightful loss resulting in 1874 from the rapid spread of the Phyl-
loxera, the French government offered a prize of 300,000 francs for a
successful cure. The insect has totally destroyed 200,000 hectares of
vineyards in the valley of the Rhone, and has attacked nearly a million.
It was observed in the forcing-houses of England and Ireland, by West-
wood, in 1863. The Austrian department of agriculture was informed
of the advent of the Phylloxera in France by the zodlogical-botanical
society of Vienna, in 1869. The managers of the crown-lands and the
agricultural societies in vine-growing districts were immediately re-
quested to carefully watch for symptoms of the scourge, and the import
of vines from France to the school at Klosterneuburg was prohibited.
But early in the summer of 1872 Dr. L. Résler discovered the insect in
the experimental garden of pomology at Klosterneuburg, on some un-
healthy-looking Clavner stocks, whose backwardness had been attrib-
uted by the working gardeners to the want of the usual protection of
snow the preceding winter. About three klafters distant were a num-
ber of American vines of the Clinton variety, partly from Baden and
partly direct from North Hoboken, in New Jersey, planted before any
suspicion had arisen that. the Phyllozera was introduced from North
America. But notwithstanding these and all other American varieties
grew with wonderful luxuriance, an examination of their roots proved
them to be completely colonized with Phylloxera. Baron Von Babo,
director of the school, considers this fact as establishing a strong prob--
ability that the insect was introduced by the American vines, but of
course it is impossible to assert it as a positive fact.
During 1873 no perceptible increase of the malady in the experi-
mental gardens was observed. Every conceivable method of combat-
ing the pest was adopted, and Dr. Rosler reported that vines which in
1872 were evidently attacked appeared to be freed from it, and were
ae vigorous young roots, especially where manure was dug in
deeply. -
But in 1874 a mild winter was followed by a notable increase of the
insects. Cold winters and wet summers are hence considered as detri-
mental to its extension. Also, this year, the appearance of the winged
form gave rise to dread of its rapid extension; examination with the
microscope proving that at least a part of the flying insects were females
laden with eggs. Notwithstanding the persistent efforts to unveil its
life-history, it is only recently we are enabled to present a detailed
account.
226
The vine-louse, Phylloxera vastatrix, Planchon, belongs to the class In-
secta, order Hemiptera, sub-order Homoptera, family of plant-lice, Phyto-
phthires, tribe of leaf-lice, Aphides, in which are numerous genera, as
Lhizobius, Eriosoma, Chermes, Lachnus, Aphis, &c. The vine-louse appears
to belong to this last, though Cornu places it between Aphis and Coccus.
Itis so small as scarcely to be distinguished by the naked eye, oval, with
a thick body, and blunt abdomen composed of seven rings, six slender
legs with short feet, a small, beak-shaped, incurved head, with a probos-
cis composed of four sucking-tubes, that usually lie on its breast. Full-
grown insects are somewhat warty, and are a bright vellow.
Like other leaf-iice, they increase partheno-genetically ; the mates first
appear just before winter in small numbers in the last brood of the sea-
son, and after impregnation the females lay eggs which develop the fol-
lowing spring. These eggs produce only females, called nurses, who,
without further commerce, lay eggs, and are also, to some extent, said to
be viviparous. This last fact has rarely been observed in the Phyllox-
era, and is doubted by the French Academy. This method of propaga-
tion continues until the power of a sexual increase is exhausted, when
males, usually winged, are again developed. At the same time the so-
called “‘ nurses” become nymphs, or dark-colored, winged, and perfect
insects.* By this alternation of generation the increase of numbers is
enormously rapid. Reaumur places it at 6,000,000,000 from one female
in a summer, but this is too low; for if a nurse Phylloxera lays 30 eggs,
which produce perfect insects, their descendants in the twelfth genera-
tion will number 17,714,700,000,000,000 individuals. The injury caused
by a single puncture such as they make in the bark of the roots, or even
several, is very slight, but when multiplied by such immense numbers,
is ample cause for the serious damages which have been inflicted on the
European vineyards.
The food of this class of insects is the sap of plants, which they usu-
ally obtain from the leaves, on which they form galls. Some of the
species change their host-plant with each change of form, the perfect
insect feeding on a different plant from that on which its nurse-mother
fed; and this fact is said by Lichtenstein to have been observed with
oe to the Phylloxera, but it cannot be considered as fully estab-
ished.
The vine-louse differs from the rest of its kind in living under the
ground, (though in America it is said to form galls on the leaves. They
have only been observed in Europe by Planchon, Signoret, and Laliman,
and the insects were not entirely identical with those on the roots.)?
The full-grown insect sits motionless on the roots, having inserted its
sucking-tubes, of which, according to Rosler, it uses two to withdraw
the sap, and the other two to pour into the wound a liquid excrement,
which, perhaps, is more injurious than the wound itself. The resulting
semi-transparent swellings are the most certain indication of the pres-
*According to Balbiani’s latest researches, there are at least four different forms of the in-
sect capable of reproduction, not counting the eggs or the nymphs. ‘
t Persons unacquainted with the Phylloxera are liable to mistake for it the grape-mite,
(Pnytophus vitis.) This insect belongs to the Arachnide, and eats the buds and young
leaves in spring. Its presence is readily perceived by the bladdery galls on the upper sur-
face of the leaves, in which a pinkish, spore-like dust will be found, consisting of these
mites laying their eggs. They may be destroyed by gathering and burning the vine-leaves
in the fall, so that no eggs shall remain over winter. They are about .032—.098 millimeter
in diameter, the females larger than the males. They are peculiar in their organs of respira-
tion, which open into the intestinal canal. It is not yet certain if the application of sul-
phur is as destructive to this pest as it is tothe Oidium. Several other mites, as dcearus
and Haplophora, (Riley,) live on the vine.
227
ence of the Phylloxera, and they speedily decay. The insect first attacks
the surface-roots, and, when these are exhausted, migrates to those which
are larger and deeper seated. They prefer the angles formed by branch-
ing rodts, and lay their eggs in curved lines by swinging round their
abdomens. Planchon saw one lay 30, Résler 42, and Signoret 200, which
hatched in from two to three days. Unlike the parent, the young Phyl-
loxera is very active, and runs about till it finds a suitable spot on
which to begin sap-sucking. It now rapidly changes its skin; how
many times is uncertain. But the oak Phylloxera, its nearest relation,
changes four times.
They begin to lay eggs when from eight to fifteen days old, different
observers not agreeing as to the exact time. The yellow color of the
living insect changes when dead to a light brown, as also the eggs,
and when destroyed by carbon disulphide it becomes a dark gray, almost
black. By the loss of sap, perhaps also by the effect of a poisonous
excretion introduced into the wound made by the trunk of the Phyl-
lowera, the vine is injured. If but few are present, or if it is endowed
with strong powers of resistance, like the American vines, the presence of
the enemy will hardly be noticed. But if they increase, as usual, by the
second year the vine will show that it is diseased. The leaves turn yellow,
the stock becomes spindling, the shoots wither, the berries shrivel, and,
finally, the whole plant dies. Oftentimes the insects will be found to have
abandoned the exhausted roots of the dead vine for the more juicy
ones of surrounding vines, which have not yet shown decided symptoms
of attack. When one locality is exhausted, the insect removes to an-.
other, partly by the cracks in the ground,* and partly by running over
the surface, and also in the winged form. According to observations
made at Klosterneuburg, it seems possible that this change may be
brought about by want of sufficient food. When winged, the wind is
an efficient agent for their distribution. Of course, the wingless form
may be transported in cuttings, stakes, straw, &c., and even in the
clothes of vine-dressers. Most energetic measures have been taken to
prevent the spread of the insect from Klosterneuburg and vicinity, All
the vines have been dug up and, with the roots, carefully burned, and
the ground fully impregnated with carbon disulphide by means of holes
bored three feet deep and six feet apart, in which fifty-five to one hun-
dred grams of the disinfectant was placed. It was found, on exam-
ination, that roots lying six feet deep in loamy soil were infested with
the insect. The penetrating character of the carbon disulphide is shown
by the fact that vines six feet from the holes in which it was applied
died immediately. April is the best time for operations, as the insect
is then soft and tender; but from August to October the winged form
must be guarded against. Experience shows that, once cleared of the
pest, ground may be again planted with vines, which grow luxuriantly
without danger until it is re-introduced from a foreign source.
Since the destruction of the vines entails great loss, efforts have been
made to discover some other method of getting rid of the insect.
Of all the substances hitherto employed which do not injure the vines,
phosphuretted hydrogen and ammonia, liberated in the soil, have been
most successful. To use the first, a hole is bored in the ground and
filled with lime, on which water impregnated with phosphorus is thrown,
and immediately covered with earth, all openings near being also closed
in the same way as soon as steamis seen to issue from them. Among
other experiments, the effect of dynamite in loosening a refractory sub-
*The absence of such cracks in sandy ground is probably the reason why the insect is
not found therein.
228
soil was tried, and proved, unexpectedly, successful. Dynamite cart-
ridges exploded in holes four to six feet deep loosened the soil so that
it would absorb twenty large pails of water where previously half of one
would stand along time. Numerous substances have acquired: some
reputation in France, of which sulpho-carbonate of potassium dissolved
in water is, according to Dumas, the mostsuccessful. Of the dry salt,
forty to fifty grams are required for a large vine, the solution to be
poured around the stalk.
Of all the weapons yet used, water is the only one completely to be
relied on. It is not likely the Phylloxera will become entirely extinct,
but it is probable we shall find means to render it comparatively harm-
less, and by high cultivation give our vines sufficient vigor to with-
stand its attacks. In sandy soil, with heavy manuring, the Phylloxera
is even now not to be dreaded.
With regard to fruit-trees, decisive experiments have been made at
Klosterneuburg that prove they are not subject to its attacks.
Conformable to analogy with similar phenomena, we may hope that
’ possibly the scourge may vanish some time as suddenly as it has ar-
rived. As human intelligence has triumphed over the Oidium, the po-
tato-disease, the silk-worm malady, &c., it is probable that science will
one day conquer the Phylloxera.
PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX IN FRANCE.—Dr. Henry Erni, United
States consul at Basle, Switzerland, sends the following note to the
Assistant Secretary of State, under date May 5, 1875:
Sir: Upon the high authority of Professor Dumas, of the French Academy, it must be con-
ceded that an effective remedy has been discovered against the grape-root louse, ( Phyllozera.)
It is the salt: potassic sulpho-carbonate, (K. S. C.S.?,) which in a dry form is strown upo
the soil, whence a rain-fall carries it down in solution, bringing it thus in contact with dis-
eased grape-roots. Experiments by Messrs. Milne-Edwards, Duchartre, Blanchard, Pas-
teur, Thenard, and Boulay have been crowned with complete success.
INSECT INJURIES.—Our statistical correspondence shows a backwarg
campaign on the part of the farmers’ insect-enemies generally. The
Colorado beetle, though making more formidable demonstrations in the
East, has excited comparatively little remark in the West. The chineh-
bug has probably been restrained by the cold backward season. The
migratory grasshopper of the West is doing much damage in Kansas
and Missouri, but has not yet shown a tendency to serious injuries in the
States farther north. The cut-worms have attacked cotton and to-
bacco. The following is an epitome of the injuries done in different
parts of the country by various species of insects:
Colorado potato-beetle, (Doryphora decem-lineata.)—This insect is ex-
tending its ravages through the Middle States and the more northern
of the Atlantic coast States, while in the Mississippi basin the complaints
are Jess numerous and the injuries less formidable. In New York, Dela-
ware reports the appearance of the beetles; in Chatauqua they were
swarming; in Allegany they appeared before the potatoes were
planted. They were numerous in Gloucester, Camden, and Burlington,
New Jersey; in Northumberland, Chester, Franklin, and Lancaster,
Pennsylvania; in Caroline, Washington, Wicomico, Harford, Freder-
ick, and Cecil, Maryland; Culpeper and King George, Virginia. The
use of Paris green and other poisons was effective in some localities, but
others were disposed to rely upon the more laborious method of hand-
picking. Our correspondent in Frederick, Maryland, adopted a very
ingenious and successful expedient. He reported that a little corn was”
thinly sown among his potatoes and the chickens turned into the patch.
229
While scratching up the corn they waked up the beetles and devoured
them greedily. He states that his fowls showed no injurious influence
from their new diet.
In West Virginia, Jefferson and Harrison report the presence of this
pest. They were also more or less destructive in Shelby, Harrison, and
Spencer, Kentucky. In Harrison their eggs were destroyed in great
numbers by a long, reddish worm. The beetles were numerous and ac-
tive in Fairfield and Perry, Ohio. In Orange, Indiana, they are resisted
by shaking into pans; they are also reported in Clay. They had just
appeared in Carroll, Llinois, and were plentiful in Marion, but less
numerous than usnal in Montgomery, Jasper, Tazewell, and Hancock.
They are reported in Crawford, Lafayette and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In Tama, Iowa, they were as numerous as ever.
Potato-bugs (Cantharis, Epicauta sp.) were very numerous and destruc-
tive in Orange, Indiana. They seemed to defy Paris green and other
poisons. Our correspondent will find the remedy he asks for indicated
on page 64 of the Annual Report of this Department for 1867.
Caterpillars (Clisiecampa) injured forest and fruit trees in Oxford and
York, Maine. They appeared in countless numbers in Carroll, New
Hampshire. They were also noted among late apples in Saint Francis,
Arkansas, and Wood, Texas.
Grasshoppers or locusts.—The species designated as Caloptenus femur-
rubrum is reported at isolated points east of the Mississippi, but not as
being very injurious. They were noted in Carroll, New Hampshire ; in
Conecuh and Madison, Alabama; in Knox, Tennessee ; in Grant, West
Virginia; in Livin aston, Kentucky, and in Cass and Dodge, Wisconsin.
The far more destructive species, CO. spretus, has recommenced its
depredations west of the line of the Missouri, and in some counties to the
east of that river. It was reported that they were hatching in immense
numbers in Blue Earth, Wright, Sibley, Renville, and Todd, Minnesota.
In some cases they were burned in great numbers in piles of straw. In
Missouri they were very destructive in the northwestern part of Vernon
County ; in Platte they swept all the grain and grass crops; they were
also a terrible scourge in Lafayette, Bates, Henry, Clay, and the north-
western part of Daviess. In Kansas they had eaten all the stacked tame-
grass hay and all the old meadows, 25 per cent. of the wheat, and most
of the growing corn-plants; in Marshall they destroyed wheat, oats, and
gardens; Leavenworth records the most terrible visitation yet known;
the popular dismay is indescribable. Similar reports come from Miami,
Anderson, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Jackson, Republic, Allen, Doni-
phan, Nemaha, Brown, Cherokee, Crawford, Atchison, Labette, Neosho,
and Johnson. In some villages the streets are covered with these in-
sects. Fruit-trees have in many cases failed to bear from the fact that
they were last yeardeprived ofall their foliage and young-wood growth
by these pests. From some counties come bitter complaints of the false-
hoods ofnewspaper writers and others, palliating or denying therealextent
of the disasters. These false representations are made in the interest of
speculative property-holders who fear a depreciation of their investments.
In afew counties, such as Howard, Lyon, and Montgomery, the injuries
have as yet been small, but all such places are yet liable to destructive
visitation. The cotton- plant was especially relished by these insects.
In Nebraska they had destroyed 20 per cent. of the small grain and were
still at work. In Merrick and Otoe they were preparing for extensive
destruction. In Colorado they were numerous and destructive He Park,
El Paso, and Douglas.
230
Chinch-bugs (Micropus (Rhyparochromus ) leucopterus.)—These insects
have as yet made but feeble, demonstrations in the Eastern States. A
few were noted in Dinwiddie, Virginia. They are reported in De Soto,
Mississippi, Ashley and Benton, Arkansas, Livingston, Kentucky, and
Warren, Indiana. They were threatening the wheat in Schuyler and
Pope, Illinois, and were more or less destructive in Jersey, Marion,
Grundy, Hancock, Ford, Perry, Jasper, Crawford, Edwards, and Cum-
berland. Plentiful rains stayed their development and devastation in
many places; in others it was noted that they were less numerous than
formerly, but the cool, wet weather may account for that. In Wiscon-
sin they were destructive, especially to small grain in Fond du Lae,
Sauk, Dodge, Iowa, Jefferson, Milwaukee, Lafayette, and Crawford.
In some cases the roots of winter-wheat were found covered with chinch-
eggs. In Missouri they had begun a formidable demonstration in Ver-
non, Caldwell, Polk, Iron, Lafayette, Daviess, Montgomery, Calaway,
Crawford, Hickory, and Henry. Kansas reports them in Butler, Lyon,
and Labette, more destructive in some localities than the grasshoppers.
Army-worms (Leucania unipuncta) are reported in Knox, Tennessee,
and in Logan, Kentucky, where they were specially destructive on
wheat and grass. In Pike, Perry, and Jersey, Lllinois, and in Perry
and Boone, Missouri, they were more or less troublesome.
Cut-worms (Agrotis sp.) were plentiful and injurious in Gloucester, New
Jersey. They are alsonoted in Jackson, Florida; in Richland, Louisiana;
in Bandera and Bosque, Texas; in Boone, Sharp, Scott, Izard, Montgom-
ery, Saint Francis, and Van Buren, Arkansas. In many cases they
materially damaged the growing cotton. They were also numerous in
Grainger and Grundy, Tennessee; in Marion and Grant, West Virginia ;
in Monroe, Ohio; in Clay, Indiana; in Iroquois and Pike, Illinois; in
Boone and Taney, Missouri. In the last named they have taken to
chewing tobacco, and promise to furnish an unwelcome and abundant
home-consumption for that crop.
Miscellaneous.—A species of grub-worm (Lachnosterna sp.) is doubt-
fully mentioned by our correspondent in Gloucester, New Jersey. Joint-
worms (Isosoma (EHurytoma) hordei) are reported in Orange, Virginia.
The Hessian fly (Cecidomyia destructor) is noted in Grainger, Tennessee,
and in Greene, Dallas, and Lawrence, Missouri; in the last named county
the Fultz wheat has been found “‘fly-proof.” The fly was especially netice-
able in early-sown wheat. In Harrison, Kentucky, a long, reddish-
brown “ worm” (?) was observed destroying the eggs of the Colorado
beetle. Our correspondents would especially oblige us by sending speci-
mens of such new insects for examination. Wire-worms (later sp.)
were troublesome in Clay, Indiana, in Pike, Illinois, and in Henry,
Iowa. Coddling-moths (Carpocapsa pomonella) threatened the apple-
cropin Weber, Utah. In Piatt, Illinois, a small dark-colored worm de-
stroyed the foliage of the elm and forest trees. A small black bug was
very injurious to several crops in Pike, Illinois. Rose-bugs (Macredac-
tylus subspinosus) injured grapes and small fruits in Labette, Kansas.
Cotton-lice (Aphis sp.) were troublesome in Leon and Suwannee, Flor-
ida, in Holmes, Mississippi, and in Madison, Louisiana. In Stevens,
Washington, crickets (?) destroyed much grain.
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PLATE I.
231
CHEMICAL MEMORANDA.
By WM. McMuatrir, CHEMIST.
In a previous monthly report I took occasion to publish the results
of some preliminary experiments, made principally to determine whether
arsenic, when applied to plants in the form of Paris-green for the de-
struction of the Colorado potato-beetle, could, when transmitted to the
soil, be absorbed and assimilated during growth, and at the same time
I gave the results of other experiments in the same direction. My own
experiments having been of a somewhat unsatisfactory character, and
those of others having furnished such extremely discordant results, I
finally determined to follow out the investigation about to be described,
to endeavor to settle this question, together with others which subse-
quently arose. These subsequent questions were suggested by the fears
entertained by some of our correspondents that, when Paris-green was
applied to crops year after year, sufficient quantity might accumulate
in the soil to poison it sufficiently to destroy its fertility and render it
incapable of producing vegetation.
My investigation was therefore made to determine—
1st. If applied to the soil, can arsenic or arsenious acid be absorbed
and assimilated in the economy of plant growth?
2d. If absorbed and assimilated, can it be taken up in sufficient
quantity to become prejudicial or injurious to the health of consumers?
3d. If not taken up by the plant during growth, does it by its pres-
ence in the soil exert a poisonous influence upon the plant itself?
4th. If it exerts a poisonous influence upon the plant, to what extent
may it exist in the soil before it becomes injurious ?
The experiments were conducted as follows:
Fifteen common flower-pots, of as nearly uniform size as possible,
were selected, and each one filled with a measured quantity of good
garden-soil. With the soil of each pot were then thoroughly intermixed
quantities of Paris-green, ranging from 100 milligrams to 1 gram.
Thus one pot contained 100 milligrams; that next to it contained
200 milligrams; the next 300; and this quantity was increased
until it finally reached 1 gram. In the other pots the increase
was made more rapid, and the other pots contained 2, 3, 4, and
5 grams, respectively. After the soil had thus been carefully pre-
pared, a given number of peas, all of which were carefully selected, so
as to secure as nearly as possible those of the same size and appearance,
were planted in each pot. This experiment proved unsatisfactory, from
the fact that on one night that portion of the green-house in which the
pots had been placed became too cold, and a large number of the seeds
failed to germinate on this account. I therefore considered it of some
importance to duplicate the experiments, and, without disturbing these
further than to remove them to a warmer portion of the green-house,
prepared in a similar manner and with the same care another series of
pots. At this time the question also arose, what would be the effect
of arsenic in combination, as arsenite of potassa and arseniate of potassa?
For the purpose of determining this, I prepared two other series of pots
in the same manner as before, and placed them alongside the former.
With these experiments my results were extremely satisfactory, and
when those plants which had grown well had reached the period of
bloom, the three series of pots finally prepared were each placed by
themselves in a convenient position and photographed, and from the
232
photographs thus obtained the accompanying illustrations were made.
In these experiments, for the sake of comparison, one pot of soil was
prepared without addition of any poisonous compound. Now, itis quite
evident from these plates that the arsenical compounds in the soil did
produce an injurious effect, and in some instances, in fact in the
majority of them, it was decidedly marked. In case of the Paris-green,
as Shown in Plate 1, it is not noticed until the quantity present in the
soil reaches 500 milligrams, and that in the other pots the size of the
plants decreases regularly as the quantity of arsenical compound present
increases. The numbers on the pots in the different plates represent -
the quantities present in grams and tenths of grams.
In case of the arsenite of potassa, (Plate 2,) the effect seems to be
more immediate. This may be due either to the greater solubility of the
compound or to a possibly larger quantity of arsenious acid. The
potash compound seemed nearly pure, being crystallized, and the purity
of the copper compound was not estimated. Yet in this case the effect
does not seem decidedly marked until the quantity present reached 300
milligrams.
To the influence of arseniate of potassa the plants seemed to be more
sensitive still, for those in the pot containing but 100 milligrams
seem to be affected. Yet even when 200 milligrams are present, the
plants seem to thrive tolerably well.
What, then, are the quantities of these compounds which may be ap-
plied to the soil for the various purposes in practical agriculture before
effecting any injurious results? The amount of soil in each of the pots
employed in these experiments was 91.5 cubic inches. In case of the
Paris-green, the limit is 500 milligrams for this quantity of soil,which
is equivalent to 145.6 grams per cubic foot, or 906.4 pounds per acre,
calculating for a depth of one foot. The limit for arsenite of potassa,
being 300 milligrams per 91.5 cubic inches, is about 540 pounds per
acre. Though the plants seem to be affected by even a small quantity
of arseniate of potash in the soil, I am nevertheless inclined to the opin-
ion that this compound may be applied at the rate of 150 pounds per acre
without any great injury to the crop. For practical purposes, however,
it is never necessary to apply in any case so large an amount.
. These results are confirmed by the water-culture experiments of Pro-
fessor Freytag * in his investigations upon the influence of the sulphur-
ous and metallic fumes of the Freiberg Metallurgical Works upon the
vegetation of the surrounding fields. He found that plants were killed
when placed in solutions containing ~, per cent. arsenious acid, 25
per cent. sulphate of zinc, #4, per cent. sulphate of copper, 3; per
cent. Sulphate of cobalt, ;. per cent. sulphate of nickel, and + per cent.
sulphate of iron.
Mons. E. Heckel} states that 25 milligrans of arsenious acid or
the soluble arseniates in 90 grams of water prevents germination and
destroys the embryos of seeds.
I cannot, however, agree with Professor Freytag in the statement
that the arsenious acid and the oxides of zinc and lead cannot be injuri-
ous to vegetation on account of their property of forming insoluble com-
pounds in the soil, since in some of my preliminary experiments pres-
ence of such insoluble compounds as the arseniates of barium, strontium,
and magnesium was sufficient to prevent germination. Again, in re-
ports upon the composition of certain mineral-waters of Germany, we
* Jahrbuch fiir Berg- und Hiittenwesen, 1873.
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notice statements of the presence of such insoluble compounds as arsen-
ite of iron in solution. These facts argue against the possibility of ac-
cumulation of sufficient arsenic in the soil by regular applications of
Paris-green in the quantities recommended for the destruction of the
Colorado potato-beetle. When rotation of crops is observed and appli-
cation of the poison cannot therefore take place upon the same plot more
than once in three or four years, it is probable that each application,
being acted upon by the natural solvents in the soil, will be removed by
drainage before another is made. And yet, even when annual applica-
tions are made, so much time must elapse before the limit could be at-
tained that no injury need be feared from this cause.
Now, can arsenic be absorbed and assimijlated by the plant in the
economy af growth? My investigations give a negative reply. All
of the plants grown, from the largest to the smallest, were examined by
careful application of Marsh’s test ; yet I failed in any case to detect the
presence of arsenic.
Before making the test the organic matter of the plant was destroyed
by boiling it in hydrochloric acid with addition of potassic chlorate, and
the solution filtered.
I also carefully examined potatoes which had been subjected to appli-
cations of Paris green, and which were furnished by Mr. George W.
Campbell, Delaware, Ohio, Mr. D. C. Richmond, Sandusky, Ohio, and
Mr. J. 8. Nixon, of Chambersburgh, Pa., and failed in any case to detect
the presence of arsenic.
With these facts before us, and without considering what might’ be
the result of a series of experiments continued through a number of
years, we must conclude that plants have not the power to absorb and
assimilate from the soil compounds of arsenic, and that though arsen-
ical compounds exert an injurious influence upon vegetation, yet this
is without effect until the quantity present reaches: for Paris green
about 900 pounds per acre; tor arsenite of potassa, about 400+ pounds
per acre; for arseniate of potassa, about 150 pounds per acre.
HASTENING GERMINATION.—M. Heckel has made some experiments
in the germination of seeds, in order to notice the effect of different
chemical compounds. He placed the seeds between sheets of blotting-
pad, and treated them with the several compounds, as follows:
1. He sprinkled one-half grain of finely-pulverized camphor between
the sheets.
2. Bromide of camphor one-half grain, in the same condition and a
similar manner.
3. “One-half grain bromine water, and an equal quantity of pulver-
ized camphor.
4, Bromine water alone.
5. Bromide of potassium, finely pulverized.
6. Chlorine water.
7. Solution of iodine.
Under normal conditions, seven to eight days were required for ger-
‘mination. , With the application of the different substances named, the
time of germination was as follows: Bromide of camphor, 36 hours;
camphor, 4 to 5 days; camphor and bromine water, first time, 30 hours ; :
second time, 26 hours; third time, 36 hours; bromide of potassium, no
effect; iodine, 5 days; bromine, 3 days; chlorine, 2 days.
Since the effect of bromide of camphor is so much more marked than
that of either of its constituents acting singly, it is evident that in its
action it suffers no decomposition. It should. further be remembered
‘ 234
that it acts without being dissolved, and the author therefore considers
that the influence is due to the volatilization of the compounds. He
further experimented upon the influence of the alkaline borates and
silicates in smali quantities, and found that such slight application
as 250 milligrams in 20 grams water retarded germination from one
to three days, and that when the application was made somewhat
stronger, 600 milligrams in 20 grams water, the phenomenon was
suspended. He also found that arsenious acid and the soluble arseniates.
arrest germination, and destroy germination when applied in so small a
quantity aS 250 milligrams in 90 grams water.
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES,
STATISTICS OF CORN-GROWING.—The low rate of yield for all kinds
of grain in the South, and the small amount of hay gathered in that
region, have led to an impression, general as it is false, that the farms
of the Southern Atlantic coast are not susceptible of high culture and
large production of general farm-crops. The following communication
has been received from a gentleman thoroughly acquainted with this
section:
Indian corn is the great American cereal, and it should be the pride, as it is the interest,
of the farmers of the nation to make the most of it by making all reasonable efforts to pro-
duce the very largest yield and finest quality of which the soiland climate are capable; it is
for the honor as well as the profit of every producer to aim at obtaining the highest yield per
acre that can be made, and not allow the general average to fall below the achievements of
careful cultivators.
Yet a reference to the carefully-collected statistics of the Agricultural Department, for
different years between 1865 and 1873, will show that the average yield is very low, being
only about one-fourth that obtained by the best cultivators. This lesson forvibly illustrates
the utility and value of the annual statistics collected and published by the Department.
The annual report on Indian corn for 1865 shows the average yield per acre to be, in Mary-
land, 23 bushels, value 68 cents per bushel ; Virginia, 22 bushels, value 59 cents per bushel;
Pennsylvania, 32 bushels, value 60 cents per bushel; Ohio, 37 bushels, value 42 cents per
bushel ; United States, 24 bushels, value 48 cents per bushel.
The entire crop of the United States was reported to be about 9324 millions of bushels,
worth about $466,000,000. The entire crop of Maryland was reported to be 104 millions of
bushels ; and of Virginia, 194 millions of bushels, for that year.
And these reports show that the yield in those two States isebelow that of their nearest
neighboring States, north and west, and even below that of the cold, rigorous States of
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, their average being 31 bushels the acre, while the
highest average yield in any State east of the Pacitic slope was in Kansas, being 39 bushels ;
the next New Jersey, 36 bushels.
Now, in connection with this showing, if we look at the large achievements of careful,,
thorough cultivators, it may thoughtfuily be asked, is this meager average in Maryland and
Virginia, and some other States, creditable or profitable to the operators? Itis believed
there are no natural conditions in these localities to hinder them from doing as well as the best.
The above report also shows that, notwithstanding the low yield, the aggregate value of
the corn-crop in Maryland in 1873 was $7,106,680; and in Virginia, $11,372,250. And, im
view of all the facts, it is safe and reasonable to say that this amount may easily be doubled,
and without more than half that amount of increased cost for cultivation. I have known
over 100 bushels of good corn to be raised from an acre two years in succession at one-fourth
less cost per bushel for the grain than the cost where only 50 bushels per acre was obtained,
or even 60,
There are numerous well-attested@ instances in which yields of from 70 to 170 bushels of
good shelled corn have been obtained from one acre of land.
The Carroll County (Maryland) Agricultural Society, in 1873, gave the premium of $100:
to Mr. J. Brown, of Baltimore County, for producing on one acre of ground 1204 bushels.
of good, sound corn, and 9,880 pounds of good fodder. It was a timothy meadow, and was
mowed two years, then plowed deep, subsoiled, and sown to wheat one year; then spread
over lightly with stable-manure, which was plowed under; then 500 pounds of bone-dust.
spread broadcast, well barrowed and rolled; then marked off with furrows 3} feet apart
-
235 — ihe
then’ a compost of ashes, hog-manure, salt, and gypsum spread along in the furrows; then
the corn was dropped in the furrow, kernels about six inches apart, and covered two inches.
deep; it was planted 10th of May, but from too much wet and rain it did not come up well;
again he ran furrows in the same way between the first ones, putting one sack of guano in
the furrows to hasten germination and growth, and planted in same manner as first time,
which came up well about the lst of June; harrowed several times, until the comm was too
high; then plowed twice with shovel-plow; the deep plowing and subsoiling prevented evil
effects of the drought. After careful measuring and weighing of the ground and corn by the
proper persons the product was found to be as above.
In March, 1873, I was at Amherst Court-House, Va., and, in company with Hon. Mr,
Whitehead, member of Congress for that district, and Mr. Mead, the postmaster of the place,
visited one of the store-houses, where we were shown specimens in the ear of a large white
dent corn which that season yielded 170 bushels of shelled corn on one acre of ground
grown by Mr. Hudson, on the farm of W. P. Miles, known as the ‘‘ Oakridge estate ;”’ and
the facts were attested by Mr. Fortune, a notary public of the county.
In looking over a bound volume of the old Farmers’ Register, printed thirty-five years ago,
by Edward Ruffin, at Petersburgh, Va., I find the following statement properly vouched for:
‘*Mr. Meggison, of Albemarle County, Virginia, was reported by the county society to
have raised 110 bushels of sound shelled corn on one measured acre of ground, being ‘ river-
bottom ’ and thoroughly cultivated; a large, white sort of corn.” The same paper says, ‘‘a
yield of 60 to 80 bushels the acre was quite common ;”’ it states also that 35 to 40 bushels of
wheat to the acre was often obtained in those days.
In the annual report of the Department of Agriculture for 1868 there is an authenticated
statement that at Worcester, Mass., Joseph Goodrich and Luther Page each raised 111
bushels of shelled corn on an acre of land; certainly not a bad achievement for a region where
they have snow one-third or more of the year. The same report gives instances in Ohio
where 99 and 101 bushels to the acre were obtained.
The Rockbridge County (Va.) Society, at its meeting in 1871, gives the following official
statement of the results of competitors for the premium on the largest yield of cora:
“Farm of J. D. H. Ross, clay loam, upland; an old timothy and white clover sod,
plowed in December with three horses, harrowed four times with three horses; hills marked
3 feet by 34 feet apart, and manured with home-made compost, a handful to three or four
hills; plowed three times in the course of the season. One acre yielded 76,5 bushels of
shelled corn, 56 pounds to the bushel; and five acres gave 2534 bushels. Farm of A. L.
Nelson, loam, with clay subsoil; in grass for four years; plowed in February to a depth of
12 or 14 inches, and harrowed well just before planting, April 26 and27. The hills received
plaster and ashes at the rate of two-thirds of a bushel of plaster and one and one-third
bushels of ashes per acre. One acre yielded, by measure, 91} bushels; by weight, 86
bushels, 37 pounds each; five acres yielded 317 bushels by weight. Farm of G. W.
Pettigrew, on asandy loam, having a northeastern exposure, and overlaid by one to three
inches of soil deposited by the flood of 1870; plowed in April to the depth of 10 inches,
planted April 12. One acre yielded 894 bushels by measure, or 97 bushels 47 pounds by
weight, and five acres gave 400 bushels and 40 pounds by weight.”
A meeting of the South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical Society in 1869 reports
the experiments of John W. Parker, which resulted in producing from 147 to 2002 bushels
of corn per acre, and gives the mode of doing it as follows: ;
‘Selection was made of a quagmire, grown over with rushes, willows, and sour grass,
abounding with snakes and malaria, and traversed by a winding, sluggish stream. Thor-
ough drainage was attained by the construction of a canal and underdrains, and during the
summer the land was cleared, leveled, and broken up with a two-horse plow. In Novem-
ber a heavy coat of co, ~.use manure was applied and plowed under, and the process was
repeated in January and x, ain in March, with subsoiling. In April, the weeds having
obtained a luxuriant growth, were limed and turned under. In May another coat of manure
was plowed under, and the ground was harrowed perfectly level and laid off in rows 3
feet apart. In the furrows were applied Peruvian guano, salt, and plaster at the rate of 200
pounds to the acre. The corn-seed having been soaked in a solution of niter and rolled in
plaster, was dropped, 10 inches apart, in the rows, and covered with rakes, after which the
land was rolled. The corn was up in five days from planting, and as soon as it was sufii-
ciently large a long, narrow plow was run around it, followed by the hoe, the crop being
kept clean by shallow, level culture until it began to shoot and tassel. The field was then
irrigated by conveying from a reservoir a gentle flow of water through every alternate row.
The yield on two acres was 147 bushels per acre. The following year the experiment was
repeated in like manner, except that the rows were laid off 24 feet apart, one acre yielding
2002 bushels, as attested by a viewing committee. He attributes much to irrigation in these
instances of extraordinary products, and concludes from these and former experiments that
success in corn-growing depends greatly on thorough preparation of the soil during the fall
and winter by deep plowing, with underdraining of moist lands ; this preparation to be fol-
lowed by judicious manuring. While the early working of the field should be deep, the
4A
236 | “a
later culture should be shallow, and the roots of the corn should not be disturbed after it
begins to tassel.” re
If we can stimulate farmers generally to put forth the requisite effort to largely increase
the average yield of corn, a benefit will be secured to themselves and the nation at large,
and where many do obtain such creditably large crops, many more can do: the same by.
reasonable care and work. And it may be safely said that, next to deep plowing and sub-
soiling, no one thing enters more efficiently and largely into the elements of success in corn-
growing than the liberal application of alkalies, such as wood-ashes, lime, salt, and the like, —
in connection with plentiful supplies of stable and hog manures.
Care in the selection of seed is of prime importance, and this should be done, before the
crop is harvested, by going through the field and selecting the largest, earliest ears from
such stalks as have two or more ears on them, for such prolific seed is quite sure to repeat
itself in producing its like. In obtaining over 100 bushels per acre myself, I pursued this
course, and no stalk had less than two ears.
D. §. CURTISS.
CALIFORNIA PROSPECTS.—Ool. W. W. Hollister, of California, one of
the foremost farmers of his country and time, writes as follows, under
date of Santa Barbara, May 24, 1875:
As to California, generally, there will be no great trouble from drought. The rains were
copious enough, but did not come opportunely.. Unusual cold weather prevailed over the
State, excepting here at Santa Barbara, where there was not enongh frost to kill my pota-
toes. The crops will not be a failure by any means, though in places short and in places
nove at all. The greatest hardship will be in grazing. Men will have to resort to expedi-
ents to get stock through. Some will go to the mountains, some will get grazing from the
grain-fields and straw from the thrashing-machine ; all wiil be utilized, and I guess there
will not be serious loss. Some herds of sheep have already gone to Arizona, and more will
follow. I wish there was only a chance for our boys to go to New Mexico and be sure of
protection. * * * Lompoc [one of the new settlements] is getting on well; there will be
some fine crops, mostly of late kinds—beans, potatoes, and corn. ‘The grass, as everybody
knew it would be, is fine. While other flock-masters will find some hardships, our fine old
Lompoe and San Julian ranchos are glorious in abundant pasture. We will carry all of our
stock [about 50,000 head of sheep] as easy as usual.
My crops here are better than I have ever had since I came to the place. I think I will
get four or five thousand centals of barley and a good fair crop of wheat, all of which is
volunteer. My corm and potatoes look fine. Ihave cured and housed three hundred tons
of hay, and the almonds are bearing as much as I want to see on trees at their age. [Almonds
‘
number 25,000 trees.] My little lemon-trees are some of them fullof fruit. That is quick
work—two and three years from the buad—better than I expected. When you come ito see
me I will make you lemonade from the trees, and talk you to sleep under the shadow of
their fohage- * ** *
There ought to be a grand effort to help Scott with the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in
the next Congress. * * ~* We are sufiering more from high-priced labor than from
drought or any other cause. The cost of production must be lessened, so that living will be
less expensive. The reduction of price for labor must first be made on the farm; that is the
beginning place; then all other labor can come down in proportion, * * No farmcansurvive
$25 per month here, or $15 in the Hast. If the farm goes, here or there, all goes. Many
immigrants come here and, instead of going to work at what business justifies, demand $30 -
and $40 per month. If they don’t get that, they scold the country and go back—if they
can. We have got to go back to old prices and all men go to work. Work! work! work!
there is no other way to live.
In a previous letter Colonel Hollister thus sums up his ideas on the
labor question :
Labor, intelligently applied, is sure to add to the wealth of the State. The great thing to
be feared is idleness. {If people do not work they must be poor. If they consent to be
poor they become demoralized. Poverty and crime go together. If you want a country
moral make it prosperous. Stimulate enterprise by just laws, and there is no such thing as
failure. * * Itis notrailroads that are doing the harm; it is general idleness—laziness—a de-
sire to live by our wits and not by work. Labor is the problem for our solution now. God
send that we solve it soon and all go to work with a will !
THE ECONOMY OF FEEDING MEAL TO DAIRY-cows.—Mr. Linus W.
Miller, of Stockton, N.Y., has forsome years past been experimenting with
corn-meal as feed for his dairy-cows, and his success has been so satis-
factory that he gave the result of his experiments in an address deliy-
ered before the American Dairymen’s Association on the i4th day of
237
March last. In the opening portion of his address, Mr. M. states that
sixteen years ago he happened to mention to an acquaintance that he was
short of hay for wintering his stock, and was advised to use scalded
corn-meal as a substitute, at the rate of three pints per day, keeping in
stall during winter and watering by hand. Profiting by this hint, he
dried off his herd of twenty cows, and placed them upon an exclusive
meal-diet, feeding an average of three pints, dry, morning and evening ;
giving the large cows a little more, and the small ones a little less. He
kept them in warm, clean, and properly-ventilated stables, only turning
them out for a half hour each day for water. The first three or four
days they exhibited symptoms of uneasiness on this new diet, but soon
regained their usual quiet and content. As this experiment was com-
menced as a necessity, and with no probability of its being continued
through several years, Mr. M. did not weigh his cows either at the com-
mencement or end of meal-feeding. Inthe spring, when the cows began
to drop theircalves, he fed them all the hay they would eat in the morn-
ing, with two quarts of meal at night, but in every instance they showed |
a decided preference for meal. When upon exclusive meal-diet that
season—a period of nine weeks—rumination ceased when they had no
longer any food to remasticate. During this time the cows drank a re-
markably small quantity of water, varying from one to eight or ten
quarts per day. Although accustomed to eating a daily ration of salt
during the summer, the herd showed but little inclination to eat it upon
meal; but when fed upon hay they at once resumed the consumption of
the usual amount of salt and water. Mr. M. says that he made more
than the usual quantity of butter that season, and when turned out to
grass the cows did better than they had ever done before. After this
brief experience, whenever short of hay, Mr. M. resorted to meal, feed-
ing, in as many winters, five, seven, and eight weeks, and always with
the most satisfactory results. The cows thus fed invariably did better,
when turned out to grass, than those fed on hay, the quality of the milk
being better, and the tendency to lay on flesh being greater.
Mr. Miller has not only experimented with meal, but has also experi-
mented with meal made from different varieties of corn. Meal made
from white western Indian corn is not so nutritious as that of the yel-
low native corn of Western New York. It contains only a fraction of 1
per cent. of oil, while yellow corn contains nearly 4 per cent. He states
- that there was a marked difference in its effects upon his cattle. Feed-
ing of meal from the white corn soon caused the hair to look and feel
stiff and harsh ; then the skin became dry, with the appearance of scur-
vy; finally, some of the herd broke out with blotches along the back
and sides. While a mixture of oil-cake will prevent this difficulty, Mr.
M. prefers to use yellow meal, and avoid the necessity and expense of
using oil-cake with meal made from white corn.
As tothe result of his experiments during the winter of 1873~74, Mr.
Miller says:
At the close of the season, having fed no bran or extra feed since the 20th of August, I
find, by factory returns, that my cows averaged a fraction less than 20 pounds per diem for the
season of five months—May 19 to October 19—being 1] pound and 3 ounces each per diem
more than the average of 531 cows whose milk was sent to the same factory, and an
average of 44 pounds each per diem more than my cows gave for the corresponding season
the previous year, when wintered on hay. I had also two cases of abortion in my herd, the
result of accidents—having had but one the previous year. The conditions were more than
ordinarily unfavorable; but the results were, to say the least, a demonstration of the adap-
tation of an exclusive meal diet to meet the wants of my animals under the conditions enu-
merated. Another result of meal-feeding I find to be a tendency to lay on flesh more readily
than when wintered in the usual manner. I am also satisfied that my herd hold their age
better, and that their teeth last longer; the reasons for which are apparent. What the effect
238
would be if wintered continuously for consecutive years on condensed food I am not able to
say, never having tested it. But looking to my own profit, as a dairyman, I propose here-
after to feed my cows when dry upon an exclusive meal diet, and also to feed more freely on
this article during the spring months. My practice has been to make the change from hay
to meal and vice versa suddenly, without gradation, and thus far it has been with safety; yet
prudence might dictate a gradual change when returning to hay; and also care insupplying
the animal with the necessary quantity of water for moistening the coarse food. If cows
could be watered in their stalls, whether fed on meal or hay, in cold weather, and their
stalls kept warm and clean, taking care to curry daily, there would be a great saving of food.
I would not wish to be understood as laying down the rule that a daily ration of three quarts
of meal is sufficient in all cases... Large cattle would require more and small ones Jess. He
who feeds meal exclusively should watch his animals closely, and variations should be made
according to circumstances. In very cold weather the animal requires more food, no matter
what its nature may be, than in warm, pleasant days. The practice of turningout animals
in the cold and storms to become chilly, is neither humane nor economical. Regularity in
the hour of feeding is also of great importance, whatever the food. Itis a law of animal life
that the appetite conforms to habit, and that the digestion of food will be more perfect if taken
at stated intervals. Where food of any kind is kept constantly within reach of an animal, it
is tempted to eat more than nature requires, and much more than can be properly digested.
In feeding meal, whether alone or diluted with coarser food, it is absolutely imperative that
it should be ground as fine as for family use; and if from white corn, on an exclusive meal
diet, a small quantity of oil-meal or cotton-seed meal should be mixed with it.
DEPARTMENT vs. SEEDSMEN.—Notwithstanding the falsehoods of un-
principled seedsmen as to Department seeds, we must insist that the
closing remark of our correspondent does not properly apply to the ma-
jority of American seedsmen:
_They have all come up most satisfactorily. Having planted them under similar cireum-
stances and same soil as those received from seedsmen, and so far as I can judge are infi-
nitely truer to name than those bought by me of ——— —, of ; or of
, or of ——— ; the latter, scarcely ten plants from a packet of cabbage (large
fiat Dutch) germinating, though all were planted at the same time, condition, and along-
side of each other, both in hot-bed and on open ground, the soil being well enriched with
fine old manure. I regret to say that so little dependence can be placed in our seedsmen
generally.
GERMAN WINE PRODUCERS’ ASSOCIATION.—The following is a let-
ter from the president of the German Wine Producers’ Association,
soliciting this Department to send delegates to the convention of this
association, to be held in the autumn of the present year at Colmar,
Germany:
CARLSRUHE, April 1, 1375.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
Washington, D. C.: *
We take pleasure in inviting the honorable Department of Agriculture to send delegates
from the United States to the congress of German Wine Producers, to be held in the latter
part of September or the beginning of October of this year, inasmuch as subjects of inter-
national rather than strictly local character will here be discussed.
The Oenological congresses at Munich, in 1872, (Annals of Oenology, vol. III, pp. 263
and 376,) at Vienna, in 1873, (Annals Oen. vol. V, p. 1,) and at Trier, in 1874, (Annals
Oen., vol. V, p. 135,) have proven that the joint labors of the representatives of dif-
ferent nations thus assembled were likewise of greatest importance in our department of
science.
We hope the more confidently to see your country represented, since the second congress
of the International Ampelographical Commission will be in session, either immediately be-
fore or after our convention, in connection with which we shall institute an exhibition of a}l
things appertaining to the culture of wine. ;
Accompanying this you will please find a list of questions, which, with others that may
be hereafter offered, will be submitted for discussion in our convention; the programme of
the exhibition will soon be sent you. As we desire to present to visitors a complete exposi-
tion of the scientifically practical attainments in our department, we would gladly receive
any suggestions, information, or contribution of implements used in wine-culture that you
may deem proper to make,
Dr. A. BLANKENHORN,
First President G. W. P, Association, -
»\ 239
The object of these associations is certainly an important one, and it
is to be regretted that this Department has not the means at its disposal
to send representatives from this country. No doubt many interesting
facts and much valuable information will be brought to light. -
Among the questions to be answered and discussed, a few of the
more important are as follows:
What results are arrived at in the use of fertilizers in vineyards ?
What is the relation between the condition of the soil and the quality of the wines?
What cause do the latest observations assign to the favorable results of ‘‘ ringing” vines ?
When erape-cuttings have grown vigorously during the first year, ought they to be short-
ened in the following spring or not?
What are the results of American seed-culture ?
fe i safe to conclude that the plant raised froma hardy grape-variety will also prove
ardy
Can a hardier and more vigorous variety be obtained by grafting European cuttings upon
American vines ?
Does smoking the vines prove effectual against injuries caused by frost ?
What are the latest observations regarding phyllozera vastatrix ?
Might they not be successfully opposed by their natural enemiest ?
A SUPPLY OF WATER.—Mr. D.S. Curtiss, who bas had experience in
utilizing the rain-water supply in Wisconsin, thus writes:
In your monthly report for January, 1875, I find the following:
“ FAILURE OF WATER.—Columbia, Wis. : Water in the earth during the last five or six years
has been constantly, steadily settling, so that most of our wells have had to be deepened in
order to have water. What are we coming to? A barren waste? Or can we do something
to moisten our climate ?”
Now, with your permission I will show that the people of Columbia County, and all others
ie the same belt of country, may have a reliable supply of the very best water, and at very
ow cost.
The results of rain-gauges, kept at different points throughout the Middle and middle
Western States, show that the average depth of rain-fall annually is 48 to 54 inches, over
four feet, on the entire surface of that range of country; an immense quantity of water,
which would be totally déstructive did it not speedily and regularly pass off in deep streams,
and by absorption and evaporation.
About 74 gallons of water make one cubic foot; and about 8}*cubic feet are contained in
one hogshead; one cubic foot contains something. over four pailfuls of water. ;
A hole in the ground 8 feet square and the’same depth will hold 62 hogsheads of water.
A round cistern 4 feet in diameter and 6 feet deep will hold over 46 hogsheads of water; and
one 12 feet deep will hold 93 hogsheads of water.
A more definite idea of the quantity of water that falls, annually, will be formed by con-
sidering that the quantity which falls on the roof of a building 30 by 49 feet in size, is about
400 hogsheads, and nearly 25,000 pailfuis.
Many places in the State of Wisconsin the wells cost from $50 to $150, the greater price
in sections on the prairies where they have to dig through lime rock with drills. But good cis-
terns can be made for from $20 to $50; while less than one-fourth the labor and trouble will
be required to raise the water when wanted, than is required by those deep-drilled wells.
The cistern at the barn, to water the stock, need not be very deep, but broader, to afford the
needed supply of water for the animals.
But for purposes of the house and family the cistern should be deeper, in order to retain the
water at a colder temperature to be palatable for drinking ; 12 or 15 feet depth will keep the
rain sufficiently cool. A good way, and perhaps the best, is to make the house cistern about
6 feet in diameter, and 12 to 15 feet deep; then put in a partition-wall across the middle, of
soft, porous brick ; and allow the water from the eaves to run into one-half, and with the
pump draw out from the other half, a filtering crib or space being made in the partition-wall
roi ae bottom through which the water can pass from the portion into which it first falls to
the other.
Let this course be pursued and there will be no water famine, as there has been no year in
the past two decades when there was not over three feet depth of rain and snow fall in all
of the region above named.
THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION AT COLOGNE.—In reference to the
international horticultural exhibition to be held at Cologne, in Germany,
in August next, the general programme of which was published in the
Monthly Report of this Department for April, the Department has re-
ceived a communication from Baron Von Oppenheim, chairman of the
240
general committee, which states that the Haiburg-American Steam-
ship Company has definitely granted a reduction of 50 per cent. on the
ordinary rates of freight for goods going to, as well as coming from, the
exhibition. Such goods are to be addressed to Messrs. Ollendorf & Co.,
Hamburg, who have undertaken to forward them to Cologne by the
Minden Railway Company, which will also make a reduction of 50 per
cent. on the tariff of freight. The general committee express the hope
that American machinists will be induced to participate in the exhibi-
tion on a large scale with their unrivaled productions.
CHANGES IN THE ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL POPULATION.—The num-
ber of persons in England and Wales engaged in agriculture, according
to the census of 1871, was 1,634,192, against 1,833,295 in 1861, and
1,928,796 in 1851. The later decade shows a decrease of 10.86 per cent.,
while i in the previous one the number declined but 5.46 per cent. Dur-
ing the last decade the towns and cities enlarged their jurisdiction,
absorbing 299,476 acres previously in farms; yet “the cultivated surface
increased from 24,905,758 acres, in 1861, to 26 022,477, an increment of
16 47 TIO) Ord! 67 per cent. The number of agricultural landed-pro-
prietors fell from 30,766, in 1861, to 22,964 in 187 1, showing a decrease of
7,802, of whom 6,862 were females. This fact is accounted for by statisti-
cal writers on the ground that landed property yields a much smaller
rate of interest than the multitude of limited-liability, companies that
have lately grown up in England. Henee, small landed proprietors, es-
pecially women, who have not the capital or skill to render the soil pre-
ductive, have shown a disposition to part with their freeholds.
The class styling themselves farmers or graziers have remained sta-
tionary during twenty. years—249,431 in 1851, 249,735 in 1861, and
249,907 in 1871—but the numbers of farmers’ or graziers’ wives shows a
remarkable increase, being 164,618 in 1851, 163,765 in 1861, and 187,029
in 1871. That, a larger number of this class of tenant- farmers find it
prudent to engage if matrimony, argues ‘a general improvement of con-
dition. That the marriages of this class are neither imprudent nor pre-
mature, is argued from the fact that only 5,373 of these farmers’ wives
are under twenty- -five years ofage. The Haiabee of farmers’ female rela-
tives residing on the farm, including children, is stated at 92,187 in
1871, against 83,830 in 1861, and 105,147 in 1851. On the other hand,
the female indoor farm-servants have fallen off from 99,156 in 1851, to
46,561 in 1861, and 24,599 in 1871. The rapid reduction of this class of
female laborers shows that the proportion of farm-work performed indoors
is annually decreasing. This fact is further evident from the marked de-
cline in the number of indoor male laborers, which was 134,157 in 1871,
against 158,401 in 1861, and 189,116 in 1851. But this is not all. The>
numbers of agricultural outdoor laborers, both male and female, have
also declined. In 1851 the aggregate of this class was 952,997, of whom
908,678 were males and 44,319 were females ; in 1861 the whole number
was 958,265, 914,301 being males and 43,964 females. In 1871 the total
was 798, 087764 o74 males and 33,515 females. The rapid introduc-
tion of machinery, during the last decade, will account for this reduc-
tion in the amount of hand-labor on farms.
Another class of outdoor laborers is distinguishad from the foregoing.
The shepherds numbered 12,517 in 1851, 25,559 in 1861, and 23,339 in
1871. Female shepherds appear for the first time in the last census,
numbering 12. The class of farm-bailiffs, always males, rose from 10,561
in 1851, to 15,698 in 1861, and 16,476 in 1871. The land-agents or sur-
veycrs numbered 3,064 in 1851, "4, 702 in 1861, and 4,810 in 1871; of
the latter number 3 were females. Agricultural students, from 104 in
241
1851 to 490 in 1861, and 760 in 1871. Workers and proprietors
of agricultural implements numbered 55 in 1851, 1,441 in 1861, and 2,160
(including & females) in1871. The increase in this class marks not only
the greater use of machinery, but also the investment of independent
capital in an auxiliary branch of agricultural enterprise. In the land-—
drainage service there were only 11 returned in the census of 1851,
against 1,761 in 1861, and 1,255 in 1871.
The census-commissioners notice “a noiseless but rapid increase in
the number and proportion of women engaged in specific productive
work.” This increase is outside of the increased number of wives of
the industrious classes. About 10 per cent. of the tenant-farmers are
women, who are found in largest numbers in dairy and grazing counties,
such as Derbyshire and Cheshire, where they are about one in seven.
The inerease in the number of farm-bailifts, land-agents and surveyors,
and workers or proprietors of agricultural machinery, taken in con-
nection with the decline of hand-laborers, shows an inerease in the
labor of direction and in skilled iabor. Thus mind is relieving
muscle of its heavier tasks, and elevating practical agriculture from the
mechanical, abject thing it has been in the past to a dignified and
intellectual calling.
CONSCRIPTION OF HORSES IN FRANCE.—The French government is
now enforcing in all the departments the stringent law of August 1,
1874, in regard to the conscription of horses. All owners of horses and.
minles over six years of age are required to bring them before an itin-
erant board of examination on the first day of its session within their
commune. Penalties for neglect of this requirement range from 50 to
1,600 franes. Those who knowingly make false declarations are fined
from 200 to 2,000 francs. There is noticeable a general promptness in
meeting this requirement on the part of horse-proprietors in France.
PHOSPHATES IN FRANCE.—The Academy of Sciences has awarded to
M. de Molon the ‘‘ Mcrogues” prize for his labors in regard to phos-
phates. After a summary of the role of phosphates in vegetation, and
their influence upon the fertility of arable land, the learned statistician
estimates at from 150,000 tons to 200,000 tons the weight of powdered
mineral phosphates annually applied to the French farming-lands. The
average price on delivery is 50 franes, or $10 per ton. It is only since
1848 that eftorts had been made in England to substitute mineral phos-
phates for bone as a fertilizer. M. de Molon has for many years been
persistently urging the same agricultural. improvement in France. In
a paper read before the Acadeiny in 1856, he pointed out the leading
deposits, regularly stratified, abundant, and capable of easy working, in
the departments of Ardennes, Meuse, Marne, Upper Marne, and Yonne.
These deposits have since become the grand centers of French exploita-
tion. These operations are now to be extended to other fields. Among
the labors of M. de Molon was a map of the country, showing the location
of the beds of mineral phosphates, the mills for pulverizing the mate-
rial, together with the deposits of other valuable minerals. M. de Molon
has also presented at each of the great expositions within twenty years.
collections of maps and specimens showing the location and character
of these fossil phosphates. He has also been indefatigable in his efforts
to induce French agriculturists to adopt this material as their chief
reliance in fertilization. The great public benefit resulting from his
labors was gracefully recognized by the Academy in awarding the prize
founded by M. Morogues.
242
FOREST PRESERVATION IN EUROPE.—Respouses to a circular from the
foreign office to British diplomatic officials in various countries of Europe
have been published recently, embracing an immense mass of informa-
tion, showing the effect of the denudation of forest lands upon the cli-
mate and rain-deposit of the continent. The inundations which of
late years have had such destructive sweep in Switzerland have roused
both people and government to the necessity of saving the timber
upon their mountain-slopes. A commission of experts, appointed by
the federal government in 1858, showed up in a trenchant report
the reckless prodigality with which the forests were destroyed. This
awakened public attention to a growing evil, and efforts have been
made, both by legal enactment and otherwise, to restrict the cutting
of timber as well as to re-aftorest the denuded areas. Austro-Hun-
gary has abort 19,000,000 acres capable of producing valuable tim-
ber, but it is gradually decreasing. About 31 per cent. of the country
has remained under tree-culture, and in some provinces 50 per cent.
But in other portions the destruction of forests has been so complete,
that it is doubtful whether the land has not lost its tree-bearing quali-
ties. The soil is generally unfit for the purposes of agriculture, and
hence the destruction of the trees has condemned it to utter sterility,
unless they can again be made to grow. The dimination of forest areas
has already produced serious effects upon the climate, inducing long and
destructive droughts, and exposing the lowlands to the blasts of the
Carpatbians. The towns and cities are made uncomfortable, if not intol-
erable, during large portions of the year, while pulmonary symptoms
have alarmingly increased. The government, and many enlightened
citizens, are making every effort to avert the further destruction of tim-
ber, and to encourage its replacement.
Tn Prussia, especially in the eastern provinces, all forest land is more
or less under government control, and greater care of forest lands is exer-
cised than perhaps in any other country. Strict precautions are taken
to secure an annual replant fully equal to the area felled. Most of the
large forests are mapped out, according to size, quality, and age of the
trees. Sweden has 50,000,000 acres, or 42 per cent. of her area, in forest
trees, mostly conifers. Of this surface, 5,000,000 acres are under govern-
mental supervision, and the remainder in the hands of individuals or
corporations, either by freehold or by lease from the crown. In this
country, as also in Norway, the indiscriminate felling of timber has had an
unfavorable effect upon the climate. The government finds great diffi-
culty in treating the ease by legislation, but its efforts in this direetion
have been warmly supported by intelligent and public-spirited individ-
uals and corporations. Planting-schoo!s and nurseries have been estab-
lished, and many denuded districts have been re-afforested. The steady
decline in the exports of timber show the necessity of such efforts, by
revealing the extent of the evil they are attempting to relieve.
BRITISH TARIFF ON FRENCH WINES.—In reply to a request of the
French government, the British Board of Trade sent special commis-
sioners to the different wine-producing regions of France, in order'to
determine, by actual experiment, the alcoholic strength of each kind of
wine, so as to discriminate in favor of the milder brands in theimposition
of import duties. Of fifty-five different wines examined in 1862, eight
contained of alcohol less than 10°.34 centesimals; forty-one, over 10,34,
and less than 109.94; six contained over 14°.94 and less than 229.99.
Wine-producers in Portugal and Spain, jealous of French producers, were
=
pressing the British government to reconstruct its tariffschedule so as to
243
make 12° centesimal the line of demarkation between weak and strong
wines,'instead of 14°, the standard now recognized. This would bring
a larger number of the French brands within the denomination of strong-
wines. The former are charged with a duty of 27.51 franes per hecto-
liter ; the latter, 68.76 francs... The proposed change would then bring a
larger number within the range of high-tariff charges, and render their
competition with the Peninsular wines difficult, if not impossible.
HORTICULTURAL PRIZES.—The Massachusetts Horticultural Society
offers a prize of $25 for the best essay upon the culture and varieties of
roses, to be read at the rose exhibition, June 17. Also similar prizes
on grape-culture in gardens, &c., to be read October 9; on the culture
of the cauliflower, &c., to be read November 6; on the principles of land-
scape gardening, &c., November 27. The essay on rose-culture must
be submitted by the first Saturday in June; the others a month before
the time of reading ; essays unsigned, but accompanied by the name
of the writer, must be sent to the committee on publication, Hortieul-
tural Hall, Boston. General competition invited.
WINE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN FRANCE.—The MoniteurAg-
ricole, from a study of official statistics, estimates the average annual yield
of wine, in France, at 55,000,000 hectoliters, about equal to 1,453,000,000
gallons, wine measure. Of this amount, nearly 80,000,000 gallons are
exported. The import from foreign countries amounts to about two-
thirds of the export, making the amount of wine available for consump-
tion in the country about 1,427,000,000 gallons. The average annual
consumption of wine as a beverage was estimated at one hectoliter, or
nearly 263 gallons per capita, in 1860, when the Anglo-French treaty of
commerce was signed. It is supposed to have increased 10 per cent.
since that time, and now amounts to over 29 gallons per capita, making
an aggregate total consumption of nearly 86,000,000 gallons. Leakage
is estimated at 80,000,000 gallons, or about equal to the amount ex-
ported. About 265,000,000 of gallons are devoted to the distillation of
brandy, and a considerable quantity used for miscellaneous purposes in
the arts. Production and consumption are seen to balance each other
with remarkable regularity upon a comparison of periods of twenty or
thirty years, as these periods are generally suiticient to embrace the ex-
treme vicissitudes of production, and to furnish a closely approximate
aupualmedium. The ontlook for the future seems to indicate no marked
differences from the past.
FRENCH AGRICULTURE IN 1875.—A leading French agricultural
writer demands greater progress during the coming year in the agri-
cultural production of France, in order to secure an increased population
and an enlargement of the stock of effective labor, of home consumption,
and of foreign commerce ; in fine, an increase of power all around. Leav-
ing out the fruit and wine cultures of the center and south of France
for fature consideration, he directs special attention to the production of
cereals and of foreign and industrial plants, eceupying about 75,000,000
acres of the 125,000,000 within the French territorial dominion.
In the north are found the model agricultural regions of France. Here
lands worth from 5,009 to 6,000 franes per hectare ($400 to $480 per acre)
yield from 25 to 30 hectoliters of wheat per hectare, (28 to 344 bushels
per acre.) These lands are never fallowed, but subjected to a continuous
rotation. The sugar-beet is the pivotal point in this system of culture,
and some apprehension is expressed in regard to its excessive production.
The increase of the sugar product of Germany and other countries is pre-
ocenpying foreign markets, and narrowing the scope of profitable expor-
%,
244 - ;
tation by French producers.. [ts economic value to the industrial interest
of France is incalculable, furnishing, as it does, not only the basis of a
large manufacturing interest, but also a wide scope of employment for
agricultural labor, and a large amount of nutriment for farm-animals.
Those departments i in which the sugar-beet has not yet become an essen -
tial polit in the systems of rotation are piloyasies to introduce it cau-
tiously, with due regard to the economic reasons which have rendered it
so effective in the north.
The model intensive culture of the north may be impracticable in
other regions, at least under existing circumstances. Land worth only
$890 per acre will not remunerate the investment of working-capital that
would be appropriate to land worth $400 per aere. High-priced land
near the market might easily be made to return from 10 to 15 per cent.
upen a working-capital of $80 per acre, while lands not so advantageously
situated might return the same rate per cent. on $8 per acre, with a
cultivation embracing pasturage and fallow. <A practical adaptation of
methods to circumstances will regulate this matter. The extension of
railways is enlarging the area that may be profitably subjected to high
culture. If these new lands can be brought up to the standard of the
north, the writer thinks that France will be able to sustain a population
of 50,000,000.
An abundance of fodder-plants is an essential element in this increased
production. In those departments in which this sugar-beet cannot be
successfully grown, Some adequate substitute must be found, In many
localities the sugar-beet bas failed merely from lack of knowledge and
skill in its cultivation. Strong local preferences, often mere prejudices,
are urged in behalf of ditterent plants, such as the cabbage, the Jerusa-
Jem-artichoke, the potato, the carrot, the rutabaga, the turnip, the radish,
&e. Whatis wanted isa predominant plant, assuring a regular abundance
of stable-feed and of stabie-manure; a plant capable of withstanding
drought, and requiring only a moderate amount of hand-labor. The
writer thinks that such a plant has been found in the maize, which
promises especially to meet the necessities of those parts of the country -
which suffered most from the frosts of last May and the drought of the
following summer. It will take the piace of the sugar-beet in rotation, and
will require trom four to six tons of stable-manure per acre in the spring,
besides a complementary fertilization of sulphate of ammonia and super-,
phosphate of chalk at planting-time. The maize will have this advan-
tage over the sugar-beet, that it will allow the substitution of horse-im-
plements for hand-labor. Irrigation in summer will inerease the yield,
but it can withstand the baleful influence of drought better than most
other plants.
It is true that only some classes of lands are snited to maize, but well-
chosen and weill-treated land may be made to produce 35 tons of green
fodder per acre, equivalent to 6 or 8 tons of dry hay, or three or four
times the yield of meadow of average quality. It is doubtful whether
the sugar-beet itself can rival such a yield of maize, which has also—
the advantage in cost, in resistance to drought, in adaptation to
local circumstances, and in regularity of production. There are regions
in which this crop with a high yield may be depended upon in a system
of rotation, affording masses of fodder that could’ be obtained from no
other plant. Profitable results from its cultivation have been realized
by intelligent agriculturists. The writer insists that, in connection with
cabbages, turnips, rag-grass, &e., it may be made profitably to occupy &
large area of waste heather- land, In the Sonth of Franee it will he of
especial advantage, augmenting its live-stock production and its domes-
} Aap Ea
tie manures. If this plant is snecessfully introduced it will cause the
productive power of the South to approximate, if not to equal, that of
the North, and thus tend to equalize the economic advantages of the two
sectious.
An important problem, pressing for solution during 1875, is the in-
crease of wages by the enlargement of forage-crops, requiring but little
hand-labor and yielding grand returns of manure. Maize-fodder gives,
per hectare, more than the sugar-beet. If the latter, by first yielding
juice for sugar or alcohol, gives its residuum at less cost for cattle-feed-
ing, it is no less true that the maize, less exacting of hand-labor, and
more reliable in its productions, offers special inducements to the south-
ern and central cultivators.
But other points in the productive question demand attention during
1875. Fertilizers, implements, enlarged machinery, live stock, irriga-
tion, matiagement of waters, and other themes, not only of discussion
but also of practical experiment, will occupy the public mind.
PISCICULTURE IN FRANCE.—The fish-hatehing establishment at Hun-
ningue, in the department of Upper Rhine, during the incubating
season of 1873~74 hatched out 7,883,000 eggs, of which 38 per cent.
perished; 42 per cent. were sent abroad, and the remainder were retained
at the establishment. The number of fish sent out to restock the rivers
were as follows: to Germany, 2,359,000; Austria, 60,000; Holland,
600,000; Luxembourg, 90,000; France, 180,000; Switzerland, 100,000 ;
Italy, 30,000; Brazil, 35,000. About 500,000 salmon and bastard salmon
were placed in the Rhine, the Ul, and the Moselle. Very satisfactory
experiments have been made in the lakes of Pomerania, Silesia, and
Brandenburg.
INPERNATIONAL SERICULTURAL CONGRESS.—The committee on or-
ganization of this body has published a circular indicating points desir-
able to illustrate by experiment prior to its fifth session at Milan, Italy,
in 1876. The experiments reported at previous sessions have generally
been too fragmentary and disconnected, and not capable of being co-
ordivated in general results. In order to render such experiments capa-
ble of effective comparison it is necessary that the conditions and cireum-
stances be, as nearly as possible, identical. To aid in securing this
uniformity the circular sets forth several points of guidance for the
experiments to be carried on by parties interested during the period in-
tervening before the session of the Milan congress. These points em-
brace, first, circumstances influencing the health of the silk-worm in the
course of rearing, and in the confection and preservation of eggs. Rear-
ing includes breeding, type, and its modification by heat, moisture,
light, aeration, and other influences affecting the health of worms nor-
mally incubated from well-preserved eggs. Special attention is directed
to the effects of mulberry-leaves gathered fresh, but wet with copious
rains, especially during the fifth age and at the time when the worms
are about to spin theircocoons. It is especially desirable to experiment
upon the character and prevention of the disease known as jflacherie.
Where worms are infected with this malady they should be separated
from the healthy ones and divided into classes according to the degree
of development of the symptoms, and each class studied separately. In
regard to the confection of eggs, it is desirable to ascertain how far
parentage is a good criterion of selection, and how far some breeds
excel others in their capacity to resist flacherie or other diseases. These
experiments should all be made upon old breeds producing yellow co-
coons,
246
The second branch of inquiry refers to the influences which cause the
hatching of the eggs before the regular time, such as artificial hiberna-
tion, rubbing with brushes or other bodies, solid or fluid ; exposure to
thunder-storms or currents of electricity. The extent and intensity of
these influences should be carefully determined.
The third general inquiry refers to the terminology of diseases affect-
ing the silk-worm. An effort will be made to settle upon a system of
synonyms of the names of diseases in different languages.
Persons desiring further information should address “Comité @organ-
ization du V Congres Bacologique, Musée Civique, Milano, Italy.”
CAUSE AND CURE OF HARD TIMES.—Our correspondent in Howard
County, Arkansas, reports that destitution, bordering on starvation, pre-
vails in that section. The immediate cause stated is the severe drought
of last season, but the want of ability to bridge over such emergencies,
without great suffering, is ascribed to two causes more under human
control. The first is a prevalent habit of lazy loafing, in place of in-
dustry and consequent thrift, among the farming population. The time
which ought to be devoted to vigorous work in improving the soil and
cultivating good crops is spent, the greater part, in hanging around
public houses and other places of common resort. and the less part
in farming in the most superficial, slip-shod, and slovenly manner.
Second, cotton and corn are almost tbe only crops cultivated. One
consequence is that not only the community at large, but the farmers
themselves, are dependent for meat, bread, and other agricultural sup-
plies’ for home consumption on purchase from abroad ; so that when the
cotton and corn crops fail they have no supplies of their own produc-
tion, and nothing to buy with. Diversified agriculture and industry in
pursuing it are the very obvious remedies suggested.
RYE FROM THE DEPARTMENT.—Our correspondent in Wasbington
County, Vermont, reports that six quarts of winter-rye, received from
this Department, and sown on sandy soil, produced six bushels of ex-
cellent grain.
YIELD OF BUTTER BY A JERSEY CoW.—Our correspondent in Wash-
ingfon County, Vermont, reports that, in the ten months following April
4, 1874, a Jersey cow, owned by Mr. Nathan Skinner, of Plainfield,
yielded 5033 pounds of butter, besides milk and cream for two persons.
Two quarts of meal per day were fed to her, and, after the 1st of Sep-
tember, two quarts of bran in addition.
WHEAT IN TEXAS IN 1875.—A correspondent in Dallas County re-
ports that, in that and the adjoining counties, the acreage in wheat has
been largely increased, and that the prospect of a good crop is very
favorable. He estimates the acreage in Dallas at 50,000, and that ‘a.
fair yield” would be 750,000 bushels. This, at his estimate of popula-
tion, 40,000, would furnish 182 bushels for each individual. He states
that there are, in Dallas City, milling capacities for working about
340,000 bushels per annum into flour. After reserving sufficient flour
for home cousumption, and wheat for seed, there would be about 40,000
barrels of the former and a large surplus of the latter for outside
markets.
OATS FROM THE DEPARTMENT.—Our correspondent in Benton
County, Oregon, reports that Mr. John Burnett received from this De-
partment two pounds of ‘Early Fallow” oats, which were sowed, about
the 10th of May, on a plat of new-prairie soil (70 feet by 12) thoroughly
prepared but not manured. They ripened as soon as common varieties
247
sown a month earlier. The yield was over 150 pounds—more than 75
fold—of sound, clean oats. The berry is plump, but not extra large;
the hull transparent and thin; and in bulk the oats weigh little less
than wheat.
AGRICULTURE AMONG THE CHOCTAWS.—Our correspondent in the
Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, reports that there is great suffering
in that tribe for want of food. ‘The Indians *‘ worked pretty faithfully”
last year, but the extremely wet spring necessitated late planting, and
this, followed by an early drought, made very short crops inevitable. In
many localities there is no breadstuff attainable, and many hundreds are
living on meat alone. They began to prepare their grounds and put in
their seed as early as practicable this season, and are doing what they
can to guard against a repetition of the famine they are now suffering,
Our correspondent, who has been a missionary among them for eighteen
years, Says:
I have ever taught the Christian Indians that they should be models to all the others ; that
the Christian religion should cause them to become more industrious, intelligent, and re-
fined, with better houses, larger farms, and more stock, than when they were in their wild
state. I often go into their fields with them, encourage and advise them as to work, and
exemplify the manner of doing it. Have often begged seeds from the States to distribute
among them, have helped cultivate them in their gardens, and even showed them how to
cook the vegetables raised from them.
EXCESSIVE RAIN-FALL.—A correspondent at Baton Rouge, La., sends
to this Department a record of the rain-fall at that point, covering
March aud April. In March the aggregate depth of rain, falling in ten
distinct storms, was 8.7 inches; in April, 6.6 inches, falling in six
storms; total for the two months, 15.3 inches.
A HARD FREEZE.—Our correspondent in Russell County, Kentucky,
reports that ‘‘ the cold snap” on the 16th and 17th of April was so un-
precedentedly severe as to do great damage, not ouly to the crops, but
to forest-trees. He states:
The very heavy bloom on our white-oak and beech trees is all killed and the timber
greatly injured. The tops of most of the ash, white-oak, beech, and hickory trees, and
many branches three inches in diameter, are killed. In the tops of three-fourths of them
there are no signs of vitality.
AVERAGE WEIGHT OF FLEECES.—The following statements are from
our correspondent in Sangamon County, Illinois: From a flock of 87
merinos, the greater part pure bred, were clipped 841 pounds of un-
washed wool; average per head, 9.67 pounds. Ten or twelve of the
sheep were bucks, some of which yielded 17 to 19 pounds. Another
farmer clipped from 3 pure-bred Cotswold ewes 34 pounds; and another
from 4 high-grade merino ewes, 21 pounds. The fleeces from the 94
sheep averaged 9.52 pounds of unwashed wool per head.
FRUITFUL IN CLOVER AND CHERRIES.—A correspondent in Augusta
County, Virginia, reports that the section between Staunton and Lex-
ington, embracing parts of Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, is re-
markably adapted to the production of clover and cherries. Within an
area not exceeding ten miles square, over 500 bushels of clover-seed
were produced last year. Ox-heart cherry-trees, some of which are
found 2 feet in diameter, are so abundant that, when loaded with ripe
fruit, they are often cut down as a convenient way of gathering it.
COMMERCE IN RICE.—The records of commerce and navigation show
a marked decrease in the exports of rice, which have been about one-
fifth as large in the past four years as in a similar period prior to 1870—
\
248
the recent average being less than a half-million pounds per annum,
In 1861 the export exceeded 81,000,000 pounds. The average import of
the past four years has been 74,000,000 pounds; of the four years pre-
ceding, 50,000,000 pounds. The records are as follows:
i
Domestic exports. | Foreign exports. Imports.
Years. t = tf ;
| Pounds. Value. | Pounds | Value. Pounds. | Value.
v7 .: \7 year |
TOUD Och 5 5a $22, 502 | 10, 212, 920 | $2280, 463 64, 655, 827 | $1, 876, 786
1Bim Gee -2- 3.) se | 28,768.) 12, 651, 959 | 378, 996 74, 642, 631 | 2; 317, 172
LB OES 6 ba 19, 740 20, 202, 774 591, 417 83, 755, 225 2, 304, 696
Ane: CAS ys 2k he) ae | 27, 075 25, 840, 877 763, 497 | 73, 257, 716 2, 083, 248
\ | |
A PROMISING GRASS.—Onur correspondent in Jefferson, Ala., sends
a description of a grass which made its appearance in that county, on
the Little Capuba River, and “is new to all who have seen it.” It was
discovered two years ago. It spreads rapidly on bottom-lands, but not
onupland. Last year, "TK. Truss sowed one acre in wheat on rich
bottom-land in the Cahaba Valley. After the wheat was gathered, the
land not being plowed, this grass came up spontaneously. In the
autumn he cut and baled it, and, sent it to a commission-merchant in
Birmingham. The bill of sale was as follows: 20 bales of hay, 5,466
pounds, $104.76; expenses, $12.55; net profit, $92.21. “As to the
quality of the hay, it is pronounced by livery-stable men equal to timo-
thy.” Our correspondent stated that with this report he forwarded a
specimen of the seed and a stalk of the grass, measuring 9 feet in length;
but these have not been received.
ORANGE-BLIGHT.—A lady in the parish of Terre Bonne, Louisiana,
reports a remedy for orange-blight, which she supposes to be identical
with that described on page 200 of the Annual Report of this Department
for 1873. It had been her former practice to have the earth raised up
around her orange-trees. For years they have been dying by slow de-
grees, and many were quite dead. The leaves would first turn yellow,
and then the limbs would gradually wither and die. Various remedies
were tried in vain, until a faithful servant heard certain creoles deserib-
ing their process of preventing the blight, and reported the same. He
was commissioned to carry it “into effect, and did, as follows: In Jan-
uary he cleared away all the grass within 2 or 5 feet of the trees, and
dug among the roots, leaving some of them exposed to the air and sun.
The result is that all the trees have improved. The living parts have
leaved out in fall, have bloomed freely, and appear to be in vigorous
health. On one tree, which bore only two oranges last year, and which
was so nearly dead as to be thought beyond recovery, each live branch
has put out the richest green leaves and is in full bloom.
WOOL-GROWING IN CALIFORNIA.—The following table, prepared by
E. Grozer, represents the shipments of wool from San Francisco for the
last two years. It indicates the rapid increase of wool-growing in Cali-
fornia, and the large dimensions it has already reached. That industry
249
s at present making healthy progress, not only in extent of production
but in improved grades of sheep, qualities of wool, and yield per head.
Years. Pounds. Value. | Years. Pounds. | Value.
{ } eee ear
Tot: 3 175, 000 | S14) ODOR SUBGD . se etone pee nsate week 6, 549,931 | $1,334, 425
SegD memes ee eelsee .- <=: 360, 000 BOTO0U | MLS. Logon sue eeteee 4, 662, 129 | 897, 938
LN SA AS Seen Stead 600, 000 | BO OOO MN ARG. ne ee sees omen 7, 057, 631 1, 143, 571
Ameen ado = === ~ een Ta: 1, 100, 000 | TGS NOOON|NPLGOB. <2. ~ ame neater 13, 225, 181 2, 436, 594
ROM ae allo <<. stabiis 1, 428, 551 TOD: 96BHAEGO. 1. AAR cee 13, 747, 791 2, 370, 165
See een -->\------ | 2, 378, 250 B06) 80) 0870 nas moi poate emete 19, 238, 000 | —_3, 655, 000
Lot Ss 3, 055, 320 Eats 1] Te i Be a Se es Se 22, 064, 638 6, 067, 772
Seen gi l= =< a: Sc - | 3, 721,998 DOT (29 | AGM... Cos Sedo. ae 24, 578, 98)) 7, 450, 000
LON) ES ee ee 9, 090,200) J; G6RKORM NRlB¥S'.. 2 .2a2 2G-—. 2 - Jn pa 29, 238, 376 6, 450, 300
BUI SER ERs wes oh vies soa ie 0, 268, .480)4 1, 225,pLol ua Br4. oe 8s. -2 oe. oie 36, 088, 701 8, 182, 000
AGE ease eens a-2-s--| 5,930,670) 1,254,778 ||
AMERICAN CoTToN IN INDIA.—The Bombay Chamber of Commerce
reported, concerning New Orleans seed, grown in the Dharwar district,
a staple of good color and fair length, fine and silky, but deficient in
strength as compared with the Hingunghat and the better kinds of
Oomrastee. Later experiments in other districts are adverse to the ©
further use of American seed. Kyots are nolonger urged to cultivate it,
and there is less disposition to experiment with it.
Cotton experiments have been conducted for several years on the
government farms in Berar with New Orleans, Sea Island, Egyptian,
Peruvian, and Pernambuco seed, with unpromising results in all cases, the
“ Dharwar acclimatized New Orleans” succeeding better than the others.
The natives took a fancy to this sort, and in 1872 the cultivation had ex-
tended to 3,534 acres. But the result of this extension was not favor-
able; while thriving on the hills south of Berar and at the foot of the
Souptura range on the north, on the low-lying black soils the crop gen-
erally proved a failure, dampening the ardor of the natives for its
further cultivation.
A BETTER SYSTEM WANTED.—The secretary of a farmers’ club in Ben-
ton County, Arkansas, writes as follows :
Horses are thin, owing to shortness of last year’s corn-crop, with no grass, clover, hay, or
anything else to fall back upon, except corn in shock half rotted. This system of farming
is our leading one, and is slowly but certainly leading us to ruin. But it is beginning to
take a new turn. The Department has done much for us in disseminating practical information
on a better system of agriculture, through the annual and monthly reports, though thousands
fail to appreciate or even to read them.
GREAT RUIN OF GRAIN-CROPS.—The secretary of the Loami Farmers’
Club, Sangamon County, Illinois, reports that in that county the rye
has been about all killed, and the winter-wheat to a very wide extent,
by late unpropitious spring-weather. He states that thousands of acres
will be plowed up and put in corn, spring-wheat, and oats. ‘ The early-
sown was killed the worst, the late broadcast-sown the least.”
THE WINTER IN WISCONSIN.—Our correspondent in Douglas County
reports that between the first of November and the last of March, at
Superior, the mercury fell below zero on eighty different days. The like
has not occurred there before within the last nineteen years. The snow
was not excessive until the 15th of March, when a depth of 18 to 24
inches on a level! fell.
INDIGENOUS PLUMS.—Our correspondent in Martin County, Minne-
sota, writes:
Wild plums of many varieties are cultivated with success here. If they are not better
than the eastern tame piums, they constitute an excellent substitute for them. They are used
250
for pies, puddings, sauce, and preserves. Farmers’ wives often scald and put down from —
one to three barrels for common table-use, and so far as I know, they keep good until they
are used up. J have known them to be good in the spring after they were putup. From
the time they are nearly ripe, children are allowed to eat them at will, at least after the
first few days. They are considered a very sure cure for summer-complaints.
RAIN-FALL EXTRAORDINARY.—A correspondent in Juab County,
Utah, reports that the prospect for all kinds of crops is very bright in
that county, and that with less than usual labor. Writing May 26, he
says: Te.
For the last five or six weeks we have had rain about every seven or eight days, which
is something wonderful in this part of the world. The farmers are looking cheerful; and
well they may, as it relieves them of a great amount of labor in irrigating, and thus gives
them time for other important work. The season is all of a month in advance of that of
last year.
FIELD-PEASE AS A FERTILIZER.—A planter in Montgomery County
Alabama, reports that last year he sowed cow-pease freely between the
rows in a field of corn. A drought came on before the pease matured
and so dried the vines that they died. These he covered by turning two
furrows between the rows. This spring, cotton planted on that field is
far superior to that on other parts of his plantation. From the results,
thus far apparent, he judges the pea-vines. equal to a coat of guano in
fertilizing value.
MARKET PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS,
May and June, 1875.
The following quotations represent the state of the market, as nearly as practicable, at the begin-
é ning of the month.
Articles. May. June.
NEW YORK. Price. Price.
Flour, superfine State and western....+--.. per barrel.} $4 60: to $4 90°) $4.70 to $5 00
extra) State)... 0 Beh diene QRores es do...| 5:05 to 5 50 |) 4°95 >to 5 50
extra’to choice western'..---..2s0lsesse. do.. -| 5. 05: ‘toy 89259). 4°95) to 8 25
common to fair southern extras..0.-- 2... do.-. 5.10. -t0. 5.75. |-0§009%0 5 90
good to choice southern extras..-..----- do...| - 5 20 .to-8 251pi-5"95e%t0 8 25
Wheat, ONo#a springs... 2). Be... lawee OD: per bushel.| 1 27 .to.1 31 | 1.12}to 1 16
NOY? spring)... 292. es. sae DD yaae aa do...} 1-19 to. 1 23)}'-1:07%to 1 124
winter, red,-western..1.-. 22.506 QWsees os do.. -|-1-33.-to-1- 42.4 SInpRuRe 1°32
Willter, amber, westerm.=-- 2. cesses. -- = do...|' 133 to” 1942"| P22 tometer
winter, white, western..2:-|...20.-2---. do...| 140° to 1 45 1): 25. towers
LPC) cae ee aE aR Eo ie Hans Rest = — oaeetee do... 9 to— —| 110 to— —
Barley Qi. .os. $2.) Gk oOF. Gee. Ie eORO OIA <0 do...|..1-28. to. 1 45-| . nominal.
Gort 2% OU 5 ON DO. ots ee Reese Moncey deans 91 to 934 73°to 81
Mpishy pe) Oe oS LOT. QE 6 slr do.. W3# to 0178S 69 eto - 75.
Hay, first quality ...... oe! a me Gee iy per ton-|. 17.00. to 20 00 | 16 60° to 21 00
second: quality 02. Mek dene Ob oee ss: do...| 12.00 to13 00 |.13°00 to 14 00
Beetimessvec sh. is 0. Oi OGL. ore per barrel.| 9 50 to 10.50 | 18 00 to 19 00
extravmess -} oi)... OF. 22k Wee Boeases do...| 10 50 to12 00 | — — to— —
Pork, mes8- 28040 J os oo wie SPU. bras Oe ec on do....|. 22-25. to —-—-| 20 70. to 20 75
exfrazprime, Wi. Of. Se. tee ce Scesens do..-| 16 50 .to17 50 | 15 374 to 15 75
prime dess! -.... - 23-40 sehen ees do..-} 19 75.. to 20 00 | 18-75. to— —
Wardit 2g 2 DE Red £5. Oe UN Ris Oe ae per pound. 152 to — — 13% to 148
Butter, swestertiv. :i0) SS 23. OR Me tes ro ODeds nee do... 126 toe! O17 14 to° 24
Stateldairy UU. of. 20 Ts ere ads doz 15. to... 28 16 to 28
Cheese State factory’. .o2. C1. Nasco racemes do... 14. to. 164 10 to 124
ae
251
Market-prices of farm products—Continued.
Articles;
May.
New YorK—Continued.
Cheese, western factory----.----.--..-----per pound.
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary...-...--..--- dona
low middling to good middling...--.-.-- do...
Sugar, fair to prime refining........-.-.-.----- da-te
BOONES LSU Goce) Oe deb 2 dos:
low leaf to medium leaf.........---.-- do. -12
Wool, American XXX and pick-lock..-..-...--. does
Pam ATUNCNS AN WK oho ce a's meminielsie > cose do...
Bemeweal COMING 204 Ss se can dese noes = do...
Manet Caedos GORA: ILO). Lyn Si do..-
@alifornia spring clipstact .25-~s-iess> ide do...
NOE: ABN Clie poo na: k aoe mali bla = shee ob dO.
: BOSTON.
Plour, western superfine ..--.. .5.. -2sn5.- per barrel.
common western extras......---.-.----- doze.
red wheat, good to fancy northwestern....do-. -
white wheat, good to fancy western.-.---- does
SU UAT 1 he ee een ee [0
BME Eee ie soy can - abso si ccee been acne per bushel -
UN oo - or done ee eee Osee
DG 220015 SSS Se eee eae ae OE Be A Be doJs2
NER ges ein oa ele wt yclclalace dais we do...
Hay, eastern and northern..--. ---.25-\. --<-.- per ton.
DMPIRGLWCSICED . 5 _ jo. sess ens cowen nn do)s-.-
8) Eo ee eee per barrel.
Be IMIN ESS) Soin [o <0) info niicia veins ememinaciemced do... -
OWE, |CHENS SSO SE eee ee a ee do=--
Wi) 4 SR BAe ee ee ere cee dope
ae Sr ob ccc ebn aw ewne per pound.
Butter, New York and Vermont ...---.--.. per pound.
Western). c----- Earelse civic malcleseapeeels doreee
Cheese, New York and Vermont factory--.-..... dopeece
Restem factory sees .).- 2. Jacinenlecccee doses
Sugar, fair to good refining -.-.-...-.--..----- dozecs
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary.-....---...-- dole
low middling to good middling -......- dows
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania-...-....---.-.2- doses
Miao 20 fot Uh 2 tke bales a. doz -as
other western ...--...--- CALE Re SS See don. a2
Mebeteme tit Sot 5 oh. 2 Le toe domes
Bombpad-feece 03. Qi. noha s nc. dokeee
OE a ae ape Se = doses
PHILADELPHIA.
Ta Se per barrel-
Pennsylvania, extra to choice...---....- dos. =.
western, extra to choice ......-....----- Goeeee
Mpiteniyy Nite 65-1 2 28 od. 2 LA. ceees per bushel.
retest eee teas ie Sl Le bew eras Gee.
Oi 2 2 REP pa Cae On Oe me a ate.
epee ere oo. MER Rat OP NE be. oh ce seus doe.
See ae 2 Sobor ty: SO -CE Jn nm, cee doz2-:
et even ata Seite thc Oa nen =a do...
DEMME tec. S02 og WE OL. ie bac ote. doves
Seay nemo baled! .—- 4-342... |. Sarears sec per ton.
baled, common to fair shipping........--. dosses
Beemesterl Mess HS. 2-352 -. eek. per barrel.
PIR IOUICSS cpish as - Oe sehtn cle dwt aeaaas se docs
5A
$0 12 to $0 153!
158
132 to
15% to 74
81 to 88
9+ to 13
124 to 17
57 to 62
ASO toy see eD,
54 to 63
30 to 50
24 to 34
16 to 24
450 to 4 75
5iooy tom oud
5 50 to 8 50
6 00 to 8 00
6 50 to 8 00
92 to 95
72 to cher
120 to 1 2%
1 00 to 1 40
16 00 to 22 00
— — to10 50
— — tol3 00
June,
$0 10 to$0 12
134to 154
15% to 17
8 to 84
94 to 13+
124 to 17
57) to 62
50 to 55
54 to 65
30° to 48
22) tO 35
16. to 24
425 to 4 75
5 00 to 5 50
5 50 to 8 50
6°25) tomen2a
7 00 to 8 50
82 to 85
Va to. 0s,
115 to— —
nominal.
16 00 to23 00
— — told 50
— — tol3 00
17 50 to18 00 | 17 00 to17 50
22 50 to23 00 | 21 50 to22 00
16 to 163 15ito 16
16 to 23 15 to 26
15 to 22 14 to 18
144 to 164 10 to 124
14 to 163 9 to 324
8 to 84 8 to 8L
14 to 152 134 to 154
164 to 173 152 to ig
52. to 564 50 to 57
481 to 524 45 to 52
44 to 49 45. to 50
24 to 574 25. to 5d
39 to 70 60 to 70
16 to 22 14 to 36
3.75, fo 4 254.4 95 ‘tow 4noor,
4 25 to 6 00 |.-5.00. to) 6°25
5 50 to 625) 550 to 6 2%
1.40) to: 1. 50 17) 4035!) ston 1.42
a2 to. 1 S6nhnils Sem ton 136
P30; to) 134) 21 S0nston head
105 2to. 2 08) pilsdOpstos 1) 2
Nominal. ....-.| Nominal.
&8 to 90 81 to 84
69 to 77 67. to va
252
Market-prices of farm products—Continued.
Articles. | ‘eacMay. June.
|
PHILADELPHIA—Continued.
Beef, Warthman’s city family.----.-.----- per barrel... $16 00 to— — |$16 00. to = —
Mork, messeto-) |. So... 01. ob tanec Bacecs do....| 22. 50. to $23 00 | 20 50 » to $21 00
prime mess. £4... 02520. cc eseeelenes 2 do..-.| 20 00 to— — | 17 50 to——
printe’..--- LEO ce es eaQWascas do....| 16 50 to 17 00 | 15 00 to 15.25
aeard ~ 9825 02 2 \eh-- = OL een. 2 tees per pound. 164 to | 194 15 to’, 38d
Butter, choice Middle State...-..-...-- ee doecus 27. to 30 25 to 29
ehoice western .. 82. 24..5-c0sceCUencss do..-- 2h @tO\- 20 2S 22 to © 28
Cheese?New, York factory} ais.--- (..-.00so.5- douvaes 16 to 17 10% to» > 1124
Ohio factory... 08 Fak... . sesceOacene dowgut 15. to 164 lloto 124
Sugar, fair to good refining..---.....---.------ do... 84 tp 82 8} to 82
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary -...--..-.--- dOices 132 to 154 13 to 154
low middling to good middling -....... docs<s 16 to 172 16 to 172
Wrool, OhioeX andSexX . 02. 95. fennOe wees doseee 5Imto bedi 50," top, mse
other westery..- 28 -G5- -- < benawitiaw we AO. = Able dO seaeco 45 to —
RUA WASNed sores oaienies pee reset oe dow: 54, to. 70 55 to 57
UMC sis doce icc em nnioaee sei bam etre = doe== 26-00, 6 AT 38 ‘to; 52
combing J. JU. +. 0b UG 6... ISTE 9g. do..- 46 to 71 42) to 10
BALTIMORE
Fionn, Bupertine.- So. 95. Gk se. duce BBs per barrel.|. 4.25. to 4.75 | 450 to 4 75
GX =o doce oes = it oe wim pm Ne Leen do.-.-|. 5.00. to..5 50 | 5 00 to. 5 75
family and ‘fancy .o.-2..----~Jts-.-~- do.-..|. 6 00. to 8 30} 5 75 to 8 25
Wiheatiteds--- ak. 0 Soe oem per bushel-}..1.30..to'.1 40} -1 20 ‘to 1 32
BIBDEM. - Joao So sere ne ope eee do..-~|--1.42.t0..1.44.| 1. 34 fot £37
WIRTH A. te ieere Oh SOG. 2. bn mre do....|. 1-44. to. .1.50.|.. 130) ‘toye1.38
Fey O98 hn 5 ao. = RE DEE wn be aide per bushel--}. .1.15..to-.1.17.|-114 to 122
(OEE Rae i Bes eee ee Drone 68. to....78 69 to «7d
Corns Gt. BE Ok 1.00 Ol .ok 00. OL vat iad. ... doers 86} to 92 730:to! 789
Hay, Maryland and Pennsylvania .......--. per ton..|°16.00. to 24 00 | 21.00 to 24 00
Pork> Mess. 9. 2) cos ces Ona tee st 4 RE per barrel..| 23 00 .to —.— |.21.50:-to——
Oxira prime =s- 22-02 of. en do...-|. 17. 00. .to —.—.| 1%:00::to— —
MUAY Oe. See er JOUR Se Gb Phe rent En per pound. - 164 to...17 15}$-to 2117
ButterPwesterm |-<=-= =k -Vb_2l_. a Onna Ic -to, «5226. I8intoy: 27
CR SEOTIG o cmels ecicitontie = Gn beware the mentans AVisou= 15_.t0.. -.28 18::tos 28
Cheese, western factory .u. --0-2-. /-uLung a0-- doveas 144to.. 16! 11 _ to 12
Caster faetory Ws Geese beth een on dete 15. to 17 13° to 14
Sugar, fair to good refining. ..-.-..--+-.------ 1.0 roma et to 8 B8isto 8=— 8 FE
New Orleans and grocery grades..----. do.-.-; — — to— — | — — to— —
Pobacko, lugss. ese - Ol ge oan oe RO per cental..| 9 50 to14 00) 8 00 to 12 00
leaf, common to medium --...--.---- do.---|.11.00. to.14 50 |, 12 00. to 14 50
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary ---.---- per pound.. 14. to... 15 |>-—— to 142
low middling to good middling .....--- dogeas I5ito . — lozito 8=— «158
CINCINNATI.
MUON SU PC UMNO je- sees tel mee cee tales per barrel..| 5 25 to 550) 4 80 to 5 05
extra b..4 Gt at. de6 cloned vec. do...-|. 5575. to 6.00°/° 5:15; to 5930
familyeand ‘fancy 6. 06 <<. -|., oie do.-.-| 6 00 to 7,00} 550 >to 7 00
Wheat, winter red .----...2.-. i Bae (FF) 2 per bushel..|..1.32 to 1.35) 120. to.d 2)
hill) Kamber) Q&S 0. .).-2 ob. 22. do...-},-.L 36 to. L382 Wo 2onitomiges
white D. of. 00-1. 215 5b Se. do...-|..1.35..to.. 1 40. |. Bgetoy Isa
NEV Oe eb ee enia = ot ai om CRE IEE inlet Rann a3 do....}.. 1.20. to. .1.22 |._ 1.16. to 20>
BANC Yate se = + tee lo De a teh hae Oh ae en=- do.-..| 1.35 .to.1. 60.|. 1.45. to. 1:55
(DOW OF 2 fae aor oe Seok = Dd ies ohn 46 Oem = dogeet 73. to 77 71hto 74
Wats LOL eee st Sek 08 OF tobe. dozen 66..to... 69 63. to 67
Hays baled) NO.)100 co 22-00 QE) cot soe per ton..|. 20.00. to 22.00.| 18 00 to 20 00
lower grades) 2L oi..00 £62. eb 2... do..--| 15 18 to18 00 | 15 00 -to 17 00
Beef, plated £22.00. cJ.ct. 002L_ | loreed 2 per barrel -_|.—.—-. to. easte 08k
Pork, messs/556 2/08 CC o2- NO £9 |. abe we oe. do....} 22 00 .to 22 50 20 00. to 20 50
Hoard Ob hecclna sheen de neko = o/= MEME per pound... 154 to... 1% 13¢.to 164
253 ,
Market-prices of farm products—Continued.
Articles. May.
CINCINNATI—Continued.,
Muttermehaices le. oo. coe od. LNA oases per pound..| $0 27 to $0
prime ----..--....------------+-+---- A0nens 18 to
Cheese, prime to choice factory...--..-.----.---- dO=eee 13 to
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good....--..----- donee 8t to
prime to choice..-.-..--- dora 94 to
Tobacco, lugs ..--...----.------------------ dopess 10 to
eer eesr oe cn Eo Ae ann dace Oin ae dOrre 15 to
‘Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary ..---....--- dozaes 134 to
low middling to good middling....---. dozees 154 to
Wool, fleece, common to fine..---...----..--- donee 43 to
fubsawashedbt Set. ...1..ch- n= dorsr. 43 to
unwashed clothing ..---..----.-- do. scm 30. to
unwashed combing ..----.-.---- dol. 36 to
Pade... Oboe ete OR eee do.... 3D to
CHICAGO.
Flour, choice winter extra. -...---....--- per barrel..| 5 50 to 7
Boaimnon tO. e00d, ditto... --2----2 --.< do..--| 5 00 to 5
Chenerspring, ditto: 52. 2ot- 7. csc c ees do..--| 5 00 to 5
PPA AMES TINO -)ea\= as <i cree online w nck = doess2 0 ONO tou.
Eprinp Buperfind. ct co. b..jAesuul vsq.. GOs cas uxuhe ioe ce
Wheat Nodspring o..ct 00. 3..) 28 per_-bushel_-)|, 1! 09. to;
Nowessprine 3.0% .00.9-. (oho. do....|. 1.04. to J
Pee GaNacaspring Eat. 05.1.2) fodeod. pos. i543 98 to
Raye Neleaee eo hf. et Sh. tk. per bushel.|. 1 09 to —
muneyeNGye 2 -0e-1-t bf. tok Genie Neil) anova
Baie None ie ot. stof.-cb eff. Li dederd roc. dors 62. to
Looms EO AeSe B= eee Ses ee Senet Cs eae do.. 76 to
inyauimontyn-- | So ...01 598. 23 bch ease per ton-| 16 00 to19
prairie /.. 222-2. ot 0G B81. aj eg.o.. do...| 8.50. to.15
Ger MeSHtactes|oacces. os SS). lorned. per barrel-| 8 25 to —
GSEAMMOsSiecterectes tue lh ot tana neem nnn do..-|..9 25 to —
Panne gmesse so-so. 2 SAL. hfe crecee ges POTS oem
FABIA SSE ake wo ct hE oo I teen do...| 19 90 to —
PAE SS 4 othe =. Ait AG belo oben enn do...) 15.75 to. —
Pen eos -Ok . = ~SS-ERE J... 0b... per pound.| — — to
Huttergeheice to jfancy ai. 2b. =. lene DDR am Aas ipeeeeonsto
axediumM) FO5200d 63-28 - << fea ememme does 17 to
Cheese, good to prime factory.....--.-....-----. do..- 164 to
Sugar, New Orleans, common to choice--...---. dos. 74 to
Wwoot tuo-washed eh! oF. O08 0.0 ob dons 45. to
faeece-washed.... 0. .b1...-\..5acegasg.- dons 40 to
MmppaASned | sa. 2. OS fb. 5. jean wane do... 27 to
Set Sh a Sr ea do 42 to
2 LLNID7 oe) 35 SESS CeCe BSS Gap sees ooeree do...| — — to—
SAINT LOUIS.
Flour, winter, common to choice ...--....- per barrel.|. 5.75. to 6
spring, common to! choice.-.......--.---- do...|. 5 40. to 6
W heat;! winter, white!. ci. 00.22... ledeus per bushel.| 1.30 to 1
Te@o. J. 02. 08. t..)...c0b one. do. -.|.. 1. 20 toi
ish cat ate ARIES} Os SO ee Ss | 8 Os s\pedO0 Reto J
Worm aaeecs -f. SS. J.6t 98 024... .08.....-.- do. .- 70. to
Lye 46 36UR a EES SEA ae A Pe doze = eee otomst
ul eS Se Re ey ee «3 do...) «di 324. fod
Jie) oS SS Oe Ee ee: 2 doves €0. to
Hay, timothy....-.....2. 222-2. 22-222 s20--- per ton.| 19 00. to 23
menne.62.) Ee ot. ee at. eb_o. ..K. do.../ 13.00 to 15
Pen MeSS=. =~ J. couse eh oe oso lore 2 per barrel.| 14 00 to 15
Pork, BNE ie tata bate cine Oa) =| Sb atee Yimin as ORs ee an do. --|. 21. 00. to 22
Mibed otic! | 51... .cts2r...l bong per pound. 12 to
Butter, prime to choice dae Ese hoarse teetenice' doze 27 to
30
22
June.
$0 22 to $0 25
18..to 22
104 to 11
84 to et
94 to +
104 to 124
15. to 20
12% to 14
142 to 152
43 to 45
akan to 4
30. to 31
38. to 40
35 to 38
7 00 to 8 00
6 00 to 6 75
550" to 52a
6 75 to 8 00
350 to 4 00
944 to 984
91. to 93
88 to— —
1 02 to J 03
1s20;y,t0 1 23
574 to 58t
624 to 64
18 50 to21 00
12 00 to18 00
8 50 to— —
9 50 to— —
19 95 to20 00
mag te to— -
15.00 told 25
—— to. 144
24. to 30
18 to 22
11 to 12
a
43. to 45
95 «to 34
= to — —
35 to 36
Tazo 7-75
50 to 5 50
30. to, 1 32
14 to 1 38
95 to 1 07
64. to 78
03. to_1 10
95 - £0. ahiaod
60 to 68
00 to 23 00
00 to 15 00
00 to 15 00
00 to 22 00
12 to 14
OTe t0 28
254
Market-prices of farm products—Continued.
' Articles. May. June.
Saint Lovuis—Continued.
Butter.country packed... --- 2+ pes-4 one per pound.| $0 15 to$0 20 | $0 15 to$0 20
Cheasey CO ninteChOlyn one tems emcees do..- TS A105 se U3" to ESE
Wieivg MOLK TACLOTY'25 some apes cee oon do-.- 13 to” 134 13 to 134
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary.-....---.---- SOG Wee 12ito 144 124to 144
low middling to good middling.--.....- oss: 15 to 162 16 to 16}
BRO B OC OnE ore eee a poe ole pie aie mol aateese a dose 10:*to == “12 TU? to» _ le
case to medium leaf....-. Bat Smee dos) 78 hs tors tee Tito Wp
Wool simb-washed <<< Sacplanninn <sabn seme once doses 53 to 55 53) 40, - 55
MOeCe-WASNEG:. - nic aka ciok an cmectoel tein 3 = doz:: 32° to” 52 32> to 2752
TUWaASHED too cae cen iaCrema Re + ol. li dose: 28 to 36 2B eto. Se
NEW ORLEANS.
Blour, superfine .-oe~ ose e<- ape e-- Sse 352 per barrel.| 5 25 to 550} 5 25 to+ —
Bethea cic Petia nth been ore a/e sonata = == do...| 5 75° to 6 373] 5 37440 6 25
PaO by. eNO AANCY So ce see Sees sae dos::[ > 6°50~to -7-25") "6 50s roe
atts YOON 2 baie ae = wen enter enia of ee per bushel- 86 to 87|—— to 88
Willows ele aot vos aidomept ~soamee ota dost: 86 to 88 86 to 88
KOHISho tee da ele op oa coe cde ceclesunte doce sacs do... 734 to 75 12 te OTS
RIUVR CHOICES soo sp\cabice = Cecaiccaes. 4 see per ton..| 26 00 to 28 00 | — — to— —
: DUNG see en) eee sis= sce ow. ea eee co do....| 24 00 to 24 50 25 to 26 50
Then ly MOK His oa oh ce oe Cc mnie wd aes per barrel..| 10 00 to 11 50 | 10 00 toJJ 50
WHGSHCID od sreee crea a win cere om cto meee cm do....| 14 00 to 16 00 | 16 00 to— —
hMulten Market. co cee eas per half barrel-.| 11 40 to 11 50 | 11 50 to 12 50
OT eNOS Sree a a Aleta orem Ses ewe ciel see per barrel.-} 23 00 to 23 25 | 21 00 to 21 50
Lag il ee Boe eee Swear ee se oe per pound... 15 ‘to ~~~ 164 TSO). ge
Batter iGheicedaoshen Loire vee ces teteeeees pcece 30 to" "S33 33 to — —
WESKeN nobel cer amas ae pene do... 15 to” "20 30 to 33
Cheese, choice western factory..---...-------- do....|— — to 16 8 to 14
Me WV OLK CREAR. Uc cseetenceltteoteeco. te) sr 18 to 183 18 to— —
SULHT, UIE tO Ty Wibe coos sata se $US Soe e ee dpeste 81 to 82 8° to 9
prime to strictly prime. ........---..-.- AO sa. 9 to— — 94 to 94
clarified, white and yellow.--..--------- dosce- 92 to 92) 92to 104
Mlapeecs, MIS. oof Stet ct se a aemeatn aoe dossce Oo iomel 9 to... 12
low leaf to medium leaf...-...--.---- do... 12 to 142 12 to 143
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary....-....---. dp 222 13ito 148 13 to 134
low middling to good middling..-.----- date 14Zto — 164) 143 to 152%
BIO OCIBAX MAK toi ce cienn oe ccliseie c= pak hears me on aor2s2 30 to 33) — — to— —
SAN FRANCISCO.
ROBT, SUINENARe | on a. oS ome nelmsoqoe ae per barrel-.} 4°00 to 435 | 400 to 4 25
OMA Sn ee se elen cals clessopemens mes = do..--|° 450 to 4 80] ~4°50-to 4 7%
FAMILY aNd fANGyY Jac sos soe cee = do.---| 500 to 5 50| 5 00 to 5 50
Wineat Califomin sss. ce-- cece sede eee per cental..| 160 to 1 85 | 160 to 1 7%
Orerone sos c\aceeesisec sce eee eee do...-| 1.6040, 180) INGO iianeiaes
ATO V a ee wide ie ae ener ant eee do--.2| “2 00 to P75") issa0 tote Peae
ROBES foe sicind orice soc ecaie bo cupis sans se hemirenees do-.-.| "2° 10;.10;-2°25 | a0 toe ace
MESTH WiLL on. cide apiens cee pone wee ccomeee =e do... 1°55 “to” T’00""_ Pas 10 ieoe
VOUOW, a0 3. oo eainise=sninae Sos eee eee do-. I}, 5950-40" 1-55") Sh ee tone
ATO VE SILO. ox) san als Soe cna te on ee eteee = perton..| 12 00 to 18 00 | 10 00 to 16 00
BOCs, MPSAns > = ee de sone eae es eee per barrel..| 850 to 950) 850 to 9 50
PANU THOSE So oe < cine pei amide per half barrel--;} 650 to 8 00} 650 to 8 00
FEO T ROMEIOGH ES sic'n Sayers cin a loiolinie. oe ton etee per barrel..| 22 00 to 23 00 | 22 00 to 23 00
SURO LIGCRS ain. Jott ome eet ee cae do....| 16 50 to 18 00 | 16 50 to 18 00
PT Se as il wt oe = So ori sees oe eee per pound... 14 to 163 14 to 164
PUeOl SOV ERIADG Hsu cind:- Samoa oe poten ee dG aces 20° to" > 7 25 20°-to "25
SAMOA Sass 5 Kae eu eee. Lee eee dossa- O5S TOL aioe 25 ~ to" S2k
Dime Nee aoe ao wiet, dee cet. eres - = doves BO. to. ae 20 to 224
ONT EE ee oh 1 PS a per eee ie {Hea do... 124 to 16 12tto 15
WOO); AILS OCG ado ooin~ des Spec eee s = ddsee. LDS toma 10 to 15
ETE 2a rot 3 | ih 9 ey eth Sep aI Sli i i 62222 15,20." yico 15 to 26
Oregon...... iy Slits wes ops in se eee co ane 18 to 25 18 to 26
}
255
LIVE-STOCK MARKETS.
Articles.
May.
NEW YORK.
Se wextrar DCOVOS.---.--<;22-- 5 =. per cental..
MORRO PIMGC Woes oer o=- clos cosece = do 224
MOOD TOTAAT o- ais ono ns conten o- Ogos
average of the market......--...---. pesos
SMES eet end ots in in chin ae oins Ocal
PUP A-COWSea- - 5.01.0 5.5- --- boats per head-.
Is de ol Ane wienn ae diese at oo a er cental..
cad 26) oe eee 93 20B as Seago 2
PHILADELPHIA.
Cattle, prime beeves.........---..----per cental-.
PURDON OGU aes oof ts“ ton seo C0...
STU DG oan tae nolo be Sana do... -
EE hoa <a d tase no done np moe On oo
RWINE GODRSOO. ot came. 5-saecuns. to. s.beoes dOuss:
BALTIMORE.
Cattle, best, beeves.....--...---------.per cental.-
BEALL pr ob fo oc aple Peo do os.n5 ac=% dos.
_ medium or good quality..--..-..-... dosens
CIO yg ee ae ea GiNesee
SORGIAL AVEIALC. «2 < ee — = 4 - nnn eon Cie
moswot the sales... <1. ---4----.---- doe=s-
milch-cows, fair to good..-.-.-.- per head..
SITE: AF GES BOs Ae ae per cental--
Swine... -.. snc ge NSE e ee es arate dones-
CINCINNATI,
Cattle, good to prime butchers’ steers..-per cental.-
fair to medium..---. Soa eee Oe as
CGMIGAOM crtefac! a2 its qaoc's alc an safe = dozse-
PAUGHE COM Sie a. ope Cie = ainlaie cine per head-.
Gales seston nian aie eh w= per Cental.
6 aE nere ener et eee bre? as0 eee
Baye. POGT 10 CHOICE». - 2. - open o ba ninee ness do. =.
common to medium,.---....-....--- a0 24:
CHICAGO.
Catile, extra graded steers, 1,400 to 1,600 pounds, per
Me a inte oe sa es cjeat < ocaee on oe oe nie
choice beeves, 1,250 to 1,450 pounds, per
re eb i stag asta vin diniete sO 5 ai cle Soe z
good beeves, 1,150 to 1,350 pounds, per
RUE cease = epee nt afalne nr, cope c= ee
medium, 1,100 to 1,250 pounds, per cental.--
BCU Oiale da Geos smn waa? ~ epanickand0s<2-
PRAMS cl inrie Siaiamicm~ capt ic == cae nc-GO. c=.
THLCD-COW Spee» «, -ng- n> mae 4 ooh on per head..
Rene << to nG- a = Ser naan — ab nears U0.---
BEING se eeiia <1 hGoo s+ cape eaelec ch. scapes s d0see-
SAINT LOUIS.
Cattle, fair to choice native steers....-...per cental..
common to fair natives....-.-......- dOcse:
PHIEMONtO COMMON. sec se actece nose cecdOsen.
to
10 75 to
ay Pads 0)
d 00 to
oe .
woan~t®
S
So
325 to $13 75
1 <A
13 00
| OVEN os
qn
i=)
— =
mt 200 2
(=)
i=)
or
~ | DULL OIAD
S
i=)
June,
$13 25
12 00
10 25
11 75
9 00
50 00
4 50
9 20
to$i3 50
to 13 00
to 11 75
to — —
to 12 25
to 90 00
£0; ‘Gooey
to 7 00
None on sale.
_
— OF) OO
(Sv)
CFP OOD PUD
iow)
N
_
to
to
to
to
to J
® OL.) GO CO
asoonu
ONO oe
to 7 50
to 6 25
to 5 50
10° 4, 4a
to — —
to 7 00
to 45 00
to 5 50
to 10 75
256
Live-stock Markets—Continued.
Articles. May. June.
SaInT Lovurs—Continued.
Cattle, Texans, common to choice .....per cental..} $2 00 to $4 25 | $2 50 to $4.25
Sheep fo he et end -ale adres 3G do----|, 3 75..to... 6,25 3°75 to +6 25
RHO as See ene ont neercrendin4 = enpienet ~ Oe po eee eres to 8 00 6 60 to 8 00
Le Wyeth JO SaaS SR sa6, 2 SSeS: per head..| 40 00 to 75 00 | 40 00 to 75 00
plam UAAU A os oe VL bade e do....| 80 00 to 1J0 00 | 80 00 to 110 00
' Sivectwcarot. tetelahl. nas sere: do....| 75,00 to 125 00 | 75 00 to 125 00
heawy draurht cee pha fib 2 nig be ops eu do..--.| 130 00 to 170 00 | 130 00 to 170 00
OOUVCKIVEIS =. sce sae peleeeaee es. do..-.| 100 00 to 150 00 | 100 00 to 150 00
Eh erect sa cep oS aba sane pecacsonas do....| 175 00 to 180 00 | 175 00 to 180 00
Mules, 14 to 15 hands high...-........--2-. do....| 75 00 to 120 00 | 75 00 to 120 00
15 to 16 hands high ..---....-.--...do-...-| 120 00 to 180 00 | 120 00 to 180 00
QRS} = bee - east ti. oe 50d cng ema do....| 175 00. to 180 00 | 175 00 to 200 00
NEW ORLEANS.
Cattle, Texas beeves, choice..-....-----per head-.| 40 00 to 46 00 | 40 00 to 46 00
first quality .....-..0---+..--+--+---do.-.-|, 30 00 to 35.00} 30.00 to 35 00
second. quality. .«p-<- 5. -.o—-n ome do.--.-| 20.00 to 25 00 | 20 00 to, 25 00
Western bevves--.-. S220 22-- per cental..| 3°00 to 7 50 | — — to, — —
mnlth-cows . AE IIOs. Lie ot per head-.| 35 00 to 100 00 | 35 00 to 100 00
Galyes-Lb. Leech. -ayiie- lanes do..--| 7.00 to) 9:00 7 00 to 9 00
Sheep, first quality...-2. - 22 ----2s--eeseess do..--| 600 to 7 0C 6 20 to 7 00
SCCONG GUaliby 22 n_ -we mre see nae ons do.---| 300 to 4 00 3 00to 4 00
2 2 Ae dg edeseath Seas per cental. 5 00 to 8 50 5 00 to 10 00
FOREIGN MARKETS. ‘
WHEAT.—The season, in the United Kingdom, has shown great va-
riation of temperature. About the middle of May,in some parts of
England, the thermometer in the sunshine indicated 110 degrees, but
this was followed by cutting breezes and a furious hail-storm. Several
portions of France complained of drought, though of late rains have
become more abundant. In northern Europe the rain-fall has been plen-
tiful. Markets in Belgium and Holland show a disposition to weaken,
but Germany and Russia show no change. Commercial authorities in
Europe were puzzled at the apparently inconsistent advices from Amer-
ica. The ravages of grasshoppers in the wheat-producing regions of
the West did not raise the price above 46s. 6d. per quarter, including
cost and insurance, while California promised to outdo even her previous
export. Sellers in London markets had become indifferent about accept-
ing current rates, and a general impression was felt that prices would
not fall any further. British wheat was offered in Mark Lane in but
moderate supplies. The sales of English wheat in the kingdom, during
the last week in May, amounted to 51,278 quarters at 42s., against 42,822
quarters at 62s. 4d. during the corresponding week of 1874. The Lon-
don averages were 44s. or 1,749 quarters. The imports into the kingdom
during the third week in May were968,260 ewts. Fair arrivals of foreign
were noted during the following week. The showof fresh samples from
the neighboring counties of England was meager, but showed a good
condition of the grain. The demand for “ English qualities” was very
small, and foreign was also very inactive.
Holders in French provincial markets had demanded an advance,
but there was a determined resistance on the part of buyers. During
257
the last week in May, 21 French markets showed a tendency to advance,
66 were calm or firm, and 27 showed a declining tendency. In Paris
holders asked full prices. The trade was quite animated at Marseilles,
one day sales amounting to 19,000 quarters. Most of the European
markets showed a calm state of the trade. ;
In Mark Lane, London, Essex and Kent, white brought 43s. to 47s.
per quarter ; ditto, red, 41s. to 43s.; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and York-
shire red, 41s, to 43s.; of foreign wheats, Dantzic mixed was quoted at
49s. to 53s.; Konigsberg, 45s. to 52s.; Rostock, 44s. to 47s. ; Silesian
red, 42s, to 44s.; ditto, white, 45s. to 48s.; Pomerania, Mecklenberg,
and Uckermark, 43s. to 45s.; Ghirka, 41s. to 42s.; Russian hard, 39s.
to 42s.; Saxonska, 42s. to 44s.; Danish and Holstein red, 40s. to 45s. ;
American red, 40s. to 42s.; Californian, 46s.; Chilian white, 45s.; Aus-
tralian, 47s. to 48s.
In Liverpool, American white wheat brought 9s. 2d. to 9s. 6d. per
cental; ditto, No. 1 spring, 8s. 9d. to 9s. 1d.; ditto, No. 2 spring, 8s. 4d.
to 8s. 7d.; Canadian white, 9s.-2d.-to 9s.-6d.; ditto, red Club, 9s. to
9s. 2d.; Egyptian, extra Saidi, 8s. to 8s. 3d.; Californian, average, 8s.
1ld. to 9s. 1d.; ditto, Club, 9s. 3d. to 1s. 5d.; Oregon, 9s. 4d. to
9s. 6d.; Chilian, 8s. 9d. to 8s. Lid.
At Paris white sorts were quoted at 40s. to 45s.; red, 36s. to 43s. 4d.
At Marseilles Danube wheat brought 38s. 8d.; Berdianski, 31s. 75d. ;
Ghirha, 43s. 6d.; Marianopoli, 46s..5d. At Bordeaux the best white
wheat still commanded 44s. At Brussels, native wheat, 47s.; foreign,
46s.; Hambro, wheat firm at 40s.; Berlin, 40s.; St. Petersburg, 42s. 6d.
FLOuR.—The last week of May, in Mark Lane, London, opened
upon moderate supplies of English flour, with small foreign stocks, yet
the trade in Norfolk brands was quite heavy, with a downward scale of
prices. Foreign was sold only in small lots to retail buyers. The Paris
market was firm, with an upward tendency. In Liverpool, flour was
considerably neglected, though quotations remained unchanged. In
Mark Lane the best town households brought 36s. to 40s. per sack of
230 pounds; best county households, 30s. to 31s.; Norfolk and Suffolk,
28s. to 29s.; American flour, 21s. to 24s. per barrel. At Liverpool, Eng-
lish and Irish superfines brought 35s. to 32s. per 280 pounds; ditto,
extra, 32s. 6d. to 34s.; French, 35s. to 43s.; Trieste, 48s. to 60s.; Spanish,
38s, to 39s. ; Chilian, 30s. 6d. to 32s. 6d.; Californian, 33s. 6d. to 34s. 6d. ;
American Western and extra State, 21s. to 22s. per barrel; Baltimore
and Philadelphia, 21s. to 23s.; Ohio and extra, 22s. to 26s.; Canadian
and extra, 21s. to 23s. 6d. At Paris, prices for consumption ranged from
dls, 6d. to 34s. Td. per 280 pounds.
MaizE.—In Mark Lane, white brought 32s. to 34s. per quarter. In
Liverpool, American, 30s, to 34s. per 480 pounds; Galatz, 32s. 6d. In
Paris it sold in small lots at 40s. to 41s. per quarter.
©
, } AE A
SPR TTR BOI
MONTHLY REPORT ~
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
dU EY Bae
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1875.
a
Coy rr WIN Ss
STATISTICS: Page.
The rate of wages of farm-laborers in the United States...--.......-...--. 261
Ps esh Of CLOP-TOUILOS 6 wc c.ce a cinicn)= pues vale p nae os csia mpm iclae alee a 274
UOT erecta oie cles cate sin ree siaaieroimpetetntels =\atlaans in oi lea ate stele ete 274
Wiheatirecet Ute) ee cnaieinc to soci te. ses eeb et a t- se ee 280
WOMbOM eee valency: a= cee sesieclnm Geis e)p c\else-slvc's w/o. aclele olniaiaate rr 284
Wate acaeece oes SAG CASS He OSe HO SO Ran LADOeOoMnOoS Soon sco 2 2-2. 288
REVERE Tet = oe, s alccis alee ences Seance sek eisielae ceatn o/s ol 289
ALO Ye cin -\Saishaiscle = sls wicsin'en «0 bicleloi wm oo |metwinjoalo ci ole Ginwelete oer 290
PLOUALOCS) oc sci acic sow claw coe es omc Vie mei miniela sm cate arate la Crete ele 290
WOO) Ss os Stes secon nce skeet lis see aeiepagaaeste uae’ a= cee eee 292
BNO DACCO He cecrmcemeese nn Wielatele cia iuw iso ste permtalors to te aa I ole ate jecee epee
SDE Teer eh AR AOA OSE Ae Se emer ene ton a anmeecdrtiodeccocteccsas 2-5-5 293
SOLO NOM 2/2! nica, om olefeial acini acl wururewerelcte Calter nin sia'sl ea osiele| ante 294
IU Uy esa etaye nisin, slalotnierm celcim aie eyolawie,e iain) a nisiow ciaiaialal<tajeinmial ta e rr o ape
Hlaviane PASbULS (oom siee mimic <)= o cinialom mo Seco) mo im ele ee aa ole «. 7258
Tables showing condition of crops July 1 ..222.. 2.222. sec oee ween es na snes 302
Hix tracts) {rom COLLespONGENCE:.- —~-.n- 2 aes seein nie eos cae e nele ons se eee 304
Production of Muscatel raisins in Malaga ..--..-.--.-------- .----« 2<------ 319
Facts from various sources..-.-... siisiomee éojelewa ecin viein\a ote sae clel cesta 322
Market-prices of farm-pregucts 4... <--.0's/scme-ciecpen ed acon sine sana 325
Hiiyve-Stock Markets | esse cates ech to Sete soe ce ae eee e ae eee oss. 4 Dae 327
Horéign! markets (22. SUstL BQkT SOs e oi AGS. oe ad ee ees 328
ENTOMOLOGY:
Pntomolorical record 5/22. Laos sacs sc cae cote eee ce en eee cee 307
CHEMISTRY :
Whemical ‘MEMOLANIG:. w.-a0 6. <M wary Mees eo ae we sep <.scpe cee ce nla ele 310
Borany:
Botanicalomotes ssa) seaisce sold oka asemyeres - sree eran Sed a= epee ae ee 313
Microscopy :
Microscopic observations 5 .\-}- -.(ss2esttsa- 2-0 bbtewe ete dee eel e-2o- Eee 316
ples ae
ad fm
MONTHLY REPORT.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
STATISTICAL DIVISION,
Washington, D. C., July, 1875.
Sir: An investigation of the rate of wages of farm-laborers in the
United States, for the purpose of instituting a comparison between the
wages of the present time and the rates reported in the returns of 1866
and 1869, has been undertaken, and its results are herewith commu-
nicated. There is also presented a statement of the condition of the
principal crops on the 1st of July, with minor statistics of rural indus
try, and results of the labors of other divisions of this Department.
J. R. DODGE,
Statistician.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Commissioner.
THE RATE OF WAGES OF FARM-LABORERS IN THE
UNITED STATES.
In December, 1866, and in the same month in 1869, an investigation
was undertaken to show the prevailing rates paid for agricultural labor
in the several States.. It was known that rural wages had felt the infla-
tory impulse which had affected in different degrees all values, whether
of actual labor or the accumulation of past labor in a thousand tangible
‘forms. There had never been a systematic and general effort to obtain
these statistics previously, but Mr. H. C. Carey, some thirty years pre-
viously, had made a careful estimate, from the best information obtain-
able, and had placed the average wages of the country at $9 per month
with board. In the investigation of 1866, which included 1,510 state-
ments, most of them representing counties, the average rate was $15.50
with board, showing an increase in one generation, and mainly in the
last five years of the period, of 72 per cent. At the same time the
average rate withont board was about $26, and the average for the States
employing white labor $28, or $336 per annum. At this date, accord-
ing to the best authorities, the English farm-laborer was earning, in-
cluding the value of all extras and allowances, $182. It was also noted,
as illustrating the extent of our demand for labor, that this increased
rate had been attained in the face of the immense immigration of the
previous years.
The next three years witnessed a material decline in the value of farm-
products, but farm-labor held its position better, as in the second inves-
tigation the average rate had only declined to $25.13 for farm-laborers
202
‘employed by the year without board, while the rate with board, $15.88,
_ was a little in advance of the previous average, the difference represent-
ing board being $9.25 against $10.50 in 1866. Prices in the South had
increased in these three years, had been well sustained in the Eastern
States, but had slightly receded in the Western.
The present investigation gives evidence of a decline in the rate of
wages of laborers employed by the year, far greater than that reported
in 1869. The average rates for the three periods, for the several geo-
graphical divisions, are as follows:
| |
. qanx | December, | December,
May, 1875, |" “4369, 1366.
SF SLOT STATES ele acl « « Suto ds = tien a ae ciall «amie see e te Se oda eee aoe $29 00 $32 03 | $33 330
EST Svs 2 SA HR A Hn 2 aE on | 26 98 | 29 15 30407
Western States ...... eh 93 25 27 01 28 91
Southern States ..-- 15 27 16 81 16 00
Cabtornia:...2 5.2...) 44 50 46 38 45 71
The central belt of States, on the parallel of 40°, fairly represent the
most prosperous agricultural regions, and illustrate the decline in price
of farm-labor during the past eight years:
1875 1839. 1866.
|
$25 gy | $28 68 $29 91
24 45 | 26 35 28 46
24 20 | 25 42 27 71
25 20 | 27 32 28 54
24 35 | 28 39 28 34
Up to 1869 the demand for labor in Iowa for the opening of new farms
and extension of the producing area of those already opened kept
prices up to the point of 1866, while all the States eastward exhibited
a decline. During the past five years, an era of overproduction and low
prices in lowa, the depreciation has been greater than any others of
this list.
Perhaps a better understanding of the actual status of labor in these
States may be obtained by a comparison of the average prices per month
of farm-labor with board, much the larger number of farm-laborers being
employed under such a contract. The prices in these States are as fol-
lows:
1875. | 1869. | 1866.
PRSENSmbV ANG. oe 466 8G see eo nleasigen ne cent de denne Site late Sie bere ee ol $16 10 $18 05 $18 S4
OPERA ay S22. re ee BG' bn ma arcide'sninie a Samide cde cece aeead pele See, WEE Bee 16 33 16 74 18 96
Indiana ...... SE MR) DERE Sears Snes SE Se ee eas 16 14 17 03 18 72
MOIS Sete ob win cicid sie went sccw.s cle sissiaiees ace velo cas See Ph kb OS. Sab eae ore ee 16 87 17 69 18 72
HOW Aiebiabns Na - = alc ahs wade deadaclabisSecil axis meee emer eeains ce sicmme eee eee 16 11 17 87 18 87
The uniformity of the rates of 1866 is somewhat remarkable, yet a
careful examination of circumstances affecting prices will prove the con-
sistency of the statement. If the various prosperous industries of Penn-
sylvania and Ohio stimulated the wages of agricultural industry, the
great demand in States farther west for increasing numbers of farm-
animals to make good the depletion caused by the war, and a similar
cause for enlarging food-supplies, upheld the rates in the more purely
agricultural States. In 1869 prices had receded, quite equally in the
263
grain-producing States, but much more in Ohio than in Pennsylvania,
where prices were sustained by the prosperity of the iron interest and
other manufacturing enterprises.
Table showing the average rate of wages of agricultural labor per month, when employed
either by the year or season.
States and Territories.
Maine
New Hampshire
ViGun lia sean
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut:--:--2.2.5-<.
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Mississippi
WRGRINURN aia soos =
Texas
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri
Kansas
Washington
Dakota
1875.
By the year.
Without board.
With board.
$25 40/315 94
28 57) 18 25
19 37] <
By the sea-
son.
Without board.
| With board.
$29 281320 56
34 75) 23 50
21
25
22
23
21
5} 20
1869.
By the year.
Without board.
| With board.
$26 25
32 66] 22 16
2
21
$16 50/331
By the sea-
son.
Without board,
With board.
|
00,821
29
39
1866.
By the year.
| Without board.
With board.
4) 22 48
DLT 44/931 76/3:
By the sea-
son.
Without board.
With board.
39 12
The average price of ‘‘ farm-labor, with board,” in the United States
Se I ’ ;
according to these tables, is $12.40 at the present time.
This would
make a decline of nearly 22 per cent. since 1869. <A part of this differ-
ence, however, is found in the disproportion in numbers of laborers
of the higher and lower classes in efficiency and money-value.
The
calculations are based on the numbers given respectively in the cen-
and in the latter the slaves of the former
suses of 1860 and 1870;
period, who had no place in that enumeration, are included as farm-
laborers, increasing the proportion of low-priced labor and consequently
264
reducing the average. The average price of labor, with board, in the
Southern States, is $10.17; in the Western, $13.66; in the Middle, $16.81;
in the Eastern, $18.58; on the Pacific coast, $28.12; in the Territories,
$18.25.
Table showing the rate of wages of agricultural labor per day in transient service.
1875. ° 1869. 1866.
4.1/2 |g8-lee)a° |S |68 besla |e dee
Fale fPapse ibs |B Fao pes | ca] © ieee
States and Territories. | —P | 77 .8= | 2S |)—e | 7218 o | 28] Se] = lee 18s
€2/4E le& | sa | es | He lee | sa | 22 | we lee | ge
Os Os a => a Oo 5 Od a) GS ao 0,2 Og en on
as eae P= = ye Fes ro | .S| Se ae Po ls +e
5 RA Pisa! t 5 a2 oe B SS asl
| esi 38 mahal =| SB | Hoel R- | ee] Ss Hoel x=
ao} SPoo/ Os 1 Ao] a4 Cool Cy] #914 vosijpoes
| q |2r=|531 4 q |2"*|32)5 q |2"Fe2
na) AH |O OF |x 4 |O Or |x KR |O *Op
US OGY 9 @8e ARS Spd age See $1 99 '$1 49 |$1 46 |$1 05 $2 17 |$1 65 [$1 48 |$1 05 |$2 02 |$1 56 |$1 49 | $1 13
New Hampshire .......-. |206]164]150]112)237)]195!/1 79/1 41} 1 98/1 52| 1 67 26
Vermont.-..-.- reaesASh sae 228 )1 8 | 151/111) 2 46 | 2 00 | 1 76 | 1 28) 232 | 1.85 | 1 76) 232
Massachusetts 1°90 | 150 | 1 44) 2 12°} 2.37 | 1:95 | 1 92 | 1 37} 2 41 | 1,92-) ea aes
Rhode Island ....- -} 2 00") 1 -50-) 2°62") 1:18°|-2°37 | 1 75.) 1 73 | 1 18 |) 2 23 \ ee eae aoe
Connecticut - ..---. waee| 2:.06-) 1.53.) 1.50.) 0.16_) 3.00.) 2.37 | 1.87 | 1 37.) 2.43 | 180. dao ie2S
ING W Rk OU Kcr. Oe onsipemiam = 2:25) 1.75 | 1:48) 106 | 2.53] 1 99'| 1 64) 119) 2 4) | DP Se ia tee
Wiewidlersey.-.-)-- 2.2... | 2 56 | 2.03 |/1 45 | 1.00 | 2 63 | 2 09 | 1 63 | 115 | 2 68 | 2 38| 168} 1 20
Pennsylvania .........-.. 20D OL Se 95') 2 23 | 173 | 1 43) 1 04 | 2 32/180 )155} 110
Delaware nes se wee a 3 1 83 | 1 41 | 1 04 70 |} 1/87 | 1.50 | 1 30 95 | 2 09 | 1 62} 1 31 94
Maryland selec noes =22 1 81 | 1 34 | 1 06 WL | 216 | 1 67 | 1 20 77 | 200) 1 68) 1 31 96
VIE ETN octane otintoalne mee 1 48 | 1 21 78 51 | 148) 113 £0 55 | 1 46} 1 21 82 a7
North Carolina .....-.-.. 117) 1 00 72 51 | 1.37 | 1 04 74 49 | 153.) 117% 72 50
South Carolina........... tka ib ean b 71 55°} 1:15 SO 70 50 | 1 25 93 69 45
GOLA. coe acdsee seme sk 1 29 99 83 60 | 1 24 90 83 GO | 1 48 | 1 06 99 70
PHOT Ecce <p einleble a 1 0 72 93 7 | 1 25 e7 96 72. \1 12 83 | 1 00 74
PASM ental mintsirnimictaje) nie 1 40} 1 15 75 93°} L°24 95 86 61 | 1 27} 1 04 78 55
IMARSISSIPp! -64 2-53 eee. 140 | 100/107 80} 1 56 | 1 27) 1 10 90 | 165 | 114} 1 34 29
OUST ANA eek n = /aje\n) aisle oe, 1 30 | 105 | 1 00 74 | 1 54)113) 1 04 383 | 1 66 | 1 20} 1 08 70
SUBRE Stee A le sei aeets 1 52} 120)114 84} 158 | 1 26) 1 16 84 | 1 65 | 1 32) 1 3L 98
Ar kansagss- 2s co. eb = eine 4,50)| 1425,| 1,30 80 | 1 67 | 1 40 | 1 36} 1 02 | 2 07 | 1 5241 34 88
MEUMESSCO - os). -\ nena === 1623) 1720 95 60 | 210 |159)105 68 | 2 01 | 154)1 15 83
West Virginia ........... 2 500) 1°20) | 1605 75] 1 78.) 2291) 2 14 79 | 178 | 1.31) 1,31 92
Wentueky stot k. c.se 5. 179 | 1 46 | 1 03 2) Ae Ganley Spuly dO 77,(:2 100 170 eee 86
ROME ee ee l-aige cle sein se 205 |/1 60) 135 | 100 | 215 | 1 72] 1 44/1 051 2 20) 1 73) 1 od) 218
Michigan ..-.. 2501200] 155) 110 | 2 76 | 2 25)1 66 | 117 | 262)214).1 78| 130
Indiana.-....-. 2 S051 1) 7a. 1°30 95.| 216 | 177 | 1 36/1 OL | 223) 176)1 45) 206
JU ror) Ses nee emai 220°) 1 83 | 1 37} 1 OL} 234 | 2 94 | 1 50 | 1:-13-)'°2 41) | 1 OLY a 62) ew 21
MVASEON SITS) 14.22.3753" 240 | 192!]1 42) 100] 245 | 1 96} 1 56 | 1:15 | 2 68 | 215] 1 78 1 28
INGER OG oso. inline 282 | 230] 150) 107] 2 90] 2 36 | 164/118|268)/227;1%) 1 35
SEEN atonal te ore iwele ates 2 57}2 10 | 138} 1.01 | 2 85 | 2 24 | 1 52 | 1 13) 2:38) 1 88) 1 62 119
MMISSGUT c= oo) asters ce 175 | 1 43 | 1 07 73| 23011 84) 144]102)215)172|144) 107
SRGIIN AR Ue sae mice a= mm =m = 1 86 | 1 46 | 1 30 90 | 2 08 | 1 63 | 1 56} 1 12] 2 31] 182) 165) T 19
WNebrinskal Saco. Joss. a | 240 | 198) 1 43] 1 00'| 2 41 | 2 00 | 1 62 |\1 26 | 265 | 215} 193) 2 43
Galrfortia..- 5 jc2c<4- a5 | 250 | 200 | 1 84] 1 30,| 2 82 | 2 04 | 213 | 1 50 | 2 56 | 2 06 | 2 26 1 72
RED OM ear cineiae sense ac Wes? Be at Kor f>-1n il Wig i eer fe BE a) ty facta 240/180} 175] 1 40
AGE 0C) 8 eas See ae fasietial... CMe gi eto. “ets a ele eae] ogee 350 | 300}3 00) 250
WGlOUAC Ose ese cores vis la mee DSS Mr oOo dL da wie yan Peri a vlree i Phe 417% | 2.87 3 29 1 93
Baltics se sre insist eet ai eri a RPG She lle ko) ta 5 ae: a Rae Se te SP pe Po 3 42 | 2 49 | 2 27 1 63
Washington! ....2-5.2 22. 2 p40} 2500/1 GG. | ai Siyse 2 ope se see eo Seine “13,00 |-2 254.2951 si. %5
1010) eee Scare] See [ak GO. DiGi LV OB Me ahs cect (eer teliehte eter 2 50 | 2 00 | 2 00 1 50
New Mexico.......-.---. 1 35 90 85 HOF E TAPAS Ee ee Se 150 | 112] 1 00 90
WOM PARAL 2.55) obras Hes 3; 00 (} 2220! |) 2 AGH LFS [ata | le I oe oh el ae
UVR VOLO seta Nase cine aiaialnm eal DB) O2 e113) OSn | eeoO Nl aaa ects [enacts] ciceces fame cine |e cele well (setae ere
The difference between the prices paid, with and without board, rep-
resents the cost of boarding, yet many correspondents say that the
usage of employment with board is so uniformly the rule that few farm-
ers are willing to pay any material addition to the wages of those who
propose to board themselves. Notwithstanding this element of irregu-
larity, the figures of the table below are in the main quite consistent
with the local circumstances affecting prices of boarding.
\
,
265
Table showing the average price of board per month of agricultural laborers hired by the year.
States. 1875. 1869. 1866. States. 1875. 1869. 1866.
| a
alte |S a ee ee $9 46 | $975 | $9 56 || Kentucky..-....-..-.--. $6 12 | $6 QI $6 58
avew Hampshire DO 53255] LO,S0T) We L056 1) OO; sae» oe acts eins 772 9 61 9 50
aid Aiea 10 30 11 00 Leet: | MiGhiganne seeccacs cele 9 76 10 98 10 78
Massachusetts ...-.. 62} 13 79 | 16 58 || Indiana...- aa 8 06 8 39 8 99
Rhode Island ... 12 25 | 13 90 || Illinois..... 8 13 9 63 9 82
Connecticut - . 12 25 | 12 71 || Wisconsin . 905] 11 61 10 97
New York ...- 10 64 10 25 || Minnesota . 9 80 10 67 10 55
New Jersey.---- ots sila, “Aeneas 13 69 13. 29 IOWA... 5 8 24 10 52 9 47
Pennsylvania ... Lg 10 63 | 41 067 || Missonri 6 25 8 09 8 67
Delaware ....... 9 00 | 11 68 || Kansas ... 855! 10 58 11 22
Maryland........- 9 55 7 60 || Nebraska. . 9 25 14 07 13 73
Waren eo. ccna. } 5 63 5 46 || California. . -| 15 90 17 69 15 36
North Carolina 4 76 Do i) OvOronse: gaa 4- onab iat o| 12. DB iso ce eee ener
South Carolina. .-- 4 20 4 34 ||
Georgia........... 5 00 5 84 | TERRITORIES.
PEMOTIUS ets secs oo = 5 19 5 88 |
Alsbamar.....2... ae 4 67 ato |) Colorado: .: tt ace aece es
WWEISRISBIDDL i ce-sks-<-+-4-- 5 90 Deltr aU hanes
Louisiana . ... 8 75 8 08 || Washington .
Texas-,..-- Ges 5 62 62:28 ch Dakotanct saci sae se clee-
FPKNA AR aid. Us = Sv. secon 8 65 8-41 || New Mexico............
Tennessee ----:--......-- | 5 81 654221) Montana. 4 oot ee 2 are.
West Virginia: .......--. 7 52 8.88.) Wyoming 0-2. ).5..22--
l |
HARVESTING AND GARNERING.
The following summary from our reports shows the leading points in
the local usages in different parts of the country in harvesting and gar-
nering grain. It will be seen that thrashing is, in most eases, done by
a Class of men who devote their time and capital to this business, at
least during a portion of the year. Boarding the hands is a custom
almost universal in all the States. The points of widest variation are
found in the respective amounts of labor and motive-power furnished
by the thrasher or the farmer.
In New England, according to universal custom, the thrashing-ma-
chinery is owned by professional thrashers, who itinerate from farm to
farm, and thrash out the grain either for a specified sum per day or per
bushel, or for a tolt of the thrashed grain, ranging from a fifteenth to a
tenth of the whole. The thrasher furnishes from two to four horses and
two men; the farmer furnishes the other teams and labor. In several
counties in Northern New England the thrasher gets from $5 to $6 per
day, besides board for man and horse. The machines used in such cases
usually thrash 100 bushels of wheat or 200 bushels of oats per day;
hence, where the job is paid for by the bushel, wheat is charged at twice
the price of oats; wheat costs from 5 to 12 cents per bushel, and oats
from 4 to 7 cents. The highest cash-rates noted in New England coun-
ties is in Sagadahoc, Maine, where the thrasher receives 7 cents per
bushel for oats, 8 cents for barley, and 12 cents for wheat. In some
cases, the farmer hires the machine and runs it himself. Occasionally
the two-horse tread-machine is used, but in general the apparatus em-
ployed embraces the latest improvements, and requires from eight to
ten horses to drive it. No reports of steam-machinery in this region.
In many counties the grass-crop and dairy-farming have restricted grain-
raising to a very narrow area, rendering the thrashing operation so un-
important that the use of machinery would not be profitable. In Nor-
folk, Massachusetts, thrashing is done almost entirely with the flail. In
the three southern New England States, machinery, in both thrashing
and harvesting, is used to only a limited extent, on account of the small
amount of grain-farming.
266
In the Middle States steam-power is, in many places, superseding
horse-power, a circumstance which necessarily modifies the arrange-
ments for thrashing. In such cases the thrasher sends one or two hands,
an engineer, and a machine-feeder, while the farmer finds coal and water
and boards the men, besides furnishing labor sufficient to take the straw
from the machine and arrange it in stacks. Steam-thrashing on such
terms generally costs about 5 cents per bushel for wheat, 4 cents for bar-
ley, and 5 cents for oats, besides the extra labor hired by the farmer.
In Camden, New Jersey, wheat is thrashed by steam at 10 cents per bushel
or by horse-power at 8 cents; in such cases, however, the thrasher fur-
nishesalarger proportion of thelabor. Im Lancaster, Pennsylvania, steam-
machinery thrashes 400 bushels per day at 6 cents, while in Juniata, the
steam-separator delivers the grainready for market at 5 cents per bushel.
Steam-machinery is also used extensively in other counties in Pennsylva-
nia, and in New Castle, Delaware. In a few counties the small two-horse
tread-machines are used. This is generally the case where farmers us @
their own machinery and employ wet or winter weather in thrashing grain
in their ownbarns. Such farmers often thrash the grain of their neighbors,
tolling every tenth or twelfth bushel for their services. Where men en-
gage as professional thrashers, they find it more profitable to invest their
capital in machines of greater power and capacity. These machines re-
quire from two to six horses for their transportation from farm to farm.
This horse-power is utilized in driving the machinery, the farmer supply-
ing horses enough to make a team of six to twelve animals. The thrasher
either feeds the machine himself or hires a man for this service, and an-
other to drive the team; the farmer hires men enough to make up a gang
of twelve or fifteen. The efficiency of these machines is attested by the
prices charged for their use, amounting, in some counties, to $10 per day,
with board for two men and two horses. Machines of inferior capacity
realize about $6 per day. In some cases these machines thrash wheat at
4 cents per bushel; barley, 3 cents; oats or buckwheat, 2 cents. Where
the thrasher furnishes the entire horse-power the cost is greater, rising
to 10 cents for wheat and 4 cents for oats. In some counties the thrasher
tolls the thrashed grain, receiving from 4$ to 8 per cent. of wheat, and
nearly double of oats. Occasionally the thrasher receives from 35 to
50 cents per hundred sheaves, wheat sheaves averaging about 6 bushels
of thrashed grain per hundred. There is considerable variation in the
ininor details, but the general usages are mostly the same. The tendency
is toward the use of the latest improvements in labor-saving machinery.
Maryland is usually classed with the South Atlantic Coast States, but
itsagricultural characteris more assimilated to the Middle States. Thrash-
ing arrangements especially indicate the more progressive tendencies
of States to the north. Steam-machinery is in growing use, and the
terms of its employment are about the same as in the Middle States.
Labor for thrashing is cheaper than farther north. The owner of the
machine generally finds an engineer, feeder, and bagger, and receives
5 cents a bushel for thrashing wheat, or 8 cents for thrashing, sepa-
rating, and delivering ready for market; the farmer pays for the
coal. There is a greater variety of usage than in the Middle States in
regard to the proportion of labor and motive-power furnished by the
farmer and the thrasher, which occasions a different rate of cost. In
Frederick County, for instance, where the farmer usually furnishes the
teams and all the hands but two, the thrasher gets but three and a half
cents per bushel for wheat. Where the thrasher furnishes a large pro-
portion of the teams, he gets a larger price for thrashing. Some ma-
chines also deliver the grain more completely prepared for market,
267
which of course enhances the cost. In Virginia the custom of farmers
owning the machines is still prevalent in many counties. In some cases
a number of farmers club together for the purchase of machinery and
thrash their own grain and that of neighbors not members of the asso-
ciation. Such machines are not apt to be of a very costly construction,
or to be capable of very rapid execution. Tbe work in such cases is post-
poned to rainy days or to the winter, after farm-operations are generally
closed. Such asystem does not favor the rapid marketing of the grain. In
several counties where the class of large farmers is more numerous, each
proprietor ownsamachine. Such acounty is Ussex, where, including wear
and tear of machinery, the average cost of thrashing wheat is estimated
at 10 cents per bushel. In Buchanan and a few other counties the flail is
still used, the thrasher getting every twelfth bushel. But the use of more
effective machinery is gaining ground. In some cases thrashers contract
to thrash crops by the field or acre. In others machines are hired by the
day or by the bushel. Thrashing by contract would come into more
general use if large farmers could afford to await their turn with the
smaller ones. Occasional mention is made of steam-power, as in Clarke
County, but this is unknown in the greatest portion of the grain-raising
area of the State. Usages greatly vary as to the proportion of labor
and motive-power furnished by the farmer and the thrasher. ‘The latter
generally uses the teams necessary to transport his machinery, and re-
ceives from 3 to 10 cents per bushel, or tolls from 5 to 10 per cent. of
the thrashed grain. Insome cases he gets $5 for setting up his machine,
and a certain price per bushel or percentage of the grain for his
share. The farmer furnishes all the help needed to take the straw
from the machine and to stack it. Passing down the coast grain-raising
becomes a Jess prominent industry. In many counties of North Car-
olina the wheat raised is so inconsiderable in quantity that no mention
is made of thrashing. The amount of grain raised is also too small
to render it profitable for farmers to run separate machines, while the
principle of association in the ownership of this class of machinery is
nowhere developed. Itinerant thrashers transport their machinery from
farm to farm and perform this service in many counties on terms very
similar to those noted in Virginia. The cost of thrashing wheat ranges
from 3 to 10 cents per bushel, or from 5 to 8 per cent. of the grain
thrashed. ‘There is also the same variety of usage in regard to the
amount of labor and motive-power furnished by the farmer and thrasher.
From the amount of motive-power required in some counties, it is in-
ferred that machines of a higher order are gaining ground. No case of
steam-machinery is reported. Grain-raising is of still less importance
in South Carolina, and the process of thrashing is comparatively rude
and incomplete. In some cases large planters own the machinery and
thrash at leisure. Itinerant thrashers are becoming more common.
The latter generally toll every tenth or twelfth bushel. in Greenville,
machines of 8 horse-power are used; the motive-power is mostly fur-
nished. by the thrasher. In Georgia the arrangements for thrashing are
more progressive, and approximate the usages in Virginia and Maryland.
Itinerant thrashers often furnish most of the labor and motive-power,
and toll one-tenth of the thrashed grain. In some cases a party con-
tracts to harvest and thrash the crop for one-third of its proceeds. In
Dooly County the thrasher charges 20 cents per bushel, he furnishing
three hands and two horses. In several counties, machines of large
motive-power are used.
In the Gulf States grain-raising is too limited to give rise to any well-
defined usages of thrashing. No statements of usage on this question
268
have been received from Florida or Louisiana, and very few from Ala-
bama or Mississippi. In Texas asomewhat uniform custom allows one-
tenth of the grain thrashed to the itineran{ thrasher. In many counties
in the Gulf region what little grain is raised is thrashed with the flail.
In some cases the grain is thrashed by means of the driving mae ORAY
of the cotton-gin attached to the thrashing-machine.
In the southern inland States thrashing usages become more definite
toward the northern sections. In Arkansas the toll of 10 per cent. of
the thrashed grain is almost universal. The thrasher in all cases finds
the motive-power, no steam-machinery being reported. In Tennessee,
no steam-machines are reported, but the motive horse-power is always
large. The toll varies from one-fifteenth to one-tenth, the grain being
generally cleaned and ready for the sack. Occasionally the thrasher is
paid in cash at from 6 to 10 cents per bushel. The thrasher furnishes
most of the motive-power. In West Virginia and Kentucky, steam-
machinery is frequently noted. Tolling the grain is less common than
farther south. The cash price of thrashing ranges from 5 cents to 123
cents per bushel, according to the completeness of the work, the num-
ber of hands hired by the thrasher, We. In Berkeley, West Virginia, if
horse-power is used, ‘the thrasher finds one hand and all the horses but
two; in the case of steam-power he hires four hands. Steam-machinery
requires generally from 14 to 16 hands in addition to those managing
the machine. The farmer always boards the horses and men brought
by the thrasher.
North of the Ohio the usages are quite uniform, and not greatly differ-
ent from those of West Virginia and Kentucky. Steam-machinery is
very common in large portions of this section. In some cases these
machines require a working force of seventeen to twenty men, and
thrash from 400 to 800 bushels per day. The thrasher usually furnishes
an engineer and feeder, with one or two other hands, and receives from
3 to 8 < cents per bushel. The toll system is scarcely mentioned in all
this region. The horse-machines are generally of very great power,
requiring from eight to twelve horses and a iarge gang of men to work.
The prices do not greatly differ from those of steam-machinery. In
some counties it is estimated that the amount paid the thrasher is about
half the total cost of the operation to the farmer. The proportion,
however, varies with the amount of motive-power and labor furnished
by the thrasher or the farmer. In some cases the farmer, and in others
the thrasher, furnishes all the teams.
West of the Mississippi the ten-horse machine is in most general use,
6 horses being furnished by the thrasher and 4 by the farmer, though
these proportions are sometimes varied. In some counties these
will average 300 bushels of wheat per day, and steam-machines will
turn out 700 per day. In the latter case the total cost does not exceed
11 cents per bushel; in the case of horse-mavhines the thrasher receives
from 4 to 6 cents per bushel for wheat, while the other expenses bring
the entire cost to 10 or 11 cents. The thrasher brings generally about
two men with him and the farmer from seven to nine, making the aver-
age number of the gang about ten or twelve. Some large steam-ma-
chines require twenty men to supply the sheayes and take away the
straw, besides three men torun the machine. In Nebraska and in some
parts of Missouri and Kansas the usage is for the thrasber and farmer
to furnish an equal number of horses. In only one case is there men-
tioned anything like a tendency to toll the thrashed grain. The small-
est total cost is in Nebraska.
Passing to the Pacific coast, the increased size.of machines and en-
269
hanced motive-power are especially noticeable. In some cases the daily
task of these machines is stated at from 1,000 to 2,000 bushels of wheat
per day. Steam is the motive-power in most of these cases, though
eighteen or twenty horses are often used, accompanied by gangs of
twenty or twenty-five men. The motive-power is generally furnished
entirely by the owner of the machine, with men enough to operate it.
Thrashing hands are paid higher wages than in the Hastern States;
engineers receive $4 per day and other hands from $1.50 to $3; feeders
and sack sewers, in Tuolumne County, get about $5. The farmer in
most cases boards the hands. The price per bushel for thrashing*and
separating wheat ranges from 4 to 10 cents per bushel. No reports of
steam-thrashing have been received from Oregon, but the machines gen-
erally require a large amount of horse-power. The price paid the
thrasher is from 4 to 6 cents per bushel, but the total cost of the opera-
tion is often 10 cents, including the labor and motive-power furnished
by the farmer, the boarding of hands, We.
RECAPITULATION.—Wheat is the great money-crop of the Middle,
Western, and Pacific States, and here its early marketing is often one
of the pressing necessities of the farmer. This requires that the grain
be thrashed and cleaned as speedily as possible; hence machinery of
great efficiency and motive-power, especially steam-power, are found
most economical. It will be seen, by consulting the accompanying
tables, that the smallest total cost of thrashing wheat—d.8 cents per
bushel—is found in California, where the most extensive machinery is
used. The greatest cost—-19.2 cents—is in South Carolina, where
steam-machinery is unknown, and where the planters, to a great extent,
thrash their own crops. In northern New England it ranges from 10 to
13 cents per bushel. In the Middle States it runs from 7.7 cents in
Pennsylvania to 10.5 in New Jersey. Maryland averages 6.8 cents.
The average increases to the southward, varying from 9.7 cents in
Virginia to 19.2 in South Carolina. The Gulf States range from 14.1
cents in Texas to 16 cents in Mississippi. The inland Southern States
from 8.7 cents in West Virginia to 12 cents in Arkansas. North of the
Ohio River and west of the Mississippi no State averages more than 74
cents, while in Nebraska the cost averages as low as 5.8 cents. On the
Pacific coast, California averages 5.8 cents and Oregon 6.4 cents. The
cost of thrashing oats is generally about half the cost of wheat, ranging
from 3.4 cents per bushel in Nebraska to 13.5 cents in Massachusetts.
In the Middle and Western States the general average is between 4 and
5 cents.
270
Table showing the average prices per acre of harvesting and stacking wheat and hay, and per
bushel of harvesting wheat and oats, and of husking and cribbing, and of shelling corn.
1875,
Ba =) Sa S a $2 :) Be a
z= 25 B a a EA : 3 2 a 3 a: os 5 .
Seaasa| ate | at. |.4a_, ae) |e
States and Territories. og” 35 | 2ZES aaa ae ze oMe| of
Bewoet| Sut | ug | 285] 22 | Bea) BS
sess = load on a | 25m] S32
Hwa a FS on Bs on Bis 5A BOR fa ood
Cabat | ang are! Gare AG And | B06
~ Onmans oft oft ons od ows o3
S2eeg| 268 | 238 | SES | £2 |) eee )-28
QAR nea nes a 2 ae a
4 Oy Ay ao a4 Ay oy
JEST G3 Soa ee Sey Be $4 00 $0 05.4 | $0 07 $3 36 $1 02
New Hampshire..--....--...1.- 5 12 07.5 07.3 4 57 1 62
SMELMONT Sask Leste ee sobs boxlscasse coeeee ; 04.1 04. 7 2 69 83
IMABSAC DISCUS es) acne pe siete tcieenieeeee ee ae ae 13.3 11 3.50 1.25
OU OV LSPUNG = Ke ief5 25 ote cine wel dasil dea cinaeeeeal tecies © dacdle sera eeeee 08 8 00 2 00
Connecticut .....-.. stewie one as Sal, A cg eee eens ee O55 -|cvscccs tee ete eee 6 der) 1 62
IB yWEVONKSELE oo Noses eta se cent ee 3 28 08 04. 07. 2 66 95
IND WiiOLSOy. ove tte eam e ace oe 3 90 10.5 5 é 93
Pentisylyaniat- 95. 22.---. sb 3 53 07.7 96
Gl AwaALre 62 8 2 Wie Hens ee ed 8 2 60 10 1 25
Meanylanderek 2 SS. 5.-2..6-3 2 3 05 06.8 1°12
Moma! P82 ot AG. ee Seah 2 04 09. 7 97
Morin Canons: tc facaean ocodaae 1 36 11.6 1 16
South Carolina. . 2 Meee SG ae ie 92
Georv pias te 8 6) ee Peo a8 2 1 64
Jin spit By 5 > = eR is Te 9 a I 87
Ma ham -2P Lb SR lie 1 00
MUSRISSITIDIg 4-4-0 tet ccece eee 1 25
Maniacs) Ge 2 = oe deen cen bas 1 &2
ALC CCTs <2 ae 1 43
ANTELSCATATSE Y=) a ay ee ee 1 54
ennessaess£..)iae. 22. ee 115
West Virginia a1
Wont kar. sen oe a cmiemsenade | 114
(Chi Beesae CF eee eS Be SRP aes a 9 : : r 7
Machican, M6 ie. ee, 2c Sse 20 2 } 3. De , i 94
Tainan as Se Soham aes SAE i 2 5 82
MUMDIS. 4 Seats 2b OE sas 78
Wasconusinfo--.- 250 8. a8 gL
Mannesolaict.. sate oe cece net : . ; ; 1 00
17 ie Age eS aie eee ae z is Be Y 2h 63
IMBRKOMI GSS. ccc coe Seek nae tek 5 ; : ts 81
NGGNBAN 4 ale 2b SE ee } A b us : 69
Wepraska SC 22a ccccnedut k p 72
eitorinig Se. e kk Se oc cede 94
Geran ss88si7 0b RE cb at 90
Weviada. ca os de OS ewe cca datlecc cud seaeReletoe 2G... }.6. 90.528 ES 8: 2k
Golorado}: 02-8... .. 1 65
tahoe Seas. 1 45
Washington... 1 25
Dakota ..-:.. 62
New Mexico .. aden 4 50
NMpripanaler. to. sta eta ye 1 20
In comparison with these prices those of former periods are some-
what higher. In the grain States the decline is quite uniform with
that of other labor. In those States where the area in cereals is small
the averages are less uniform, and perhaps less reliable, from the smaller
number of returns and the greater difficulty in fixing precisely county
averages.
In the West, the cost of harvesting and stacking wheat varies little
in most of the States from $3 per acre, the highest being in Nebraska
and Minnesota, where wheat-growing may be said to be a specialty, and
where the area is practically all spring-wheat, and the period of har-
vesting short and competition for harvest-labor strong. Wisconsin,
also a spring-wheat State, stands next in order.
The price per acre for cutting and curing hay is proportionately lower
in most of the States. In the States in which machines are not in gen-
eral use, as in the South, and even in New England, it is far more difii-
271
— eult to give the local averages, as the work is rarely contracted for ata
given price per acre, but is usually done by the farmer at a cost which
he may be unable to state definitely.
Table showing the average prices per acre of harvesting and stacking wheat and hay, and per
bushel of husking and cribding and of shelling corn.
1869. 1866.
gaze [82 ] 3 | ee |e) | eae® [ag [3
Asss2\a5 ea,| = a Vs hh es
canta | a ES | Suman ro aera oak 1 morey
States and Territories. os =S | 5a 2S |oaee| 9S | owe =5 | ofe| 25
Beees |28.| SS | Sha] 5, | Seeeg4 | 5545) Se
eSSsal uf |] pM | Sou] te | 888805 | soe] sa
BME UE | SoS ef Boa | eo | eae | eee | a
ees PSS | PS] MS | Bad | ee aaeeS | a | BO
Chemo | 02g od o ws of Omems | o HS oF
epedq)-sa3 we one Ze BSCsag | Sas 2+
Pere a oy ‘ae a | Sse i=| oS a Pat
oy Ay i) Ay Py m4 AY PY
_—-
Do 4. ee ik $3 35 $1 22 $4 37 $3 54 $l 16
Dipw Hampshire |e ce - 2... } be cise cee es : , 4 00 1 29 ots ey (5) Birt 13
DUSTING UE ret ais ois clk cc an cil adelise scene n 25 87 4 33 3 48 119
2) SEL CG) 72) 8 ee ee oe 5 81 2 04 4 72 5 19 1 75
IST LE ee ea 6 12 1 48 6 00 6 12 BIT
OST cc ee ee 5 50 1 50 3 70 4 75 1 81
iw Orecon Sf iS a... 3 13 1 OL 3 88 3 28 Day
New Jersey.-..-.-.---.---. 3 66 1 28 4 36 4 04 1952)
Pennsylvania ...:......-.-- 4 03 1 20 4 36 410 1 38
ane tee sa be k= 2 -- | cee ------ 5 00 4 00 32D 3 87 1 50
Maryland 2. 3...1..-05...-. 2.97 ay als) 4 21 4 83 1 57
ge) ES oe 2 28 1 09 2 07 1 98 1 05
North Carolina..)..02..... 2 46 1 16 1 84 2 67 ® 1 59
rnb es iy OQ) 1 50) cK. 0355 4.0 04, ott oo |mnmerndne 1 56 SR 1 50
(itor Pe aap ae 5 50 Oats) 2 41 2 82 1 81
ssa, el oe i Pn) ed (en Ae el en ee ei rae Meese ee cst std Yep
PRIA DAM Soto ace ok nn-- E s 4 33 2 02 Q17 3 66 Lore
i Ossie yid G6 S645 3 ee EO OOM eae ae cloe scare 2 66 3 31 1 50
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USAGES IN SHARE-FARMING.
The following is a brief abstract from the notes of our correspondents
in regard to the usages prevalent in different States on the subject of
working land on shares:
In the New England States the element of taxation is of special im-
portance, and landlords, as far as possible, secure this as one of the
points in the contract. The tenant in most cases pays half the taxes,
seed, and repairs, and receives half the crops. In some cases he fur-
nishes half the working-stock. In other cases he is entitled to half the
growth of young stock, which is sometimes commuted in cash, as when
272
he is allowed $20 per cow. Different usages prevail among the dairy
districts, the owner in some cases furnishing the cows as well as the
land. In some neighborhoods the land is rented for cash at the rate of
6 per cent. ad valorem. On hay-farms in New Hampshire the owner of
the land often receives two-thirds of the crop, on account of the smaller
amount of labor required by grass-crops. In some parts of Connecticut,
the tenant receives the value of his share of the crop in money, but
generally he is left to market his own produce.
In the Middle States the same usages prevail in large sections. The
tendency to share equally in the proceeds and expenses of agrieulture
is more generally coupled with the requirement to furnish, in whole or
part, the working-stock, tools, seed, and sometimes the fertilizers used.
In some cases distinction is made between plowed crops and hay and
fruit; the landlord gets one third of the former and half the latter.
Tenants are generally allowed to keep their own cattle and sheep, feed-
ing them from their own share of the crops. When the tenant is unable
to stock the farm or to furnish implements, he gets but a third of the
produce in some counties. The stipulation in regard to taxes is seldom
noted in this section. On the fruit-farms of Delaware fruit is sometimes
reserved entirely for the landlord. In this State express stipulations
sometimes require the landlord to furnish lime or other fertilizers, which,
however, the tenant must apply to the land.
In passing down the Atlantic coast, a tendency is observable to ar-
range the share problem into three distinct elements, allowing a third
of the product as the rental of the bare land, a third to pay for the use
of stock, tools, fertilizers, &c., and the remaining third to compensate
the labor of production. The party furnishing all the machinery, stock,
&c., thus enjoys two-thirds of the proceeds. Yet this usage is subject
to local variation. In dividing the corn-crop, for instance, the tenant
gets half the grain and only a third of the fodder. A correspondent in
Maryland objects to the whole share-system, as deteriorating the land,
as the landlords are often compelled to employ incompetent tenant-farm-
ers. In some places in Virginia the bare land is first allowed one-fourth
of the proceeds as rent, and the remainder is divided between the land-
lord and tenant in the proportion in which they have each contributed
to stock and furnish the farm. Some landlords demand from one-third
to two-fifths of the grain-crops and one-half the hay, even though the
tenant may have stocked the farm. In other cases the landlord exacts
half the profits of cattle. Different classes of land also receive different
amounts of rent. For instance, in North Carolina, valley-land rents for
one-half,;while hill-sides bring only a third of the crop. Again, a dis-
tinction is made in regard to different crops; land in corn yields a third
of the produce to the landlord, while in cotton he obtains but one-fourth.
Where the landlord furnishes the whole or part of the stock, tools, &ec.,
his share is proportionally enlarged. _In some parts of South Carolina
cotton-lands are rented for a specific amount of cotton, varying from 60
to 150 pounds per acre. In renting on shares to freedmen, sometimes
the landlord furnishes rations for the tenant himself and one mule, as '
well as stock and tools, in which case he is entitled to two-thirds of the
crop; without the rations, he gets but half. In the rice districts of
Georgia land is sometimes rented for 7 pounds of rice per acre.
Passing to the Gulf States we find share-farming comparatively lit-
tle practiced in Florida, but where it is recognized, it is generally on
terms very similar to what,are stated for the Carolinas and Georgia.
The same distinction between corn and cotton, with occasional leases,
payable in specific amounts of cotton per acre—from 89 to 100 pounds.
273
In renting to freedmen the idea is to make him assume, as far as possi-
ble, the obligation of providing his own rations. In Alabama, some
counties discourage the share-system, and seek to bring agriculture, as far
as possible, to the’ wages standard, but this is not yet ; found practicable.
The tenant-freedman is favored with a larger share of the proceeds and
a more lenient treatment than the tenant-farmers of the North. Yet he
often falls in debt to his landlord and abandons his contract. Often
both parties are more or less to blame in such cases. The blacksmith’s
account is frequently a part of the settlement, and taken into consider-
ation. Generally, the freedman furnishing only labor is allowed from
two-fifths to half the proceeds of the crop. Other tenants, able to fur-
nish stock and tools, obtain leases in which they are taxed but a third
of the grain-crops and a fourth of the cotton. In some counties of Mis-
sissippi the share-system is increasing.. The usual terms of lease are
about the same as in the cotton States generally. In some cases the
rental is for 40 to 100 pounds of lint-cotton per acre. Freedmen being
destitute of stock and tools, as a general thing, these are provided as well
as rations in some cases in which the tenant gets but a third of the
crops. <A distinction is made sometimes between sharers and renters.
The former receive a certain portion of the crop; the latter pay a specific
rent per acre in cotton orcorn. There isin many counties a growing dis-
satisfaction with the share-system, and hence there is a tendency to treat
tenants on the basis ofrentersrather than sharers. In Louisiana, the public
mind is becoming unfavorable to the share-system, and on the sugar-
estates it is being abandoned. It is the policy to change it to the rent-
system as far as possible. The same difficulties are experienced here as
in the other cotton States in the inability of freedmen to stock and furnish
their farms. In rice-culture the owner furnishes the water in flames
and receives a third of the crop; if he furnishes the seed, &c., he receives
one-half. In many instances the land is rented for $2 "to $10 per acre,
but the share-system is still made an unwelcome necessity by the poverty
both of planters and freedmen.
In Texas the same general principles are noticeable. A tenant fur-
nishing his stock, implements, &c., pays one-third of his corn and one-
fourth of his cotton crop, but if the landlord furnish those necessaries
he is entitled to half the produce. The share-system is universal in
many counties, but the popular feeling is against it. Efforts are made
to change it for a specific rent, or to supersede it by hired labor.
In the cotton counties of Arkansas and Tennessee, the same rule
prevails as in other portions of the cotton States. Land without stock
or implements is rented for a third of the grain and a fourth of the
cotton crop; but the quality of the land sometimes varies this rule;
rich river-bottoms return one-half the produce for the land alone. If
the owner furnish stock, tools, and seed, he gets from half to two-thirds
of the crops. The effort to supersede the share-system by substituting
hired labor is resisted by the inveterate prejudices of the freedmen,
who desire to be master of their own time, and hence prefer the share-
contract system, which leaves them at their own disposal. In a few
cases land is rented for a specific price per acre either in money or pro-
duce. In the sections of the inland Southern States outside of the cot-
ton region, bare land rents at one-third to one-half its produce accord-
ing to its location and quality, but if the landlord furnishes and stocks
the farm, his portion is from one-half to two-thirds of the crop. In the
tobacco counties of Kentucky, the landlord frequently claims half the
cro) as a consideration for the use of land, and in some localities he is
entitled to half the wheat-crop.
274
North of the Ohio River the proceeds of cultivation are divided with
reference to the three elements, land, stock, &c., and labor, but not
always in equal proportions. The land draws from a third to two-fifths ;
in some cases hay or other crops, requiring a smaller amount of labor,
or where already seeded, pay a rent of one-half. Where the landlord
stocks the tarm and furnishes seed and tools, his portion varies from one-
half to two-thirds of the crop. In some older counties in Ohio and
Indiana land rents at $3 to $10 per acre. The cash-system is also
becoming common in parts of Illinois. Our returns from this region
seldom notice the matter of repairs or taxes. When the corn is divided
in the field, the landlord often gets half, but if in the granary, after
shelling, he is content with one-third. In some cases, in Wisconsin, it
is noted that the landlord and tenant divide the expense of thrashing
the grain, but generally it is understood that the landlord receives his
portion of the crop ready for market.
The usages of the region just described, in regard to share-farming,
are reproduced in the States west of the Mississippi River with only
minor and local variations. Occasionally there is a stipulation that the
tenant shall keep up the fence-repairs, which seems to betray a New
England origin. In older-settled districts lands rent for a specific sum
per acre in money.
On the Pacific coast the practice of renting land for money is more
common than in the Eastern States; in California the rents vary from
$1 to $10 per acre. Where share-farming exists the owner seldom gets
over a fourth of the crop for the bare land. The grain is delivered to
the landlord in sacks ready for shipment. In Cregon the land generally
nets to its owner about a third of its produce.
DIGEST OF CROP-RETURNS.
CORN,
Our returns show an increase in the acreage planted of about 8 per
cent. over last year. In New England there is a decline of about 13
per cent., and on the Pacific coast of about 1 per cent. ; but all the great
corn-growing regions show an increased breadth planted. The Middle
States have increased 2 per cent.; the South Atlantic coast States, 3 per
cent.; the Gulf States, 10 per cent.; the Southern inland States, 12 per
cent.; the States north of the Ohio River, 7 per cent.; and the States
west of the Mississippi River, 14 per cent.
The condition of the crop is about 96 per cent. of an average. New
England is about 10 per cent. below average. The planting season was
late and not very favorable. Cut-worms caused replanting in many
places.
The Middle States are about 7 per cent. below average. Complaints
of late frost are frequent in this region, while the late rains of the sea-
son in some counties, drought in others, and insect injuries in others, are
cited as reasons for the reduced Jocal condition. The general feeling,
however, was one of hopefulness of improvement, as the weather had
become more favorable.
The South Atlantic States mostly approximated an average condi-
tion— Virginia, 95, showing the minimum. The whole section was but
-
215
3 per cent. below average, Mayland and South Carolina being 99. The
condition of the crop was somewhat backward, but improving. Drought
is stated in a few localities. Cut-worms and chinches were also trouble-
some in isolated places. 6
All the Gulf States were full average, or above, except Florida, 91,
and Alabama, 98. Mississippi, 112, presents the maximum condition of
the whole country. In Florida storms in some counties and drought
in others injured the crop. Drill-worms are noted in Madison. Drought
is reported in several counties in Alabama. In Clarke grasshoppers
were injurious on swamp-lands. The general condition was but little
below average, good culture generally compensating the damages of
drought. A general improvement of cultivation is noted in Mississippi.
Louisiana reports an unusually fine growing season. Texas, in spite of
local drought and a few cases of insect injuries, is full average.
The inland Southern States show a very uniform fine condition, owing
to favorable conditions of growth. In some counties the rain had been
too copious to admit of thorough culture, amounting in Owsley, Ken-
tucky, to destructive floods. Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky were
9 per cent., and West Virginia 5 per cent. above average.
North of the Ohio River the crop was 8 per cent. below average, rang-
ing from 95 in Ohio to 82 in Wisconsin. Late frosts in some of the
northern counties greatly injured the young plants, while the cold, late
spring retarded planting. In some counties excess of rain had pre-
vented cultivation, and left the fields in a grassy condition.
West of the Mississippi River the crop is about 6 per cent. below
average on the whole; Missouri is 3 per cent. above, the other States
ranging down to 84in Nebraska. The tone of remark in Minnesota is
somewhat gloomy; the cold, backward spring and late frosts and hail-
storms being matters of complaint. In Iowa and Missouri the prospect
is more cheerful; but there are frequent complaints of excessive rains
preventing cultivation, and of chinches and grasshoppers, which com-
pelled extensive replanting. The latter class of complaints were also
rife in Kansas and Nebraska, but the replanted crops were generally
promising.
The crop was somewhat depressed in condition on the Pacific coast,
but there was considerable improvement after late rains.
Our few reports from the Territories do not foreshadow a very satis-
factory crop.
MAINnE.—Penobscot : Cool, but crops look well; some frost in lowlands. Androscoggin :
Small, but looks well. Piscataquis: Season backward. Cumberland: Short and back-
ward. York: Up to time and of good color.
New HampsuHire.—Hillsborough: Backward, but looks well. Rockingham : Sod-corn
badly eaten by the grub-worm.
VeRMoNT.—Franklin: Damaged by cut-worms. Rutland: Late, but promising.
Windsor: Injured some by worms. Caledonia: Increased acreage; this crop had
been largely abandoned but isreceiving more attention. Addison: Spring unusually
favorable for seeding ; condition fair.
MASSACHUSETTS.—Plymouth : Looks well.
CONNECTICUT.—New London: Late, and injured by cut-worms.
New York.—Oneida : Injured by frost. Stewben : Backward. Madison: In low places
injured by frost. Columbia: Backward and ordinary. Chenango: Injured by frost,
but repaired by subsequent warm rains. Schoharie: Fine. Wayne: Injured by worms.
Saratoga: Warm showers redeemed the damage caused by frost ; some injury by cut-
worms. Warren: Rather cool. Wyoming: Injured by cut-worms. Dutchess: Injured
by cut-worms 10 per cent. Genesee: Late and injured by cut-worms. Jefferson: More
promising. Orange: Poor start; drought and grubs. Ontario: Improved by late rains.
Seneca: Increased acreage from the winter-killing of clover. rie: Backward but
coming up.
New Jersey.—4itlantic: Fine growing rains. Warren: Looks well in spite of
a A.
276
drought. Burlington: Coming forward. Mercer: Fine rains have brought up the crops
to average. :
PENNSYLVANIA.—Northampton: Late and small. Cambria: Improving during ten
days past. Westmoreland: Backward, and injured by cut-worms, Bucks: Improved
by late rains. Columbia: Doing well, but two weeks late. Armstrong: Largest erop
ever planted, and growing fast. Clinton: Well set, but backward. Lancaster: Irtegu-
lar, byt growing finely. Butler: Fine. Montgomery: Looks well in spite of drought.
Lik: Frost-killed to the ground. Jndiana: Doing finely ; eut-worms in a few places.
Lycoming : Very late, but recent rains and fine weather have done wonders; crop fine
on bottoms but short on uplands. Lawrence: Backward, but improved by late fine
weather. Washington: Suftered from cut-worms and wire-worms, but the replanted
crop is doing well. Dauphin: Injured by wire-worms. Sullivan: Cut down by frost..
DELAWARE.—Sussex : Favorable weather:
MARYLAND.—Caroline : Injured by cut-worms. Worcester: Very fair, but backward.
Frederick: Looks well. Baltimore: Fine condition and culture, with copious rains and
fine weather. Dorchester: Looks well, but a little backward. Harford: Looks re-
markably well; complaints of cut-worms. Montgomery : Cut-worms made stands poor.
Wicomico : Grain-prospects excellent. Washington: Doing finely. Cecil: Greatly bene-
fited by late rains.
VIRGINIA.— Powhatan : Shortened by drought; no rain from April 26 to June 1.
Spottsylvania : Enlarged area, and improved stand and growth. Stafford: Looks well.
Greenville: In many cases corn was replanted two or three times, yet the stand is
poor; cut-worms. Halifax: Late, but. much improved; good color where not infest-
ed with chinches. King George: Promising. Charles City: Very promising on the
river-bottoms, but poor on uplands. Washington: Injured by cold; insects. Au-
gusta : Backward ; cold and drought. Highland: Promising. Chesterfield: Large crop
and looks well. Nansemond: Escaped drought better than other crops. Prince George:
Small but healthy. Northampton: Promising. Dinwiddie: Full crop planted. Meck-
lenburgh : Backward.
Norra Carorina.—WMecklenburgh: Fine. Chowan: Three weeks late. Pamlico:
Acreage increased; promising. Beaufort: Later than last year, but a better stand ;
condition good. Anson: Bottom crops injured by floods; upland crops promising.
Perquimans: Good prospect. Franklin: Backward, but promising. Wilson: Back-
ward, but promising. Caswell: Average yield; quality very good. Alamance: Back-
ward. Davidson: Late, but growing well. Yadkin: Cut-worms; crop backward and
stand not good. Carteret: “Adams Early” and “Sugar,” from the Department, doing
finely ; well suited to this region. Greene: Splendid. Hertford: Greatly shortened
by drought. Haywood: Bud-worms on bottom crops. Onslow: Small for the time of
year. Polk: Unusually late and small, but well worked and of good color.
SouTH CAROLmINA.—Colleton: Had to be replanted, but is now promising. Beaufort:
Fine weather; crop promising. Orangeburgh: Irregular. Darlington: Later than last
year, but doing well. Newberry: Promising. Richland: Late; stand poor; drought.
Georgetown : Doing well. Spartanburgh: Small, but good and well cultivated. Union:
Backward, but coming forward. Lexington: Generally good; early plantings partly
injured by late frosts. Edgefield: Injured in some localities by worms.
GEORGIA.—Fannin: Destroyed by cut-worms on lowlands; impossible to get a
stand. Lumpkin: Small, but promising. JVorth: No rain in six weeks. Troup: Not
so tall as usual, but of fine color. Schley: Now silking and tasseling. Pickens: Smaller
than usual, but in better cultivation and condition. Bullock: Rather dry. Dooley :
Promising. Muscogee: Drought; corn small and tasseling low. Richmond: Above
average, especially on sandy soils. McDuffie: Will produce 90 per cent. of home con-
sumption if the good season lasts fifteen days longer. Gwinnett: Fine condition and
well worked in May. Columbia: Good tillage and seasonable rain gave the crop a
good start. Hart: Acreage increased; backward but doing well. Butts: Fine. Ter-
yell: Small; drought. Appling: Backward, but promising. Banks: Clean and well
worked. Ailton: Improved by late rains. J/adison: Late, and poor stands. Ogle-
thorpe: Backward. Pulaski: Excellent stands of late corn. Upson: Doing well;
season fine. Walker: Late, and not so well worked as usual. Cobb: Suffering for rain.
Lincoln: Great improvement. Twiggs: Tasseling lower than ever before known.
FiLoripa.—Madison: Doing finely; somewhat injured by drill-worm. Jackson:
Drought. Jefferson: Injured by wind and hail. Wakulla: Needs rain, which has just
set in. Hamilton: Shortened by drought. Gadsden: Stalks short but grain good.
Leon: Poor culture in some places, drought in others. Putnam: Fine.
ALABAMA.—Laurens : Injured by drought. Saint Clair: Promising. Clarke: Injured
by drought; grasshoppers destructive on stiff swamp-lands. Macon: Backward.
Crenshaw: Drought. Montgomery: Well worked, but slightly dwarfed by drought.
Calhoun: Fine. DeKalb: Backward but healthy and well cultivated. Dallas: Dete-
riorated from drought. Marshall: Looks well. Perry; Higher average than for ten
years. Lawrence: Late, but growing finely. Monroe: Injured by drought. Pike :
277
Fine growing season, overcoming injury of late drought. Limestone: Late, but very
promising. :
Mississippt.— Amite: Increased acreage, better culture, and more abundant promise.
Pike: Flourishing, but needs rain. Newton: Increased acreage and crops flourishing.
Grenada: Prospect good. Rankin: Late showers have saved the crop. La Fayette:
Very promising. Washington: Fine. Franklin: Early plantings injured by drought;
promising on new bottom-lands. Kemper: Healthy and growing; increased acreage.
Lowndes: Good. Lincoln: Better cultivated and more promising than for years. Lee:
Never more promising. Madison: Well worked; another rain will make the best
crop since the war. Hinds: Prospects flattering. Jefferson: Looking well. Coving-
ton: Kentucky corn doing well. Smith: Average.
Lovuistana.—Morehouse : Later than usual, but in fine condition; one more rain will
make the crop. franklin: Damaged by drought. Hast Feliciana: Suffering for rain
in some places. Tensas: Doing well. IMWashington: Unusually fine. Madison: In-
creased acreage; condition better than last year; fine rains. Richland: Doing well;
fine rains. Cameron: 'Too dry. Jackson: Prospect of the largest crop for years. Cald-
well: Old corn not so good as formerly.
Texas.—Anderson ; Unusually good condition, in spite of drought. Hamilton: Acre-
’ age increased; crop late, but improving. Cherokee: The Pennsylvania white corn
retains its superiority, and is exceptionally valuable; it is now in the roasting-ear
state, and we are about out of corn. Dallas: Another rain will secure a bountiful
crop. Washington: Crop heavy; much old corn on hand. Upshur; Average condition
better than last year. Henderson: Very fine, but needs rain. Burleson: In roasting-
ear, but promising a fine yield. Coryell: One more rain will make the crop; average
promise 10 per cent. greater than ever before; grain full and large. Collin: Never
more promising; only one more rain needed. Gonzales: Ruined beyond redemption
by drought on some farms. <endall: Prospect of an immense yield. Rusk: Looks
_well, but on high lands needs rain. Williamson: Fit for the table; crop full average,
and better than last year. Houston: Injured by chinches in some parts, but the gen-
eral prospect is better than for many years. Titus: Poor stand, through late, cold
spring, but good cultivation makes it look well. Somerville: Average and condition
25 per cent. in advance of last year. Grayson: Drought. Navarro: Materially injured,
especially late plantings. Marion: Cut off by drought. Lampasas: Badly needs rain.
Austin: Disastrous drought. Blanco: Drought cutting down the crop. Bosque: Looks
fine, but suffering for rain. Cooke: Suffering for rain. Fayette: Suffering for rain.
Gillespie: Needs rain. Hunt: Drought. Waller: Injured by drought. Smith: Injured
by drought. Matagorda: Suffering forrain.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Two rains more, and we will have the heaviest crop ever
raised here. Prairie: Looks weil, but needs rain. Baxter: Looks exceedingly well.
Bradley: Doing well. Dorsey: Looks lovely. franklin: Very backward. Saint Fran-
cis: Damaged by drought; early sowings will be very short. Washington: Backward.
Crawford: Badly needs rain. Columbia: Late, but well worked. Fulton: Growing
fast. Jzard: Fine growing rains. Pope: Promising. Marion: Very flattering.
TENNESSEE.—Carter: Backward through drought, but looks well now. Greene;
Backward. Monroe: Unusually small, through drought. Hawkins: Growing finely,
and promising an average yield. Cojfee: Never more promising. Houston: Extraor-
dinary. Johnson: Late rains have been very improving. Sequatchie: Fine. Wilson:
Very promising. Gibson: Fine. Jackson: Looks well; too rainy to work it fully.
Loudon: Fine. Trousdale: Never better. Williamson : Looks well, though poorly cul-
tivated. Dickson: Season propitious. Hancock: Never better. ;
WEST VirGINU.—Raleigh: Promising. Tucker: Looks well. Braxton: Increased
acreage, and average condition. Brooke: Has been well tended; fields unusually free
from weeds; crop promising. Cabell: Larger breadth planted; looks well. Marion:
Corn growing fast. Pocahontas: Backward on account of late spring. Wood: Waist
high, and growing finely on bottom-lands. Pendleton: Very promising. Mercer; Not
equal to last year, but improving. Monroe: Looks well, although too wet in June.
Preston: Doing well, and promises a bountiful yield. Harrison: Promising. Mason:
aa ae season never looked better. The growth of the last few weeks has beéii won-
erful.
KentTUCKY.—WMercer: Growing finely. Shelby: Low, but of good color and growing
finely. Adair: Looks well; better grown than usual, but very much in the weeds.
Lincoln: Not forward, but a good stand and growing finely. Russell: Prospect very
fine, acreage 25 per cent. more than last year. Pendleton: Promising; season fine.
Metcalfe: In the weeds. Cumberland: Looks well, but is being damaged by continued
rain. Owsley: Looked well until the 26th of June; has since been washed by heavy,
flooding rains.
OxnI10.— Trumbull: Not doing well, on account of cold nights. Williams : Doing very
well, Morrow: Increased acreage; promises a heavy crop. Perry: Weather favora-
ble; growing rapidly. Erie: Large breadth; good stand; growing rapidly, but late.
Coshocton: Good. Jackson: Promises the largest crop ever raised here. Mercer:
278
Planted late; recent and continued rains have injured it very much. Marion: In
some places almost drowned and very weedy. Harrison: Looks well. Hancock: Badly
injured by wet weather. Geauga: Mostly planted in June, but doing well. airfield :
A wet June has prevented cultivation, and promoted weeds. Delaware: Increased
acreage; good stand, good color, large growth, and a good prospect for a large crop.
Van Wert: Materially damaged by rain; a large area not planted on account of rain.
Henry: Stands well on river-bottoms; on flat land weak and yellow. Athens: Late,
but of good color; very clean and promising.
Micuican.— Branch: Stands good, but suffering from too much rain on timber-lands.
Hillsdale : Rather too wet for corn. Van Buren: Cool nights have retarded the growth
of corn; many fields look yellow, but in the main is doing well. Tuscola: Later than
usual, but doing finely now. Lake: Damaged by frost in June. Livingston: Neyer
better. Shiawassee: Late, but good condition. Oakland: The leading crop, both in
acreage and condition.
INDIANA.—Jennings: Very fine. Rush: Drilled in this county; too wet to cultivate
it; weeds have taken possession, which will probably set many against drilled corn.
Elkhart: Late, but.good. Franklin: Growing finely ; more foul than usual, but pros-
pect of large crop. Madison: Looks well on high land; a great deal of that planted
has been drowned out. Perry: Fine prospect. Decatur: Doing well, but too wet to
properly cultivate it. Warren: Too much rain; weeds have the advantage. Dubois:
Condition good ; increased acreage. Shelby: Injured by heavy rain. Whitley: Suffer-
ing for cultivation; too much rain. Washington: Looks splendid on upland; bottom-
lands not so well; too wet. Pike: Small, but looking well. Noble: Planted late;
weather has not been favorable, but corn is now doing well. Martin: Foul from con-
tinued rains, preventing cultivation. Jasper: Weather unfavorable; too cold and
wet. Hendricks: On undrained land suffering from continued rain. Crawford: In
healthy condition and growing rapidly. Cass; Stand good, and coming on finely, but
late. Scott: Damaged by floods on bottom-lands. Tippecanoe: Backward on account
of excessive rains, but now fully up to an average. Hamilton: Too wet. Has not
been cultivated properly on that account, and wheat-harvest is now here. Brown :
in flat lands weedy and of bad color; too wet for cultivation.
Iniinois.— Pike: Corn small; stand medium; very weedy from wet weather.
Edwards: Condition poor and late; seed supposed to be imperfect; fully one-third
did not come up; constant rain has given the weeds a start. Stephenson: Backward
for the season. Weather too cool and wet, but the stand is good,and prospect now
fair., Clark: Planted late; an unfavorable time to cultivate; much of it small and
weedy. Madison: At least ten days late, and suffering from protracted rains. Menard:
Suffering from too much rain, and very foul with weeds and fox-tail grass. Vermillion :
Growing luxuriantly, but too wet for cultivation; grass will likely shorten the crop.
De Kalb: Hardly an average, but promises well; an excellent stand. Jasper: Very
toul; great trouble from wet weather. White: Not promising; hundreds of acres
drowned, and equally as much failed to be planted. Saint Clair : On low and undrained
land it is beyond saving, on account of wet weather; looks well on high land, Macon:
Growing very fast, but wet and weedy. Jersey: Doing very well, and will make
the largest crop raised in this county for a number of years. Iroquois : Though not
forward, is a good, even stand, and has been well cultivated. The land was neyer so
well pulverized, and the prospect is promising. De Witt: Much of the crop in low
land will be an entire failure, and weeds are doing great injury, to some even on high
lands. Boone: Increased acreage; late and growing slowly. Livingston: Increased
acreage and average condition. Mason: Backward; grassy in low ground. Ment-
gomery: The prospect was never better. Massac: Two weeks later than usual, and the
season unfavorable. Piatt: Wet weather is against the corn-crop; it is getting quite
foul.
WISCONSIN.— Waupaca: A poor season for corn; not yet three inches high ; cold and
wet. Washington: Cold weather caused late planting, and grub-worms the replanting
of about one-fourth of the crop. Trempealeaw: Not promising. Sauk: Very backward.
Juneau: Backward and puny. Vernon: Greatly retarded by the lateness of the season.
Columbia: Too wet to cultivate. Calumet: Behind its season. Walworth: Backward;
corn never smaller on July 1. Green: Never better. Door: Injured by frost on the
11th and 12th of June. Saint Croix: Not enough usually raised for use; very unproni-
ising this year. Crawford: Doing well, and farmers busy cultivating it.
Minnesota.— Waseca: One-fourth more planted than usual, owing to the low price
of wheat. Goodhue: Unfavorable for corn; season wet and cold. Wright: Very
backward. Steele: Backward and unpromising, but has been well tended. Jsanti:
The extreme cold spring has retarded its growth. Winona: Stand generally good, but
condition below average. Here corn is usually made in July and August, and should
they be favorable, will expect an average crop. ower: Will not exceed a half crop
in this county. Sherburne; Small and backward, but of good color. Faribault: Con-
tinued wet weather has prevented proper cultivation. Todd: Badly hurt by hail-
storm and cold weather. Cottonwood: Not good; spring too cold. Chippewa: Poor, on
ri he
account of cool weather. Sibley: An inerease in corn, on account of destruction of
other grains by grasshoppers, but it is late. —
Iowa.— Crawford: Doing finely, but much of it late planted and short. Franklin:
Ground too wet to properly cultivate. Lucas: Very wet; cultivated little, but grow-
ing well. Greene: Excess of rain and want of cultivation. Cass: In some places the
stand is poor, owing to bad seed and cold weather, but the late warm rains are bring-
ing it forward rapidly. Story: Rains and overflow have injured the corn-crop. Black
Hawk: Foul and very backward; acreage very large. Lee: In the weeds, and harvest
nearly at hand. A week or ten days of favorable weather will make a great improve-
ment. Poweshick: Not promising; uneven stand, and full of weeds. Marion: Greatly
in need af cultivation, which it cannot receive until the ground dries. Mahaska: In a
critical condition from rain; cannot be cultivated. Howard: Not very promising,
except on high and dry situations. Harrison: Acreage not so great as last year; aver-
age condition. Hardin: Foul; suffering from an excess of rain and want of cultivation.
Floyd: Not quite usual size, but, where well worked, of good color; some too wet to
cultivate, consequently weedy. Jayette: Small, but a fair stand. Decatur; Season
wet and corn weedy. Clinton: Somewhat backward, but generally clean and in grow-
ing condition. Allamakee: Backward. Tama: The most discouraging prospect ever
known in the county; very wet, and weeds and grass, in many fields, outgrowing the
corn. Jones: Weather not favorable to cultivate, and weeds growing rapidly. Cerro
Gordo: Getting quite weedy. Madison: Condition below an average; much had to be
replanted and is very late; rain has prevented the necessary cultivation. Buena Vista:
Getting weedy, and, on account of very wet weather, not promising. Cherokee: Rather
too wet for corn. Hancock: A good stand, but does not grow; too wet. Lyons: Too
wet to cultivate properly. Monona: Late, compared with last year; suffered from
heavy rains. Webster: Very wet for past three weeks; nothing done, in the way of
working corn, for ten days. Grundy: Cultivation has ceased on account of rain; pros-
pect discouraging. Shelby: About 20 per cent. of the seed planted failed to germinaie,
and fields had to be replanted ; the last planting is rapidly gaining on the first.
Missouri.—Crawford : Wettest season ever knowu here; corn badly injured. Greene:
Crop backward, but clean and in good order. Gasconade: Injured by chinches, espe-
cially on low lands. Chariton: Acreage increased by plowing up the wheat area; well
cultivated ; fine growing season. Franklin: Good stand and growing fast. Jefferson:
Flooding rains. Cass: Two-thirds of the crop twice replanted ; a good season will still
bring a fair crop. De Kalb: Grasshoppers badly injured a very promising crop; they
did not touch corn on the north side of timber or on a north slope; they came from the
south and lighted on a south slope. Carter: Vety promising. Harrison: A little too
much rain. Howard: Crop very promising. Daviess: Damaged by grasshoppers.
Johnson: Replanted for winter fodder; crops swept by grasshoppers. Lincoln: Late,
but promising. Maries: Late, but good. Vernon: Hundreds of acres of grasshoppered
corn being replanted ; new crop in fine condition and growing fast. Stone: Late, but
looking well. Saint Francis: Heavy, washing rains made the crop late. Perry: Never
better; plenty of rain. Jasper; Late, but very promising. Cole: Splendid. Clay:
Swept by grasshoppers. Carroll: Splendid crop, well advanced, of clean culture and
vigorous growth. Shelby: Fine crop; injured by late heavy rains, preventing its thor-
ough cultivation. Grundy: Looks well on uplands, but injured by heavy rains on the
bottoms. Newton: Enlarged acreage; looks fine. Knox: Injured by flooding rains.
Benton : Season favorable. Schuyler: Season backward and cold; crops late.
Kansas.—Smith: Looking very well. Doniphan: Corn replanted, in some cases, four
times; some prospect of a good crop. Neosho: Has come on finely since the grasshop-
pers left; fine growing weather. J ranklin: Large acreage sown since the grasshop-
pers left; a few of the latter, mostly having the red parasite attached, are injuring corn,
Washington: Prospect for a large yield. Wyandotte: Largely replanted, and subse-
quently injured by heavy rains and grasshoppers. Woodson: Great increase in acre-
age; Liberty Township has 20,000 acres in corn, and the poorest is above average in
condition; replanted corn small, but looks well. Swmnér: Prospect splendid. Shaw-
nee: Backward, but promising. Nemaha: Increased acreage due to grasshopper raid.
Labette : Promises better than for two years back. Jackson: Replanted, in some cases,
three or four times, on account of grasshopper-ravages; farms on bottom land and in
timber belts, suffered most. Ellis: Looking well. Crawford: Looking well. Chero-
kee: Finest prospect ever known here. Brown: Badly injured by grasshoppers. An-
derson: Increased acreage; condition poor, on account of replanting after the grass-
hoppers left. Allen: Late planted, but encouraging. Johnson: Corn planted since
June 15 came up quick and looks finely. Douglas: Nine-tenths ofthe crop replanted
on account of grasshoppers, but looks well. Cowley: Badly inthe weeds. Atchison:
Largely replanted within ten days; may yet make a crop.
NEBRASKA.—Richardson: Replanted three times; poor chance; drought. Webster:
Looks fine. Madison: Grasshoppers. Anox: Damaged by grasshoppers, but growing
upagain. Hull: Bad stands. Cedar: Backward; cool weather. Sage: Grasshop-
5
280
pers. Otoe: Grasshoppers. Cass: Grasshoppers; poor chance. Johnson: Replanted
came up well, and is growing fast. Clay: Thin on the ground.
CALIFORNIA.—Sonoma: Late heavy rains have made a great improvement in corn, -
but have somewhat damaged small grain. Amador: Benefited by late rains.
OREGON.—Clackamas: High prices have induced a large planting.
THE TERRITORIES.—San Miguel, New Mexico: Drought. Santa LE: Too dry. Taos:
Drought. Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory: Good in some places, and poor in others.
Yankton, Dakota: Late. Hanson, Dakota: Season late for corn. Lincoln, Dakota: Too
cold and wet for corn. Taos, New Mexico: Very poor; drought.
WHEAT. Ff
The average condition of wheat of both kinds for the entire country
is 82. The average condition of winter-wheat for the States in which
it predominates, including California, is 74; of spring-wheat, 96. The
South Atlantic and Gulf States, which have been comparatively free
from insect-pests, and have suffered less than usual from rust, report a
high condition. North Carolina, 102; Georgia, 108; Alabama, 106;
Mississippi, 113; Texas, 135; Arkansas, 119. Tennessee and Oregon,
each 102, are the only other States which report winter-wheat above
average. In the North Atlantic and Middle States, the figures are low.
Virginia, 83; Maryland, 76; Pennsylvania, 78; New Jersey, 63; and
New York, 45—lowest of all. Between the Alleghanies and the Mis-
sissippi, West Virginia averages 64; Kentucky, 82; Ohio, 71; Michi-
gan, 79; Indiana, 69; Illinois, 76. Missouri returns 72; Kansas, 91;
Jowa, 95. In California, though there is no obvious line of distinction,
a part is classed as winter and apart as spring wheat; the former aver-
ages 76 and the latter 55.
Among the States producing spring -wheat'to any considerable extent,
Maine returns a condition of 101; New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and
Towa, 99; Vermont, 100; New York, 91; Pennsylvania, 88 ; Illinois, 96 ;
Minnesota, 102; Kansas, 85; Nebraska, 71; Oregon, 106. The princi-
pal causes which affected the condition over large areas, in the winter
and spring, were reported in June. Local causes modifying it since
will be sufficiently noted in the extracts from correspondents which
follow.
Matne.—Androscoggin: Spring-wheat looks well, winter-wheat not raised. Cumber-
land: Grain looking well.
New HampsHire.—Hillsborough: Small grains look well. Rutland: Grain-erops
late but promising.
VERMONT.—Grand Isle: Winter-wheat badly killed.
New York.—Schoharie: Winter-wheat light. Wyoming: Winter, killed. Dutchess:
Nearly a failure. Jefferson: More promising. Orange: Considerably winter-killed.
Suffolk: Winter-crops badly injured. Seneca: Too far gone to be benefited much by
recent rains. Erie: Winter-wheat very uneven, except alongside timber. Steuben :
Winter-grain badly injured. Queen: Short.
New Jersey.— Warren: Short crop, straw short, and the grain not full. Burlington:
Heading better than was expected. Mercer: Winter-grain greatly improved. Salem:
Short, through winter-killing.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Northampton: Half crop. Perry: well headed and filling rapidly.
Cambria: Improving; harvest will be ten days late. Lebanon: A very fine wheat-field;
was made so by harrowing and dragging the ground just after plowing. Cumberland :
Promising. Bucks: Discouraging prospect; half crop. Columbia: Grain slow in fill-
ing. Lancaster: Improving with late rains; heads large. Franklin: Fine. Montgom-
ery: Half crop. Montour: Ripening slowly and unevenly. Tioga: Half crop. Wash-
ington: Late ripening. Sullivan: Many fields plowed up for buckwheat.
MaryLaNnn.—Ffrederick : Improving. Carroll: Greatly improved within a month;
Fultz especially fine throughout the county; large heads and well filled. Baltimore :
Late-seeded fields below average; earlier in fine condition. Dorchester: Not quite so
good as last year. Harford: Greatly improved. Montgomery: Straw short, but heads
well filled. Calvert: Greatly benefited by late rains; straw short, but grain unusu-
ally good. Washington: Very great improvement during June. Howard: Poor crop.
VirGinta.— Powhatan : Crop large for the amount of seed sown. Bland: Improved
281
by late rains. Warwick: Grain shrunk through rust on blade and stalk. Spottsylvania:
Grain fine; forty to seventy-five grains ina head. Fultz yields largely, but is short-
strawed from drought in May. Stafford: Greatly improved during May and June; straw
short, but grain plump. Loudoun: Great improvement in six weeks; filling well. Claw-
son wheat from the Department stood the winter well, and promises a heavy yield ; sev-
eral days later than the Fultz. New Kent; Grain of better quality than for many years.
Frederick : Fultz excels all others; makes two bushels to one of Mediterranean or Lancas-
ter. Orange: Straw short; grain of first quality. Henry: Light, but of good quality.
Henrico: Straw short, but grain fine. Craig: Thin on the ground and short-strawed ;
heads short, but well filled; grain good ; Lancaster and Fultz the best; Touzelle
scabbed in the head, and will make only half a crop. Dinwiddie: Fine in quantity
and quality. Halifax: Injured by rust and chinches. King George: Remarkably fine
season for maturing and harvesting; straw short, but heads fine and full. Mecklenburgh:
Fine quality. Nelson: Thin, but of very superior quality; heads well filled. Jash-
ingion: Third of a crop; Fultz the best seed, Lancaster next. Wythe: Full average.
Page: Shortened, but well filled and in good condition. Charles City: Short, but
quality and quantity better than last year. Cumberland: Full crop of good quality.
Campbell: Promises a good yield; heads well filled. Prince William: Matured well.
Washington: Drying up; spots on the head. Matthews: Some rust. Westmoreland:
Fine quality and heads full, but straw short; Fultz the best. Augusta: Largely win-
ter-killed. Culpeper: Straw short, but heads well filled; Clawson, from the Depart-
ment, a great acquisition; well adapted to the climate. Fairfax: Remarkably well
filled; Fultz still superior. Highland: Not over half acrop. Roanoke: Injured by
cold and drought. Chesterfield: Very promising.
Norru Caroirya.—fRobeson: Shortened by frost. Chowan: Good. Mitchell: Badly
’ injured by snow and freeze of April 17; thin and short; Clawson wheat, from the
Department, the finest ever grown here; will ripen July 10; many heads 7 inches long.
Madison: Clawson, from the Department, stands next to Tappahannock, which is our
earliest variety; stood winter well. Perquimans: Unusual promise. Alamance: Un-
usually fine. Yadkin: Full average, and of good quality. Duplin: Increased growth.
This township harvested three-fourths of the aggregate of the entire county in the
census of 1870. Greene: Injured by frost; half crop. Hertford: Best crop for years.
Haywood: Injured considerably on bottoms by heavy rains: Fultz does well on all
soils. Montgomery: Fair. Stanley: Damaged somewhat by wet in the shock; crop
generally good; Fultz very fine. Caldwell: Somewhat rusted as well as injured in the
shock by rains. Buncombe: Injured by April freezes, as also by rust. Clay: Fultz the
best variety furnished by the Department.
SouTuH CaroLinsa.—Greenville : Small in area, straw, and grain. Richland: Small;
grain excellent, especially wheat. Spartanburgh: Small area; looks well. York: Light;
rust. Lexington: Average in spite of frost.
GrorGIA.— Forsyth: Grain good, but crop short; acreage increased. Towns: In-
ere by late frost, but the increased acreage will make up the deficiency. Lumpkin:
ully 50 per cent. better than last year. Zroup: Good yield and grain. Gilmer: Well
matured bythe dry weather. Gordon: Quality good onuplands. McDuffie: Best crop
in twenty years. Gwinnett: Fair. Columbia: Considerable rust. Catoosa : Rust injured
avery fine promise. Butts: Good. Hancock: Good yield. Upson: Short. Telfair: Rusted.
Walton: Improved quality: Clayton: Mostly good; one man averaged 20 bushels per
acre, one acre yielding 42.
ALABAMA.—Crenshaw: What little wheat was sown matured well. Calhoun: Good
yield; grain sound. De Kalb: Straw in excess; grain poor. Franklin: Double any
crop since the war. Marshall: Yield good; flour good. Colbert: Largest crop ever
made here. Lawrence: Average,7 bushels per acre, Lauderdale: Good quality; Fultz
and other wheats from Department doing finely. i
MIssIssippl.—Greene : Efforts to grow wheat have all failed; rust invariably takes
it in bloom. Newton: Crop unsurpassed. Grenada: Injured by rust and smut.
Neshoba : Crop fine, but injured by rust in some places. Jasper: Afew acres of winter-
wheat, but destroyed by rust after beginning to ripen. De Soto: Unusually fine.
Winston: Rust; only early varieties escape. Franklin: Entire failure. Kemper :
Georgia wheat fine; Department wheats all rusted. Lowndes: Good. Lee: Average
20 or 30 bushels per acre ; crop sufficient for home demand. Yalabusha: Fultz from
the Department better than any other; heads a third larger ; tillered more extensively ;
60 stalks of wheat from one grain, but rusted after all. Sunflower: Acreage in small
grain increased.
Lovistana.—Bienville : Shortened 15 per cent. by rust. Jackson: A total failure
through rust.
TEXAS.—Dallas : Yield from 15 to 40 bushels per acre ; average about 25; grain large
and plump; weight 60 to 65 pounds per bushel. Henderson: Fine wheat is raised.
Burieson : Average 25 bushels per acre. Coryell: Finest crop ever raised here; from
20 to 40 bushels per acre. Kaufman: Average of county, 18 bushels per acre; fine
condition. Red River: Good. Bowie: A field of 300 acres is expected to yield 25
282
bushels per acre. JVilliamson: Crops average 20 to 25 bushels per acre. Bexar: Aver-
ages 20 bushels per acre of 62 pounds each. Titus: Twenty-five per cent. above ayer-
age. Somerville; Average 20 bushels per acre. Grayson: Splendid crops; 15 to 45
bushels per acre. Bosque; Better than for years; 20 to 30 bushels per acre. Cooke;
Fair. Hunt: Small grain turning out more per acre than for ten years. Uvalde: De-
partment wheats not successful. Hamilton: Splendid crop.
ARKANSAS.— Woodruff; First crop sown since the war; splendid, averaging from 15
to 40 bushels per acre. Monroe: Large acreage and fine condition, promising 20 to 25
bushels per acre. Baxter: Best crop since the war. Dallas: Unusually good. Inde-
- pendence: One crop averaged 40 bushels per acre; lack of labor for harvesting; reapers
and mowers extensively introduced. Bradley: Greatly reduced by rust. Dorsey: Im-
mense crop harvested. franklin: Best general crop grown; Tappahannock and Tou-
zelle did well. Ouachita: Largest crop ever raised; wheat from northern seed badly
rusted. Hempstead: Fine. Washington: Pastured in winter and spring, but the grain
is good and yield above average. Jefferson: Good yield. Sebastian: Changing base
from cotton to wheat; double last year’sacreage. Fulton: Best crop for years. Pope:
Better than for many years. Sevier: Best crop ever raised here. Howard: Five times
greater than any crop since the war. ;
TENNESSEE.—Lincoln: Late sown injured by rust. Fentress: Some rust. Smith:
Average yield of fine quality. Sevier: Very fine quality. Knox: Grain good, but the
yield is small; no smut from seed soaked with solution of bluestone. Fultz stood the
freezes well,and for three years has produced 50 per cent. more than the Tappahannock.
Carter: Fultz from the Department is good, but Clawson a failure. Our winter-wheats
are generally a fine yield. Greene: Good quality, but many crops light. Monroe:
Some sprouting in the shock; yield average and quality excellent. Hawkins: Stand
thin and straw short, but the grain beautifully ripened. Cheatham: Injured 20 per cent.
byrains. McMinn: Grain remarkably full and plump; heads short. Henry: Largest
crop ever grown here. Obion: From 20 to 30 bushels per acre. Trousdale : Good.
Van Buren: Injured by freezes in spring. Bradley: Grain fine, plump, and heavy;
raised 1023 bushels of Golden Straw on two acres. Dickson: Season propitious. Mont-
gomery : Grain good; acreage a third greater than last year. Robertson: Injured in
shock by rain. Hancock: Average. Rhea; Injured in the shock by rain. Grainger:
Greatly improved.
West VirGinia.—Raleigh: Short, but good and heading splendidly. Brooke: Badly
winter-killed, but will perhaps make half a crop. Cabell: Thin, head small, but
promises good quality. Jackson: Winter-killed, and in some neighborhoods damaged
by spring floods. Marion: Improving, but will be poor. Pocahontas 5 Not much over
half acrop. Jefferson: Not well filled; quality middling; will probably not average
over 54 to 6 bushels to the acre. J/ineral: The poorest crop for many years. Wood:
Badly damaged by severe winter. Putnam: Not more than half an average; recent
wet weather developing rust; some complaint of smut; Clawson thought to be supe-
rior to Tappahannock; it has a larger head, resists the midge; promises to be valuable,
but late. Mercer: Unpromising. Hancock: Many fields not worth harvesting; a few
up to fair average. Barbour: About one-third of a crop. Monroe: Injured in April.
Harrison: Searcely half a crop. Mason: If not injured in the shock by warm rains,
will make from one-half to two-thirds of an average.
KENTUCKY.—Carroll: Injured by severe winter; later than usual. Hardin: Bat
little over half crop. JWarren: Acreage double; condition better than an average.
Shelby: Thin on the ground, and low, some fields not high enough to cut; heads fair.
Adair: Injured by recent rains. Lincoln: Thin on the ground, and injured by rust.
Russell: The best crop for many years; mostly cut. Pendleton: About half an average 5
quality fine; late sown an entire failure. Metcalfe: Not more than half a erop—three-
fcurtbs at best—owing to severe winter and dry spring. Livingston: Nearly ruined by
rust. Graves: Not an average; thin on the ground, but grain good. Edmonson: Har-
vested, and good, but in danger from rain. Callaway: Good, Cumberland: A fair
crop.
Outo.— Trumbull: Improving. Morrow: Improved beyond expectation; will be a
good crop. Erie: Doing well; no rust. Sandusky: Improved very much; weather
favorable to its filling. Coshocton: Rust has appeared; fears of serious injury ; harvest
late. Medina: Harvest interrupted by heavy rains. Holmes: Somewhat injured by
late frost. Harrison: Promising. Hancock: A heavy straw, but ripensslowly. Geauga:
Very heavy. Fairficld: Harvest ten days to two weeks behind the usual season, and
wheat threatened with rust. Delaware: Weather just right. Van Wert: Thin on the
ground, and badly struck with rust. Gallia: About one-third of an average. Lucas:
Has arank growth; is very late, and is threatened with rust. Henry: Late; badly
down; not filling well; Fultz and Tappahannock stand the best.
MICHIGAN.—Kalamazoo: Two-thirds of a crop in this county. Wexford: Ruined by
frost June 13. Branch: Twelve days later than last year; an excess of rain. Jackson:
That not winter-killed promises a large yield; heads long and well filled. Hillsdale:
.
283.
Has improved. Tuscola: In some parts of the county, fully up to an average; in others
notso good. Saint Joseph: Only half a stand on account of winter-killing; straw of a
ank growth; weather quite unfavorable. Mecosta: Materially injured by frost June
2; some fields mown for the straw, others plowed under and sown to millet. Lake:
Damaged by frost in June. Grand Traverse: Damaged by frost June 13. Manistee:
In good condition until June frosts. Livingston: Badly winter-killed, but recovering.
Oakland: Has improved since the late rains, but in danger of rust. Monroe: Not
promising. Allegan: Promising; straw bright and berry plump.
InpIANA.—Grant: About a half crop. Clarke: Injured by the winter, and by frost
in April. Jennings: Almost an entire failure. Spencer: Good quality, but thin on the
ground; many fields are too thin to harvest. Elkhart: Badly down. Franklin:
Greatly improved ; half to two-thirds of a crop. Madison: On fallow, or dry lands,
looks well; that sown among corn, of but little account. Stewben: The prospect never
better. Decatur: Badly winter-killed; this county will perhaps produce seed, and
not more. Orange: Prospect poor; many fields will not be harvested. Warren: Fine
on clay soil. Dubois: Less than half a crop; grain injured by wet weather. Shelby:
Improved since last report. Washington: Will not produce the amount of seed sown.
Ripley : What there is is doing well; Clawson White Winter very promising. Pike:
Damaged by rain. Noble: Ripening very unevenly; has been injured by weevil.
Howard: Being badly damaged by midge. Hendricks: Some red weevil, or midge.
Crawford: Being injured by rust and chinch-bugs. Clinton: Midge abounds, and will
materially lessen the crop. Cass: Two weeks late. Scott: Very thin, but well filled.
Kosciusko: Has come out beyond all expectations, owing to favorable season. Tippe-
canoe: Improved; will be nearly or quite an average. Brown: Badly winter-killed.
Iniinois.—Hdwards : Coming out better than was expected. Stephenson: Promising.
Clark: Morethananavyerage. Madison: Late, weedy, and not well filled. Vermillion:
Greatly improved, but will not be more than 60 per cent. of a full crop. Pope: Thin,
but well filled. Williamson: Improved 10 per cent. or 15 percent. since May. Owing
to the increased acreage the yield will probably nearly equal that of 1874. JVhite:
Will not yield one-half the seed sown, owing to the ravages of the Hessian fly. Saint
Clair: Fully two weeks late. Ground too wet for harvesting except with the cradle.
Randolph: Fair. Butlittle injury from army-worm. Macon: Fall wheat full of chinch-
bugs, but not damaged much by them. Jersey: Improved very much, and from present
appearances will make half a crop. Livingston: No winter-wheat; small acreage
of spring; condition good. Mason: Spring-wheat looks well. Montgomery: No. 1,
but will be difficult to harvest on account of rain. Massac: That not winter-killed
has long heads and is well filled. Monroe: Grain superior but yield below an average.
Fayette: Good, but being harvested with difficulty on account of rain.
Wisconsin.— Vernon: Spring-wheat looks well. Injured in some places by chinch-
bugs and grub-worms. Jowa: Will be about half crop owing to the ravages of chinch-
bugs. Calumet: Spring-wheat very promising. Green: Spring-wheat ail destroyed
before it was four inches high by chinch-bugs, and was plowed up and sown in buck-
wheat. Saint Croix: Looks unusually well. Crawford: The best winter-wheat for
years.
MINNESOTA.—Stearns : The outlook for spring-wheat was never better. Sherburne :
Some fields injured by grasshoppers, others not touched. Cottonwood : The wheat-crop
is the finest raised since the settlement of the county.
lows.—Crawford: Splendid. Story: Season favorable. Lee: Winter-wheat a fail-
ure; spring looks well. Poweshiek: Some complaint of rust. Mills: Fears of a fail-
ure from rain and rust. Louisa: Spring-wheat looks well, but is growing tall and is
in danger of falling down. Howard: Looks well on dry soil, but in many places
suffering from continued rain. Hardin: An overgrowth of straw, and inclined to fall
down. Tama: Injured by wet weather, especially on low lands. Guthrie; Winter-
wheat a failure; useless to sow it, unless hardier varieties can be found than any yet
tried in this county. Spring-wheat rank and beginning to fall. Buena Vista: Fears
of rust. Cherokee: Late, but promises to be heavy.
MissourI.—Crawford : Wheat largely mixed with chess; not over three-fourths of
the crop will be full average. Ozark: A little short on account of winter-killing.
Greene: Crop greatly beyond expectation. Polk: Abundant rain keeps the chinch
back; wheat out of all danger. Gasconade: Lowland-crops injured by chinches.
Chariton ;: Largely plowed up to be put in corn; not over a half crop, but good and
well saved. Franklin: Greatly improved. Adair: Total failure. Carter; Average.
Howard: Too much rain. Daviess: Badly winter-killed. Johnson: Ruined by grass-
hoppers. Lincoln: Only one-fourth of a crop will be made; grain good. Maries:
What survived winter came ont beyond expectation. Taney: Will be 25 per cent.
larger than ever before; Clawson, from the Department, is splendid. Stone: Short-
ened by fly, rust, and chinch. Stoddard: Increased acreage; somewhat winter-killed
but promising. Saint Francis: Never better. Perry: Very good. Lawrence: Crop
has come out wonderfully; Clawson especially fine; heads run 80 to 100 grains each.
*
284
Jasper: Badly injured by chinches. Cole: Fine weather has brought the crop to
average; heads and berries superior, Clay: Destroyed by grasshoppers. Carroll:
Badly winter-killed ; no spring-wheat. Shelby: Mostly winter-kiiled and plowed up
for corn; what was left is not good. Newton: Too thin and weedy; injured by rust
and chinch-bug. Benton: Season unfavorable.
Kansas.— Smith: Small grain injured by drought. Marshall: Grasshoppers left
three-fourths of the small grain uninjured. Doniphan: Small grain mostly destroyed
by grasshoppers. Neosho: What the grasshoppers left is good. Washington: Spring-
wheat injured by drought in June; fall-wheat good. Sumner: Finest crop yet raised.
Shawnee: Fall-wheat that escaped the grasshoppers is the best for three years; many
pieces average 30 bushels per acre; spring-wheat poor, Jeno: Many pieces of fall-
wheat drilled upon deep-plowed ground will average 30 bushels per acre; others will
go as low as 10 bushels. Labette: Injured 8 per cent. by grasshoppers and 10 per cent.
by chinch-bugs. ilis: Winter-wheat, where not cut too green, is plump and well
headed ; stand good; spring-wheat long and stiff-strawed and long-headed. Cherokee :
Thin on the ground but promising; heads unusually long and well filled. Brown :
Badly injured by grasshoppers. Marion: Best crop of winter-wheat ever harvested
here; White May and Blue Stem the favorite varieties; White Genesee and Gipsy
well reported. Stepublic: Injured some by drought. Montgomery: Excellent crop and
' harvested in fine condition ; some little damage by rust and chinches. Chase: Spring-
wheat damaged by June drought. Douglas: Nine-tenths taken by grasshoppers.
Cowles : Good and well saved.
NEBRASKA.— Webster: A little injured by drought. Stanton: Injured by grasshop-
pers in places. Madison: Grasshoppers. Knox: Half destroyed by grasshoppers.
Halli: Grasshoppers. Cedar: Large yield, if it escapes grasshoppers. Adams : Above
average. Gage: Grasshoppers. Otoe: Grasshoppers. Antelope: One-third destroyed
by grasshoppers. ranklin: Injured by grasshoppers.
CALIFORNIA.—Sacramento: Grain-crops badly injured by freezing weather in April.
Alameda: Wheat and other grain will not exceed two-thirds of a crop; drought and
drying winds since the middle of February; much grain damaged by rain in the
shock. San Joaquin: Thrashed out only half average; heavy rains caused extensive
lodging of the crop. Contra Costa: Full average on good, well-tilled land, but short,
as a whole, 25 to 33 per cent. San Bernardino: Spring frosts unusually disastrous.
Stanislaus : Injured by rain in the shock. 3
OREGON.— Benton: What little winter-wheat we have looks well; spring-wheat
late but promising. Clackamas: Favorable weather has benefited spring-grains. Tilla-
mook: Small grains mostly went to straw. Columbia: Excelleut. Grant: Season
favorable.
THE TrERRITORIES.—Santa Fé, N. Mexico: Doing well in spite of drought. Taos, ~
New Mexico: Very poor. A failure of our crops will terribly affect the whole Terri-
tory, as nearly all the counties draw their supplies from this. Sevier, Utah: Straw
short; unpromising. Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory : Increased average and unusu-
ally fine yield. A large thrasher has just been introduced. Yankton, Dakota: Growth
rank. Lincoln, Dakota: Doing well. Boise, Idaho: Season late.
COTTON.
Our cotton returns are unusually full. The condition of the crop ap-
proximates a full average, showing an improvement during June in
all the cotton States except Texas, where the prevalence of drought in
some localities and some local'injuries by cut-worms, cotton-caterpillars,
and grasshoppers reduced the promise of the crop 3 per cent. The
improvement of condition in the other cotton States is shown by the
following figures: North Carolina, 3 per cent.; South Carolina, 2; Geor-
gia, 6; Florida, 7; Alabama, 1; Mississippi, 3; Louisiana, 10; Arkan-
sas, 14; Tennessee, 10. The State averages on the 1st of July were as
follows: North Carolina, 95; South Carolina, 99 ; Georgia, 97; Florida,
101; Alabama, 102; Mississippi, 103; Louisiana, 105; Texas, 93; Ar-
kansas, 104; Tennessee, 109.
A considerable cotton-culture fs reported in some counties in Vir-
ginia, but to a considerable extent this crop has been superseded by
tobacco. The crop in these counties is late, but generally healthy.
It stands the drought well.
In North Carolina the crop is late, but is generally in better condition
285
than at the same time last year. The fine weather of June improved
the crop very materially in many counties. Cotton-lice are reported in
Chowan, Edgecombe, and Camden. In Edgecombe a new variety of the
aphis is reported, called the blue or root louse, which is more destruc-
tive than the ordinary leaf-louse. Clean culture seems to have been
general during the season so far, which, with the good weather of June,
has greatly improved the crop prospects.
In South Carolina the condition of the plant is almost a full average
of normal growth. Darlington, which produced.a seventh of the crop
of the State, reports a condition 5 per cent. above average. Barnwell,
the next largest cotton county, reports full average and 15 per cent.
better than last year. The crop is generally late, having been replanted
in many cases on account of late frosts. Some local injuries are re-
ported from violent hail and rain storms.
Seventy-three counties in Georgia, embracing over two-thirds of the
crop of the State, show a very general improvement. ‘The crop is here
also late, but generally of vigorous growth and clean cultivation. One
correspondent complains of a tendency among planters to rather ex-
aggerate the condition of the crops, but the fine June weather justifies
the improved estimate of the crop in most cases.
A still more marked improvement is noted in Florida, where a short
dry spell was of great benefit in enabling the planters to thoroughly
clean their fields. The weed was generally small but well fruited.
Some complaints of “ sore-shin” come from Gadsden.
Alabama reports a slight improvement upon the very favorable con-
dition of June 1. The weed in'many places was somewhat dwarfed by
drought, but was generally limbing and forming well. Montgomery
and Dallas, the two largest cotton counties of the State, report the
crop 10 per cent. above average, while some of the larger counties fall
below 95. No insect injuries were reported.
Mississippi reports an advance, which brings her crop considerably
above average. The season seems to have been exceptionably good,
both for growth and cultivation. Though the planting was delayed by
unfavorable weather, the crop had in many counties attained its full
growth. The general promise was very greatly in advance of July,
1874, and the cultivation was greatly improved. Many counties report
the labor quéstion as far more satisfactory than at any time since the
war. In some cases there was a complaint of too rapid weeding and
too slow fruitage. Lice were troublesome in some parts of Jasper.
All the parishes of Louisiana reporting show a very satisfactory con-
dition of thecrop. In some quarters lately afflicted with drought there
is a tendency to excess of rain. No reports of insect injuries. A
marked improvement is noted during June.
In Texas the condition is varied. Many counties report the crop as
remarkably fine, but local drought and insect ravages have slightly re-
duced the prospect as compared with the June report. Cut-worms
were destructive in Coryell and Bandera. Caterpillars were reported in
Limestone, on lowland-cotton, also in Bosque and Matagorda, but in no
case were their ravages very serious. Grasshoppers were threatening
in Hunt, and the cotton-grass-worm in Hamilton. Unknown insects
were troublesome in Collin.
Arkansas exhibits the most marked improvement of the cotion States
during June. The conditions of growth, after the late opening of the
Season, were excellent, and the cultivation good. Some small local inju-
ries from drought, worms, and lice are noted. Tennessee reports show
a promising though backward state of the erop.
286
The following table shows the average condition of the crop on the
ist of June and 1st of July of the current and five preceding years :
1875. 1874. 1873. 1872. | 1871. 1870.
e
States. A F 5 2 E 2
gi/sl¢lsel¢elelels | gl eles
=I =| 5 =| = Ss =| =} =] 5 =) = J
5 5 5 5 Hs) 5 KS = 5 5 5 5
North Carolina: 6235.2... 92 95 89 102 85 91 96 99 90 99 94 98
South Carolina:-........- 97 99 81 88 88 82 92 98 92 | 100 96 95
Ghani Were eS 91 97 80 91 94 94 94 104 82 82 101 100
RSet EE ee a 94 101 90 96 98 99 95 96 103 88 98 9g
CN phih ae 101 102 82 92 93 85 105 107 83 81 102 100
Mississippi ...........--- 100} 103] 78] 87| 92) 983| 100] 112] 84] 80] 95 98
Bonisianaeer esi. coe 95 105 70 73 94 80 104 101 90 75 101 100
Wermas seen cueco on. /3. 0.02 96 93 98 102 86 78 100 103 93 93 97 98
PASE AMSASI S202. ccmewiciane 90 104 75 94 92 96 98 96 83 90 101 106
TRORBRESBOC Ack acs ne vee an 99 109 | 90 97 90 96 99 104 90 96 85 98
VIRGINIA.— Dinwiddie : Replaced considerably by tobacco; crop small, but growing’
fast; no blooms yet. Sussex: Injured by cold and drought. Nansemond: Stands
drought well. Prince George: Small but healthy.
NorTH CaRoLina.—Gaston: No cotton-blooms yet; they frequently come about
June 20. Mecklenburgh: Ten days later than last year, but in better condition; very
little grass; crops well worked; best stand since the war; fertilizers used only to a
limited extent. Chowan: Very small; looks badly; hindered by lice and cold weather.
Pamlico: Greatly improved by fine weather; stands good, though crops are small.
Beaufort: June very cool with too much rain; much cotton hopelessly behind time.
Perquimans : Backward; stand poor. Franklin: Backward, but stand promising. Wilson =
Stand good, but from seven ‘to ten days late; plants healthy. Edgecombe: Spotted ;
stands damaged by lice; the blue or root louse, which is more destructive than the
leaf-louse. Wake: Weather very favorable; crops clean, and rapidly recovering from
the spring stint. Camden: Very backward and lousy. Duplin: Badly injured by
heavy rains; unusually small. Columbus: Some blooms; rains have made the crops
grassy. Greene: Planting ten days late; plant unusually small, but crops clean; fine
growing weather. Hertford: Plants small, but looking well. Pitt: Ten days late >
stand good and clean. Montgomery: Stand fair, but two weeks late; we need a late
and favorable fall. New Hanover: Improving fast. Stanly: Weed low; forms its
squares close to the ground. Onslow: Small for the time of year. Polk: Prospect
better than at this time last year.
SoutH CaRoLina.—Colleton: Had to be replanted, but is now promising. Marl
borough : Heavy wind, rain, and hail-storms damaged the crops; they are now better,
but need rain; weed not so good as last year; looks sickly, with few forms; blooms
ten to fifteen days later than last year. Beaufort: Fine season; crops average.
Orangeburgh : Admirable weather; crops backward but in fine condition. Barnwelis
Later than last year but 15 percent. better. Darlington: Fully up to last year an@
in better condition. Newberry: Very promising. Georgetown: Promises well in spite:
of late frosts requiring replanting. York: Generally good, but two weeks late. Union =
Hea and growing. Lexington: Growing vigorously; some danger of overgrowth
of weed.
GrEOoRGIA.—Lumpkin: Last year this county put up only forty-two bales. Troup
A little late but growing finely. Pickens : Smaller than usual, but in better condition
and cultivation. Douglass: Small, but clean; stand good. Bullock: Crop being well
worked. Dooly: Greatly benefited by the dry, warm May. Muscogee: Small and
late blooming; growing slowly for lack of'rain. Richmond: Healthy and vigorous, but
average growth; not so advanced as it should be at this time; crops uncommonly
clean. Gwinnett: Good average prospect. Mitchell: Short; well cultivated during:
the dry weather, and unusually clean. Columbia: Improved by late rains. Efing-
ham: Looking well. Elbert: Three weeks of fine weather have advanced the crop te
the usual standard of size and fruitage. Hart: Increased acreage; cropslook well bet
are two weeks backward. Butts: Ten days late; fine. Terrell; Small, but healthy-
Banks : Clean’and well worked. Hancock: Too much rain; plants not so large as.
last year, nor so well fruited; grassy. Milton: Promising. Madison: Late, and poor
stands. Oglethorpe: Will be short. Pulaski: Flattering. Upson: Rather above the
average. Walton: Growing finely and well filled with forms. Cobb; Suttering for rain.
Lincoln: Great improvement. Clayton: Decreased acreage. Twiggs: Two weeks late 5
there are a few fine crops, but there is a tendeney to exaggerate their condition~
Taliaferro : Precocious development of weed.
287
Frorwa.—Madison: The late short dry speli was a benefit; growing thriftily.
Jackson: Weed small, but unusually well fruited. Jefferson: Increased use of ferti-
Rizers. Wakulla: Greatly improved. Gadsden: Still average, though there are some
complaints of “sore-shin.” Leon: Weed not large, but well fruited and doing
well.
ALaBAmaA.—Saini Clair: Promising. Choctaw:.Weed smaller than last year. Clarke:
Small, but doing well. Macon: Stands good, but small. Crenshaw: May possibly
yield an average. Montgomery : Crop well worked, but slightly dwarfed by drought;
meyer more promising. Calhoun: Fine on good land well manured; old land will not
grow cotton without manure. De Kalb: Doing remarkably well for a few days past.
Dallas: Continues promising. Perry: Higher average than for ten years. Lawrence:
Late, but in fine growing order. Shelby: Limbing and forming well; the few commer-
vial fertilizers used show a marked effect. Monroe: Good. Pike: Fine growing sea-
son. Limestone: Full average in size, but ten days late.
Mississippi1.—Amite : Less cotton and more corn planted; crop looks as well as last
year. Pike: Flourishing. Newton: More flourishing than for years. Grenada: Crop
in better condition than last year, with labor more reliable. Neshoba: Late planted, but
jooks fine; well cultivated and clean. Jasper: Injured by lice in some parts. Coa-
homa: Dry, but crop in fine condition ; blooms a week earlier than usual. Clark: Not
so forward as last year, but in better culture; some of it is affected with sore-shin,
the tap-root drying up. Jtankin: More than made up its past slowness of growth.
La Fayette: Later than last year, but promises double the yield; season exceptionally
good forcultivation. Washington: Promising. De Soto: Small, but healthy and grow-
ing fast. Kemper: Healthy and growing. Lowndes: Weeding too fast, and fruiting
too slowly. Lincoln: Generally average. Lee: Never more promising. Tunica:
Large average, excellent stands and abundant labor. Tishomingo: Small, but growing
finely. Jefferson: Not quite so promising as at this time last year. Smith: Below
average.
Lovtstana.—LEast Baton Rouge: Greatly improved since last report, and now fully
#en per cent. above average. Morehouse: Later than usual, but in fine condition.
Franklin: Late and small, but doing very well. Concordia: Small, but healthy and
strong; some parts of the parish have suffered from drought, but rains now threaten
to be in excess. Zensas: Very promising. Washington: Unusually fine. Madison:
“Growing very fine. Richland: Clean and coming on finely. Union: Average yield,
though the acreage was decreased. Bossier: Eight weeks’ drought, yet the crops stand
it well. Cameron: Best prospect since the war. Jackson: Unusually fine. Caldwell:
Promising.
Texas.—Dallas : Late, but fine. Washington: More promising than for years. Up-
shur: Better condition than last year. Henderson: Late in starting, but now good ;
bloomed June 15. Burleson: Blooming ; promises a third more than last year. Cory-
ell: Stand injured by cut-worms and other insects. Collin: Started late, and has
nov yet recovered; several unknown insects injuring the crop. Gonzales: Late, but
doing well. Aendall: Prospect of an immense yield. Limestone; Slightly damaged
-by caterpillars on low lands. Red River: Growing finely. Rusk: Looks well, and
bloomed early. Williamson: Looks well on old land; on new land beginning to need
rain. Sexar: Condition good; full of squares and young bolls; needs rain. Houston:
Unnsually well cultivated, and hence in fine condition. Titus : Looks well, in spite of
the cold, backward spring. Harrison: Late planted, but growing finely in the good
weather. Bandera: Four-fifths destroyed by cut-worms. Williamson: Backward;
beginning to need rain very badly. Blanco: Very good yet, in spite of drought.
Bosque: Suffering from army-worm and drought. Cooke: Suffering forrain. Fayette:
‘Suffering for rain. Gillespie: Looks well. Hunt: Threatened by drought and grass-
hoppers. Waller: Free from grass; one-third of the crop is unusually small and
of slow growth; cotton-worm on three or four farms. Galveston: Beginning to
need rain. Smith: Small and backward; general complaint of lice. Montgomery ;
Best prospects for years. Matagorda: Needs rain for weed-growth; caterpillars seen,
but not threatening. Anderson: Unusually good condition, in spite of drought. Ham-
ilton: Very backward, but growing well; cousiderably injured by what is sometimes
called the cotton-grass worm, especially on sod-land. Marion: Drought; crop may
yet reach average. Navarro: Drought, but crop not yet injured.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Fine; on a decreased acreage we will double last year’s yield.
Woodruf: Lice, worms, and drought somewhat injurious. Prairie: Full average. Van
Buren: Injured by lice. Independence: Later than last year; much replanting. Ashley:
Fine showers. Bradley: Fine growing condition. Dorsey: Looks lovely. Saint Francis:
‘en days late and very small; drought. Crawford: Doing well. Sebastian: Changing
base from cotton to wheat. Columbia: Well worked. Fulton: Ten days late; de-
creased acreage. Pope: Promising. Marion: Small plants, but very promising.
TENNESSEE.—Lincoln: Plant unusually small. Gibson: Fine condition. Williamson:
Acreage reduced 20 per cent.
288
OATS.
Returns for June showed an increased area sown. Returns of condi-
tion, for July 1, promise a large yield. Except New York, 94, and Penn-
sylvania, 98, all the large producing States are above average: Indiana, .
110; Illinois, Ohio, and Oregon, 103; Wisconsin, 104; Minnesota, 106;
Iowa, Texas, and Kentucky, 105; Missouri, 112. The other States which
are average or above are, Maine, 103; New Hampshire, 100; Vermont
and Florida, 101; Massachusetts, 102; Mississippi, 108; Louisiana, 104.
Virginia, in which frost, drought, and rust have combined to injure the
crop, is down to 74. The remaining States range between 82, in New
Jersey, and 97, in Connecticut, North Carolina, and West Virginia.
Matne.— Androscoggin: Look well.
New Hampsurre.—Hillsborough : Look well.
VERMONT.—Lutland: Late, but promising.
Connecricut.—-New London: Late, but look exceedingly well.
New Yor«.—Schoharie: Fine. Livingston: Fine growing rains. Saratoga: Promis-
ing; full strawed and grain equal to last year. Genesee: Pinched by drought.
Orange: Very short. Seneca.: Doing well; good color. Erie: Very good.
New Jersty.—Warren: Stand well on the ground and of good color, but short-
strawed. Hudson: Some late and shortened by drought.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Bucks : Improved by late rains. Clinton: Short. Butler: Fine.
Indiana: Promising. Sullivan: Promising since late rains.
MARYLAND.— Worcester: Generally fair; Canada oats from the Department doing
finely. Armstrong: Extra good. Baltimore: Much improved. Calvert: Greatly im-
proved by late rains, but cannot yield a full crop. Cectl: Below average, but greatly
benefited by late rains.
ViRGINIA.— Tazewell: Shortened by drought. Bland: Improved by late rains.
Alexandria: Rescued from failure by late rains. Warwick: Shortened by drought.
Spottsylvania: Very short. Rappahannock: Shortened by drought. Orange: Marvel-
ous improvement within two weeks. Henry: Mean. Craig: Great improvement ;
rain. Dinwiddie: Improved. Halifax: Improved. King George: Winter-oats fine ;
spring oats failed. Mecklenburgh: Low-land crops rusting. Sussex: Injured by cold
and drought. Worthington: Good crop. Wythe: Short. Cumberland: Short. Waush-
ington: Severe drought. Matthews: Seeded too late to make a crop. Augusta:
Short and thin. Highland: Inferior. Roanoke: A failure. Chesterfield : Winter-oats
good; spring, a failure. Nansemond: On some farms not worth cutting. Northampion =
Rusted badly; fair yield.
- Norta CaRorina.—Chowan: Good. Beaufort: Drought in May and June. Pergqui-
mans: Good. Alamance: Winter-oats unusually good. Davidson: Greatly benefited
by late rains. Yadkin: Too dry. Greene: Half crop; injured by frost. Hertford =
Very short. Haywood: Favorable season. Montgomery: Best crop ever known here.
Caldwell : Improved by rains. Buncombe: Good.
SourH CAaRoLina.—Spartanburg : Chronic failures discourage the crop. York: Fall
sowings good. Lexington: Above average and of superior quality.
GrorGia.—Troup ; Low, but finely headed. McDuffie: Best crop in twenty years.
Columbia: Fall-oats fine, but spring-crops shortened by the May drought. Hall:
Drought. Butts: Almost a failure; drought. Terrell: Better than last year. Upson:
Generally good. Telfair: Rusted. Walton: Improved. Cobb: Badly injured by
drought. Wilkes: Fall-crop good ; spring, par.
FLORIDA.— Madison : Best crop for years. Jackson: Fall-oats good ; spring, partly
rusted. Hamilton: Very fine.
ALABAMA.—Lowndes : Injured by drought. Saint Clair: Spring-oats marred by
drought. Crenshaw: Drought. Chambers: Seriously injured by drought. Calhoun :
Poor, except fall-oats, which are very fine. De Kalb: Poorest crop ever known here.
Perry: Need rain.
Mississiepi.— Newton: Crop unsurpassed. Grenada: Late rains have greatly im-
proved the crop. Rankin: Some yields as high as 40 or 50 bushels per acre. Lee: Some
rust. Lincoln: Full average; good condition. :
LovuisiaNa.—Bienville : Injured by rust. Jackson: Never better. ;
Texas.—Collin: Red and black oats very good; white, subject to rust. Red River =
Very fine. Polk: Straw shorter than last year, but heads good. JVilliamson : Largely
increased acreage ; crop good, and will probably average 45 bushels per acre. Bexar :
Never better; averages 60 bushels per acre; one crop averaged 70 bushels, worth 75
cents in specie. Titus: Seventy-five per cent. above average. Somerville: Twenty-five
289
per cent. behind last year. Grayson: Splendid crop ; 60 to 70 bushels per acre. Shelby:
No rust; over average.
ARKANSAS.—Prairie: Fine. Baxter: Promising. Ouachita: Largest crop ever raised.
Hempstead: Fine. Pope: Better than for many years.
TENNESSEE.— Inox : Wonderful improvement in a month. Carter: Damaged by
drought, but improved by late abundant rains. Monroe: Coming out finely. Hawkins :
Shortened by drought. Johnson: Improved by late rains. Loudon: Greatly improved.
Blount: A third of a crop. Bradley: Fall-sown, fine and heavy; spring sown, a failure.
Montgomery: Very fine. Hancock: Never better. Grainger: Superb, though we once
thought the crop was ruined.
West VirkGINIA.—Tucker : Improved by late rains. Braxton: Late, but promising.
Brooke: Unusually fine. Cabell: Much below an average. Jackson: Short, but im-
proving. Pocahontas : Much benefited by late rains. Mercer: Not promising. Monroe:
Improving. Harrison: Promising. Jason: Recent abundant rains have had a good
effect.
Kentucky.—Shelby : Almost a failure ; too low to cut in most of the fields. Lincoln :
Low from early drought, but heads good and quite promising. Pendleton: Promising.
Metcalfe: Look very fine. Gallatin: Looking exceedingly well. Anderson: Have im-
roved.
* Oxn10.—Trumbull ; Look well. Williams: Have never had so fine a prospect. Mor-
row ; Promise unusually well. Perry; Fine. Coshocton: Promise full crop. Mahoning :
Tall and fine. Marion: Indanger of lodging. Harrison; Look well. Geauga: Early
sowed, promising, but the late light. Delaware; Increased acreage and an excellent
prospect. Van Wert: Very much lodged and damaged by rain. Henry ; Heavy growth,
but lodged ; cannot be over three-fourths of an average.
Micuican.—Bbranch: Never better, and a good breadth sown. Lake; Damaged by
frost in June. Livingston: unequaled. Shiawassee: Look well, but need rain.
InDIANA.—Jennings: Very fine. Franklin: Look unusually well. Steuben: Univer-
sally good. Decatur: Doing well. Whitley: Prospect fine. Washington: Look very
fine. Noble: Good; never a better prospect. Cass: The best crop for twenty-five
years. Scott: Remarkably fine, with large increase in area. Hamilton: A heavy
growth of straw, in danger of lodging, and not filling.
Inirwwo1s.— Vermillion; The heavist crop for years, but falling down. Randolph:
Have grown too rank. Effingham: Will likely be a partial failure, on account of the
very wet harvest weather. De Witt: Rank growth, but have recently fallen down,
and are not promising. Cook: Largely damaged by April freeze. Sangamon : Growing
rank, and badly lodged in some places by heavy rains and wind. Cass: Falling badly.
Livingston: In some places blown down. Mason: Badly down, yet look well; “ Harly
Fellow” and ‘ Somerset” excel native varieties. Massac: Fine. McLean: Badly
blown down. Piatt: Too much straw, and in danger of falling. Moultrie: Badly
down. fayette: Good, but badly fallen. .
WIsconsin.— Vernon: Generally look well.
MINNESOTA.— Cottonwood: Very good.
Iowa.—Crawford: Splendid. Story: Season has been favorable foroats. Mills: In
danger from rain and rust. Louisa : Growing tall, and in danger of falling. Hardin:
Overgrowth of straw, and falling. Hancock: Heavy.
Missouri.— Crawford : Acreage small, from lack of seed; crop looks well. Greene:
Bestcropforthelastten years. Maries: Never better, but lodged badly. Saint Francis :
Very fine. Jasper: Never better. Grundy: White Schonen, Potato, and Somerset oats
from the Department a great improvement on our native varieties.
Kansas.—Neosho: What the grasshoppers left is good. JVoodson: Somerset oats
from the Department larger and heavier than the common black oats, but later in
maturing. Labette: Best crop yet raised here. Crawford: Looking well. Cherokee:
Excellent prospect. Brown: Badly injured by grasshoppers. Chase: Injured by
drought in June. Cowley: Very fine.
NEBRASKA.— Antelope : One-third destroyed by grasshoppers. Franklin : Injured by
grasshoppers.
CALIFORNIA.— Sonoma : Considerably injured by heavy rains.
OREGON.—Clackamas : Banefited by favorable seasons. Columbia: Excellent. Tilla-
mook: Backward. Grant: Favorable season.
THE TERRITORIFS.—Sevier, Utah : Strawshort. Walla-Walla, Washington : Look well.
Lewis and Clarke, Montana; Backward, but doing well. Yankton, Dakota: Growth
rank.
RYE.
In the States producing rye on a large scale, except Wisconsin, 109,
the condition is reported considerably below average; in New York,
winter 77, spring 90; Pennsylvania, 90 and 97; Illinois, 97; Kentucky, 99.
290
In New England, spring-rye is about average; winter, slightly below.
The other Atlantic States range between 90 and 100, Maryland being
92, and Virginia 94. None of the Gulf States fall below average. Ala-
bama is 103 and Texas 102. The highest condition reported, 119, is in
Arkansas. Tennessee and Nebraska are each 103. In the remaining
States the condition ranges from 86 to 98.
BARLEY.
The condition of the crop in California is, winter 82, spring 86;
Oregon, 99 and 101; New York, 97; Pennsylvania, 94 and 89; Ohio,
72 and 100; Michigan, 108 and 102; Illinois, 94; Wisconsin, 97 and 83;
Towa, 102; Minnesota, 107. In the New England States, taken together,
the condition is nearly average. Texas returns 111. In the remaining
States, producing barley in small quantities, the condition ranges from
average to 15 per cent. below, Kansas being at the latter figure.
POTATOES.
Returns show an increase over last year of 4 per cent. in the acre-
age of potatoes. Among the Kastern and Atlantic States the area
remains unchanged in Vermont, is increased 3 per cent. in Maine, 1 in
New York, and 5 in North Carolina; in all others decreased, ranging
from 99 down to 82. The principal relative increase is on the western
border of the Gulf: and up the Mississippi Valley. Among the States
reporting highest are, Texas, 14 per cent.; Arkansas, 27; Tennessee, 12;
Indiana, 35; Illinois, 16; Iowa and Louisiana, 7; Missouri and Missis-
sippi, 6; Nebraska, 22. Kansas decreases 12 per cent., and California 13.
The condition in the Eastern, Middle, and.Atlantic States is below aver-
age. Except Maryland, 82, and Rhode Island, 85, the range is be-
tween 87 and 99. New York, the great potato State, is 96. Pennsylva-
nia and New Jersey, 94. Alabama averages 86; West Virginia, 99;
Kansas, 98; California, 85; Oregon, 96. All the remaining States re-
port the condition average or above, the range being from 100 to 125.
Arkansas reports at the latter figure; Illinois, 118; Kentucky, 116;
Texas, 112; Indiana, 110; Ohio, 108.
New YorKk.—Oneida: Injured by frost. Steuben: Potato-beetles numerous and
troublesome. Jestchester: Colorado beetle in several places. Chenango: Injured by
frost, but repaired by subsequent warm rains. Montgomery: Colorado beetles have
appeared. Saratoga: Colorado beetles. Wyoming: Colorado beetles; not much harm
yet. Orange: Doing well, but threatened with beetles; acreage increased. rie: But
little damage from beetles yet.
New JErRsEY.—Atlantic: Beetles troublesome, but Paris green was very effective in
destroying them. Burlington: Doing well, in spite of bugs. Monmouth: Beetles in
greatnumbers. Gloucester: Beetles injurious, but crop large. Hudson: Some damage
from beetles; early crops safe. Sussex: Doing well, but threatened by beetles. Salem:
Beetles very destructive.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Cumberland : Colorado beetles numerous and voracious, but strongly
resisted with Paris green. Westmoreland: Beetles. Bucks: Colorado beetles. Columbia:
Beetles plenty, but doing little damage. J/cKean: Beetles worse than ever. Clinton:
Beetles plenty, but successfully met with Paris green. Lancaster: Growing finely.
Elk: Frost killed to the ground. Indiana: Beetles very destructive. Lycoming: Very
fine. Montow: Beetles somewhat destructive. Dauphin: Badly injured by beetles.
Luzerne: Beetles.
DELAWARE.—Sussex : Severely injured by beetles. ent: Beetles very destructive.
Mary Lanp.—Caroline; Colorado beetles very injurious. Worcester: Colorado beetles
numerous, but less destructive than formerly; crop not materially injured. Frederick:
Beetles disappearing. Carroll: Paris green quickly destroys the beetles. Baltimore :
Bugs successfully resisted. Dorchester: Beetles very bad. Harford: Acreage restricted
by the early appearance of beetles. Wicomico: Damaged by beetles. Howard: Bee-
tles destructive.
VinGinia.—Spotisylvania: Only a few bugs,and they killed as fast as hatched.
291
Craig: Early plantings good ; beetles numerous and threateniug. Cumberland: Beetles
threatening. Campbell; Excellent. Prince William: Injured by beetles. Westmore-
land: Beetles numerous. Augusta: Beetles injurions in some quarters. Culpeper:
Beetles in force. Highland: Injured by late rains. Northampton : Good yield, but low
Tices,
PX ORTH CAROLINA.—Greene : Very good. Buncombe : Good crop.
Souru Carorina.—Richland : Injured by drought.
Groreta.—Muscogee: Sorry.
Fioripsa.—Jackson: Fine. Wakulla: Seasonable weather. Gadsden: Quite satisfae-
tory. Leon: Larger acreage than usual; mostly for northern markets, but with poor
success.
AvLaBaMa.—Laurens: Injured by drought. Montgomery: Have turned out well.
Mobile: Fine.
Mississtepri.— Tishomingo : Rotting in the ground.
Lovistana.—Richland: Colorado beetle cut down late crops one-half. Cameron: Too
dry.
TeEXAS.—Burleson: Good yield. Collin: Early varieties fine, especially Early Rose.
Rusk: Yielded finely. Titus: First crop, 25 per cent. above average; second crop, a fail-
ure from drought. Austin: Tolerable. JValler: Good crop. Harris: Remarkably good
and plenty.
ARKANSAS.— Prairie: Early varieties never better. Pope: Very good.
TENNESSEE.— Warren: Potato-bugs appeared, but were driven off by Paris green.
Wilson: Splendid.
WEST ViIRGINIA.— Tucker: Better than usual. Morgan: Crop almost destroyed by
beetles. Braxton: Late, but very promising; late crop not injured by beetles. Cabell:
Fine. Grant: Appearance good; but little complaint of beetles. Jefferson: Suffer-
ing from depredations of Colorado beetles, causing farmers to plant a larger area than
usnal of sweet-potatoes. Pendleton: Look well. Mercer: Indication favorable. Han-
cock: Average 25 per cent.above last year, owing to effective means of destroying
Colorado beetles and favorable season. Monroe: Not favorable. Preston: Have es-
caped the ravages of the Colorado beetles; anticipate a good crop. Mason: Crop
never looked better than at the present; beetles have nearly disappeared.
Kentucky.—Jefferson: A fair crop; not injured by beetles ; acreage less than usual.
Shelby: Fine, with little annoyance from Colorado beetles; yield promises double
that of last year, and better quality. Lincoln: Promise very fine; no damage from
Colorado beetles.
Ou10.—Trumbull: Bid fair to make good crop. Morrow: Extraordinary crop. Perry:
Promising. Medina: Look promising. Geauga: Late, but growing finely ; prospect
ofa heavy crop. Henry: Unpromising.
Micnigan.—Branch : Look very fine; not injured by beeties. Van Buren: Good
prospect for a large crop. Tuscola: Doing nicely, with fewer beetles than last year.
Livingston: Very promising. Shiawassee: Look fine; not damaged by the beetle.
INDIANA.—Floyd: Crop immense; seed not realized last year. Franklin: Never
looked better. Decatur: A large crop planted and doing well; not injured by Colo-
rado beetles. Dubois: Increased acreage, and doing well. Pike : Somewhat injured
by Colorado beetles. Cass: Never better. Tippecanoe: Especially promising. Lake:
eiree crop planted ; have made a remarkable growth; have not had such a prospect
or years. x
ILLinois.— Edwards : Look well, though late; not damaged by insects. Lake: Look
promising. Pope: Not yet planted; can plant in this county from June 20 to July 15.
Shelby: Prospect very fine. De Kalb: Farabove anaverage. Warren: Promising; no
Colorado beetles. Macon: Not so many planted as usual, but never had a better pros-
pect. Bureaw: More promising than for several years. Boone: Looking very well,
and not damaged by Colorado beetles. Livingston: Condition good; a long lead-
colored bug has appeared, but the vines are growing faster than millions of them can
eat. Mason: Looking fine. Monroe: Very promising.
WIsconsin.—lIowa: Never looked better; but few bugs and little damage. Clark:
The crop promises to be above an average. Door: Injured by frost on the 11th and
12th of June.
MrinneEsora.—Isanti : Look well. Cottonwood: Doing very well. Mille Lacs: Will
require great exertions to save them from the Colorado beetles.
Kansas.— Washington: Large yield in prospect. Jefferson: Badly injured by grass-
hoppers. Reno: Look well. Labette: Colorado beetles. Cowley: Fair crop.
NEBRASKA.— Webster ; Splendidcrop. Otoe: Tops taken by grasshoppers. Antelope :
Injured by grasshoppers and Colorado beetles.
CALIFoRNIA.—Alameda : Early crops, in some places, rotted ; selling at $1.75 to $2.25
per bushel. Amador: Benefited by late rains.
OrEGON.—Lane: Considerably injured by frosts in May. Clackamas: High prices
have induced large plantings. Tillamook: Prospects better than for several years.
Columbia : Two dollars per bushel, and but few in market.
THE TERRITORIES.—Snohomish, Washington: Very poor; drought.
3A
292
WOOL,
The wool-clip shows a considerable increase, especiaily in the South
and West and on the Pacific coast. Nebraska increased her yield 31
per cent. above last year; Kansas, 23 per cent.; lowa and California,
11 per cent.; Oregon, 10 per cent.; Minnesota, 8 per cent.; Arkansas,
7 per cent.; Mississippi, 4 per cent.; Texas, 3 per cent.; Connecticut
and West Virginia, 2 per cent.; Maine, New Jersey, South Carolina, and
Louisiana, 1 per cent. Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky yield a clip
equal to last year’s. The greatest reduction, 10 per cent., was in Rhode
Island, where the clip was small; Ohio was 5 per cent. short; New York
and Virginia, 4 per cent.; Vermont, Massachusetts, Alabama, Illinois,
and Missouri, 3 per cent.; New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and North
Carolina, 2 per cent.; Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Michigan, and Indi-
ana, 1 per cent.
New Yor«.—Columbia: Wool above average, bringing 40 to 42 cents per pound.
NortTH CAROLINA.—Jones: Increase over last year 20 percent.
GEoRGIA.— Worth: Crop fine; business largely increasing; wool so high that you
ean scarcely buy a mutton. ;
FLoripa.—Jackson : Wool-product increasing.
West VirGriniA.—Pocahontas: The light fall of snow and good condition of sheep
increases the wool-clip. Boone: We have one of the best wool-growing counties, yet
ten per cent. of our sheep haye been killed by dogs. Caunot something be done for
the better protection of this valuable property? Are a majority of our people both
fools and blind? .
KErnTUCKY.— Boyle: Increase from sheep driven into the county.
Our1o.—Morrow : Smaller clip, but of better quality.
WIsconsin.— Walworth : Clip unusually large and in fine condition.
Missourr.—Camden: Wool-growing rapidly increasing.
THE TERRITORIES.—Laramie, Wyoming : Wool-growing has assumed immense pro-
portions within a year. One grazier has increased his flock of sheep from 3,000 to
32,000 head. Other parties have also enlarged their flocks by purchases from the East
and from New Mexico.
TOBACCO.
The severe drought which almost destroyed the tobacco-crop in some
of the largest tobacco-producing sections last year reduced the acreage
of 1874 toa small fraction of that of 1875. The large increase of 1875,
175 per cent., has not brought the breadth planted up to the standard
of 1873. The following States have increased their acreage, viz: Mary-
land, 4 per cent.; Virginia, 30 per cent.; North Carolina, 33 per cent. ;
South Carolina, 7 per cent.; Florida, 23 per cent.; Mississippi, 16 per
cent.; Arkansas, 10 per cent.; Tennessee, 203 per cent.; West Vir-
ginia, 31 per cent.; Kentucky, 223 per cent.; Ohio, 25 per cent. ;
Indiana, 49 per cent.; Llinois, 56 per cent.; Missouri, 60 per cent.
New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas report the same area as last year.
The following States have reduced their acreage, viz: New Hampshire,
30 per cent.; Massachusetts, 25 per cent.; Connecticut, 2 per cent.;
Georgia, 5 per cent.; Alabama, 10 per cent.; Louisiana, 7 per cent. ;
Wisconsin, 17 per cent.; Kansas, 11 per cent. The acreage of 1875
is about twice and three-quarters of that of the preceding year.
The condition of the crop of the whole country is at least 20 per
cent. above average, being the most satisfactory in the largest tobacco
States. Our reports from Kentucky, which produces two-fifths of the
tobacco of the country, show a condition 34 per cent. above average;
Virginia, 3 per cent. below; Tennessee, 6 per cent. above; Ohio, 2 per
cent. below; Maryland, 1 per cent. above; Missouri and North Caro-
lina, 2 per cent. above. Most of the heavy tobacco States are either
very nearly average or above. A very depressed condition is found
293
only in those States whose yield is too small to greatly affect the gen-
eral result.
The crop has been increased in several localities of Virginia in con-
sequence of the establishment of tobacco-factories. Tobacco-flies were
notedin Pittsylvania. In some counties of North Carolina the labor-
question was affecting somewhat the growth of the crop. Gadsden,
Florida, finds the Cuba tobacco the crop specially adapted to poor men.
One county in Kentucky reports ten times the acreage of last year;
cultivation and prospects generally satisfactory. In Missouri grass-
hoppers have taken to tobacco-chewing, but no-damage greatly affecting
the crop of the State is reported.
ConneEctTICUT.—New Londan : Three weeks late, but looks unusually thrifty.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Cumberland : Very unpromising.
MaryLanp.—Charles : Acreage large. Calvert: Some increase of acreage; stands
well on the ground. Howard: Increased acreage.
ViRGINIA.—Powhatan : The crop promises well. Bland: Crop increased in conse-
quence of the establishment of several new factories. Spottsylvania: Large acreage
and promising growth. Pittsylvania: Somewhat late planted; some plants troubled
with flies. Henry: Full crop planted; looks well. Dinwiddie : Tobacco replacing cot-
ton; large area planted. Halifax: Good stand,and growing well. Mecklenburgh:
Starting finely; good season for setting out plants. Campbell: Large crop planted ;
looks well. Chesterfield: Large crop planted, and doing well. Goochland: Unfayor-
able planting-season. Prince George: Acreage increased 25 per cent.; stand bad.
Norra Carorrmna.— Yancey : More planted for family use than common. Caswell :
Acreage reduced, in consequence of the diminution of farm-laborers within three years.
Alamance: Acreage increased 25 per cent. above average. * Davidson: Doing well.
Davie: Larger acreage than ever before. Buncombe: Double last year’s acreage;
excellent planting-season.
GeorGIA.—Hall : Shortened by drought.
FLoripa.— Gadsden : Acreage in Cuba tobacco doubled; it is our best crop for poor
men.
Trexas.— Titus : Too dry; looks badly.
TENNESSEE.—Smith : Four times the acreage of last year. Greene: Many tobacco-
consumers are raising their own supplies. Houston: Extraordinarily fine. Trousdale:
One of the largest crops ever planted.
WEs? VIRGINIA.— Wetzel: Plants just being set out ; weather seasonable.
Kentucky.—Carroll: Large crop planted. Hardin : A fine season for planting, and a
great deal yet to plant. Warren: Acreagedouble; present condition good. Adair: Recent
rains have caused the setting of a large crop. Christian : Promising very fine ; acreage
one-fourth more than usual. Mussell: Setting ten times that of last year, and at least
four times the usual crop; season good. Owen: One-fourth above an average; flatter-
ing prospect of a large yield. Metcalfe: Full crop planted. Logan: A very large crop
planted, and looking very well. Harrison: Four times the acreage of 1874. Graves:
A fine season for tobacco ; a large crop planted. Gallatin: A large crop; reported as
“rotting off at the ground” by wet weather. Hdmonson: The greatest acreage of tobacco
ever known in the county. Callaway: A larger crop than in any previous year; gen-
erally looks well. Breckinridge: Crop unusually large; stand good. Cumberland:
Crop ten times that of last year; set with good plants, in due time; land well pre-
pared, and is growing rapidly.
InDIANA.—Dubois : Acreage two or three times that of any former year ; set in good
time, and doing well.
Missourt.—Chariton : Large acreage ; crop well planted, and doing well. Camden:
Tobacco-growing rapidly increasing. Adair: Ten per cent. more plants set out than
last year. Lincoln: Many plants killed by the freeze of April17. Carroll: Chewed up
by grasshoppers.
SUGAR-CANE.
Mississippi reports an increased acreage of 8 per cent., and Georgia
of 1 per cent. The other sugar-producing States, however, show a
decline. Louisiana, which produces the great mass of American cane-
sugar, is 2 per cent. below last year’s acreage; South Carolina, 3
per cent. ; Texas, 5 per cent.; Alabama, 6 per cent.; and Florida, 14
per cent. Louisiana reports average condition, and Mississippi, 3 per
cent. above. The other States are all below average from 3 to 10 per
294
cent. The severe cold of spring injured seed-cane in some counties,
leaving the most of the crop to be made from stubble-cane.
GrEoRGIA.— Mitchell : Seed-cane largely destroyed by severe cold.
FLoriIpA.—Madison: Improved by late rains. Manatee: Good season. Wakulla:
Cold snap killed the eyes of nearly all the sugar-cane; the present crop mostly from
stubble. Gadsden: Increased attention to this crop. ;
ALABAMA.—Grenshaw : Not over half a crop, for want of seed-cane to plant. Coving-
ton: Decreased acreage; cane put up for seed in the fall was injured.
Mississippi.—Neshoba : Injured by cold.
Trexas.—fRusk ; Plant-cane growing finely ; stubble-cane flattering. Polk: All right
up to date.
SORGHUM.
In South Carolina and Tennessee the acreage remains the same as
last year. It is increased in Georgia 11 per cent.; Alabama, 3; Mis-
Sissippi, 20; Texas, 9; Arkansas, 36; Minnesota, 31; Kansas, 10;
Nebraska, 6. In all the other States in which sorghum is grown the
acreage has declined. The greatest decrease is in Wisconsin, 19 per
cent. In other States the range of decrease is from 3 to 11 per cent.
Mississippi, 108, Kansas, 102, and Arkansas, 101, are the only States
in which the condition is above average. In Pennsylvania and South
Carolina it is average; in other States it ranges from 82 to 98. *
FRUIT.
Fruit-crops suffered from numerous casualties. Late frosts and severe
winter freezes were especially destructive, not only to fruit, but also to
trees. A very general recurrence of severe winter temperature about the
middle of April is noted in our reports, yet the injury inflicted has not
been found to be so permanent as was at first supposed. Insects
destructive of fruit were quite various in entomological character, but
their ravages have not been very serious in the aggregate.
APPLES.—Apples are below average in all the States except Ver-
mont, 102, Florida, 100, Texas, 101. The lowest average was in Indiana,
ol. The New England States vary from 102, in Vermont, to 56, in Con-
necticut. The Middle States range low, from 71, in New York, to 61, in
New Jersey. In the South Atlantic States, except Maryland, 90, the
the average is still lower, ranging from 50, in Virginia, to 77, in Georgia.
The Gulf States, except Florida and Texas, range from 73, in Alabama,
to 99, in Mississippi. In the inland Southern States, Arkansas, 98, is
almost average. Some counties report fruit as appearing fair, but tend-
ing to early rot. In the other States of this region the crop is very
poor—Tennessee, 46; West Virginia, 33; Kentucky, 50. North of the
Ohio River the condition is still worse—Ohio averages but 33; Michi-
gan, 64; Indiana, 31; Illinois, 38; Wisconsin, 48. West of the Missis-
sippi the State averages are higher—Minnesota, 89 ; lowa, 77 ; Missouri,
74; Kansas, 50; Nebraska, 61. The Pacific coast is about three-quar-
ters of an average.
PEACHES.—The peach-crop suffered still more severely than apples
from the freezes of winter and frosts of spring. The highest average
condition is found in the North Atlantic States and in the Gulf States.
The maximum is in Mississippi, 113, and the minimum in Ohio, 17. Of
the New England States, New Hampshire falls 6 per cent. below aver-
age, but the other States are full average or above. Of the Middle
States, New Jersey and Delaware, on the coast, are nearly or quite full
average, while the inland regions of New York fall 25 per cent., and
those of Pennsylvania 39 per cent. In Sussex, Delaware, Hale’s Early
295
was the only variety of peaches of which the trees were full. The South
Atlantic States range from nearly average, in Maryland, to 21, in. North
Carolina. In the Gulf States, peaches were reported as dropping from
the trees in Florida, where the crop averaged but 71; in Alabama, aver-
aged 77. In Montgomery Early Beatrice peaches were ready for ship-
ment May 28; Early Rivers and Louise, June 1 to 5; Hale’s and Tillot-
son’s Early came in ten days later than in 1871. Mississippi has a large
crop, but many counties have but a poor market. In Hinds County the
fruit-growers will lose $50,000 by the failure of railroads to provide ade-
quate transportation. Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, with a full
average crop, complain of a tendency to rot in some places. The crop
is of little value in the other inland Southern States and north of the
Ohio River, where late frosts combined with spring freezes exerted their
most destructive influence. West of the Missouri the prospect is a lit-
tle better. The Pacific coast will not be much over a half average.
GRAPES.—Grapes have done better than either apples or peaches.
Their maximum was in Arkansas, 109. The other States average or
above were Delaware 100, Maryland 104, Louisiana 102, Texas 1038, and
Jowa 101. The New England States were all above 90. Of the Middle ~
States, New York was 16 per cent., New Jersey 4 per cent., and Penn-
Sylvania 3 per cent. below average. The South Atlantic and Gulf
States, as a whole, averaged considerably above 90. The Scuppernong
grapes still exhibit their superior vitality. The southern inland States
will run about the same, but north of the Ohio the condition is somewhat
lower. West of the Mississippi, Kansas and Nebraska will have but a
half crop, but the other States will come-nearly to average. On the
Pacific coast, California is nearly average; Oregon over three-quarters.
STRAWBERRIES.—The North Atlantic States, as a whole, return over
an average crop, New York and Pennsylvania being about 10 per cent.
below; the southern, together, will average about 90. Ohiois but 75;
but the other Northwestern States are all higher, Wisconsin and Iowa
being above average. Kansas, 5/7, represents the lowest condition in
the whole country. On the Pacific coast California reports 80, and Ore-
gon 92.
MaAIne.— Androscoggin: Apples almost a failure; bloom small. Fruit injured by
caterpillars. Grapes look well. Piscataquis: Strawberries look well; not quite ripe.
Franklin: Apples especially injured by fruit-caterpillars. Cumberland : Poor prospect
for apples, but good for small fruit.
VERMONT.—Franklin: Apples badly injured by apple-worms. Grand Isle: Apples
and fruits injured by fruit-worms.
CONNECTICUT.—New London : Apples half crop, peaches and grapes full crops; straw-
berries two weeks late, but yielded well.
New York.— Washington: Apple-crop light. Niagara: Many of the best peach-trees
winter-killed ; most severe injuries in good, dry peach land. Columbia: Apple-crop
light in the north, but better toward the south. Chenango: Injured by June frost.
Allegany: Cultivated fruits will be scarce, except strawberries and raspberries.
Seneca: Apples sbort. Franklin: Apple-trees damaged by late spring-frosts; many
died. Monroe: Apples quite promising, but dropping considerably. Erie: Apples
small and backward; trees only part full.
New Jersry.— Warren: Apples good for the light bloom ; strawberries poor. Bur-
lington : Grape-vines injured by the winter. Gloucester: Heavy crop of peaches.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Northampton: No apples. Armstrong: Grapes badly winter-killed.
Lik: Fruit a total failure. Tioga: Apples destroyed by June frosts. Washington:
Apples and peaches a general failure.
DELAWARE.—Sussex: Hale’s Early the only full peach-trees. Kent: Slugs on pear-
trees ; fresh-slaked lime a good remedy.
MaryYLaNnp.—Caroline : Apples and peaches good crop ; strawberries cut short. Dor-
chester: Apples and peaches promise a large yield. Calvert: More peaches than were
i early in the spring. Howard: Apples and peaches, good bloom and plenty of
fruit.
VirGINIA.— Powhatan: Peaches, pears, and early apples frost-killed. Henrico: No
' 296
apples or peaches; grapes looking well though reduced by the April cold snap. Sussex:
Few apples ; no peaches or cherries; grapes very fine. Wythe: No peaches or apples.
Page: Peaches very few. Cumberland: Fruit mostly destroyed by frost in April; a
third of .a crop of apples. Fairfax: All fruits abundant. Highland: Apples failed ;
few peaches. Joanoke: No fruit of any kind.
NORTH CarROLiInsa.—Robeson: Apples and peaches entirely destroyed. Chowan: Ap-
ples and peaches failed. VPamlico: Apples and peaches cut off by frosts. Mitchell:
Grape bloom abundant. Madison: Apples and peaches mostly killed. Anson: Apples
and peaches almost an entire failure. Perquimans: Failure. Caswell: Peaches an
entire failure. Alamance : No peaches; few apples. Davie: Apples and peaches nearly
destroyed by late frosts. Columbus: No fruit except grapes and blackberries. Greene:
Apples and peaches a total failure. Hertford: No apples or peaches. Moore: No fruit
except berries and small grapes. Stanly: The new strawberry, “Monarch of the
West,” is unequaled for fruitfulness, great size, and sweetness. Onslow: Peaches and
apples a total failure. Buncombe: Apples and peaches mostly frost-killed ; strawhber-
ries abundant. Jones: Apples and peaches cut oft by late frosts.
SouTH CaRroLina.—Colleton : Peaches scarce. Darlington: Fruit all frosted except
Scuppernong grapes.
GEORGIA.— Troup: Grapes never better. Dooly: Mostly killed. Gwinnett: Peach
and grape crops the best for years. Upson: Apples, peaches, grapes, and strawberries
doing well. Walton: Fruit-crop short.
FLoRIDA.—Manatee: Oranges, limes, and lemons larger for the season than ever before
known. Columbia: Peaches still dropping. Orange: Orange-culture increasing; set-
tlers coming in and planting trees by the thousand.
ALABAMA.—Montgomery: All fruits fine in yield and quality ; Early Beatrice peaches
ripened for shipment May 28; Early Rivers and Louise were ready from Ist to 5th of
June; Hale’s Early and Tillotson’s Early, June 10 to 15. The last-named came in
ten days later than in 1871. Calhoun: Fruit has not done well. Marshall: Apples and
peaches almost an entire failure; grapes and strawberries fine. Lawrence: Peaches
and grapes injured by late frosts. Shelby: Apples and peaches failed through frost.
Covington : Scuppernong never fails.
MIssIssIpPl.—Tishomingo: Apples and peaches failed. Madison: Pears excellent ;
50 per cent. over average. Hitids: Fruit-crop fine but no market; we will lose
$50,000 this year by failure of the railroads to give sufficient facilities; our railroads
do not foster local interests. Smith: Grapes rotted badly; vines heavy loaded.
Lovuistana.—Laset Baton Rouge: Peach-crop, which was full and promising, is rotting
badly; grapes could not be more promising. Jackson: Fruits abundant and very fine.
TEXAS.—Cherokee: Last year nearly three-fourths of the peach-trees bloomed the
second time, but a January frost killed some, and others are dying. Upshw:: All sorts
a small yield. Coryell: Peaches under average from cold ; grapes fine. Collin : Peaches
a short crop. Polk: Peaches plenty, and of fair variety. Williamson: Apples fine and
large ; peaches short, but of superior quality; plums, large crop of superior fruit.
Titus: Apple and peach buds winter-killed. Austin: All sorts injured except grapes.
ARKANSAS.— Dorsey: Fruit abundant but tending to rot, especially bunch-grapes ;
Scuppernong, very fine. Howard: Apples average.
TENNESSEE.— Lincoln: Fruit a failure in three-fourths of the county. Fentress:
Fruit badly injured by the April freeze. Greene: Apples and peaches very few.
Coffee: Fruit mostly killed by April freezes. Henry: Nearly a failure, except plums.
Van Buren: Fruit mostly destroyed by spring freezes. Williamson: Fruit seriously
damaged. Bradley: Small crop of fruit. Dickson: Fruit-crops mostly destroyed.
Robertson: Our few apples and peaches defective and falling off. Grainger: Fruits
generally a failure.
West VIRGINIA.—faleigh : No apples or peaches. Tucker: Peaches and apples an
entire failure, owing to late frosts. Braxton: None worthy of notice. Cabell: But few
apples; no peaches. Grant: Almost an entire failure; afew Jate winter. Jackson:
Apple-crop light on account of frost, and a portion now falling off; no peaches. “Marion:
Apples killed by frost in April. Pocahontas: Apples and peaches not worth speaking
of. Mineral: Less than for many years. Wood: Killed. Randolph: Apples and
peaches all killed; grapes, ditto. Pendleton: All kinds destroyed by late frost in April.
Nicholas: All destroyed by frostin April. Mercer: Less than has been known for years.
Hancock: Nearly a total failure. Gilmer: An entire failure. Barbour: Apples and
peaches all killed; grapes, good prospect. Harrison: Apples and peaches an entire
failure. Mason: Fruit of all descriptions almost an entire failure.
Kentucky.—Trimble: None, save blackberries; they are fine. Jefferson: None, save
small fruits. Boyle: Apple and peach crops a perfect failure. Clinion: Apple and
peach crops small, but look well. Lincoln: Apples and peaches an entire failure.
Spencer: AJ] destroyed by frost in April. Scott: Nearly all killed in April. Graves:
Scarce, but looking well. Gallatin: A complete failure of all kinds. Callaway: Searce
and inferior. Breckinridge: Less than half a crop, but in good condition. Anderson:
— eS
297
A few apples, peaches, and grapes. Owsley: No fruit of any kind in the county. John-
son: A fine prospect for small fruits.
Our10o.— Belmont: All destroyed by severe frost in April. Hocking: A failure. JJor-
row: Very scarce. Perry: Some small fruit; otherwise, nearly a failure. Sandusky :
Apples and peaches killed, and some of the peach-trees, Coshocton: Apples and peaches
a failure; grapes, a full crop. Jackson: Almost an entire failure. Medina: Black-
berries killed, but raspberries and strawberries in usual quantities. Holmes: All killed
by late frosts. Geauga: The smallest crop of apples for twenty years ; peaches, none
at all; grapes, an average. Fairfield: Peach and apple crops almost a failure. Dela-
ware: There has not been such a perfect failure in apples for fifty years. Crawford :
No fruit. Richland: Apples and peaches an entire failure. Athens: Apples and peaches
an entire failure ; killed in April. Seneca: The poorest crop of apples grown for many
ears.
* MicuiGaNn.— Kalamazoo: Apples about half an average crop; grapes looking well;
strawberries late, but a fair crop. Van Buren: Not over a half crop of apples; peaches
killed—even the trees—except on lake shore. Tuscola; Prospect not encouraging.
Saint Joseph: Very few apples; no peaches—trees nearly all killed. Mason: Apples,
plums, and grapes nearly all lost by frost in June. Wayne: Apple-crop very light, and
peach-crop a total failure. Manistee ; What escaped the winter and June frosts is doing
finely; peach-trees winter-killed. Shiawassee: Apple-crop light; peaches killed. —
Inpiana.—Floyd: A total failure. Clarke: All killed by frosts in April. Jennings :
Almost an entire failure. Madison: All killed. Steuben: A full crop of grapes. Deca-
tur: All destroyed by frost in April. Washington: A very small crop of apples.
Peaches have all fallen off. Putnam: But few apples and pears, and peaches all killed.
Great many grape-vines winter-killed. Noble: No peaches and not many apples, and
they are all falling off. Martin: Wet weather rotting the grapes. Jasper: Apples
nearly a total failure. Howard: Peach and apple crop an entire failure. Hendricks :
Apples, peaches, and pears an entire failure. De Kalb: Apples a failure, except North-
ern Spy and a few hardy varieties. Cass: Correspondent reports “three hundred
bearing apple-trees, and not one bushel of apples.” Kosciusko: All kinds a failure.
Tippecanoe: All a failure, except a few varieties of small fruits. Hamilton: Perhaps a
half crop of small fruits ; otherwise an entire failure.
InLtNors.—Clark : Grapes very full; some rotting. Madison: Not promising. Shelby +
Apples and peaches a failure; “ will barely get a taste; grapes very fine. Warren:
Heavy apple-bloom; but few varieties now show fruit. Peach-trees generally killed,
and some grape-vines also. White: Peaches winter-killed, Ogle: A failure, except some
kinds of small fruit. DeWitt: No apples or peaches worth mentioning ; grapes never
promised a better yield. Bureaw: Apples not one-third of a crop. No peaches. Grapes,
about half crop. Boone: Very few apples. Carroll: Apples, the poorest crop for
years. Many grape-vines winter killed. Livingston: But few apples; no peaches or
pears; small fruits abundant. Massac: Apple-cropsmall; peaches afailure. Monroe:
Concord grapes full; Catawba rotting. Moultrie: No apples, peaches, or pears.
Wisconsin.— Waupaca: Orchards dead ; supposed to have been winter-killed ; cran-
berries promise an abundant crop. Jiuneaw: Apples an entire failure from late frost.
Columbia: Apple-trees partially leaved out, but are now drying up. Walworth: A
failure. Dodge: Nearly a failure. Door; Many of the apple-trees and nearly all plum-
trees winter-killed.
MiInNeEsoTA.—Stearns : Fruit-growing is still in its infancy in this county. Young
apple-orchards are loaded with fruit. Winona: Few apple-trees in bearing, conse-
quently but few apples.
lowa.—Lee: A very short crop of apples, and peach-trees winter-killed. Scoti:
Apples very scarce; grapes and strawberries suffered by the cold winter. Lowisa:
Apples in good condition, but very scarce. Howard: Apples only half a crop; small
fruits an average. Hardin: Better than last year, but fruit-growers discouraged.
Decatur: Apples a full crop; peaches a failure.
Missount.—Ffranklin : Fruit below average in quantity and quality. Daviess: Apples
few but good. Lincoln: Very few apples and peaches. Maries: Fruit badly injured
by storms. Stoddard: Apples few but good ; peaches half crop. Jasper: Apples and
peaches half crops. Shelby: Grapes either rotting or scabbed by wet and hot sun.
Kansas.—Clay: Peaches nearly all killed. Wabaunsee: All bearing peach-trees
killed last summer and fall by hot winds and grasshoppers. Franklin: Grapes suffered
badly from grasshoppers; some vineyards and orchards entirely destroyed. Shawnee:
Apples and peaches almost a failure. Cloud: All destroyed by grasshoppers, cold
winter, and flat-head borers. Anderson: Nearly all sorts of fruit ruined by the grass-
hoppers. Lyon: Apples but 5 per cent. of last year’s yield. Leavenworth: Only a few
apples, and they injured by grasshoppers. Douglass: Apples, peaches, and grapes ali
gone. Osage: Peach-trees mostly dead; apples almost worthless from ravages of grass- .
hoppers. Aitchell: Not so much as last year, although there are many new bearing-
trees.
NEBRASKA.—Pawnee: Apples not generally bearing; grapes and peaches taken by
298
grasshoppers. Gage: No fruit of any kind. Otoe: Grasshoppers took the grapes and
strawberries. Johnson: There will be afew peaches; grape-vines generally stripped
by the grasshoppers. °
CALIFORNIA.—Sacramento; Fruit-trees of all sorts bloomed full, but were swept by
April frosts. Nevada: Fruit, especially early varieties, cut considerably short by spring
frosts; apples and grapes in abundance. Contra Costa: Apples scarce; peaches a half
crop; grapes excellent. Amador: Apples and peaches in good condition. San Bernar-
dino: Spring frosts very disastrous.
OREGON.—Clackamas : Strawberries fine; cold rains caused much fruit to drop. Til-
lamook: Apples almost a failure; grapes a third of acrop. Columbia; Caterpillars
playing havoc with fruit-trees on the Columbia bottoms. Grant: Fruit mostly frost-
killed. Linn: Fruit-trees largely winter-killed.
Tue Terrirorius.—Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory: Frait-crops unusually good.
Bowe Elder, Utah: Fruit frosted. Salt Lake, Utah: Moths threatening apples and pears.
Kane, Utah: Small fruit unusually fine; apples abundant.
HAY AND PASTURES.
Timothy is in maximum condition in Kentucky, 110. Only five other
States are above average, viz: Texas, 106; Oregon, 105; Indiana, 104;
Maine, 101; and Iowa, 101. Its minimum condition is found in New
Jersey, 67. All the New England States except Maine, the Middle,
South Atlantic, and Gulf States are below average. In some localities
drought is stated as very severe, utterly drying up the sod, while in
others army-worms and other insects have been more or less destructive.
The same causes reduced the crops in the inland Southern States and
north of the Chio River. In the Northwest the grasshopper was quite
injurious. On the Pacific coast this crop is replaced in California by
other grasses. In Oregon it was favored by conditions generally favora-
ble to vegetation.
- Clover is not quite so good as timothy. The maximum condition was
in Arkansas, 108. It was full average or above in South Carolina, 105;
Oregon, 103; Maine, 102; and Mississippi, 100. Its minimum condi-
tion was in New Jersey, 57. It was in many counties badly winter-
killed. Drought and worms were also injurious, cu tting down the crop
very sericusly. In many cases old clover was entirely destroyed by its
varied disasters.
Pasture shows a considerably higher average than mown grass. The
maximum condition was in Illinois, 110; the other States above average
were Arkansas and Nebraska, 109; Maine and Indiana, 108; Oregon
and Missouri, 107; Wisconsin and Kansas, 106; Florida, 105; Missis-
sippi, Kentucky, Ohio, and Minnesota, 103; Tennessee, 101. The min-
imum was in California, 65. In some counties of the latter State pasture
was nearly ruined by late rains. Our correspondent in Amador explains
the peculiar character of California pasturage. The ripe grass, parched
in the hot summer sun, lies like hay upon the ground, well cured, and
perfectly preserved for cattle to feed upon until the winter rains rot it.
in the present case late spring rains have mostly spoiled it, destroying
the provender for summer and fall feeding. In Iron County, Utah,
grasses have been destroyed by the immense number of rabbits on the
range. At least 5,000 of these animals had been destroyed by hunting-
parties organized for their destruction.
MAINE.—Aroostook: Hay prospect never better; pastures superior. Cumberland :
Very favorable ; May and June have repaired the injuriesof winter. Waldo: Hay-erop
Tomising.
r SEND Hampsmire.—Hi llsborough : Grass-crops fair. Rockingham: Injured by drought
in May.
rcetenia re aerarice : Hay short; badly winter-killed. Orleans: Grass-erops thiek-
ening up; considerably winter-killed on western slopes. JVindsor: Improving fast.
Grand Isle: Timothy thinned out by hard winter and dry spring. Addison: Not rain
299
enough for hay. Lamoille: Winter-killing but partially retrieved; crop light. Chit-
tenden: Hay-crop from two-thirds to three-fourths of last year.
Massacuusetts.—JVorcester : Hay shortened by drought.
ConnecticuT.—Litchfield : Lands newly seeded with either clover or timothy are
tolerable, but the grass-crops generally are short.
New Yor«k.— Oneida: Grass shortened by drought. Steuben: Grasses injured, and.
pastures very short; hay light. Columbia: Grass-crops light. Chenango: Quite a fall-
ing off from last year in grass-crops, but improving. Delaware: Meadows never so
near a failure. Schoharie: Hay light on old meadows. Livingston: Grass growing
finely. Dutchess: Drought very severe. Genesee; Clover badly winter-killed. Orange:
Shortest hay-crop for years. Onfario: Meadows short. Seneca: Cloverlight; timothy
meadows considerably winter-killed and mixed with other grasses. Sullivan: Many
meadows reduced to pasture by the drought. Franklin: Grass improved by late rains.
Erie: Hay-crop very good; pasture much improved.
New Jersey.—Warren: Pastures, clover and timothy uncommonly short. Bur-
lington: Lightest crop of hay ever known. Hudson: Injured by extreme winter
weather. Mercer: Hay and pastures very short.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Northampton: Crops short. Cambria: Grass rapidly improving.
Cumberland: Short. Bucks: Hay lighter than for years; late pasture poor. Arm-
strong: Pasture and clover considerably winter-killed. Clinton: Pasture and hay
short. Lancaster: Hay short. Butler: Hay injured by frost. Franklin: Improved
hay prospect. Montgomery: Timothy and natural grasses improving. Wayne: Grass
very poor. Indiana: Clover and timothy a half crop. Montour: Very little clover -
hay; timothy short; pasture poor; good rains of late. Tioga: Timothy meadows
injured by June frosts. Chester: Severe drought; wells and springs going dry.
MARYLAND.—Carroll: Grass very short. Dorchester: Grass-crop good. Sarford:
Hay-crop one of the lightest yet known. Montgomery: Hay half a crop. Calvert:
Pasture better; clover very inferior. Cecii: Hay below average.
VIRGINIA.— Tucewell : Grass-crops shortened by droughtin May. Powhatan: Drought;
pastures almost bare. Bland: Improved by late rains. Spottsylvania: Pasture good;
clover and timothy shortened by drought. Rappahannock: Pasture and grasses short
through drought. Orange: Pastures good, but clover and timothy were injured
by the hard winter and spring. Henrico: Clover reduced half and timothy a third
by cold weather. Craig: Great improvement; rain. Halifax: Pastures greatly im-
proved; clover injured by frost in April and drought in May. Mecklenburgh: Clover
frosted in spring. Wythe: Pastures and meadows short. Charles City: Clover short-
ened by cold weather; timothy good, what little is raised. Zlizabeih City: Pasture
nearly ruined by drought. Grayson: Improved by rains. Jairfac: Brought out
wonderfully by late rains. Highland: Rains have improved grass-crops. Roanoke:
Failure in all grass-crops. Goochland: Hay-crop ruined, especially clover. Nansemond:
Dried up. Montgomery: Orchard-grass increasing; seed cheap, and its fattening
power as good as that of any other grass sown.
NortH Caroiina.—Gaston: Crab-grass not so troublesome as usual, enabling farmers
to work their lands better. Henderson: Clover almost frozen out. Beaufort: First
erop almost a failure; frozen out; second will be better. Mitchell: Alsike clover a
decided improvement over the red. Alamance: Natural meadows fine; cultivated
grasses average. Davidson: Grasses injured by cold. Zdgecombe: Grass-crops injured
by drought. Hertford: Pastures dry. Haywood: Season favorable for clover and other
grasses. Buncombe: Pastures and meadows good. Clay: Alsike clover, from the De-
partment, yielded 8} tons of hay per acre. There will bea great demand for seed next
spring.
GroreGis.—Forsyth: Clover doing well. Towns: Clover promises to be a success.
Hail: Pasture and clover shortened by drought. Upson: Pastures good. Cobb: Pas-
ture failing.
_ Froripa.— Putnam : Guinea-grass does well on good land; three crops per annum.
ALABAMA.—Chambers; More attention to grasses; timothy and Incern attracting
attention. Calhoun: Too dry. Marshall: Pasture good on the range.
MISsSISSIPPI.— Greene : Clover fails on our sandy soils. Winston: Kentucky blue-grass,
from the Department, does well. :
Texas.—Collin: Pasture unusually weedy. Goliad: The native (Panicum fascicu-
latum) is preferred to any other grass, and its propagation is rapidly increasing. Aauf-
man: Clover almost died out. Hunt: Pasture shortened by drought and grasshoppers.
ARKANSAS.—Independence : Increased attention to grasses.
TENNESSEE.— Lincoln: Season favorable to spring clover. Carter: Clover damaged
by drought, but recovering from late and abundant rains. Greene: Clover poor; timo-
thy healthy; army-worm destroyed some meadows. Monroe: Meadows greatly im-
proved by late showers. Johnson: Meadows improved by laterains. Wilson: Pasture
never better. Obion: Meadows ruined by army-worms. Blount: Pastures dry ;
clever almost a failure. Montgomery: Hay of all kinds heavy. MQobertson: Spring
clover looks well. Giles : Grass-crops harvested above average,
300
West Vireinra.—Brazrton: Short. Cabell: Much below an average. Jackson:
Short from early drought. Marion: Many meadows not worth cutting; pastures
short. Pocahontas; Short, especially timothy. Pendleton: Pastures and meadows
reviving, but too late to make full crop of hay. Mercer: Hay light; pastures short.
Hancock: Native grasses thrifty; clover and timothy below, but general crops an
average. Barbour: Injured by drought. Monroe: Very fine; never better. Preston :
Greatly improved. Harrison: Pastures good; meadows light. Mason: Pastures im-
proving rapidly.
Krntucky.—Hardin: Pasture shorter than for years; clover winter-killed ; farmers
depend almost entirely on clover for grazing. Lincoln: Hay short, but pasture fine
and abundant. Pendleton: Promising. Metcalfe: Hay and pasturage good. Logan:
Clover having been destroyed by worms and winter, farmers sowed wheat-lands with
elover and -timothy in February and March, producing a stand the like of which
‘has not been seen in a generation.” Gallatin: Very fine and season favorable.
Callaway: Clover winter-killed. Cumberland: Clover and timothy looking fine.
Ou10.—Ross : Shortened by freezing in April; meadows being pastured. Trumbull:
Old meadows poor. Morrow: Improving ; clover mostly killed. Perry: Growing
rapidly. Coshocton: Up to a full average. Holmes: Clover badly frozen; not over
half crop. Harrison: Below an average, owing to drought. Hancock: Very abund-
ant, except clover, which was winter-killed. Delaware: Clover winter-killed; timothy
quite good; pastures fine. Van Wert: Clover killed; less than an average. Henry:
Clover heavy, down and rotting, too wet to cut; timothy never better.
MicHIGAN.— Kalamazoo: Pasturage excellent thus far. Menomonee: Looks badly.
Wexford: Dry weather; meadows very poor. Delta: Injured by hard frost in June.
Branch: Very heavy, but weather unfavorable for making hay. Hillsdale: Not prom-
ising; clover almost run out. Mecosta: Damaged by frost. Lake: Damaged by frost
in June. Grand Traverse: Suffering from drought. Wayne: Shortened by drought.
Manistee: In good condition until frosts of June 12 and 13. Livingston: Clover win-
ter-killed. Shiawassee; Pasture good, but beginning to suffer from drought. Oakland:
Hay-crop light.
INDIANA.—Grant P:asture was never better. Clarke: Pastures very fine. Jennings:
Very fine. Franklin: Timothy good, and is our only dependence for hay. Perry:
Extra crop of grass and clover. Steuben: Clover lodged, and too wet to cut. Warren:
Pastures look well; timothy was never better. Whitley: Timothy meadows never
looked better; have more pasture than can be used. JVashington: Timothy looks
well, but breadth not large. Pike: Pastures good. Marshall; Hay in great danger
from continued rains; crop an average. Crawford: Winter-killed; season favorable
for what remained. Cass: Badly winter-killed. Scott: Badly winter-killed. Lake :
Timothy thin on the ground; clover badly winter-killed.
Inurwors.— Pike: Did not make a strong growth on account of early drought; pas-
ture improving. Clark: More thananaverage. Madison: Has suffered to some extent
by army-worm. Menard: Clover damaged to some extent by hard winter. Vermil-
lion: Pastures growing finely, but timothy and clover below an average on account of
drought, grub-worms, and winter. Shelby: Clover rotting on the ground; timothy
never better; too wet for hay-making. De Kalb: Will not be an average. White:
Clover winter-killed. Putnam: Clover all winter-killed. Iandolph: Timothy badly
injured by the army-worm. Cook: Clover badly killed out. Boone: Winter-killed ;
scarcely any inthe county. Sangamon: Pastures improving; old clover killed; young 7
growth doing well; timothy somewhat injured by the army-worm. Livingston : Pas-
tures very good; meadows fair. Mason: Timothy light; old clover killed; young
clover doing well. Montgomery: Hay will be abundant. Massac: Clover badly win-
ter-killed; timothy fine. Monroe: Timothy is the standard hay here; grew finely,
but has been injured by the army-worm. Moultrie: Timothy badly down. Fayette:
Grass and pasture splendid. , 7
WISCONSIN.—Waupaca: Never looked better. Walworth: Crop heavy; pasturage
never better; hay-making difficult on account of frequent rains. Green: Hay and pas-
ture never better. Saint Croix: Injured by early drought, but improving with recent
rains; cannot come up to an average.
Minnesora.—Stecle: Wild-grass meadows have only an average growth. Sibley:
Timothy and pastures badly injured by grasshoppers.
Iowa.—Franklin: Clover badly winter-killed. Lee: Clover nearly all killed. Scott:
Clover and timothy badly winter-killed. Louisa: Hay-crop will be very light. How-
ard: Pasturage, both wild and tame, better than usual; low lands, being submerged,
give poor promise for wild hay. Hardin: All kinds flourishing. Madison: A large
part of clover winter-killed.
Missourt.—Cass: Prairie-grass fine, but immense herds of cattle have been imported
to eat it down; but little hay will be. cut. Howard: Timothy eaten by army-worms,
and clover winter-killed. Saint Genevieve: Timothy badly injured by army-worms.
Saint Clair: Millet culture increasing. Madison: Timothy almost destroyed by army-
worms. Jasper: Alfalfa a success. Dallas: Much chess in timothy. Cole: Pasture
301
splendid, Clay: Pastures destroyed by grasshoppers. Carroll: Clover badly winter-
killed, but coming on from seed; fine weather has brought timothy up to average.
Shelby: Pasture good, except in flat land. Newton: Grass abundant.
Kansas.—/Vashington: Millet promising. Jefferson: Clover and timothy swept by
grasshoppers. Ellis: Millet and Hungarian grass extensively raised and looks well.
Crawford: Cattle doing well on the range. Cowley: Pasture good; no timothy or
clover grown here. Osage: Clover all winter-killed ; timothy badly damaged.
Nepraska.—fRichardson: Grasshoppers took everything green. Webster: Pastures
fine. Otoe: Timothy and clover eaten by grasshoppers. Johnson: Pasture excellent ;
timothy injured by grasshoppers.
CALIFORNIA.—Nevada: Hay-crop fair, but injured by heavy rains in the stack; pas-
ture nearly ruined. Farmers are seeding irrigated land with clover. Alameda: Hay
injured in the field by rain. Contra Costa: Pastures scanty ; injured by late unseason-
able rains. Amador: The value of our pasturage depends upon the ripe grass, which
lies upon the ground like hay until the winter-rains rot it. A late rain has nearly de-
stroyed the feed by washing this hay ; pasture very short.
OREGON.—Clackamas : Pastures excellent, also clover and timothy. Tillamook: Pas-
ture and grasses never better. Columbia: Pastures never better. Grant: Growth of
grass favored by abundant rains.
THE TERRITORIES.—/ron, Utah: Grass very poor on account of drought and the im-
mense numbers of rabbits on the range. At least 5,000 rabbits have been killed by
hunting-parties, and still they are destroying our crops. Yankton, Dakota: Grass of
rank growth. Clalam, Washington: Timothy attacked by army-worms, which caused
our farmers to commence hay-making sooner than they intended.
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EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE—FARMING
| PROSPECTS.
York, Maine.—Labor available; farmers hopeful.
Chenango, New York.—Since the late warm rains everything seems to
jump rather than grow.
Perquimans, North Carolina.—Cotton-planters in low spirits.
Davidson, North Carolina.—Rapid tendency to concentrate on fewer
acres.
Haywood, North Carolina:—This county is paying increased attention
to grass-crops; a cheese-factory has been built and is doing well.
Edgefield, South Carolina.—There being no elections this year, there is
much harmony among all classes; labor quite satisfactory.
Clayton, Georgia.—Our prospect of living this year is rather encour-
aging. Our people will raise their own corn, and will not require an
importation from Tennessee and the West.
Taliaferro, Georgia.—Crop-prospects never better since 1865.
Fayette, Georgia.—Crops, generally, are as good as I have seen in
many years.
Douglas, Georgia—Farmers are in much better condition than last
year, not having contracted so many debts. The repeal of the lien-law
has compelled greater economy.
Glynn, Georgia.—Rice-crop promising. Market-gardening assuming
the proportions of a regular business.
Laurens, Georgia.—More attention to provision-erops, especially wheat.
The credit system is on the decline, much to the benefit of all parties.
Richmond, Georgia: Labor plenty and much improved owing to the
erection of public works.
Madison, Florida.—Labor improving.
Jefferson, Florida.—Labor improving. Farmers do but little business
with commission-merchants.
Choctaw, Alabama.—Farmers raising more cereals and using more econ-
omy; buying less on credit; working more, thinking more, and pros-
pering more.
Macon, Alabama.—Crops unusually diversified and cultivated at lower
cost; planters not so much in debt; negroes working better and better
satisfied.
Amite, Mississippi—More corn planted and less cotton; better culture.
Wayne, Mississippi—The colored people are working more steadily
than heretofore, and more of them are engaged in planting on account
of the decline of the lumber business.
Lauderdale, Mississippi—The most favorable season I have ever
known here; crop-prospects the best for ten years.
Lee, Mississippi—Such a growing season was never known here; no
drought or excess of rain, except in a few places.
Wilkinson, Mississippi.—The best report I have ever been permitted to
make. Crops late starting, but the very favorable weather of May and
June enabled farmers to push work, and get everything in good condi-
tion, while the crops have been growing finely.
Marion, Mississippim—Most favorable season for many years; crops
all in fine condition.
Covington, Mississippi.icFine seasons; laborers have worked better
than ever before.
~e
305
Iberia, Louisiana.—Excellent season ; all crops in a most flourishing
condition.
Union, Louisiana.—This year has been one of the most favorable to
the farmer; unusually large acreage in grain-crops.
Morehouse, Louisiana.— Hands working well and crops clean.
Washington, Texas.—Money scarce; interest from 24 to 3 per cent. a
' month, with best real estate security.
Fannin, Texas.—A very large surplus of wheat, probably a million
and a half of bushels, in Fannin and Grayson Counties, to which the ex-
orbitant charges will forbid shipment.
Limestone, Texas.—Crops of nearly every kind present a flattering
appearance. ;
Lamar, Texas.—Best crop-prospect for years.
Garland, Arkansas.—In our start this year we feared we would make
nothing on account of the cold, but we have had the best season ever
known here; great rejoicing among farmers.
Cross, Arkansas.—Prospects of a bountiful yield of all crops.
Crittenden, Arkansas.—Crop-prospects better than for years.
Dorsey, Arkansas.—Season as good as heart could desire.
Ouachita, Arkansas.—All crops fine; best of prospects for the year.
Izard, Arkansas.—Thrashing has commenced, which closes the terri-
ble destitution caused by the failure of last year’s crops. Confidence is
at last restored, and a more encouraging outlook for the farmer than
since 1860. The increased area in cereals and decreased area in cotton
are already showing benign effects.
Calhoun, Arkansas.—Best crop prospects for twenty-five years.
Giles, Tennessee.—W e never worked harder,cultivated more thoroughly,
nor had better prospects. Tennessee has now a dog-law; fewer lambs
are killed and more dog-skins go to the tan-yard.
Obion, Tennessee.—Orops never more prosperous.
Raleigh, West Virginia.—Farmers generally in good spirits.
Cabell, West Virginia.—Vegetation growing rapidly.
Mineral, West Virginia.—Poorest small-grain and fruit-crops for many
years.
Pendleton, West Virginia.—Prospects greatly improved.
Preston, West Virginia.—Good growing season.
Laurel, Kentueky.—Seasonable weather; crops look well.
Jefferson, Kentucky.—W eather favorable to all crops.
Daviess, Kentucky.—Farmers went to work with’ more than usual
energy, but crops injured by heavy rains.
Todd, Kentucky.—Heavy flooding rains; farmers estimate their dam-
ages at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Christian, Kentucky.—Finest crops for many years.
Scott, Kentucky.—All crops promising.
Hopkins, Kentucky.—Injurious rains.
Grayson, Kentucky.—Destructive storms.
Graves, Kentucky.—Crops look remarkably well.
Gallatin, Kentucky.—Too much wet.
Monroe, Kentucky.—All crops doing well.
Belmont, Ohio.—Prospects unpromising.
Williams, Ohio.—Crops doing well.
Perry, Ohio.—Crops doing well.
_ Washington, Ohio.—Good growing weather; prospects improving.
Hardin, Ohio.—Growing finely.
Harrison, Ohio.—Crops generally promising.
Geauga, Ohio.—Prospects encouraging.
306
Menomonee, Michigan.—Crops backward and unpromising.
Delta, Michigan.—Crops doing well.
Mason, Michigan.—Injurious frosts.
Tosco, Michigan.—Crops injured by frost, but coming on well now.
Tonia, Michigan.—Injurious drought.
Grand Traverse, Michigan. Damaging frost.
Calhoun, Michigan.—Auspicious for crops.
Ottawa, Michigan.—Rain at last; prospect improving.
Montcalm, Michigan.—Very dry; no rain for five weeks.
Howard, Indiana.—Cereals damaged by rain and the wheat-midge. q
Tippecanoe, Indiana.—Farming-interests prospering. |
Clay, Indiana.—Damaging rains. :
Hamilion, Indiana.—Bad season for farmers; too wet.
Lake, Indiana.—Too wet for cultivation.
Brown, Indiana.—Heavy rains and high waters.
Clarke, Indiana.—Plenty of rain; not too much.
Jennings, Indiana.—W et season; crops fine.
Spencer, Indiana.—Excessive rain.
Madison, Indiana.—Yarmers discouraged.
Perry, Indiana.—Best season for five years.
Orange, Indiana.—Crop-prospects mostly favorable.
Ripley, Indiana.—Crops growing rapidly.
Morgan, Indiana.—Excessive rain.
Lawrence, Indiana.—Injurious rains.
Know, Indiana.—Rains damaging grain in the shock.
De Witt, Illinois.—Injurious rains.
Carroll, Illinois. —Vegetation rapid.
Cass, Illinois.—UExcessive rains,
Morgan, Illinois.—Too much rain; fields deluged.
Piatt, [ilinois.— Vegetation luxuriant.
Moultrie, IWinois—Too wet for harvesters; using cradles.
Cumberland, Illinois.—Rain injuring harvesting.
Winnebago, Tllinois-—Growth lar ge and rapid.
Williamson, Illinois. —Excessive rains.
Warren, Illinois—Very rainy.
Saint Clair, Illinois.—Too wet.
Ogle, Illinois.—Crops generally promising.
Logan, Illinois.—Too much rain for cultivation.
Jersey, Illinois —Too wet for insects.
Hancock, Illinois.— Destructive hail-storms.
Grundy, Illinois.—Destructive hail-storms.
Effingham, Illinois.—Too wet for harvesters.
Edwards, Illinois.—Nearly flooded out.
Clark, Illinois.—W ool-growing driven off by dogs.
Clinton, Tllinois.—Excessive rains.
Menard, Illinois.—Excessive rains ; crops full of grass and weeds.
Vermillion, Illinois.—Exceedingly ‘wet.
Pope, [Wlinois.—Too much rain.
Shelby, Illinois.—W ettest season for thirteen years. .
Waupaca, Wisconsin.—Grain and grass never looked better.
Trempealeau, Wisconsin.—All crops look well except corn.
Douglas, Wisconsin.—But little growth yet.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.—Crops coming out finely.
Crawford, Wisconsin.—Large crops anticipated.
Chippewa, Minnesota.—The prospect was never better for a large crop
of small grain.
807 |
Waseca, Minnesota.—Expecting great crops.
Stevens, Minnesota.—Prospects charming.
Steele, Minnesota.—Crops promising.
Swift, Minnesota.—Crops generally good, except corn.
Jones, Iowa.—Prospect not encouraging.
Des Moines, Iowa.—Not very flattering.
Grundy, Iowa.—Two weeks more of rain would be fatal.
Cass, Jowa.—Prospect of small grain unprecedented.
Johnson, Iowa.—All crops in splendid condition.
Ozark, Missouri.—No impediment in farming this year ; uo chinches or
grasshoppers ; crops mostly in fine condition.
Greene, Missouri.—The lengthened visage of the farmer broadens.
Camden, Missourit.—Agricultural outlook flattering ; wool-raising and
tobacco-raising rapidly increasing.
Johnson, Missouri.—The grasshopper scourge is terrible, reducing the
best farmers to absolute want. Stock has been driven to more favored
sections to graze. Not a particle of hay or straw, except prairie hay,
can be had for fodder for the coming winter. Farmers are putting in
an increased acreage of corn-fodder. Clover and timothy meadows
killed dead ; grapes and flax all destroyed. Nota bunch of lettuce, a
carrot, a cucumber, a pumpkin, or other vegetable is left. The rich and
fruitful county of Johnson, second to none in the State, is ruined.
Randolph, Missouri.—Except wheat, there was never known a better
crop prospect. .
Perry, Missouri.—Everything looks well.
Clay, Missouri.—Crops destroyed by grasshoppers. We can scarcely
realize the humiliation of our rich and fertile county; a degree of desti-
tution unknown before.
Wayne, Missouri.—If it continues seasonable, we will raise more than
in the last three years.
Pemiscot, Missouri.—Finest prospects for abundant crops for many
years.
Jackson, Kansas.—Farmers seeing hard times for eatables, except flour ;
grasshoppers took the gardens.
Furnas, Nebraska.—Poor farming has caused the south slopes to dry
out, reducing the total condition of the crop. Good farming on the
north slopes shows good average condition.
Dixon, Nebraska.—Crops all looking very finely ; promise an abundant
yield, especially wheat.
Sonoma, California.—Taken together, crop prospects are more than
fair.
Sacramento, California.—On the 6th of April we had a severe freeze,
which killed vegetable and fruit crops, and severely injured grain-crops ;
that, together with drought and north winds, has been disastrous to the
farming interests.
ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD.
By TOWNEND GLOVER, ENTOMOLOGIST,
INSECT INJURIES.—A few very destructive species of insects are
noted by our correspondents as ravaging the crops in different parts of
the country. Of these the most prominent are the grasshoppers, (Cal-
optenus sp.) The well-known species C. femur-rubrum, or red-legged |
4A
' 308
grasshopper, is reported at various isolated localities in the Eastern
States and in the Mississippi Valley. In Windsor, Vermont, Bedford,
Pennsylvania, Hocking, Ohio, and Menomonee, Michigan, they had
appeared, but no injuries were noted. They were more or less destruc-
tive in Trousdale, Tennessee, and in Harrison, Ohio. In Livingston,
Kentucky, they were reported as destroying tobacco-plants in old ground,
A farmer in Jefferson, West Virginia, succeeded in destroying thirty
bushels of these pests by attaching a seine to the rear of a horse-rake,
and driving through a field thickly covered with them.
A species, not easy to identify from the description given by our cor-
respondents, injured corn on stiff swamp-lands in Clarke, Alabama. A
great cloud of these insects was seen moving eastward over the south
part of Autauga, Alabama. A grasshopper, very different from any
before seen, was noted in Outagamie, Wisconsin.
The C. Spretus, or migratory western grasshopper, appeared in sey-
eral counties of Minnesota. Blue Karth oftered a bounty for their de-
struction. About 20,000 bushels were collected and destroyed, ata cost
of $32,000, without perceptibly diminishing their numbers. They were
very destructive in Nicollet, McLeod, and Todd; but in Wright, Cotton-
wood, and Mille Lacs they were comparatively innocuous.
In Iowa, Montgomery County had a very destructive visitation in the
western part, the greatest injury being to the corn-crop. They are also
noted in Lyons, Audubon, Cherokee, Adams, Mills, Cass, Woodbury,
and Harrison. They did serious damage in the western part of Cald-
well, Missouri, and in Daviess and Vernon. They swept all crops in
Clay; but their injuries were comparatively trifling in Harrison. In
Carroll they chewed tobacco.
In Hunt, Texas, they were injurious to the cotton-plant.
Kansas reports, as usual, a very serious amount of damage. In Mar-
shall, three-fourths of the crops were destroyed, and equal damage sus-
tained in Douglas and Doniphan. They were very bad in Neosho,
Franklin, Jefferson, Wyandotte, Woodson, Nemaha, Miami, Cloud,,.
Brown, Anderson, Allen, Republic, Johnson, and Osage. Lighter visi-
tations are reported in Sumner, Shawnee, Reno, Jackson, Howard, and
Crawford. In Franklin, the insects bore upon their bodies a destruc-
tive red parasite. This parasite was also noticed in Washington, to-
gether with a green fly, laying eggs in the body of the insect. In Miami,
a grape-vine was saved by mulching with night-soil.
In Nebraska, they are reported as more or less injurious in Nuckolls,
Franklin, Clay, Antelope, Johnson, Cass, Otoe, Gage, Hall, Knox,
Madison, Stanton, and Richardson.
Cut-worms, (Agrotis sp.) —Different species of this genus are reported.
In Franklin, Vermont, they injured corn; and in New London, Con-
necticut, corn, potatoes, and beans. Saratoga, Wyoming, Dutchess,
and Genesee, New York; Westmoreland and Armstrong, Indiana;
Washington, Pennsylvania; Caroline, Harford, and Montgomery,
Maryland; Greenville, Virginia; Yadkin, North Carolina; Fannin,
Georgia; and Madison, Florida, all report injury to field-crops. In
Bandera, Texas, they cut off four-fifths of the cotton-crop. They were
also injurious in Marion, West Virginia; Mahoning, Ohio; Van Buren,
Michigan; and Maries and Montgomery, Missouri. They were especially
destructive to sod-corn.
Colorado potato-beetle, (Doryphora decem-lineata.)—This insect has in-
creased its destructive. operations in the East, with serious demonstra-
tions at various points in the West. It is reported in Oneida, Niagara,
Queens, Rockland, Westchester, Delaware, Montgomery, Saratoga,
—-
309
Wyoming, Jefferson, Orange, and Erie, New York. In Niagara the
eggs were extensively destroyed by other insects. New Jersey com-
plains of a visitation -in Atlantic, Burlington, Monmouth, Camden,
Gloucester, Hudson, Sussex, and Salem. In Pennsylvania ‘they were
noted in Cumberland, Westmoreland, Bucks, Columbia, McKean,
Armstrong, Forest, Clinton, Lancaster, Butler, Bedford, Northumber-
land, Wayne, Indiana, Lehigh, Lycoming, Montour, Tioga, Washington,
Dauphin, Luzerne, and Susquehanna. They were quite destructive in
Kent and Sussex, Delaware. Maryland reports them in Caroline, Wor-
cester, Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, Dorchester, Harford, Wicomico,
Cecil, and Howard. In Virginia their mischievous pr esence was felt in
Culpeper, Roanoke, Spottsylvania, Augusta, Orange, Cumberland,
Oraig, Westmoreland, and Prince William. They also appeared, too
late tor early crops, in Richland, Louisiana. They did slight damage
in Warren and Grundy, Tennessee. More or less injury was done in
Wetzel, Tucker, Morgan, Marion, Jefferson, Mineral, Pendleton, Mercer,
Hancock, Monroe, Preston, and Mason, West Virginia; in Jefferson,
Spencer, Shelby, Lincoln, and Scott, Kentucky; in Trumbull], Perry,
Morrow, Coshocton, Medina, Fairfield, and Crawford, Ohio; in Menom-
onee, Branch, Van Buren, ’ Tuscola, Lake, Grand Traverse, Charle-
voix, and Monroe, Michigan; in Rush, Decatur, Pike, and Tippe-
canoe, Indiana; in Lake, Madison, De Kalb, Fulton, Ogle, Macon,
Iroquois, Hancock, De Witt, and Cook, Mlinois; in Douglas, Columbia,
Clark, and Green, Wisconsin; in Wright, Isanti, Sherburne, and Mille
Laes, Minnesota; in Dubuque, Story, and Howard, Iowa; in Vernon,
Missouri; in Labette, Kansas; in Franklin, Mitchell, and Antelope,
Nebraska. At various points the insects were successfully resisted
with Paris green and other poisons; at others domestic fowls were
turned into the potato-field, and found to be excellent scavengers. No
reports of injury to the fowls.
Chinch-bugs, (Micropus [khyparochromus] lewcopterus)—These insects
do not appear to have recommenced operations on any considerable
scale in the Hast. Halifax and Prince William, Virginia, found them
somewhat troublesome in corn and wheat. They are also reported in
De Soto, Mississippi; Limestone, Texas; Edwards, Clinton, Marion,
Winnebago, Ogle, Macon, Hancock, Crawford, and Carroll, Tlinois ;
Sauk, Vernon, Iowa, Columbia, Walworth, Green, Milwaukee, Dodge,
La Fayette, and Crawford, Wisconsin ; Gasconade, Vernon, Stone, Mont-
gomery, Ballinger, and Newton, Missouri; Labette, Cherokee, Wood-
son, and Montgomery, Kansas.
Cotton-insects.—Caterpillars (Anomis xyline ; Aletia argillacea of Hub-
ner) were noted in Limestone, Bosque, Walter, and Matagorda, Texas,
and in Woodruff, Arkansas; injuries small. _ Boll-worms (Heliothis armi-
gera) are reported in Polk, Texas; cotton-lice (Aphides) in Chowan, Per-
quimans, Camden, and Edgecombe, North Carolina. In the last named
it is specified that the insect in question is the blue or root Jouse, more
destructive than the ordinary leaf-louse. These insects are also re-
ported in Wayne and Jasper, Mississippi; in Smith, Texas; and in Van
Buren, Arkansas. Gotton-grass-worms were destructive to cotton dur-
ing two weeks in Hamilton, Texas. Web-worms (?) are reported in
‘Travis, Texas.
Miscellaneous.—Apple-worms (Carpocapsa pomonella) were destructive
to fruit in Franklin, Vermont; Columbia, Oregon ; and Salt Lake, Utah ;
fruit-caterpillars (Clisiocampa) in Androscoggin and Franklin, Maine;
coddling-moths, cabbage-worms, (Pieris rape, de.,) and currant or goose-
berry worms in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania; bud- worms (?) in Hay-
310
wood, North Carolina; wire-worms (Hlater sp.) in Washington and
Dauphin, Pennsylvania; grub-worms (Lachnosterna sp.) in Rockingham,
New Hampshire; Orange, New York; Washington and Vernon, Wiscon-
sin; flat-head borers in Cloud, Kansas; slugs (?) ( ) in Kent,
Delaware. Forest-worms (?) destroyed apple and forest foliage in Grand
Isle, Vermont; tobacco-flies (Jacrosila carolina) in Pittsylvania, Vir-
ginia; Hessian flies (Cecidomyia destructor) in Stone, Missouri; grass
army-worms (Leucania unipuncta) in Greene and Obion, Tennessee ;
in Clinton, Alexander, Randolph, Sangamon, and Monroe, Illinois; in
Gasconade, Howard, Saint Genevieve, Montgomery, Madison, and
Ballinger, Missouri.
CHEMICAL MEMORANDA.
By WM. McMurtrig£, CHEMIST,
THE INFLUENCE OF ILLUMINATING-GAS UPON THE AERIAL POR-
TIONS OF PLANTS.—The subject of the influence of illuminating-gas
upon vegetation has until within the past year or two been almost
wholly neglected. In 1873 some observations made in Berlin Duin.
Polyt. Jour., CCV1I, 345, determined the fact that gas escaping from
the pipes exerted an injurious influence upon the surrounding vege-
tation, with the roots of which it came in contact, and careful experi-
ment showed that this effect could be observed when so small a quan-
tity as 25 cubic feet per diem was distributed through 144 square feet
of soil to a depth of four feet. In fact, the plants whose roots per-
meated this quantity of soil, 576 cubic feet, were by such treatment
killed in a short time, and it appeared that less time was required to
produce this effect when the surface of the ground was closed and more
compact. During the same year J. Boehm, Chem. Centr., 1873, 758,
made some experiments by passing coal-gas through the soil of pots
containing varieties of fuchsia and salvia, and of the ten plants experi-
mented upon seven died in four months. Further experiments con-
vinced him of the fact that the plants were killed, not by the direct
action of the gas upon the roots, but by poisoning the soil. It seems,
therefore, pretty well established that when coal-gas permeates through
the soil it has an injurious action upon the vegetation with which it
may come in contact. My attention has, however, been attracted to a
somewhat different action of the gas, which seems equally as destructive
as that just described. Boehm found, in the course of his investiga-
tion, when cuttings of willow were placed in bottles containing a small
quantity of water, and otherwise filled with illuminating gas, as the
buds developed and the leaves began to appear the latter rapidly
withered and died before reaching complete development. Now, this is
the direction taken in my investigation. In Boehm’s paper he does not
state the percentage of gas in the atmosphere necessary to produce the
effect described, and my object was therefore, if possible, to estimate
the approximate quantity of gas required to bring about such results.
The question arose out of a dispute concerning the destruction of an
extensive stock of camelias in Philadelphia, in which it was alleged
that the loss was due to the escape of gas from the street-mains. It was
shown that the main was broken; that during the winter, the ground
being frozen, there was no means of escape of the gas other than to
work its way through the subsoil, and into the atmosphere through the
ground of the interior of the greenhouse. The distance between the
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main and the greenhouse is not stated, but it appears that trees grow-
ing between the former and the latter were completely killed. It was
to determine whether the result in dispute could be effected by the
action of the gas. The plants were growing in pots placed upon
stands, and it was therefore impossible that they should be injured
through the medium of their roots. It was then to determine what
might be the influence of the gas in question upon the aerial portions of
plants that the investigation about to be described was instituted. In
order to secure such conditions that the plants might be confined in
an atmosphere containing a given quantity of gas, and yet be provided
with the requisite degree of light, heat, and moisture, the plants were
placed in closed boxes, provided with glass sides, and the joints of
which were cemented with white lead. When all was secured a tube
of glass was introduced through the side of the box and connected with
the stop-cock of a gasometer. The stop-cock of the gasometer was then
opened, and the gas allowed to flow into the box, until the entire con-
tents of the former were transferred to the latter. The whole was then
allowed to stand until the following day, when the gasometer was again
filled with gas taken from the pipes supplying the laboratory, and one-
half the contents transferred to the box. On the next day press of
other duties called my attention away from this work entirely, and the
box therefore received no gas. On the fourth day, however, one-half
the contents of the gasometer were introduced, and another day al-
lowed to intervene before another application. Gas was then intro-
duced into the box on four occasions, so that the amounts transferred,
allowing ten gallons for the capacity of the gasometer, were, 24th,
about 10 gallons; 25th, about 5 gallons; 27th, about 5 gallons; March
1, about 5 gallons. During this time an occasional leaf, as well as one
of the buds, fell from the plant, and on March 2, on opening the box
to apply water to the plant, a sight jar caused a number of the leaves
to fall. The plant was then carefully removed from the box, when
a Sharp shock caused nearly all the leaves to fall. The leaves which
had fallen were then gathered about the base of the plant, the whole
placed in a convenient position, and, together with the other plant,
which had been submitted to the same conditions excepting the treat-
ment with gas, and which remained perfectly sound and healthy, was
photographed. From the photograph thus obtained the accompany-
ing illustration was made. Now, what was the relative amount
employed? The dimensions of the box were, horizontal cross-sec-
tion, two feet square; height, four feet. Calculating from the data
at hand, we find that the amount first introduced was equivalent to
about 7.7 per cent. of the entire volume of the box, and that the quan-
tity subsequently introduced, being one-half this amount, was but
3.39 per cent. Without making any allowances for escape of the gas
by diffusion, which .probably took place, reasoning from the fact that
when the box was opened no odor of gas was perceptible within the
box, we find that after the first day the amount of gas did not exceed
4 per cent. of the volume of the box. It is however probable that the
average quantity was much less than 3 per cent., and I am inclined to
the opinion that if camelias or other plants be confined in an atmos-
phere containing continually 1 to 2 per cent. of illuminating gas, they
must suffer, and ultimately be killed.
se
LIBERATION OF CARBONIC ACID BY RESPIRATION AND PERSPIRA-
TION OF VARIOUS ANIMALS UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS.—This sub-
ject has lately been very thoroughly studied by Dr. Rud. Pott, of Jena,
312
and he has found that the amount of carbonic acid given off by different
animals in proportion to their weight in a given time was subject to con-
siderable variation, dependent upon the species and the existing physi-
ological conditions. His investigation consists of two parts:
First, estimation of the weight of the animal experimented upon,
both before and after the experiment, the duration of the experiment in
hours and minutes, the amount of carbonic acid separated during the
“experiment, and from the data thus obtained he calculates the finak
results for a period of six hours and for a given weight of animal, (100
grams.) Finally, he notes the consumption of air and the temperature
of the room during the experiment.
Second, estimation of the amount of carbonic acid liberated in a given
time by different animals under the influence of different colored light.
The animals experimented upon belonged to the mammals, birds, fishes,
amphibians, insects, snakes, and worms, and with reference to the amount
of carbonic acid eliminated in a given time they may be divided into
two distinct groups; the mammals, birds, and insects constituting the
first group, and the ‘fishes, amphibians, snakes, and worms the second.
Of the first group the birds liberate the largest relative amount of car-
bonic acid. The mammals range next to the birds, and the fishes liber-
ate the smallest amount. The animals of group two liberate a much
smaller relative amount than group one, and of this group the worms
give off the largest and the snakes the smallest quantity. While in the
air the aquatic animals of this group liberate a greater quantity than
the other animals of the group, and a much smaller quantity while in
the water,
The amount of carbonic acid set free depends largely upon the age of
the animal, it being much greater in case of young than in old animals.
But while this may be accepted as a general rule, an exception may be
found among the insects, when the reverse is true, since the insects in
the larval condition give off less carbonic acid than when fully devel-
oped. In case of the amphibians the amount liberated by young ani-
mals sometimes reaches three or four times, and even more than four
times, that liberated by the old ones.
Sex also influences this action, it being more marked in the male
than in the female sex. But the weight of the animal and the indi-
viduality have no influence upon it, and while the varieties in species
must exert a not unimportant influence upon the quantity liberated and
must produce some variation, the amount of this variation, in animals
nearly allied to each other, is confined to very narrow limits.
The second portion of the investigation gave the following results:
Animals give off more carbonic acid when subjected to the influence
of colored light than in daylight. Of the colored rays the violet and
red rays exercise the mildest influence, the green and yellow and the
white and blue medium. These results conflict with those obtained by
Béchard, but are confirmed by those of Selmi and Piacarlini. Experi-
menting with animals (dogs, doves, and cats) in air-tight chambers into
which only light of a given color could penetrate, the latter investiga-
tors found, by estimation of the carbonic acid eliminated in a given time,
that the relative quantities given off under the influence of different
colors, were as follows: White, 100; black, 82.07; violet, 87.73; red,
92; blue, 103.77; green, 106.03; . yellow, 126. 03. Analogous results were
* obtained in experiments with other animals. The average results ob-
tained by the author in his experiments were as follows: ‘Violet, 86.89 5.
red, 93.38; white, 100; blue, 122.63; green, 128.52; yellow, 174. 79.
‘
318 :
During the night the elimination of carbonic acid was considerably
diminished.
CHEMICAL RELATION OF THE ALKALIES CONTAINED IN ASHES OF
PLANTS.—In two notes presented to the Academy of Sciences of Paris,
and published in Comptes-Rendus, MM. P. Champion and H. Pellet
have given results of a series of analyses tending to the establishment
of a law that a fixed relation exists between the quantities of the
alkalies present in the ashes of plants, depending upon the amount of
sulphurie acid with which they are capable of combining chemically,
and from the results of their labors it appears that to a limited extent
the alkalies are capable of substituting each other in the economy of
plant-growth.: They have shown that while the quantity of sulphuric
acid necessary to saturate ‘each of the alkalies separately may vary in
different samples, yet the sum of the quantities necessary to saturate
all of them is tolerably constant. This may be accepted as a general
rule, but is subject to some exceptions, depending upon the portion of
the plant examined and special conditions of culture.
The following table, calculated from analyses of beets by different
analysts, will serve to illustrate the principle:
B28
Analyses by— iis
OMe
B=]
: op Bors
2 es" 8
al oe
= a | & |Sesa
R ° | | Koes 2a
+ = 3 aq |loaeaes
S ° a BS |Paend
a/EF|/M/e&
Quantity of sulphuric acid corresponding to the potassa and soda
Romistnedmn LOO rams Of AS)) oo aan. ow siwiniejeiew anes mnces Ja sb eme cine 44,0 | 56.5 53 57 50.7
Quantity of sulphuric acid corresponding to lime and magnesia con-
Semert aeRO TA Sate sas 2st dt setis cei ta sae told sd «acs Aecfaleta se See 30.1 | 17.5 23 17 24.2
POU MINR MM MUTIC AIG saree son cee ote ace tsce ean ee eRe ciate 74.1 | 74.0°| 76 74 74.9
From analyses of leaves of tobacco it appears that lime and potassa
have the property of partially replacing each other according to their
chemical equivalence.
BOTANICAL NOTES.
By GEORGE VasrEy, BOTANIST.
NORTH AMERICAN MAPLES.
Maples are very justly considered to be among the most valuable and
ornamental of forest-trees. They are natives of north temperate lati-
tudes, none being found in countries south of the equator, nor in the
torrid zone. They are confined to North America, Europe, and the tem-
perate parts of Asia. Twoof the European species have been introduced
into cultivation to some extent in this country. These are the Norway
maple, Acer platanoides, and the sycamore maple, Acer pseudo-platanus.
A few other foreign species are occasionally found in public and private
gardens. But the maples of our own country furnish a very interesting °
014
variety, to which the lovers of good trees would do well to give more
attention. The North American maples are divided, as to range, into,
first, the maples of the eastern portion of the continent; and, second,
those of the Rocky Mountain region and the western coast. The Hast-
ern species are five and tle Western four:
1st. The hard or sugar maple, Acer saccharinum, which has its home
principally in Canada, New York, and the New England States, spar-
ingly following the Alleghany Mountains as far as Georgia, and west of
the Alleghanies occurring on many of the tributaries of the Mississippi.
It is one of our largest forest trees, attaining a height of fifty to eighty
feet. The sugar-yielding nature of its sap is well known. Its wood for
many purposes of manufacture and for fuel is unequaled. When grown
in open ground, it forms a broad-based, round-topped head of dense,
dark foliage, clean and usually free from insect depredations, and, taken
all in all, probably stands at the head of American ornamental trees, at
least for the Northern States. It is of slow growth, and requires care
in transplanting and until it becomes well established, after which it
will richly repay all the labor bestowed upon it. There is a variety of
this species, called black maple, said to be so called from a darker color
of the foliage, which differs slightly in the form and pubescence of the
leaves, but not sufficiently to constitute a distinct species.
2d. The white or silver-leaved maple, Acer dascycarpum. This tree is
found generally at lower altitudes than the sugar-maple. It occurs on
the borders of rivers, rather sparingly in the New England States, more
frequently in the southern and western districts. It forms rather a low
trunk, which divides into a great many long branches, with a very grace-
ful, spreading habit. In favorable situations it attains a.large size. The
under surface of the leaves is of a pale silvery-white color, and con-
trasts beautifully with the rich green of the upper surface, especially
when tossed by the breeze. It blooms profusely early in the spring,
before the appearance of the leaves, and its large, broad-winged fruit
ripens and drops when the leaves are fuJly developed. It is easily eulti-
vated and grows rapidly, and hence is one of our most popular shade-
trees. It is, however, liable to some objections; the long, slender growth
of the limbs renders them liable to be broken by storms and by snow
and sleet in the winter, and in some districts a borer has caused great
loss by injuries to the trunk.
3d. The red or soft maple, Acer rubrum. This has a somewhat wider
range of growth than, perhaps, any other species, being found from
Maine to Louisiana. It grows in low, rich soil; and on the swampy
borders of the large rivers of the South and West it is especially flour-
ishing, attaining a great size. Although less vigorous on high lands, it
yet maintains a healthy growth. It does not grow as rapidly as the
silver maple, but the wood is harder and finer-grained, and the form of
the tree closer and more compact. The twigs and flowers are of a deep
red color. It flowers and matures its seeds in early spring; they are
only about half as large as those of the white maple, and ripen at about
the same time. The leaves are smaller and less divided than those of
the white, and, like them, are silvery or whitish on the under surface.
As an ornamental tree, it will probably be found more durable and satis-
factory than the silver-leaved maple.
4th. The striped maple or moose-wood, Acer Pennsylvanicum. This is
a small tree, seldom attaining a height of twenty feet, but is well adapted
for planting in yards and shrubberies. Its native situation is in moun-
tainous districts, particularly New England, New York, and in the Alle-
ghanies to Georgia. The bark is smooth and light-green, mingled with
315
longitudinal blackish stripes. The leaves are large for the size of the
tree, with a rounded or heart-shaped base, and spreading into three
nearly equal short lobes. The fruit hangs in loose and graceful clusters,
and, like that of the sugar-maple, is not ripe until autumn.
5th. The mountain maple, Acer spicatum. This species has much the
same range of growth as the preceding. It is a smaller tree, seldom at-
taining a height of over eight or ten feet, being of a bushy habit. The
leaves.are similar in form to those of the striped maple, but smaller
and more coarsely toothed on the margin. The tree or shrub is quite
ornamental and deserving of cultivation. It becomes more vigorous
and grows larger when grafted on the larger species.
6th. The Rocky Mountain or currant maple, Acer glabrum, Torr., Acer
tripartitum, Nutt. This is a small bushy maple, growing from four to ten
feet high, first occurring in the mountains of Colorado, thence extending
southward to New Mexico and Arizona, and westward to Nevada and
California. It has small, smooth, roundish, three-lobed or three-parted
leaves, somewhat resembling those of a currant. It generally produces
an abundance of fruit, which is abont the size of that of the red maple.
It would make quite an ornamental shrub, and is deserving of cultiva-
tion.
7th. The large-toothed maple, Acer grandidentatum. This species is
found in the mountains of Nevada, thence extending northward to Ore-
gon. Itisasmall tree, of slim growth, commonly twenty feet high, but
sometimes attaining a height of thirty or forty feet, and one foot diam-
eter of trunk. The leaves are similar in shape to those of the hard
maple, but smaller and usually somewhat downy even when old. The
fruit is of medium size, with broad and somewhat spreading wings.
8th. The round-leaved maple, Acer circinatum. This tree is common
in the forests of Oregon and Northern California. It does not have the
upright growth of other maples, but grows in clumps, several trunks
springing from one root, and spreading out in a broad curve, the long,
slender branches often arching to the ground, where they take root, and
form tangled clumps which offer serious impediment to travel in the
woods in which they occur. It seldom attains a greater diameter of
trunk than five or six inches, and a height of from fifteen to forty feet.
The wood is-hard, heavy, and fine-grained. The leaves have about
seven principal ribs, spreading out fan-like from the base to the circum-
ference, united together more than half way, and terminating in about
seven narrow lobes.
9th. The great-leaved maple, Acer macrophyllum. This is a native of
California and Oregon. In the latter Stateit appears to attain its great-
est magnitude, reaching, according to Nuttall, a height of fifty to ninety
feet and a circumference of trunk of eight to sixteen feet. Like the
sugar-maple, it abounds in a sugary sap, which, however, has not been
utilized. Its wood is close-grained, hard, and shows freely those peculiar
undulations of the grain which are called curled and bird’s-eye maple.
The leaves are large, not unfrequently a foot long, and deeply palmately
five-lobed. The flowers are rather conspicuous, of a yellowish color, in
drooping racemes, and somewhat fragrant. When in bloom it presents
a very attractive appearance. The fruit or seed-carpels are larger than
those of any other American maple, and are covered even when ripe with
strong, stiff hairs, and hang late upon the tree in conspicuous drooping
racemes. This species has been introduced into England, and there
makes a fine ornamental tree. It is a pity that it is so little known in
this portion of the United States.
316
MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS.
By THomas Taytor, Microscopist.
It has been decided by high authority that Bacterium* consists prin-
cipally of vegetable cellulose,t because, when subjected to a boiling
solution of the alkalies, it remains undissolved. When rod-bacterium
(Bacterium termo) is treated with a tincture of iodine, its interior struct-
ure is changed from its natural transparent whiteness to an amber
color, which indicates the presence of protoplasm-in its outer elongated
cell. It is popularly supposed that any object composed of vegetable
fiber must necessarily be devoid of animal life; and that, although
many microscopic germs exhibit animal motions in water, they may,
notwithstanding, be purely vegetable; but it has been demonstrated
that parts of certain animals, as the mantle of the Tunicata, consist of
cellulose. It may therefore be reasonable to expect, as a necessary con-
sequence, the presence of analogous substances in them, such as animal
starch, glycogen,t and chitine, § which are convertible into each other.
*One of the earliest organisms appearing in decaying and putrefying animal and
vegetable solutions.
+ Cellulose is the characteristic tissue of the vegetable kingdom. It forms the fun-
damental layer of all vegetable cell-walls. The young parts of plants consist chiefly of
cellulose; it exists in a tolerably pure state in the pith of the elder-tree, (Johnston.)
More recently, according to De Luca, it is found in the skin of the silk-worm and of
serpents. Béchamp says that it is found in the vibrating corpuscles of the silk-worm.
Loéwig and Kolliker have recognized cellulose in the cartilaginous capsule of the sim-
ple <dscidie, in the leathery mantles of the Cynthie, and the outer tube of the
Salpe.
Chemical properties of cellulose—When cellulose is treated with oil of vitriol, con-
centrated hydrochloric acid, or a concentrated aqueous solution of chloride of zine, it
yields products which are converted into glucose when their aqueous solution is boiled
with water. Glucose is likewise produced in the decomposition of lignosulphate of.
lead, and by the action of alkalies on pyroxyline. But it is doubtful also whether this
sugar should be regarded as dextro-glucose. According to Béchamp (N. Ann. Chim.
Phys., 48, 502,) it yields, when treated with alcohol, two sorts of crystals, one sort hay-
ing the hardness of cane-sugar, the other resembling dextro-glucose.
The skin of the silk-worm and that which remains in the cocoons, when the butter-
flies escape, are capable of yielding a substance isomeric with cellulose, which may be
converted into glucose. When the caterpillars are boiled for several hours with strong
hydrochloric acid, and this treatment is repeated three times with the residue, and the
residue is washed with strong potash-lye, then with water, and dried between 100° and
110°, a white, light substance, nearly free from nitrogen, is obtained, which gradually
diffuses in oil of vitriol, forming a colorless gummy liquid. Thissolution added by small
quantities to boiling water, and boiled for an hour or two, yields fermentable sugar
which reacts like glucose with common salt and potassio-cupric tartrate. (De Luca,
Compt. Rend., 53, 102.)
{ Glycogen, a term generally applied to animal starch, so called, discovered by Vir-
chow, who found it in degenerated liver and spleen; also in diseased kidneys, brain-
granulations, and concretions of the prostate gland. He says such tissues assume &
reddish-brown or more rarely a dirty-brown violet color, when treated with tincture
of iodine. When treated with oil of vitriol and iodine in succession, they acquire @
green color, changing to a dirty violet or sometimes blue. (Gmelin’s Chemistry,
vol. XVIII, p. 334.)
§Chitine resembles cellulose. It is supposed by some to be nitrogenous; it
forms the elytra and integuments of insects and the carapaces of Crustacea.
It may be obtained by exhausting the wing-cases of cockchafers successively with
water, alcohol, ether, acetic acid, and boiling alkalies. The final residue retains com-
pletely the form of the wing-cases. Frémy prepares chitine by treating the tegument-
ary skeleton of a crustaceous animal with cold dilute hydrochloric acid, to remoyn
calcareous salts ; washing with distilled water; boiling for several hours with solutioe
317
Such is found to be the case, in some respects, in the vegetable kingdom,
and since vegetable structure has been found in the mollusk alluded to,
it may be presumed to be present in the higher forms of life, as in the
vertebrates, including man; and as nature does nothing in vain, the
presence of cellulose in animals would imply that it has some function
to perform for which it is peculiarly adapted in their vital economy.
That the consideration of animal and vegetable pathology comes
strictly within the scope of agricultural investigation, is demonstrated
by the ravages of the*rinderpest, horse-influenza, and numerous vege-
table-blights, the cause or causes of which have so frequently eluded the
of potash, which removes adhering albuminous substances, and has no action upon
chitine; again washing with distilled water, and purifying the residue with alcohol
and ether.
When chitine (from the carapace of the crab) is boiled for several hours with dilute
sulphuric acid, only the softer membranes are attacked, while the more solid integu-
ments become loose and soft, and form, after pressing and washing with water, a mass
haying almost the consistence of starch. The acid liquid supersaturated with lime,
and then neutralized with sulphuric acid, yields neither tyrosine nor leuciné, but con-
tains ammonia, together with amorphose sugar, inasmuch as it precipitates cuprous
oxide abundantly from an alkaline solution of cupric oxide. (Stideler.) Berthollet
(Ann. Ch. Phys. [3] li, 149,) likewise obtained sugar from chitine, (prepared from the
integuments of lobsters, crabs, and cantharides,) by macerating it in strong sulphuric
acid till it was dissolved, dropping the solution into one hundred times its volume of
boiling water, boiling for an hour, saturating with chalk, &c.
The above-mentioned pasty residue is colored brown-red by iodine, like unaltered
chitine; and by prolonged boiling with sulphuric acid, yields an additional quantity of
sugar, while the undissolved portion always contains nitrogen. The same substance,
after removal of the acid, forms with water a turbid emulsion, which takes a long
time to clarify, and dries up by spontaneous evaporation to a soft, skin-like membrane,
which exhibits, with iodine-water, the same reactions as the original chitine. (Stiid-
eler..)
The composition of chitine is determined by the following analyses:
Schmidt. Mean Calculation.
of 11 analyses. Lemann. Schlossberger. Stadeler. C°HIENOS,
(CHIE C10) 0. i RE ee 46.64 46.73 46.64 46.32 46.35
Hy dropemiees alc. cutee. os 6.60 6.59 6.60 6.65 6.44
NAT OR OMS sss be sae 8 6.56 6.49 6.56 6.14 6.01
Greyrenuls. 5. Gis scl.) 40.20 40.19 40.20 40.89 41.20
Frémy found in chitine 43.35 carbon, 6.65 hydrogen, and no nitrogen; whence he re-
gards chitine as isomeric with cellulose, (44.4 C,6.2 H, and 49.40.) Gerhardt regarded
Frémy’s results as more correct than those of the German chemists, because chitine
yields by dry distillation only acetic acid and empyreumatic oil, without any ammonia,
and the products of its putrefaction under water are different from those of most nitro-
genous substances. But the analyses above given exhibit a closeness of agreement
which could scarcely be expected if the substances operated upon had been impure.
Stadeler regards chitine as a glucoside, C?7H'NO®‘, which is resolved by boiling with
acids into glucose and lactamide, (or alanine or sarcosine :)
C°H"5NOS + 2H20 = C*H!206 + C?H7NO2,
If this decomposition really takes place, lactic acid should likewise be obtained as a
product of the transformation of the lactamide or alanine; but the presence of lactic
acid among the products has not yet been demonstrated. Stiideler also suggests that
chitine (at least in Crustacea) may be formed by the union of laetate of ammonium with
gum, and elimination of water:
[ C#H‘03,H,NH# + C®H°05 — C9H NOS + 2H°0,]
Acid lactate of Gum. Chitine.
ammonium.
Inasmuch as he has found gum in the juices of crabs and other Crustacea, the
presence of lactic acid in the gastric juice of the lower animals is by no means improb-
able.
318 |
skill of the most scientific specialists of America and Europe. As long,
therefore, as scientific men are unacquainted with any of the constit-
uents of animals and vegetiables, so long will they be unable to treat
animal or vegetable maladies upon strictly scientific principles. Not
only should we endeavor to discover all the constituents of their organs,
and their relations to each other, but should also take into account those
of the ever-active elements which surround them, as the temperature
and humidity of the atmosphere, the effects of light and shade, climate,
altitude, and geographical condition—as these are of the utmost impor-
tance in the investigation of every form of organic disease. If it can
be shown that cellulose exists in all the important organs of the higher
animals, the necessity of a more careful examination of its uses will be-
come apparent; and such examinations may result in the discovery of new
relations between animal and vegetable structure, while it may also
necessitate a revisign of received opinions as to the boundary-line
between animal and vegetable life.
In consideration of the foregoing views, I have made a series of
investigations with animal substances, commencing with the eggs
of insects, the eggs of fowls, milk, cerumen, (ear-wax,) the flesh
and -blood of various animals, including man, and have found in them
in every instance cellulose and animal starch, and in some cases cap-
illary vessels, of a translucent red color, containing liquid starch, col-
ored blue from the iodine used during my experiments. The following
statement embraces the results of some of these experiments.
If about a cubic inch of liver, spleen, heart, bratn, or muscle of the
higher animals be immersed in two fluid ounces of caustic potash about
twenty-four hours, ata temperature of about 80° Fahrenheit, it will dissolve
completely. On the addition of acetic acid in excess, the potash will
be neutralized, and a flocculent precipitate will fall, which, by ordinary
filtration, may be separated from the liquid. Remove the filtrant by
means of a sable-hair pencil, taking care not to remove any of the fiber
of the paper with the animal matter. Place a small portion of the fil-
trant on a capsule, and add to it a drop of concentrated sulphuric acid,
followed by one of the tincture of iodine. Then place a portion of the
composition on a microscopic slide, covering it with a disk in the usual
manner, and examine it with a power of about 100 diameters. Under these
conditions blue granules of animal starch and structural cellulose will
Sometimes be seen, combined with amber-colored albuminous matter.
Frequently starch and cellulose, although present, are not seen, but by
subjecting the composition to friction, and adding a little more sulphurie
acid and iodine, well-defined blue-colored structural forms become ap-
parent. ‘
The structure and chemical behavior of animal-starch granules: dif-
fer in some respects from those of potato starch; the latter are at once
dissolved by caustic potash and concentrated nitric and sulphuric acids,
but animal starch is not so easily dissolved. As a general rule the lat-
ter resists for a considerable time the solvent action of these powerful
chemicals. In form, animal starch frequently resembles potato starch.
The granules of the former are found, however, to be sometimes as
large as the .004th of an inch in their shorter diameter, by about
.007th of an inch in their longer, while many of them areas small as
the thousandth of an inch in their longest diameter, or even less. Animal-
starch granules when compressed will frequently burst, and the liquid
contents coagulate at once in the presence of sulphuric acid. I have
found, during my investigations, hollow starch-granules intensely blue,
from which their liquid starch had been expelled by pressure. Blue-
319
colored starch and cellulose structures somefimes appear of a green
color in consequence of being covered with amber-colored albuminous
matter. On the application of water and friction, the latter may be
remoyed, when a deep-blue structure will become apparent.
I propose to resume my investigations on this subject at an early day,
and will, as I progress, make careful drawings of every form of cellulose
structure and starch-granules found in the important viscera of the
animals under examination, carefully noting the forms and peculiarities
found in each part.
PRODUCTION OF MUSCATEL RAISINS IN MALAGA.
By JouHn A. Mark.
The cultivation of the Muscatel vine, notwithstanding that it supplies
a source of such great wealth to the province of Malaga, and a vast
commodity for exportation to almost every part of the world, in the
shape of the universally-known Malaga raisins, is carried on in a way
which generally is little to the credit of the cultivators.
The vines are generally very superficially planted, and the culture
afterwards partakes very much of the same poverty of tillage. The
consequence of this is that the majority of the fruit scarcely attains
any Size, is poor and skinny, and ultimately has to be foisted on the
public in the shape of ‘ corrientes,” or what very erroneously are quoted
as the standard from which all other and superior classes take their
relative prices.
The vines should be planted in December and January, and I con-
sider that the most favorable sites are those which lie on gentle slopes
in the laps of the hills, as these generally are overlaid with the washing
down of the finest and richest soils from above. These latter possess
great fructifying power, with ali the richness of the alluvium. These
lands generally have a substratum of slaty rock, very frangible, and
which, when broken up, readily mixes with the soil above and proves a
most congenial ground for the vine, especially if it should be a decom-
posed slate tinged with oxide or peroxide of iron, and of a rich reddish
color. This land retains the moisture most admirably, and therefore
is most fitted to support the vine during the long summer droughts,
which are inevitable.
Generally speaking, the vines are planted at about five feet distance
from each other, at a depth of about two feet. Now, in this last cireum-
stance lies all the fault of the general*poverty of the vineyards, as,
owing to this surface-planting, the roots live where all the digging
operations injure them twice a year, and where they are thus also amen-
able to all the changes of atmosphere, drought, &c.
The correct thing is to plant them about 6 or 7 feet apart, according
to the supposed richness of the soil, as when they are closer together
they obstruct each other, both in their roots as well as their surface-
growth, to say nothing of the more ample succulence which the soil thus
affords them. The holes should be dug about 3 or 4 feet deep, and,
if possible, the same diameter throughout. Then the finest and healthi-
est cuttings of the vines should be obtained, about 6 feet in length; they
should be laid across the bottom of the holes, in a small trench which
should be made in each, and then they should be brought up against
the faces or walls of the holes, taking care that they be all laid and,
320
brought up uniformly, when they should be lightly filled in with the
‘best of the soil, leaving about two or three germs out above the earth’s
surface. After this, for three consecutive years, if it is a rocky ground,
a systematic breaking up between the vines should be carried on in
December and January, availing always, if possible, of recent rains, as
then the operation is rendered comparatively easy and less expen-
sive, and it is very essential that during these years of education, or
breaking in, the vines should be (each time they are dug up) bared
down at least 18 inches of the stalk, so that ail appearance of root may
be removed with a knife, at the expiration of which time that portion
of the stem loses its germinating tendency, and thus the plant is driven
to live in the lower and moister soil, where it is more independent of
the variableness of the surface. This process likewise enables the eul-
tivator to dig up his land to any depth, with the certainty that he will
not injure his vines, they having no surface-roots to obstruct the opera-
tion.
Among the cultivators of the Muscatel grape, it is eustomary to
prune in two ways. The more wealthy proprietors, and those that can
afford all the necessary expense and outlay in producing and packing
superior fruit, invariably prune around the stump or head of the vine,
cutting off all the last year’s shoots at the second bud from the stem,
thus throwing the full power of each new shoot into the one or two
bunches of grapes which it can throw out; and it is a point with the
pruner so to arrange his vine that the branches for pruning should be
_as evenly and fairly distributed around the stump as possible. All
shoots which are thrown out from the top of the stump are invariably
placked off green by the good grower.
The poorer class of cultivators, who prefer quantity to quality, and
who cannot afford to dedicate their energies to good fruit, on the con-
trary, prune all around, leaving two, three, or four shoots with half a
dozen buds each, whereby the strength is thus disseminated through a
large number of inferior bunches, and thus the majority of their fruit
goes into the class of * corrientes.”
In the neighborhood of Malaga, and in its “ veyer,” or valley, there
are some very fine vineyards, which produce large quantities of good
fruit; but, in the opinion of the writer, it will bear no comparison with
earefully-grown fruit in the soil from the mountain-side, at first de-
scribed by him, as in the rich alluvial soil of the valley the grape fills
out too readily, making juice instead of flesh, which latter is the indis-
pensable requisite for fine packing raisins.
The difference is readily preceptible after they have been packed for
afew months. Those of the yalley shrink up with a sharp edge and
acute wrinkle, becoming very hard, whereas the mountain-grown re-
tain their fleshy fullness and soft plastic nature. The former, when first
packed, have a bluish velvety hue, whereas those from the hilly land
assume a clarety-transparent color. é
The writer is well aware that. the Malaga classifyers prefer the dark-
colored fruit, but he ventures to say that he considers this to be a
chronic error, and one that time will effectually eradicate.
The only disease of the vine of any importance which has yet shown
itself in the Malaga district is the “ oidium tuckery.” This has done
vast damage, and has even totally devastated some ‘“ pedro garienez,” or
wine-vineyards, but by taking it in time and a systematic salphuring,
the danger has been readily averted in the Muscatel.
The process of drying this grape is naturally a very simple one, but,
at the same time, there are so many little circumstances attending it,
321
which so materially affect the subsequent operation of packing, that the
subject is worthy of some consideration.
In picking the bunches of grapes, scissors should be used, so that in
this operation the fine ones should not suffer any rough treatment or
handling, as, above every other consideration, the beautiful bloom of
nature should be preserved intact.
The gatherer should, on the spot, sort out the supericr fruit, and from
the vineyard convey it in flat baskets, of about 2 feet diameter, and hold-
ing about forty pounds of grapes in a single layer, (as they must never
press upon each other,) on his head, to the drying-floors, where he must
lay the bunches most carefully, close up against each other, so as com-
pletely to hide the ground, especially taking care to place them with
their finest, handsomest, and most perfect sides downward and next to
the ground. The object of this is to preserve the beauty and bloom, so
that they may subsequently adorn the face of the packed layers. The
drying-floors require nothing but the natural earth on which the grapes
have been grown, except that they must be nicely and neatly laid, and
be kept free from dust.
The practice has always been to shelter the flats with boards or can-
vas tents at night or when it threatens rain. It is not a good plan,
however, to cover the grapes for the first few nights after they are laid
down; for it is found to be a very good thing to let them enjoy the dew
and freshness of the night, which counteract in some degree the ten-
deney to dry too rapidly. The writer, however, has introduced into his
establishment covers made of galvanized corrugated- -iron, which,
although more expensive, he finds incomparably superior to those hith-
erto used. They are placed more rapidly, more completely, do not sufter
through the sun as do the planks and canvas; and, above all other con-
siderations, instead of absorbing the damp, which in a slight degree is
drawn out of the ground, they rather retain it on the flat, thus keeping
the stalks of the raisins tough and pliable, whereby the packers are
enabled to arrange and lay their layers without such a large amount of
fine fruit being snapped off and condemned to the loose-raisin class.
The time required for raisin-drying varies according to the season,
the aspect of the flats, and many other causes, but I should say the
average consumed may be computed at fifteen days; and one of the
most important things attending the process is the selection of the
proper moment for picking them up off the flats and packing or storing
them.
The art of packing the fine fruit as at present in use, in the opinion
of the writer, is a deplorable error, and one which should be abolished.
It is dreadfully expensive and tedious, requiring an amount of handling
which in food should be avoided. Instead, he would press on the public:
the superiority of the light-bunch-layers system, where no fraud can be
practiced, and which can be carried out with scarcely any fingering, and
‘where the purchaser sees at a glance the class of fruit which he is intend-
ing to eat.
The fine packing, except in certain and honorable cases, is the cloak
for every kind of trickery and deception.
I should mention that one extensive grower has introduced an oven,
with stoves, for the purpose of drying; but I understand from the pack-
ers who frequent his establishment that the raisins do not present the
beauty of the sun-dried fruit.
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IN GEoRGIA.—The following statements
are condensed from a report by the State department of agriculture in
Georgia on the condition of farm-products, as reported the 15th of June:
Condition of corn, 98; corn-forage, 99; and the acreage, 121. Wheat,
not harvested, 90; the bulk of the crop harvested in good condition,
and the yield 8 per cent. above average. Cotton, 100; late, but thriving.
Winter oats, 106; spring, 80; the latter injured by drought and rust.
The yield of both kinds 14 per cent. above that of last year. “It is well
demonstrated that oats succeed better sown in the fall. It has also
been demonstrated that a good stand may be secured by sowing in cotton
about the 1st of September, without plowing in.” The condition of rice
was placed at 95; sugar-cane, 93; clover, 90—harvested in good con-
dition. The wool-clip, 101. The annual loss of sheep by dogs is esti-
mated at 15 per cent., and the loss by disease at 6 per cent. The reported
daily average of milk per cow is one gallon; milk required for one pound
of butter, 24 gallons. This would give but 24 pounds of butter per
week; about one-third of a fair yield for a good cow well cared for.
The honey prospect is placed 3 per cent. above average, and the yield
per colony at 28 pounds.
IRRIGATION SCHEMES—PRELIMINARY OFFICIAL WORK.—Mr. Edward
L. Berthoud, civil engineer and secretary of the territorial School
of Mines located at Golden, Jefferson County, Colorado, addresses
a communication to this Department, in which he proposes that the
Engineer Department of the United States Army, the Chief Signal-
Officer, the Smithsonian Institution, the Commissioner of the General
Land-Office, and the Commissioner of Agriculture co-operate in obtain-
ing uniform and accurate data upon the following points as preliminary
aids in the investigation of proposed irrigation schemes:
1. To establish a uniform system of “ gauging” the volume of water, and of ascer-
taining the cross-sections of all the streams and rivers in the several States and Terri-
tories ; and that this be made a portion of the duties of all exploring and reconnoitering
parties, of all signal officers and stations, and of all deputy United States surveyors
running meridian, guide-meridian, standard, and township lines.
2. That,in addition to the measuring accurately such cross-sections, and determin-
ing the area of the streams at such sections, should be also a uniform method of obtain-
ing the velocity of the water at the place of observation, to determine actual supply
of water.
3. Such determination of volume and velocity should not only be taken when swol-
len by periodical rains or the melting of the snows of the mountain-ranges in which
such streams originate, but should also be taken at their lowest stage, or when the
effect of local storms or permanent snows has decreased to a minimum or entirely
ceased.
4, That in a period of a few years, and at very small expense, we would get minima
and maxima of amounts, which factors, determined for a constant period, would assist
for the determination of the influences of cultivation, drainage, and the clearing of
forest, not only upon the rain and snow fall, but upon the supply of water from our
streams fed by the yearly snow-fall.
5. That the accurate measurement of the rain and snow fall in Colorado, &c., when
obtained in the more level and open country at the foot of the mountains, is of but
little value in determining the amount that the mountain-fed streams can or may pro-
duce, and that a rain-fall of from 10 to 14 inches has but little effect in the average
growth of cereals and vegetables; that in all cases in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah,
Arizona, and Southern California they must be watered by artificial means to insure
certain results.
FERTILIZERS IN GEORGIA.—Hon. Thomas P. Jones, Commissioner
of Agriculture of the State of Georgia, has issued a circular in which
323
are tabulated the results of the analyses of one hundred and twelve
brands of fertilizers sold in that State. While showing still consider-
able deficiencies in important chemical] constituents, there is a manitest
improvement in the character of the articles sold. In addition to the
chemical test, many intelligent planters are subjecting them to a careful
soil-test, under regulations prescribed by the commissioner, a careful
record of which will be published from time to time. The commercial
values of the leading chemical elements of these fertilizers average
about as follows: Nitrogen, (equivalent of ammonia,) 22 cents per
pound ; available phosphoric acid, 154 cents; insoluble phosphoric acid,
44 cents; potash, 64 cents.
The analyses in the circular ‘show an almost exact, and, in some in-
stances, acomplete correspondence in the composition of fertilizers sold un-
derdifferentnames.” During the season ending May 1, 48,648 tons of these
compounds were sold in Georgia, at an average of $51 per ton, amounting
to $2,481,048. ‘The best acid phosphates can be purchased at $40 per
ton. Using 500 pounds of acid phosphates to the ton, composted with
cotton-seed and manure, it will be necessary to purchase only one-fourth
the commercial material to make the same number of tons of equal
agricultural value. Only 12,162 tons of acid phosphate would be re-
quired to make all the fertilizers used in Georgia, which, at $40 per ton,
would involve an outlay of only $486,480,” saving annually $1,994,568,
besides the freight on 36,486 tons, at $5 per ton, amounting to $182,430,
The total saving thus indicated is $2,176,998, or more than the aggre-
gate taxable property of 102 of the 137 counties of the State. It will
average $15,883 to every county, and over $50 to every farmer in Geor-
gia.” It is more than twice the annual State tax; it would pay the
whole State debt in four years; it amounts to 7 per cent. of the annual
value of the cotton-crop; it will pay, in one year, the expenses of the
State department of agriculture for one hundred and fifty years.
IMPROVED COTTON-GIN.—Mr. H. A. Stearns, of Pawtucket, R. I., has
invented a cotton-roller-gin that is considered a great improvement on
the common saw-gins now in use. It does not injure the fiber by cut-
ting, tearing, or napping; cleaning the seed more perfectly than any
other gin, with a smaller amount of power, and entire freedom from
danger of fire while in operation. Mr. Stearns has had many years’
experience as a manufacturer of cotton, and is well acquainted with its
nature, quality, and value. It has received two diplomas from the
Georgia State Agricultural Society; one “for the best improvement in
cotton-gins,” the other ‘“ for the most important improvement relating to
agriculture.” A Georgia paper states that on test-trials of the gin there
was an average saving of fifty pounds of lint to the bale, and of far
better staple than that from any of the common saw-gins.
BRITISH IMPORTS OF BREADSTUFFS.—The imports of breadstuffs
into the United Kingdom during the first six months of 1874 and 1875
are thus stated in the board of trade report:
5 A
Quantity. Value.
Articles.
1875. 1874. 1875.
Wheat:
NG AS Ite euane tas seips corn nacsteceaes cwt..| 2,432,414 | 3,804,880 | 21,537,179 | £1, 850, 253
POM DOMMAT feral epee ois ano keene aa ome cewt 85, 310 71, 235 58, 852 35, 893
Prem GiCh RANG nese sac- alec sas eae mess ewt..| 1,551,086 | 2,029,830} 1,137, 607 1, 084, 245
rom Prant@ceressssccscescccceneseatces= ss cwt.. 4, 227 258, 771 3, 235 129, 735
From Austrian territories........-..-.---.. cewt.. 482 12, 260 200 6, 562
From Turkey, Wallachia, and Moldavia. ...cwt.. 393, 647 348, 514 240, 418 160, 709
SHIMON OVP tess es cass e's BSUS oa eer cwt.. 103, 605 183, 616 65, 089 87, 619
From United States........:-...---csese0- owt..| 11,503, 164 | 11, 099,066 | 17, 733, 328 5, 680, 608
OM Ha erate ni-telais occ. aaiackh ons cinainace ane cwt.. 241, 887 311, 047 554, 963 160, 234
From British North America.......-....... cwt 692, 742 582,008 | 458, 419 |” 292) 619
From other countries..........-...-...+---- cwt 1, 479, 720 285, 197 991, 289 141,194
OLA WHEAG.f «cn = 6 oc: na Aabstassh Hes ere ewt..| 19, 088, 324 | 19, 986, 424 | 12, 780, 579 9, 629, 968
eee Sica SEBS acca ca ce sce sae Sint aoe --| 4,469,650 | 5,560,925 | 2, 322, 932 2, 402, 220
5, 785, 821 | 5,540,930 | 2, 602, 961 2, 501, 536
719, 611 290, 546 335, 120 411, 133
1, 218, 696 | 1, 606, 834 564, 849 743, 501
8, 432, 316 | 9,657,725 | 3,694, 899 4, 016, 736
Wheat-meal and flour:
Mrom (Germany) speech vos so aatulelete sss es cwt.. 457, 150 327, 649 452, 470 265, 196
Brom Branc@es -abe «+ sep xinist Seether oles cwt.. 185, 044 | 1,041, 186 204, 640 797, 892
From United States .........sss-ceesenesues ewt 1,902,119 | 1,100,802 | 1, 753, 979 800, 823
From British North America. .............-. ewt 171, 604 24,758 157, 400 15, 812
From other countries. ..........20-2--.e-00- cwt.. 802, 736 326, 303 823, 947 316, 863
Total wheat-meal and flour............. cwt. 2, 820,698 | 3, 392, 436 2, 196, 086
Indian-corn meal, including maizena .......-... ewt.. 5, 059 5, 752 6, 547
BRITISH IMPORTS OF COTTON.—The following statement of the im-
ports of raw and manufactured cotton is taken from the reports of the
board of trade, and shows the aggregate import of the first half of 1874
and 1875, respectively :
Quantity. Value.
Article,
1874, 1875. 1874.
Raw cotton:
From United States. -.).<.....0s.0..50l00--. ewt..|, 5,369,190 | 5, 127,295 |£20,208,819 | £18, 848, 720
ror Brazil so S535 sock sc ye.ccein.o.mncinn teense ace cwt.. 402, 280 443, 660 1 '593, 244 1, 613, 811
Prom Larkey 16 secs: oie « ceric ole avaease cwt.. 8, 776 7, 851 32, 033 26, 014
Hrom Wowyt tos cleiocr cee rene SADR ELE a cwt-. 905, 215 818,758 | 4, 264, 431 3, 760, 770
From Brinsh India..... dhe os etreere Ue oa cwt..| 1,594,825 | 1, 616, 926 4, 585, 994 4, 445, 167
From other countries .............-.- Fo sntte cwt.. 104, 162 100, 482 409, 080 361, 62
Total raw cotton | ....0.- niece once ere ewt..| 8,384,448} 8,114,972 | 31,093,601 | 29,056,174
Cotton manufactures ...............--220- PE es 2s (nea ae PR a eee 839, 962 665, 720
325
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS, JULY, 1875.
The following quotations represent the state of the market, as nearly as practicable, at the
beginning of the month:
Articles.
NEW YORK.
Flour, superfine State and west-
BEM ease acorn a= per bbl.
extra State ......... do.
extra to choice western,
per parrely 2. .f S22 2ke .
common to fair southern
Oxtras. /.5.....- per bbl
good to choice southern
OXGTAS.----.-.4- per bbl.
Wheat, Aly 1 Lepring - per bush.
2 sprin g. Be Ae. do...
inten red, western,
per ushel ..).222.20_.
winter, amber, western,
per bushel -......-.-..
winter, white, western,
per-bushel sc. 2.2.20.
1G eee eR a ee per bush
STIG Geese sac w'e's ca cehu's'- do.
| U1, Jeti SG: SSS eae do...
(Uni) 135 34ers do. .
Hay, first petty Perl oaiae per ton.
second quality.......- do. .
uel mess ees. e222 per bbl
extra mess -..-.-..--. do...
1G) 2500 Cr eee eee dos:
extra prime..-.-....-do...
prime mess ........-. do.
Loeb See ee qadesre per lb
Butter, western .........-.-- do...
State dairy....-..-. do:..
Cheese, State factory...-.... do...
western factory ....do..
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
nary er lb.
low sadn to good
middling er lb.
Sugar, fair to prime refining,
1/262 Oe eas er lb.
Wool, Pills pend XXX and pi oe
Hock pee 208 2. I .8 per ib
American X and XX, per.
pound
American, combing, per lb.
alle -——-——---\-.:d0-:~.
thes spring clip, per
BOSTON,
Flour, western superfine. per bbl.
common western extra,
SRL re eetetet ores <(clniais
red wheats, good to fancy
northwestern -.per bbl.
white wheat, good to
fancy western. .per bbl.
southern family. .... doses
Rye
Lo Gi eer A
Hay, eastern and northern, a
t
choice western ... per ton.
Prices.
$4 50 to $4 80
5 00 to 5 50
5 00 to 8 25
500 to 590
595 to 8 25
122 to 125
1 15$to 1 21
130 to 1 36
t-30-to--1- 36
131 to 1 40
103 to 105
ni
73 to 824
63 to 68
17 00 to 22 00
13 00 to 14 00
800 to 9 50
10 00 to 10 75
20 70 to 20 85
16 00 to 16 50
19 00 to 19 50
123 to 14
16 to Q7
20 to 30
103 to 124
93 to 114
12% to 143
15 to 164
7 to gi
9} to 133
12} to 17
55. to 60
50 to 53
54 to 63
30 to 50
23 to 34
18 to 24
400 to 450
475 to 5 25
500 to 8 00
600 to 8 00
6 50 to 8 00
90 to 91
62 to 75
115 to — —
—— to — —
16 00 to 22 00
—— to — —
Articles. Prices.
Boston—Continued.
Beef messin senescsinn: sey es $10 to ——}
extra mess:---..-.--. —— to ——
Pork, prlmelesia-ccsseasncsce au 21 00 to$21 50
MOSS == scssoesee essa do...| 16 50 to 17 00
Dard <-22222e~2+ tee 1s er lb. 14 to 15
Butter, New York and Vermont, ;
per pound: \s2sss ates 18 to 27
western ....-.-..-per lb. 17 to 24
Cheese, New York and Vermont,
Factory. 252252 -5= er 10 to 124
western factory. -..do... 10 to 12
Sugar, fair to good refining. dou. % to 8t
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
NALY 2e---=2---— er lb. 13 to 144
low Taddlae to good
middling.-..-. per Ib. 154 to 164
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania,
per pound ....-...-.-... 48. to 52
Michigan ....:.--: per lb. 48 to 51
other western.....-- do... 45 to 50
pulledeas ssa sceeci a daxz. 30 to 54
combing fleece ...... done. 414 to 57
California. .......-.. do. -- 18 to 384
PHILADELPHIA.
Flour, superfine.......-.per bbl.| 400 to 4 50
Pennsylvania extra to
CHOICE senna ae per bbl.| 425 to 6 00
western extra to Laer
Per urrel=ne so. esse. oat 5 50 to 6 00
Wheat, white........-.. per bush.| 135 to 1 40
amber 130 to 1 32
Teds sees 126 to 1 30
Ry@-esagoeaeeeee: 103 to 105
BPR Sosa sone spo oooacsce —— to ——
(Comm Soe a eaeiesemmabine es 78 to 8L
Oats: sheredsese cc anace ecco 58 to 64
Hay, prime baled ....-... per ton.| 23 00 to 25 00.
baled, common to fair ship-
PUD rrr ronercteren per ton.| 20 00 to 22 00
Beef, western mess -...-. per bbl.| 700 to 9 00
extra Mess ........-.. do. 8 00 to 9 00
Warthman’s city family,
per-barrel:..252. 282 uures 16 00 to — —
Pork, mess. pit ewer sec BO OE 20 75 to 21 50
prime mess.......-.- 17 50 to — —
PLIMGs sacs seceee ae aoe 15 50 to — —
Lardessrcassesrtarstccess r lb. 14 to 1%
Butter, choice middle State. ig ae 23 to 30
choice western ..... do... 17 to 22
Cheese, New York factory. ee se 9 to 13
Ohio factory -.-.-.. Wess 9 to 11
Sugar, fair to good refinin a 7} to 8S
Cotton, ordinary to goo ordi-
NAVY eee nese er lb. 12§ to 143
low middling to good
middling ...-... per lb. 154 to 17
Wool, Ohio X and XX....-. do.. 50 to 54
other western .-...... do... 35 to 50
tub-washed.......... do... 50 to 61
PUG eset cel ae O-lae 26 to 52
Combine. se-a~ sone nO. a= 52 to 62
BALTIMORE.
flour, superfine .....-..-. per bbl.| 425 to 475
Oxtitieseacteees sees do...| 500 to 550
family and fancy ....do...| 550 to 6 50
326
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles. Prices. Articles. Prices.
BALTIMORE—Continued. Cuicaco—Continued.
Wheat, wed 2-. oa io... per bash. $1 16 to $1 308 Hay, timothy. .......-.. per ton.|$17 00 to
BRD DOE costs mciae eso -| 128 to PIAITIC ee nie occ Heeenss do. 9 00 to
WIIG soameiasa cess. a6: 1 15 to Beef, Mess 2.2.22 odecapne per bbl.| 8 25 to
RVR cor aevercpedep tase sa. do. . 95 to extra mess....-.....- do...| 9 25 to
OSES oes oe consent bee wanes 4 A 62 to Pork, Mess cece --- ds aatesee do...| 19 45 to
OY oe oe Coase ee ce / 76 to prime’ mess........-- do...| — — to
Hay, Maryland and Mottibylvas extra prime........-- do...| 14 50 to
THEY w\dep dearer g a per ton:| 19°00 “to 26 OO) |Plard ..----.-- ao seus per lb. 131; to
iParic Mesn eee vetens pe per bbl.| 21 00 to — — || Butter, choice to fancy epee i (i pa 20 to
extra Prime <5: > 6. 52: do...| 16 50 to — — medium to good .. .do... 15 to
TDs (Oa eit keen MIR hala rset per lb 143 to Cheese, npood io prime factory, do. 10 to
Butter, western ............ Gove 13 to Sugar, N. O.,common to choice,
JETS Sf OS ae (ag do... 14 to per ‘pound an mie'plo = asi — to
Cheese, western factory ....do... 10 to Wool, fae washed ......-.per lb. 40 to
eastern factory... - dons: 12 to fleece-washed........ douse 38 to
Sugar, fair to good refining.do. . 73 to unwashed ........-..do... 25 to
New _ Orleans, grocery
puades PRE Reece per lb.| — — to — — SAINT LOUIS.
WMOpACCO, LUGS... -\ aaj cin- 26 a0... 8 to
common to medium leaf, Flour, winter, common to choice,
OT DOUMU wien wes cee ots 12: to per Dbl. be: -8 woes = ee 475
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi- spring, common to choice,
TAY ese ta ola.) er lb. — to 14 per DDLin acne datas = eee 4 50 to
low middling to mid- Wheat, winter, white-. per bush.| 125 to 1 32
Qn eee ae per lb. 143 to 153 TEd sc penaen do...| 110 to
ADVING: 2-4. <ne anaes Ct es 95 to
CINCINNATI COT once ss motets ean do.. 63 to
TRVOL cheese shetaceuesccaraee doze 85 to
Flour, superfine. .....---. pertbbk || 450 ‘to’. 475: earlpy. ce ar conn seco eee do...| 1 25 to
OS ae ce ore oes ase dors: "S000 ton. o 250" Gate. sense. cose te ace do. . 52 to
family and fancy .-..do...| 5 30 to 7 00 || Hay, timothy..--..-.---- per ton.| 19 00 to 21 00
Wheat, winter, red ....per bush. ARI GO}. 122 Disirip-<-esseaeeee do...| 11 00 to 13 00
hill, (amber) GSE i0M: dots. |F°r 22’ to 31 28) || Beek mess, con ecie sane sce per bbl.| 14 00 to 15 00
WENGE). Less do...| 125 to 130 Pork Mess: 2.25. sess do...| 21 00 to 22 00
PV Oe Saar ac- cant ana taene do 100'*to°— ——)||" Taard. 2. . (eee an = oneeeeee er lb. 12 to
IE AIONS mete e seen soins do...| 125 to 1 30 | Butter, prime to choice dairy,
pee Sqcbectbdabatehenngcaoe do.. 67 to 68 per ponnd=:-- S25 2252=5 27 to
Opa. Be aes Cea AG do. - 54 to 58 country packed..-per lb. 14 to
Hay baled, No. 1. ---per ton.| 15 00 to 16 00 || Cheese, Ohio factory ..-.-.- d0,.=. 13 to
lower grades..-.....-: do...| 900 to 14 00 factory... 552 do... 13 to
BBely PlatG oc s..cctce sain per bbl.| — — to — — || Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
Pork, THOSS aioe ete mini mnsa= do ..-| 20 00 to — — many?.8..)asamee per lb. 12} to
TL es 5 a per lb 144 to 16 ordinary to good mid-
Batter, choice........-..-.. do. 19 to 22 qling #24... per lb. 15 to
THULIN hy Sie ob ett te do... 16 to 18 || Tobacco, lugs. So dts ctuc ante -do... 8 to
Cheese, prime to choice factory, common to medium
DELIpoMNd sso TALE ES 10 to 11 leat eric per lb 9 to
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good, W ool, tub-washed ....... -.do..- 53 to
Pers pound se oe. 8} to 5 fleece-washed...-...-do-- 32 to
prime to choice...-.per lb. 94 to 93 unwashed .........-. do... 28 to
TODACCOA MIP ay. awe es can! do. 25 to 30
Npa tan. dome ae do... 30 to 383
Cotton, oie to good ordi- NEW ORLEANS.
MUL Vewte cle cee e per lb. 113 to 13
low middling to good Flour, superfine ...-.-.-.- per bbl 50 to
middling. ...... per lb. 14 to 15 OXGha. on eee ees dase 75 to
Wool, fieece, common to fine, family to fancy-...--- do... 00 to
per ‘pound eee ne ae 40 to 43 || Corn, yellow .-..-..---. per bush. 88 to
tub-washed .....-. per lb.| — — to — — white d 89 to
unwashed, clothing .do. .. 28 to 2 Py jon 0 ELISE
unwashed, combing - do.. 38 to 40 || Hay, choice...
Pee eet sae a do... 33 to 38 prime
Beef, Texas
CHICAGO. western
Fulton market...per 4 bbl. 11 50 to 12 50
Flour, choice winter extras, per PaniginGss govanesee sees per bbl.| 21 50 to 21 75
AEB Ener. Leas hn we nee, VE) Foe v0 pa iy MP ahh LU i As Oe Re er lb. 144 to
common to good winter, Butter, choice Goshen....-. do... 30 to
Oxirad 22s per barrel.| 5 50 to 6 50 WOSPOED .: < joss cece n= des: 22 to
choice spring .-..... do..-] 475 to 5 50 || Cheese, choice western factory,
patent spring --..--- do..-| 625 to 8 00 DOE POUNG. ce pnen see 10 to
spring superfines....do.. | 350 to 3 75 N. ¥.-cream-.-... or lb. 17 to
Wheat, No. I spring -..per bush.| 106 to 1 063) Sugar, fair to fully fair..--. do... 83 to
No. 2 spring ons bettse do.. 1 02}to 105 prime to strictly prime,
No. 3 spring....-.--- do::.|°1-00° to *— — POE POUNG ..-6 se c=s—onee 9 to
TO, NO es per bush. 90 to 91 clarified, white, and yel-
PATIO Ys INO: los tome tees do. 102 to — — lOwWis coe eee per lb. 93 to
Oats; NO.2 ¢s5 200s teh sdecests do... 52 to 524}| Tobacco, lugs ....-..---.--- do. 9 to
Cpt, NO) 2 sce0 i ceaieeceecHlo.-<!. 67.40., “earl ‘lowleaftomedium.do...| 12 to
327
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles. Prices.
New Orteans—Continued.
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
7,2 ee per lb.} $0 124to $0 13
low middling to good
middling ..-.---. per lb. 144 to 15}
Wool, clean lake........-- do... 334 to 34
SAN FRANCISCO.
Flour, superfine ......... per bbl.| 400 to 450
oe 2 ase eee do...| 475 to 4 80
eee, and fancy ....do...| 500 to 5 624
Wheat, California ....per cental.| 160 to 1 75
Qreponie 1325 2552- 2 dosi' | 1.60 to 1.70
(OV) 6 Senos SEBS epee do...| 140 to 1 60
od a¢ See Ae eee \.do.. 190 to 215
Articles.
SAN FRANCIScOo—Continued.
Corn, white....-..... per cental.
VEMUOWiies saa ke'scnde ciate Ges:
Hay, State. Sees.) 25225. per ton.
Best, Messycerccccsecssn- per bbl.
family mess. ....- per + bbl.
Pork, Mess) een seet eens: per bbl.
prime mess .....---..- do
VES i SS Spey 5 ee aa) 2 eh per lb
Butter, overland ...........- do..
California eee ens do..
Grespnes2si.6n3 so: do..
@heose 25 geen ode aes ae cae do..
Wool, native ..-../.......... do..
California. ..... ear do..
OLCZON. = -csenenneaney do..
Prices.
$1 50
1 40
12 00
8 50
to $1 55
to 1 45
LIVE-STOCK MARKETS.
NEW YORK.
Cattle, extra beeves-.per contal.
good to prime....-- do-.«.| 12 25
common to fair .....do.--..| 11 50
average of the market,
per cental..........-..- 12 00
ex ans ass 32 percental | 7 00
milch-cows ----.- per head.| 50 00
ealves........- per cental.| 5 00
do....| 4 25
do..-.|.. 9.25
PHILADELPHIA.
Cattle, pring beeves-..per cental.| 8 25
air to prime ....... do..-.| 6 00
common 225.03 522¢. do....| 4 00
S12) USES AE ee ar Se do....| 4 50
Swine, corn-fod ........... do...-| 11 00
BALTIMORE,
Cattle, best beeves....per cental.| 6 00
st quality....... do....| 5 00
medium or pod quality,
BINCONGAl: soe ts - cee - 4 50
ordinary ..... per cental.}| 3 50
general average...do....| 6 00
most of tHe sales ..do.--.| 5 50
milch-cows, fair to good,
MeMOAG). 2205-0 02.05. 30 00
SUG) once nc oS qe eee per cental.| 4 00
Sywalbseesereeece sss. u oresQ025--|, 9°50
CINCINNATI,
Cattle, good to prime butchers’
steers ...-.. per cental.} 5 00
fair to medium....do....
to $13 50
to 13 00
ta 12 00
to — —
to 10 75
to 108 00
to 750
to 8 50
to 975
| men QO
S138 S&
eto
oo°o
eb
ous &
ooo
oss
CHICAGO.
Cattle, extra-graded steers, 1,400
‘ to 1,600 pounds, per
Cena Ac. eaeeeee sees
choice beeves, 1,250 to
1,450 pounds, percental.
good beeves, 1,150 to 1,350
pounds...... per cental.
medium, 1,100 to 1,250
pounds. ...per cental.
Texans. a0 4. 53-2 do. 258
milch-cows ..... per head.
SHOP rep oman deio a anne per cental.
SWIG K samebicniqs ae eho neh as Ores.
SAINT LOUIS.
Cattle, fair to choice native
steers, per cental
common to fair natives,
er Gontal. 2 -ve..25-%- 5 -
inferior to common, per
contallic2 st cs-os-- Vos aloe
Texans,common to choice,
er .eental. f.2e Cue. =
Sheep. -c cess. 2: per cental
SWiINO. Fees = cecle eb ccee ee do...
Horses, plugs.........- per head.
plain! Ge -boe do...
street-car ...-..... doz=-
heavy-draught ....do....
good drivers ...... do...
OXELD <a. 34 ose mye doz
Mules, 14 to 15 hands high.do.
15 to 16 hands high.do.
OXLEA Gio < le cles oate doses:
NEW ORLEANS.
Cattle, Texas beeves, choice, per
Hegde ees sons ome cinte
first quality. ...per head.
second quality.-... doses
western beeves..... dor. 2.
$6 624 to
5 90
5 65
490
2 30
"2 50
6 00
$6 75
6 374
5 75
5,124
2 70
4 25
719
to
to
875
475
2 874
4:25
6 25
to 8 00
to 75 00
te 110 00
to 125 90
to 170 00
to 150 00
to180 00
to 120 00
to 165 00
to 180 00
to
to
to
46 00
to 35 00
to 25 00
o—_—_——
to 100 00
to 900
to — —
to 400
to 10 00
to
328
FOREIGN MARKETS.
WHEAT.—The month of June in Europe was capricious and variable,
The early outburst of summer weather in several countries was succeeded
by a recurrence of low temperatures, with even frosty nights. The
weather, however, recovered its summer character toward the close of
the month. The variant prospects have caused much speculation in
England as to the outcome of the growing crops, and considerable un-
certainty caused dealers, on the one hand, to refuse to advance prices,
while farmers seemed equally determined to hold on for better prices.
Advices from foreign crops, and especially the June report of the United
States Department*of Agriculture showing the promise of the growing
crop to be probably one-fifth short of an average, placed the game more
fully in the hands of the farmers, although the English crops were in
very favorable condition. Several local markets sent up wheat 1s. per
quarter before the London market gave the signal. A subsequent fur-
ther rise of 1s. per quarter has since been noted. A rising market is
noted in Belgium, Holland, and some provinces of Germany. The
drought in Russia and Hungary was expected to raise prices in those
large wheat-producing countries, hence commercial authorities in Mark
Lane had concluded not to rely upon the prevailing low rates. The dis-
asters in France added to this: tendency. The sales of English wheat
during the week following June 18 amounted to 42,253 quarters at 42s.
6d., against 29,925 quarters at 60s. 8d. during the corresponding week of
1874. The London averages were 44s. 10d. on 818 quarters. The im-
ports into the United Kingdom during the previous week were 733,607
cwt. In Mark Lane, Essex and Kent white were quoted at 43s. to 48s.
per quarter ; ditto, red, 41s. to 43s; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire,
41s. to 43s. Of foreign wheats, Dantzig mixed brought 49s. to 53s.;
Konigsberg, 45s. to 52s. ; Rostock, 44s, to 47s.; Silesian red, 42s. to 44s, ;
ditto, white, 45s. to 48s. ; Pomeranian, Mecklenburg, and Uckermark,
red, 43s. to 45s.; Ghirka, 41s. to 42s.; Russian, hard, 39s. to 423.; Sax-
ouska, 42s. to 44s.; Danish and Holstein, red, 40s. to 45s. ; American,
red, 40s. to 42s.; Chilian, white, 40s. to 45s.; California, 46s.; Austral-
ian, 47s. to 48s. In Liverpool, Canadian brought 9s. to 9s. 4d. per cen-
tal; Red club, 8s. 9d. to 9s.; American white winter, 9s. 3d. to 9s. 6d. ;
No. 1 spring, 8s. 7d. to 8s. 9d.; No. 2 spring, 8s. 2d. to 8s. 4d.; extra
Saidi, 7s. 9d. to 8s. ; California, 8s. 10d. to 9s. 5d. 3 Oregon, 9s. 5d. to 9s.
id.; Chilian, 8s. 10d. to 9s. ; Australian, 9s. 5d. to 9s. 8d. In Paris, with
plenty of offers, prices were unaltered at 40s. to 46s. per quarter. The
market closed firm on account of the rains.
FLouR.—The imports of flour into the United Kingdom during the
week ending June 19 amounted to 58,648 cwt. The week opened in
Mark Lane upon a moderate supply of English flour with small stocks of
foreign. The best English town households were quoted at 36s. to 40s.
per 230 pounds; best country households, 30s. to 32s.; Norfolk and Suf-
folk, 29s. to 30s.; American, per barrel, 21s. to 26s.
In Liverpool, English and Irish superfines brought 30s. 6d. to 32s. per
280 pounds; ditto, extra, 32s. 6d. to 34s.; French, 36s. to 42s. 6d. ;
Trieste, 48s. to 58s. ; Spanish, 34s. to 38s. ; Chilian, 30s. to 33s. 6d.; Cal-
ifornian, 348. to 36s. ; American, western and extra State, 20s. 6d. to 21s.
per barrel; Baltimore and Philadelphia, 20s. 6d. to 22s. 6d.; Ohio and
329
extra, 22s. to 26s.; Canadian, 20s. to 23s. In Paris, superior flour for
June was quoted at 33s. Sd. per quarter.
Marize.—In Mark Lane, white maize was quoted at 31s. to 32s. per
quarter; ditto, yellow, 30s. to 33s. In Liverpool, American white
brought 33s. 6d. to 33s. 9d. per 480 pounds; ditto, mixed, 31s. 9d. to
32s.; Galatz, 32s.; Trieste, 31s. 3d. to 31s. 6d. In Paris, maize had de-
clined to 35s. per quarter.
>)
ee
Viasat Caer et
penta
A
MONTHLY REPORT
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, 1875.
= WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1875.
CONTENTS,
Page
STATISTICS :
Digest. oficrop-returns (356 eo lone ge..o ao eee eae eshte ete ene 333
CORD is.0 Sesiaemtebe Beis toe aes espe Moe ales nd Sirona eee a! wintofe Se aaa eter 334
Wheat. eee ee ee ee ee cab bodes eee rr 340
Cotton 2 eel ele ese Meine ae hoo eehoe eieabee 220 cle kia er 344
Oats cee ei ee AO ie), Ne 2 oe cia ae ar - 348
RYO: cw larwielalo Selein Saja wioloeicie winialole Sela SEE rade wis ik om icia al slate ole aie rr 351
ATO ee: Sich Ae ee ee oe oo eee Siecae eeeidale sata airs 392
Buckwheat: - 225. 52. co Foca eae wee vets cmane oe ie 352
POtatOes ci. cctinwa cine cise pnccitedene eemeeeles sic tlncb als sae s er 353
Sweet potatoes..2 2. 26 seem ew coun ees cee ene ee = ne eee er 304
WOOL... sec ec ee ele eet ce theese = bese le eee re 396
MopACCO hss esse ecemcis cane Sis wei ooeee “loin. de chelsea pals oe er 356
SUGAT-CaNe.2 0 esl e eects Sh ggie sel bee deceit cs cee oe 398
Sorghum 22.0 cose ee eee 358
FYUIG ae Se eieise sence sce cediecel oa kedne seer ete 359
Beans so. cose losses soe Soci ble eelc Seles | eee on cee 362
FLOPS pc cele Lib yp arala\el oh winlnid site ine Sma io hy 2 Stem cuba ae ee 362
Hay and ‘pastures 2252 ...25. 2222. S22. cs tees Bee ee ee 363
Stock-hogs wo ceo cece kee oss aoe. eee ee aas Seeee ee 366
Insectinjuries. ..'. /).2.c Dae De. cab oS oo eee ee 367
Tabulated returns... -.2: [0.0.0 120.02c.c. 2 ee 371, 372, 373, 374
Extracts from correspondence........ is. .--.+----+ «-2eeeseeee eee 375
Notes on resources of Maryland ..2....222...-.5---- eee eee = aad
Facts from various sources.........--..---- Ee er oe 390
Market prices of farm-products-...-....2.023-----2 «--s6- See eee eee 403
Live-stock markets 2.2 122-0 sae ct etc cov cas eenceee ae Senta eee 408
Foreign: markets |. 0... oi... eeceran ce bag Uae le eeanca ai ele 409
MONTHLY REPORT.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
STATISTICAL DIVISION,
Washington, D. C., September 21, 1875.
Sir: I herewith submit for publication a digest of the crop-returns
for August and September, some notes on the resources of Maryland ;
and various minor statistics.
Respectfully,
J. R. DODGE,
Statistici ian.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Commissioner.
THE ANNUAL REPORTS.—The statistical correspondents of the Depart-
ment have endured patiently the delay of Congress to provide their
quota of Reports of Agriculture for 1872 and 1873. <Aftera year’s delay
an appropriation for the publication of editions of those volumes for the
use of the Department was made, and one of each was sent to county
correspondents and their assistants, and two copies extra have recently
been sent to each county. Many correspondents, knowing that the
report of 1874 was made to Congress last January, and properly expect-.
ing its receipt in printed form, have deemed the sending of duplicates
of 1873 a mistake. The annual for last year is indeed printed, the
Senate having ordered an edition of 1,200 for its own use, the largest
number obtainable without a joint resolution, but no provision has as
yet been made by Congress for any distribution whatever. The Depart-
ment should be promptly supplied with an edition for its official dis-
tribution and exchanges, especially to its faithful and gratuitously
working correspondents. As to a general distribution, the English plan
of sale: at cost should be adopted, but not unless the rule is made to
apply to all documents.
DIGEST OF RETURNS.
The returns of September, and indeed those of August as well, have
been full of the records of somewhat remarkable meteorological phe-
nomena. The frequency, severity, and general distribution through a
wide area of storms of rain and hail are noted throughout our correspond-
ence of the past two months. In July the Gulf States had more
occasion to fear a continued drought than excessive moisture; and dry
weather was at the same time the rule in latitudes above the northern
304
line of Indiana and Illinois, and in portions of the area east of the great.
lakes and north of Pennsylvania. The interior areas, from the Alle-
ghanies to the. Rocky Mountains, were unusually wet, in clay soils and —
on} bottom-lands to an extent injurious to most crops. Damages by
floods were numerous and heavy. In August this region endured a
continuation of these experiences, with local differences in degree and
frequency. Storms and floods were common in the belts hitherto
comparatively exempt. Rains became so general that the ‘ desert”
plains of Colorado became green with rank grasses, and railroad pas-
sengers were detained-by floods and *“ wash-outs.” Even the dry basin
of the Salt Lake was blessed with numerous showers, and the alkali
plains of the Humboldt Valley were moistened with gentle rains.
While damage was done by storm and flood in a large area, throughout
both June and July, the sandy loams and naturally drained soils in the
same great area gave astonishing growth in corn, grass, and other yal-
uable crops, which more than compensated for damages by overflow in
districts where such soils predominate. The general result is a vigor
and rankness of growth almost?unexampled, which will require a long
and warm ripening season properly to mature, and in the event of an
early frost will give to feeders an immense quantity of damaged corn,
and unusual immaturity of alljlate agricultural products. In the case
of ‘the small grains, the injury from,heating and sprouting has been so
wide-spread, the dry districts being generally those in which grain-
growing is not prominent, that it will be necessary to observe extreme
care in saving sound and well-developed samples for seed.
In the districts where rains were not abundant, the opposite extreme
was complained of to some extent in July. Drought was reported in
portions of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota; to some extent in
localities on the Atlantic slope ngrth of 40°; and in Georgia, Alabama,
and Florida almost every return reported injurious effects of extremely
dry and hot weather. Drought was very general in Texas; and in
Louisiana and Mississippi some districts suffered from drought, while
others had seasonable rains and a few excessive moisture.
The unusual moisture in western districts, where insects have here-
tofore caused serious and almost overwhelming losses, has* proved a
powerful check to these pests of the field. Grasshoppers were destruc-
tive in a few counties on the borders of Kansas and Missouri; early in
the season in three or four counties in the southwest corner of Nebraska,
and later in a few interior counties where scattered forces had gathered
for their work of ruin; and in a few counties of Southern Minnesota. The
army worm has been heard from in Ohio, and chinches are reported in
the drier districts of the West, but the feebleness of their attacks
will insure a large reduction of their usual amount of foraging. The
Colorado beetle has had a wide range, causing losses comparatively
trifling except in his more eastern fields of operation, where his attacks:
met with a feeble resistance.
CORN.
The corn-crop of the present season covers an immense area, and its
growth is very heavy. Could it be thoroughly ripened its aggregate
would exceed any previous crop, and the yield per acre would be one
of the best, notwithstanding the losses by overflow of bottoms and sat-
uration of flat heavy soils, such losses proving less than the usual
damages by drought and insects, while the rains have greatly benefited
the crop on drier and higher soils. Nearly everywhere corn is late in
399
maturing, from one to two weeks, rendering more vital the necessity of
a warm September, free from frosts to its close, to insure immunity from
the partial destruction of the crop. Frosts have occurred in Wisconsin
and Minnesota, and in Northern Illinois and Iowa, on the 21st and 22d
of August, and again on the 28th and 29th, but the damage is slight
except in a few counties of the States first named.
The August returns made no change in the general average condition
for the whole country, which was 96 in July and August, though there
were local changes. In the rainy belts the benefits to the poorer up-
lands were more than counterbalanced by the injuries from submersion
of the bottom-lands.
The improvement in the last month has been from the general average
of 96 to 97. The only States that do not show higher averages than in
August are Delaware, Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee,
Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oregon. Some of
these have the same average as last month; the only States showing
marked decline are Wisconsin and Minnesota. The condition for the
several States is as follows: Maine, 105; New Hampshire, 100; Ver-
mont,98; Massachusetts, 100; Connecticut, 108; New York, 99; New
Jersey, 111; Pennsylvania, 108; Delaware, 100; Maryland, 106; Vir-
ginia, 112; North Carolina, 10£; South Carolina, 87; Georgia, 90;
Florida, 83; Alabama, 105; Mississippi, 116; Louisiana, 85 ; Texas, 89;
Arkansas, 103; Tennessee, 114; West Virginia, 107; Kentucky, 103;
Ohio, 97; Michigan, 101; Indiana, 83; Illinois, 95; Wisconsin, 60:
Minnesota, 72; lowa, 92; Missouri, 111; Kansas, 109; Nebraska, 93;
California, 95; Oregon, 100.
The following items are selected from notes of correspondents accom-
panying the tabular returns to illustrate local peculiarities:
Maryu.—Penobscot: Backward, but looks well. Piscataquis: Exceeds our expecta-
tions. Oxford: Growing finely. Sagadahoc: Swall and backward, owing to the cold
season, but now coming forward. /JWaldo: Large growth, looking first-rate. York:
Has been improving all through August. Androscoggin: Backward, but looking well.
New HampsHire.—Carroll: Backward, but large and stocky. Sullivan : Two weeks
late, but large growth. Rockingham: Promising well. Belknap: Late, but doing re-
markably well. 5
VERMONT.—Orleans: A good growth. Franklin: Fair growth, but late. Rutland:
Late, but promising. Washington: Fine stand and growth, but late. Windsor: Late
but large growth. Caledonia: Late, but filling well.
MASSACHUSETTS.— Worcester: Backward. Berkshire: Nearly amonth behind. Dukes:
The grub has injured corn 25 per cent. Plymouth: Has made rapid progress in Aucust.
ConNECTICUT.—New London: The growth unusually large. xi
New Yor«.—Seneca: Promises a large yield. Warren: Improved rapidly in August
Tioga: Looks well. Queens: Promises a good yield. Madison: Has made a rapid
' growth the past month. Schoharie: Great growth in stalks owing to a very wet Aucust
Steuben: Has filled well. Genesee: Late, but a good growth ; doing finely. Washington :
Backward, but doing well. Rensselaer: Better than for several years. Broome : Prom-
ises an abundant yield; two weeks late. Wyoming: Coming on well. Columbia: Very
large growth, and excellent weather for ripening. MWrie: Late, but promising. Orange :
Prospect of a good yield. Sullivan: Doing well, but ten days late.
New Jersey.—Ailantic: The ears large and full. Mercer: Very promising. Sussex :
Bids fair to yield an extraordinary crop. Burlington: Seldom such a promising crop.
Warren: All appearances of a good yield. -
PENNSYLVANIA.—Hrie: Very late. Lycoming: Good. Greene: A dry August, hardon
late corn. Northampton: Promise of the heaviest crop for years. Westmoreland : Prom-
ises to be very heavy. Armstrong: Thriving and abundant. Clearfield: Promises a
fine crop. Montgomery: Never looked better. York: Never looked better. Beaver:
Not earing well owing to wet weather. Bucks: Promise of a fine crop. Fayette: In-
jured by storms and heavy rains in August. Crawford: Backward, but of stron g growth
and improving very fast. Indiana: Prospect of a very large crop. Tioga: Ten days
late. Washington : Growing very fast, and promise of a good crop. Columbia: Favor-
able weather for ripening.
DELAWARE.—Sussex: Indications of an unusual yield.
006
MaryYLanp.— Caroline : Looks well. Prince George: The promise, August 1, of a full
crop has been injured by constant rains. Dorchester; Many a year since such a crop
was harvested as will be this year. JVorcester: Injured by recent heavy rains. Balti-
more: Prospect for a heavy yield. Washington: The largest crop for years. Cecil:
Never appeared better. Harford: The finest show for years. Wicomico: Excellent.
Virernis.— Highland : Better than for years. Lancaster: The best crop in ten years.
Montgomery: Most bountiful crop. Richmond: Very rank growth. Culpeper : Best crop
for many years. ing and Queen: 'Too much rainfor corn. Rockbridge: Safe fora good
crop. Fluvanna: A good crop. Buchanan: A good deal “fired ;” probably caused
by working when too wet. Smith: The largest growth for years, with indications
that it will mature finely. Powhatan: Prospect of the largest cropever grown. Page:
Never better. Sussex: Better than for the last seven or eight years. Middlesex : Consid-
erably damaged by incessant rains, but promises above average. Rappahannock : Prospect
flattering. New Kent: Prospect of avery heavy crop. Spottsylvania: Promise of the largest
crop ever raised. Chesterfield: Surpasses our most sanguine expectations; think there
will be as much made asin the past five years altogether. Floyd: Very late. King
George: Was very promising, but prospect of injury by continued rains. Madison: Very
fine, but too much rain forlow lands. Prince William: Some pieces damaged by water
standing on the ground. Amelia; Very fine. Bland: Prevented from earing as well
as usual by the continued wet, but a much larger than usual growth of fodder. James
City: Materially benefited by the late rains. Aatthews: The excessive rains have
brought the condition far below average. Pulaski: Fine, but late. Wythe: Looks
well. Charlotte: Never better. Elizabeth City: Has improved since the last report.
Halifax: Fine on high lands; too much rain on low. Lunenburgh: Promises the best
yield for years. Northampton: Injured with rot, owing to continual rains in August.
Bedford : Splendid. Clarke: Prospect of a heavy crop. Mecklenburgh: Never better.
Orange: A gigantic crop. Princess Anne: A larger crop and better prospect than for
ten years. Essex: Never better.
Nortu Carorina.—Mecklenburgh: Better than for several years. Moore: Damaged
to some extent along the creeks by overflow. Clarendon: Not halfacrop; drought. Per-
son: Very fine on uplands; on low grounds damaged by excessiverains, Caswell: Half
destroyed on bottom-lands by rains. Lenoir: Very fine. Wayne: Excellent crop.
Davidson: Too wet for corn. Pasquotank: The best since the war till injured by recent
rains. Surry: More promising than usual, but overshooting owing to continual rains.
Franklin: Promises unusually well. Beaufort: Magnificent. Chowan: Better than
for ten years. Tyrrel: Good. Wake: Early injured by intense heat in July; all
crops injured by excessive rain in August. Wilson: Cut off 10 per cent. by excessive
rain; all on the land subject to overflow destroyed. Anson: Fair on upland, but very
poor on bottoms owing to excessive wet. Haywood: Favorable season. <Alamanee:
The finest in twenty years. Gaston: Upland crops promise all the land can pro-
duce; on low grounds, the loss from rains and flood is about 74 per cent. Greene:
Very good though injured by drought 10 per cent. Onslow: About one-third of the
crop badly injured by drought. Montgomery: The best for many years. Caldwell: Too
hy ee corn. Polk: Injured on bottoms by too much rain; better than usual on
uplands.
t Siren CaroLina.—Beaufort: The drought in July proved destructive to the crop.
Fairfield: Very fine on upland. Horry: Badly injured by excessive drought in July.
Marlborough: The crop is secure; the fodder better than usual. Newberry: Early plant-
ing very light, owing to drought; late planting, three-fourths of a crop. Lexington :
Hardly possibleto bring the crop up to average. Georgetown : The rain too late for corn.
GrorGIA.—Jefferson: Suffered seriously from drought, but rains came in time to bene-
fitthe late planted. Lincoln: The larger acreage will compensate for the low condition.
Randolph: Drought cut off the crop 25 per cent. Terrell: The rains too late to benefit the
crop. Pierce: Cutoff by drought, Dooly: Badly damaged by drought in July. Mitch-
ell: Greatly damaged by drought. Grenada: Early cut off one-half by drought; late ben-
efited by rains. Worth: Cutoff one-half. Columbia: Rains too late for corn: Telfair:
Ruined by drought. Harris: Very much cut off by drought. Troup: Ruined by the
drought. Bartow: Greatly benefited by recent rains. Catoosa: Better than ever
seen before. Muscogee: The rains too late for corn. Liberty: Seriously injured by the
protracted drought. Walton: Injured by drought. Forsyth: Injured on uplands by
drought. Towns: Better than ever known. Gwinnett: Cut short by hot, dry weather.
Bullock: The rains too late. Carroll: The early-planted made before the drought; the
late a failure. Elbert: Good. Appling: The exceeding hot, dry sammer caused corn
to fall short of maturing. Lawrens: Quite short, owing to drought. Brooks: Cut off
25 per cent. by drought. Twiggs : Will yield better than was anticipated.
FLorrpa.—Madison : Has fallen off 25 to 33 per cent. Volusia: Injured by drought
when filling. Jackson: Is made, and must be scarce for consumption. Columbia:
Injured by drought, which continued to the middle of August. Suwannee: Injured very
much in spring by drill-worms.
ALABAMA.—Dale: Early, half crop; late, total failure. Crenshaw: Stout, except on
337
swamp-lands. Saint Clair: Will probably be cheaper this fall than since that of 1870.
Lauderdale: Never better. Covington: Drought cut short all late corn. Pike: Late
corn entirely cut off by drought. Shelby: All late corn an entire failure from drought.
Butler : Corn considerably injured by the drought. Calhoun: About as good as the land
can bring. De Kalb: Extra crop, now made. Lawrence: Looks well and promising.
Autauga: Seriously injured by the drought. Colbert: Never surpassed. Conecuh :
An average crop already made, and some late corn doing remarkably well. Limestone :
Better than for many years. Perry: Below expectation. Randolph: Cannot make
more than four-fifths of a crop. Bullock: Seriously injured by drought, but yet
110. Clarke: On uplands cut off to a greater extent than I ever before knew by the
long-continued drought. Marion: Matured and very good. Marshall: The most
abundant yield since the war.
Mississieri.—Pike: Very fine ten days ago, but much has been overflowed and is
greatly injured. Neshoba: Better than for years. Smith: The best in ten years; it is
believed enough is made to supply the county. Wayne: The best crop since 1855.
La Fayette : The best crop known in the county. Lee: The crop is made, and the yield
almost incredible. Wilkinson: Considerably damaged by extraordinary rains. Tish-
emingo : Not as heavy as the stalks indicate; too much sap and husk; but twice as
much grown as last year, and the weather very favorable. Panola: Was never finer.
Rankin: An ample supply for one year. Bolivar: Never better since the war. Jeffer-
son: Better than for years. ;
LourstaNa.—Caldwell : Injured by unprecedented rains and severe winds. Lincoln:
The largest ever made ip the county. Rapides: The best for years. Hast Feliciana :
Damaged by the heavy rains of last week 5 to 10 per cent. Franklin: Seriously dam-
aged by high winds in August. Madison : Nearly all matured in good condition; late
planting very fine. Morehouse: Shortened very much by drought. Saint Mary’s: The
best crop since the war. Cameron: Damaged at least 20 per cent. by too much rain.
Concordia : Considerably damaged by high winds, with rain. Jackson: Cut short by
drought in July, and a great deal of fodder lost by the rains in August.
Texas.—De Witt: Somewhat injured by drought. . Washington: Somewhat injured
by drought. Dallas: Will range from 30 to 60 bushels per acre. Upshur: About half
crop; damaged by drought. Palo Pinto: Better than for five years. Milam: Cut
short 50 per cent. by the nine weeks’ drought; will average about 20 bushels per acre.
Kaufman: Harvested, and light. Buract: Reduced by drought: Harrison: Cut off
by drought, except early corn on deeply-plowed land. Bexar: ‘The crop mostly gath-
ered; the average will be 20 bushels per acre. Caldwell: Average yield about 15
bushels. Grayson: Will yield from 30 to 50 bushels per acre. Lampasas: Late rains
will improve the late plantings. Lavaca: Better than anticipated. Medina: Largely
injured by the drought. Somervell: Product surpasses that of last year 10 per
cent. Vivioria: Much of the late planted failed to fill, owing to the long drought.
Red River: Good, but much blown down. Matagorda: Cut short 50 per cent. by
drought. Tyler: Cut off in some parts by drought; in others far above average.
Jasper : Materially injured by drought.
ARKANSAS.—Garland : Did well; more made than for the last ten years. Baxter:
Good. Bradley: condition advanced by copious and well-timed showers. Independ-
ence: Maturing rapidly. Stone: Better than for many years. Arkansas: Good. Jef-
ferson: Injured by drought in some localities. Marion: Never saw such a crop for
thirty-eight years; more raised than in the last three years together, and I ought to
have put it at 300 instead of 150. Y ell: Will come out all right. Crawford: Bene-
fited by the rains almost beyond measure. Saint Francis ; Will double the last year’s
crop; the best ever raised. Washington: Improved by the wet weather. Montgomery :
Affected by the dry weather, but much better than last year. Newton: Never better ;
more raised in the county than ever before. Fulton: Increased acreage, and the best
crop for twenty years.
TENNESSER.—Anderson: Badly damaged by rains. Bedford: Prospect never finer.
Bledsoe: Would have been extraordinary but for so much rain; will be average. Rob-
ertson: Early corn, well worked, very fine; but a large portion of the corn not suffi-
ciently worked, owing to excessive rains. Grundy: Promise of an excellent crop.
Gibson: Abundant. Giles: Prospect never better. Blount: Very fine. Fayette:
Slightly damaged by a drought of twenty days, but 140, and beyond a peradventure
very fine. Obion: Could not be much better. Hancock: Injured on bottoms and bene-
fited on uplands by continual wet. James : Cut a little short by drought in August.
Dickson: Extra heavy crop. Sequatchie: ‘Too wet for late corn. Wilson: Good. Ma-
con: Needs rain.
West Vircinis.—Tucker: So much wet weather that corn is not earing; will not
be more than half a crop. Pleasants: Injured on small streams and creeks. Grant:
Promise of an abundant crop. Mineral: Very heavy crop, put backward. Gilmer:
Destroyed on bottom-lands by wet weather. Braxton: Very promising. Boone: Dam-
aged by the rains. Jefferson: Prospect of the largest crop since the war. Mercer: Not
well cultivated, owing to wet weather. Putnam: The condition now better than aver-
338
age, but, allowing for the amount lost by high water, the crop may be below average
Mason: Very greatly damaged by the floods; never more promising on the uplands.
Pendleton: Promise of an abundant yield. Wetzel: Favorable weather for maturing.
Cabell: Looking very fine. Swmmers: Cut short by heavy rains, which fell almost in-
eessantly for two months. Harrison: Very promising. Wayne: Much injured on low
Jand by high water, but the crop left is the largest ever grown.
KENTUCKY.—4dair: Looks unusually well, but overshooting. Ileming: Very prom-
ising. Cumberland: Has filled well and will yield largely. Owsley: Will not average
half a crop. Daviess: On the river, where submerged, a total failure. Callaway:
Excellent. Shelby: Above an average. Laurel: Good on high land, but very light on
low, wet land. Grayson: Has come out wonderfully. Jackson: Cut short 10 per cent.
by dry weather. Clinton: Fine. Spencer: Tendayslate. Breckinridge: Suffering for
want of rain. Gallatin: Immense losses by rains and floods will reduce the crop 25
per cent. Metcalf: Will not be a full crop, owing to too much rain. Monroe: Very
good. Mussell: Has been badly damaged by rains, floods, and winds, and now is being
injured by dry, hot weather.
On10—Logan: The long-continued rains have been favorable to the crop. Miami:
The largest by far ever grown. Adams: Very promising, but needing rain. Henry:
Backward, and badly down from wind and rains. Jtoss: Injured by wet weather till
the 15th of August, and since then by drought. Monroe: Extra. Coshoclon: More
backward than last year, but promises a better crop. Delaware: An immenee yield.
Hancock: Backward, owing to the cool weather. Holmes: The present weather very
favorable for corn. Jackson: Promises a large yield. Medina: Two weeks behind.
Van Wert: With favorable fall will make half crop. fairfield: Ripening finely.
Marion: A splendid crop. Morgan: Large quantities flooded and destroyed in July.
Union: Will need the most of September to ripenin. Gallia: A few thousand acres
totally destroyed by water, yet that on the uplands is so extra that the average is
maintained. Pike: Heavy rains, followed by dry weather, will damage the crop at
least 10 per cent. Scioto: The Scioto swept all its bottom-lands, destroying all the
corn. Athens: On the hills, good; in the valleys, mostly destroyed by floods.
Micuigan—Kalamazoo: Heavy growth. Calhoun: Has a most vigorous growth, but
isretarded inripening. Grand Traverse: Coolfor corn. Allegan: Late, but looks first-
rate, Jackson: The weather all that could be desired for corn; a large growth, but
ten days late. Lapeer: Never looked better. Manistee: Promised better than ever
before until damaged, in low places, by a frost, August 21 and 22. Mecosta: A warm
September will make more than an average yield. Jonia: Late, but now maturing
rapidly. Shiawassee: Suffering from drought. Jason: Badly cut by frost, August
21 and 22; willnot be half crop. Saginaw: Late, but hurrying along the last ten days.
Tuscola: Good, but much very late. Wayne: Was never better. Barry: Hurt in some
places by frost, and now beginning to dry up. Oltawa: Two weeks late; 10 per cent.
destroyed by frost, August 15. Van Buren: Never a larger growth; backward, but
the weather now fine. Jashtenaw: Weather favorable. ranch: Late. Leelenaw:
Looks well, but very backward.
InpDIANA.— Elkhart: Rather backward. Franklin: Stands thick on the ground and
very tall, but is not earing well. Madison: The great floods of August ruined a great
amount of corn, and the crop will be light. De Kalb: Backward. Floyd: Good.
Dearborn: Could have reported a great increase in the crop had it not been for the
floods, by which thousands of acres were overflowed and ruined. Howard: Poorly cul-
tivated, and very backward. Ripley: Will be good. Orange: The outlook good.
Hendricks: Not doing well, on account of dry weather. Grant: Hardly half a erop.
Gibson: On upland a fair crop; drowned out on bottom-land. Clarke: Excellent.
Union: Damaged 25 per cent. by the rains and storms in July. Warren: Prospect
never better. Washington: On the bottom-lands all lost by the floods; on upland,
over an average. Whitley: Fine weather for corn. Brown: Severely damaged on the
overflowed bottoms. Clay: Several thousand acres swept off or ruined by the over-
flow. Dubois: On low bottoms all lost; on high ground above anaverage. Hamilton:
Will be a short crop. Tippecanoe: Large quantities on the bottom-lands, which pro-
duce the best corn, destroyed by the unprecedented floods.
ILLINOIS.—Alexander: Some drowned out on the bottoms. Stephenson: Frosts on
the nights of August 20 and 21 injured a large percentage. Pike: Late, but looks well.
on uplands; on bottoms, poor. Schuyler: Late on account of replanting; excessive
growth of stalk. Madison: Ten days backward. Henry: Immense in growth and
heavy with ears. De Kalb: Promise of the iargest crop for many years. Crawford:
The greatest damage to corn from excessive rains ever known. Ford: A heavy crop.
Lee: Very late. McHenry: Promises an enormous yield. Pope: Not well cultivated,
and drowned out on low grounds. Winnebago: Killed by frosts in all the valleys on
the nights of the 28th and 29th. Clark: Unusually large crop, but diminished one-twen-
tieth by the amount destroyed on the streams. Hancock: Promises a larger yield than
in any former year. Pratt: Very good except where drowned out. Carroll: Injured
by frost in low lands. Mason: Looks well. Moultrie: Improved wonderfully in the
339
ast three weeks. Jersey: The largest crop for many years; a great deal stands from
15 to 18 feet high. Marshall: Enormous. Peoria: Prospect that it will be fully ma-
tured and very heavy. Putnam: Never better. Vermilion: Promises well, but two
weeks late. Edwards: The high grounds, where we usually expect but little corn, pro-
duce well, but our best corn-lands are about nothing. Zfingham: A failure on all low,
undrained lands. Fayette: Good on high land; ruined with high waters on bottoms
and low prairies. Julton: The hot, dry weather of the last week has nearly put the
crop out of danger. Jroquois: Has improved wonderfully the last ten days. Macon:
A fair crop, and will be out of danger by September 18. Massac: Fine on upland, but
on bottoms not more than halt a crop. Mercer: Fine weather, making a good crop
almost sure. Ogle: Injured on low grounds by frosts on August 22 and 23, ichland:
Very good on high land, but in many other places worth nothing. Scott: Curing
fast. Shelby: Promisesa heavy crop on uplands, but on extensive bottoms, submerged,
all dead; over one hundred families have lost all their corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes.
Warren: Late, causing solicitude lest it be overtaken by frost. White: Many thousands
of acres have been lost by the overflow, and many more by the continuedrains. McLean:
Late, but will be 25 per cent. above average if not damaged by frost.
WIsconsIn.— Washington: One-half killed by frosts on the nights of August 21, 22,
and 23. Jefferson: Greatly damaged by frost. Ozaukee: Injured in some places by
frost. Juneau: A severe frost on the 28th of August did immense damage to corn;
one-fourth destroyed. Columbia: Light and late. Haw Claire: Greatly damaged by
frost, August 22. Richland: Badly damaged by frost in places, Sauk: Badly damaged
by frostin many places. Waukesha: Damaged by frost. Walworth: Two-thirds destroyed
by chinches and frost. Brown: Damaged in many places by frost. Chippewa: Injured
very badly by the severe frost of August 22. Dodge: Very backward, and many pieces
spoiled by frost on the 2istand 22d. Milwaukee: Severely injured by frost on low, damp
ground. Vernon: The favorable prospect lessened by frost. Waupaca: Destroyed on
low ground by frost. Jowa: Killed on low grounds by frost. St. Croix: Late. Adams:
Late and badly injured by frost; probably one-half will not ripen. /Calumet: Good,
but fourteen days late. Outagamie: Injured by the heavy frost on all low ground. Craw-
ford: On the high lands, three-fourths of a crop; in the narrow, low valleys, killed by
frost.
Mrinnesota.—Mower: Killed by frost on the 22d in some parts of the county. Steele:
Late. McLeod: Backward. Waseca: Very late, but stands fair. Wright: Very back-
ward, and some pieces killed by frost. Goodhue: Looks well, but is late. Olmsted:
Badly damaged by frost on the nights of the 21st and 22d. Pope: Notas good as usual ;
cold and wet August. Rock: Growing finely, but will require, to mature, a September
without frost. Stearns : August too cool for corn. Carver: Badly prostrated by storms.
Cottonwood : Two weeks late, but promising if not killed by frost. Martin: Very heavy-
eared. Winona: Later than usual, but doing finely.
Iowa.—Van Buren: Damaged by the enormous growth of weeds, and flat ground
badly drowned out. Johnson : Does not promise so well as a month ago, owing to dry
weather at a critical time. Jones: Backward. Bremer: The weather through the
greater part of August too cool. Appanoose: Will not exceed ten bushels per acre.
Nearly all the bottoms were washed out and utterly ruined. Franklin: Looks well,
but two weeks late. Hardin: Is recovering from damage byrainsin June. Harrison:
Too wet for corn. Polk: Yield will be 10 per cent. heavier than last year. Shelby:
Late fifteen days. Woodbury: Promises well. Benton: Ten days late. Buena Vista:
A good growth, well eared, but two weeks late. Cass: Prospects unsurpassed. Clin-
ton: Late, but the weather all that could be desired. Decatur: Very weedy. Ire-
mont: That left by the grasshoppers of the first planting as good as the county ever
had. Howard: On bottom-lands, killed by the frosts of August 22 and 23; on high
lands, very backward. Muscatine: The prospect most glorious. Cerro Gordo: Late
ten or fifteen days. Chickasaw: Extra good, but late. “Madison: Late twenty days,
but will be a good crop if frost holds off a few days.
Missourt.—Macon: The finest I ever saw in Missouri. Shelby: Very fine. Cass: Above
average. Nodaway: Grasshoppers destroyed half the crop in June, and August was
too dry for the replanted. Polk: Badly damaged on bottoms by overflowing. Cald-
well: Aprodigious crop. Moniteau: Promises to be enormous. Butler: Very promis-
ing. Boone: The yield will be at least 50 per cent. above an average. Christian:
Better than for years. Harrison: Never better. Phelps: Has improved. Platte:
Promising a fine yield. Vernon; Probably a full crop. Wayne: Best prospect for
years. Adair: Ten per cent. better than last year. Laclede: On the rivers not over
half a crop, owing to damage by floods, but the uplands make the whole average 100.
Maries: Very good on uplands, but hundreds of acres destroyed on rich bottoms by
wet. Perry: Very good. Saint Francis: Very fine. Malls: Good crop. Pettis:
Promises an abundant yield. Newton: Unusually heavy. Clay: Planted the second
and third times, and promising. De Kalb: Replanted after June 20; will make feed
and some good corn.
Kansas.—Doniphan: The first crop destroyed by grasshoppers; if it were a montk
340
A
earlier, the condition would be above average. Franklin: Late corn looks fine, but if
we do not have rain within a week it will only be good fodder. Dickinson: Splendid.
Graham: Splendid; some pieces average 50 bushels per acre. Labette: Such a crop
was never realized before. Jackson: The most prosperous crop ever seen growing in
Kansas. Douglas: Promise of one of the heaviest crops ever harvested. Cherokee:
The prospect never so good before. Allen: The heaviest ever raised. Butler: By far
the largest ever raised ; some fields will yield 100 bushels per acre. Zllis: Has never
been heavier. Leavenworth: Unprecedented in growth. Zyon: Hardly could be bet-
ter. Sedgwick: Heavy. Clay: Never better. Neosho: Coming out remarkably. Ne-
maha: Never better. Linn: Many farmers count on 75 to 100 bushels to the acre—an
overestimate, I think. Jackson: The most promising I have ever seen growing in
Kansas. Cloud: Splendid. Jefferson: The best for many years. Johnson: Never saw
better, but it is late and in danger of frost. Wyandotte: Looking well, but late. Itice:
Good; will average about 40 bushels per acre. Osage: Enormous crop. ‘Anderson: A
heavy crop. Washington: Large acreage and immense yield. Cowley: Never better.
Atchison: The portion not damaged by the grasshoppers is as fine as ever seen.
Nepraska.—Dizon: A splendid crop. Hall: Crop will be good if frosts hold off.
Webster: The best prospect we have ever had. Boone: Very large growth, but some
injury by grasshoppers. Clay: Never promised so well. Anox: Promise of a large
crop. Madison: Has grown luxuriantly, and not badly injured by grasshoppers. Ante-
lope: Late but good, except that one-eighth of the county was injured by grasshop-
pers. Merrick: Unprecedented crop.
WHEAT.
Excepting in the New England States and in those of the Gulf region
and the Pacific coast, the damage to the crop, between the periods of
ripening and thrashing, by frequent and heavy storms, has been very
general. Within the wet area, the continuous rains visited in July the
portions in which wheat ripens early, and in August the latitudes where
itis harvested later, so that over the whole region the crop was very
generally caught either in harvest or in the stack. In Michigan, Wis-
consin, and Minnesota, (in which the yield was extraordinary,) and in
the Middle States, the rainy season was in progress at the time of re-
porting, and therefore the extent of the damage was yet undetermined.
A considerable portion of the crop in Maryland, and a larger portion in
the Gulf States, were secured in good condition before the rainy reason
came on. Thedamage from wet in Kansas and Nebraska, though exten-
sive, appears to have been less than in the valleys of the Mississippi
and Ohio.
In Iowa, injury from blight or rust, reducing both quantity and quality,
was very general. Most of the States report local injuries to condition
from the same cause. Local injuries by the weevil are noted in Maine.
and Indiana; by chinches, in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Missouri; and by
grasshoppers, in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and throughout the grass-
hopper region of the Northwest. In California the crop, though reduced
in yield and in some localities affected in quality by rust, was generally
harvested in superior condition; while in Oregon an extraordinary yield
appears to have been secured without serious damage.
The condition of wheat, when harvested, for all the States averages
79. The State averages are as follows: Maine, 96; New Hampshire,
101; Vermont, 98; Massachusetts, 100; Connecticut, 100; New York,
65; New Jersey, 90; Pennsylvania, 85; Delaware, 92; Maryland, 92;
Virginia, 86; North Carolina, 97; South Carolina, 97; Georgia, 98;
Alabama, 105; Mississippi, 139; Louisiana, 85; Texas, 122; Arkansas,
113; Tennessee, 98; West Virginia, 74 ; Kentucky, 80; Ohio, 61; Mich-
igan, 88; Indiana, 61; Illinois, 73 ; Wisconsin, 98 ; Minnesota, 101; Lowa,
77; Missouri, 67 ; Kansas, 83; Nebraska, 80; California, 70; Oregon, 106.
The quality of the present crop is poorer than for several years. That
of the Pacific coast is fine, notwithstanding the decreased yield; that.
o41
of the South is of excellent quality, except in Virginia and Tennessee ;
but no surplus of southern wheat can be obtained except in the wheat-
district of Texas. In the West the winter- wheat escaped damage from
rain toa greater extent than spring-grain. Much of both kinds was
harvested in good condition, the rains in the spring-wheat region com-
ing later than farther South, but a large proportion of both was injured
in the shock by heavy and repeated storms, to such an extent as to
eause panic among farmers, while millers were often at their wits’ end
to know where to obtain grain fit to grind for flour. Recent reports
are more favorable, and it is to be hoped that the prevailing estimate
of depreciated quality may prove somewhat exaggerated.
_ A few counties in Arkansas are greatly extending wheat-culture, in
one of which, Woodruff, 10,000 bushels of No. 1 are reported grown on
500 acres. In Texas, 20 to 25 bushels per acre are frequently reported,
and a crop of Touzelle sent out by the Department produced 30 bushels
per acre.
The following local wheat-items are appended :
MAINnE.— Piscataquis : Much injured by rust and the weevil. Oxford: Best crop for
years. Waldo: Injured by mildew and the midge.
VERMONT.—Caledonia : A good growth, but rusty and smutty. Grand Isle: Injured
in harvest by wet and heat. ¢
New YorkK.—Seneca: Winter, an unprecedented failure; spring, a good crop, but
small in acreage. Queens: About half a crop, of good quality. Steuben: Reduced by
drought. Genesee: Nearly a failure. Richmond: Much damaged in-harvesting by wet
weather. Hrie: Very poor; some caughtinthe rains. Orange: Little more than half
an average yield, but of excellent quality.
New Jersey.—Sussex: Not half a crop. Warren: Only two-thirds of a crop; grain
ood.
e PENNSYLVANIA.— Northampton: Turns ont in thrashing better than expected. Brad-
ford: A poor crop harvested; in faircondition. Armstrong: Slightly damaged by wet
harvest. Bedford: Damaged after cutting by excessive rain. Cambria: Much grew
in the shock. York: About half a crop. Beaver: Grew in the shock; some stacks
appear green. Bucks: Product less thau was supposed, and quality very inferior. Fay-
ette: Damaged in the shock. McKean: Green and spoiled all over the county. Indi- ~
ana: Housed in a wet condition and badly spoiled. Zioga: Some injured by the wet.
Washington : Much injured in the shock by wet.
MARYLAND.—Howard: Inferior yield. Caroline: Turned out well. Dorchester: An
extra crop of fine, plump wheat. Baltimore: Of good quality, secured in good condi--
tion. Saint Mary’s: Greatly damaged by late heavy rains. Calvert: Harvested in
good condition, but much since damaged by the almost constant rains. Cecil: Yield
= fepnt of average, but the grain good. Harford: Complaint of grain sprouted in
the stack.
VIRGINIA.— Powhatan: Unusually good in quantity and quality. Caroline: Mostly
left in the shock through the rains; the little thrashed out, in bad order. Page: Se--
cured in good condition before the rains. Middlesex: Greatly damaged since harvest
by wet. Rappahannock: Fears that it will be much injured in the stack. Spottsyl-
vania: Fully 20 per cent. above average; nearly all secured. Chesterfield : Condition
good when harvested, but much injured since by wet weather. Floyd: Damaged by
continued rains. King George: Better than last year when harvested, but very
heavy damage in the shock by rains. Louisa: Greatly injured in the shock by rains.
Madison: Harvested in good condition; many crops very fine. Cumberland: Greatly
injured by rust. Pulaski: Badly damaged by incessant rains. Wythe: One-half too
much injured by sprouting to make flour. Glowcester: Much injured in the field by con-
tinual rain, Bedford: Very much damaged by rains. Craig: Damp and molded by
wet. Orange: Seriously damaged by the long rains in quantity and quality. Charles:
Materially injured: much still in the shock. Hssex: Injured in the shock by rains :
Fairfax: Generally yielded well; the best fields,20 bushels per acre. Henrico; Much
injured in the shock. Highland: Good in quality, but small yield; say 65. Lancaster:
Harvested in good condition, but shocks that were left in the field injured byrain. Mont-
gomery: Badly damaged by rain in the shock. MLichmond: Much has been injured by wet.
Culpeper: Badly damaged in the shock. King and Queen: Much lost in shock and stack.
Fluvanna: Much sprouted in the shock. Buchanan: Seriously injured in the shock.
Smith : Damaged during harvest:
Norra Caroiiwa.—Mecklenburgh: Poor; injured by rains. Person: Seriously hurt by
rains. Caswell: Damaged by wet after harvest. Chowan: Small crop, but good.
342
Stokes: Slightly damaged by rain before secured. Tyrell: Badly injured by rust. An-
son: Good. Haywood: Quantity and quality generally prove less and worse than
anticipated. Alamance: Injured by rains after harvesting 25 per cent. Caldwell:
Some injured and sprouted.
GEORGIA.—Rabun : Good. Towns: Better than was expected before it was thrashed.
Banks : Harvested in good condition.
ALABAMA.—Greene : Very fine. Lauderdale: Excellent. Calhoun: About as good as
the land can bring. Autauga: Greatly injured by rust. Randolph: Better than for
years.
Mississippl.—La Fayette: Heretofore produced in small quantities ; but alarge area
‘had been seeded this year, and the yield has been very large, quite enough to supply
the county. Lee: The crop almost incredible.
TEXAS.— Williamson: Saved in good condition; spring, 20, and winter, 25, bushels
per acre. Dallas: Will average 25 bushels per acre. Upshur: Better than for many
years. Bandera: This is the second year with Touzelle wheat from the Department ;
the average is 30 bushels per acre. Cooke: Much injured by great quantities of rain.
Red River: Very fine; 15 to 40 bushels per acre.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Did well. Baxter: Never better. Stone: Better than for
many years. Jefferson: The best crop for years. Monroe: Harvested in good condi- -
tion, and the yield never excelled. Woodruff: Ten thousand bushels thrashed, making
an average of 20 bushels per acre, nearly all of it No.1. Montgomery: Better than ever
known; will average 18 to 20 bushels per acre. Newton: Could not ask for better.
Fulton: Best crop for years, but some injured in the shock.
TENNESSEE.—Anderson: Damaged by wet at least one-half. Loudon: Turned out,
when thrashed, better than expected. Fentress: Greatly damaged by the wet weather.
Bedford: Damaged by wet weather. Trousdale: Very much damaged in the shock.
Sevier ; Greatly damaged by the rains. Joane: Wheat was saved in a miserably poor
condition. Giles: The yield 75 per cent. above an average, but damaged 10 per cent.
in the shock. Blount: An average crop harvested, but 33 per cent. lost by wet. Car-
ter: Two-thirds badly damaged by rains. Montgomery: Great damage by rains after
being harvested. Hancock: Damagedintheshock. Morgan: Muchinjured. Greene:
Much injured in the shock. Dickson: Damaged in shock 12 per cent. Sequatchie :
Damaged. /ilson: Damaged.
WEsr?T VIRGINIA.—Tucker : More than two-thirds rotted in the shock. Raleigh: In;
jured 10 per cent. by rains. Pleasants: Materially injured by rains. Jackson: The
floods swept off at least 15 per cent. Gilmer: A portion lost in the shock by wet
weather. Braxton: Was good when cut, but at least one-third lost in the field.
Boone: Almost ruined by the-rains. Mercer: Badly damaged. Putnam: The poor
crop was much reduced by excessive rains. Mason: Injured in shock and stack. Ran-
dolph: Nearlyruined by the wet. /JVetzel: Damaged in the shock. Barbour: Sprouted
in the shock. Cabell: Scarcely any wheat fit for bread. Swmmers: Seriously injured.
Tyler: Stacks floated off by the floods. Wayne: Greatly injured by the wet during
harvest.
Kentucky.—Adair: One-third rotted in the shock, and the remainder very much
injured. Fleming: Almost ruined in the shock ; not more than half the crop harvested,
and almost half of that ruined. Montgomery : Was good, but at least 50 per cent. dam-
aged by wet. Clarke: Suffered greatly from wet weather after being cut. Menton:
Badly sprouted. Warren: Injured in the shock about 15 per cent. Owsley: A poor
crop, but over half lost in the shock. Daviess: About one-third ruined in the shock.
Jessamine: Damaged 25 per cent. by rains in July, which reduces it to half a crop.
Edmonson: Good when harvested, but 25 per cent. or more lost byrains. Shelby:
Saved in a damaged condition. Pendleton: A large percentage injured by the wet
weather. Grayson: Not so badly damaged by the wet as was reported. Fayette: Has
not averaged over 8 bushels to theacre, and that generally damaged, Logan: Injured
in the shock 12 or 13 per cent. Clinton: Injured in the shock. Scott: Thirty per
cent. ruined by the rains. Carroll: Ruined in many cases by therains. Graves: Wet
weather destroyed 25 per cent. Harrison: Less than half a crop, and from one-quarter
to one-third of that spoiled. Simpson: Damaged 25 per cent. after harvesting. Spen-
cer: The rains destroyed 25 per cent. Bracken: Very much injured by the rains after
harvesting. Breckinridge: Damaged in the shock. Gallatin: At least one-third of
the little crop was lost by growing and rotting in the shock. Owen: Injured by the
rains. Hardin: Injured 20 per cent. Metcalfe: Nearly all damaged; only about 25
per cent. of a crop saved. Monroe: Sprouted in the shock.
Outo.—Trumbull; Much has been damaged. Logan: Much sprouted and musted.
Adams: Turning out less than was expected at harvest, and the quality of most of it
poor. Henry: Turning out shriveled and light. Ross: Fair when harvested, but de-
stroyed in the shock by wet. Montgomery: Damaged. Monroe: Not so much injured
as at first supposed. Coshocton: Injured in the shock’33 per cent. Delaware: Will be
compelled to eat musty bread for the next year. Hancock: Large crop; seriously in-
jured by the wet weather. Holmes: Considerably damaged. Medina: Turns out
343
well. Van Wert: Damaged by rust and wet weather. Williams: A large portion
sprouted in the shock. Carroll: The grain somewhat shrank. Marion: Not so much
hurt by the rains as was anticipated. Morgan: Much sprouted, and more than half
damaged in the shock after harvest. Union: Some so badly injured that it will not sell
at all. Tuscarawas: Sprouted to some extent. Geauga: Winter-wheat yielding 20 to
25 bushels per acre, of excellent quality. Washington: Injured by rains in July. Gal-
lia: Badly damaged in shock and stack. Pike: Damaged by rains, after harvesting,
10 per cent. Scioto: The Scioto swept all its bottom-lands, destroying some wheat.
Athens: A light crop; greatly injured by wet after harvest.
Micuican.—lJosco: The finest crop ever raised, promising 25 to 35 bushels per acre.
Grand Traverse: Plump and well headed, but in danger from wet weather in harvest.
Lapeer: Berry excellent, and yield better than expected from the amount of straw.
' Manistee: Injured by heavy rains during harvest. _Mecosta: Winter-wheat yields bet-
ter than was anticipated, but varies from 5 to 35 bushels per acre. Shiawassee: Light
- in quantity and quality. Mason: Much damaged by wet after being cut. Saginaw:
Shrunk some with rust, but yield more than was expected. Tuscola: Harvested in
good condition, and the yield in some instances equals 40 bushels per acre. Alpena:
Very heavy; considerably damaged by rains in harvest. Some fields averaged 40 bush-
els per acre, after an estimated loss of 10 bushels per acre by rains. Charlevoix: Spring-
wheat not harvested; some fields of winter injured by rains after the grain was cut.
Ottawa : A better crop than for years. Washtenaw: Mostly secured in good condition,
but late; damaged by wet weather. Branch: Light yield, inferior quality, harvested
in good condition. Leelenaw: Winter, about 20 per cent. grew in harvesting; spring,
the best ever raised, harvested in good condition.
Inprana.—Ffranklin: Sprouted and rotted. Madison: The great floods of August
ruined a large amount. Elkhart: Was stored in good condition. De Kalb: Badly
injured by rust and wet weather. Floyd: Sprouted in the shock, but loss not so great
as expected. Howard: Badly damaged by weevil, and worse by rains. Morgan: On
the river and creek bottoms was all washed away and that on the uplands badly
damaged by sprouting. Jtipley: What we saved is worthless. Grant: Not half a crop;
damaged badly by sprouting. Gibson: Injured greatly by the rains. Clarke: Badly
damaged by the rains. Union: Almost ruined by rains in harvest. Warren: Abont
half a crop. Brown: Damaged in the shovk. Clay: Several thousand acres either
swept off or ruined by the overflow, and that saved much sprouted in shock and stack.
Dubois : Weather-beaten, sprouted, and rusty. Anox: The amount destroyed by floods
would reduce the estimate 10 to 20 per cent., and all greatly damaged.
Inuinois.— McLean: A large amount was not cut, and what was is of poor quality.
Morgan: Used up by the storms. Alexander: Badly damaged after harvest by wet
weather. Pike: What there is is of poor quality, owing to heavy rains while in the
shock. Schuyler: Damaged by rains. Madison: Poorly filled. Johnson: A great por-
tion sprouted in the shock. Henry: Secured without materialinjury. Clinton: Injured
25 per cent. in the shock. Jasper: Much injured in the shock. Lee: Yield about 84
bushels per acre; poor quality. Marion: A good crop; half spoiled in the shock. Pope:
Damaged by sprouting in theshock. Clark: Above an average crop put into the shock
in good condition, but greatly damaged by rains, and on the streams large quantities
lost by unprecedented floods. Carroll: Not turning out well. Mason: Poor yield
and very bad quality. Menard: Damaged by the rains. Perry: Injured by rains in
harvest. Saint Clair: Will fall below half a crop in both quantity and quality. Ver-
milion: Poor; injured by rust before harvesting, and all injured, and much destroyed
by floods after; not one-fourth of an average. Edwards: About one-fifth was uncut,
and fully one-fifth was thrown to the hogs. Effingham: Damaged in the shock.
Fayetie: Damaged considerably. Macon: Badly damaged; one-third rotted in the
stock. Massac; Injured in the shock 25 per cent. Mercer: Injured by growing in the
shock and stack. Ogle: Injured by rust, blight, and chinches. Sangamon: Badly
injured by the wet weather.
- WISCONSIN.— Washington: Winter yields 28 to 30 bushels per acre; spring, 20 to 25.
Ozaukee: Never a greater yield peracre. Columbia: Good. Fond du Lac: Damaged
by lodging and chinches. Waukesha: Damaged by chinches, commencing ten days
before harvest. Dodge: The condition improved materially after the 1st of August,
cool nights and rainy weather checking the operations of the chinch-bugs. Vernon: In-
jured by chinches. Saint Croix: Heaviest crop when harvested for years, but sprout-
ing in the shocks. Calumet: Spring-wheat averages 27 bushels per acre. Crawford:
Winter, the largest crop for years; spring was badly damaged by chinches.
MINNESOTA.—Fenville : Much better than for the last two years. Steele: Best crop
in yield and quality since 1860, but being injured byrains. McLeod: Nearly all stacked
in good condition. Swift: Unfavorable weather for harvesting. Waseca: Never
so heavy before. Wright: Not so good as when harvested. Olmsted: Some grow-
ing in the shock and stack. Pope: High winds and rain in harvest will seriously
affect the yield. Redwood: Every indication of a greater average yield than fifteen
bushels per acre. Stearns: Great fears that the magnificent crop will be seriously
344 ‘
injured in tae shoc« by the prevailing rains. Wabasha: Was put into the shock in fine
condition, but it commenced raining ten days ago, and it has been impossible to secure
it yet. Carver: About half shocked and sprouting badly. Cottonwood: Was badly
destroyed by grasshoppers, and now being badly injured in the Shock by wet. Todd:
One-third damaged either in the shock or stack. Douglas: The best crop, when eut,
ever raised in the county, but 75 per cent. standing in the shock and threatened with
ruin by the rains. Freeborn: Damaged in the shock 10 per cent. Martin: Average
yield, about 22 bushels per acre. Scott: A loss of at least 33 per cent. in shock and
stack by rains. Watonwan: The little that the grasshoppers left nearly destroyed by
rains. Winona: About one-third in the stack in fair order; the remainder wet and
growing.
if Iowsa.—Appanoose: Will not return the seed. Franklin: Badly blighted. Floyd:
Considerable blight. Hardin: Badly blighted. Harrison: Much injured by rains. .«
Polk: Blighted very much. Shelby: Damaged in shock and stack. Woodbury: Reduced
at least one-third by blight, and being much more reduced by continual wet. Benton:
Blighted and poor quality. Buena Vista: Only about 2 per cent. in stack, and almost
continued rains. Cass: Shortened 50 per cent. by blight and rust. Fremont: Greatly
damaged by grasshoppers when in the head, and subsequently by hail and wind storms.
Plymouth: Injured by blight and scab, and now the rains destroying thousands of
dollars’ worth. Sioux: A great portion destroyed by the rains. Cerro Gordo: Full
90 per cent. still remains in the field, and much of it sprouting. Chickasaw: Being
badly damaged by wet weather; all badly blighted. Des Moines: Our spring-wheat
will all be graded No. 3, or else rejected. Marion: Thrashes out small in quantity, and
much of it poor. Pottawattamie: Will not average over 8 bushels per acre, and poor
at that.
MissourI.—Gasconade: After it was cut 33 percent. lost by wet weather. Camden:
All that was not swept away damaged in the shock by sprouting. Nodaway: Fall-
wheat winter-killed; spring,injured by chinches while growing, and by rains in the
shock. Polk: Injured by sprouting in the shock. Moniteau: The portion of the crop
saved badly damaged from swelling and sprouting. Butler: Damaged after harvest
by rains. Christian: Injured by the wet. Franklin: Injured in the shock fully 33
per cent. by sprouting. Harrison: Injured some by wet weather. Platte: Not more
than 25 per cent. of the usual yield, but the kernel fine. Taney: Damaged 25 per cent.
in the shock. Vernon: Condition reducedsince harvest 35 per cent. by damage in the
shock. Wayne: Ruined by the wet weather. Lincoln: Damaged by rains. Adair:
A total failure. Dallas: Damaged by wet in harvest. Grundy: Averaging only 6
bushels per acre. Laclede: Not half a crop, and that greatly damaged in the shock.
Maries : Greatly damaged in theshock. Monigomery: Badly damaged by rains. Perry:
Injured by rain one-eighth. Saint Francis : Considerably sprouted in the shock. Stod-
dard: At least one-third ruined in the shock. Daviess: Greatly damaged in the shock
and stack. Benton: Nearly a total failure. Newton: Injured some by rust, and badly
sprouted by rains. Dent: Reduced 50 per cent. since harvest by rains. Clay: Utterly
destroyed by grasshoppers.
Kansas.—Doniphan ; Almost nothing saved. Republic: Considerably injured by rain
before stacking. Labette: Fair when cut, but injured 8 percent. in the shock by rains.
Jackson: Berry good, but yield reduced by the grasshopper. Leavenworth : Grain good
but cut short by grasshoppers. Lyon: Badly damaged in the.shock. Clay: Average
15 to 20 bushels. Anderson: Little sown and alight crop. Washington :.Much dam-
aged by rains in harvesting. Montgomery : Damaged 10 per cent. since harvest by wet
weather. Cowley: Never better. Woodson: The figures, 85, indicate the condition
when harvested, but the crop was subsequently badly damaged by wet weather.
NeBraska.—Dixon: Never better. Pawnee: Cut short by grasshoppers. Webster: A
little lighter in yield than last year. Boone: Average yield 15 bushels peracre. Clay:
Light, injured by drought; quality will grade No.3. nox: Turns out poorly, owing
to the ravages of the grasshoppers. Madison; Badly injured in the shock by heavy
rains. Antelope: Good quality, but 10 per cent. injured in the shock and some in the
stack. Gage: A great many pieces did not pay for cutting on account of weeds.
CALIFORNIA.—Del Norte: Some late wheat rusty. Placer: Yield far better than an-
ticipated before thrashing. Stanislaus: Good quality, weighing 63 pounds per bushel.
Not more than one-third of a crop in-yield.
OREGON.—Benton ; Fall-sown, good; spring, cut short by drought. Grant: Never
before so uniformly good. Linn: Shall have 25 per cent. more in bushels than in any
former year. Douglas; Reduced by extreme heat and drought. Tillamook: Improved
beyond expectations since the last report.
COTTON.
Our correspondents report the condition of cotton far better than in
September of Jast year, except in the more southern of the Atlantic
coast States.
345
4
The following are the averages of August and September of both
years:
1875. 1874.
States 2
ale] abe
BS) fo | 2 Ey
| 2 |] Ss
nidain| 4
EIRENE Te SiS chai wie alo Sis n= 0,02, die ecminid miata Sio'w'e olaic's alain alse aulete naleiam cumaletcie dig sinnls 90} 99 | 87} 95
TERETE i. Shiels a o.piclenia ois ooo dem Uae ws ones nwa d telle alaeta nul ealemiclab ewes 80 | 84] 86] 97
IRM Sans. Salt fy cto Sila csccae aie aiejain hu aie + o/spamwre alah tes ete nftegaieh sare ale ald clita 76 | 86 | 77) 94
ar 58 or, oy Winteitiplnis cic cainlewle prs on eninge = aulCaa nimple ais proce laa apie beta’ aja easts 7TOul., Soul Ta Loe
Alabama)...... 93 | 81} 90
Mississippi. - 104 | 74] 89
Louisiana ... mE wae Bae Wee Sout: (V8 99 | 62] 83
TBAT nc nie \~'S% « 4 93 | 65 | 105
TE Nia io aims loc oS v) «alsa «, 4 nadie’ g/alalnlsin ins winiaiare Jaeielo ma 6 ores ohisiew 91108 | 47 | 87
EE ee ee ahaa a of oo aah oya Sie aint ca lmimie, ans eins a aaieicigeicecine subsea persis hmlene 107 | 52 | 83
The prevalent droughts of July were succeeded by rains in August,
too copious for the best results in the Mississippi Valley, and quite inju-
rious in heavy soils of the eastern belt, causing rust, shedding of leaves
and fruit forms, and to some extent rotting of the lower bolis. There
is a rank recent growth, which will yield largely with a favorable and
long autumn season, or prove a disappointment in case of an early kill-
ing frost. iIn.some parts of Texas drought continued for nine weeks,
but the seasonable rains since the middle of August have placed the
fields in high condition in all except the most severely-parched localities.
Losses from prevalence of insects will scarcely be a factor in calcu-
lating the product of the present year. A few counties in Florida and
Lower Georgia report the caterpiliar ; the boll-worm is more numerous
in Lowndes, Mississippi, and heard from in a few other counties; lice
are mentioned by some correspondents; and in Covington, Alabama, the
correspondent reports a new enemy, which he ealls “a minute gnat,”
which harbors on leaves like lice, prod ucing widespread and serious in-
jury.
As compared with September, 1874, the only States now reporting
lower condition are South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida; and in the
Mississippi Valley the improvement is very marked, particularly in
Tennessee and Arkansas, in which the averages were very low in 1874.
A large proportion of the cotton-area of the country is represented in
the September returns, which include no less than sixty cotton counties
in Texas, and seventy-six in Georgia.
The returns for August showed. an improvement of the cotton-crop of
4 per cent. in North Carolina, lin Mississippi, and 4 in Arkansas. These
States were largely favored with the same conditions of growth which
secured their high averages of July. Texas maintained “her previous
figures, the drought in some counties, being counterbalanced by fine
weather in others. Tennessee lost 2 per cent., mostly on account of in-
juries to bottom-crops from excessive rains. In Louisiana the average
declined 6 per cent., on account of local drought, though several parishes
reported very promising crops. This injurious influence cut down the
average of Georgia 11 per cent., of South Carolina 15 per cent., and of
Florida 16 per cent. Lice and caterpillars were reported in two -or
three counties, but no damage to the crop noted.
VIRGINIA.—Sussex : Better than for the last seven or eight years. Richmond: Fine
growth but shedding its bolls.
NortTH Carotina.— Wilson: The rust has become general, and but little of the cot-
346
ton will escape it. Anson: Late, with some rust. Alamance: Plant fine. Gates: The
constant rains of August caused the weed to grow rapidly and the forms to drop off at
least one-third. Gaston: A wonderful growth of plant and show of fruit. Greene:
The two extremes of drought and excessive wet produced rust, which has spread very
rapidly. Onslow: On the whole, bids fair for a good crop. Perquimans : Materially in-
jured by the excessive rains. Harnett: Injured by rain. Montgomery: Injured by
wet; shedding bloom. Polk: Too much rain. Mecklenburgh: If we have two weeks
of dry weather the crop will be as good, or better than for several years. Robeson:
Injured by excessive rains; rust very prevalent. Moore: Rust beginning to appear.
Columbus : Daily showers through the entire month have caused it to drop forms
freely. Clarendon: Rust very general and disastrous. Lenoir: Doing well. Duplin:
Since the 12th of August very rainy, causing cotton to shed its forms and rust.
‘Wayne: Excessive rains caused considerable shedding, and rust is spreading rapidly.
Davidson: Too wet for cotton. Pasquotank: The best since the war, till now, seem-
ingly, almost ruined by rains. Surry: Promising, unless it runs too much to weed.
Cumberland : Greatly injured by heavy rains in August. Franklin: Injured by rains
and rust. Nash: Luxuriant growth of weed, but a good deal of rust. Pitt: Heavy
daily rains from the 8th to the 20th caused rust to appear in about half of the county ;
the other half yet doing well. eaufort: Seriously.injured by August rains. Chowan:
Very much injured by continued wet weather. Ldgecombe: Still declining from too
much wet, and rust beginning to appear. Tyrrell: Has had too much rain. Wake:
Injured by rains in August.
SournH Caroiiwna.— Beaufort: The drought in July proved very destructive to the
crop. airfield: The season favorable for fruiting and maturing. Horry: Being in-
jured by rust. Laurens: Taking the rust in some localities. Marlborough: Compared
with last’ season, 20 per cent. inferior, owing to wet weather. Newberry: Injured by
rust. Lexington: Has improved somewhat. Edgefield: Injured by drought and rust.
Union: Much rust in some localities. Chesterfield: Rust more general than I ever
knew. Georgetown: Has shed a good deal,and is opening badly. Darlington: The
heavy rains in August have injured the crop to a very great extent, causing rust and
throwing-off forms.
GEORGIA.—Larly: Has suffered from drought; middle crop mostly lost; top crop
now looks promising, but the caterpillar has made a beginning. Hart: Present indi-
cations all look toward a short crop. Cherokee: Rust in some places, which may yet
seriously injure late cotton. Pierce: Cut down by drought. Dooly: Injured badly by
dry weather; red and black rust, followed by incessant rains. Will be no top crop or
leaves for caterpillars. Mitchell: Injured first by drought and since the rains by rust.
Grenada: A general tendency to rust and blight. Worth: Ruined. Columbia: Rains
too late for cotton. Telfair: Ruined by drought; have never seen such a drought.
Harris: Cut off very much by the drought. Troup: That fertilized made a good
growth in July, but none in August. Burton: Late cotton somewhat damaged by
drought in July, but greatly benefited by recent rains. Henry: Injured by drought
in July; rains in August caused it to shed and take the black rust. Catoosa:
Stalking largely with extensive bolls. Muscogee: In some localities where it was not
destroyed by drought too much rain has caused a shedding of squares, and the bottom
bolls are beginning to rot. Dougherty: The crop poor beyond precedent. Schley:
Drought through July and part of August too protracted for old cotton, and now the
rust in every form is doing considerable damage. Liberty: Suffered from drought.
Walton : Injured by drought, but the weather now favorable, and it is beginning to open
finely. Forsyth: Suffered from drought in July, recent rains cansing many squares
to shed. Gwinnett: Largely reduced by hot, dry weather. Bullock: The rains too
late to make much improvement. Carroll: The fine prospect blasted by drought ;
opening pretty freely; picking begun. Elbert: A good season through August has
sustained the crop. McDuffie: Red rust on all the gray lands, and the cotton as dead
as if visited by a killing frost. Appling: The exceeding hot, dry summer caused
cotton to shed its fruit. De Kalb: Somewhat retarded by cool weather. Heard: The
crop very short. Hancock: Rainy weather and cool nights have caused cotton to rust,
shed, and the bolls to rot badly. Marvin: On sandy soil, dying with rust. Laurens:
Quite short, owing to drought. Brooks: Owing to drought and rust the yield cut
short fully 35 per cent. Butts: Rust has taken it. Dodge: The rust has appeared, and
is likely todo much damage. Floyd: Very seriously damaged by drought from 20th
of July to the middle of August. Twiggs: Badly damaged by drought, followed by
excessive rains. Whitfield: A fine weed, well filled with fruit, but late in maturing.
Cobb: Injured by the drought. Douglas: Some rust, but nothing serious. Jefferson :
The rains set in in time to benefit the late-planted cotton. Lincoln: Rust very
general; growth almost checked by it. Pulaski: Rained every day from the 1st to
the 25th, in which time nearly all took rust. Pike: Rust is ruining the cotton.
Randolph: Drought and rust have cut off the crop one-half. Terrell: The rains too
late to benefit the crop, and the rust is doing great damage.
FLorips.— Madison: Great damage by drought. Jackson: Many farmers say a half
347
crop cannot be made; the wormis now eating in the fields. La Fayette: Ruined by
drought. Gadsden: Suffered seriously from drought previous to August 1; since
then excessive rains have induced general rust. Columbia: Early cotton rusting and
shedding badly; late looking very well, but caterpillars are making themselves famil-
jar with it. Suwannee: A six weeks’ drought injured the crop, causing it to rust and
shed its fruit badly. Wakulla: Very promising, but the hot, dry weather of July
caused it to rust and shed its forms on old ground.
ALABAMA.—WMonroe: Injured by drought, rust appearing on sandy land. Autauga:
Seriously injured by drought and rust. Colbert: Large and fine. Conecuh: Rust has
invaded every farm. Dallas: The general prevalence of rust has injured the crop 20
per cent. Perry: Some rust, but general good prospect. Bullock: Seriously injured
by the drought in July. Clarke: Onuplands cut off to a greater extent than I ever be-
fore knew by the long-continued drought. Marion: Injured to some extent by the
rains. Marshall: Dry weather has stopped the growth of the weed and is improving
the bolls rapidly. Franklin: A little too wet for cotton. Wilcox: Some complaint
of rust. Choctaw: Taking rust and throwing off leaves, squares, and forms. Greene:
Season favorable, but some complaints that forms are shedding. Crenshaw: The poor-
est crop since the war. Lauderdale: A large weed, but poorly filled ; cannot make an
average crop. Covington: A new enemy has appeared, and the injury is general. It
resembles rust, and is taken by many for rust, but on examination I find it is caused
by insects, such as I never saw beforeincotton. They are minute gnats, and collect on
the leaves similar to lice. The exudation, when dry, is a rusty-colored dust, and the
whole stalk is involved, causing rapid death. The injury is wide-spread and very seri-
ous. Hale: Has fallen off since the 1st of August, owing torust. Pike: Red rust on
cotton on sandy lands, and black rust on stiff lands. Shelby: A kindofdry rust is slowly
advancing over all uplands in the cotton, which completely destroys the foliage, tender
bolls, and forms. Jackson: With a dry and late fall, there will be the largest crop since
the war. Macon: Rust on low land, and there will be no late cotton. Montgomery:
Has improved since the rains. Russell: Great complaint of rust.. Butler: Very seri-
ously injured by the summer drought. Calhoun: A falling off in August of 28 per
cent. De Kalb: Doing well. Lawrence: Looks well and promising. Marengo: On
uplands the plant small, but well bolled, and has stopped making; on the bottoms, still
blooming, and may make a good yield.
Mississippi.—Pike : Was very fine ten days ago, but much has been overflowed, and
is greatly injured. Newton: Injured by rust 33 per cent. Neshoba: Very fine. Jas-
per: Injured by rust 25 per cent. within three weeks.. Smith: First injured by drought,
then by excessive rains, causing it to rust. Wayne: Rust has made its appearance.
La Fayette: The best crop we have ever known in the county. Covington: The rust is
injuring the crop worse than the worms ever did. Noxubee: Opening rapidly; staple
fine. Lee: Full of blooms on rich land, but on thinner land black rust is setting in.
Clark: Greatly injured by the frequent rains, causing the black rust. Madison: All
rejoicing in the prospect of a good crop. Wilkinson: Considerably damaged by rains,
causing rust and shedding of fruit. Adams: Much damaged by rains; becoming grassy
and rotting. Lowndes: More boll-worms than since 1867; rust has damaged the crop
very much, and is spreading. Tishemingo: Not injured by anything except some rust.
Winston : Has rained a great deal during the last month, and rust has taken the cot-
ton. Panola: The past two weeks have been just right for cotton, but only a late
season can give us a top crop and mature the middle crop. Rankin: On alluvial
and fresh land, excellent; on old upland, extremely light—rust and much shedding,
owing to continual rains. Amite: Will be 120, unless some disaster falls upon it. Boli-
var: Very full of forms and bolls, but fears that the bottom crop will rot, owing to the
many very heavy rains. Jefferson: Plenty of rust and rot; rained all through August.
LovuIstaNna.—Caldwell: Will be shortened at least one-fourth by rust. Union: Better
than since 1865. Rapides : Recent heavy rains and winds have injured the crop. The
forms have fallen considerably, and the cotton is lightly bolled. Last Feliciana: The
heavy rains of last week damaged the crop 10 to 15 per cent. Franklin: Seriously
damaged by rains and high winds in August; affected by both rot and rust. Madison:
Greatly damaged by heavy falls of rain—trom 10 to 20 per cent. Morehouse : Shortened
very much by drought from June 1 to August 6. Caddo: Abundant rain has affected
cotton badly with rust and lice. Cameron: Damaged by excessive rain at least 20
per cent. Avoyelles: Continued rains in August caused the shedding of forms and
the rotting of the bottom bolls. Claiborne: Injured by rust in a few localities.
TF ashington : Continued rains have caused cotton to shed forms and the bolls to rot.
Concordia: Prostrated by rains and high winds, and shedding frait. Jackson: Picking
going on briskly, but the yield not average; the crop will be at least 25 per cent. below
that of last year.
Texas.—San Jacinto: Late, but prospect of a fullcrop. Washington : Cut short some
by drought, but quality superior. Dallas: The range of yield from 250 to 500 pounds of
lint per acre. Upshur: Somewhat damaged by drought, yet promises the heaviest
crop ever raised, if not damaged by wet. Palo Pinto: Promises better than for years.
2A
348
Milam: Cut short three-fourths by the nine weeks’ drought. Bosque: Bids fair to be a
full average. Nacogdoches: In some localities too much rain; some rust. Rusk: Has
shed the squares some and started a new luxuriant growth, which may mature. Wood:
Greatly revived by recent rains. Cooke: Looks very fine. Galveston: Much benefited
by recent rains. Kaufman: Good prospect for more than average crop. Burnet: The
drought too severe to admit of expecting a larger crop than last year. Harrison: A
failure, owing to dry weather. Bexar: Copious showers have caused the crop to grow
finely. Caldwell: Good condition, but small yield. Gillespie: Splendid condition.
Grayson: Promises a better yield by half than last year Lampasas: Late rains will
increase the products. Lavaca: Looking splendid. Marion : Much better than was ex-
pected a month ago. Medina: Largely injured by drought. Montgomery: With good
weather, heavy crop anticipated. Somervell: Present prospect of a yield of 300 per
cent. over that of 1874. Victoria: The growth affected by drought, but freedom from
insects makes the crop nearly an average. JValler: Stopped growing from the 26th of
May to the 25th of August; the leaves and squares fell off. Red River: A heavy crop
in prospect. Smith: Materially benefited by the August rains; the prospect better
than indicated by 110. Matagorda: The best early crops much injured by drought,
but the stiff lands doing better. Tyler: Beginning to take the rust from wet. Bastrop :
Being gathered rapidly ; quality superior. Jasper: Injured badly by drought in July,
and made worse since by rust. Hardin : Injured by drought.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Helped by recent rains. Baxter: Looking well. Bradley:
Condition advanced in August by copious and timely showers. Dorsey: The unusual
quantity of rain in August will cause cotton to rot. Independence: The dry weather
for the last four weeks has been of great advantage to cotton. Arkansas: Promises a
heavy crop all through the county. Columbia: Rust on nearly all the crop. Drew:
Within a few days considerable complaint of rust. Jefferson: Better than for years.
Monroe: Prospect for more than average of crop. Ouachita: The rust has attacked,
and in some places ruined, the crop. Yell: Good. Crawford: Looks splendid, but is
about two weeks late. Saint Francis : Promisesto double last year’scrop. Montgomery:
Generally very fine; ‘a little rust in spots. Sevier: Rust in some localities, mostly on
bottoms. Boone: The yield will be above the figures 120 if the frost holds off. How-
ard: Rust has appeared, and threatensto beserious. Newton: The prospects flattering.
TENNESSEE.— Bedford: The season rather wet forcotton. Gibson: General complaint
that it has run too much to weed, and bolls are scarce. Fayette: A drought of twenty
days has injured the crop, causing it to shed blooms and squares. Obion: Good.
OATS.
The general condition of the oats crop, reported July 1, was one of
unusual thrift, promising an extraordinary yield. In the northern and
southern sections of the country that promise has been fulfilled. Espe-
cially in New England, the Northwest, and the region around the Gulf,
crops superior in quantity and quality have been produced, and for the
most part secured in good condition. The higher averages in these
States are, Maine and Texas, 106; Vermont, 107; Michigan, 103; Wis-
consin, 105; Mississippi, 108; Arkansas, 114. In the Middle and North-
western States the quality was somewhat damaged, but not seriously,
by wet weather; in Vermont and in some localities in the South, it
was slightly affected by rust. But in the section between the thirty- .
fourth and forty-first parallels, and the Atlantic and the Rocky Mount-
ains, vast quantities of a magnificent crop were absolutely lost, and the
remainder greatly damaged, by continuous wet weather, with repeated
flooding rains, during the period of ripening and securing. The de-
struction and damage were greatest between the Alleghanies and the
western limits of Missouri. Between the Ist of July and the Ist of Sep-
tember, the averages of condition were reduced, in Kentucky, from 105 to
67; Ohio, 103 to 68; Indiana, 110 to 52; Illinois, 103 to 70; Lowa, 105
to 99; Missouri, 112 to 92. Reports from all parts of this section
abound in such statements as, ‘ Impossible to harvest oats, owing to
storms; hundreds of acres fed to the hogs;” ‘The storms in harvest
destroyed at least one-half of a magnificent crop;” ‘‘Rotted on the
ground ;” ‘But few cut, and they so badly damaged as to have no sub-
stance;” ‘Not one acre in ten harvested;” “The larger portion of a
ee.
4 aes
349
very fine crop a total loss, owing to wet weather in harvest ;” ‘All not
swept away destroyed in the shock,” &c. The army- worm, or a worm
so designated, conspired with the wet weather in injuring the crop to
some extent in the Ohio Valley, as well as in Virginia and Michigan;
but its ravages were quite limited, except in Ohio, where they were
severe. In Logan they ‘‘ severed the oat from the stem, till in some
places the eround was almost covered with oats. Fields that promised
an abundant crop will not be harvested ;” in Hancock, they destroyed
fully 60 per cent. of the crop.
The figures for condition in the Middle States and on the Atlantic
coast, farther south, were: New York, 98; New Jersey, 84; Pennsyl-
vania, 94; Maryland, 88; Virginia, 79; North Carolina and Georgia,
92. Kansas averages 76, and Nebraska 91; California 94, and Oregon 95.
The average condition for the country is 87.
Matnze.—Oxzford: Good. Waldo: Never better.
VERMONT.— Orleans : A heavy crop, badly lodged. Franklin: Extra crop; a little
rusted. Rutland: Yield less than expected. Caledonia: Rusty.
New Yor«.—Tioga: Damaged by a wet August. Queens: Very much injured by
rains since they were cut. Genesee: Mostly secured in good condition. Richmond :
Much damaged in harvest by wet. rie: Heavy; muchlodged. Orange: Much dam-
aged in harvesting by rains. Sullivan: Good in quantity and quality.
New Jersby.—Wercer: A good crop, damaged by heavy rains in harvest. Sussex:
Poor crop; harvested in poor condition. Wurren: Rather light, and badly gathered,
owing to wet.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Bradford: A first-rate crop; injured 10 per cent. by the wet
weather. Armsirong: Got up in good condition. Bedford: Very good crop secured.
York: Plenty, but of poor quality. Beaver: Badly lodged; many fields will not pay the
expenses of cutting. Fayelte: Very much damaged by storms and wet. Sullivan: A
large growth of straw, but yield below expectations. Washington: Much bleached
before gathered, and shelled badly in hauling. rie: A great crop.
MaAryLanD.—Howard: A poor crop. Cecil : Injured by wet weather.
VirGINIA.—Powhatan: Winter, yielded largely ; spring, cut short by dry weather.
Middlesex: Winter, good; spring, almost worthless. Chesterfield: Good when _har-
vested, but badly cured, owing to wet. Floyd: Damaged by continued rains. Madi-
son: Badly damaged, many farmers losing their entire crop. Pulaski: Badly dam-
aged by incessant 1 rains. Bedford: Badly injured by wet. Craig: Damaged by army-
worm. Orange: Seriously damaged in quantity and quality by the long rains. Essex :
Cut short by drought, and a large portion of what was harvested spoiled by rains.
Highland: Good. Montgomery: Destroyed by the army-worm. Jichmond: Much in-
jured by wet. Culpeper: Badly damaged in the shock. Buchanan: Seriously injured
in the shock. Page: Almost a failure.
NortH Carouina.—Person: Seriously hurt by rains. Caswell: Damaged after har-
vest by wet. Cumberland: Greatly injured by rust. Anson: Good. Caldwell: Short
and some sprouted.
GEORGIA.—Dooly ; A fine crop.
ALABAMA.— Greene: The finest crop fora number of years. Randolph : Cut off by
drought. Bullock: Excellent.
MIssissipp1.—Smith : Never better. Lee: 'The crop almost incredible.
TEexas.— Williamson: Average 45 bushels per acre, and weigh 28 pounds. Upshur:
Better than for many years. Red River: Never better. Jasper: Good yield; rust-
proof the only kind we can rely on here.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Have done well. Independence : Many crops yield 50 bushels
or more per acre. Woodruff: A grand crop. Newton: Good. Fulton: Splendid crop ;
German millet is superseding oats; the yield, compared with oats, is enornrous.
TENNESSEE.—Anderson : Two-thirds damaged by rains. Sevier: What were saved are
in a miserably poor condition, owing to wet. Giles: Most of the oats damaged after
being harvested. Blount: One-third of a crop; one-half damaged by wet. Carter:
Two-thirds badly damaged by rains. Hancock: Damaged 25 per cent. by wet weather.
Morgan: Lost in the field. Greene: Badly beat down and rotted. JVilson: Damaged.
Marion: The crop quite ruined by wet after being harvested.
WEST VIRGINIA.— Tucker: Very good, but several large crops destroyed by the army-
worm. faleigh: Better than average. Pleasants: Materially injured by rains. Grant:
Harvested in bad condition. Jackson: The floods swept off at least 15 per cent.
Braxton: More than an average crop, but nearly one-half lost by continual rains.
Boone: Almost ruined by the rains. Landolph: The army-worm very destructive
350
Wetzel: Damaged in the shock. Barbour: Nearly destroyed by the wet weather.
Cabell: The wet weather destroyed all. Summers: Seriously injured. Harrison:
Badly damaged. Tyler: Floated off in shocks by the floods. Wayne: Greatly injured
by the rains.
Kentucky.—Fleming: Damaged at least 50 per cent. by wet. Clarke: Greatly in-
jured by wet weather; very few saved. Kenton: Badly sprouted. Owsley: Poorer
than ever before known. Daviess: Hardly any saved in good condition. Edmonson:
Good when harvested, but 25 per cent. or more lost by rains. Shelby; Was above
an average, but reduced to 50 by losses from wet weather, and the portion saved
in a damaged condition. Marion: Crop heavy, but all fell down, and was not har-
vested. Laurel: Was average, but could not be harvested. Clinton: Injured in the
shock. Scott: Badly damaged by the rains. Carroll: Ruined by the rains in many
cases. Graves: Wet weather destroyed 25 per cent. Bracken: But little of a good
crop harvested, owing to the wet. Breckinridge: Damaged in the shock. Owen: In-
jured by the rains. Hardin: Damaged 60 per cent. Jtussell: The part sayed very
fine, but three-fourths an entire loss.
Outo.—Trumbull: Much destroyed by the rains. Logan: An enormous crop. Mauch
of it leveled to the ground by rains. The farmers could not cut them, for it rained
morning, noon, and night. Now came the army-worms, (previously unknown here,)
and countless millions of these little volunteers cut them in their peculiar way, just
severing the oat from the stem, till in some places the ground was almost covered with
oats. Fields that promised an abundaut crop will not be harvested. Henry: Heavy
growth; down early, and did not fill well; also, badly injured in places by the army-
worm. Montgomery: Damaged. Coshocton: Almost impossible to harvest them, owing
to rains; hundreds of acres fed to the hogs. Delaware: The storms in harvest de-
stroyed at least one-half of a magnificent crop. Hancock: Full 60 per cent. destroyed
by the army-worm. Holmes: Badly damaged. Medina: Suffered a great deal from
the army-worm, yet fields largely injured by them yield 25 bushels per acre. Van
Wert: Worms and the wet destroyed a large portion and damaged the remainder.
Williams: Promised splendidly, but the wet weather and the army-worm destroyed a
large portion. Washington: Not more than half were saved in good condition. Pike:
Damaged by rains, after harvesting, 50 per cent. Athens: But little of a good crop
cut; destroyed by wet.
MicuiGAN.—Josco: Promises unusually well. Lapeer: Very heavy; some fields
yield 80 to 85 bushels per acre. Manistee: A magnificent crop. Wayne: Crop har-
vested, and was never better. Washtenaw: Heavy; much damaged by rain in harvest.
Branch: Very fine, but many late oats destroyed by the army-worm. Delta: Short
straw, but generally well filled.
InpIANA.—E£lkhart: A good crop has been housed. Franklin: Almost a total loss.
De Kalb: Injured by wet weather and the army-worm. Floyd: Blown and washed
down; nine-tenths cut with the scythe and stacked like hay. Dearborn: Promised well,
but was ruined by the floods. Howard: Almost a total loss. Ripley: What we saved
are worthless. Hendricks: Nearly all lost by wet weather. Grant: Were splendid till
the rains, but not one acre out of fifty saved. Clark: Badly damaged by the rains.
Union: Destroyed by rainsand storms. Warren: Harvested in bad condition. Wash-
ington : Not more than one-third of a crop saved, and that in bad condition. Brown:
Damaged in the shock. Clay: Much of the crop turned over to the hogs, and that
harvested badly damaged. Dubois: About half saved and much injured. Hamilton:
Very little of the crop saved. Knox: Large amount destroyed by the floods and the
remainder greatly damaged.
InLrwo1s.— Morgan: Used up by the storms. Schuyler: Damaged by rains ; much of
the crop pastured with hogs. Madison: Half ruined by heavy rains. Johnson: In-
jured by wet weather. Henry: Secured without material injury. Clinton: Not one-
third cut, and that badly damaged in the shock. Ford: Turning out well in thmsh-
ing. Jasper: Damaged, and many not saved at all. Marion: Rotted on the ground.
Pope: Damaged in the shock. Clark: Nearly ruined by the rains. Carroll: Average
about 45 bushels per acre. Mason: Badly bleached and sprouted. Menard: Damaged
by the rains. Moultrie: But few saved, owing to wet and winds. Perry: Reduced
in quantity and quality by rains 50 per cent. Vermillion: A heavy crop; perhaps half
saved. Edwards: Crop was splendid, but fully one-half could not be harvested.
Effingham: But few cut, and they so badly damaged as to have no substance. Sayette :
Not one acre in ten harvested. Jroquois: A large crop harvested in bad condition.
Macon: About one-half the cropeut. Afassac: Injured in the shock 25 percent. Ogle:
Injured by army-worms. Richland: Not more than 50 per cent. were harvested, owing
to wet. Sangamon: Badly injured by wet. White: Were above an average, but could
not be save.
WIsconsIN.— Washington: Yield 50 to 60 bushels per acre. - Ozaukee: Never a greater
yield peracre. Columbia: Good. Walworth: First-rate. Calumet: Average 70 bushels
per acre. Crawford: Over a full crop 10 per cent.
MinneEsota.—Renville: Much better than for two years. Steele: Best crop in yield
351
7
and quality since 1860, but injured by rains. Waseca: Never so heavy before. Pope:
High winds and recent rains will seriously affect the yield. Redwood: More dam-
aged by grasshoppers than other crops. Douglas: The best crop ever raised, when
cut, but 75 per cent. standing in the shock and threatened with ruin by the continued
rains. Martin: Average yield about 60 bushels per acre. Scott: A loss of at least 33
per cent. in shock and stack. Watonwan: The little that the grasshoppers left nearly
destroyed by rains. Winona: Badly destroyed in the shock by rains.
Iowa.—Johnson : Got up in good order, and yielding 40 to 50 bushels per acre, <Ap-
panoose: Good. Franklin: Well filled, but badly lodged. Hardin: Good; some pieces
yield over 60 bushels to the acre. Harrison: Much injured by rains. Scott: Yield
good, butcondition bad. Sioux: Crop never better, but a great portion destroyed by ,
the rains of the last twelvedays. Cerro Gordo: The straw so heavy, that three-fourths
were prostrated before ripe, and now being seriously injured by rains.
Missourt.—Macon: Good, but injured by the weather. Gasconade: One third lost
after they were cut, by wet weather. Camden: All not swept away, damaged in the
shock. Nodaway: Injured by grasshoppers. Caldwell: A very heavy crop, but bleached
and weedy. Moniteaw: The larger portion of a very fine crop a total loss, owing to
wet weather in harvest. Franklin: Damaged by rains more than any other crop.
Harrison: Fine. Phelps: Have improved since the last report. Wayne: Ruined by
the wet weather. Lincoln: Damaged by rains. Adair: Poorer than last year by 20
per cent. Dallas : Damaged by wet in harvest. Laclede: Had a good crop, but almost
wholly destroyed by the rains. Maries: Were never better, but a large per cent.
lost in harvesting. Montgomery: Badly damaged by rains. Perry: Badly injured
by rains. St. Francis: Damaged 15 per cent. in the shock. Stoddard: Excellent crop,
mostly ruined by rains. Daviess: Greatly damaged in the shock. Ralls: Great losses
from rains in harvest. Pettis: Considerably damaged by wet. Newton: A heavy crop,
but injured by rain. Clay: Utterly destroyed by grasshoppers. De Kalb: Drowned
out. by rains in harvest.
Kansas.— Republic : Considerably injured by rain before stacking. Saline: All
crops promising except oats. Neosho: A great many spoiled in the shock by wet
-weather. Dickinson: Have suffered much from rust; average but 10 bushels per acre.
Jackson: Yield reduced by the grasshopper. Ellis: Early oats short from drought.
Anderson: Much damaged by wet weather. Cowley: Never better. Woodson: When
harvested, 105; but since badly damaged by wet weather.
NEBRASKA.— Pawnee: Cut short by grasshoppers. , Webster: Splendid. Clay: Light
and chaffy. Madison: Good crop.
CALIORNIA.—Placer: Damaged by frost in April.
OruGON.—Grant: Never so uniformly good before. Clackamas: Good throughout.
Douglas: Reduced by extreme heat and drought.
RYE.
In the northern and southern sections of the country, the rye-crop,
when harvested, was nearly if not quite average in quantity, and of
fair quality. But in the middle belt, like the other cereals, it was much
reduced in quality and somewhat in quantity by the excessive rains.
West of the Mississippi, the grasshoppers appear to have had a special
relish for this crop. The average condition for the whole country is 91.
The range of State averages, in all the States onthe northern border
and on the coast, except Louisiana, 87, (which produces very little rye,)
is above that figure. Those above average are: Arkansas, 112; Texas,
109; New Hampshire and Wisconsin, 102; Connecticut and Alabama,
101; Maine, Delaware, and Mississippi are average. Among the low-
est are: Indiana, 78; Ohio, 81; West Virginia and Kentucky, 85;
Missouri and California, 86.
MaIne.— Oxford : Good. :
New Yor«K.— Queens: Well filled. Steuben: Reduced by drought. Sullivan: Much
injured in the shock by heavy rains.
New JERSEY.—Sussex: Not half a crop.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Indiana : Housed in a wet condition and badly spoiled.
MaryLanv.—Howard : Inferior yield. Caroline: Good.
VireintA.—Pulaski:; Badly damaged by incessant rains. Buchanan: Seriously
injured in the shock.
Nort Caroiina.—Surry: Above average in yield and condition.
GEoRGIA.—fabun : Harvested and good.
Texas.— Upshur: Better than for many years.
LK —O
052 :
ARKANSAS.—Sitone : Better than for many years.
TENNESSEE.— Wilson : Damaged by excessive rains.
WEsT VIRGINIA.— Braxton : Tolerably good. Randolph: Nearly ruined by the wet.
KeEentTucky.—Clarke: Greatly injured in shock by wet weather. Daviess: Badly
damaged. Scott: Badly damaged by the rains. Spencer : Rains destroyed 25 per cent.
Breckinridge; Damaged in the shock. Owen: Injured by the rains.
InpiAna.—-Floyd : ww good crop, harvested before the heavy rains.
ILLINOIS. —Sangamon : Badly injured by the wet weather.
Missour1.—Nodaway : One-fourth destroyed by grasshoppers. Harrison: Injured
some by the wet weather. Adair: Not so good as last year by 30 percent. Daviess:
Greatly damaged in the shock and stack.—Clay ; Utterly destroyed by grasshoppers.
Kansas.—Dickinson : Good, and being largely grown for feed. Jackson; Yield
reduced by the grasshopper. Leavenworth: Cut short by grasshoppers. Woodson :
The condition when harvested, 100, but since badly damaged by wet weather.
NEBRASKA.—Pawnee: Cut short Dy grasshoppers. Webster: Good. Clay: Injured
by drought. Madison: Injured by grasshoppers, but harvested in good condition.
BARLEY.
This crop did well in the Northern States. The range of condition
when harvested was, in New England, from 100 to 104; New York, 98;
Pennsylvania, 92; Michigan, 103; Wisconsin, 102; Minnesota, 99. It
was 80 in California, and 96 in Oregon. The production of barley in
the Southern States is too limited to be worthy of mention, except in
Texas, where the condition was 108. In the rainy belt the crop was
much damaged, though less than wheat and oats. The condition was
reduced to 71 in Ohio | ; 64 in Indiana; 78 in Illinois; 81 in lowa; 85 in
Missouri; 74 in Kansas; 79 in Nebraska. The reduction in the three
last-named States is to be partly credited to the grasshoppers.
The average for the country is 89.
New YorK.—Steuben: Filled well. Greene: Mostly secured in good condition.
PENNSYLVANIA -— Bedford:: Sufiered from rain.
Trexas.—Ked River: Very good.
TENNESSEE.— IVilson : Damaged by excessive rains.
MicHiGaNn.—Lapeer: Never better. :
WIscoNSIN.— Washington: Yields 40 to 50 bushels per acre. Ozaukee: Never a greater
yield per acre. Columbia: Good. Calumet: Averages 60 bushels per acre.
Iows.—Scott: Yield good, but condition bad. Benton: Of very poor quality. Tre-
mont: Greatly damaged by grasshoppers, hail and wind. Sioux: A great portion
destroyed by the rains.
MissourI.—Nodaway : Almost ruined by grasshoppers.
Kawnsas.—Republic: Considerably injured. by rains beforg stacking. Jllis: Thin on
the ground, but good berry. Leavenworth: Cut short by grasshoppers.
NEBRASKA.— Pawnee: Cut short by grasshoppers. Clay: Injured.by drought.
CALIFORNIA.—Placer : Damaged by frost in April.
OREGON.—Clackamas ; Did well.
BUCKWHEAT.
The only States reporting any decrease in the acreage of buckwheat
are Maine and Iilinois, 4 per cent.; Maryland, 5; Virginia, 3; West
Virginia, 1; and Iowa, 2. Those reporting an increase are Massachu-
setts, 25 per cent.; New York and North Carolina, 1; New Jersey and
Minnesota, 7; Kentucky and Oregon, 5; Ohio, 4; Michigan, 10; Indi-
ana, 6; Wisconsin, 3; Missouri, 20; Kansas, 23 ; and Nebraska, 98.
In the Northwestern States, the previously thriving condition was
extensively and seriously injured by frosts on the nights of August 21
and 22, and again, in a more limited extent and degree, on the 28th and
29th. With this exception the reports of condition are almost univer-
sally favorable. In New England, (except Maine, 95,) the Middle States
and Virginia the average condition ranges from 100 up to 110, Massa-
chusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia being at the latter figure. Returns
—- ~<
353
from Arkansas and Kansas average 111; from Missouri, 109; from
Nebraska and Indiana, 102. In the Northwest, frost reduced the con-
dition on the first of August; in Wisconsin, from 96 to 43; in Minnesota,
from 91 to 83; and in Iowa, from 98 to 93. The condition in Ohio aver-
ages 100; in Illinois, 97. The average for all the States producing
buckwheat is 98.
New Yorrk.—Queens : Promises a good crop. Steuben: Has filled well.
New JERSEY.—Sussex : Promises an extraordinary yield. Warren: Looks fine.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Armstrong : Abundant and thrifty. Clearfield: Prospect of a fine
crop. Bucks: More than usual sown and very promising. Indiana: Very promising.
MaAryYLAND.—Caroline : Looks fine. Howard: Wet weather has made it thrifty.
VirGINIA.—Clearfield : Good; much gown. Highland: Never better.
WEST VIRGINIA.— Grant: Prospect very fair. Mercer: Promising. Hancock: Pros-
pect of the largest yield for many years.
MicHican.—Allegan: Late, but looks first-rate. Jackson: The weather for buck-
wheat all that could be desired; a large growth. Manistee: Damaged by frost August
21 and 22inlow places. Shiawassee: Slightly injured by frost. Mason: Badly injured
by frost ; will not be half a crop. Barry: Slightly hurt in some places by frost. Of-
tawa : One-fourth lost by frost.
ILLNo1s.— Winnebago: Killed by frosts in all the valleys on the 28th and 29th. Moul-
trie: More sown than for years. jfingham: Mostly ruined. Ogle: Injured on low
ground by frost.
WIsconsin.— Washington ; Ruined by frost August 21 and 23. Juneau: Immensely
damaged by frost August 28; three-quarters destroyed. Haw Claire: Greatly damaged
by frost August 22. Fond du Lac: Badly damaged by frost. Sauk: Badly damaged by
frost in many places. Waukesha: Damaged by frost. Browne: Damaged in many
places by frost. Dodge: Will not return the seed, owing to frost. Milwaukee: On low
ground severely injured by frost. Waupaca: Destroyed on low grounds by frost. Ad-
ams: Badly injured by frost ; not over one-fifth of a crop left.
Mrixnesota.—Olmsted : Badly damaged by frost August 21 and 22. Pope: Promises
a fair yield.
lowsa.—Jackson: Slightly damaged. Hardin: A heavy crop sown and looks well.
Howard : Killed on bottoms by frost August 21 and 22.
Missouri.—Harrison: Never better. Maries: Prospect good. De Kalb: Blasted 25
per cent.
Kawnsas.—Dauphin: A large area and above average. Douglas: Looks finely. Je/-
ferson: The weather favorable. Osage: The best for nine years.
OREGON.—Clackamas: A full average.
POTATOES.
The condition of the potato-crop, as a whole, is about 10 per cent.
above average; all the large potato-growing States reporting a very
favorable prospect. .The New England States are all below average,
except Massachusetts, 101. The condition of the crop in this section
has not materially changed since July, the improvement in some coun-
ties being balanced by the decline in others. Maine and Vermont re-
port injuries from rust and rot in some localities. New Hampshire and
Connecticut are nearly average, and both show considerable improve-
ment.
The Middle States all show improvement, except New Jersey, 93,
which about maintains her July condition, notwithstanding severe in-
juries from Colorado beetles in several counties. New York and Penn-
sylvania are above average. Delaware raised her average to 75, having
found partial compensation in late rains for the drought of early summer.
The white grub in some parts of this section was quite destructive.
On the South Atlantic coast the Colorado beetle was very injurious
in parts of Maryland and Virginia. The latter shows improvement,
as also does South Carolina. The former shows a decline, as also do
North Carolina and Georgia. The condition of this section is consider-
ably below average.
The Gulf States are all below average, except Mississippi, 101, and
304
all show a decline from the condition reported in July. The decline is
greatest in Louisiana, 90, and Texas, 91, where local droughts were
injurious to the crop.
The Inland Southern States have not maintained the high condition
reported in July, all having declined except West Virginia, which shows
a slight improvement. Yet the condition of all these States is full aver-
age or above. The dry-rot is noted in some parts of Arkansas and Ken-
tucky. Tennessee shows a small decline from her high condition in July.
The States north of the Ohio River are all above average, and all
show improvement, except Wisconsin, 101, and Indiana, 109, which
barely hold their own. In Ohio, 112, and Illinois, 125, notwithstanding
the injuries from flood and rot in many bottom crops, the increased
yield of the uplands has greatly enlarged the crops. Michigan, 118, in
spite of early frosts in some localities, reports a very fine crop, in some
counties the best ever raised. Frost is also reported as injurious in
some counties of Wisconsin. The Colorado beetle is noted in a few
places, but the damage is not at all extensive.
West of the Mississippi River there is a marked improvement in all
the States, except Minnesota, 97, which has declined 10 per cent. since
July, and is the only State in this section below average. Iowa, 120,
and Missouri, 112, notwithstanding early frosts in some quarters and
excessive rain causing rot in others, promise remarkably fine crops. The
departure of the grasshoppers gave the late plantings of Kansas and
Nebraska an opportunity to mature under very favorable conditions and
to secure a very large amount of food-material very acceptable after the
disasters of late years.
On the Pacific coast California, 94, shows considerable improvement,
while Oregon, 95, was slightly reduced; unusual heat and drought are
reported in some localities.
SWEHET-POTATOES.
The States reporting a condition full average or above are New Jer-
sey, 102, Delaware, 100, North Carolina, 100, Mississippi, 114, Arkansas,
- 109, Tennessee, 100, Illinois, 100, Missouri, 102, and Kansas, 100. The
States east of the Alleghany Mountains generally indicate an improve-
ment since July. The South Atlantic and Gulf States, from South Car-
olina to Texas, show a decline of condition, except Mississippi. Of
the Southern Inland States Kentucky alone shows a marked decline—
10 per cent. The States north of the Ohio River all indicate a loss,
except Illinois, which slightly improved since July. West of the Mis-
sissippi River lowa somewhat declined, but the other States very con-
siderably. improved. On the Pacific coast, California averages 94, a
gain of 10 per cent. since last report. .
Mamnr.—Piscataquis: Wet and foggy weather in August caused potatoes to rust badly.
Aroostook: Have rusted badly, and the crop will be light. Lincoln: Some complaint of
rotting. Oxford: Good growth, but showing signs of rot. Waldo: Rusting badly.
York: Affected by excessive wet on low grounds. Androscoggin: Early good; late
planted killed by rust.
New Hampsuire.—Carroll: Rusting in some places. Hillsborough: Complaint of
rot. Belknap: Tending to rust in some places.
VERMONT.—Orleans : Rusting badly. Caledonia: Splendid; quality exellent. Ad-
dison: Injured with rust.
Massacuusetts.—Berkshire : Look fine. ;
Connecricut.—New London: Yielding well, but have commenced rotting. Hart-
ford: Much injured by the drought. Windham: Show signs of rot. :
New York.—Zioga: Look well. Queens: Early fair; late better. Schoharie: A very
large crop. Genesee: Appearances of rot. Richmond: Considerably damaged by beetles,
immed eee ee we
ewtkts Gir
355
and rotting badly in heavy soils. /Vashington: Large white grubs have destroyed
whole fields; in some towns rust has checked the crop in midgrowtbh, Rensselaer:
Better than for years. Zrie: Large crop. Orange: Very promising. Sullivan: Extra
ood. :
‘ New Jersey.—Atlantic: Beetle did immense damage. Mercer: A large crop not-
withstanding the attacks of the beetle. Sussex: Very much injured by the beetle.
Burlington : Early Rose very fine; later varieties injured more by the beetle. Salem:
Early yielded very well; beetle very destructive on late. Camden: Late potatoes
suffered very much from the beetle. Warren: Early Rose yields well; other varieties
not so well. si}
PENNSYLVANIA.— Northampton: Eaten by the bugs; a poor yield feared. Westmore-
land: Very fine notwithstanding the injury from the beetle. Armstrong: Continue to
thrive and areabundant. Cambria: Remarkably fine, but threatened with rot. Clear-
field: A very large acreage promising a heavy yield. Beaver: Rotting. Indiana: The
largest crop for years and of good quality. Sullivan: Not a better prospect once in a
oa Lycoming: Fine and large yield. Northumberland: The crop unusually large
and fine.
MArRYLAND.—Caroline: Still troubled with the beetles. Sweet-potatoes will yield
largely. Prince George: The beetles ruined many fields; those who saved their vines
expect a fine crop. Washingion: Crop wiil be large.
VirGin1a.—Chesterfield : Irish, above average ; sweet, too wet, but may rally. Char-
lotte: Early, splendid; not much attention paid to Jate kinds. Northampton: Sweet-
potato crop injured by too frequent rains. Princess Anne: The largest crop of sweet-
potatoes ever planted, but in bad condition, owing to the wet weather. Highland:
A luxuriant growth. King and Queen: Look fine—both kinds. Buchanan: Excellent
crop, notwithstanding the numerous beetles.
Nort Carorina.—Anson: Both kinds fine in quantity and quality. Haywood:
Season favorable. Alamance: Very fine. Caldwell: Irish injured by wet weather.
SourH CaROLINA.— Georgetown: The rain too late for potatoes ; sweet-potatoes will
be very short.
GEORGIA.— Douglas: Sweet, fine prospect. Terrell: Have been benefited by the
rains. Columbia: Sweet, helped by recent rains. Pierce: Improved by recent rains.
Dooly: Doing finely. Liberty: Promising. Elbert: Sweet, good. Butts; Sweet, af-
fected with something like rust—new with us—which has been very destructive.
FLorIDA.—Gadsden : The August rains have brought up the crop of Irish potatoes to
a full average.
ALABAMA.—-Lauderdale: Sweet, fine.. Montgomery: Sweet, have improved greatly
since the rains. Butler: Sweet, very seriously injured by the summer drought. Cal-
houn: Early Irish, good; late, a failure, owing to drought, which affects sweet-potatoes.
Conecuh : Prospect of more than an average crop.
Mississipp1.—Pike: Sweet, veryfine. Smith: Excellent. Wayne: The crop of sweet-
potatoes will not be as large as last year, owing todrought. Panola: Sweet, promising
well. Jefferson: Fine crop.
Lovistana.— Franklin: Frequent rains in August have materially advanced the con-
een of sweet-potatoes. Madison: Irish,all gathered ; best crop for five years; sweet,
very fine.
TEexas.—De Witt: Sweet, badly set back by drought: Washington: Sweet, cut short
by drought nearly one half. Rusk: Sweet, growing luxuriantly. Wood: Greatly re-
vived by recent rains. Angelina: The first crop of Irish potatoes did well; the second
crop justplanted. Burnet: Sweet, suffering forrain. Medina: Injured by the drought.
Somervell : Sweet, crop 200 per cent. over that of 1873 or 1874. Red River: Early Rose,
very productive; sweet, good. Jasper: Too dry for potatoes, until recently ; but two
months yet to grow and mature in.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Sweet, helped by recent rains; late Irish potatoes afflicted
by dry-rot in the center. Drew: Sweet, never before sofine. Crawford: Benefited by
the late rains almost beyond measure. Howard: Irish, rotted badly.
TENNESSEE.—Grundy: Promise of a good crop. Greene: Irish, excellent; sweet,
promising. Wilson: Irish, splendid ; sweet, fine, but needing rain.
West VIRGINIA.—Never better. Braxton: Both Irish and sweet promise to be very
large, and a large yield. Mason: Promise of a large yield. Cabell: Early plantings
good ; late planted do not promise well. Wayne: Much injured on low land by high
water, but the crop left is the largest ever grown.
Kentucky.— Daviess; Irish, rotted in the ground badly. Clinton: Fine. Gallatin:
Trish, extraordinarily large and fine crop. ‘
Oun10.—Trumbull: Unprecedented in quantity and qnality, unless the continued rains
‘cause them to rot in the ground. Miami: By far the largest crop ever grown in the
county. Adams: Rotted a little in the wettest ground, but generallysaved. Monroe:
Will double the quantity of any crop for ten years. Coshocton: Afull crop. Delaware: |
Increased acreage and an enormous yield. Hancock: Largest crop ever grown. Van
Wert: Promised well, but the rot isdestroying them largely. Geauga: The most prom-
356
,
ising cropever known. Gallia: A few thousand acres destroyed by water on lowlands,
but the crop is so extra on uplands as to maintain an average.
MicniGan.—Iosco: Large crop planted and doing well. Jackson: The weather all
that could be desired for potatoes. Manistee: Beetles not doing muchdamage. Mason :
Badly cut by frost August 21 and 22. Wayne: Never better. Washtenaw: Abundant
and extra good. Branch: Abundant. Delta. Considerably damaged by frost on low
ground, August 22. Leelenaw: The largest crop ever raised. :
Inp1AnA.—Elkhart : Have done splendidly, but threatened with rot. Franklin: Rot-
ted some in the wet weather, yet the finest crop for years. Dearborn: The estimate, 150,
based on the early crops, the late being yet uncertain. Ripley: Splendidcrop. Perry:
Excessive rain prevented planting, so that there is but half a crop, and that in bad
condition for want of cultivation. Hendricks: Late, suffering badly from dry weather.
Washington: A good crop, but many rotting. Clay: Ruined on the overflowed lands,
and nearly worthless on the flat uplands. Dubois: Fine.
Inuino1s.—Pike: Irish and sweet will be a good crop. Clinton: Good, but rotted
some. Ford: Thirty cents perbushel. Winnebago: Early, better than formany years ;
late, killed by frost in all the valleys. Clark: My owncrop 100 per cent. above any for
years. Bureau: A little rot. Carroll: Injured by frost in low lands. Moultrie: Best
for years, but early sorts rotting some. Peoria: The largest cropeverknown. Putnam:
All that could be desired. Effingham: Early planted, good. Macon: Very good. Mas-
sac: Early, fine. Shelby: All on flat lands have rotted, yet there will be an immense
crop. McLean: The yield of early, enormous.
WISCONSIN.—Ozaukee: Injured in some places by frost. Sauk: Badly damaged by
frost in many places. Walworth: Better than for many years. Chippewa: Late;
spoiled by frost, August 22. Outagamie: Late, injured on all low grounds by the
heavy frost.
MINNESOTA.—Steele: The best crop and in the best condition for many years.
Wright: Very light.
Iowa.—Shelby : Late; Peach-blows small, and few in the hill. Woodbury: Will be a
‘large crop. Benton: Best prospect inten years. Howard: On bottom-lands, killed by
frosts, August 22 and 23. Muscatine: The prospect exceedingly good. Harrison: Fine,
but being injured by wet. Appanoose: Very good.
Missour1t.—Macon: Never better. Camden: Worth 15 cents per bushel. Chariton:
Large yield. Nodaway: Never better. Caldwell: Looking remarkably well, and of fine
quality. Franklin: Large and good in quality. Harrison: Both kinds never better.
Maries: Rotted badly. Pettis: The crop much better than for several years. Newton:
Both kinds good, but some rotting.
Kansas.— Doniphan: Alllate. Dickinson: A heavy crop and large. Douglas :*Irish,
look well. Sedgwick: Abundant. Jefferson: Favorable weather for late potatoes.
Washington: Large yield and excellent quality. Woodson: Early Rose rotting badly ;
late potatoes doing well.
NEBRASKA.— Dixon: Perhaps the crop will average, through the county, 500 bushels
per acre. Webster: Very heavy crop. Clay: Never better. Madison: The best crop-
raised. Merrick; As good a crop as raised anywhere since the world began.
OREGON.—Clackamas: Rather light crop, but good size. Douglas: Injured by extreme
heat and drought. :
WOOL.
The wool-clip is of full average weight, or a little above, in nearly all
the States. Those deficient are, Massachusetts, 4 per cent.; Georgia
and Oregon, 3 per cent.; Illinois and California, 2 per cent.; Virginia,
Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri, 1 per cent.; Wisconsin and Tennessee
are 2 per cent. above average; New York, Alabama, Mississippi, West
Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Kansas are 1 per cent.
above average; the remaining States are full average.
TOBACCO.
The tobacco-crop has greatly fallen off sincé the last report. From a
condition 20 per cent. above average in July our September returns
indicate a reduction to 10 per cent. below average. Hast of the Alle-
ghany Mountains there has been, on the whole, an improvement. Mas-
sachusetts and Connecticut show a great advance upon the July condi-
tion and are 2 per cent. above average, but this is about counterbal-
anced by a decline to 2 per cent. below average in Maryland, produced
=
>
857
by the excessive rains of August. New York and Pennsylvania report
someimprovement, but are still below average. Virginia returns indicate
a great improvement and a condition 12 per cent. above average. Fur-
ther down the coast the continued rains have uniformly depressed the
condition of the crop. Florida is full average. The Cuba tobacco of
Gadsden County is superior to any crop since the war, both in quantity
and quality. The small crops of the Gulf States and Arkansas show
improvement, and, on the whole, a condition above average. The great
tobacco-region between the Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi,
producing about two-thirds of the census-crop of 1869, shows a rapid
decline since July, and a condition greatly below average. The flooding
rains that visited this region have inflicted very serious damage upon
tobacco as well as other crops. Tennessee has reduced her July average
of 106 to 92; Kentucky has fallen from 134 to 86; Ohio, from 98 to 66;
Indiana, from 102 to 81; Illinois, from 95 to 75; West Virginia, from
97 to 94; Wisconsin, from 90 to 60. West of the Mississippi River,
Missouri, the only large tobacco-producing State, shows a condition 5
per cent. above average, a gain of three per cent. since July, notwith-
standing some local injuries by storms. The other States of this sec-
‘tion, yielding but small crops, show some improvement, but are below
average. Insect-injuries are rarely mentioned in our reports of this crop.
Massacnusrerrs.—Hampden: Now being harvested, and bids fair to prove a remark-
ably fine crop. ;
PENNSYLVANIA.—York: Benefited by the wet weather.
MAryLANnp.—-Howard: Good planting season and growing weather have favored the
crop. Prince George’s: The promise, August 1, of a full crop has been disappointed,
owing to constant rains. Charles: The rainy season has seriously injured the prospect.
St. Mary’s: Greatly damaged by late heavy rains. Calvert: Continuous rains have
stopped the growth, and drowned out a considerable area. Montgomery: Crop will be
large if frost does not destroy it.
ViRGINIA.—Powhatan : Prospect of the largest crop ever grown from the amount
planted. Caroline : Favorable weather will make the crop considerably over an aver-
age. Pittsylvania: Quality injured by continued wet. Cumberland: Very promising
at present, but fears of “frenching” from excessive wet. Spottsylvania: Doing well.
Chesterfield: Much planted, and generally of good growth and color. Louisa; Injured
by rains, though looking unusually well. Madison: Very promising till recently, but
injured by excessive rains. Surry: Promising. Transylvania : Looking very well.
Amelia: Very fine. Charlotte: On well-manured lots heavy, and in a fair way to make
a heavy yield. Halifax : Greatly damaged by floods, hail-storms, and shedding of bot-
tomleaves. Lunenburgh: Very promising. Craig: Better than for several years. Meck-
lenburgh: Seriously affected by the long-continued rains. Orange: A continuance of
the present fine weather will insure a large crop of superior quality. Rockbridge: Do-
ing well, but needs sunshine. Fluvanna: Very large, and as yet no fire in it.
NortH CARoLina.—Person: Seriously hurt by long-continued rains. Caswell: Seri-
ously damaged by continued wet. Davie: Injured in low lands by wet weather.
rh at Has too much sap to make it strictly fine. Alamance; Except on wet ground,
very fine.
Frortpa.—Gadsden : The crop of Cuba tobacco is measurably housed, and is superior
in quantity and quality to any since the war.
ALABAMA.—Crenshaw : Doing well.
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Helped by recent rains. Washington: Improved by the wet
weather.
TENNESSEE.—Robertson: Has been damaged by rains, but the increased acreage will
bring the product to nearly an average. Trousdale: Has been injured very much by wet
weather, in frenching, and is late; but with favorable September will be 10 to 20 per
cent. above 1873. Obion: Damaged by wet weather, yet pretty good. Montgomery :
Cutting the early-planted. Greene: Uneven. Dickson: Large crop; not as heavy in
leaf as usual; very forward, and now being cut. Macon: Needs rain. Wilson: Greatly
benefited by the recent dry weather.
Wesr VirGinta.—Mercer: Too much rain.
Kenrucky.—Adair: A great deal of the crop destroyed by rains. Cumberland : Will
yield but a poor crop of inferior quality. Warren: The season fine and the crop much
improved thereby. Callaway: Will be light in weight; small on all bottom-lands
and a good deal frenched. Grayson: Was seriously damaged by the wet weather, but
358 :
owing to increased area will yield a full average in pounds,’ but notin quality. Logan:
Injured 20 to 25 per cent. by the wet weather, causing it to drown out on bottom
and french on uplands, Jaylor: Badly damaged by rain in July and first part of
August; now suffering from drought. Clinton: Materially injured by the rains; some
crops lost altogether. Carroll: Much shortened by drought since the 15th of August.
Graves : Seriously damaged by wet weather. Simpson: The yield per acre will not
be more than half an average. Gallatin: Now being prematurely cut to save the
crop from firing and becoming a total loss. Owen: Injured by the rains. Hardin:
Promised yield of 60 per cent. Metcalf: Not more than half a crop. Monroe:
Greatly damaged by frenching, being lost in the weeds, and on the streams washed off
or overflowed. Russell: Do not think one plant in ten will make good tobacco.
OuI0.—Miami: By far the largest crop ever grown. Monroe: The crop will be
about half that of 1873. ;,
Inpiana.— Dubois: Cutting going on, and the crop curing well.
ILLINOIs.—Johnson : Will be better than anticipated a month ago. Pope: Looks
well, but is late, and consequently will be light. Zfingham: Injured by water. Mas-
sac: Badly injured by rains; one-fourth frenched.
Missour1.—Macon: Good. Chariton: Fine on dry lands. Boone: Badly frenched ;
that not so affected is good. Harrison: Very fine; a large yield. Lincoln: Doing
finely since it ceased raining; flattering prospect for a crop good in quantity and
quality. Maries: Extra fine, but a hail-storm has swept over a part of the county and
nearly ruined the crop. falls: Fully up to an average crop.
OREGON.—Clackamas: A good crop.
SUGAR-CANE.
Thirty-six counties in Georgia report an average of 80; the crop
was here considerably affected by drought in some counties. Fourteen
counties in Florida average 79, with considerable injury from drought.
Seventeen counties in Alabama reach 88, the earlier drought being
partly recompensed by later rains. Thirteen counties in Mississippi
stand 9 per cent. above average, with an increasing area. Pine-lands
well fertilized and cultivated produce excellent and remunerative crops
in some counties. Nine parishes in Louisiana return an average of 88;
and 19 in Texas average 80. ‘The difficulty in both these States was
lack of rain, especially in the earlier part of the season.
GrorGiaA.—Dooly : A fine crop anticipated. Liberty: Suffered to some extent from
drought. Jefferson: The rains were in time to benefit the cane. Terrell: Benefited
by the rains. P
Fioripa.—La Fayette: Badly injured by drought. Columbia: Much injured by
drought, but will improve with favorable weather.
ALABAMA.—Crenshaw: Improving since the rains. Covington: Recent rains are
bringing out the crop fast, and the promise is fine. Butler: Considerably injured by
the drought.
MIssIssIpP1.—Wayne: Acreage increases every year. Our poor pine-lands, well fer-
tilized and cultivated, produce excellent and remunerative crops.
Lovuisiana.—Fapides : Improving every day. Saint Mary’s: A show for three-
fourths of a crop.
Trexas.— Upshur: Doing well. Wood: Greatly revived by recent rains. Jasper:
Has been too dry for sugar-cane.
SORGHUM.
In the valleys of the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers the promise
of sorghum is considerably above average. The highest figures for con-
dition are, in Arkansas and Mississippi, 114; Kansas and Nebraska,
110; Tennessee, 105. These figures show a decided advance. In August,
Missouri fell from 106 to 103. Texas rose from 82 to97; Alabama, from
94 to 99; Lowa, from 84 to 95. There was a similar improvement in the
Ohio Valley. In Kentucky, from 91. to 95;.Ohio, 94 to 101; Indiana,
89 to 93. Owing to frosts, Illinois fell from 99 to 95 ; Wisconsin, 102 to
43; Minnesota, 89 to 79. On the Atlantic coast, Delaware and Georgia
return 100; Maryland, 104; Virginia, 91; North Carolina, 98; South
Carolina, 105.
359
FRUIT.
The season was disastrous to most of the fruits. Insect-injuries were
small in extent, though a considerable variety of these pests is reported
in different parts of the country. The meteorological conditions, how-
ever, were very unfavorable in many States. The recurrence of severe
winter temperature, after the late opening of spring, with subsequent
heavy frosts, caught the fruit-buds in a critical condition and wrought
great destruction. Thesevere winter had previously killed a great num-
ber of trees, and thus, from a series of unfortunate circumstances, the
fruit-yield was greatly curtailed, while those localities which measurably
escaped often found the high prices of transportation a serious hin-
derance to the disposal of their crops in the destitute’ portions of the
country.
APPLES.—Only one State, Texas, 102, reports a full average crop of
apples. Arkansas, 99, nearly approximates an average, but all the
other States fall below—no report being received from Rhode Island;
Maine, 48, reports injuries from tent-caterpillars in a few counties, and
a considerable decline from even the low figure of July ; Connecticut,
54, has not done much better. In some parts of Vermont apples have
dropped considerably from the trees, greatly reducing the high average
previously reported to 65; New Hampshire, 74, has also declined, while
Massachusetts, 90, reports improvement; New York, New Jersey, and
Delaware promise about two-thirds of a crop, while Pennsylvania will
discount half of hers. The marked failure is with the early fruit in
some counties, while in others fall-apples are equally scarce. Some
counties of Maryland had an abundance of apples for home-consump-
tion. The yield ran low in Virginia, 58; North Carolina, 47; and South
Carolina, 33; Georgia promises about three-fourths of a crop. In many
isolated localities there will be an ample local supply, with limited facil-
ities for marketing. The April freeze was felt as far South as Central
Georgia. The Gulf States range from three-quarters average to over
average in Texas. Several localities in this region, well situated for
market, have secured profitable crops. In the Southern inland States,
except Arkansas, nearly average, the condition is about half average.
In several counties the fruit rotted on the trees to a considerable extent.
North of the Ohio River the condition ranges from 32 in Indiana to 66
in Michigan. The adverse meteorological conditions appear to have
been especially severe in this region. West of the Mississippi the con-
dition is generally better, except in Kansas, where grasshoppers injured
the trees as well as destroyed the fruit. The condition ranges from 30
in Kansas to 83 in Minnesota and Nebraska, where the fruit, not being
so far advanced as in more southern regions, escaped the reaction of
winter temperature in April.
PEACHES.—The crop of peaches in New England is considerably
above average in those limited areas where it is grown; New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut average 105. No reports from
the other States of this section have been received. In the peach-grow-
ing region of the Middle States the crops have been large, especially in '
New Jersey, 97, and Delaware, 112, and Maryland, 102; but New York,
88, and Pennsylvania, 41, embrace large areas not favored by such good
conditions, and consequently report very low averages. It is noticeable,
however, that the counties in New York reporting average crops are
mostly in the central portion of the State, and not geographically con-
nected with the peach region of New Jersey. The Atlantic coast re-
ports low averages—Virginia, 30; North Carolina, 16; South Carolina,
360
18; Georgia, 85. In Walton County, Georgia, it is stated that crops
near the water are failures. The Gulf States show a better condition—
Mississippi, 108; Louisiana, 98, and Alabama, 87, taken together, will
not fall greatly below average; but Florida, 59, and Texas, 43, promise
only half crops. Of the Southern inland States, Arkansas, 106, sharply
contrasts with Tennessee, 25; West Virginia, 32, and Kentucky, 22.
The case is still worse north of the Ohio River—Ohio, 8; Michigan, 18;
Indiana, 24; Illinois, 14. The crops of Mississippi Valley, it will be
‘seen, have generally suffered most from unfavorable weather. Missouri
and Kansas promise about half crops. The Pacific coast has fared but
little better—California averaging 26 and Oregon 72.
GRAPES:—The grape has attained higher condition than either apples
or peaches. In-New England the crop was late, but in many places it
did well. The State averages range from 82 in Vermont to 106 in
Connecticut. Delaware is full average, but the other Middle States
range somewhat lower. The wet weather of the latter part of summer
produced rot and mildew in many counties. The South Atlantic coast
ranges from 98 in Maryland and South Carolina to 84 in Virginia.
Several counties of this region report that grapes are their only success-
ful fruit-crop. The Scuppernong in North Carolina and southward, as
usual, is a success. Of the cultivated grapes, the Concord has probably
done well wherever it has had proper culture. In the Gulf States the
condition is somewhat higher, approaching average on the whole; Mis-
sissippi and Louisiana being above and the other. States nearly equal
to average. Arkansas, where the Scuppernong is grown, is again in
sharp contrast to the other inland Southern States, being 11 per cent.
above average, while they range from 12 to 30 per cent. below. Rainy
weather caused much loss from rot in many counties. North of the
Ohio River the State averages range from 53 in Wisconsin to 88 in
Michigan. Complaints of rotting came from various quarters, induced
by the very heavy rains, while in other localities the fruit ripened re-
markably well. West of the Mississippi River the State averages are
between 60 in Kansas and 93 in Iowa. The grasshoppers injured the
vines in the early part of summer in some places. A better condition
is noted in the northern part of this region than in the southern. The
Clinton and Concord are well reported in Dixon, Nebraska. On the
Pacific coast the condition is but 2 per cent. below average, while many
places had a plethora of cheap frait. Oregon reports 82, grapes being
injured in some places by extreme heat.
Martne.—Piscataquis: Nearly a failure. Oxford; Apples were spoiled by the cater-
pillar in spring. Sagadahoc: Apples almost a failure. Waldo: Apples almost a fail-
ure. York: Apples few, but fair. Androscoggin: Apples almost a failure, owing to
few blossoms and destruction by caterpillars. }
New Hampesuire.—Rockingham: Small crop compared with lust year. Stafford:
While the condition is 100, the product is far below last year.
VERMONT.—Orleans: Apples dropping from the trees; codling-moth at them; and
they are wormy. Franklin: Apples half a crop. Addison: Apple-crop light. Grand
fsle: Apples less than half crop.
MAssacHusETrs.—Plymouth : The crop of apples very small.
ConNECTICUT.—Litchjield : The condition of apples good, but the yield will be less
than average. Grapes late, but look well. New London: But few apples.
New Yor«K.—Queens : Apples falling from the trees in great quantities, and the con-
dition inferior. Grapes but half acrop. Ontario: Fruit scarce. Sullivan: Generally
promises little more than half a crop. 4
New Jersey.—Atlantlic: Grapes have rotted in some localities badly. Peach-crop
abundant. Camden: Grapes mildewed and rotted badly during the extremely wet
weather. Warren: Apples a very light yield, and very good condition.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Northampton: Grapes abundant. Wayne: Drought in June and
July caused apples generally to fall off. Cambria; Little if any fruit in the county.
361
Clearfield: Very few apples,and no peaches. York: Grapes suffering from too much
wet. Beaver: Fruit a failure. Bucks: Early fruit, almost a failure; “‘Smith’s cider”
the only fallapple. Fayette: Very large yield. Crawford: Neitlter apples nor peaches ;,
but few pears. Sullivan: Very rarely so poor a crop of apples. Washington: Scarcely
any fruit except grapes. Lycoming: Very few apples.
DELAWARE.—Sussex: The almost incessant rains for the past month have rendered
what we had of the peach-crop worthlessin market, ent: The peach-crop abundant,
but of little profit to the growers.
MAryLAND.—Prince George: Fruit very fine, excepting the almost worthless Hale’s
Early peach; a full crop of grapes, but in my neighborhood, when about to ripen, the
skin splits and the juice exudes, ruining most of them. Dorchester: Apples and peaches
in abundance. Baltimore: All kinds good in quality and more abundant than was
expected. Wicomico: Very large crops of apples, peaches, and grapes, and, except
peaches, never better in quality.
VirGinia.—King and Queen: Many apples; no peaches and few grapes. Rockbridge:
Grapes haverotted very much. Scott: Apples and peaches almost a failure, and grapes
a short crop. JVestmoreland: Peaches have rotted on the tree; grapes injured by the-
long rains. Page: Entite failure, except grapes. Pittsylvania: Grapes rotting. Cum-
berland: Apples falling from the trees in great quantities. Madison: Apples of good
quality, but the crop very small; peaches of fair quality, but scarce; grapes abundant
and excellent. Amelia: The few apples left by the frosts of April are in most excel-
lent condition; no peaches; grapes have suffered from wet. Bedford: Killed by frost,
except grapes, which are rotting badly. Charles: Apples are much injured, and the
peaches all killed by frost. Henrico: The grape-crop will be seriously injured by the
wet. Highland:.Apples and peaches almost a failure.
Nortu Carouina.—WMecklenburg: Apples and peaches a failure; grapes injured by
rain. Transylvania: Apples are doing well. Wilson: The Scuppernong and the Con-
cord grapes are doing very well, especially the former. Anson: Apples and peaches
a total failure. Bladen: Complete failure in all kinds except grapes. Caldwell:
Peaches a full crop in some parts and a total failure in others. Madison: Cultivated
grapes are a success, and the wild. varieties more plenteous than for many years.
SouTH CaROLINA.—Lexington: Scuppernong grapes are fully up to average in quan-
tity and quality. Clarenden: Grapes badly rotted, especially small varieties.
GEORGIA.— Dooly: Apples destroyed by freeze in April. Grenada: Fruit-crop very
abundant; more so than for years. Walton: Apples falling from the trees, and apples
and peaches both failures near the water.
FLoRIDA.— Gadsden: The crop of Scuppernong grapes is very fine.
ALABAMA.—Greene: The fruit-crop all it could be under the most favorable circum-
stances. Montgomery: Apples, peaches, and grapes have done well. Randolph: Apples
scarce; white peaches abundant; grapes plentiful and fine.
Mississipp1.—Lafayette: Our fruit-crop is very large. De Soto: Have sold several
thousand dollars’ worth of apples, peaches, pears, and grapes.
Louisrawa.— Union: All kinds have done well.
Trexas.—Dallas: Fine; particularly peaches. Somervell: Peaches an abundant
crop. ed River: All kinds in great abundance, and of extra gvod quality. Tyler:
Peaches and figs abundant. erie
ARKANSAS.—Garland: Peaches and grapes have done well, better than for five
years. Early apples did well, but late will fall short. Stone: All kinds greatly dam-
aged by the late frosts; not over half acrop. Arkansas: All kinds abundant. Wash-
ington: About half a crop of apples and peaches; good in quality. Montgomery: Fruit
plenty ; apples fair and large. fulton: A fair crop of all kinds, but apples in some
orchards affected with ‘speck rotting.”
TENNESSEE.—Lincoln: Apples and: peaches almost a failure. Sevier: A few apples
but no peaches. Morgan: Grapes badly injured by continuous rains from June to the
11th of August. Greene: Apples few; peaches fewer. . Grapes a large crop, but rotted
to some extent. Dickson: Almost a failure of all kinds except grapes and plums.
Sequatciie : Apples rotting before ripening.
WEST VIRGINIA.— Grant: Grapes have suffered extremely from rot. Jackson: No
apples and peaches. Brooke: Apples, pears, and peaches a failure; grapes large and
fine, but some complaint of rot. Sraxton: No fruit. Summers: Apple and peach
crops failures.
KENTUCKY.—WMontgomery: Apple and peach crop an entire failure. Benton: Injured
by heavy rains. Callaway: The few peaches on the trees nearly all dropped oft, and
apples are rotting on the trees.
Outo.—foss: A failure, except grapes, which are a fair yield in some localities, but
a total failure in others from freeze in April and from mildew. Ashland: No apples or
peaches. Geauga: Apples and peaches a failure; grapes a fair crop. Lucas: Apples
from one-third to one-half a crop in good condition. Mahoning : Grapes nearly a fail-
ure, owing to rot. -dthens: Apples and peaches an entire failure. Grapes greatly in-
jured by frost, wet, and drought.
362
MICHIGAN.—Calhoun: Apples not more than 75 per cent. of a crop. Grapes late,and
not a large crop. Lapeer; Light crop of apples. Manistee: What fruit escaped the
June frosts and July hail is doing well, but “few and far between ;” codling-moth
damaging apples some, but less than usual. Shiawassee: Smallest crop of apples ever
known. Peach-trees killed. Saginaw : Not one-twentieth of acrop. Agreat many of the
trees dead and dying. Tuscola: Apples not plenty, but fair. No peaches. Grapes
promise fair. Wayne: Apples nearly a failure. Grapes affected with yellows in some
localities. Oltawa: Apples not more than half acrop. No peaches. Grapes half a
crop. Saint Joseph: Not half enough apples for home consumption. Branch: Apples
a light crop but fine in quality. :
INDIANA.—Franklin: Few such failures of apples and peaches in forty years. Floyd:
Not a bushel of apples or peaches; grapes badly rotted. Dearborn: Fruit a complete
failure, except some grapes. Howard: No apples or peaches. Hendricks: Fruit an
entire failure. Grant: No apples or peaches, and but few grapes. Washington: Ap-
ples about one-twentieth of a crop; no peaches. AMuwmilton: Apples a failure; no
peaches ; small crop of grapes. ;
ILuiNois.— Pike: Grapes good. Mudison: Apples half crop.in quantity but good in
quality; peaches killed in the winter; grapes, chiefly Concord, rotting partially.
Johnson: Grapes rotted before they matured. Clinton: Not many apples or psaches.
Pope: A half crop of apples, but rotting on the tree. Clark: But few apples or peaches ;
grapes above average. Piatt: No fruit. Bureau: Apples less thana fourth of a crop;
grapes fair. Menard: Grapes rotted badly. Putnam: Apples less than one-fifth of
a crop. Sulton: Apples very scarce, but the few doing well; grapes badly rotted.
Macon: Grapes still affected by rot. Sangamon: Apples scarce; no peaches; grapes
ripening up well. Warren: Grapes have rotted to the extent of 33 per cent.
. Wisconsin.— Walworth: Fruit a failure. Dodge: Will be one-fourth of a crop of
apples, and half a crop of grapes if no more injury by frost.
lows.—Harrison : Apple and grape crop not large, owing to the grasshoppers last
year, but the fruit is fine. Scott: Condition of applies and grapes good, but the yield
far below an average. Benton: Grapes destroyed by hail. Fremont: Fruit destroyed
by a terrific storm of hail and wind.
MIssouRI.—Gasconade ; Half the grapes lost by wet weather. Chariton: Grapes in-
jured by mildew; small crop of apples and peaches. Harrison: Apples fins but not
so numerous as some years; peaches scarce; grapes fine and plenty. Platte: Apples
almost a failure, and the few greatly injured by insects. Clay: Apples and ‘peaches
reduced by the hard winter, and the remainder destroyed by grasshoppers, which en-
tirely destroyed the grapes. DeKalb: Small crop of apples and peaches.
Kansas.—Linn: Grapes were destroyed in most localities by grasshoppers. Osage:
Grapes good but few in number. Anderson: Grapes and apples almost a failure.
NEBRASKA.—Dixon: The Clinton and Concord grapes hang full of clusters. Pawnee :
Destroyed by grasshoppers in the spring.
CaLtForNiIA.—San Bernardino: An abundance of apples; next to no peaches.
OREGON.—Grant: A failure, owing to a heavy freeze May 23. El Dorado: The
grape-crup injured to some extent by the hot weather.
BEANS.
The bean-crop is nearly if not quite average, on the whole, the varia
tions below or above being small. The State averages range from 112
in Nebraska to 71 in Wisconsin. The States full average or above were
Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Tennessee, Kansas, and Nebraska. These embrace the largest bean-
raising States. The others are below average, but their deficit is in
most cases very small.
HOPS.
New York and Wisconsin, which together produce from three-fourths
to four-fifths of the hops of the United States, have largely increased
their acreage, the former 10 per cent., and the latter 7 per cent. Kansas
has also engaged largely in hop-raising, having increased her acreage
50 per cent. this year in the counties reporting. An increased acreage
is also noted in Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, and Iowa, the
increment of the last named being 14 per cent. New Hampshire, Dela-
ware, and Kentucky maintained their last year’s area, while the other
hop-producing States fell off.
363
New York and Kansas report the highest condition, 10 per cent. above
average. Maine, New Hampshire, ‘Delaware, West Virginia, Ohio,
Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, and Oregon, are fullaverage orabove The
other hop- producing States are below average, ranging “from 99 i in Penn-
sylvania to 83 in Minnesota.
HAY AND PASTURES.
The rains injured a large amount of hay by delaying the cutting beyond
the proper time, and still larger quantities by damages between cutting
and securing. But they had a compensating effect in producing extraor-
dinary second crops, which have generally been secured in good con-
dition. The grasshoppers in some localities were especially destructive
upon timothy; but such injuries were compensated by crops of prairie
and other wild grass, almost unprecedented in quantity and of unusu-
ally good quality. The hay-product in that section is, therefore, not
only very large compared with last year, but above average.
Our returns show that the practice of providing against the danger of a
deficiency in the ordinary crop by sowing millet and Hun garian grass is
on the increase, and with very favorableresults. In Lauderdale, Alabama,
large quantities of both kinds were sown, producing excellent crops weil
secured. In Fayette, Mississippi, a large area of millet yielded a very
heavy crop. An unusual quantity was grown in Independence, Arkan-
sas, and in Newton it is superseding oats. In Tennessee, Bledsoe ©
reports that large crops were raised, producing more to the acre than
anything else; and Morgan, that it is *‘ the only product the farmers can
boast of,” yielding 34 to 4 tons to the acre. In Saginaw, Michigan, a
quantity three times greater than ever before was sown, with the best
results in yield and curing. In Missouri, Clay harvested very little
timothy or ‘clover, but * millet and Hungarian grass were substituted,
and did well;” in Cass, where the hay-crop was destroyed by grasshop-
pers, millet yielded a first-rate crop. Vernon produced greater crops of
millet and Hungarian grass than ever before, the farmers taking the
hint from the fact that grasshoppers, chinches, and drought had con-
spired to almost entirely destroy timothy and other tame grasses the
previous season. ‘Holt met the destruction of timothy by grasshoppers
in the same way; and Maries saved, in good condition, a very fine crop
of Hungarian grass. In Wyandotte, Kansas, a heavy crop of these
grasses was produced; and in Leavenworth, where timothy and clover
were totally lost, they were raised in sufficient quantities to bring the
figures for hay up to 110.
The States returning a product of timothy larger than last year are,
Maine, 107; North Carolina and California, 106; Arkansas, 109; Ten-
nessee, West Virginia, and Indiana, 103; Kentucky and Towa, Ss
Ohio, 105; Wisconsin, 101; Nebraska, 126. The relative decrease is
greatest in New Jer Sey, 63’; Massachusetts and Connecticut, 72; and
Kansas, 77. Other States range between 79 and 100 per cent. of last
year’s crop.
The only States in which the condition of timothy, when harvested,
was above average are, North Carolina, 103; Mississippi, 104; Arkan-
sas, 106; and Oregon, 101. In Vermont, Wisconsin, and Kansas it
was average. It was lowest in Illinois, 64. Indiana was 74; Ohio, 77;
other States from 80 to 99.
The States returning a product of hay of all kinds equal to last year’s
are North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Michigan. The crep was
greater in Maine, 109; Mississippi, 118; Louisiana, 126; Arkansas, 120;
3A
364
Tennessee, 111; West Virginia, 103; Kentucky, 114; Ohio, 106; Illi-
nois, 101;.Wisconsin, 107; Iowa, 112; Missouri, 105; Kansas, 149;
Nebraska, 142; it was most reduced in New Jersey, 63, the next in
order being Maryland and California, 69; Delaware, 76; Virginia, 80;
New York, 83; Pennsylvania, 84. In the remaining States the extremes
are 93 and 99. Reports from all the States, averaged, make the whole
product about 5 per cent. less than last year. It is probable that the
surplus of other forage-products will fully make up this deficiency.
Marne.—Piscataquis: A bountiful crop; 20 per cent. above that of last year. Aroos-
took: Large yield but poor quality, owing to wet weather. Oxford: Good and well
secured. York: Considerably injured on low ground. Androscoggin: More than last
year; secured in fair condition.
Nrw HampsHire.—Cheshire: An abundant crop of rowen, sufficient to make the
forage of all kinds fully up to an average. Strafford: While the quantity of timothy,
compared with last year, is 80, the quality is at least 110. ;
VERMONT.— Orleans : A full crop secured. J’ranklin: Nearly an average yield. TRut-
land: Good crop. Windsor: The first crop of hay less than average, but is supple-
mented with the largest second crop ever harvested, and secured in perfect condition.
Caledonia: More second crop than in any previous years.
MASSACHUSETTS.—Plymouth:; The wet weather in July and August has secured a
large second crop of hay.
New Yor«.—Tioga: August a wet month, and the late eut damaged. Queens >
Harvested in fine order. Madison: Less in quantity, but average or above in quality.
Steuben: Reduced by drought. Broome: Very light and much injured in gathering.
Jefferson: Secured in good condition. Orange: The lightest crop harvested in many
years. To meet the deficiency a large breadth of fodder-corn was planted and is look-
ing remarkably well. Sullivan: About half a crop.
New JEerRsEyY.—Burlington: All available second crops will be gathered. Warren =
Very light crop, gathered in good condition.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Wayne : Hay-crop light; secured in better than average condition; will
not average more than one-third of a crop,owing to drought in June and July. Armstrong:
Slightly damaged by wet harvest. Montgomery: The first crop of hay not average in quau-
tity, but never better in quality; late rains will give a large second crop. Beaver:
Better than last year in quantity, but not so well saved. Fayette: Considerably
damaged by wet weather in harvest. Crawford: The largest crop for many years.
Indiana: A very light crop, gathered in a wet condition. Sullivan: But halfa crop.
Washington : Timothy considerably damaged by grasshoppers.
MARYLAND.—Howard: Cut short. Baltimore: Clover, light; timothy, better.
ViIRGINIA.—Page: Almost a failure. Lloyd: Damaged by continued rains. ~Madison >
Very short crop. Bland: A larger crop than for some years. Pulaski: Clover damaged
by incessant rains. Wythe: Much badly damaged inthe cock. Bedford: Short; think
the second crop, if cut, would outyield the first. Craig: Very much bleached. Orange :
A short. crop of clover and orchard-grass, but the rains came in time to make a fair
crop of timothy. Charles: The clover-crop very short, but timothy a fair average.
Highland: Good. Montgomery: Injured by protracted rains; large quantities washed
away by freshets.
NortH Caroitna.—Chowan: Wet weather has much hindered the saving of good
hay. Davie: Crop injured by wet weather.
GEORGIA.— Muscogee: The rains too late for hay. Elbert: Good crop. Glynn: In-
jured by the long drought.
ALABAMA.—Lauderdale: A large crop of German millet and Hungarian grass sown,
and the hay saved is of excellent quality. Morgan: The natural grasses are unusually
tine.
Mississipri1.—La Fayette: A large area of millet sown, and a very large yield.
Texas.—De Witt: Badly set back by drought. Kaufman: In a week or two the
prairie-grass will be in fine condition for hay. Nueces: Grass growing finely. (illes-
pie: Grass for hay is growing now in fields and prairies, Victoria: Almost a failure
from the long drought. Red River: Abundant. Goliad: A short crop of hay, caused
by drought ; but the recent rains will give an autumn crop.
ARKANSAS.—Garland : Did well. Independence: An unusual quantity of millet grown
this year. Crawford: Benefited by the rains almost beyond measure.
TENNESSEE.—Bledsoe: Very fine crops of German millet, which makes more hay to
the acre than anything else. Sevier: Saved in a miscrably poor condition. Morgan >
Most of the hay damaged for the want of sunshine. The Dutch millet is the only
product the farmers can boast of. It has yielded 3} to 4 tons per acre. Greene: Grass
was good, but rain and floods ruined it largely. Wilson: Much the largest hay-crop
ever raised. Fulton: Only moderate yield. Wild or prairie grass splendid, and many
are saving hay from the woods-grass.
365
West VirGintaA.—Cabell: Badly damaged. Harrison: On bottom-lands badly sanded
and considerable loss, . Tyler: Stacks floated off by the floods. Wayne: Greatly injured
in haryest. aleigh: Better than last year 25 percent. Pleasants: Materially injured
by continued rains. Grant: Put up in damaged condition. Berkeley: Rains came too
late for the hay-crop. Jackson: A good deal damaged by water. Gilmer: All bottom-
lands were overflowed, and the hay spoiled by being sanded. Braxton: Was double
that of last year, but cured in a bleached and injured condition. Mercer: Average
crop gathered, but damaged much by rains. Upshur: Considerably damaged by the
high waters. Nicholas: Grasses ruined by the army-worm. Barbour: Damaged by
the rains; very little over half a crop saved.
Kentucky.—Callaway :. Good crop. Shelby: Muchdamaged by wet weather. Lau-
rel: Saved very wet. Grant: The product of timothy was large, but owing to wet
weather, was not harvested till late, and in poor condition. Clover-hay destroyed
before it could be gathered into the stack. Logan: Hay injured 10 per cent. by the
wet weather. Scott: An average crop, damaged 25 per cent. by the wet. Carroll:
Cloverin many cases ruined by the rains; timothy, though badly damaged, will be
above average. Spencer: Largely injured by the rains. Russell; Have saved more
than usual, but it stood too long on the ground and formed much woody fiber
Ounto.— Hocking: Badly damaged in harvest by wet weather. Henry: Timothy
never better, but injured byrain after cutting. Ross: Scarce ; $10 to $15 per ton in the
meadow. Monroe: Considerably damaged, yet the yield over a half crop. Delaware:
Both clover and timothy a good yield but got up in poor condition. Hancock: Large
crop seriously injured by the wet. Medina: Considerably injured by rains; Hunga-.
rian grass and millet were largely sown, and being later than clover and timothy, the
crops were secured in better condition. Van Wert: Timothy promised well, but the
rains damaged it ; could not be harvested till long after it was ripe. Washington: Not
more than half saved in good condition. Pike: Damaged by rains, 40 per cent. after
cutting. Scioto: Considerable destroyed by floods.
MicHIGan.—Calhoun: A light crop. Saginaw: Three times the millet ever raised
here before ; a first-rate crop, with fine weather for curing. Washtenaw’: Secured in -
good condition, and good in quality. Branch: Plenty and good; secured in good order.
InDIANA.—Franklin: Very little of the crop good. Floyd: Very light crop. Howard =
Very little clover cut, and_ timothy stood so long that it was hardly worth cutting..
Grant: Hay-crop was splendid, but the rains destroyed a large amount. Clarke: Badly
damaged bythe rains. Washington: Saved a considerable crop of grass and weeds for
hay. Clay: The meadows had long been ripe and the seed falling off before they
could be cut. Hamilton: On an average, poor stuff.
ILLINOIS.— Grundy : Damaged one-half in value by excessive rains. Pike: Most of
_the hay damaged by wet. Madison: The extraordinary rains caused a second growth
of hay, which may be considered as making up for the quality of the first. Pope: A
large amount of clover uncut; ruined by the rains. Clark: Damaged by the rainy
season. Mason: The prairie-hay will make up the deficiency in timothy. Menard =
The product large; damaged by the rains. Jersey : Turned out well. Perry : Reduced
in quantity and quality by rains. Richland: Many farmers are cutting the wild grasses.
for winter forage. Sangamon: Large product, but most of it in poor condition.
Wisconsin.— Columbia: Good. Walworth: First-rate crop. Brown: The timethy
in nearly all the old hay-fields was winter-killed, but fields of the previous year’s seed--
ing produced abundantly. Saint Croix: Cut short by dry spring andsummer. Adams ::
Timothy and marsh better than for years, and clover unusually good..:
Minnesora.—fenville: Scarce. Steele: Prairie-hay not so good as tame hay, which:
is very fine. Pope: Marsh-hay abundant and good. Nicollet: Damaged by rains..
Winona: Badly destroyed in stacks by rains and floods.
lowa.—Appanoose: Timothy very good. Decatur: Best time ever known for cutting
and curing. Marion: Turned out well, but much of it damaged by wet weather.
Pottawatamie : Abundance of grass, but so much rain that we cannot get it cured.
Missouri.—Newton: Large yield, but damaged by rain. Clay: Very little timothy
and clover harvested; millet and Hungarian grass substituted, and did will. Cass:
Millet and prairie-grass were never better, but the hay-crop destroyed by grasshoppers.
Chariton: A large crop of hay, and saved in good condition. Nodaway: Timothy about
half destroyed by grasshoppers, and injured by wet weather; later hay never better.
Caldwell: Badly injured in harvesting by rains. Moniteau : Much of the hay was lost
by the wet weather. Butler: Good crop, but damaged by the rains. Franklin: Badly
damaged by rains after cutting. Vernon: Timothy and other tame meadows were
almost entirely killed last year by drought, chinches, and grasshoppers; but there
never before was raised such a crop of millet and Hungarian grass. Lincoln: Damaged
by rain. Adair: More than last year 10 per cent., and of average quality. Dallas:
Timothy could not be saved until too ripe, owing to heavy rains. Holt: Timothy-
meadows destroyed by grasshoppers, but prairie-hay superior, and more millet and
Hungarian grass than usual. Laclede: Splendid. Maries: Was extra-good, but late
harvested; the finest Hungarian grass ever raised, saved in good time and condition.
366
Ralls: Timothy suffered much from wet weather. Worth: Timothy injured by the
grasshoppers eating off the leaves. enton: Prairie-hay better than for ten years;
timothy destroyed by wet weather. Henry: Timothy-meadows almost destroyed by
grasshoppers, but the wild and prairie grasses excellent.
Kansas.— Dauphin: Clover and timothy nearly all destroyed by grasshoppers; prairie-
grass as good as ever, but not much left in the county. Jranklin: Most of the timothy
was destroyed by the grasshoppers; nothing can exceed the growth of our prairie-
grass; much of the “blue-stem” is 6 to 8 feet high. Neosho: The wild prairie-grass is
immense; blue-stem, over large tracts of valley-land, is higher than the head of a man
riding through it on horseback. Linn: Prairie-grass was never known better. Dickin-
son: Prairie-hay being put up in large quantities. Douglas: Promise of one of the
heaviest crops ever harvested. Cherokee: Splendid, and large quantities being put up.
Butler: Have sometimes seen the prairie-grass heavier, but the quality never was so
good. Ellis: Very heavy crop. Leavenworth: The large amount of millet and Hun-
garian grass raises the hay up to 110, in spite of the entire loss of timothy and clover.
Wyandotte: Hungarian millet a heavy crop. Osage: The quantity of wild grass double
that of last year, and of the best quality. Washington: Thousands of tons of blue-
ei will be put up; ean winter our stock, and that in the grasshopper counties of
ssouri.
NEBRASKA.— Vebster: Very heavy. Clay: Will be plenty. Madison: Hay from
prairie-grass the best for years. Antelope: Hundreds of tons lost by rains, but grass
plenty, and, with good weather, more than an average crop will be secured. ;
_ CALIFORNIA.—Del Norte: Haying finished; good condition and heavy product. San
Bernardino: Hay in abundance, chiefly alfalfa.
STOCK-HOGS,
The number of stock-hogs kept for fattening is generally below that
of last year, the only States reporting an equal number being Vermont,
North Carolina, and Oregon. As last year witnessed a considerable
reduction from its predecessor, the present report does not indicate any
superabundance of swine in the country. The New England States
show but a slight diminution, except in Massachusetts and Connecticut,
where the deficiency will probably be about 10 per cent. The Middle
States fall below last year, from 2 per cent. in Pennsylvania to 7 per
cent. in New Jersey. The South Atlantic States, except North Carolina,
are deficient from 2 per cent. in Maryland to 10 per cent. in Virginia.
The Gulf States come short from 1 per cent. in Florida to 13 per cent.
in Louisiana. In the inland Southern States the deficiencies run from
‘6 per cent. in West Virginia to 21 per cent. in Tennessee. In the great
pork-producing States north of the Ohio River and west of the Missis-
sippi, there is a very considerable reduction, Ohio and Indiana, 13 per
per cent.; Michigan, 8 per cent.; Illinois, 15 per cent.; Wisconsin and
Minnesota, 4 per cent.; Lowa, 10 per cent.; Missouri, 31 per cent.; Kansas,
47 per cent.; and Nebraska, 21 per cent. The destruction of feed-crops
by grasshoppers caused a heavy export of hogs from the last two States,
and the same influence was considerably felt also in Missouri. On the
Pacific coast, California falls 5 per cent. short of last year, and Oregon
2 per cent. No State reports an increased number. The average con-
dition as to size and weight also shows a decline from last’ year, but
not to so great an extent as the number. Oregon is the only State that
reports an improved condition, and that of only 1 percent. The States
reporting a condition equal to last year are, Connecticut, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia. The New England States gen-
erally are nearly up to last year, the greatest deficiency, 4 per cent., being
in Massachusetts. Of the Middle States, New York comes short but 1
per cent. The South Atlantic States also show small deficiencies,
that of Georgia, 4 per cent., being the greatest. The Gulf States fall
off from 2 per cent. in Florida to 11 per cent. in Louisiana; the inland
Southern States from 2 per cent. in West Virginia to 9 per cent. in Arkan-
sas and Kentucky; the States north of the Ohio River from 2 per cent.
367
in Ohio to 8 per cent. in Wisconsin; the States west of the Mississippi
River from 4 per cent. in Minnesota to 19 per cent. in Kansas. On the
Pacifie coast California is 5 per cent. short, and Oregon 1 per cent. in
advance of last year.
INSECT-INJURIES.
Our statistical correspondence, while indicating the usual variety of
injurious insects in different parts of the country, gives welcome evi-
dence of the fact that the range of destructive influence, on the. whole,
has been much narrower than in former years, the losses inflicted being
quite inconsiderable in the aggregate. The Colorado beetle has reached
New England, but its severest ravages were felt in the Middle States,
Maryland, and Virginia. In the West it was comparatively innocuous.
The dreaded grasshopper of the transmississippi region seems to be
perishing from the assaults of parasites; its demonstrations of destruc-
tive power were far less formidable than last year. The grass army-
worm, or something resembling it, was especially destructive of the oat-
crop in Ohio and a few counties of adjacent States. The dreaded chinch-
bug made its power felt in only a few localities. Cotton-insects were
heard of in but few places, and their ravages were too trifling to affect
the general yield of the crop in any degree worthy of mention. Fruit
and grain insects were very sporadic in their manifestations, doing but
little general damage. A few unknown insects are noted which, upon a
fuller description, will probably be identified with well-known species.
The following is a brief summary of the county reports:
COLORADO BEETLE, (Doryphora decem-lineata.)—A single county in
New England (Cheshire, New Hampshire) reports the presence of this
insect with, however, but slight damage. In New York, a light visita-
tion is noted in Oneida, Queens, Schenectady, Washington, Saratoga,
Wyoming, Genesee, Jefferson, Rockland, Otsego. In some cases they
were far more numerous in village-gardens than on farms. In Rich-
mond they did considerable damage. In New Jersey, Atlantic reports
serious injury, until the bugs were driven off by hand-picking and Paris
green. In Sussex, after destroying the leaves, they attacked the tubers.
In Salem and Camden they were very destructive upon late potatoes.
In Burlington they were in the roads and allover the farms. In Mercer
the perfect insects were but lightly affected by Paris green, but were
easily shaken off into pans and destroyed; the larvee, however, were
readily destroyed by the poison. In Gloucester and Warren they were
present in great numbers, being frequently no less destructive to egg-
plants and tomatoes than to potatoes. In Pennsylvania they were
troublesome in Lycoming, Beaver, Berks, Northampton, Wyoming,
Lebanon, and Northumberland. The infliction was, in many cases, very
severe, but the farmers stoutly resisted it with Paris green, hand-picking,
and other devices, and their efforts were crowned with a good degree of
success.
The beetles were very numerous and voracious in Prince George’s,
Washington, Caroline, Worcester, Baltimore, and Howard, Maryland.
They were manfully resisted and the crops measurably saved. The
heavy and frequent rains, however, washed the poison from the plants,
requiring its frequent renewal. In Prince George’s many fields were
entirely ruined. An equally severe visitation is reported in several
counties of Virginia, viz: Westmoreland, Essex, King George, Prince
William, Fairfax, Madison, and Bechanan. Some farmers were chary
in the use of Paris green, fearing its poisonous effects upon the pota-
368
toes; in such cases the crop was nearly swept. In other cases hand-
picking alone was successfully resorted to; in others, the pests were so
numerous and voracious that the most strenuous efforts were insuffi-
cient to check them.
They were numerous in some parts of Jefferson, West Virginia. One
county in Ohio, Columbiana, reports them as troublesome, and two in
Michigan, Manistee and Menomonee. They were present also in Orange
and Ohio, Indiana. In Monroe, Illinois, they covered the potato-crops.
Wisconsin reports them in Sauk, Douglas, Ozaukee, and Outagamie.
In some places the pests were fewer than last year, and in others more
numerous. They were noted in Pope, Minnesota. In Iowa, they were
less numerous in Sioux than last year, while Hancock reports a greater
number than for three years past. They are also mentioned in the re-
ports from Washington, Missouri; Montgomery, Kansas, and Washing-
ton, Nebraska. In the West the visitation was comparatively light,
while in the Eastern States it appears to be approximating its cul-
mination.
GRASSHOPPERS.—The COaloptenus femur-rubrum is noted in Sullivan,
New Hampshire, and Washington, Pennsylvania. In Craig, Virginia,
it destroyed tobacco, and was heard from in Jefferson, West Virginia,
in Belmont, Noble, and Vinton, Ohio, and in Marquette and Mecosta,
Michigan. An insect described as a ‘‘ small red-headed grasshopper”
thronged the meadows of Monroe, Tennessee, where they have been ob-
served for several years, but not so numerously before this year. A
very destructive grasshopper is reported in Lincoln, of the same State.
Two counties in Wisconsin, Dodge and Outagamie, report great
destruction, the one in wheat and the other in clover, by a species of
Caloptenus which cannot be identified from the description. In Minne-
sota the O. spretus was very destructive in several counties. They riddled
the east half of Renville and made destructive raids through the north-
east of Noble. They cut down the crops of Blue Earth 25 per cent. and
33 per cent. in Redwood. They were exceedingly numerous and de-
structive in Watonwan, Brown, Nicollet, and Cottonwood. They did
less damage in Morton, Sibley, and Lyon. They greatly damaged
cereals and fruits in Fremont and Audubon, Iowa. Nodaway, Clay,
Clinton, Franklin, Henry, Bates, and Platte, Missouri, complain of
serious injuries. In Kansas they left tokens of their mischievous pres-
ence in Bourbon, Jackson, Miami, Neosho, Shawnee, Wyandotte, An-
derson, Atchison, Brown, Johnson, and Marshall. In many cases a
threatened visitation was entirely escaped, or left but light injury behind.
In Nebraska they were more or less severe in Antelope, Cass, John-
son, Richardson, and Boone. In Hull the insects were largely destroyed
by parasites. From two to eleven worms were observed upon the body
of a single grasshopper, feeding upon their internal parts, and leaving
only an empty shell. In Furnas at least a third of the insects noticed
were infested with red parasites. This pest is evidently declining very
fast, and the earnest hopes of a cessation of their ravages expressed by
our correspondents appear to have a solid foundation in facts.
A correspondent in Le Roy, Coffee County, Kansas, reports a visita-
tion of a severity approaching that of last year. Grasshoppers here cut
the wheat in the head, devoured the corn as fast as it came up, and
stood guard over the roots. They demolished the potatoes and garden-
vegetables by wholesale, even swimming streams to find new ground to
forage on. They devoured the fruit, foliage, and even the bark of fruit-
trees. They were here also greatly infested with parasites.
CHINCH-BUGS, (Micropus [Rhyparochromus] lewcopterus.)—This insect
ae oe tak Maen ae
869
shortened oats-crops in Halifax, Virginia, and would have been very in-
jurious in Orange but for heavy rains; in Loudoun they were noted in
wheat, but notincorn. In Jefferson, West Virginia, they infested wheat
and Hungarian grass. Indiana reports them in Madison and Ohio Coun-
ties. In Illinois, Henderson, Carroll, Lake, Ogle, Cook, and Edwards
suffered considerable loss in wheat, corn, and other cereals ; in some cases
their numbersand voracity were appalling. In Wisconsin they were very
injurious to grain-crops in Juneau, Sauk, Waukesha, Dodge, Green Lake,
Iowa, Jackson, Milwaukee, Crawford, Monroe, Vernon, and Walworth.
In Washington they made their first appearance, but too late to do much
damage. In several cases the advent of cold rains saved crops from de-
struction. They were destructive also in Clayton, Lowa, as also in Noda-
way, Pettis, and Holt, Missouri. In Butler, Kansas, they swarmed in
the early season, but the later rains greatly repressed their activity; they
were present also in Franklin and brown. ‘They injured cereal-crops in
Johnson, Richardson, and Washington, Nebraska.
GRASS ARMY-WORMS, (Leucania unipuncta, prob.)—This insect ap-
peared in Lincoln, Maine, early in August, and destroyed some fields of
grain and other crops. In Newport, Rhode Island, they overran several
fields, eating all the grass and most of the cereals, including some corn-
fields. They were here fully as destructive as in 1861. They also ap-
peared in Cambria and Chester, Pennsylvania; in Frederick, Mary-
Jand; in Craig, Grayson, and Augusta, Virginia; Tucker, Randolph,
and Nicholas, West Virginia. Insects called army-worms were destruc-
tive upon the oats-crop of Ohio. In Fulton, where they had pre-
viously been comparatively unknown, they came by millions, cutting
the stalks of oats and leaving the ground covered with the grain.
Hancock lost 60 per cent. of the crop, which was also greatly injured
in Henry, Van Wert, Williams, Fulton, Montgomery, Mercer, Au-
glaize, Crawford, Delaware, Lucas, Union, Warren, Morrow, and
Adams. In Licking the general destruction of oats was supplemented
by serious injury to the corn. They cut off the leaves and head of the
oats just ready to harvest. The insect is described as resembling the
cut-worm, buta little lighter colored, being alight brown. In some cases
they attacked every green thing. In Monroe and Branch, Michigan,
they destroyed not only oats, but grass, corn, wheat, and rye. They
are reported also in Franklin, La Porte, Whitley, and De Kalb, Indiana,
and in Alexander and Ogle, [linois.
COTTON-INSECTS.—Reports of insect-injuries to the cotton-crop are
very rare. Caterpillars (Anomis xylinae, [Aletia argillacea, Hub.]) ap-
peared in Early, Georgia, and in Jackson and Columbia, Florida. SBoll-
worms (Heliothis armigera) were more numerous than for eight years
in Lowndes, Mississippi. Lice (Aphis, sp.) were troublesome in Caddo,
Louisiana. In Covington, Alabama, an insect, designated as “ gnats
or lice,” never before seen in that region, caused widespread injury.
They cause an exudation from the plant, which, on drying, leaves a
dusty powder; their punctures cause speedy death to the plant.
MISCELLANEOUS.—F ruit-caterpillars (Clisio campa) destroyed many
apples in Franklin, Oxford, and Androscoggin, Maine, and in Platte,
Missouri. Coddling moths (Carpocapsa pomonella) injured apples in
Orleans, Vermont; Manistee, Michigan; and Holt, Missouri. The borer
(Aigeria tipuliformis) injured currant-bushes in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
The grape-vine borer (4. polistiformis) was destructive in Holt, Missouri.
The weevil (Diplosis tritici) is reported in Piscataquis and Waldo,
Maine; Howard, Indiana; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Washington,
Nebraska. The curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar) greatly injured plums
3710 -
in Holt, Missouri. Cut-worms (Agrotis, sp.) materially reduced the to-
bacco-crop in New Haven, Connecticut; they were equally severe upon
the corn-crop in Saratoga and Wyoming, New York. Grub-worms
(Lachnosterna, sp.) cut down corn 25 per cent. in Dukes, Massachusetts,
besides damaging pastures considerably. Similar injuries are reported
in Washington, New York, and Vernon, Wisconsin. Lice (Aphis, sp.)
are noted in Richland, Wisconsin, and Holt, Missouri. In Morgan,
Tennessee, Some farmers were annoyed by a black worm, 14 to 2 inches
long, with two parallel white stripes upon the head; it ate the fodder
from the corn-stalks. In Catoosa, Georgia, corn was injured by a worm
penetrating the ear from the silk to the butt. A new corn-insecty
somewhat resembling a cabbage-louse, is complained of in Columbia,
' Wisconsin. It lives in the ground and gnaws the bark from the roots.
A new green bug injured heads of wheat in Dodge, Wisconsin. In Doug-
las County, of the same State, a small black bug, half an inch long, slim,
and very lively, ate potato-tops very rapidly. Slaked lime was found
an effective destroyer of the pest.
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EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
IMMIGRATION.—Chippewa, Mich.: A very large immigration of Cana-
dian farmers is settling in our county.
CASTOR-BEANS.— Vernon, Mo.: There will be at least 80,000 bushels
of castor-beans raised in the county.
MILLET VERSUS OATS.—Fulton Ark.: German millet is superseding
oats. The yield per acre, as compared with oats, is enormous.
FLAX IN KANSAS.—Bourbon: Flax has been very extensively raised
and promises well; but the heavy rains for the last two weeks have
prevented thrashing, and how it will turn out cannot yet be told. Chero-
kee: There was an unusually large acreage of flax sown, but it has suf-
fered from wet weather. The thrashing- ‘machines can hardly thrash it,
as the lint has begun to be raised. Many tields have not yet been cut.
Shawnee: The acreage of flax 50 per cent. greater than last year, but
the yield will not be as much to the acre. The grasshoppers damaged
it in the spring about 20 per cent. Nemaha: Only about 800 bushels
- of flaxseed were produced; of the 1,600 acres sown in this county, the
grasshoppers destroyed 75 per cent. The remainder did well and was
a@paying crop. Woolson: The flax-crop, which equaled the oat-crop in
acreage, has been almost entirely ruined.
FATALITY AMONG HOGS.—Horry, S. O.: A disease among hogs here-
tofore unknown in this country is sweeping some sections almost bare.
Cow-PEASE.— Gadsden, Fla.: This crop is one of the most valuable of
the South for the fattening of stock in the fall. The prospect for an
abundant yield is now as fine as I have ever witnessed.
Shelby, Ala.: An extensive and promising pea-crop, it is hoped, will
serve to partly extricate our farmers from the difficulty of a failure in
‘the corn-crop, and perhaps enable them to winter their stock.
Jefferson, Ga.: The rain set in in time to benefit the pease. In Geor-
gia the pea-crop is a very important one, being chiefly relied on for fat-
tening hogs for bacon.
Drew, Ark.: Field-peas were never before so fine.
Claiborne, La.: The field-pease crop was never better.
- WHEAT FROM THE DEPARTMENT.—Bandera, Tex.: This is the second
year with Touzelle wheat from the Department. The average yield is
30 bushels per acre. It is decidedly the best winter variety ever intro-
duced into the county. It has escaped the rust when four other varie-
ties have rusted in the same field.
Newton, Ark.: The Clawson wheat received from the Department
proves excellent. It is the finest [ever saw. One field of Fultz wheat
averaged 25 bushels per acre. The Tappahannock proves generally.
good; we do not ask for better. The farmers have set aside all other
kinds. Hulton: Tappahannock wheat is taking the lead in this county,
followed closely by Fultz; by some the latter is preferred. In these
two kinds of wheat the Department has been of great advantage to this
county. Both kinds have increased and spread rapidly, and improve on
each sowing.
ADVANTAGE FROM CANNING FRUIT.— Wicomico, Md.: The peac’-crop,
376
though most abundant, has not proved remunerative to growers, and
would have been lost had it not been for the canning of the fruit, which
has been undertaken here on an extensive scale for the first time.
CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS IN NEw Mexico.—Dona Ana, N. Mea. :
My acquaintance with this valley commenced in March, 1863. The cli-
mate made a strong and favorable impression on my mind for its dryness
and salubrity. Since then I have found that the invalid here can take
out-door exercise on at least three hundred and sixty days in the year,
and always in the bright sunshine, if so disposed. The dryness of the
atmosphere prevents the rise of malarious vapors from the ground, and
there are no swamps and marshes whence poisonous exhalations can
come.
The prevailing rain-fall is summer showers, more on the high moun-
tains and plains than in the valleys. It would be exceedingly difficult
to determine the mean annual fall for this county, except by observations
on each six square miles of territory. Some rain, perhaps snow, may be
expected during winter. The spring and fall months are almost invari-
ably rainless. Most rain falls in July. The rainy season, if we can be
said to have one, follows the summer solstice. Irrigation is an absolute
necessity to the growth of all crops; no crop is ever attempted where
the irrigating ditch does not reach. The land in this valley lies so level
it can all be bedded and flooded. The Rio Grande is almost the entire
source of supply for water in this county, and its very muddy waters ~
pour over the land at each application a rich sediment, that will render
the soil as durable as that of Egypt where flooded by the Nile. To
secure a continued increase of richness, the farmer need only turn under
his stubble and weeds, and apply such yard-manure as he can make.
The year will not average three days in which the plow cannot be
run in the cultivation of the land. I have never seen or heard of but
one day on which the mercury remained at the freezing-point through-
out the day; then three-fourths of an inch of ice formed on still water.
The fig-tree lives by the protection of a house. No apple, pear, plum,
peach, apricot, or almond tree is tender. Grapes do better if slightly
hilled up at the commencement of winter; but the tops of the most
tender foreign sorts will not kill by reason of the cold. Summer fairly
sets in by the middle of April, after which no frost need be looked for.
As the grape-buds do not generally open before the eighth, the grape-
crop is seldom hurt. Grapes are grown here in a manner almost iden-
tical with the practice at Caboul, as described in the Agricultural Re-
ports of 1860. In fact, our climate and elevation, 4,000 feet, are almost
identical with that place. Oidiwm never grows on our vines or fruit,
and the root-louse is not here. Apples, pears, and quinces have no rust-
specks on their skins, no moss or liverwort on their bark.
The first frosts are expected in October, thus giving to this valley six
months without any frost; and with our great heat, ample time is se-
cured for maturing all kinds of fruit not tropical. Corn may be safely
planted in March, and the roasting-ears picked by July 1. Alfalfa can be
cut the middle of May for green soiling, or for hay the Ist of June. It
yields five cuttings. Wheat and rye sown in October could be cut for
feed by the 5th of May, and they would ripen by the middle of June.
Pasturage in this valley is poor, no good native grass exists, and the
pasture-grasses of the States cannot thrive under our bright sun and
dry atmosphere. Dairymen would be compelled: to keep their cows in
yards, where they could be fed on cut food and have plenty of shade.
Stock-cattle and sheep are pastured on the high plains and mountains,
where they find their feed in the gramma and other grasses, the year
round. Such pasturage is only limited by distance from water.
oe
377
The mines and military posts are our only markets for surplus farm-
produce, except wool and hides. The mines are rapidly increasing,
while the posts are uncertain, variable, and decreasing, as markets.
Dona Ana County has mines of silver, copper, and lead, but none are
worked at present. The mines of Grant County are producing at the
rate of $1,000,000 a year; and to them most of our products are sold.
Freights from and to the East are conveyed six hundred miles by
wagons, and at great cost and delay, as the wagons are not unfrequently
ninety days on the road. The completion of the Texas Pacific Railway
to this valley would add much to the value of our land, increase our
comfort and population, remove our isolation, promote knowledge and
civilization, and develop all our natural resources and advantages.
Every man here is anxious to see that road completed.
The eight grape-vines I received from your Department on the 20th
January, 1874, though transplanted last December, have made reeds
eight feet long this summer; and those received in March last, single-
eye plants, have made good strong reeds from three to six feet. They
are still growing vigorously. I have great faith in their succeeding
here as well as in the gardens washed by the Mediterranean.
CROPS IN NEBRASKA.—Dixon : Our crops are the best that we have
had tor eight years. Nearly all are splendid. Farmers are in good
spirits and look for better times. Somerset oats are a success here,
but the Sandy oats fall too easily for our soil.
WASTE OF FLAX-FIBER.— Meeker, Minnesota: The culture of flax is of
considerable importance to our farmers. It is raised by all who could
obtain seed. Many who desired to cultivate it could not for want of
seed. It is cultivated wholly for the seed, no account being made of the
straw. Thousands of tons of flax-straw are annually burned or other-
wise destroyed, which, with proper machinery, could be utilized and be-
come a source of profit to both producer and manufacturer.
FLoops.— Wayne, Iowa: It has rained almost all the time since the
20th of June, taking off nine-tenths of the bridges in the county.
SPECIALTIES IN OH10.—Medina: We have splendid weather for grass,
and as dairying is the great specialty in this county, farmers would re-
joice were it not for the low price of dairy-products. But what is their
loss is the publie’s gain. Onions also are becoming a specialty in some
townships in which are reclaimed swamps, and we could not have bet-
ter weather than we are now having for that product. It is said that
they will be shipped East by cars.
PROFITABLE STOCK-GROWING.—Tippecanoe, Indiana: Pasturage is
very fine. Stock is doing well. One of our large grazers has sold off his
pasture one thousand head at 5 cents per pound gross, weighed at the
pasture.
DAMAGES IN ILLINOIS FROM EXCESSIVE RAINS.—Shelby : On our ex-
tensive river-bottoms corn-fields submerged by the floods have the ap-
pearance of stalk-fieldsin February—all dead. This is doubtless owing
partly to the fact that the corn was half torn from the roots, and partly
to the sediments that have settled upon it from the water. Over one
hundred families have lost all corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes. The lat-
ter were lost by rot. In fact, all potatoes on flat land have rotted, and
yet there will be an immense crop.
White: Our county is on the verge of distress. We have had con-
inual wet weather since early in the spring until the last sixteen days,
378
and now our corn is suffering for rain, because the roots are all so near
the top of the ground. All the corn-lands that were low have been
submerged, including some never known to be before; also much of the
wheat, oats, hay, and vegetables. Many thousands of acres of corn
have been lost by the overflow, and many more by the continuous rains.
Oats and hay were above average, but could not be saved. The county
will not be near self-sustaining.
NOTES ON RESOURCES OF MARYLAND.
Maryland is one of the smaller States, having an area, according to
Land-Office records, of 11,124 square miles, Vermont, New Hampshire,
and New Jersey being next in size on one side, and on the other Indiana
comes nearest, though three times as large, having 33,809 square miles.
Its advantages as an agricultural section are probably not well under-
stood, and therefore not sufficiently appreciated, at least by the people
of other States. Among these advantages are a medium temperature,
a healthful climate, a varied surface, soil of average productiveness,
proximity to great markets, good railroad facilities, and remarkable
abundance of water-communication. There are soils of great produc-
tiveness and durability, and the poorer lands are susceptible of improve-
ment by cheap and abundant local fertilizers, such as fish-chum, sea-
weed, and sea-ooze, oyster-shell and other lime, marl, and the fertilizing
refuse of neighboring cities brought cheaply by water-transportation.
Farms have been increased in value from five to ten fold by these inex-
pensive means, in connection with clovering, stock-feeding, etc., paying
all the time the expenses of such improvement in more remunerative
yields. Its shape is irregular, the Potomac and its north branch con-
stituting the southern and-western boundaries, while its northern line
runs west through nearly four degrees of longitude, and its eastern
through nearly two degrees of latitude, this width decreasing to a few
miles between Pennsylvania and Virginia, at a point a little west of
Harper’s Ferry, yet more than a hundred miles distant from the west-
ern boundary of the State. The range of elevation is about 3,000 feet,
giving additional variety to production and opportunity to its denizens
for choice of a sea-shore residence or a mountain retreat. The mean
temperature of the year is about 52°; the mean for January varies
from 27° to 37°, and for July from 75° to 80°. Rarely in winter does
the temperature fall to 10° above zero, though in the past ten years it
has a few times fallen a little below zero. Except in. a few undrained
locations, in the tide-water region, there is exemption from malaria, and
the general healthfulness of higher elevations surpasses that of New
England, and equals that of the most healthful districts of New York and
Pennsylvania. Indeed, the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Range, from
Maryland to North Carolina inclusive, are unsurpassed in salubrity by
any section of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. In this
respect the tide-water region will compare favorably with a large por-
tion of New Jersey, and with the State of Delaware, nearly all.of which
lies alongside of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and both between the
bays of Delaware and Chesapeake. :
——
379
METEOROLOGY OF MARYLAND.
The meteorology of the State is presented more in detail in the fol-
lowing table, which gives the mean temperature of each month of the
year in 1870 at the stations named, with the average for the year, and
similar averages for preceding years at the points at which meteoro-
logical records were kept, and also the amount of rain-fall of the same
periods:
MEAN TEMPERATURE.
Station.
February.
September.
November.
33.1
37.7
32. 8
34.2
32. 4
Average, 1870...... 39.3 | 34.6 | 40.4 | 53.4 | 64.8 | 74.6 | 78.4 | 75.8 | 67.9 | 57.2 | 46.0 34.0
1869...... 37.1 | 36.6 | 39.6 | 53.9 | 61.6 | 72.0 | 75.8 | 74.1 | 65.7 | 50.6 | 40.5 38.9
PEGOOK 23 28.9 | 26.7 } 41.3 | 48.0 | 58-7 | 70.0 |} 80.5 | 74.2 | 66.5 | 52.5 | 45.1 3152
Pebieackiasf 2ox0. |) oto | oi. oO | Oo, 4] 09, 0:1 T. 8) to.d | W.8.1068, 00h 56.4.) 4o9D0 sto
TS66.20.'66 30.2 | 33.0 | 40.8 | 54.5 | 60.7 | 73.9 | 77.0 | 69.6 | 65.6 | 56.6 | 46.8 32. 4
HOGS Sooak 27.5 | 32.1 | 46.3 | 56.3 | 63.0 | 75.5 | 75.7 | 73.9 | 74.4 | 53.4 | 46.7 36. 6
1864...... 34.0 | 34.9 | 37.9 | 49.3 | 67.9 | 70.4 | 76.1 | 78.3 | 67.1 | 52.2 | 44.7 33.9
a8G5e e242 37.2 | 35.2 | 37.6 | 47.7 | 63.5 | 67.6 | 76.7 | 78.5 | 61.1 | 55.6 | 46.6 35.3
1259... 2.2. 34,2 | 36.9 | 48.8 | 50.8 | 64.1 | 69.7 | 74.5 | 73.2 | 66.3 | 50.4 | 45.7 33. 4
985852... 38.6 | 27.7 | 39.2 | 50.9 | 59.0 | 73.8 | 77.2 | 73.2 | 6521 } 56.8 | 40.3 38.1
1657...... 21.9 | 40.4 | 38.4 | 47.5 | 61.8 | 72.4 | 74.3 | 72.5 | 66.3 | 54.2 | 42.9 38. 8
185600.-.- 21.9 | 26.1 } 33.5 | 52.9 | 62.1 | 75.0 | 78.9 | 70.1 | 66.7 | 53.8 | 43.9 31.2
ABODescae4 33. 8.| 26.2 | 39.0 | 54.7 | 64.0 | 70.8 | 77.0 | 72.6 | 67.8 | 52.0 | 46.5 35. 4
TeG40 < oe 31.8 | 35.3 | 43.0 | 51.0 | 65.7 | 72.7 | 80.0 | 76.4 | 70.4 | 57.1 | 43.2] 31.7
Se
RAIN AND MELTED SNOW.
!
. i=) iT
Db o oO
i ~ e 2 . 2
Station. = 3 a xe fs a FE & q
3S H ° s S BS Ep 3 ° S
aS pose bes bee ao) soho | oteleree Pos us
5 ey = 4 A 5 5 4 2 fo) A
Inch. | Inch. | Inch. | Inch. | Ineh. | Inch. | Fnch. | Inch. | Inch. | Inch. | Inch.
Woodlawn .......-. 4.10 |} 3,44 | 3.21 | 6.05 | 5.06 | 5.81 | 4.17 | 3.83 | 3.56 | 4.56 | 2.24
Annapolis.......-. 3.23 | 4.52 | 3.17 | 5.17 | 5.33 | 4.38 | 5.41 | 1.77 | 1.96 | 3.50 | 1.82
Saint Inigoes...... RASH OONSGM Ao 2 Se paoeeien ls cosas eteeaafeoecate feseeth a lee ae aa few amas lemme Ratner fake mete a
Wreseriek.: 02. .-'<. BUSS S400) WIT | SLAG: O6r FOI hea el tees eee Bae 4. ce Ree sabato wee ee
Mt. Saint Mary’s..| 3.78 | 3.70 | 3.38 | 5.65 | 4.37 | 9.60 | 3.50 | 3.28 | 6.61 | 1.30 | 1.83
STs ae2 = pfisiainis =] =a 5 5|2 ie aes 2 Seca eeeeel be aaa 4,20 | 4.20 | 1.6
SUM MMNIMEMEME IE etertis sabes S cole asta oasis coe mis |p auerce| susan cl ecteom laces sainceee alae mame
Average, 1870....| 3.38 | 3.49 | 2.88 | 5.58 | 4.96 | 7.64 | 4.36 | 2.96 | 4.08 | 3.39 | 1.89.
1869....| 4.35 | 4.95 | 4.89 | 2.54] 4.93 | 2.87 | 4.02 | 1.32 | 3.22 | 5.61 | 3.03
1868. ...} 3.88 | 2.35 | 3.13 | 3.45 | 6.92 | 3.46 | 3.37 | 4.69 | 7.10 | 1.58 | 5.93
_1867..--| 1.24 | 4.65 | 9.16 | 2.17 | 6.59 | 4.63 | 3.88 |12.97 | 1.50 | 4.68 | 1.96
1866....| 2.27 | 4.70 | 1.44 | 3.65 | 3.60 | 8.07 | 3.99 | 3.20 | 8,54 | 6.53 | 2.66
1865....| 3.86 | 4.26 | 6.39 | 3.15 | 6.36 | 3.78 | 6.47 | 3.04 | 1.81 | 3.78 | 4.01
1864....} 2.24 | 0.71 | 3.52 | 6.14 | 6.19 | 1.45 | 1.24] 3.61 | 3.33 | 2.35 | 3.15
1863....] 3.98 | 4.33 | 3.64 | 5.13 | 4.30 | 2.70 | 8.05 | 0.51 | 0.00 | 3.21 | 2.70
1859....| 4.69 | 3.49 | 5.42 | 5.11 | 3.50 | 3.60 | 2.50 | 2,70 | 8.40 | 2.40 | 1.70
1858....] 1.67 | 1.64 | 0.85 | 3.82 | 6.70 | 3.80 | 3.00 | 2.60 | 3.60 | 3.00 | 3.80
1857....| 2.88 | 0.68 | 1.62 | 3.12 | 6.30 | 8.30 | 4.40 | 5.90 | 1.40 | 2.40 | 1.50
1856....| 3.59 | 0.84 | 1.78 | 2.90 | 3.50 | 3,00 | 3.60 | 5.10 | 2.20 | 3.10 | 2.30
1855....| 3.28 | 2.07 | 3.62 | 1.32 | 2.60 | 5.70 | 3.20 | 5.70} 8.00 | 3.80 | 1.50
1854....] 3.79 | 4.48 | 1.94 | 5.10 | 2.98 | 3.10 | 1.81 | 1.12 | 3.25 | 2.99 | 4.42
4 A-
380
POPULATION.
‘The population of Maryland is very small in proportion to its capacity
to subsist its people, and yet it is almost as densely settied as Pennsyl-
vania, having 70 inhabitants to the square mile in 1870, while the Key-
stone State had 76. The total numbers, according to the last census,
were 780,894, an increase in ten years of 93,845. The number of the
colored class was 175,391 in 1860, and 171,151 in 1870. Of the former
number, 87,189 were slaves and 83,942 free. Tle distribution of popu-
lation is as follows, Baltimore County having 42 per cent. of the whole:
Aggregate. White. Aggregate. White.
Counties. Counties. [S| ee
1860. 1870. 1870. 1860. 1870. 1870.
Alleghany .-.-.--.--.--. 98°348.1.38, 536 | (37 Sc NM aXeNt,. <= scictemipiteeer oe 13,267 | 17,102 9, 370
Anne Arundel..-..--. 23,900 | 24,457 | 12,725 ||) Montgomery -...-.-.-..- 18, 322 | 20,563 | 13,128
BAltIMOLO- osc esos ee 266, 553 | 330, 741 | 282, 818 || Prince George’s...-.... 23,327 | 21,138 | 11,358
Calvert . 10, 447 9, 865 4, 332 || Queen Anne.......... 15,961 | 16,171 9, 579
Caroline 11, 129 12, 101 8, 343 || Saint Mary’s.......... 15, 213 |" 14, 944 7, 218
Carrolls...:2... -<--| 24,533 | 28,619 | 26, 444 || Somerset-.... --| 24,992 | 18,190 | 10, 916
CERES A aes .---| 23,862 | 25,874 21,860 || Talbot...... 14,795 | 16,137] 9,471
Charles ..-.-...- .--- | 16,517 | 15, 738 6, 418 || Washington .. .-| 31,417 | 34,712 | 31, 874
Dorchester 20, 461 19, 458 11, 902) || Wicomico! 2.5222 .25--3|5e=ss2 ee 5, 11, 396
Frederick 46,591 |. 47,572 | 39,999 || Worcester .....-...--. 20,661 | 16,419 | 10,550
Harford 93, 415 | 22,605 | 17,750 es ee Pe
Howard 13,338 | 14,150] 10, 676 Petal zveese--5 687, 049 | 780, 894 | 605, 497
|
FARM-PRODUCTION.
The State of Maryland produces a full supply of breadstuffs, and has
a small surplus to spare, of quality unsurpassed in the United States.
Hay is growing into importance, as the central, northern, and western
counties are peculiarly adapted to production of the best grasses and
of clover.* Dairying and wool-growing are profitable, and conditions
*In the western part of Alleghany “natural prairie-grass abounds ; the pastures are
usually timothy, blue-grass, and clover.” In Washington, “grasses are rich in fatten-
ing qualities; clover, lucerne, and orchard-grass flourish ; two to three tons of timo-
thy may be raised to the acre.” “Clover, timothy, and herd-grass, or red-top, form the
pastures in Montgomery, but unless a rotation of crops is practiced, or the fields top-
dressed, briers, sedge, and the ox-eye daisy or Richardson pink obtain possession ;
blue-grass is found in some pastures where the soil is good.” Baltimore county “is
not well supplied with natural grasses of good quality ; in some localities red-top and
blue-grass abound, and in many sections infericr grasses, called wild grasses, are
found.” Grass-seeds are generally sown in Harford, but “ green grass” and clover
come spontaneously. White clover, green grass, and herd-grass are found in Cecil, and
on low lands along the streams, a variety of meadow-grasses; lands lying out are oc-
cupied by a coarse kind of grass called sedge. Clover and timothy are almost exclu-
sively cultivated. Our Queen Anne reporter writes: “ On well-improved lands patches
of blue-grass root out the clover, and if let alone would soon take entire possession of
the field, but is eradicated by a corn-crop. Our meadow-lands naturally produce red-
top, wild oats, and a variety of coarse but succulent grasses, of which I do not know
the names. Our worn-out lands grow up in sedge, which supplies good early pasture.”
Our reporter in Anne Arundel County says: “ Natural grasses are almost unknown
here; crab-grass and woolly-head clover often grow, but are not adequate for pastur-
age. The soil is well adapted to clover and timothy, producing heavy crops when im-
roved.
¢ Reports from the counties estimate the average length of the pasturage-season
at about seven months, at an expense of from $1.50 to $3 per month; Montgom-
ery, six to six and a half months, at $1.50 per month; Baltimore is returned as low as
four and a half months, at about $1.50 per month; Cecil, six and a half months, at $2;
Kent, seven months, at $3; Saint Mary’s, Anne Arundel, and Queen Anne report as high
as eight months. From the latter our correspondent writes: “Where a farmer has
plenty of woodland, meadow, and old-field pasture, it costs him nothing to raise cat-
tle, as they are not put upon clover until a crop has been cut off or it begins to fall,
and they are wintered on coarse provender which they convert into manure.”—
[Monthly Report Department of Agriculture. ]
|
381
favorable to their extension exist in nearly all parts of the State. The
Eastern Shore is well known to be unexcelled for the production of
fruits and vegetables for northern markets. Grape-growing might be
an extensive and profitable industry. Tobacco is still a prominent crop,
and the reduction in quantity is more apparent than real, the heavy
tax having the effect to suppress nearly half the record of production.
The following table gives the quantities produced of the principal crops
reported in the census:
1869, 1859. 1869.
Products.
Total. Total. Per capita. | Per capita.
MRO AT occ cccewcesee bushels.} 5,774,503 | 6, 103, 480
Tee Oo 307, 089 518, 901
EBT ata sem '< ae so nes do....] 11,701, 817 | 13, 444, 922
Oi Sah eae do....| 3,221, 643 |, 3, 959, 298
SBME tone ce aias is <---- do. == 11, 315 17, 350
Buckwheat....-....-- do... 77, 867 212, 338
Tobacco\....-..----- pounds.| 15, 785, 339 | 38, 410, 965
Wool do... 435, 213 491, 511
do....} 1,632,205 | 1,264, 429
do... 218, 706 236, 740
gallons 11, 583 3, 222
pounds.| 5,014,729 | 5, 265, 295
do... 6, 732 8, 342
Bee cellos) 1,020, 101) |e co cosecn= a=
tons 223, 119 191, 744
.-- bushels 35, 040 39, 811
do... 2, 609 3, 195
pounds 2, 800 2, 943
~€025< 30, 760 14, 481
bushels 1, 541 1, 570
pounds 70, 464 63, 281
gallons 374 2, 404
Sorghum-molasses-...do... 28, 563 907
3, 439 6, 960
Oun---
118, 938 193) 354
The production of some of the more important crops is thus distrib-
uted:
Bushels of corn. Bushels of wheat. | Pounds of tobacco. Tons of hay.
1869. 1859. 1869. 1859. 1869. 1859. 1869. | 1859.
Alleghany ...---- ~-| 116, 062 161, 075 70, 404 BTS) [kote oes 2,000 | 17,263 | 12, 058
Anne Arundel ..... 560, 359 630, 243 | 126,451 | 221, 389 |. 3, 020, 955 | 6,039,910 | 2,207 1, 743
Baltimore -..-....--. 856, 754 | 1,028,143 | 264,568 | 286, 351 1, 941 8,545 | 35,791 | 30,164
Calvert .--.----.-.- 178, 409 272, 084 38, 623 | 117,119 | 3, 158, 200 | 6, 204, 524 371 740
Caroline .......---- 342, 971 247, 455 | 130, 728 Gyney Cite aes Res ae eS 1, 013 113
CaiOHoseets. 22... 716,887 | 588,725 | 427,586 | 323,996} 225,800} 608, 424 | 30,766 | 22,938
Gaelsse 2 beste... 683, 683 768) 0440 |\365,'818) |) 1ae0s GN |o- 20 e nnes = |enads eeeae 19,986 | 18, 003
Dhanleg)caacs--- 225 221,726 | 319, 272 73, 028 | 151,532 | 2, 102, 739 | 4, 693, 961 987 459
Dorchester. .-...-.. 311, 039 687,324 | 122; 460, | 218) 402 fo ee ol ee nda 884 234
Wrederick..:22-..2. 1, 360, 420 | 1, 082, 903 /1, 133, 623 | 976, 143 274, 369 387, 100 | 32,893 | 32, 078
Harford. . 2205... 659, 789 735,573 | 244,835 | 224,808 |....-......].----..---.] 16,927 | 19, 284
Howard:.---...---- 415, 719 425,727 | 128,376 | 151, 956 182, 980 400,266 | 7%, 445 6, 801
LiGGy hoe See ee 723, 824 SES; 900! | 2/473; 601i): SI2,700 Ji5es ik ee eee 23h 4286 3, 311
Montgomery ..-..--. 638, 047 686, 843 | 309,418 | 341, 087 630, 000 843, 300 | 12,735 | 13, 167
Prince George’s..--.
518,131 | 699,144] 79,706 | 312, 796 | 3, 665, 054 |13, 446,550 | 6,536] 6, 328
Queen Anne ......-
605,975 | 876,405 | 326,828 | 291,656 |.......-...|...--.-.
Saint Mary’s......- 274, 457 437, 366 | 152,630 | 296, 703 | 2,522,917 | 5,774, 975 662 923
Somerset ......---- 251, 883 606, 733 40,719 | 138, 404 14 260 736 40
Talbot --...--..--.. 515, 122 679, 571 | 302,078 | 343,514 }.-.-...-22: 1, 100 990 794
Washington ....--.-. 737, 989 669, 322 | 930,246 | 882,814 }........... 50 | 29,281 } 21,352
Wicomico. --.-.-.....-. 405) 627 Jesse os 4 23 By 10S | eee eee 5 Ui aCe Geese Bidens se
Worcester ..-.-----| 606, 944 934, 070 20, 674 40) 96 ay peed ae leita =) os Aa 28; il
Motalles 2s. 52. 11, 701, 817 |13, 444, 922 |5, 774, 503 |6, 103, 480 |15, 785, 339 |38, 410, 965 |223, 119 | 191, 744
382
‘The total value of farm-productions in Maryland is as follows:
Per capita.
Annual productions ........--.-
$95, 343 997 If eee sees 26 sy anit ve =| oe
Increase.! Decrease.
Orchard-products ......--.....-- 1, 319, 405 $252,196} 169)" ..37 | 0 ae
Market-garden products ....-..-. 1, 039, 782 530, 221 - oO Stee ee
Forest-products.......--.------. 613/200 ee yaeecee vale Pi (i Peer Geceeeeese ec. ns -
Home manufactures .-....--...- 63, 098 67, 003 08!) 109) 7-10h seeee ee eee 01 7-10
Animals slaughtered.........--. 4, 621, 418 2,821,510 | - 5.92 | . 4:130+) 2 “pe oeoeoseee
SAMITVRS STUUR e nc ee scene ace 18, 433, 698 14, 667, 853 | - 23. 60°!" 21.35.|' eee sess
Number of live-stock.
No. of horses No. of cattle. | No. of sheep. | No. of swine. | Value of live stock.
and mules. - . i. i. p- . i. 8 C. -
Counties.
1870. | 1860. 1870. | 1860.
1870. | 18€0.
Aieghany feces. eee 12, 711] 13, 133] 17, 232] 15,479} 8,065) 9,
Anne Arundel......-- 6,928} 9,854) 5,345) 7, 267) 11, 680) 16, 402
PeaiGNOLOsshoeee wos se 16, 678) 16,636) 5,511) 6,193) 18, 733) 25, 28
@alvert 3225 tees =U oes: 4,087; 6,418} 3,109} 4,111). 4,723) 10, 479
Caroline ....-.. er SON 5, 409| 3,364] 2 826] 1,218] 6,672] 4 951
Coprroles aes scenes ae 14, 476) 12,730] 5,279} 5,088) 19, 265) 23, 740
( SDA EN EA Ce : 13, 268] 15, 499] 4,579] 6,493] 9, 716] 10, 968
Chanleae se ee 6, 636] 9, 629] 3,872) 5,740) 6,978) 12, 828
Dorchester: ....-..-.--- , 988} 7, 682) 12,824) 4,401) 6,540) 8 433) 18,749
Frederick......-...--- 5} 22 095] 21,552) 9,817} 10, 389] 29, 939] 40, 548
SAVIOTM see wma ce eee: 13, 306} 15, 311) 5,612} 6,305) 11, 676) 16, 725
Mowardecse eee 6,156] 6,023] 2,516] 4,223) 8, 441] 15,626
BT ne oR no heen 32] 8 736} 9,828] 6,154] 7,563] 12, 866] 11, 346
Montgomery....-...-- 10, 139} 11, 863] 6, 812} 10, 487) 13, 267] 22, 823
Prince George’s 6, 975] 12, 183} 4,906) 8,828) 9, 045) 25, 927
Queen Anne 7, 372| 10,668] 5,373] 7,618] 9, 942] 14, 848
Saint Mary’s oe 7, 974| 11,145] 3,982] 5, 668) 11, 302} 21, 728
Somerset ...--- = 6, 120} 11, 698] 3,199} 7,220) 7, 628) 19, 236
Mal bOte snc -< 2) 6,987] 9,272) 6,044) 7,207) 9, 411) 15, 691
Washington . aed 16, 333) 18,271] 9, 268) 10, 460) 20, 212) 29, 425
PACOMICHE ee nepal yd, OV el acne. Be popleaserae a Gb) seco 8, B22) oe eee
Worcester ............ BE 9, 765} 15,340} 8, 094) 11, 668} 11, 077
99, doris ti 239
|
215, 359/253, 241/129, 697|155, aes 693)987, 756/18, 433, 698/14, 667, 853 853
VALUE OF FARM-LANDS.
The farm-lands of Maryland, returned in 1860 at 3,002,267 acres im -
proved and 1,833,304 unimproved, were valued at $30. 18 per acre. In
1870 there were reported 2 914,000 acres improved and 1,598,572
unim-
proved, averaging $37.75 per acre. The reduction is presumed to arise
rather from the abandonment of lands as farms than from incomplete-
ness of the returns. The same cause reduced the area of farm-lands
throughout the Southern States, mainly in the item of unimproved land.
The increase in value thus appears to have been 25 per cent. in ten
years, notwithstanding the changes. and disturbances of the war, in-
cluding the subversion of the labor-system. Not all sections
fared
alike in these changes. The counties that declined in farm-values are
Anne Arundel, Calvert, Prince George’s, Charles, and Saint Mary’s,
though the difference i is very slight in most of them.
The highest value is in Baltimore County, $88.98, and the lowest in
Wicomico, near the southern extremity of the peninsula. Washington,
a rich agricultural region on the Potomac, near the mouth of the She-
nandoah, a productive and well-improved county, containing farms some
ee
“ 383
of which before the war were held at $100 to $150 per acre, was returned
in 1870 at $61.58 per acre, a very high average for farm-lands, but less
than their real value in this case. The next highest value was $56.34,
in Cecil, the northeast corner of the State, a good fruit-region, very
accessible. The average in Kent, the next county southward, on the
eastern shore, was $53.74; and that in Frederick, next east of Wash-
ington, on the northern border, $53.68. Those between $50 and $40 per
acre are, respectively, Howard, Carroll, and Harford, the two former
west of Baltimore, the latter on its eastern border. Talbot and Prince
George’s are valued at very near the average for the State. The counties
having lands less valuable are, in their order, Queen Anne, Anne
Arundel, Montgomery, Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, Calvert, Saint
Mary’s, Worcester, Alleghany, Charles, and Wicomico. Alleghany has
recently been divided, the western partion being made a separate county,
under the name of Garrett.
It will thus be seen the lands of highest price are on the northern
border of the State, and those of medium and low price on the eastern
and western shores of the Chesapeake. Some of these lands are rich,
though, like the tide-water lands of the Atlantic coast generally, a large
proportion are only of moderate natural fertility. The facilities for fer-
tilization are remarkable for abundance and cheapness, marl being
abundant and near the surface, and sea-weed and fish and oyster-
shell lime everywhere accessible and cheap. The following table gives
the quantities and prices of lands, as reported by the census, with the
value of farm-implements, the latter showing a gratifying increase in
this important ameliator of human labor:
Acresimproved. | Acres unimproved. Value per acre of | Value of farm-im-
farm-lands. plemonts.
Counties.
1870. 1860. 1870. 1860. 1890.
/
Alleghany .-.-....-.. 106, 865 108, 388 197, 002 180, 817 $128, 993 $100, 395
Anne Arundel..... 140, 936 144, 211 76, 022 100, 950 ¢ 204, 962 189, 834
Baltimore......--.- 226, 040 206, 536 101, 884 113, 021 691, 153 455, 857
CRIVONG sae. - dam onuice 74, 936 81, 301 40, 047 oo, 130 40, 582 64, 354
Caroline ........... 109, 688 61, 101 61, 389 31, 606 112, 425 30, 315
(Ci) LE eee 201, 533 170, 353 56, 890 67, 145 3 454, 590 271, 805
Doeetliacs, .ct-.>-:-2 136, 432 141, 776 56, 910 65, 420 287, 988
@harles ;...-+ ..>--- 97, 745 106, 338 70, 950 76, 641 89, 009
Dorchester......--. 78,265 | 119, 445 63, 661 | 113, 482 92, 423
deriek +... =... 287,750 | 271, 998 74, 781 67, 345 441, 814
Harford..........-2 134,321} 139,051} 71,995} 80,860 268, 546
Howards 2. .2-2::-- 96,960 | 110,657] 38,120} 54,332 139, 148
PR ah a 140,013 | 132,814] 34,924] 36,614 132, 655
Montgomery ......- 162,143 | 176,790] 980,213] 114,814 314, 708
. Prince George’s....} 125,045 | 182,468 | 77,781 | 99,235 211, 971
Queen Anne ....... 141, 237 153, 113 54, 455 62, 718 146, 075
Saint Mary’s....... 100, 656 114, 459 94, 244 103, 062 109, 908
Somerset .......... 63, 664 118, 873 60, 419 150, 322 91, 795
PVANUOU > seca e 106, 499 110, 483 45, 086 55, 674 126, 950
Washington Bad. Ai 178,748 | 196, 503 46, 694 43, 637 354, 938
Wicomico.......... ag 32) ho eee Se 90845; jawodie ethdp. ¢) MST oe ces a nd BQ EAS ce sk
Worcester ......... 109,170 | 155,609 | 104,260} 160,479 90, 041
Total's .-- 2, 2, 914, 007 }3, 002, 267 {1, 598, 572 |1, 833, 304 37 75 30 18 |5, 268, 676 | 4, 010, 529
084
The annual production per acre, as deduced from the aggregate value
of all farm products and betterments of stock in the several counties is
thus presented, each being named in the order of precedeuce :
Per acre. Per acre.
OB CT sce Noe Ait Bh MASA apes $16 77 | Prince George’s.......... $10 72
Trattamrel Cee weet ts oe. 15'25 |} Alleghany’... <.....0 02220) ae
WERMUE ine eeiete toca ee cnt 2, LO OT") GQineen’ Anne... 2. oc eee - 1053
Partord.'**\ 2" Ai noc ue cea 14:04 I GTOReSDEr aire. acre oe clea,
Wiasnineton Vices os\.'.-.- = - 14 32 | Somerset.......... eT
Preqerick wow oN Ae Ee eS eres Loe eee eo
CoeIrOlt eet sac oe et oot dee SO" eit, Lays eine eet eee
TOWae eee. wide cee ee ven.” So 23.) Witomico’. Loo... ae 7 78
Anne’ Arundel...) .200.4)'/416 03 ’@aroliners.: 2.22 «ans nn ete
Bo) LC) ah esas Ba aed MS 1D FO""Calvert so. orto eee oa” ET
Montgomery ...... Li wee!) LL San Wy OLCesper sare. © =e ee oe.
The last assessment of Baltimore County by the local authorities, in
1865, made the valuation of farms and unimproved lands about
$40,000,000. Prices have greatly advanced near the city of Baltimore
within a few years. Within a distance of ten to fifteen miles the range
is from $100 to $2,000 per acre. Improved farms beyond this limit,
with convenient buildings, orchards, &c., command $70 to $200 per
acre. Some dilapidated farms are selling below their value, at $30 to
$75 per acre. Timber-lands are worth from $50 to $200. Sedge-fields
or worn and neglected lands, if not too near towns and railroads, can be
got for $30 to $50 per acre. The best soils are of limestone origin, fine
for cereals, and worth $75 to $200 per acre. A sandy loam predomi-
nates near Baltimore, and is found very suitable for gardening and
fruit-growing. A third class is a sandy soil adapted to sweet potatoes
and peaches.
From $15 to $20 per acre for medium lands, in 1870, the rates
for Montgomery lands have advanced to $20 and $25. Some wild
lands can be obtained at $8 to $10. These are in pines or sedge,
generally a clay soil, susceptible of improvement at a reasonable outlay.
The following description of this county is by Mr. Henry C. Hallowell:
Montgomery County, Maryland, embraces an area of 315,000 acres. It is bordered
on the west by the Potomac River, and nearly encompasses three sides the District
of Columbia. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Metropolitan Branch of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad run through it, and the main stem and Washington
branch of the same road are near its northern and eastern borders. Its climate is a
pleasant intermediate between North and South, there being sufficient cold to secure
an abundant supply of ice and to remove all miasmatic influences from the air. The
average of the winters is about 32°, of the summer about 74°, and of the year about
52°. The rain-fall is 44 inches,and the county is remarkably free from hail-storms
and tornadoes. Cattle are housed near the last of November, and are turned out to
pasture the latter part of April. The surface is rolling, without being hilly. Parr’s
Ridge gives rise to many fine streams, and throughout there is abundance of water.
The Great Falls of the Potomac possess a manufacturing power of vast extent, as yet
unused. The soil varies from gravelly, through sandy, toclay andaredloam. Insome
portions a magnesium-loam crops out, which in other parts is covered by quartz and
clay. Fine timber abounds, consisting of oak, chestnut, poplar, walnut, hickory, and
maple, the roots of the trees penetrating to the loam. Quarries of sand and other
stones are abundant, and some copper and chrome have been mined. It is adapted to
fruit of all kinds. Apples, peaches, pears and grapes thrive admirably.
The soil is generally thin, and twenty-five years ago a large portion of the county
was uninclosed and uninhabited. It has proved, however, remarkably susceptible to
improvement, and a wonderful revolution has been effected. Sections which had been
worn out by the cultivation of corn and tobacco, barren and untenanted, washed into
gullies and abandoned to pines, scrub-oaks, and sedge, now blossom like the rose, sup-
porting a busy~and prosperous population, presenting scenes of rural beauty to the
eye, and yielding comfortable incomes to the industrious owners.
385
There are very many acres of land still unimproved and lying waste, but each added
year diminishes the amount. Large tracts within fifteen miles of Washington can. be
bought at from $5 to $15 per acre. An expenditure of three per cent. of the value of
each acre annually for a few years, judiciously combined with careful farming and
proper saving of home-made manures, would bring most of it into a good state of cul-
tivation, yielding a comfortable living (after the first year or two) to the family of
the occupant, and raising the market-value of the land to from $40 to $50 per acre.
The nucleus of this improvement was probably a section called Sandy Spring, about
eighteen miles north of Washington, inhabited principally by members of the Society
of Friends, plain, industrious, economical people, with more than average intelligence.
The success of their labors was manifested by practical results which soon attracted
the attention of observant residents of other portions of the county, and the spirit of
improvement, once awakened, spread rapidly, until thousands of hitherto barren acres
were reclaimed, and skillful experimenters and careful farmers in many parts of the
county equaled and even bid fair to surpass the originators of the movement in their
judicious and successful renovation of worn-out lands. This was particularly the case
in the section bordering on the Potomac River, where an agricultural society, of which
Dr. William Brewer was president, initiated numerous valuable experiments.
The first effort toward arresting the deterioration in the fertility of the soil was
made about 1826, by those who directed their efforts toward obtaining a growth of
clover by the application of lime. Limestone of a tolerably good quality was found
in an adjoining county. This was hauled to the farms, burned, and applied both upon
the sod and ploughed ground. A growth of clover being thus induced, (with very
varying results, however, upon different farms,) it was turned under, and a gradual
improvement in the character and yield of the soil was obtained. .
The introduction of ground bone about 1839, and of guano about 1844, effected a
revolution in the method of improvement, and the lime-kilns were abandoned. The
pioneers in accurate and systematic experiments with the then new fertilizers were Ben-
jamin Hallowell, (formerly of Alexandria, Va.,) Richard F. Bentley, the Stablers, Far-
quhars, Brookes, and other practical men. Benjamin Hallowell, in the years 1843,
1844, and 1845, tried many experiments with guano, bone, (crushed or ground,) in
quantities from 34 bushels to 30 bushels per acre, ground charcoal, poudrette, and
lime. Lime was found to be of little apparent benefit. Charcoal produced no per-
ceptible improvement. Ground bone increased in effect with the amount used,
though about 10 bushels per acre was found to be the most profitable application.
Peruvian guano was at that day magical in its results, and by it, with the bone, he
was able to get his farm into a good sod. This once accomplished, careful farming,
and the continued application of fertilizers, and what home-made manure he could
obtain, augmented the improvement and increased the annual yield. The guano was
applied at the rate of 150 pounds to 300 pounds per acre, with 10 bushels of ground
bone, upon the wheat-land when seeded to grass. The field thus treated received no
further manuring, save compost or poudrette, in the hill, for corn, until its turn came in
rotation to be again seeded. The barn-yard manure was best applied as a top-dressing
upon grass. The result of his labors and continued applications by himself, tenants,
and sons is shown in the following contrast of the yield of his farm in the years 1845 and -
1870. In the latter year, moreover, a large family was being supported, and there was
much good stock upon the place, while in the former, some of the articles needed for
family use were purchased from neighboring farmers, in addition to the hay and corn
meeessary for the sustenance of two horses and two cows.
1845. 1870.
ea eee ees tame cb Sete oN tesa csce b cece stceties 16 tons ....-... 75 tons.
ere mr eR MC aT AL Ne Beeb 41 bushels ..... 360 bushels.
Comat cet. Se Te CRETE re tae 70 bushels . .... 1,300 bushels.
SO RRMI EE ee ees okie de dec ke ctcs cone me,napn 1,781 pounds .-.| 2,500 bushels.
Ma IEIeT TORT ee ee ee ee ee i ee $100 | $200.
een ene aee may cee Ti Pe EO ee 400 bushels.
SHS bil GE ees eal ce 2 cee eae Ook GURU Ras Bg Rae a aye | ARE $200.
The crop of 1870 was from the same farm, but of course much of it grown upon land
that in 1845 was not capable of cultivation from want of clearing, draining, and
manuring. ;
As a further illustration of the results of the renovation of worn-out lands and im-
provement of that already under cultivation, the following census-returns for 1850
and 1870, for one district of the county, embracing about one-fifth of its area, will be
386
suggestive. The census was taken each time by the same gentleman, William H.
Farquhar, which insures greater accuracy.
1850. 1870.
VAOetb hk ea erin. slain bn wold aie a a Seale ae uane amis oe bushels..| 23,100 46, 700
TNO ne tee eet eee aoe evn epinin o Me ateieaieete stele oe ele (3. eat 800 3, 410
Gone (28a erence paces epee ae sae a eee cea o eam ate do... 56, 000 107, 900
tient: Sete eee Marae cee se cpe tee ~ seqmece A es 8 ele a Ae ao! 26, 600 41,580
2SiRUOGS eee Seeks a hoe ces neces cae Bie chatter 2 ie aia dee qols: 9, 900 77, 420
Ler i) ORE A ah Ce ee ee et coe, SaoinS oc pounds... 38, 140 59, 140
Ve ee ene ects heres cere sece aadeeine sanlo ace imee tons. 1, 440 4,209
Value of slaughtered animals......-....----------- ---- 00 eee one $12, 715 $55, 560
Total value of farm-products .-.---- RSE AEE a GSES 5 oes 156, 650 390, 000
Walueron Myre SU0UK =~ owen tence eco cre ciemelcsae > male ae eee 58, 486 184, 880
WIGVOG-SCOU foe slo ct ia cioae ae = sae he ae er eeiemem ae ems sai bushels.-|.----. -- Be 273
Walep or orchard products .<---- <e-cae cae encpwccs sees ces ranere) poem $11, 000
Of the same nine farms in this district, the total value of the productions in 1850
was $10,365, and in 1870 $36,320. The population increased in the same time from
2,786 to 4,700, |
These figures show but a part of the wonderful change effected by the improve-
ments alluded to. Land bought for $2.05 per acre, and which was thought by a visitor
to the county at the time to be $2 more than it was worth, is now a fertile, beautiful,
and popular section, which is not for sale, and would, if sold, perhaps command from
$75 to $100 per acre. Turnpike-roads costing from $2,000 to $2,200 per mile have been
built, intersecting each other, and leading to Washington, while the earth-roads have
been very materially improved. Fine stock of the best breeds have been introduced
at a considerable expense. Farmers’ clubs, conventions, and associations have been
organized, the oldest club having held monthly meetings since its organization in 1844.
Our young men rarely leave us, generally taking a portion of the old homestead, and
making the part produce as much as the whole once did.
The yield per acre in 1845 on the parts under cultivation was about an average of
20 bushels of corn, 12 bushels of wheat, and from } to 4 ton of hay. It is now about
40 bushels of corn, 20 bushels of wheat, and 14 tons of hay. Upon some farms, in
favorable seasons, there have been raised, per acre, 80 bushels of corn, 40 bushels of
wheat, and 24 tons of hay.
The ease of access to Washington and Baltimore, and the substantial results of the
aforementioned attempts to improve the fertility of the soil, the gently undulating
character of the country, the healthy location, pure water, and fresh air, have all
tended to draw attention to our county, and many citizens of Washington, Baltimore,
and other places have purchased farms and settled permanently or for the summer
within our limits. :
Some farmers who had thought of emigrating to the West have concluded, after
visiting the States beyond the Alleghanies, that the same industry, economy, and out-
lay which would be necessary there would give them equal pecuniary returns here,
with all the added advantages of an older civilization and the inestimable privilege
of remaining among friends, relatives, and old associations.
Mr. R. T. Bowne, of Harford, reports prices lower than in 1870; farms
that brought $40 per acre being now estimated at $30, and wild lands
then worth $18 are now estimated at $14. The surface is well wooded
and watered, and fine water-powers are abundant. The portion border-
ing on the Chesapeake is comparatively level, with soil of light loam,
and others in which clay predominates; other sections quite undulating.
It is estimated that about one-fifth of the farms are for sale at some-
thing like the above figures.
One-third of the lands in Carroll can be purchased at the present
time at low rates. The “worn-out” or unused fields can be had at
about $10 per acre. It is hilly and somewhat rocky, drained by the
tributaries of the Patapsco and Monocacy.
Frederick is a fine farming county. The clay soils of Middletown —
Valley and the limestone of the Frederick and Manor districts produce
\
.
4
387
almost equally well with good cultivation. A yield of 80 bushels of
corn per acre and 40 of wheat have frequently been obtained, and a few
extra farms have exceeded these figures. About one-fourth of the farms
are now for sale. Really good farms in the best limestone districts
command $88 to $90; in clay soils, generally, $65 to $70; red lands
and slate soils, $8 to $40; mountain and hill lands, $10 to $20.
Howard belongs to the northern division of the State, lies west of
Anne Arundel, between the rivers Patapsco and Patuxent. It has an
undulating surface, a variety of soils, and quite a sufficiency of worn-
out lands, which might be improved by judicious farming and made
profitable. They can be had at $10 per acre. Mr. D. Lawrence, of
Howard, thus describes the farming-lands of that county :
Sandy soil with poor capabilities, except under very expensive and protracted and
unremunerative treatment; these are, of course, prohibitory in their operation. Such
lands are practically out of the market; too poor to live on—not much of this kind,
though—and being near railroads, has some value, $8 or $10 for sites, but no agricul-
turalvalue. 2. Sandy loam clay subsoil, capable by judicious treatment, clovering, plas-
tering, boning, green manuring, of yielding maximum crops—30 bushels wheat, 24 tons
hay,10 to 15 barrels of corn, 2 hogsheads tobacco, 70 bushels oats, 250 to 300 bushels
potatoes. This is the micaceous soil, and includes the old fields and three-fourths of
the county under cultivation. It is, in my judgment, the best soil in the world when
properly treated. Old fields worth $10 or $12 per acre; good land and buildings, $50.
There is not much of the latter, however, comparatively, which makes the average low,
as given in my answer to the first question. The third quality is the gneiss-rock soil.
This rock contains hornblende, whose decomposition affords lime and feldspar, yield-
ing potash by decomposition; naturally a richer soil than the micaceous, but more
difficult to work; a heavier soil, and wherever found in our county showing good cul-
ture, good buildings, rural adornment, agricultural life, and refinement. Its location,
however, near the railroad and city, acts, of course, powerfully in producing this con-
dition of things. Worth from $30 to $100 per acre, according to location. One-half
the owners would sell at an average of $50 per acre for gneiss soil within three miles
of railroad; $20 per acre for old fields, (micaceous ;) $20 per acre for sandy soil; $30
per acre for micaceous soil,improved. These represent owners’ average prices, what
they would take, but there are very few sales.
Coming to the western counties, Washington stands very prominently
at the front, its best lands worth $80 to $100 per acre, and medium
farms about $50; while the unoccupied and unimproved lands of poorer
quality command but $10. Some timber-lands are quite valuable. The
limestone soils are the most productive. This county extends from
the ridge of South Mountain westward, between the Pennsylvania and
Virginia lines, the narrowest portion of the State, at one point but a
few miles in width. This county and Frederick, which adjoins it on the
east, are the best wheat-counties in the State, and it would be difficult
to excel them in the United States.
Alleghany is a mountain county, with lands of rough surface, low
in price, and productive of hay and grain, and all farm-products of New
England and New York. It isa region noted for its “ glades-butter”
and ‘‘mountain-mutton.” Some of the valleys are broad and fertile.
Garrett County occupies the northwest corner of the State. Itisa
new county, its area having been detached from Alleghany. Farms in
good cultivation are worth $20 per acre, and wild lands about $38. The
postmaster at Oakland, Mr. Ralph Thayer, thus writes of the soils:
We have black mold, the red or chocolate-colored soil, also the pale slate-colored,
and in certain sections limestone clay, and on our rivers alluvial formations partaking
largely of sand. AJl the above-described soils produce satisfactory returns when
properly cultivated. Wheat from 20 to 30 bushels per acre, rye from 16 to 25, oats .
from 30 to 40. Buckwheat same as last estimate. Corn from 30 to 50 bushels per acre.
Potatoes from 200 to 300 bushels per acre. Timothy and clover thrive and produce
well. In the middle and northwestern portions of the county some good tracts are for
sale, but what proportion those bear to the amount not for sale I cannot answer.
388
Mr. Frank A. Bard estimates the value of lands in Anne Arundel,
which prior to the war commanded $100 per acre, at $40, and thinks
$20 a fair average for the county at present. Wild lands, which are
very limited, may be had at $10. <A few valuable “ truck’-farms will
now sell at $100. He deems these lands wonderfully well adapted to
small fruits and vegetables, and thinks nine-tenths of the farms in the
county are for sale.
The great staple of Calvert is tobacco, but the cultivation of fruits is
at present attracting much attention, are very productive, and quite
profitable. The prices of lands range from $4 to $40 per acre.
There is a great variety of soils in Prince George’s. On the rivers
there is a very fertile soil, a dark loam, very easily worked and quite
productive. The central ridge, between the rivers, is stiff and clayey,
less productive and of lower value, generally covered with oak forests.
They produce good crops of wheat and grass when properly enriched,
Mr. H. H. Pfeiffer thinks present owners would probably part with
half their lands with the prospect of securing good neighbors.
Much of the soil of Charles is a clay loam. The alluvial soils are very
productive and easily worked, producing large crops of tobacco and
corn. Mr. M. Chapman says that 40 to 60 bushels of corn per acre can
be grown on the best lands; a ton to one and a half tons of timothy
hay, and 12 bushels of wheat, for the latter of which the soil is less
suitable than for some other crops. He thinks one-half the land can be
purchased at prices ranging from $3 to $20 per acre.
Lands on the water-courses of Saint Mary’s are estimated by Mr. John
M. Brome at $30 per acre, and uplands at $10. He says that much of “ the
soil is alluvial, easily cultivated, clear of stone, easily improved, and
healthy as any part of Maryland;” that every fourth farm is for sale
at prices ranging from $10 to $60, and that the natural facilities of
Saint Mary are ‘‘as great as those of any county in the United States.”
The following account of the topography and resources of this county
is received from Mr. H. D. Smith:
A press of business has prevented an earlier compliance with your request for informa-
tion in regard to the agricultural and other features of that portion of Southern Mary-
land embraced in the lower part of Saint Mary’s County, defined by a line running -
from Saint Mary’s River across to the mouth of the Patuxent River and bound by the
Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River to their confluence at Point Lookout. From the
“crop country” line southeast, a distance of about ten miles, to the “ Ridge,” the
country is composed mostly of elevated plateaus of land, gradually descending to the
east and southeast and northeast on the bay side; soil rather light clay, growing more
heavy until the ridge is reached, which is a narrow strip of slightly elevated and sandy
land extending across from the Potomac to the Chesapeake. This land would be ad-
mirably adapted to gardening purposes, and the “ truck” would find a ready sale at
the bathing resort five miles away, at Point Lookout. From the ridge to the extreme
southern point, or Point Lookout, the soil is dark clay, very “ stiff” and almost perfectly
level. With proper attention to the opening of ditches it is easily worked and very
productive, admirably adapted to wheat and grass; the fence-corners on the road-
side showing a fine sod of blue-grass and white clover. Indeed, throughout this whole
region, although there is no attention paid to a systematic seeding of the grasses and
clover, the old fields soon assume a good mat of green pasturage if not too closely
grazed; especially is this the case where lime has been used. There is very little stone
or gravel, if any, to annoy the cultivator, The general course of cultivation here is to
devote all the manure made on the place, and most of the time and capital, to a small
patch of tobacco. Such time as can be spared is devoted to putting in so much corn
as the owner can “ break up” for the corn, to be followed by wheat, which is sown late
to escape the fly. If pasturage is short the wheat is grazed until it shows signs of
“jointing,” and the stock is turned on again immediately after harvest, and this field
is allowed to “rest” by being grazed as long as the grass or clover shows itself. If
any grass or clover is sown with wheat it is very sparingly applied. There are a few
rare exceptions to this rule of procedure. Within the last two years there have been
some experiments tried on a small scale with home-made fertilizers, liberally used,
389
with a free use of timothy and clover-seed ; the result of which will create a change
in the system of some of the more enterprising. A great portion of the farms either
have some portion of the bay-coast, river, or inlet of salt-water. The winds and tide
deposit large quantities of sea-weed and ooze. The inlets are full of a muck rich in
marine decompositions, and most of the woods are full of decayed leaves and yegetable
matter,in many places 12 to 15 inches deep. Then, again, at seasons the waters are
swarming with alewives, a small fish largely used in some localities for the production
of oil, the “serap” of which makes a fertilizer of well-known merit. Oyster-shells can
be had in endless quantities. The lime is used in composts of the sea-ooze, leaves, and
vegetable matter, which compost is seasoned with the fish-scrap, and applied broad-
cast to the ground after plowing, and worked in withthe harrow. The indications are
that in this way, by a comparatively very small outlay, the lost elements of the soils are
restored to their original fertility. The dried scrap, under the name of fish-guano, is
sold at $15 per ton, and an application of 250 to 300 pounds per acre, (without being
composted as above,) when applied to corn, produced a marked improvement ever even
a liberal application of stable-manure, and when seeded to timothy continued to show
like results. "
Improved farms, i. e., farms with fair fences and comfortable and spacious buildings,
ean be bought for $10 to $30 per acre, with all necessary timber.. The higher-priced
ones are those that have oyster-coves. The waters abound in oysters and other shell-
fish, crabs, terrapin, wild fowl, and the best of fish.
The staple productions are tobacco, wheat, and corn. A limited quantity of beef is
shipped, and a few sheep are kept on nearly every farm. Sheep do remarkably well
here, the stock being very healthy and the wool finding a ready market in Baltimore, and
lambs selling in Baltimore and Washington at a high price. The principal timber is
white and yellow pine, oak, gum, walnut, beech, and holly. With the exception of
the Hessian fly, there are few insects to injure the crops. Fruits are neglected,
but enough is cultivated to prove they would do well if tried. Mr. Logan Smith, near
Point Lookout, has 500 peach-trees in full bearing and looking thrifty and in good
_ health, although neglected. An examination of most of the apple-trees seen in my
tour failed to discover a case of the borer’s ravages, that almost universal pest of the
southern apple-orchardist. I saw several specimens of very old pear-trees, probably
planted. more than one hundred years, much neglected, but still bearing fruit;
also saw several “‘damsons” with no visitations from the “little turk.” The health
of the region is good, very little malaria, and typhoid fever is unknown.
In conclusion, the result of my observations here for the past year induces me te
believe there isno more desirable locality for the establishment of an agreeable and
pleasant home than Southern Maryland, and especially the lower portion of Saint
Mary’s county. The healthfulness, cheapness, and quality of land, and ease of cultiva-
tion, great variety of productions of which the soil is capable, abundance of fertilizers,
the multitude of luxuries of land and sea, convenient and cheap communication with
eity markets, the delightful climate, cool salt sea-breezes of summer and open winters,
certainly make it a favored region for the agriculturist of wealth or limited means
who desires to live under his own vine and fig-tree.
It will be seen from the table that not only the prices of land
in the Eastern Shore section are quite high in the northern part, though
low at the southern extremity of the peninsula, but the value of annual
production is highest in Cecil of any county in the State, and nearly as
high in Kent. It is a region of great resources and large capabilities,
in which climate and water-transportation play an important part.
Cecil is at the head of Chesapeake Bay, and is intersected by Elk and
North Rivers.. The soil of the northwestern portion is granitic. Mr.
A. De Witt thinks values have declined since 1870, prices now ranging
from $10 to $100. There is some marsh-land, valued at $15 to $20, for
pasture. The best land is in the western border, and on bottoms, but
all requires fertilizing.
Kent lies between the Chesapeake and the line of Delaware, with the
Sassafras River as its northern boundary and the Chester as its south-
ern. It has a rolling surface and a soil of medium quality, susceptible
of high improvement. Mr. John W. Collins estimates the usual yield
of wheat at 12 bushels, running from 6 to 25. He thinks two-fifths of
the land could be bought reasonably.
Queen Anne is a central county of this belt, lying between Chester
River on one side and Caroline and Tuckahoe on the other, with an undu-
390
lating surface, free from rocks, reasonably fertile, with abundant under-
lying deposit of marl. Prices have declined somewhat since 1870. A
red-clay soil yields 20 bushels of wheat, 40 bushels of corn, and from 14
to 2 tons of hay; a heavy white-clay, 15 bushels of wheat and 14 tons
of hay; and a yellow soil is found to be especially adapted to fruits.
One-sixth of these lands, mostly unimproved, could be bought at $15.
Caroline and Talbot come next on the south, separated by the Tuck-
ahoe. Talbot is on the Chesapeake, and the Choptank separates it from
Dorchester on the south. Three-fourths of the lands of Caroline could
be purchased at prices ranging from $10 to $100. The tracts are not
offered in parcels, and purchasers are mostly from Pennsylvania and
Vermont. Mr. Howes Goldsborough says a red-clay soil, which is easily
improved, has produced 60 bushels of wheat per acre. Improved farms
range in value from $20 to $125 per acre. Dorchester has a clay-loam
soil, light in one section and stiff in another, productive with judicious
fertilizing. Prices of farms range from $10 to $50 per acre. Three-
fifths of the lands of Worcester, which are very similar to the above,
are for sale at $3 to $25 per acre. One-fourth of the farms of Somerset
are for sale at $5 to $40. Mr. G. W. Parsons thus writes concerning
Wicomico :
From observation and mquiry, I conelude the average cash-value of farm-lands in
this county to be $11 per acre, against $15 in 1870. Average value of wild and unim-
proved lands, $9; in 1870, $12. Lands have depreciated fully one-half since 1867, and
nearly one-third since 1870. There are mamy varieties of soil in this county. Along,
the Nanticoke River, on the northwest, for from one to three miles, the land is sandy,
and gradually changes to yellow clay and loam, with stretches of black soils or “jsavan-
nas” at intervals, running down to the many creeks which are tributary to the Nan-
ticoke. This river, with the creeks and Wicomico River, are bordered with marshes,
which furnish good pasturage. The sands produce splendid watermelons and corn ;
the clays, wheat and corn, with clover; and the black lands, corn, oats, andclover. The
central portion of the county is light sand, sand and clay, and loam; brings corn, truck,
small fruits, peaches, and, though naturally the poorest, is the most profitable portion of
our land. The eastward portion of the county, bordering along the Pocomoke River, is
black swamp-land; brings excellent crops of corn and oats, and in many localities
clover and other grasses. Requires drainage and lime to make it produce splendidly.
Perhaps one-half the land in this county is for sale. Farmers have made the mistake
of holding too large farms. They are finding it out, and are disposed to farm only
what they can do well. The prices of land will vary as to soil and location and
quality of timber. Good-timbered land is valuable when located near water-course or
railroad, and will vary from $20 to $50 per acre. Farms, partly under cultivation and
part wild, vary from $5 to $20 per acre in the country, while within three miles of this
town farm-lands sell, according to size of tract, from $20 to $150 per acre.
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.
FRAUDS IN THE JERSEY-CATTLE TRADE.—Henry Fox, esq., United
States consul at Plymouth, England, whose jurisdiction includes the
island of Jersey, transmits to the Department of Agriculture a letter
from Charles P. Le Cornu, vice-president of the Royal Jersey Agricultu-
ral and Horticultural Society, inclosing the following extract of the
proceedings of that society at its session of May 15, 1875:
The secretary having read to the meeting a letter from Mr. N. Pike, of Winthrop’
Kennebec County, State of Maine, United States of America, as well as the Augusta
Maine Farmer of April 17, 1875, in which it is reported that 3,000 cattle are annually
sent from this island to the United States of America; it was proposed by E. Nicolle,
esq., seconded by A. Le Gallois, esq., and ; ‘
Resolved unanimously, That a representation be transmitted by the president of this
391
society to the vice-consul for the United States Government in this island, with a
request that it be transmitted to the Minister of Agriculture, showing that, whereas,
from the statements above mentioned, it would seem that a fraudulent traffic has been
carried on by soi-disant importers of Jersey cattle, the number said to have been intro-
duced into the United States being considerably in excess of the whole number exported
from this island within the period specified ; that from the said statements it must be
presumed that other than Jersey-bred cattle are introduced into the United States as
such—a practice which if not checked would soon prove seriously detrimental to the
reputation of an insular stock, producing disappointment to the purchaser, and ulti-
mately tending to stop the legitimate trade which has long existed between American
purchasers and breeders in this island.
Farther, with a view to check any fraudulent traffic of the sort and to enable such as
may desire to obtain the pure stock from this island, it was
Resolved, That the assistance of this society be given to any person or constituted
body whose application to it is officially recommended.
FRA. LABEY,
Hon. Secretary.
STATUS OF AGRICULTURE IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.—The Liv-
erpool Daily Courier, in a highly commendatory notice of the reports of
this Department, notes the remarkable contrast in the popular estimate
of agriculture in England and the United States. It says:
American agricultural interests are well cared for, being watched over by a State
Department which in various ways manifests deep solicitude for the farmer’s welfare.
On the other side of the Atlantic it is not so fashionable as here to ridicule the culti-
vators of the soil or the breeders of cattle. Here [in England] the notion is steadily
developing that it is commerce, and not agriculture, which provides food for the mil-
lions, and the farmer is considered a selfish non-entity, who is regardful only of his
own interests, a weakness to which manufacturers and merchants never descend. In .
America, farming is recognized as a useful occupation, and will continue to,be thus
esteemed till the great Republic is planted as thickly as England with smoke-begrimed
factories and cottages. The State Department which watches over American agricul-
ture is not a paternal institution to worry farmers, but it collects and disseminates very
valuable information over the vast area of the States. Its monthly and annual reports
are not simply great arrays of figures, laboriously gathered and piled into bewildering
columns, which tell only half the story they were intended to convey, and,this long after
the statistics can be of much practical use. They promptly provide useful returns and
hints. The meaning of the figures is made apparent so that the agriculturist can
deduce important lessons. Estimates of experts as to actual facts are supplied. In
England there are many journals devoted to agriculture, but the information does not
bear the official stamp, and is not invariably trustworthy, while the figures from the
British Statistical Department reach the public much too late. A monthly system as
well as the annual one would be a boon to British agriculturists as well as to others.
ENGLISH STALLION-PURCHASING SUBSCRIPTION.—Lord Calthorpe has
inaugurated a project for raising £10,000 in annual subscriptions of £100
for five years, to accumulate a fund for the purchase of ten or more per
annum of thoroughbred sires of sound constitution and good action, such
as no private capitalist would find it profitable to purchase. ‘These stal-
lions are to be placed each year in a district to be selected by a judicious
committee, and travel through it for the purpose of serving half-breed
mares only. At the end of five. years, fifty choice stallions, purchased
by the association, would have begotten five thousand foals of superior
mares. This would have a powerful influence in elevating the breed of
horses in the country.
UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE IN ENGLAND.—The local committee on hy:
giene in Croydon, Surrey County, England, have, after long discussion,
pronounced in favor of the irrigation system in the disposal of sewage.
Experiments upon the farm of Beddington, extending over fourteen
years, show that upon land advantageously situated, surface irrigation
permits the purification of sewage-waters without injury to the sanitary
condition of the neighborhood. A population of 55,000, using about
20,000 water-closets, furnish a vast amount of organic manure, which,
with a fixed proportion of rain-water, is carried by a large drain about
392
half a mile from the city into large reservoirs of filtration. A paddle-
wheel furnished with screens pierced with nails and turned by the mo-
tion of the drain-water, seizes the paper, rags, &e., and allows the finer
detritus to deposit itself in a blackish sediment in the farm-trenches and
upon the surface of the fields and meadows. The malarial exhalations
are neutralized by chemical methods.
MEAT-PRODUCT PER ACRE.—Mr. J. J. Mechi, one of the leading
scientific farmers of England, considers meat-making one of the main
points of his agricultural success. He regards it as an essential part in
good farming, to make meat and manure in summer as well as in winter.
This, however, cannot be done without shelter for animals, combined
with good ventilation to protect them from flies and other insects; with
proper provision for this necessity, he has succeeded in putting on both
growth and fat in summer-time. He acknowledges that there is no
profit in feeding stock at market-prices, but where a farmer has suffi-
cient capital and knows how to use it, he will find stock-feeding profit-
able, on account of its sure product of the best and cheapest manure
he can obtain. Mr. Mechi finds his margin of profit in the very large
grain, root, and green crops which he is thus able to raise at a cost
below market- -prices. He gives the following balance-sheet of his live-
stock operations for 1874 on his farm of 175 acres at Tiptree:
January 1, 1874:
Value of live-stock, including poultry <2 ~~ --- woe enews eae ee eee £737 19 0
Corn and hay, the produce of the farm, consumed during the year, esti-
mated ai market-prices. 0 (oss \oeioe oninc eee ene e mele ce eee ee eee 177° 5. 0
Corn, oil-cake, malt, culms, bran, &c., purchased......--..--...----.---- Asis ve
Grinding corn, medicines, veterinary, QC ook woes ce cass acon eee ee 21°00
Pive-stock purchased during the’ year --2-.. 3. 2. oe beeen ee eee 239 8 6
Green and root crops of 25 acres raised and consumed...-.-...----.------ 88 6 2
POT ee eae see comic ne teeee we oe Seca eerie wl anne sails 1,695 3 11.
January 1, 1875:
Value of live-stock, including ‘poultry -- 22223. sone. cone oe one eae eee £926" °2""0
Pat ANG ASOLO ee bie siete lee cleat es oe) a eee ee einen = net eee elle ape ee 691 19 2
NAT CHS) Go b A ee Se aise ere es Slee See ye sds cen Mess 43 14 10
PPOULERY SOLU 2. cect a as om aie ecjom eloce a oe ete a ieee = cine Siete eee oe Jo. 4 LL
ROtM eee Oo ot Noes he ene s ewer e eeen eee er a calee eo as ee 1,695 3 11
The increase in value of the live-stock and poultry at the end of the
year was £188 3s., or £51 5s. 6d. less than the amount paid for new ani-
mals during the year. This deficit shows the extent to which the whole
live-stock value, old and new, was reduced, and must be deducted from
the aggregate sales to show the net meat-product of the year. This will
leave £684 8s. 6d., which, at 9d. per pound, gives an average of 104
pounds of meat per acre, worth £3 18s. The total cost of feed, includ-
ing produce raised on the farm and purchased from without, amounts
to £717 16s. 5d., from which deducting the wool sold, £43 14s. 10d.,
there remains £674 18.7 d., or £3 16s. 44d. per acre as the actual cost of
production, leaving a margin of only 1s. 74d. per acre to pay for labor
and attendance, which is estimated at £100 in the aggregate, or 11s. 5d.
per acre. Mr. Mechi’s profit, then, must have been in the raising of his
home crops, and in the fertilizing elements added to his land by his
abundant product of manure.
FRENCH FARM-PRODUCTS OF 1874.—The first half of 1874 was tariked
by high prices and a large importation of cereals, but the subsequent six
months witnessed a reaction, which extended ‘into 1875, toward low
prices and large export. The large crops of last year in Europe, com-
é
|
.
393
pared with preceding failures, account for this change. The movement
of the year is indicated by the importation of 4,500,000 quintals of wheat
during the first six months, and the export of 1,500,000 during the re-
mainder of the year. The fine barley-crops of Sarthe, Mayence, and the
Loire Valley were largely purchased by the English brewers, while less
valuable grain was imported from the Danube and Algeria to supply the
home demand.
The British Isles and Belgium largely absorbed the abundant fruit-
crop. The export of fresh vegetables was 25 per cent. greater than in
1873. Salad and cabbage were shipped by rail even to Russia.
The greatest portion of French agricultural products were marketed
in England. Of 29,000,000 kilograms of eggs, of poultry, and wild fowl
exported, England took 27,500,000; and 28,333,000 kilograms of salt but-
ter of a total export of 32,333,000 kilograms. There was also a consid-
erable export Of fresh butter and of cheese; but at the close of the year
_the prices of cheese had fallen 10 per cent.; of eggs, 7 per cent.; of but-
ter, salt and fresh, 6 per cent. Milk-products had received a great im-
pulse in 1872, but the increased cost of forage, the deficiency of grain,
and the ravages of epizootic maladies greatly restricted production, and
would have had a still more depressing effect but for the strong English
demand raising prices.
Of live stock, the imports of beeves amounted to 24,483 head, against
57,623 in 1873; and 46,868 cows, against 51,958 in 1873. Of sheep, the
imports amounted to 1,139,179, a decrease of 339,572 from 1873. Onthe
other hand, the exports of beeves amounted to 25,358, an increase of
6,485; and of cows, 24,575, an increase of 5,899. The great scarcity of
forage in 1874 emptied the French stables and sheep-folds of all beasts
not indispensable for market and farm stock, but choice fat animals held
their own remarkably well.
The average losses from depressions of market-price of different classes
of farm-animals, according to the official estimate of the national com-
mission, were as follows: Sheep, 9 per cent. ; lambs, 16 per cent. ; beeves,
9 per cent.; bulls, 23 per cent.; bullocks, 25 per cent.; cows, 17 per
cent.; heifers, 25 per cent.; calves, 5 per cent.
Of horses, the export of 1873 was 22,096, which increased in 1874 to
22,680. The average of ten years, from 1862 to 1871, was about 9,000.
Light draught-horses are especially in demand by foreign purchasers.
France, in 1873, exported 3,886 horses to Germany, and received in return
3,023; in 1871 this export rose to 4,579, and the import to 3,323.
The foreign-trade movements of the first six months of 1875 have also
been published, from which it appears that the import of cereals had
fallen from 196,261,000 frances to 72,981,000 frances; wood for building,
from 38,000,000 to 29,000,000; flax, from 30,000,000 to 28,000,000 ; oleag-
inous fruits, from 19,000,000 to 18,000,000; guano and other fertilizers,
from 20,000,000 to 15,000,000. The export-trade shows an aggregate of
41,000,000 franes in wool, a decline of 7,000,000; farm-animals fell off
from 23,000,000 frances to 21,000,000. An increased export is shown of
wine of 141,500,000 francs against 122,000,000; of cereals, 121,000,000
against 37,250,000; of brandy, 42,000,000 against 18,000,000; of poultry-
eggs, 26,250,000 against 22,000,000; of raw sugar, 26,000,000 against
19,333,000 in the first six months of 1874. Butter remained nearly sta-
tionary, reaching about 38,000,000 frances in both periods under review.
ALFALFA IN TEXAS.—One of our statistical correspondents, Mr. W.
W. Ross, of Dallas County, Texas, finds that alfalfa admirably with-
stands the drought of summer and the cold of winter. He mowed a field
three times last season—April 10, May 3, and June 4—and obtained two
394
tons per acre at each cutting, or six tons per acre for the season. He
thinks it admirably adapted to the black prairie-land of that region. It
keeps green all winter, and affords pasture to all kinds of live stock,
except hogs.
THE FRENCH WINE-CROP.—Notwithstanding grave apprehensions
expressed by men of intelligence and of high position in France in
regard to the wine-producing interest, the crop of 1874 has aggregated
63,000,000 hectoliters, or 1,664,000,000 gallons, being nearly 640,000,000
gallons more than in 1873, and nearly 450,000,000 above an average
yield. The high prices induced by the short crops of 1872 and 1873,
together with the heavy burdens of taxation necessitated by the Franco-
Prussian war, greatly restricted wine-consumption, but with the market-
ing of the large crop of 1874 consumption greatly increased. The
prospect of a large crop in 1875 tended still further to depress prices.
In some parts of Central France, favored by circumstances, wine-makers
realized from 35 to 40 franes per hectoliter, (27 to 32 cents per gallon,)
but in some portions of Southern France prices of wines marketed during
the late floods sunk to one-fourth and even one-eighth of the above.
But the ravages of the Phylloxera caused a prompt reaction. The
product of whole departments, such as Vaucluse, was totally ruined,
while others were seriously and even permanently injured. Atone time
. the whole wine-interest of Southern France was threatened with des-
truction. This région is usually counted on for a third of the crop. In
1874 five departments yielded about 19,000,000 hectoliters, or nearly
502,000,000 gallons. Of these the largest product was in Hérault,
amounting to 15,000,000 hectoliters, (397,000,000 gallons.) Aude yielded
3,000,000 hectoliters, (nearly 80,000,000 gallons.) These two depart-
ments alone furnished a fourth of the crop of 1874. These southern
wines, however, are not satisfactory in quality, while those of Lower
Burgundy, Cote-d’Or, Beaujolais, Bordelais, and Dordogne show an im-
provement over the yield of 1872 and 1873.
The short crop of 1873 caused a decreased export of wine in casks and
bottles, in the Gironde alone, of 216,163 hectoliters, (8,333,000 gallons.)
The decline in the exports in casks to different countries ranged from
4 to 9 per cent.; of wines in bottles the decline was 8 per cent., and of
sweet wine 10 per cent. Of other wine-regions the decline amounted to
476,225 hectoliters, (12,500,000 gallons,) bottled sweet wine falling off
112,940 hectoliters, (nearly 3,000,000 gallons.) The French National
Commission notes with pleasure the products of French vineyards, but
does not dissemble the fact that the products of Spain and Italy are
entering into formidable competition with the southern departments.
AGRICULTURE IN ALGERIA.—Algeria extends along the south
Mediterranean coast about six hundred miles, with an area of 116,000,000
acres, or 181,000 square miles. Of this region, what is called the
Sahara Desert occupies five-sixths; the remaining sixth, called the
Tell, is the maritime, agricultural, and colonized zone, producing the
plants of Southern Europe, such as cereals, vines, olives, mulberries,
oranges, dates, and other fruits.
A French scientific agriculturist, M. Moll, has given the results of a
personal tour of observation in a work entitled “Agriculture and Col-
onization of Algeria.” He criticises the French policy of occupying the
country, not for strong concentrations upon the coast, but for failure to
make adequate efforts also tooccupy theinterior. This of coursecould be
done only by military power and a military government. A civil govern-
ment over such a country is simply an impossibility. The peculiar
a
ee
395
character of the population—Moors, Kabyles, Jews, Arabs, &c.—de-
mands special adaptation of means to ends in fixing a foreign colonial
establishment upon the soil.
M. Moll is one of the originators of the great agricultural reforms
which have been effected in France during a quarter century past, and
hasendeavored to apply to the consideration of Algerian agriculture
the results of his enlightened labors. He would. restrain the tendency
to crop-raising fostered by the colonial authorities, and rehabilitate the
pastoral régime. He advises the raising of large flocks for a good mar-
ket from the spontaneous grasses of the country, together with tree-
culture and the re-afforesting of denuded areas. Inthe southern deserts
there are oases, garden-spots, where intensive culture may reach its
highest results, but in the great breadth of the territory, where commu-
nications are difficult, flocks and herds alone can find a subsistence.
The maritime region, the Tell, is susceptible of more systematic culture.
Labor is here abundant and the facilities for irrigation considerable.
In the three departments of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, 1,096
allotments of land were appropriated by colonists in 1875, of which 896
were village-allotments, and 200 in farms. These allotments were also
divided into civil and military, according to the legal status of the colo-
nist. Of these, 263 were awarded to emigrants from Alsace and Lor-
raine; 488 to emigrants from other parts of old France; and 345 to
Frenchmen and Europeans born in Algeria.
RENT-UNICNS IN BENGAL.—Co-operative association has assumed
a remarkable phase in the “ rent-unions” of Bengal, India. This insti-
tution subsisted under the presidency of the notorious Warren Hastings,
and even then presented ‘a troublesome case for his very summary
methods of administration. On late years it has become quite a power in
Indian politics.
The Indian landed system is one of a feudal character, derived from
the old native régime, whether Hindoo or Mohammedan, and retained in
many provinces by the English authorities. The zemindars or primary
government tenants, in law, are under but little practical restraint from
the most grinding oppressions of the cultivators of the soil. To coun-
teract the reckless greed of the zemindars, the farmers have organized
rent-unions, which are inaugurated in each rural district in a very char-
acteristic manner. In every Bengal village the popular party is
organized under a punchayet, or assembly of five head-men. When, in
the judgment of this body, it is found necessary to resist fresh impositions
of the zemindary interest, a union is established. It is designated as
vidroti dal, which means literally an opposition league. The ryots or
farmers are then invited to join it, but there is always a considerable
minority that refuse to co-operate with the movement. The majority
are secured before any open demonstration is made, and bind themselves
in solemn deeds of writing to give their best energies to the work. The
‘campaign is opened by a petition to the magistrate to protect the ryots
from alleged oppressions of the zemindars. The latter have generally
a very vulnerable record, and greatly dread judicial investigation, and
hence often haul down their colors and abandon abuses complained of
on condition of suspension of operations by theunion. If, however, the
zemindar is impelled by pride or policy to resist their demands, the
ryots fix upon a tariff of rents which they promise each other not to
exceed. This tariff is generally the old rate, leaving out the attempted
illegal enhancement. If the zemindar fails for six months to enter suit
to enforce his additional exactions, his subsequent proceedings are barred
5 A
396
by a statute of limitations. If suit is brought claiming merely the rent
and deposit, together with the enhancement which might be justifiably
claimed from the enhanced value of land or other circumstance, the
enhancement is sure to be disallowed. If he attempts to bolster up his
claim by false accounts, which are sure to be detected by the defendants
lawyers, the feeling of the court turns against him, and he is limited to
barely what the ryots are willing to pay. Hence, the process of the
courts finds little favor in the eyes of the zemindary interest. The sym-
pathy of the courts appears to be strongly with the popular interest.
The zemindars then resort to questionable strategy. They attempt to
create dissension among the ryots and even to buy up the headmen.
Sometimes the cashier of the union embezzles the funds, but this ex-
poses him not only to legal prosecution, but also to the dread of popular
indignation. If everything else fail, the zemindars import mobs, gen-
erally from the Jessore district, to crush the ryots. Generally the latter
are too powerful, and the mobs are dispersed. In an appeal to the police,
the zemindars, from the peculiar structure of Anglo-Indian jurisprudence,
generally have the advantage.
The question of suppressing these unions by law has been seriously
entertained by Anglo-Indian officials, but such a course would most
probably be defeated. Official observers say that the effect of these
unions is beneficial to public order; that though they lead to many col-
lisions, they prevent a still greater number. Riots are most frequent
in those districts where the sway of the zemindary interest is least im-
peded by unions. The whole difficulty arises out of a false system of
social organism—that of crown tenancy of the lands. Even antiquated
Indian civilization is outgrowing the swaddling-bands of feudalism.
Allodial land-ownership, giving the soil as far as possible into the hands
of actual cultivators, is the true policy.
The weight of opinion is in favor of sustaining the independence of
the ryots, and of still further protecting them against the exactions of
the zemindars.
LIVE-STOCK MOVEMENTS AT CHICAGO.—George T. Williams, secre-
tary of the Union Stock-Yards Association of Chicago, has furnished
the Department with a statement showing the receipts and shipments of
live-stock during the first six months of 1875, from which the following
figures have been condensed:
Of cattle, the total receipts were 466,853 and the shipments 378,563 ;
of hogs, the receipts were 2,002,484 and the shipments 911,598; of sheep,
the receipts were 226,785 and the shipments 149,117; of horses, the re-
ceipts were 9,098 and the shipments 8,822.
Of cattle, the great mass of the receipts was by roads from the West and
South, and the shipments mostly eastward. Thus, the Chicago, Rock
Island and Pacific road brought in 87,501 head and carried away only
2,261; the Illinois Central brought in 82,222 and carried away only
9, 431, The heaviest receipt, 139,952 head, was by the Chicago, Bur-
lington and Quincy, while the shipment was only 2,861; the Chicago
and Northwestern imported 66,834 and exported 1,886; the Chicago
and Alton brought 55,574 and took away 6,052. Of the exporting roads,
the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago brought in only 905 and carried
eastward 101,897; the Michigan Central imported only 1,039 and ex-
ported 91 ,089 ; the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern brought 2,199
and took away "156, 973. The business of the other roads was very small.
April was the month of largest receipt and shipment, the former amount-
ing to 92,374 and the latter to 82,888.
Of swine, the largest receipt "for the six months, 730,988, was by
397
the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy road, and the largest shipment,
323,426, by the Michigan Central. The largest monthly receipt, 508,347,
was in January, and the largest shipment, 171,505, was in April.
Of sheep, the largest total receipt, 78,977 head, was by the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy road, and the largest shipment, 46,418, was by
the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne and Chicago. The largest monthly receipt
and shipment was in January, the former amounting to 58,162 and the
latter to 41,898. The movement was very small during May and June.
Of horses, the largest total receipt, 2,722, was by the Chicago, Bur-
lington and Quincy road, and the largest shipment, 5,266, was by the
Lake Shore and Southern Michigan. The largest monthly receipt and
shipment was in March, the former amounting to 2,784 and the latter to
2,781.
Crops IN NEBRASKA.—A correspondent, under date of August 16,
writes, respecting the condition and yield of crops in Dodge and adjoin-
ing counties, as follows:
Corn promises the greatest crop ever grown in the State. The stalks are 10 to 13
feet high, with from 1] to 7 ears on a stalk, and fully averaging 2, large in size and well
filled. Asa proof of the general expectation of the yield, I will state that 75 busheis
of new black oats of splendid quality, weighing 41 pounds per bushel, machine meas-
ure, which I hauled last week, brought only 25 cents per bushel. I am satisfied that,
unless some disaster happens to the corn-crop, both that and vats will settle down to 15
cents the coming winter. Wheat on bottom-lands is injured by rain, in quality, 25 per
cent., but runs 25 per cent. above average in quantity ; on uplands it is superior every
way. Oats are enormous in yield and very fine in quality, but difficult to harvest, as
they were beaten down by storms when just about ripening, and can only be cut one
way. Rye, superior in quantity and quality, was harvested in good weather and is
safe in stacks. Potatoes are the heaviest in yield and best in quality ever grown here.
Our Early Rose cook almost into meal. They are worth only 25 cents now. The crop
of hay is so heavy and thick on the ground that serious fears are felt that the annual
prairie-fires may be more destructive thanusual. Garden-stuff is, beyond all precedent,
enormous in yield and good in quality, but is a drug in the market.
Although the air was filled with grasshoppers for two weeks, but very few lighted,
ané those that did had no appetite, evidently sick from the presence of the red mite
which infested them in all cases.
Unless the price of grain, &c., falls to lower rates than ever before in this State, the
farmers of this section will nearly regain all that they lost in the last two years.
SOUTHEASTERN ARKANSAS.—One of our statistical correspondents
in Southeastern Arkansas, in urging the claims of that section as a field
for emigration, gives the unqualified assurance of a perfect freedom of
political sentiment and action. He explodes the popular error that the
country is ‘‘swampy, miasmatic, and mosquito-infested.”. With a due
proportion of fine river, bayou, and creek bottom, this region is high,
dry, and undulating. The hills and ridges have a fertile surface, under-
laid with sand and gravel. The valleys are alluvial and very produc-
tive. The salubrity of:the country is shown by the large number of
very old people, notwithstanding prevalent unhygienic habits. Pulmo-
nary affections are rare.
Every farm, garden, or orchard product of the temperate zone can be
raised here. The long seasons admit of two crops per annum, and of
three crops within fifteen months. The bottom-lands will bring large
crops of cotton or corn, while the uplands are very rich, and respond
quickly to high culture and fertilization. A splendid wheat-crop has
just been harvested, of five times the acreage of any previous year.
Fine fruit is raised here, though the capacity of this culture has been
but imperfectly developed. Wild and cultivated grapes grow in great
luxuriance. The Scuppernong of the South grows here with a vigor
unsurpassed in any other part of the Gulf States; Ives’s Seedling, Nor-
ton’s Virginia, the Delaware, and other cultivated varieties have been
satisfactorily tested. It is believed;that wine-production could here be
398
made successful. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, and small fruits are
abundant and good. /
The mildness of the climate, and the excellence of native grasses,
render stock-raising a very remunerative business. Animals need shel-
ter for only a small portion of the year. Cattle and sheep can be raised
more cheaply than in Texas, and a thousand miles nearer the market.
Game and fish are still abundant. Deer, wild turkeys, squirrels,
hares, partridges, water-fowl, &c., offer great attractions to sportsmen,
though bears are becoming scarce. The rivers and smaller streams
swarm with trout, pike, buffalo, perch, &c. Timber in great variety and
profusion can yet be had, suited to all purposes. The water-privileges
are excellent, being easily adapted to any kind of manufacture. Good
water is accessible in wells of moderate depth.
Railroad facilities are already extensive and increasing, while water-
transportation is found in all parts of this region. Social order has
become more stable. The population is mostly native American, largely
recruited from the North. The colored element amounts to about a third
of the whole. All the leading religious denominations are strongly
represented, and a public-school system of advanced ideas has been
organized.
The price of land is very low, from $2 to $6 per acre for choice tracts.
Farms often sell for less money than is realized from a single crop of
eotton grown upon them. These can be had on accommodating terms.
Capital invested in manufacture is exempted from taxation for seven
years. Our correspondent believes that the advantages of this region
are fully equal to those of sections more thoroughly known. -
LARGE YIELDS OF WHEAT.—From seed obtained from this Depart-
ment a farmer in Warwick, Cecil County, Maryland, raised 132 bushels
of Fultz wheat on three acres of land, or 44 bushels per acre.
It is reported that in Dallas County, Texas, Mr. James Horton has
thrashed out 3,300 bushels of wheat, produced on 100 acres, and Mr.
George Penn 4,000 bushels, produced on 150 acres.
A correspondent reports that a farmer in Escambia, Delta County,
Mich., harvested and thrashed 24 bushels of “ nice” Clawson wheat
from a quart of seed, or 72-fold.
REDUCTION OF STOCK-HOGS.—A correspondent in Van Wert County;
Ohio, reports many farmers in that region as selling off their stock-hogs
in anticipation of a scarcity of corn following the late floods.
GRAPE-CULTURE IN NORTHERN OHIO.—A correspondent sends us the
statistics of grape-culture in Ottawa County. according to the assessor’s
returns for 1874, showing 1,596 acres in grapes, producing 5,601,684
pounds, and 433,552 gallons of wine. These figures, he is confident, fall
much below the facts.
PLANTING FORESTS IN TEXAS.—Mr. A. McKinney, of San Felipe,
Austin County, Texas, contributes some very interesting facts in regard
to timber-culture upon the prairies of that State. The richest lands have
a very inadequate supply of timber even for fire-wood. The soil of these
vast savannas possesses all the elements of heavy forest-growth, and
young timber planted would have a rapid and healthy development but
for two obstacles hitherto insurmountable. Of these the first is the fire
that so often sweeps the prairies, the dry grass furnishing the material
for the annual combustion of all incipient tree-growth. The occupancy
of these lands by a regular farming population would remedy this diffi-
culty.
Aree obstacle to tree-culture is found in the ravages of cattle.
399
They do not appear to eat the young trees, but use them as a counter-
irritant against the stings of flies, mosquitoes, and other troublesome
insects. They scratch themselves against every rock and shrub above
ground. “Ifa surveyor puts down a stake six inches above the surface,
cattle will even lie down to rub at it till it is literally worked out of the
ground.” Young trees have no chance of growing unless protected by
fencing. It is hoped that a low bushy tree, which our correspondent,
calls “ weesach,” and which is covered with hard, sharp thorns, defying ;
the attrition of animals, may yet be found available as a hedge-plant.
It seldom grows more than 20 feet high, has short, crooked trunk and
limbs, and when cut down sprouts from the root from five to fifty shoots
for every one cut off. Its wood is hard and durable as fence-posts, and
it furnishes excellent fuel. It is an evergreen, with a yellowish tinge of
foliage, and bears a small pod of seeds, which are eaten by cattle and
sheep and scattered in their droppings. The seed grows with very little
interference from animals. Our correspondent is inclined to think that
they will not germinate unless passed through the digestive apparatus
of the animal, and suggests that scalding, a process used in the case of
the black locust-seed, would have the same effect in inducing germina-
tion.
No effort has yet been made to grow hedges of this tree, nor is it as-
certained whether it will bear transplanting. It grows luxuriantly
around San Patricio and other points in Western Texas, but it is not a
prolific propagator like the Osage orange. The young plants are hardy:
and very thorny, requiring no seed-bed nor early culture, and flourish-
ing as well in close dead soil as on plowed ground. Twenty trunks
have been observed from a single root, each one furnishing an excellent
fence-post. For this purpose and for fire-wood this tree could be profit-
ably grown on a large scale, provided an available method of propaga-
tion could be devised. The weesach, mesquite, Bois darc, black and
yellow locust, horny locust, white thorn, prickly ash, &e., can be grown
without much interference from cattle, and fire could be avoided by
annual plowing. As to the rapidity with which such hedge-plants could
be made available our correspondent concludes as follows:
I also think that even on raw prairie hedges could be grown in four years’ time to
turn stock. As the weesach will start and grow often in a hard, tramped road or
cow-pen, without culture or other attention, it would be the very article, if we could
utilize it. Would it not be worth while to try the Bois d’are, the honey-locust, and
the white thorn ? Ground inclosed by such hedges could be quickly set with other
growths of timber. The black walnut, butternut, pecan, hickory-nut, cottonwood,
box-elder, sycamore, mulberry, even pine and cedar, &c., could be planted and grown
with success and great profit. Were men disposed to make the experiment, a small out-
lay of labor and means and five years’ time would tell the tale. There are millions
upon millions of acres of rich prairie-lands now lying idle that ought to be brought
into culture and made to contribute to our country’s wealth. An object so desirable
can only be accomplished by a successful method of forest-culture. Were all who re-
side on the prairies now disposed to try timber-culture it would lead to ultimate suc-
cess, and become a means of great profit. As for ourselves we purpose a trial of it.
WHEAT-CULTURE IN TENNESSEE.—Mr. J. H. Crichlow furnishes the
Department with a very suggestive and elaborate tabular statement
embracing one hundred and thirty-seven enterprises in wheat-culture
by farmers miscellaneously located in different parts of Rutherford
County, Tennessee. The area covered by these crops aggregated 2,721
acres, producing, on the whole, 33,404 bushels, or 124 bushels per acre.
Though our correspondent regrets his inability to make a fuller report,
his very careful analysis of his materials gives at least an approximate
idea of the status of wheat-culture in that part ef Tennessee. The state-
ment will be found below.
400
The maximum yield, 30 bushels per acre, was on 17 acres of oats
stubble seeded with amber wheat, variety not designated, at the rate of
a bushel per acre. Several cases averaged about 24 bushels of White-
beard, amber, Tappahannock, Fultz, blue-stem Mediterranean, &c.,some
of them occupying a considerable acreage. Generally, an inerease of
acreage is accompanied by a depressed average. One farmer, on 120
acres, the largest area noted, averaged 13 bushels ‘per acre of Tappa-
hannock; another averaged 18 bushels of Walker wheat on 50 acres,
and 14 bushels of Tappahannock on another 50 acres. A farmer just
outside of the county averaged 19 bushels on 96 acres. In nearly half
the cases noted the wheat was seeded upon cotton-land; corn-land was
seeded in almost as many cases, while a few followed oats, clover, pas-
ture, &c. About half the crop of the county was good and the other
half inferior, mostly smutted. Where the seed had been soaked in a
solution of bluestone this malady was avoided. This preparation will
hereafter be more generally used. The effect of the preceding crop
upon the growing crop was slight, as the same kind of land produced
both large and small crops. The seed sown varied from 3 pecks to 5
pecks per acre.
Wheat report from Rutherford County, Tennessee.
| a ol 3) A
Eee 5 oO
SiO eet bk a a
& | of be 5
cs Party growing. | Variety. = fy 2k a 2 Last year’s crop.
BS | ee Na
=| 5 aD 5
be A H a
Wo. denes?--252..<secccee ese Blue-stem Medi- 1t 15} 24 360 | Cotton.
terranean.
Jus Bd B [0 o Pga eae Blue-stem Medi- 1 aN abi Myotis) 198 | Cotton.
terranean.
WRB hOPOan’ or enim ece 4: oam sane Woallketie 2c cgccet 1 Oo Be Hee fb 231 | Cotton.
SE A [fo G11 a ae ae ae SL pS I Boughton..-...--. 1 12 i 204 | Cotten.
RH PorMa Se tet tek ee Si White chaff 1 20} 12 240 | Wheat,
bearded.
ER. OE), OTIOAN. 2's\-4 cena el Sot Mediterranean....| 1 dM fag 144 | Corn.
Havor CASON ...-.' saree erie -t | White bearded... £ 20; 24 480 | Clover.
HAMOE CAkOD ies neo nels <n ono | eAUN DOL 2. teeta $ 10] 24 240 | Clover.
Hels, Matthews, «=: sj\jebiocs cee | Tappahannock....) 1 24} 10 240 | Cotton and clover.
Hea MaLENOWS tes 2 sic cals e's'e oe White bearded....} 1 10} 12 120 | Clover.
HCMEOELOO sete nes = ss6 se > © ; Boughton ..--..--. 1 15 7% | 112 | Cotton.
CPMeBrooks).(32 25 53.4,- sce ok Mediterranean.... 1 22 | 114] 248 | Oats and millet.
William Mitchell .............. | Blue-stem Medi- 1 16 | 203] 324 | Clover, cotton, and corn.
| terranean. |
Walliam' Matehell 2... escec 2. | White Mediterra- 1 10; 17% | 175 | Cotton.
| nean.
William Mitchell ....-........- | Ballard sa:.e. 22 1 80 7 600 | Clover and cotton.
We We sierdany: oe sreceeeee <ier | Boughton. .--.....- 1 19 | 10 100 | Corn.
Meck Snell ios. caste eres eee | Boughton. .-...--- 1 18 9 162 | Cotton and corn.
Thomas Spain .......-.........| Tappahannock....| 14 3 94 | 285 | Cotton.
Thomas Brown ..-.-..-5.--/s-. | Walker. ..--2--2.- 15 5 84 43 | Corn.
SnessS mdse he es ee .....| Lappahannock....| 1 26 | 144 | 377 | Corn and clover.
William Ellington..........-.- Rapa Ss OS Ae 1 8} 124] 100 | Cotton.
Rufus Smith. .....- Sis erin Tappahannock....| 1 4} 21 24 | Cotton.
Mas OW Vite SM1bh see eee ee Reed e102 ee ee 1 9; 114] 104 | Corn.
JOHM WOOdS) i doce eu AL Le TRY | Boughton.-.-..--. 1 23 | 18 414 | Cotton.
John Woods ....... Ei ease se Walker 232252. 5c. 1 20 | 10 200 | Corn.
JOHN WWGGE ec. 2). cas Peheyect Mediterranean....}| 1 6 | 13 78 | Corn.
GeOrcerAc Brow ccieiecs ccc esc: VOR CGH cps -oc ae eee Ses 1 15 8 120 | Cotton.
Hi Rosemieldl 2. <2. sie U Se | Tappahannock....| 1 28 | 13 364 | Cotton.
1B Rosentel digs ccles>= 24> = «5p ol Mediterranean....| 1 23) 13 364 | Cotton.
J: eM SOURIS ere eiioncteccce cee Boughton......... 1 25 | 10 250 | Cotton.
JoM; MoCulloch . sis.025 2082. Resdleass 1a. Cetees 1 8} 10 80 | Cotton.
J. M; McCulloch,.....,..5---.0=--- | Mediterranean..-.| 1 40 8 320 | Corn.
Mat! Pitts: 2 sess e sl bes Mediterranean....| 1} 25 | 10 250 | Corn and cotton.
Walliam Hox, i. badass ps 555: Reedsen were nicees 1 40 | 114] 450 | Corn.
Hivander Lytlo\. oo. cscs~se~=--- IW a OP ope ener ji 18 | 124] 220] Corn.
Evander Lytle. .2...0).2 2522... Golden chaff ...... 13 13 | 124] 163 | Corn.
Evander Lytle sce: se. decee ot White bearded....| 14 22} 144] 315 | Cotton.
yvander Livtles ss... e2 capes. > Boughton......... 13 16 | 154] 248 | Cotton.
Henry Bone) ).. 2 gaa ase ces Ren EL ee oe ee ci 6| 12 72 | Corn.
ONT y BONG. c= teen aeeaite s = '5| White) Perr ewe a. = 4) 12 43 | Corn.
401
Wheat report from Rutherford County, Tenneesee—Continued.
=|
ae
oa]
Party growing. Variety. a a
58
S —
4
Alexander Hartman .....-...... AEM DER = ao Fe on 1
King H. Howse .-.---...--..--. Mediterranean 1
Mrsyo ulin Howse. --..---..--.- White eters si. 1
George Busley.....-..-......-. Wialkere <- ch eeien a
PEs elaidteecciccse see nee White bearded. ... 5
P. A. Lyon..... Boughton......-... =
J.B. Palmer . Bou Ohton s.— os =< 1g
J. B. Palmer Reeds .s3sste ashe: 1
J.B. Palmer Tappahannock.... 1
Vu) LA OTD i Missouri. --5-/:.<- 14
AMC DLE 7 ee Tappahannock. ... 14
VRS LG 0G Mediterranean. ... 1
Abner Dement................. Reeds tas netisicte «os 1
MenTMMEMeNh. om.. de. sk ee dss. Reeds soe sas as 33 1
i Tappahannock. . 1
Walker 1
Boughton 1
RO60 2S y sete wc sere 1
AIMDeres. 2-5 bees 1
Mediterranean....| 14
Mediterranean. ... 1
Joshua Jordan..-....-.....--.. Mediterranean....| 14
AOSMMAM OLGA) 2.2.2. nance. --s Tappahannock....)| 13
(Spgs SE G10) aa ee Mediterranean....| 1
S. R. Sanders Missouri red...... 1
5. RB. ce Missouri red...... i
Ss. Missouri. red...... 1
B. Boughton ....-.... 1
J. Tappahannock .... 14
J. Missouri...-.. ee De
J. Tappahannock..-..| 13
J. Reewsk. ct dassae% 1
Jos i MeE6GSs peas. ese aoe 1
Din Dol bay Aes eee Tappahannock....| 1
Wh i ly ee Bearded .......... 1
if, 10), NE ea Boughton ......... 4
Si iO Ee Woalker) 2/25. o8k 1
Ape Wis UGG neo oe White Eakin...... 1
Georce| Zambrol.... sees. +.--- Walker - osu ceecc ee 1k
Thomas W. Cox "
. i
JOnNEBUTHeiti. +e 4acecinin nc. -- Mediterranean. ... 1
JIC BAT eee a it sta ey a eee eee 1
da deine deli eee ee ee BOLSHtONe. 25. 5-: 1
Pies H MORAG ba. -cie acne ce << Missouri red...... 13
102) Sot oe) | ee Wialiker ee. esac s E
Join [Siti ee Walker ceeocscas: 1
PAGE MOVUIG tide enaSeckbe dae ccce: Boughton .......-. 1
JIGSRCWN ira oe a eee Boughton ......... 1
Lh Ae Onis i White bearded.-.. q
MaeeIneeton (6... 22.5.5. Blue-stem Medi- 1
terranean.
Sp Lh Odesgaeeeees ses 1
lbs aU ay 1 Walker eaec se 1
so SA WO ie Reed aston took 1
LU NEO Gi ee as ar WMoltzscaceeese sce z
Tepe a 2 Se ee Amber 4 ie 2250) 1
Te, Ro Wai 44 Walkers ..3.'5<o2% 1
Ui SISTINE a ee Boughton....._... 1
diy Shisitthiii. 4th Missouri red...... 1
DORM BPAShOaP. << \fcesj-s6--- 3 Bonghton...-..--- 1
John Brashear Golden chaff ...... iH
Wee wBONG)- x ame5 ie ENMID EDS ois = onl emete 2 = 1
W. E. Jones ........ Mediterranean. ... 1
Cr wpielignte sre c cs galke Soc Mediterranean. ... i
Ces LDA ACS US a NUE eee eee i
(ai LUGE iA <P ld al Boughton ......... 1
AWW E1807 ee Mediterranean... 1
a. (OE 1a Gy?) ee ee PROC ee ci)at ie 6 sale a
CMT SLOGKITG 5. oo econ owececd Mediterranean... 1
SEO LOCKITG:. 215456 mo access Amber isiect.: sa. =< 1
need Tappahannock.... 1
White bearded.... i
White bearded.... 1
Tappahannock.... a
VV (AUSB I eres marae she 1
Number of
acres.
——
| Yield per acre.
Total bushels.
Last year’s crop.
Oats.
Cotton and oats.
Cotton and oats.
Corn, cotton, and wheat.
Corn.
Corn.
Corn.
Cotton and corn.
Clover and cotton.
Corn.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Corn.
Wheat and corn.
Corn and cotton.
Corn and cotton.
Corn and cotton,
Cotton.
Corn.
Corn.
Cotton.
Corn.
Cotton.
Clover.
Cotton.
Wheat.
Corn.
Corn.
Corn.
Corn.
Corn.
Cotton.
Wheat and corn.
Corn.
Corn.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Corn.
Corn and oats.
Corn.
Cotton.
Corn.
Cotton.
Clover.
Corn.
Cotton and corn.
Corn.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Corn and cotton.
Cotton.
Corn.
Cotten.
Cotton.
Clover.
Clover.
Corn.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Corn.
Cotton.
Corn and cotton.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Cotton.
Corn.
Corn.
Oats.
Oats.
Cotton.
Corn.
Cotton.
Cotton.
| Corn.
402
Wheat report from Rutherford County, Zennessee—Continued.
Bole job] 3
oO
#elogle| 3
Party growing. Variety. Be/2e}/ 2] 5 Last year’s crop.*
sei as) als
Bm) Cee he
4 A al i
Childress & Tarpley ..-.-.....-.. Mediterranean....| 1 40} 18 720 | Corn
Childress & Tarpley ..-.-.------ Tappahannock....} 1 50 | 114] 567 | Cotton
SACK LOGE. ore aap cae se === ln) Mediterranean....| 1 15 | 12 180 | Oats
John W. McCulloch ..-....-.--- Mediterranean. --.. 1 10 84 85 | Cotton
ES, ce ed OUNCE eae lamin oo 5 eae Boughton ......--. 14} 100 7 750 | Cotton
Samuel Donnel..........------. Odessase.-.~o-2- 1 83 | 134 |1,120 | Clover
Ke Carltoneeesavceercs= = esos IREIDZ~ cea sec 1 3%) 244 92 | Corn
Ee Carlie nines pepiae setae see Agnberigicc. 222. 1 21 | 48 378 | Cotton
Ji Las SERBOD ey ne peidmeciee se -ince= Reedissesccupe eos 1 32] 15 480 orn.
W. F. M. Betty Reed pees cceesee 1 10 9 90 | Corn and cotton.
D. H. Sneed... Boughton......... uf 8; 11 88 | Corn
D. H. Sneed... Mediterranean....| 1 5 | 10 50 | Open.
D. H. Sneed Orleans .-..-.-...- 1 7 hale 84 | Corn
D. H. Sneed Boughton......--. 1 12) 10 120 | Corn.
B. W. Henry Odessagetss ste. 13 75 | 14 /1,050 | Cotton, corn, and wheat.
R. B. Jetton ' Tappahannock....| 1 120 | 13 /1,560 |‘Corn.
John W. Childress ........-.-.- Walken c.5-o ace 1 50 | 18 900 | Cotton and clover.
John W. Childress.........--.- Tappahannock.... 1 50 | 14 700 | Cotton and clover.
Samuel Watkins..........-.... Red bearded ....-- 13 20 | 174] 350] Pasture.
Thomas H. Hays........------- Boughton.......-. 1 7 | 194} 136 | Cotton.
Thomas H. Hays.......- Schictgag Wralker? ios) -ieees 1 7 | 234] 165 | Corn.
Number of reports, 137; number of acres, 2,721; total number of bushels, 33,404; average yield per
acre, 123 bushels.
CONTINUOUS WHEAT-GROWING WITH COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.—
The experiment made in England of growing wheat with little regard
to rotation, and none whatever to fertilizing with farm-manures, by
means of deep steam-culture and abundant use of commercial fertilizers,
has been frequently referred to in this report. The custom is to sell
the ripened crops standing, the ripening occurring early in August.
Mr. Middleditch, at Blunsden, near Swindon, has sold the product of
550 acres, of which 350 were wheat, for over £5,000, or $25,000. The
Rivett cone-wheat brought $58.75 per acre; oats, $56.87 ; winter-beans,
$50. Mr. Prout’s crops, at Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, on his farm
of 450 acres, realized $54.22 per acre for all crops: wheat, $53.14; bar-
ley, $45.42; oats, $55.94; clover, $76.95. The purchaser has, of course,
the expense of harvesting. At this price, standing, the yield must have
exceeded 40 bushels per acre, unless it was of the very highest quality.
This is about the usual yield of the farms in a course of a dozen years.
RUSSIAN APPLES, ETC.—The secretary of the Rock Point Farmers’
Club, Marion County, Oregon, reports as follows: ‘Those Russian
apples received from the Department are doing finely. None of the
trees are yet bearing. The Italian plum is liable to winter-kill here,
but the German prune is at home, and a finer fruit would be hard to
find.”
A SEVERE LOCAL DROUGHT.—Under date of September 6, the sec-
retary of the agricultural society in Austin County, Texas, reports that
the protracted drought still continues in the northern part of that county,
though rains are falling in the southern part and in the adjoining coun-
ties. Springs and wells are all drying up, and the milch-cows have to
be turned from the inclosures and driven miles away in search of water.
One of the adverse consequences is a failure of milk and butter.
403
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS
FOR AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, 1875.
The following quotations represent, as nearly as practicable, the state of the market at the
beginning of each month.
Articles. August.
NEW YORK,
Flour, superfine ................-.perbarrel..| $490 to $5 40
EU AE OS UAUO ls ance vclo nce sane es GO) ons 5 8 to 6 40
extra to choice western....... GO cesnee 5 8 to 8 50
common to fair southern extras.do...... 600 to 6 75
good to choice southern extras.do...... 6 80 to 8 50
Wheat, No.1 spring...........-.. per bushel..| 145 to 1 47
0 eee ece | sae 1 344 to 1 42
winter, red, western..... ereee OO tae a ais 148 to 154
winter, amber, western...-.. - aM aseehe 148 to 1 54
winter, white, western -...... doreasa> 152 to 1 58
LOS? oct te ee donc- 32 100 to 110
Lon GN eee seg dGseeas- 120 to
Un) ee COecea= 81 to 89
Pay era ualiby, 652.0 soccen'-- per ton...| 19 00 to 24 00
BEGONGUGMANbY «<< /saccee acocen, ~COse sos 15 00 to
PIE Re yoo scion. ain ono aa/s per barrel-.| 800 to 9 50
EIMBOER Senin nie in coos nce po aes do..----| 1000 to 10 75
LEMS eG ct Se ee per barrel..| 21 00 to 21 15
OXG0a PLING ..---04- 0 eee dosase-- ' 16 00 to
OLE Gee ee ee peeoos dO ncewe 18 00 to 19 25
Lupiidl!s9-5 5.9 e es a ee per pound. . 122 to 13%
PR DOMENVCSUETH acco sas o-6 wees -- -0-0-25- 17 to- 24
SU DUG) (055 a re doituitie 22 to 35
Cheese, State factory ........-.-.-.-.- dogo. 104 to 124
western factory ..------.-----d0.-.--- 94 to 1i4
Sugar, fair to prime refining..........do.----. to 84
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary.-..do...-... 12% to 13%
low middling to good middli’g.do.-..-.. 144 to 154
MODACCOMBMA Taree a2) eee ht ee doRus 83 to 11
low leaf to medium leaf.....do.....- 11 to 154
Wool, American XXX and picklock.. do...-.. 55 to ' 60
"American X and XX ......-....d0...... 50 to 52
American combing...---...---. dOneeoee 54 to 63
PTE Le epee Orta 30 to 52
California, spring clip... ..--..- dorcsgee 23 to 34
California, fall clip.-...-.--.--.d0...... 18 to- 24
BOSTON.
Flour, western superfine..........per barrel..| 5 00 to 5 25
common western extras......-d0..----. 575 to 6 25
red wheats, good to fancy northwest-
Fil -soqaaeyo haere per barrel..; 600 to 9 00
A white wheats, good to fancy west-
SU ES Ao Se ies Ba cee per barrel..| 650 to 9 00
southern family: 22.5 -2)..«..... €Ox225-- 700 to 8 50
Py embers a5 oles s\n setae.) per bushel... to
HUE. cee. cee ee a ee ee ae ee CORAM AS $0 to 93
MIE eee oe cece sce wise ce coe ne -O0.-cccs 67 to 76
[RANG SSE Be i ee a eS oe doe. sh22 110 to
LEEDS So Sag See es, SSO a er Cee ae Nominal.
Hay, eastern and northern......---» per ton..-| 16 00 to 22 00
Bupice Western ....5/.-. 22. otek CGivwclss to
September.
$4 85
5 65
5 65
5 80
6 90
minal.
N
17 00 to 23 00
to
404
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles. August.
Boston—Continued.
Beef, mess -.-..--..--------.--»--per. barrel..| $10 00. to
CXiba, THESE ee. sic eicee sawn een doe. nae 12 00 to
PAIN YNOPeee eens a noe eee ete. dO» seieee 16 00 to$17 00
Pore prin ececcses os. cc. lee ee elena d052 een 16 50 to 17 00
Ae =O ees Saree dose 21 50 to 22 00
War Cee tee etato so lnc alsa (Celene per pound... 14 to 15
Butter, New York and Vermont --..-.. Go sete. 18 to 27
MICSHORIN =. poetic oe ocamew ciel’ does.’ 16 to 28
Cheese, New Yorkand Vermont factory do..---. 10 to 12
western factory....-.-------- dos-ci- 9 to 11
Sugar, fair to good refining.---..-.-.- dowtece- 81 to St
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary....do..---- 124 to 14}
low middling to good middling.do...-.. 15 to 16}
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania Sacestc dOsenee cs 45 to 53
LOS OU i HEY SE as Aa ly dowe2es. 43 to 47
other western ..--.--.-------- doeeeeee 43 to 46
Pouletiew errs sept ase ee sere ei doOnpenes 20 to 50
combing fleece.-..-.---..-5--. dowsas-2 55 to 59
CATER TCS SS ee Paes sy 14 to 38
PHILADELPHIA.
Mionr Superine).-.- ce pen essse- per barrel-.. 425 to 4 50
Pennsylvania extra to choice-..do...-.- 450 to 6 50
western extra to choice..---..-. dozacees 5 00 to 6 75
Wheat, red... .:..-.... 2--.....--per bushel..|. 1°30 ‘to “1736
UR ey tear teeta opel epg O o e aici to
“LDU ER 5 ae le PRA eo yn fe 140 to 1 45
et eee. oo Be the cae. aden s eines 5)! L Oo tO en ae
BAN OV tae calor swecloc nsec ens tee eee doccece. —— to
(Chitose a8 Ges Se ae Sede ane Saae dower. 84 to 87
RO RS Bearers setae ok nin ah cies clea Colt 58 to 66
Hay, baled, prime..-.---.-------.---per ton--| 23 00 to 25 00
baled, common to fair shipping. -do.-.-.. 20 00 to 22 00
Beef, western MeSS.-.. 0-2. ----0-e- per barrel..| 7 00 to
PXALAPMOSS| 23) tase t os oe secon COs nie 800 to 900
Warthman’s city family....--..- dog-cc. 16 00 to
[PG VRINGRAE eee SoC ns teen cabeya cee wa sO aoe 21 25 to 21 50
UMOMMERS- Je bone oo. eee OES ee 17 50 to
DEUMNC aed onl elena shin Stegner n ee dOs-cs2s 15 00 to 15 50
Lyi ee 5 eS ee eens per pound. 142 to 72
Butter, choice Middle States.....-..- Ourseas 24 to 35
choice western .....---------- doses 20 to 23
Cheese, New York factory ..-.---.---- GO. sanee 9 to 12
Ohie factoryicese seca. see == dO.ceee: | 10 to 102
Sugar, fair to good refining -......---do..---.) 8t to Se
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary.--.do..---. | 112 to 132
low niiddling to good middling-do..-.-.| 14: to 162
Wool, Ohio X and Kiet eee do.seee 5 | 50 to 52
Other Wwespern 20 se nes cee do): Fae. / 48 to 52
PMu-Wwashed ---.-- cna ee sense dQ. sae o: 50 to 58
Pulled se sus5.:s-ekoe cebasccsien- COcsasee | 38 to 45
COMMIT =|) oe eeeoeiene ee Gao asas | 32 «to 65
BALTIMORE. |
Flour, SUPSTANO gies oot os hers ee per barrel..| 425 to 5 00
OXGU A Ge ee ee sea = aeae see ae dosaeead 5 25 to 6 00
family and faney’....5:2.%--2- dow. 333 650 to 8.50
Wiest, medusa. sameress ote per bushel..| 120 to 1 40
AMET) ee tee iene sis C= aloo ets dotooses 140 to 1 45
WHIGN did catherines Go omen does Jaa ‘1-25 to 1, 40
September,
$10 00 to
to$13 00
17 00 to 17 50
16 00 to 17 00
22 00 to 22 50
14} to 15
20 to 30
18 to 33
9% to 11}
9 to il
8 to
124 to 144
142 to 152
414 to
475 to 5 00
5 35. to, 7 00
6 25. to F750
135 to 1 48
to ——
1°50" te) The
90 to 95
to
78 to 82
43 to 74
23 00 to 25 00
20 00 to 22 00
700 to 9 00
800 to 9 00
16 00 to
21 00 to ——
18 00 to
15 00 to 15 50
132 to 174
26 to 39
20 to 30
8 to 12
7 to 102
7z to
114 to 143
144 to’ 15}
45 to 47
44 to 48
50 to 58
26 to 45
58 to 65
4: 75. 40, 5258
5 75. to 6 75
700 to 9 00
115. to i 48
1 50» to: 1°55
1 20: tosdt-5é
405
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles.
BALTIMORE—Continued.
MEE eas oct ce eleinm < H0 cm mon per bushel...
Oy eG: Secs soocepe hahha 6She S666 Cis Anes
GGnnteces <0. . 2 od Gere Woaeeostos 5b 56 dpe =a-
Hay, Middle State..-...........-.-per ton...
RIMES Se). 2-2 < ost coe fetes per barrel...
Ema rUING Se. 5b! cee Sone (10) See
Deo) oo A eS per pound. .
SMbber, WEStEMD .. 2. 25... - oncciee aaecce Olsmiieaie
2 SUSI, 5 Se Ge ee rs ree 4 dOneemas
Cheese, western factory...........--.d0......
eastern, factory ......-..u---- do. - = |
Sugar, fair to good refining .-..-...-.. dO) 352%
New Orleans grocery grades...do..-.-...
PUB AOCOMMUIIE =. ~ Ate on sa% wfte-- doen ans
common to medium leaf -...do,-.-.--.
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary...--do......
low middling to middling. .... UO BA Seoe
CINCINNATI.
Miane Saperine...--..----.-----+ per barrel..
RSIS) oc See HES RGRea ebb soc eee dOscecm=
familycand fancy ..-.----.---- doehecec
Wheat, winter, red..........-.... per bushel..
PHM CAMIDON)|...+20 .-.-sss500 dow.cce.
white ...... Jcestes cedsagetde dOneeses
LAGS ee RR cae io a cia saaieae donee:
Re ee ince wen nm ena anes OOcen nn.
dh a+ + S385 Bo A ae a se GO eerese
O08 23 Se enero C0 eens
Igoe (eet a ete per ton....
LOGE GE a eae doo ees
tei ki. oe ae a re me per barrel...
RODRIG SS agen coc i=[ais mon ccs ones ens ieee dors -2
Lei =4-0 56+ 2a le per pound.
Lise) CLANS ee Ee or Deeeee
TON? Ss Se Seale Ti Depa aoe
Cheese, prime to choice factory-..-.... dows
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good..--... dors:
prime to choice.-.do...-...
ERE Sis on Sans wc nna e nen wo dO soa.
M2) ocd See oe eee oe Gores
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary....do...-...
low middl’g to good middl’g-.do......
Wool, fleece-washed, common to fine.do...-- A
Ui DE ELL ee Comer a.
unwashed, clothing..-.-. se bee- does. o2.
COMING) <5. \-)-15:-)Ao OO ew so =
PeeOtesha Secc at cca cccece as doses:
CHICAGO.
Flour, choice white winter extras.per barrel ..
common to good extras........ doy 2s.
choice spring extras .......... does ccna
Patenh spring’ [22 sn oS 8k doinsee ae
spring superfines ...---...--.. Goss ace
Wheat, No. 1 spring ......-...... per bushel..
OMe IS PING Se 5 5. MAL Re” doize2t3
PR eA PTINE * dia as) gins shee ses dGscc- i
August.
$0 93 to
18 00 to
9 00 to
to
20 50 to
13+ to
20 to
18 to
10 to
82 to
91 to
19 to
12 to
112 to
132 to
40 to
—— to
98 to
3D «to
33 «to
$1 03
OO HOS O10
SEGRE NSIS)
HEE BOO 3
impo tops
Septemb er.
$0 75 to $1 05
40 to 52
TLinto 87
25 00 to 30 00
22 00 to 22 25
16 50 to
144 to 142
18 to 95
18. to oD
10 to 114
11 te 13
72 to ah
82 to 8
8. to il
10 to 14
to 134
143 to 143
5 ORE Om Orso
600 to 6 25
6 40 to 8 50
1725 to pe ott
1°30 to. 1 40
130 to 1 40
85 to
115 to 1 45
70° tor Geto
30 to 50
93 00 to 24 00
20 00 to 22 00
to ———
20 75 to 21 25
122 to 154
98 to ol
24 to 25
10 to il
—— to 94
94 to ———
15 to 20
38 to 30
——— to ——_
to ———
43 to 40
—— to ——_
25 to 32
34 to 38
31 to BY
650 to 7 50
625 to 6 50
575 to 6 25
675 to 8 50
3°75 ton 4°25
1:22 fo 1.25
1134 to 1 144
107 to. 117
~
406
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles. August. September.
Cnicaco—Continued.
Compe ea vee ot wideie oo ovate oeiels per bushel..| $0 62 to $0 713 | $0 612 to $0 634
Bye, Not) 2 stb co. -'2 Paes els omic Saininte's dOsa-eer 80 to 82 65 to 81
Barley, No. 2.....- RR 4 dO. 5% 1 074 to 1 08 110 to
Onte Nose suet sees asec ited a ERE AE d0c2ce"- 52 to 524 34 to 35
Hay, timothy ..2... .....--s.+-.--+.-per ton.-|: 14°00. to 19,00 16 00 to 19 50
PULAUII OMS ee as\e claim ileinies ow vincn~ dovare-< 9 00 to 16 50 11 50 to 15 50
Heel, WaGee een cowedebscase seesh- per barrel:.| 8 25 to 850 to
GXMAMIMOSS Is Soi sini don e\siecaole a's dOvezicn. 925 to ——— 950 to
ork imenseepe seine elo cas da ccicehna= dove ec. 20 75 to ——— | 20 50 to 20 75
PMU} MESS) <\ce pine ose Jace deinen dOzceece to ——— to
OXbla PriMe — so awe cee See === d0.csen~ 14 25 to 14 00 to 14 25
Wee ona a. a aieleticls== see eae per pound.. 134 to » 134 122 to
Butter, choice to fancy ...---.-------d0...... 23 to 28 25 to 29
A medium to good . ...-......-- don eee 16 to 20 18 to 21
Cheese, prime factory -...---.-..---- does si-« 10 to 11 104 to 114
Sugar, brown, common to choice.....- GOs sacs ——— to 7% to
Wool, tub-washed ..............--..-d0...... 40 to 53 40 to 53
fleece-washed....--.----.-- 22 OObeaces 38 to 43 39 to 41
WOW dONOO tee saeaionis'sice ieee oes dOseo oe 25 “to 33 26 to 33
TOU eS oe eee eee OSeee dogeec-= —. to ——— to
SAINT LOUIS.
Flour, winter, common to choice...per barrel..| 4 25 to 7 50 425 to 7 50
BUT Oe cede nd safe es clo nieineloiea UOerena- 375 to 5 00 375 to 5 00
Wheat, white winter .....--....- per bushel.-| 120 to 1 28 128 to 1 38
red winter ...... CH a te doen. 112 to 138 108 to 1 46
SULTS AE eee a dose cone 1 03 to 1.20 105 to 115
Gore ab arate oo cap pekis saan. anemia doscna- 65 to 72 60 to® 70
FIO eis fabs Sete eicisinid tg Aeon eS wae setae dots... 8 to 103 72° «to 80
LPT RE e ee ecic netree es oa ae Ora 125" tO doe 118 to 1 30 r
CENTS SEO i ee ee at Sg WO seen 52 to 60 29 to) ., “40
ay, timothy - p/taes -/s- yain dee « per ton.--..| 12 20 to 22 00 18 00 to 21 00
PLATE Se elo 4a sie ocean sss a net CO else ae 10 00 to 13 00 7 00 to 12 00
WHOGL, ANORS (465. -'s. ois eee ce epee per barrel.-| 14 00 to 15 00 14 00 to 15 00
Pork, mess..--- a Sod cele tere GO. soso. 20 00 to 21 00 20 50. to 21 00
eas ot a ane o odisinieinenins-'s/- POL POUNG.. 12 to Soe ae a eo
Butter, prime to choice dairy-.-...-..-do....-- 27 to 28 Be 7 fh i 28
County Packed.....-<.<memjn.- 50s dot ibis 16 to 20 18 to 2
Cheese, Ohio factory ....---.-...---- dow. 13. to 134 13 to 133
New York factory=s<<2s5--2<d0-cse-< 13 to 134 13 to 134
TOPACCOWMUPSesm eerste seen eecensee nes DOL see 6 to 9 6 to 9
VET Waa ot ee See eS ae doe S225 8 to 14 8 to 14
Wool; tub-washed)-<-2-.2--5-2--2---d0-052- 51. to 53 50 to 51
fleece-washed ...--..---------- dotsaea- 37 to 47 37 «to 47
MM Washedseawlessisceee seis ome CORE ASH 30 to 38 30 to 38
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary....do..-.-. 121 to 144 124 to 144
low middling to good middling.do...-.. 15 to 164 15 to 164
NEW ORLEANS.
HIOUL PNPEUUMNE s\- Ais- so seenen=een per barrel..| 475 to 5 00 5 25 to ——
CWUUA MEA - oss nee ap seen d0... snes 5 ce to 6 75 550 to 6 50
Choice norancy 2 <<=2 + <a. -00L- seer 700 to 7 75 675 to 8 00
Cor; vellowWpe-nals- hese = oe sa eae per bushel.. 86 to { 86 to 89
WHItG sie dete ete ome ob eee d0.cecee 92 to 94 92 to 94
Oats a: 2 25. tees eee bee e me semeee dolescec 65 to 70 40 to 60
Hay ichoe en. sce ceemses. = <n Gee per ton....| 26 00 to 28 00 26 00 to 27 00
PIUME) fae Seem e eis oe th. eee dopo ctor 23 00 to 26 00 to
Beat; -LOxns boas tale <n on oer per barrel..} 10 00 to 11 50 10 00 to 11 50
WOStCIMe. oor emer (oboe dosts.2. 16 00 to 16 00 to
Fulton market ......... per half barrel..| 11 00 to 12 50 11 50 to 12 00
407
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles. August.
New OrRLEANS—Continued.
September.
Pork, mess-....---« 5 POE ae per barrel..| $22 50 to ——— | $22 25 to$22 50
Coon | 5 ee ee per pound.. 14 to $0 15 144 to 154
Butter, choice Goshen ...-...-.-.---- Cele 30 to 33 32 to 34
choice western ........ .....- dco zane 20 to 22 22 to 24
Cheese, choice western factory ..-.--.do-...... Ae to) 1 12 11 to
New York cream.............d0...... to 174 to 18
Sugar, fair to fully fair ..........-..- @Oesenss 82 to 9% 94 to 10
prime to strictly prime ....--- knees 245 92 to 10 10 to 104
clarified, white and yellow.-...do..-... 92 to 11 103 to 10%
Cotton, ordinary to good ordinary --..do.....-. 11 to 12 114 to 123
low middling to good middling.do...-... 13 to 15 134 to 15
EO erieine ws cams docce cnnn enna cape 33 to 33f 28 to
SAN FRANCISCO.
Flour, superfine -....-....-.....- per barrel..| 500 to 5 50 5 25 “to 5 50
ee to. can cured. cash O00) “to 650 6 00 to 6 25
family and fancy .....--..--.. dovscen 675 to 7 00 650 to 7 00
Wheat, California...-....-........ per cental..| 200 to 215 200 to 215
Ful) 6/5 COGS eSSonee nese does tee 200 to 2 10 200 to 215
Datla ee doeeeaes 140 to 1 60 140 to 1 65
DEA wa isc cn cises oueeise AO jcoccs 1.75 to 225 175 to 205
EO ences nwa ns enc nae ones Orncene 150 to 155 150 to 1 55
AMO Weis cas ciiccncsnaans-A0.ocece 145 to 1 50 140 to 1 50
LOA thi eae ae ais meate cia per ton.-.| 1250 to 17 50 12 50 to 18 00
REMI h ca nwcls na ceng sen cen per barrel..| 850 to 9 50 8 00 to 9 00
PAMIMUiVE IESE) \< a\c-2<< 50 per half barrel.-; 650 to 8 00 750 to 8 00
RE rin cine hme =< -jencens per barrel..| 22 00 to 23 00 22 00 to 23 00
prime mess ..-... re oe cee doer ss. 16 50 to 17 00 16 50 to 17 50
Co ee per pound... 15 to 16} 15 to 16%
ger averland - 20062. 2.2.2 -- ns oe U0 -0--e- 20 to 27 20 to 22
Chili Aa a eee dotssss 25 «to 35 30 to 45
Tees ai Srna sos 4s aon GO Ace. 20 to 224 D0) tow a 025
CEO SER Le SR a dossea=s 124 to 15 124 to 15
\Wayeik LNT ie eee GO. seces 12 to 15 10 to 15
Cepulnirer oie pe? ethene ie ie ieee do**==2* 15 to 27 15 to 27
Eg dh nis role e's alnnninsic do0tateae 15 to Ps 15 to 27
| LIVE-STOCK MARKETS.
Articles. August. _ September.
NEW YORK.
Cattle, extra beeves ...........--- per cental..| $13 00 to $13 50 |$13 00 to $13 50
POO LONPLiMe!. 2 eles eins oe deveceth 12 00 to 1275/1150 to 12 7
EamMmon tO alt.) as oc. - = 2 Gor: vee $1 95:-ter 11275710: 75° “tet Tites
average of the market...--...do....-. 11 75 to 11 25 to
MGXAMNS /. oc eele ce ees doriseue 650 to 1150} 725 to 950
MELON-COWS) ope nals can cota = - per head..| 40 00 to 100 00 | 45 00 to 75 00
veal calves.......-...-----percental..| 600 to 1000] 700 to 10 00
DE aie canis tec eee en ecient one ee 425 to$625} 450 to 6 50
Syeve ts..." ..... eae t Mik Bs agi f do. Rete to= 8 374 to
408
Live-stock markets—Continued.
Articles.
PHILADELPHIA.
Cattle, prime beeves ..-----.----- per cental..
fATEEO (COOM sc coc0' ae=san- =e dozs Ley:
COMMON Ee. loinc sels cla sein)=/-2)5 do\.coeus
SUGGS (be Se <0 SSE REESE) ceeree) dose. -
Swine, corm-fed...-.--..-.-..------.-d0..2-..
BALTIMORE.
Cattle, best beeves....-...-.----- per cental--
frst guality..-----2--------<- do.2-2-.
medium or good quality...-..do..--.-
OTOIM ALY ojoe eee e = =e a ale == LO meme
general average...--.---.---. COrwaets-
mostyof the sales...........-- doztze--
mileh-cows-.-..------------- per head -.
S) oe yO WE Aa ae ee Sel aS See per cental..
vu) BU ATC a Reiter aye lines ha bea escheat Rasy & Fr). 5 Arle
CINCINNATI.
Cattle, good to prime butchers’
BURCIS en aoe a anime “per cental..
fair te mediantis 2.2... dove.
COMMANN S36 oS oe ce ueiae = GozteeTe
milch-cows. .-\---«----------per head. -
Veal Galyes .-°.- 20. --.- per cental..
CISD ayo BM ebay IE s ee a ate, Ges aes Onset
Swine ....- =) YN oe LS oe dof. 22!
CHICAGO.
Cattle, extra-graded steers, 1,400
to 1,550 pounds. .-.....-.per cental..
choice beeves, 1,250 to
1450 ponds - ooo cece eee ao NG e
good beeves, 1,150 to 1,300
WOUndS {eee ome e oel acme Tseng
medium, 1,100 to 1,250
BOMTOS Fee bsei- oie pe ae eeets do. gee
SOTO Tet ie a ee gin 2 ei dO. ea z
ARSC Date eye eet iets ella SBA SS do.
BHO p we sos oe ese ee iotelaw arnretten terme la do. een.
Wine! eee seen = seece na anaes erate do 22.
SAINT LOUIS.
Cattle, good to choice native steers. per cental- -
common to fair natives...-.--- dot: $222
inferior and common...-...-.... dose e2
Texans, fair to choice.....;.- -.2do52ach
Dae Oo 305 6 eases tls ae
SIN Oe ne ete isin: 2 wt in alepe miele neteleieere (i Ko yp
OTges, PIMPS alesis oo ste cow sel per head. .-
Play cee e a. a - sas aj soe eeieeee dosnisees
AILGOb-CAL = aj =e aweninee ee deri Owamieee
heavy draught ......5....... OO ceener
POOG [ALIVCLS Ip aie (= mente nee lea doOteeeee
OXATA): shin neh ete als am pnialeoeee ri Fo pas
Mules, 14 to 15 hands high. ..........do..---.
1b) totGihandshven) oy. 221). domme
OSU a kee s semecs = ~)n crane sae OOnne ae
August.
$7 25 to $7 87
6 00 to
O.7> ito! Voie
450 to 6 00
11 25 to 11 50
Fy 7 SO dale
A 50” “60 Sib oe
S1/DebO Tako
SOs tebe ome
5 50 to
5 00 to 6 00
35 00 to 42 00
400 to 550
10 25 to 11 00
575 “to 600
i Bh AGOte ae
250 to) en00
40 00 to 55 00
5-00) to. - 6200
3°25) to Aa
7160. to N7590
to 6 60
600 to 630
575 to 5°85
5 00 to 5 55
to
3.15 tore, aga
O75 mboy oul
5°75" to’ 8°00
B50) to 675
S25 to “4°75
WSO ktto £1267
2 50>{ta) 4:25
3.105) bo) boo
660 to 8 00
40 00 to 75 00
80 00 to 110 00
75 00 to 125 00
130 00 to 170 00
100 00 to 150 00
175 00 to 180 00
75 00 to 120 00
120 00 to 180 00
175 00 to 200 00
September.
$7 50 to $ 8 00
5 75 to tees
400 to 5 50
400 to 6 00
11 50 to 12 50
625 to 675
475 to 6 25
350 to 475
275 to 3,50
450 to
400 to 512
30 00 to 42 00
400 to 5 50
10 00 to 11 50
500 to 5 50
325 to 475
225 to 32
20 00 to 50 00
450 to 6 50
300 to 4 50
650 to 8 40
640 to 675
575. to 6 25
500 to 5 60
425 to 5 00
225 to 400
9:95 to 3 7D
300 to 5 123
6 50° to 8h
5 50° to 6 25
3°25! “tel ales
250 to 300
1.75 to 4 25
28 to 425
600 to 8 00
40 00 to 75 00
80 00 to 110 00
75 00 to 125 00
13000 to 170 00
100 00 to 150 00
175 00 to 180 00
75 00 to 120 00
120 00 to 180 00
175 00 to 200 00
409
_ Live-stock market-—Continued.
Articles, August. September.
NEW ORLEANS,
Cattle, Texas beeves, choice......-per head...| $40 00 to $46 00 | $40 00 to $46 00
MEMINMESUIUYR = 0 - on a,cces-ace-G0..--5e 30 00 to 35 00] 3000 to 35 00
Recona quality... ..62-0c--- -- doe eee 20 00 to 2500} 20 00 tog 25 00
western beeves ....-....--per cental..| —-— to ——— | ——— to ———
milch-cows .......-..------per head..| 30 00 to 100 00 | 35 00 to 100 00
RBM UTE ia a cic) alec wisn,» v's = acid OO smeiain = 700 to 9 00 7 00 to . 9 00
“Gn th re Goeewaa 200 to 5 00 2 00 to’ 5 00
BMMIBO Persea s,s csss toc c6 wane per cental..| 500 to 10 00 5 00 to 10 00
FOREIGN MARKETS.
WHEAT.—The weather in England was unexpectedly favorable for
the gathering of cereal crops, and the fears on that head have been
dispelled, but only to give way to another cause of public anxiety. The
more the character of the new crop becomes known, the more complaints
of its quality are rife. It is a matter of general congratulation that it
has been saved in such good order. The English Agricultural Gazette
says that less than 7 per cent. of its county correspondents report the
yield of wheat above average, and that the wheat-fields are unusually
“ dirty,” “knocked about,” “dusky,” “stained,” and “prematurely
dead,” especially in Staffordshire and Warwickshire, through which the
editor had made a journey. Of the returns 63 per cent. show a condi-
tion above average, 36 per cent. average, and 574 per cent. below
average.
The annual volume of reports issued by the firm of Barthelemy, Es-
tienne & Co., of Marseilles, in treating of the French crops divides the
departments into five classes. In fifteen departments, embracing an
acreage of nearly 6,000,000 in cereals, the wheat-crop is good; in twen-
ty-six departments, with a cereal acreage of nearly 12,000,000, the con-
dition is moderately good; in fifteen other departments, with an acreage
approximating 7,000,000, the crop is only middling; in twenty-four
departments, with 7,750,000 of cereal acreage, the condition is poor; in
eight departments, with a cereal acreage of over 2,000,000, the condition
is bad. In Holland, Belgium, and the wheat-growing region of which
Hamburg is the market, the samples of the new crop were of unusual
excellence and weight. At the August session of the Vienna Corn Ex-
change it was stated, as the result of statistical inquiry, that the average
harvest of Austria, Germany, Southern Italy, Northern Russia, Den-
mark, Norway, and Sweden is rated as only middling, while a condition
more or less inferior is stated in regard to the crops of Hungary, France,
Switzerland, Upper Italy, Southern Russia, Roumania, the British
Islands, and Prussian Silesia. In spite of the low valuation it was esti-
mated that Austria and Hungary together would export from 5,500,000
to 6,000,000 centals. Advices from New York stated the American
erop at 300,000,000 bushels, of which 65,000,000 were available for ex-
port. The information from France and Russia being from superficial
inquiries, was not regarded as definitive.
Yet, with a prospect of short home-crops, below average in quality,
prices in England were unsettled and showed a tendency to depression.
410
The cause of this indecision, doubtless, was the general uncertainty in
regard to the extent and immediate availability of foreign supplies.
As the news from America and Australia became more indicative of
large yields in those quarters, and as the first reports of depressed yields
in Eastern Europe were modified by subsequent advices, the tone of
English farmers and holders became less confident and the hope of a
remuneration for short crops by higher prices was reluctantly surren-
dered. The English wheat-farmer has no very cheering prospect of re-
covering the losses of the last few years. The French farmer has but
little, if any, more encouragement than his English neighbor. .
The sales of English wheat during the last week in August amounted
to 37,979 quarters, at 53s. per quarter, against 28,027 quarters, at 57s. 2d.
during the corresponding week of 1874. The London averages were
52s, 4d. on 1.084 quarters. The imports into the United Kingdom during
the week ending August 21 amounted to 1,568,046 hundred-weights.
The following week opened in Mark Lane, London, upon a small supply
of English wheat, but with large foreign arrivals, more than half of
which were from America. Both foreign and native had given way and
prices fell off from 1 to 2 shillings per quarter, with a very limited trade.
Essex and Kent, white, brought 42s. to 53s. per quarter; ditto, red, 42s.
to 49s.; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire, red, 42s. to 49s. Of for-
eign wheats, Dantzig mixed was quoted at 53s. to 57s. ; Konigsberg,
49s. to 54s.; Rostock, 48s. to 53s.; Silesian, red, 47s. to 50s.; ditto,
white, 50s. to 53s.; Pomeranian, Mecklenberg, and Uckermark, red,
48s. to 50s.; Ghirka, 46s. to 49s. ; Russian, hard, 44s. to 46s. ; Saxonska,
48s. to 50s.; Danish and Holstein, red, 45s. to 50s. ; American, red, 46s.
to 50s.; Chilian, white, 51s.; Californian, 53s.; Australian, 52s. to 56s.
In Liverpool, Canadian white wheat, August 27, was quoted at 11s, 3d.
to 11s.6d. per cental; red club and golden drop, 10s. 9d. to 10s. 11d. ;
American white, 11s. 3d. to 11s. 6d. ; ditto, No. 1 spring, 10s. 4d. to 10s. 6d.;
ditto, No. 2 spring, 10s. to 10s. 3d.; Egyptian, 8s. 6d. to 11s. 6d. ; Califor-
nian, 11s. 2d. to 11s. 10d. ; Oregon, 11s. 7d. to 11s, 9d.; Chilian, 10s. 11d. to
1is.; Australian, 11s. 9d. to 12s.
In Paris, wheat ranged from 44s. to 50s. per quarter. The Journal
Pratique d’Agriculture, of August 19, gives the average price of the
French wheat-markets at 26.47 francs per quintal, a rise of 24 centimes
from the previous week’s quotations. The highest regional average—
28.34 francs—was in the southeast; and the lowest—25.10 francs—was
in the northwest. During the week ending August 28 six French coun-
try-markets had advanced ; 32 were reported from calm to firm ; 56 had
declined, and 8 others showed the same tendency. The center and west
had marketed the largest amount of grain. Tenant-farmers were es-
pecially anxious to realize money for their rents, which generally fall
due at Michaelmas. Marseilles was paying 47s. 6d. per quarter for Ghirka
wheat, and 43s. 10d. for Varna. Of 91 vessels with Black Sea wheat 69
were for Marseilles and 16 for England. At Bordeaux, old wheat was
held at 47s. 9d. per quarter and new at 45s. At Brussels, native wheat
brought 51s. and foreign 49s. per quarter. At Hamburgh the new wheat
offerings were very fine, weighing 60 pounds per bushel, and bringing
53s. to 54s. per quarter. At Berlin and Saint Petersburg, wheat was
quoted at 46s., and at Buda Pesth, in Hungary, at 47s.
’LouR.—In London at the opening of the last week in August there
was but a small supply of English flour, but a good supply of foreign,
mostly in barrels, betraying its American origin. A paralysis seemed
to have come upon the trade, which improved very slightly, if at all,
toward the close of the month. The best town-households ranged from
Ad |
43s. to 47s. per sack of 280 pounds; bes®tountry-households, 38s. to 40s.;
Norfolk and Suffolk, 35s. to 37s.; A*merican, 24s..to 29s. per barrel otf
196 pounds. The imports into the United Kingdom during the week
ending August 21 amounted. to 137,474 hundred-weights.
In Liverpool, English and Irish superfines were quoted (August 27) at
37s. to 39s, per 280 pounds; ditto, extra, 40s. to 42s.;¢French, 43s. to
52s.; Trieste, 54s. to 67s.; Chilian, 36s. to 39s.; Californian, 41s. to 45s.;
American, western and extra State, 26s.6d. to 28s.6d. per barrel; Balti-
more and Philadelphia, 21s.6d.; Ohio and extra, 29s. to 31s.6d.; Cana-
dian and extra, 29s. to 32s.
The flour-trade of Paris during the week was quiet, no change of
prices being noted. For consumption the quotations ranged from 57
francs to 61 frances per 157 kilograms, or 36s. 7d. to 39s. 2d. per 280
pounds. The “eight marks” brand, for August, closed at 60.75 francs
per 157 kilograms, or 39s. per 280 pounds; superior flour, 58.75 francs,
(37s. 9d. per 280 pounds.)
MaizE.—A heavy import of maize is noted during the last week of
August in London, which was slowly disposed of at a decline of 1s. per
quarter. Near the close of the month there were over 20,000 quarters
on hand, with a drooping tendency. White was quoted at 32s. to 34s.
per quarter; yellow, at 31s. to 35s.
In Liverpool, American mixed brought 33s. 3d. to 33s. 6d. per 480
pounds; Galatz, 35s. to 35s, 3d.; Trieste, 33s. to 34s.
At Paris, good maize brought 21.50 francs per 100 kilograms, or 37s. 3d.
per quarter.
At Hamburg mixed American and small Hungarian yellow maize
were firm at 35s. 6d. to 36s. 6d. per 480 pounds, free on board.
6A
i Be.
eee! é
Pye 25) hai
ie ike
é. oa
MONTHLY REPORT
j
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Porc TOBE BR: v8 75.
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1875.
CONTENTS.
Page
STATISTICS :
Digest of €rop-TepOrty,’. 2. aes seo ote denen a ee cee non se eces sane ee 414
WHEAT lee ssc atonce cetale ete eiekwie a CNBR Oe wie. cicis alas aie at ante errr ose) eos
Corn rns ee Sh et Sein cclec wele lett me ateuca.oismele ala nibie ale etek ee 418
IR VO leaner Seis So arto teeta soins cine chet cn setae ents leat 422
CY PRS esa) GLAU ea Yh ak ae wind clei iene ait eee 423
Barley ee ae Moe eudoislsii Cine (ok eens ets ew iel eee eee Passos een 425
Buckwheat. oy chee Pa cewibe eiablcetloetes te tleie abe a ogee 425
Cottone sowie ticeicee becccla 6 heplidelemine colt mesidelc cen see eee 426
POtatOGB ses cece edo oe euciesie sticeae ence se beh esieee eae 429
Sweet-potatoes,. 22. se. cicceciee caine ceccewecseue cows cu ciemslsaiaeeeiseeeeeee 431
Cranberries .-...---- ies Sahat aig as ary iS 2 Sac Lee ae a + 2 to Ee eee 431
ToDaCeO ean bre sclascice asc telnet Soe w eke Snicen onic ldee ene ee eee 431
TRICO ee ses aes Shh as wide crates tel eo ects tema ee ieee 433 —
SU SAal-CANO ws acne wie ane an anne we eielelsen le mena = sam omnia ae - 433
Sorghum 222 elses eel ak Sec alae ae Seis ncicla we oa jelelnlo so one ota aa rrr
LOD Se ek Se ec cle cldwlors ein minerals i etait eye ac meal da Sena) eee 434
HOM 12 es ec ialsie kino alee Goce ok ee ienels wisincte emilee cleo alesis een 434
Fattening cabtle sac 2. 6 sn edecee lo aia seve leicnctele creme orien tes tele aeeecy aoe
Pabulated returns. soos. ee eee Parca ce hte tals oes 436
CUNTENNIATADDRESS -pcblmaceecce ccna deebe sl Shand Seo ood tee aa 6 eee eee 440
ENTOMOLOGY :
Hntomological: record - 2 .-\c c's <a eas eal ec onic eee mele ane 442
MICrOSCOPY oni feis ine sie cice cnn sence ebule sola teiis ae eclels aicieis Sno eee er
HXTRACTS' FROM CORRESPONDENCE: 2200/6 ee eck eo ee 438
PACTS| FROM VARIOUS SOURCES -- soe oeca bees cecbos wale neces ata 448
MARKET-PRIGES OF FARM-PRODUCTS scccotcschecc cue sccces succes bE Eee 467
ILIVE-STOCK MARKETS 20) cue oko wan bee caercieneces ss ceed aso lee 469
FORBIGN MARKETS) cn. tc eleccloacees Lead wm winieiclale Tas ene. ale clo o Glaeser a ete lietes eee ees 470
MONTHLY REPORT,
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, STATISTICAL BUREAU,
Washington, D. C., October 20, 1875.
Sir: I submit herewith for publication a digest of the monthly statis-
tical returns for October; the centennial address of the Commissioner
of Agriculture ; an entomological record ; microscopic observations ; and
minor statistics.
Respectfully,
J. R. DODGE,
Statistician.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Commissioner.
DIGEST OF CROP REPORTS.
WHEAT.
The wheat-crop of the present year is a short one, and the deficiency
is augmented by a marked deterioration in quality.
The little grown in New England is as small a quantity as ever, but
not much reduced. The Middle States have about two-thirds of the
erop of last year, though the decline is unequal, being greatest in New
York and becoming less in degree with lower degrees of latitude. Vir-
ginia is the last State in this direction to show a reduction in yield; all
“the other Southern States have increased their production, some of
them 50 to 75 per cent. None of the States east of the Mississippi,
except Wisconsin, appear to have equaled the crop of last year. Min-
nesota is credited with an increased production, notwithstanding the
ravages of grasshoppers and the losses from sprouting in the shock.
The other prairie States, as far as reported, show a decrease, but the
extension of area, both in reported and unreported counties, may make
up in some degree this deficiency on a final canvassing for aggregate
estimates. The Pacific coast crop is also short.
The average for the entire territory reported the present month is
about 80 per cent. of last year’s production. If this indicates the total
depreciation, it amounts to nearly 62,000,000 bushels, and gives a crop
of 246,000,000 bushels. But the quality is also lower than last year, and
the depreciation is heaviest in what are known in a special sense as
wheat-growing regions. In quality, the crop averages 84, or 14 per cent.
below sound condition. This is equivalent to a further reduction of the
erop, though it means poorer bread rather than less of it.
The losses by sprouting and rotting in shock or stack produced in
416
many places a panic, which stimulated exaggeration, and the natural
result is the ultimate conclusion that ‘the loss is not so heavy as was
expected.” It is bad enough, however, when shipments of wheat from
Maryland to Ohio are necessary to make a mixture that will produce a
passable flour. The wheat of best quality is to be found in Delaware,
Maryland, the South, the Pacific coast, and in New England. That of
the West averages lower than usual in every State, and among the low-
est averages are those of Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and
Illinois.
The following brief extracts are appended :
MaAIne.—Piscataquis : Reduced 25 per cent. by weevil and rust. Androscoggin: Very
fine. Waldo: Injured by rust and midge. York: Did not meet expectations when
thrashed.
New YorK.—Genesee: Nearly a failure, and the little we get poor in quality. Onon-
daga: The yield better than was expected, and the berry fair.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Bucks; Yielding worse than anticipated, and the quality not No. 1.
Bedford: The fine quality injured by growing in the shock. McKean: Sprouted badly.
Elk: A mach larger acreage than usual, very heavy yield, and quality superior; by all
odds the largest crop ever raised.
MARYLAND.—Calvert: Much badly sprouted. Howard: The yield, on thrashing,
proves far superior to the small expectation. Wicomico: Excellent in quality.
VirGinisa.— Rockingham: A much better yield than promised, but injured in quality
by the rains. Carroll: A totalfailure. Stafford: An immense amount damaged by
the rains, but yet the quantity is larger and the quality better than last year. Halifax:
The quality injured by the wet weather. King George: About one-third of the crop
lost by the excessive rains. Prince William: Fultz wheat ahead in yield, but Tappa-
hannock ih quality. Drilled wheat stood the winter best and gave the best yield.
Charles City : Very much injured in quantity and quality by the rains. Chesterfield :
Quality good except where injured by the rains. ssex: Much injured by sprouting in
the shock. Highland: Much injured in the shock. Culpeper: Fully one-half damaged,
and most of it lost altogether. Madison : Many crops badly damaged in the shock. West-
moreland : All not thrashed when the rains commenced, seriously damaged. Wythe: The
crop was very fine, but could scarcely be secured, owing to wet weather, and fully one-
half is not fit for bread.
NortH CaroLina.—Greene: Much more damaged than was expected when har-
vested. Hertford: The absence of our old enemy, rust, resulted in a better crop of
wheat than usual. Person: Damaged in the stack. Yancy: All more or less injured
in the shock. ;
ALABAMA.—Randolph : The crop more than double that of last year, and the quality
superior. Calhoun: Much better than last year, and quality superior.
Mississrpp1.—Twenty bushels to one last year.
Texas.—Coryell: About 100,000 bushels of good quality raised. Price, $1 cash per
bushel. Caldwell: Over 20,000 bushels raised; the largest acreage and yield since the
war. Collin: The crop thrashed out remarkably fine. Titus: The acreage was much
larger than in any previous year, and the quality exceeds any former crop.
ARKANSAS.—Columbia: At least ten times as much as usual raised. Cross: A larger
crop than ever before known. Stone: Heaviest yield for many years. Fulton: In-
creased acreage and yield. Jackson: The first year any wheat has been shipped to
market since the war. Sharp: Considerably damaged in the field by rains. Marion:
Never the like produced before. Perry: The very high figures arise from the fact that
the amount sown was extraordinary, more than double that of the previous year.
Franklin; The product fully tenfold greater than last year and of a very good
quality.
TENNESSEE.—Lincoln: Sixty per cent. of the crop more or less injmiel by rains be-
fore thrashing. Giles: Acreage and yield much larger than since the war, but dam-
aged by rains. Greene: Extensively damaged in the shock. Smith: Injured in the
shock. Blount: Damaged in the shock. Carter: Very badly damaged in the shock.
McMinn: Not so badly damaged in the shock as was thought before thrashing; grain
fall and plump. More wheat shipped from this county than in any one year since the
war. Dickson: Damaged in the shock 15 to 20 per cent. Wilson: Product 50 per cent.
greater than last year, but the quality not sogood; damaged by the rains. Putnam:
Was a very good crop, but much sprouted in the shock. Robertson: Damaged 50 per
cent. in the shock. The Amber, and particularly the Fultz, less damaged than the
white varieties.
West VirGINIA.—Pocahontas : Not more than one-half a crop, badly damaged. Bar-
bour : Spoiled by the wet season. Fayette: So much sprouted in the shock that farmers
find it difficult to get seed that can be relied on. Afercer : Lighter than expected, and
7
417
considerably damaged by rains. Raleigh: Injured by the wet weather. Doddridge:
Nearly destroyed by the rains. JVetsel: A light crop, and much of it in a damaged
condition. Boone: One-half or more of what was not cairied away by the flood rotted
in the shock.
Kentrucky.—Allen: Greatly damaged in the shock. Lincoln: Not damaged to the
extent supposed. Spencer: ‘Twenty-five per cent. destroyed by the rains. Bath: The
quantity and quality greatly reduced by the rains. Jayette: About two-thirds of what
was harvested was lost by the rains, and the remainder greatly damaged. Metcalf: A
good crop, more than half damaged before it could be thrashed.
Onto.—Medina: Turns out much better than was expected. Pickaway: The quality
is so bad that our millers are importing wheat from Baltimore to supply their trade.
Franklin: Impossible to save any except the very earliest in good condition. Noble:
One-fourth of the crop grew in the shock and washed off. Sandusky: Quality inferior,
but much better than was expected. Washington: A great portion saved in poor con-
- dition. Hancock: Injured by the rains. Delaware: Injured by the wet. Harrison:
Great damage by the wet weather. Seneca: Quality injured by the rains. Athens:
Very skert crop of inferior quality. Richland: Quality was excellent, but sprouted.
MicHiGgan.—Grand Traverse; Damaged fully 50 per cent. by rains in harvest. La-
peer: Quality excellent. Tuscola: Has exceeded ail expectation in quantity and good
in quality. A small field of Clawson wheat is reported to have yielded at the rate of
52 bushels per acre, without extra treatment. Shiawassee: Light and much shrunken,
but harvested in good condition. Benzie: Considerable sprouted. Montcalm: Darker
color than last year. Newaygo: Nearly all thrashed, and turns out 15 to 36 bushels per
acre. Ottawa: The best crop in twenty years in yield and quality, yielding in some
instances 30 to 35 bushels per acre, and weighing 62 pounds to the bushel. Alpena:
’ Winter-wheat yielded 40 to 50 bushels per acre in fields of 10 and 12acres. Hamilton:
Badly damaged ; will not pay expenses.
Inpiana.— Tipton: Scearcely fit to eat; badly eaten by the midge and chinches before
harvest, and damaged by rains after. Carroll: Very much injured in yield and quality
by the wet weather. Howard: But asmall portion saved in merchantable condition.
fiipley: Very poor; damaged by the rains. Aadison: A light crop; damaged at least
one-third by the floods. Franklin: Only a part of a very poor crop saved, and that
very much sprouted ; itis unfit for flour. Pike: Fultz wheat sown by Mr. James Barker
averaged 384 bushels per acre, and weighed 623 pounds to the bushel. Gibson: At least
22 per cent. lost or damaged by the wet weather. Grant: Half a crop.
ILLINOIs.—Carrall: Light yield and poor quality. Pope: Plump grain, but injured
in the shock. Mercer: Poor in quality. Fayette: Four-fifths, more or less, damaged
by the rains. Shelby: Makes but a third-rate flour. Fulton: Poorin quality. Mason:
Light and poor. Montgomery: Badly damaged; a great deal musty. Lee: Average
yield of 9 bushels per acre, of fair quality. Edwards: Not quite so badly damaged as
was anticipated. } ;
WISCONSIN.— Vaupaca: Very good. Juneau: Spring wheat was badly injured by
chinches, except that sown where clover had been turned under the’ previous year.
This is a noticeable fact. Walworth: Will not exceed 12 bushels per acre. Crawford:
Turned out better than expected.
MINNESOTA.—Chisago: Considerably damaged by rains.' Mower: The yield unpre-
cedented ; the damage from rains at least 10 per cent. Redwood: Not damaged as much
as was feared; not over 10 per cent. will be classed as “rejected ;” all of a plump, clear,
bright berry. Fillmore: Reduced 15 per cent. in quantity and quality by wet weather.
Olmsted: Injured in the shock and stack. Rock: Berry fine and plump. Steele: A
deterioration of 10 per cent. from a very fine quality by the wet weather. Stevens:
Better yield than for some years. Dodge: Not damaged as much as was supposed.
lows.— Marion: Quality inferior. Hardin: Considerably blighted and injured in
shock and stack. Harrison: Greatly injured by blight and wet weather. Montgomery:
Injured in the stack. Muscatine: Light, shrunken, and discolored. Delaware: Dam-
aged in the shock and stack. Greene: Materially injured in shock and stack. Howard:
Ne such trying time for grain in the shock ever before occurred in the county. Many
are waiting for grain to freeze dry before thrashing. Washington: Poor in quality and
damp in stack. Des Moines: Utterly useless for making bread. Hancock: Badly
shrunk and bleached. Johnson: But little over half a crop, of poor quality. Iranklin:
Berry light; damaged by rain. Monona: Had 75 acres of wheat on new breaking on
Missouri bottoms; but will have to buy my flour for bread. Shelby: All more or less
damaged in the stack. Jefferson: The most complete failure lever saw. Madison:
Yield light, and quality No. 3 or “rejected.” Cerro Gordo: Quality inferior. Jda:
Badly damaged in the shock and stack. .
MissourL.—Jefferson: Yield good, but fully one-third damaged. Oregon: Consider-
ably damaged by the wet weather. Camden: Was a clear loss of 40 per cent. of the
crops by the excessive rains, and the remainder badly damaged. Greene: Greatly dam-
aged by the rains. Many persons haying wheat on low grounds had not a sheat left—
all washed away. Crawford: Scarcely a crop in the county not more or less sprouted
418 | Be
Morgan: Badly damaged. Perry: Heavy product, but damaged one-sixth by the rains.
Tron: All more or less damaged by wet harvest. Ozark: Damaged by wet. Adair:
May be called a total failure; the little we saved not fit for flour. Cole: Plenty, but
spoiled in the stack.
Kansas.—fReno: Sown early, on deep-plowed land, has averaged as high as 47 to 55
bushels, while shallow plowing, drilled late, has run as low as 8 bushels per acre.
Labette: Looks more favorable .as we progress in thrashing. Montgomery: Yield
increased from 300,000 bushels last year to 500,000 this year, but the quality not so
good. Cowley: Product, 150,000 bushels, a full average of 20 bushels peracre. One of
our farmers raised 6,000 bushels, averaging 25 bushels per acre.
NuBRASKA.—Burt: Coming out of staek in poor condition. Merrick: Good crop;
some damaged by wet weather. Clay: Yield and quality better than last year, but
damaged by wet. Otoe: Reduced in quantity and quality by the wet weather. Knox:
The Michigan white, introduced this spring, yielded 16 bushels per acre, while the
beardless, the variety commonly cultivated, yielded 10 to 12.
CALIFORNIA.— Del Norte: Very fine. Contra Costa: The yield was satisfactory and
the quality good. Placer: Yielded much better than was anticipated before thrashing.
The quality superior. Sonoma: Very plump and full,
CORN. ,
The condition of the corn crop, as reported on the Ist of October, is
exceptionally high. Its average status in several of the States is above
the standard of good condition; 7%. ¢., in extra thrift and productive
vigor. This is the case in all the Southern States except Louisiana and
Texas; in all the Middle States except New York; and in Missouri and
Kansas in the West. In the remaining States, with few exceptions, the
averages are higher than usual of late years, after the customary ravages
of insects and withering of drought. Wisconsin appears to have sus-
tained most injury from frost. In the Ohio Valley States the extra-
ordinary promise of September has been somewhat reduced by frost in
low lands, or in the area planted late and slow in maturing. There will
be a large quantity of unmerchantable corn soft and loose on the ear,
and a considerable proportion of unsound fodder. The crop will be
comparatively large in quantity, but poor in quality, except in the
Southern and Pacific States. Some injury from frost, between Sep-
tember 20 and 30, resulted as far south as Tennessee in the West, and
from Maine to Virginia on the Atlantic Coast. In the South, the prin-
cipal losses resulted from storms. The equinoctial in Texas was very
destructive in the southern part of the State. Worms caused some
damage in Florida, and drought was injurious in portions of the State.
A return of quantities harvested will not be made till next month,
when the comparative result will be better understood. The following
extracts from correspondence are given:
MAINE.— Piscataquis : Full average, and 30 per cent. better than last year. Andros-
coggin: Very good. Sagadahoc: Considerably injured by frost. Waldo: A good
growth, but injured by early frost. Franklin: Injured by the cold weather in Sep-
tember. Cumberland: Injured by frost in some places. York; Ten per cent. injured
by the frost ; ears well filled and the kernel plump.
New Hampsuire.—Carroll: Large yield. Rockingham: Some pieces injured’ by
frost. ‘
VERMONT.—Grand Isle: Late, and not well ripened.
New YorK.— Queens: Cutting up in fine order, with a heavy crop of stalks for fodder.
Wayne: Badly damaged by severe early frosts; the poorest crop in twenty years.
Richmond: Splendid in yield and quality. Genesee: Injured by frosts. Steuben:
Maturesslowlyandunevealy. Washington; Ripening well. Wyoming: Somewhat injured
by frost. Onondaga: A light crop; the frosts too early for late corn. Delaware:
Favorable weather for ripening.
New Jersry.—Camden: Much damaged by frost. Gloucester: Very backward, but
" now ripening rapidly and almost out of danger.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Bucks: Bids fair for a fine crop. Clearfield: Very materially
reduced in quality, though not in quantity. Bedford: Good growth, but late. Dela-
ware: Seldom better. Armstrong: Late corn damaged by frost, September 24. IJndi-
,» ‘49
ana: The largest crop ever raised ; all in the shock. Lawrence: Will be considerable .
soft corn, owing to frost. Hlk: A very heavy growth; all injured more or less by frost.
Franklin: Yield large, and the quality good as can be.
DELAWARE.—Kent : Fine yield.
MARryYLAND.—- Worcester ; The largest crop for ten years. Washington: Never better.
Harford: The finest crop for years. Howard: One of the.best crops ever raised.
Wicomico: Much above average. Baltimore: The best crop for many years. Cecil:
Never better. )
Virernia.— Pulaski: Maturing well. Rockingham: Extra good, and being shocked in
fine condition. Campbell: Excellentcrop. Rappahannock: Very good. Warwick: The
crop now matured is the largest for ten years. Carroll: Never better. Stafford: The
erop very large. Halifax: Matured; the largest crop for several years. King George:
The best crep for years, with promise of superior quality. Orange: Magnificent crop.
Charles City: Not as good as was supposed. Floyd: Injured by early frost. Matthews:
The yield above average, but the condition below; a great deal of rotten corn, owing
to the excessive rains. Spotisylvania: The largest crop since the war. Chesterfield:
More forward than.formerly. Hssex: The best crop for many years; quality excellent.
Greenville: Some late fields have suffered from frost. Goochland: Prospect for a large
crop. Highland: Better than informer years. Page: Favorable weather for maturing.
Accomac: A larger crop than forten years. King and Queen: Very fine crop. Madison:
Very fine, but ten dayslate. Hlizabeth City: The yield better than for many years; the
quality medium. Mecklenburgh: Unusually good on high lands; on low, moderate.
Wythe: The crop far above average. Fluvanna: Unusually well made.
NortH Carouina.—Forsyth: Very fine; worth 50 cents per bushel. Gaston: Good
on upland and exceedingly good on well-drained low grounds. Pasquotank: Very much
injured by the excessive rain, yet average. Tyrrell: The heaviest and best crop for
years; the ears filled to the utmost. Chowan: The best crop for years. Franklin:
Unusually good. Wilson: Improved in September. Hertford: The best crop since
1860. Pamlico: Most excellent. Person: Very fine; on uplands the heaviest yield
ever known. Union: Promise of the largest crop in twenty years. Camden: Notas
good as August promised. Anson: Cut off on the bottoms by alternate rains and
droughts. Caldwell: The rains have delayed the ripening of much of it, and the crop
is yet uncertain. Duplin: Will not make more than half,acrop on sandy land; better
on stiff land.
Soutu Carorina.—Beaufort: Cut off one-half by continuous drought. Clarendon:
Inferior in quality; not well matured. Colleton: That planted in March turning out
finely, but that planted later almost a failure, owing to the drought. Newberry: The
‘yield light on uplands. Lexington: Late, injured by drought in September. farlbo-
rough: Never better. Orangeburgh: The quality 100, but the yield only 70.
GEORGIA.—Harris: Short on upland; good on bottoms. Muscogee: Rains came too
late for the crop. Douglas: Most farmers will make enough to do them another year
without buying. Towns: Better than forseveral years, and mostly out of danger. Walker:
An abundant crop. Cobb: Injured in low lands by overflow. Decatur: Very shoit
crop.
FLoripa.—Jackson : Recovered considerably after the rains, and heavier than antici-
pated. Columbia: Much injured by the drought. Gadsden: The crop will be ample
for home consumption. La Fayette: Late corn badly injured by drought and worms.
ALABAMA.— Montgomery : Pretty satisfactory. Lawrence: Very good, and abundant.
Calhoun: Fully matured, and 10 per cent. more than last year. Dallas: Good. Jack-
son: A great deal blown down and will rot. Colbert: Never finer or more abundant.
Mississiepi.— Wayne: A good crop is made. Cherokee: The product over 100 per
cent. greater than last year; the best crop ever grown. Franklin: Much better than
for years; most of it housed in good condition. Winslow: Will be 25 per cent. more
than last year. Holmes: Light; the summer rains too late. Jefferson: Good; not yet
harvested. if
Lovuistana.— Franklin: Seriously damaged by a storm of rain on the 17th and 18th.
La Fayette; Considerably damaged by wind andrains. Carroll: A plenty for home con-
sumption.
TExAs.—Coryell: A crop of good average quality, all safely gathered. Dallas: Crop’
short, but sufficient for local demands; price 50 cents. Washington: Much injured by
the equinoctialstorm. Burnet: Nearly all gathered ; yield 15 bushels peracre. Hunt:
Cut short by drought, grasshoppers, and chinches. Polk: More or less injured by a
storm of rain and wind, which lasted thirty-six hours. Mudison: All matured, and
nearly all gathered in good condition. Rusk: Being gathered; the yield light. Wil-
liamson: Quality good; product 15 to 40 bushels per acre, according to cultivation ;
average 22. Cooke: Fine; now being cribbed. Lamar: More raised than ever before.
Upshur: Much damaged by smut. Bosque: Cut short by drought; great complaint of
smut. De Witt: The quality for a crop injured by drought better than usual. Mata-
gorda: Reduced to 25 by the late destructive gales.
ARKANSAS.—Calhoun: Gathered, and the best cropfever raised infthe State. <Arkan-
at
420
sas: First rate all through the county. Columbia: Being housed; the quality better
than usual, and the quantity 50 per cent. greater than last year. Stone: Heavy crop.
Prairie: Shortened by the early drought, but we will have enough and to spare.
Fulton: One of the best crops ever raised. Jackson: The best crop we ever had.
Izard: The best erop ever made. Marion: Have raised more than for the last three
years put together. In Marion, Boone, Carroll, and Baxter Counties thousands of
bushels offering for sale at 25 cents, and nosale. Sevier: Finely matured, and fine’
weather for gathering.
TENNESSEE.—Grundy : Some injury from frost. Lawrence: The best crop since the
war. Greene: Injured by drought. Smiih: Theamount above average and the quality
most excellent. Blount: Good. Bradley: Exceedingly abundant. McMinn: Well filled
and heavy. Fayette: Beyond peradventure a large crop; selling at 40 to 50 cents; the
general price at this season, for five years past, 90 cents to $1. Henry: Matured and
the heaviest yield ever produced in the county. Putnam; An abundant crop of fair
quality. DeKalb: Ahugecrop. Macon: Has come out greatly. Robertson: The early
planted and well tended fine, but the late planted, a large portion of the crop, not so
good. Lauderdale: On bottoms only about one-fifth of the crop saved from destruction
by overflow.
West ViIRGINIA.—Grant: Late and much of it yet green. Marion: Late; first plant-
ing destroyed by cut-worms. Jayette: Reduced by the wet weather and want of cul-
ture. Mercer: Not quite average with last year; some damaged by frost. Putnam:
Early planted, very fine; late, indifferent. Hancock: Above average in quantity, but
injured by frost. itchie: Much later than usual in ripening, and somewhat injured by
frost. Braxton: Very promising. Brooke: Promised to be the largest ever grown here,
prior to September 19th, but from the 19th to the 25th sharp frosts killed the blades
and stopped the maturing, a large part being still in the milk. Jefferson: Reduced in
yield 3 or 4 per cent. by chinches. Wetzel: Some damage from frost.
Kentucky.—Lincoln: Very promising and advanced beyond injury by frost. War-
ren: Decidedly the finest crop ever produced. Jefferson’: The season very favorable.
Carroll: While the condition is 100 the product will not be above 90, owing to loss by
overflow. Owsley: Will not be half a crop owing to want of working, weeds, and high
waters, occasioned by the rains. Graves: Unprecedentedly fine; excellent in quality
and 25 per cent. above average in quantity.
Oxuio.—Pickaway: A heavy crop, except on low, flat ground, where it is a failure.
Miami: The largest crop ever produced in the county. Preble: The acreage 20 per
cent. greater than last year, but the condition not above 80, owing to the wet weather
and severe frosts. Fulton: Has matured very finely. Franklin: A heavy crop on high
lands; ruined by rain along the streams. Montgomery: The only remunerative crop.
Williams: A great deal of soft corn caught by frosts. Guernsey : Late corn considerably
injured by two severe frosts. Lucas: Some injured by frost on the 21st. Noble: Late
corn injured by frost. Sandusky: Above average in quantity and in good condition.
Adams: An abundant crop. Hancock: About one-haif the crop in good condition, the
remainder frost-bitten before ripe. Morgan: -Heavy frosts on the 23d and 24th killed
all that had not been cut. Perry: Late corn injured very much by frosts on the 23d
and 24th. Delaware: Yield enormous, never greater, and quality good. Harrison:
Very heavy. Mahoning: Mostly killed by frost two weeks ago; will be much unsound
corn. Seneca: On clay-soils injured very much by frosts. Athens: On low lands de-
stroyed by floods, yet about an average; some late frosted.
MIcHIGAN.—Kalamazoo : Injured by a heavy frost September 18. Grand Traverse :
Back from the bay, injured by frosts. Lapeer: Very heavy. Wexford: All killed,
only in the milk, September 23, by frost. Tuscola: Badly damaged by frost. Calhoun:
Backward, and nipped by the frost. Gratiot: Cut short by frost. Hillsdale: Ten
days late, and the fodder injured by frosts very much. Manistee: Seriously damaged
by-frosts in September. Monroe: The best crop ever raised. Oceana: Great damage
from a beavy frost. Barry: Hurt by frost September 20. Delta: Damaged very
badly by early frosts. Saginaw: Cannot tell the effects of frost on its ripening in the
shock. Shiawassee: Damaged by drought and by frost. Benzie: Injured by frosts.
Newaygo : The fodder nearly ruined by frosts, and not more than 25 or 30 per cent. of
the corn will be merchantable. Oltawa: Suttered from frosts. Charlevoix: In some
parts injured by a sharp frost the first week in September. Livingston: Heavy, but
damaged by early frost. Jfason: All killed by frost. Saint Joseph: Reduced 15 to 2%
per cent. by early frost. Wayne: Never better, but somewhat injured by frost. Oak-
land: A larger acreage than ever before, and would have been very heavy had it not
been retarded by cold in September.
InpIANA.—Tipton: Badly bitten by frosts; prospect that there will be no solid corn
in the county. Carroll: Frost-bitten; much will be of very inferior quality. How-
ard: Late corn, being 25 per cent. of the crop, severely injured by heavy frosts Sep-
tember 20 and 21. Ripley: Good, and now out of the way of frost. Madison: Average
on high lands; very poor on low. Noble: Good, and generally matured. Franklin:
A heavy growth; kept green until the frosts, from the 20th to the 30th; not thought
421
to be much injured. Tippecanoe: Much late corn injured by frosts. Marion: A very
light crop, unusually late, and the fodder killed by frosts. Union: Damaged by storms
blowing it down, and by frosts. Wabash: Damaged by frost about 10 per cent, Gib-
son: Good where not drowned by the wet. Grant: About half a crop. Steuben: A
great quantity of soft corn. Switzerland: The largest crop ever produced, and the
quality unsurpassed. Perry: Good. Hamilton: Considerably short, and much injured
by heavy frosts ten days ago.
Inurwois. Hancock: The largest crop ever raised, and out of danger from frost.
Pike: Very good, but late. Carroll: Cut off at least 30 per cent. by premature frosts.
Pope: Injared by rains in the summer and by dry weather in September. Clark:
Heavy losses on the bottoms by the floods, but fully compensated by the superior
growth on the high lands. Mercer: Late, damaged by frosts, but the crop is large
and the quality generally good. Stephenson: Frosts in August ruined much. Bureau:
A very heavy crop. Cook: An extra crop, well ripened. De Kalb: Owing to frosts
there must be enough soft corn to sink the average down to 100. Fayette: Good on
high lands, not injured by frosts. Grundy: Will average 50 bushels per acre, all
sound. Shelby: Drying off finely and bids fair for a larger yield than generally ex-
pected. Vermillion: Nearly all ripened and will be A No. 1. fulton: The finest crop
since 1860. Logan: Heavy crop, but somewhat injured by frosts and will be chafty.
Mason: Good but considerably frosted on low lands. Montgomery: Fine, though
drowned out in some parts. Ogle: Injured by frosts. Zee: Will not average half a
crop of good sound corn. De Witt: As fine a prospect as was ever seen until frost en-
tirely killed the stalks; nearly all will be loose on the ear and much too soft for mar-
ket. JMfassac: Injured by dry weather. Sangamon: Cut by frost.
WISCONSIN.— Crawford: In low and narrow valleys a total failure, but average in
some places. Greene: More damage by the frost in August than at first supposed ; corn
thought good for half a crop proves to be less than one-third. Waupaca: Very few
fields came to maturity. Juneaw: Only 75 per cent. of a crop, owing to frost in Au-
gust. Ozaukee: Killed by the early frosts. Pepin: Not so much injured by frost as
was expected. Richland: Cut short by frosts. Milwaukee: Frosts about the 20th of
September made sad havoc with corn. Walworth: A failure in many parts ; some farm-
ers will not havea bushel of sound corn. Brown: Affected by frosts. Adams: Frost in
August destroyed nearly 25 per cent. of the entire crop—killed it outright ; the remain-
der generally unripe. Outagamie: Injured very much by heavy frost August 21.
Pierce: Considerable soft corn. Vernon: Almost a failure; all in the valleys killed by
frost in August. Saint Croix: Shortened by frost; inferior in quality.
MENNESOTA.— Goodhue: Caught by a severe frost. Mower: Killed by frost on the
22d. Redwood: No better crop ever raised and now out of danger. ond du Lac:
Early frosts have left much soft corn. Portage: In some fields, totally destroyed by
frosts; in others, uninjured. Fillmore: Nearly ruined by frosts on the low lands.
Olmstead: Damaged by frost. Winona: Late twenty days; killed by frost in some
places. Wright: In some localities destroyed bya heavy frost August 21. Steele:
Ripened in average condition, with good- yield and largely increased acreage. Mille-
Lacs : Suffered considerebly from frost.
_ lowa.—Siory : Damaged by frost 10 per cent. Marion: Good on dry ground; poor
on wet. Poweshiek: Badly damaged by frost September 20. <Allamakee: Much dam-
aged by frost. Clinton: Very heavy, but all injured more or less by killing frost Sep-
tember 17 and 20. Hardin: Much of the crop will be light and chaffy. Harrison:
Short ; injured by the grasshoppers and excessive wet. Lee: Now out of danger, and
will turn out far better than indicated by my last report. Mahaska: Quite backward.
Montgomery: Weil matured before frost. Delaware: Injured by frost. Guthrie: Late,
and some damaged by frost: Decatur: Badly cut by frost. Washington: A part of the
erop splendid ; that replanted injured by frosts. Des Moines: Killed by frost ten days
~ ago. Will have a large amount of soft corn. Hancock: Frost has damaged most of the
corn. Johnson: Good. Franklin: Killed by frost before ripe. Shelby: Cut by frosts
on some bottom-lands. Madison: Light, owing to frost. Cerro Gordo: Has regained
some of its lost time and bids fair for almost average. Ida: On low ground, loose on
the cob. , Jowa: Injured by frost. Tama : One-third of the crop damaged by frost 10
to 20 per cent.
MissourI.—Larton: Enormous crop. Have a field of 300 acres that will average
fully 60 bushels per acre. Camden: Being gathered in good condition. Many fields,
with stalks averaging 15 feet in height, will husk out 100 bushels of fine sound corn to
the acre. Nodaway: Fully 80 per cent. of the first planting waseaten by grasshoppers.
The replanted promised more than a full crop, but frosts in September injured it fully
40 per cent. Crawford: Very good. Perry: Very good, but some injured by drought
since the Ist of August. Platte: Will have a large surplus if not injured by frost.
Clay: The first planting destroyed by grasshoppers, and the second by rains; the third
is as fine as ever seen and maturing well. Jron: Extra good. Moniteau: Enormous
crop. Ozark: Better than for years; some fields yield 75 bushels per acre. Pettis:
422
A splendid crop ; better than for six years. Cole: Has ripened splendidly; it sells already
at $1 per barrel, equal to five bushels.
Kansas.—Llisworth: Better than ever before. Franklin: The grasshopper corn is
almost safe from the frost; the worm is working in it, and will injure it considerably.
Douglas : No frost to hurt our late-planted corn, and the prospect is that it will ripen
well. Nemaha: Immense crop. Lilis: Very heavy crop.’ Woodson: A vast surplus,
and no outside demand. Jackson: The prospect for a heavy crop never better. Leaven- —
worth: Planted in July, and tens of thousands of bushels are out of the way of frost.
Barton : Materially affected by a worm, resembling the cut-worm, which works in the
point of the ear while the corn is soft. They have damaged the product 25 to 30 per
cent. Brown: The first planted, left by the grasshoppers, is excellent, and the late is
coming out very fair. Cloud: Ripening all right. Linn: Late planted generally,
though not all, out of the way of frost; cut a little by it in low places on the morn-
ing of October1. Osage: The finest crop I ever saw; much of it will average 75
bushels per acre; all sound and good. Cherokee: Splendid; eariy corn now fit to
gather. Labelte: Beyond all expectations. Lyon: Very abundant and cheap. Mont-
gomery : Unusually large crop. Cowley: The best crop I have seen in this part of Kan-
sas. Allen: Very favorable weather for maturing our late corn. Graham; Ripened
well. Shawnee: Best crop for three years.
NEBRASKA.—A good crop, making an average of 60 bushels per acre. Pawnee : Dam-
aged by frost September 20 to 22. Boone: Frosted September 16. Johnson: Nine-
tenths safe, and the yield never better. Burl: Looks well, and is about out of dan-
ger. Merrick: Good. Clay: Good; will average about 40 bushels per acre. Otoe:
The wet season has promoted wonderfully the growth of the corn planted after the
grasshoppers left, yet much of it is likely to fail of ripening. Jichardson: Looks
splendid; that planted in July, after the grasshoppers left, now looks promising ; the
county will have a larger crop than ever before.
RYE.
The crop of 1874 was about an average one. The product reported
this year falls short of that about 4 per cent. The crop is fully equal to
last year’s, in both yield and quality, in New England, and does not
vary much from it in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, taken as a
whole. Among them, the greatest decrease in product is in Georgia, 8
per cent., and the greatest increase 50 per cent., and 8 per cent. in qual-
ity, in Texas, which reported last year 13 bushels as the average yield
per acre, and in Mississippi 9 per cent., and 3 per cent. in quality, on a
yield of 9.4 bushels per acre. Arkansas, yielding last year 12.7 bushels
per acre, reports an increase of 55 per cent. in product. The production
of rye is not extensive in any of these States. In the States which grow
it on a larger scale, the figures for comparative product and quality are, —
respectively, New York, 81 and 98; New Jersey, 79 and 97; Pennsyl-
vania, 93 and 98; Maryland, 97 and 96; Virginia, 100 and 95; Ken-
tucky, 88 and 84; Ohio, 71 and 79; Wisconsin, 129 and 105. Among
the remaining States the product, compared with last year, is greater
in Tennessee by 1 per cent., and in Kansas by 5 per cent., while in Ne-
braska it is less by 40 per cent. In others it ranges from 77 in Indiana
up to 100 in Delaware, South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon. Between
the Alleghanies and the Missouri the crop was considerably reduced in
product, and largely in quality, by being overtaken by the extraordinary
rains before it was garnered,
Among the foot-notes upon rye the following are selected: »
MAIne.—Androscoggin: Very fine.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Bedford : Better crop than for several years.
Mary.Lanp.—Howard: Good, but somewhat damaged in the shock.
Virernta.—Carroll: A total failure. Madison: Good. Fauquier: Almost a failure.
NortH CAROLINA.— Greene: More damage than was expected when harvested. —
GEORGIA.— Towns : Better than average.
ARKANSAS.—Arkansas : Splendid.
TENNESSEE.—Giles ; Acreage and yield much larger than since the war, but damaged
in quality by rains. ;
West Vircrnra.—WMercer : Superior to the wheat crop, and not much damaged by
the rains. Doddridge: Nearly destroyed by the rains.
KENTUCKY.—Spencer : Twenty per cent. destroyed by the rains.
: -— 423
OATS.
Returns make the entire product 5 per cent. greater than last year.
Between the thirty-fourth and the forty-first parallels, as previously re-
ported, an unprecedented crop, as reported July 1, was very largely dimin-
ished in the product saved, and universally damaged in quality by the
long-continued and flooding rains. Harly drought pinched the crop in
Delaware, Maryland, and parts of Virginia, and ravages of the army-
worm, extensive in Ohio, had some effect in adjoining States also in
diminishing the product gathered. Yet in that section, as a whole, the
vast quantities destroyed scarcely reduced the product below that of the
previous year. The comparative figures are: Delaware, 63; Maryland,
91; Virginia, 81; North Carolina, 101; West Virginia, 94; Ohio, 100;
Kentucky, 98; Tennessee, 102; Indiana, 77; Illinois, 106; Iowa, 107;
Missouri, 109; Kansas, 84; Nebraska, 73. In all these States the quality
is below that of last year, averaging about 88. Outside the rainy sec-
tion, with few exceptions, superior crops in quantity and quality have
been produced. The New England States return a quality averaging
about 2 per cent. above, and an increase of about 7 per cent. in product,
except in Rhode Island, where, owing chiefly to extraordinary havoc by
the army-worm, it was reduced to 18 per cent. below. In five States
which produce about two-thirds of the entire crop the figures represent-
ing the comparative product and quality are: New York, 106 and 96;
Pennsylvania, 110 and 98; Ohio, 100 and 83; Illinois, 106 and 84; Wis-
consin, 133 and102. Michigan reports for average product, 121; quality,
105; Calhoun County reports that a yield of 60 bushels per acre is com-
mon; Mecosta, that a field of 10 acres yielded 84 bushels per acre; Al-
pena, that the crop will weigh 35 to 50 pounds per bushel; and Wayne,
that it was never better. The averages in Minnesota are 101 for. prod-
uct and 97 for quality. The latter was injured in some localities by
rains in harvest. On the Pacific Coast the crop about equals the pre-
ceding one in both yield and quality. In the South Atlantic and Gulf
States the product equals last year’s in Georgia; is less 9 per cent. in
Florida, and 4 per cent. in Alabama, but is much greater in the remain-
ing States; South Carolina, 20 per cent; Mississippi, 28; Louisiana, 6;
Texas, 44; Arkansas, 74. The reported yield per acre last year in
’ Texas was 27.2 bushels; in Arkansas, 15. In Texas, Titus reports that
the crop exceeds all previous ones in acreage and quality; also that the
Red Rust-proof is coming into general use, and giving universal satisfac-
tion. Williamson reports an acreage fivefold greater than ever before,
producing the same variety, which weighs 35 to 38 pounds per bushel.
But Uvalde reports that the White Schonen is taking the lead of all
other kinds. The quality throughout the State averages about 7 per
cent. better than last year. In Arkansas, where the improvement in
quality is 9 per cent., Fulton, Marion, and Baxter return better crops
than were ever before produced. In Baxter, our reporter states that
from the product of 65 dozen large plump grains of Norway oats he
thrashed out 65 bushels; that is an average of 22 quarts per single
grain. Extracts are made as follows:
MAINE.— Androscoggin: Good. Waldo: First rate yield ; quality excellent.
VERMONT.—Lutland: A good crop. Orleans: Rusted, and are light in weight.
New YorRK.—Genesee: Yield well, and of fair quality. Sullivan: Product light, but
good quality. Onondaga: Very good in yield aud quality.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Bucks : Much of the crop blackened by the rains in harvest. Mif-
fin: Four times the product of last year, and much better in quality. Sullivan: The
best crop for many years. ik: Weighed last year 28 pounds per bushel; this [year
35. Northumberland; An extra large ‘crop, but much injured by the rains, pos
DELAWARE.— Kent: Injured by drought in June. _...
~ 424
Virers1a.— Campbell: Much injured by the rains.’ Halifax: Rusted, and the grain
small and light. Pittsylvania: Increased in quantity, but inferior in quality. Chester-
field: Quality bad, owing to the wet weather. Hssex: A failure, owing to a dry spring.
Madison: Poor and light. Wythe: The crop was abundant, but most of it bad in quality
from the wet weather. Fauquier: Almost a failure.
Norra Carouina.—Hertford: Almost destroyed by drought. Person: Badly dam-
aged in the stack by rains.
GrorGis.—Towns : Better than average.
ALABAMA.—Calhoun: Badly injured by drought.
Mississrppr.— Wayne: Suffered a little from rust.
TrEXxas.—Titus: The acreage and quality exceed those of any former year; the Red
Rust-proof coming into general use and giving universal satisfaction. Uvalde: The
White Schonen very fine; taking the lead of all other kinds. Williamson: Acreage
nearly 400 per cent. greater than ever before; product per acre about the same as last
year; weight 35 to 38 pounds per bushel; price 45 cents per bushel of 32 pounds; kind,
Rust-proof.
ARKANSAS.—Arkansas: Splendid. Sfone: Heavier than for five years. Fulton: The
best crop ever raised. Baxter: The greatest yield ever known. I thrashed 65 bushels
of Norway oats, the yield of 65 dozen large, plump grains. Marion: Never the like
produced before. ;
TENNESSEE.—Greene: Badly injured before and after cutting. Blount: Seriously
damaged by therains. Carter: Very badly damaged in the shock. Dickson: Damaged
in the shock 15 to 20 per cent.
West Vireinta.—Pocahontas : Good in quantity, but light and chaffy. Fayette: Good
yield, and not much injured by the wet weather. Mercer: Early sown not well filled ;
late sown, better. Putnam: So smalla portion of the crop saved from ruin by wet
weather, about the time of harvest, that I cannot report the quantity. Doddridge:
Nearly destroyed by the rains. Wetzel: Badly damaged before they could be cut, and
in some fields a worm stripped the stalks of grain.
Kentucky.—Allen: Greatly damaged in the shock. Lincoln: Grain plump and fine,
but one-half lost by the rains and the remainder saved in a damaged condition. Ohio:
Very promising up to harvesting, but totally lost by excessive rains. Spencer: Destroyed
by the rains to the extent of 75 percent. Bath: The quantity and quality greatly
reduced by the rains. Fayette: The crop injured at least 30 per cent. by the rains.
Ou10.— Medina: Never such a yield before in the history of our county. Preble: The
wet weather and the army-worm caused great destruction. Franklin: A heavy crop
badly used up. Williams: A great part of the crop lost. Sandusky: The crop much
injured by the army-worm, but better than last year. JFashington: A great portion
saved in poor condition. Hancock: Fully one-half of the very large crop destreyed by
the army-worm. Delaware: An enormous growth, but the wet caused them to lodge
and rot on the ground. Harrison: Damaged by the wet weather and by grasshoppers.
Seneca: Injured by the army-worm. Athens: A good crop ruined by a wet harvest.
Micuican.—Tuscola: Unusually good. Calhoun: Sixty bushels per acre not an
unusual yield. Mecosta: One field of ten acres yielded 84 bushels per acre. Ottawa :
Very good. Mason: Very poor. Wayne: Never better. Alpena: Clean, and will
weigh 35 to 50 pounds per bushel by the tield. Oakland: Good crop, and the grain heavy.
INDIANA.—Carroll: Very much injured in yield and quality by the wet weather.
Ripley: Very poor, owing to the rains. Franklin: The heavy rains and the army-
worm destroyed about the entire crop. Gibson: Nearly all lost by rains. Grant: Few
saved. Hamilton: Not over 30 per cent. of a large crop saved, and that in poor con-
dition.
Inurnors.—Pike: A large yield, but poor in quality. Carroll: Good, both in yield
and quality. Pope: Good crop, but\damaged by the rains before it could be housed.
Clark : The crop was very large, but less than an average quantity saved, and that in
a bleached, damaged state. Cook: A splendid crop. Logan: Nearly all lost; grain
badly bleached. Mason: Good in yield, but not in quality. Montgomery: But little of
the crop conld be saved, even by mowing. Lee: Average yield about 45 bushels.
White: Rotted in the field. Zdwards: Fully half the crop lost.
WISCONSIN.—Juneaw: The largest crop for ten years. Walworth: Exceeds any
recent crop in quantity and quality.
MINNESOTA.—Chisago : Considerably damaged by rains. Jfower: The best crop ever
raised, and not damaged.
Iows.—Marion: Light in weight. Hardin: Remarkably heavy, but injured in the
shock and stack. Harrison: The product much greater than last year, but the quality
hardly equal. Franklin: Badly sprouted. Jefferson: Damaged by lodging and heavy
rains; thousands of bushels destroyed in the stack. Ida: Badly damaged in the
shock and stack.
Missourt.— Barton : Far beyond anything I ever saw ; not unusual to thrash out 75
bushels per acre. “Crawford: Very badly injured in the shock. Morgan; Badly
425
damaged. Perry: Heavy crop; badly rotted by the rains. Adair: Mostly damaged
in the stack.
Kawnsas.—Cherokee: A fine crop, but injured by the wet weather. Labetie: Such a
yield never known before; the trne figures should be 200, instead of 180, Mont-
gomery: Very heavy crop. Cowley: A-good crop, yielding 50 bushels per acre.
BARLEY.
The product of barley returned is 87 per cent. of last year’s crop.
About an equal reduction in quality is indicated. Except in Rhode Is-
land, 77 and 93, Delaware, 65 and 87, and California, 79 and 98, the fall-
ing off in both quantity and quality is almost exclusively within the area
of excessive rains. The States in which the crop suffered most are In-
diana, 47 and 64; Nebraska, owing in part to grasshoppers, 53 and 82;
Ohio, 63 and 78; West Virginia, 77 and 84; Kansas, 78 and 99.
The New England, Middle, Northwestern, and the Southern States
which grow barley, produced a superior crop in yield and of nearly
average quality. he product exceeds that of last year in New York,
Kentucky, and Wisconsin, 6 per cent.; Connecticut and Pennsylvania,
2; Florida, 25; Texas, 8; Arkansas, 81; Michigan, 10. The product
and quality are below last year’s in Illinois, 5 and 20 per cent.; Lowa,
20 and 19; Missouri, 8and 18; Minnesota averages 96 and 102; Oregon,
99 and 100.
Matne.—<Androscoggin: Good.
New Yoru.—Genesee: Yields well and of fair quality. Onondaga: A fine crop; some
fields yield 40 busheis and over peracre. Good breadth planted, but rather light yield.
Texas.— Williamson: Yield, 35 bushels per acre.
MicuiGan.-—Calhoun: Thirty to forty bushels per acre very common. Oakland; Good
yield and heavy grain.
Iniinois.—Carroil: Poor in quality.
Wisconsin.— Walworth: In both quantity and quality exceeds any recent crop.
Minnesora.—Mower: Good; lesssown than formerly. Noble: Our first crop; a fine
one. Willmore: Secured before the rains in good order.
Towa.— Marion: Much injured in the shock. Muscatine: The berry is good. Greene:
Materially injured in the shock and stack. :
Missourit.—Perry : Injured by the rains.
NEBRASKA.— York: Three times the area of any previsus year, and a fine crop, except
that it was colored before harvesting.
CALIFORNIA.—Del Norte: Very fine. Placer: Quality much better than quantity;
injured by the north winds.
BUCKWHEAT.
The condition of the entire crop is not far from average. Inthe five
States which produce above four-fifths of it theaverage is, New York,
94; New Jersey, 99; Pennsylvania, 103; Virginia, 106; Ohio, 96. In
Pennsylvania, Beaver reports the best crop for several years; Indianathe
best.for ten years; and Elk the best since 1859. In New England the
general condition is slightly above average. In Massachusetts, in which
25 per cent. increase of acreage was reported, the condition is 110; Mis-
souri, with an increase in area of 20 per cent., and Kansas of:23 per
cent., are both 4 per cent. above in condition; and Nebraska, with an
increase of 28 per cent. in area, is 3 per cent. above. Early and later
frosts have damaged the condition extensively in the Northwest, espec-
ially in Wisconsin, and slightly in other localities.
VERMONT.—Grand Isle: A very large growth; some injured by frost.
MassacHusEtts.— Berkshire: Failed to fill. ;
NEw York.—Steuben: Matures slowly and unevenly. Delaware: Favorable weather
for ripening.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Bedford: Good growth but late. Armstrong: Damaged by frost.
Beaver: The best crop grown for several years. Indiana: The best crop for 10 years;
~ got up in good condition, and about all thrashed. Hlk: The best crop sinee 1859.
426
MAryYLAND.—Howard: If the frosts hold off a few days will be a beavy crop.
Norru Carouina.—WMitchell: Silver-hull excellent. .
WEST ViRGINIA.—Pocahontas: Fine prospect. Mercer: Very good; Silver-hull the
favorite. Raleigh: Turning out finely. Doddridge: Injured by frost in some places.
Ou10.— Washington: Injured by dry weather and by frost.
MICHIGAN.— Grand Traverse: Back from the bay, injured by frosts. Wexford: All
killed by frost September 23. Tuscola: Nearly ruined by frost. Calhoun: A very large
crop. Manistee: Seriously damaged by frosts. Oceana: Reduced fully 25 per cent. by
frosts. Barry: Cut short by frost. Emmett: Injured by frost. Shiawassee: Mostly
escaped the frost. Ottawa: Suffered from frosts. Mason: All killed by frost. Wayne:
Injured by frosts.
Inp1ana.—Shelby : Somewhat injured by frosts.
ILLINOIS.—Stephenson: Nearly all ruined by frosts in August. Ogle: Injured by
pater: but little grown. White: Has a good growth, but is not likely to escape the
rost,
WISCONSIN.—Waupaca: Frost destroyed all; not a vestige left. Richland: Cut short
by frosts. Milwaukee: Frosts have made sad havoc with thecrop. Walworth : Ruined
by frost. Fond du Lac: One-half destroyed by frosts. Portage: Some fields totally de-
stroyed by frosts; others uninjured. Green: One-third of a crop; frost.
Minnesota.—WMille Lacs : Entirely killed by frost August 22. Jfower: Killed by frost.
Olmsted : Damaged by frost.
Iows.—Allamakee: Much damaged by frost. Hardin: Good. Des Moines: Killed
by frost ten days ago.
MissourI.—Camden: Being gathered in good condition.
Kawnsas.— Osage: A large amount sown and the product full and good.
NEBRASKA.—Lichardson: Looks splendid.
COTTON.
An improvement in the condition of cotton during the past month is
indicated in Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The depreciation in
Mississippi is slight, from 98 to 96, occasioned by storms. The destruc-
tive equinoctial storm wasted and stained much fiber in Southern Texas,
reducing the State percentage of condition from 94 to 88. In North
Carolina and Tennessee, September was cold and the harvest is late,
with less favorable prospects of a top crop. A reduction of the percent-
age of Georgia from 76 to 71 is caused by storms and the increasing
prevalence of rust. South Carolina is 3 per cent. lower from similar con-
ditions. In several counties of Florida the caterpiller has been injurious.
Taking a survey of the whole field, the reduction of condition since
the September returns is an undoubted fact, though the depreciation is
slight. The harvest has been retarded in the Mississippi Valley by an
unusual amount of sickness among the laborers. In the State of Mis-
sissippi there has been some loss of time on account of political disturb-
ances.
As compared with the October returns of last year, crop prospects
are worse in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, but decidedly better
in all the States from Alabama westward.
The percentages of condition are as follows: North Carolina, 85; South
Carolina, 77; Florida, 70; Georgia, 71; Alabama, 94; Mississippi, 96;
Louisiana, 90; Texas, 88; Arkansas, 103; Tennessee, 99.
NortH CAroLina.—Gaston: The growth of the plant fair, and the fruitage exceed-
ingly good. Lincoln: The season was never more favorable for the crop. Pasquotank:
The crop at least 25 per cent. short. Nash: Rusted badly in some localities. Pitt:
Picking progresses favorably. Wilson: Did not improve in September, owing to rust
and cool weather. Greene: The rust appearing the 1st of September, spread rapidly,
and caused all the late forms and young bolls to drop off. Hertford: Injured by exces-
sive moisture, causing great growth of weed and but little fruit. Wake: The fiber is
short, and the yield of lint to the quantity of seed-cotton unusually small. Camden ;
Not as good as August promised. September too cool. Anson: Shed forms badly.
Haywood: Very short and light, and indicates inferior quality. Mitchell: Too much
rain for corn; very light. Duplin : Will not make more than half a crop on sandy land ;
better on stiff lands. Fully one-half has been picked out. Edgecombe: Some improve; _
ment since the Jast report.
427
Sournm Carorina.—Beaufort: Cut off almost one-half by drought. Clarendon: Rust
general. Carleton: Turning out much better than was expected. Newberry : Late
rains have caused a good crop of young bolls on lands not injured by rust. Horry:
The falling off due to rust. Lexington: The quality good and the weather favorable
for picking. Richland: Abundant rains injuring the cotton by staining it. Chester-
field: Has opened rapidly; good weather. Orangeburgh: Gathering ‘lighter than
expected. Laurens: The early bolls nearly all open and picked out—a thing unpre-
cedented. Much of the cotton already sold to meet those unfortunate guano liens.
GrorGiIA.—Harris: Worse than ever before; alate drought stopped it and caused
the bolls to open prematurely. Worth: Shedding badly, and ruined with rust. Gwin-
nett: Heavy rains from the middle of September to the lst of October have damaged
the open cotton by dirt and stain. Marion: Shortened by black rust. Aluscogee :
Rains came too late. McDuffie: On gray lands all has died out from rust since the last
report. Butts: The great falling off caused by unusually dry and hot weather in
September, and rust. Bartow: Rains are staining cotton to a considerable extent.
Brooks: The prospect improved in September 5 per cent. Macon: Rains have been
very damaging. Banks: Favorable weather for picking. Douglas: On the 15th of
September about half was opened; on the 16th came a storm, lasting several
days, which injured it very. much. De Kalb: The prospect has fallen off since the 1st
of September; unfavorable. Zlbert: A drought the first fifteen days of September has
materially changed the prospect. Hart: Picking progressing in earnest; the crop will
be short fully 25 per cent. Terrell: The last week very wet and unfavorable to cotton.
Walton: Will be short of former estimates ; drought and excessive rains. Walker: An
abundance of rain injuring the cotton very materially, preventing picking and opening.
Whitfield: Very late in opening, owing to the wet weather. Cobb: Injured by excess-
ive rains. Jackson: Will make about two-thirds of a crop. Madison: Failure of rain
the last three weeks has caused late forms to shed; will not make more than half of a
good crop. Wilkes: All late cotton was shed ; pad weather for picking. Pike: Will
all be open by the 20th. Picking is fully up with the opening.
FLorRIDsA.—Jackson: After the promise of a fine top crop, the worm made its appear-
ance in force and cut off our hopes. Madison: Very little rain; opening very fast,
and gathered rapidly for market. Hamilton: A great deal of the short staple was
actually killed by the drought of July and August. The long staple stood it better ;
wherever that was planted there isa fair average yield. Columbia: Early cotton rusted
badly ; late injured by the caterpillar in many localities. Gadsden : Very good weather
for picking; one-half of the crop already housed. La Fayette: Reduced by drought.
Leon: Has done well the past mouth; full of young bolls and forms. The caterpillars
have eaten out a few crops, and to- day the worms, of almost microscopic size, are quite
numerous.
ALABAMA.—Montgomery : Improving and doing well. Coffee: The rust continues to
injure it, and the want of rain keeps it shedding its forms. Randolph: Injured by
drought. Conecuh: The rains and wind of the last ten days have done great damage
to the crop. Shelby: Two-thirds open, and being much damaged by wind and rains.
' Timestone: Cotton pnt at 85, because of its lateness. Dallas : Seriously injured in
quantity and quality by therainsof September. Bullock: Ten per cent. better than
on the Istof September. Jackson: The prospects reduced by the continued wet weather.
Mississipp1.—Lee: Still raining and cotton rotting, shortening the extremely flattering
promise. Jefferson: Badly injured by rust and by frosts September 19-21. Hancock:
Injured to a small extent by the equinoctial blow. Grenada: Recent heavy rains and
rust have damaged the crop fully 10 per cent. since the last report. Pike: Injured by
“heayy rains. La Fayette: The weather of September exceedingly propitious, except the
three days’ equinoctial storm, which injured the quality more than the quantity. Nox-
uba: Rusted badly. Wayne: Rain and wind, twelve days ago, caused a great deal to
fall out; picking going on actively. Claiborne: Half open; labor working well. De
Soto: The top crop has fallen off. Franklin: The season for gathering has been quite
unfavorable ; the crop materially damaged by heavy rains. Winslow: Injured by rust
- and rain. Clark: Greatly injured by black rust; the grade will be low. Lincoln:
Seriously injured by rust on low lands; picking well advanced. Madison: Has fallen
off much since last report, owing to rotting of bolls. Wilkinson: Rains and winds
throughout September injured the crop very much. Adams: In an experience of some
fifty years, a wet August has never given mea good crop of cotton. Holmes: Has shed
badly. Lowndes: Has been cloudy and rainy nearly the whole month, retarding the
gathering of cotton and making avery poor sample. Political disturbances, low prices,
and bad weather will cause a great deal to be wasted. Le Flore: Very much damaged
by the continued rains, causing it to shed and rot. Rankin: Continued rains have
-caused considerable rotting of bolls; much has been beaten into the ground, and many
bales washed away by the floods. Bolivar: A great deal of wet weather has rotted the
cotton badly. Jones: Cut short by rust at least 25 per cent.
Lovuisitana.—Hast Baton Rouge; Greatly damaged by excessive rains and high winds.
Franklin: Seriously damaged by a rain-storm. Rapides: Materially injured by rain-
428
storms. Richland: Much injury from rust, and more from heavy rains. Caddo: At
least 60 to 75 per cent. of the crop open. A heavy storm September 17 beat out 30 per
cent., of which about 10 per cent. will be picked up. Labor doing remarkably well.
Cameron: Damaged by the storm, 14th-16th, 50 per cent. Madison: A large falling off,
principally caused by a light frost on the 18th—the earliest known for many years.
Morehouse: A severe storm of rain and wind prostrated the crop, causing the portion
next to the ground to rot; also injured by a light frost on the i7th. Claiborne: The
storm of the 16th and 17th damaged the crop 15 per cent., and rust previously 10 per
cent. La Fayette: Considerably damaged by wind and rains. Carroll: Picking not
progressing as it should, and, should we have wet weather, a great deal will be lost.
Saint Landry: Picking retarded by frequent and heavy rains. Last Heliciana: Ex-
cessive rains and wind-storms have greatly damaged the crop in quantity and quality,
and. owing to much sickness, if is being gathered very slowly.
Trexas.—Coryell: Will make three-quarters of a crop; staple good; picking pro-
gressing finely. Dallas: The quality very fine. San Jacinto: Fair prospect for a full
crop. Burleson: Much damaged by hard winds and rains. Washington: Damaged 15
per cent. by the equinoctial storm; one-half already picked. Wood: Fine. Burnet:
Will not yield more than one-third ofa bale per acre, ewing to dry weather. Harrison:
Damaged 10 to 20 per cent. by the most protracted storm of rain and wind ever known.
Polk: Injured by a terrible storm of wind and rain, which lasted thirty-six hours.
Shelby : Damaged 20 per cent. by the storm on the 16th and 17th. Wilson: Would
have been a great deal better than last year had it not been for a storm, which com-
menced on the 16th and lasted three days. Wili average about one bale per acre.
Angelina: A violent storm of rain and wind has injured the crop perhaps more than 10
per cent. Austin: The prospect of a top crop was destroyed by the storm of the 17th,
which beat off leaves, forms, and bolls in a manner never before witnessed. Cotton
that was not picked nearly alllost. Caldwell: Somewhat damaged by the late storm.
Goliad: Would have been above average but for the recent storm. Rusk: Was well
opened, when the recent storm of rain and wind blew a great deal on the ground,
which will be lost. Titus: The first or bottoni crop very fine; light middle crop,
owing to drought. Growth of the top crop fine, but the boll-worm will soon destroy
all. Matagorda: Reduced by the late destructive gales to 25 per cent. Lampasas:
Some farmers will average a bale to the acre. Williamson: The storm of the 17th
shortened the crop at least 15 percent. It blew out all that was open, and beat it into
the ground. The crop is now taking a second growth, and, if frosts hold off till No-
vember 15, the fall picking will be good. Cooke: Opening very nice, and a good pros-
pect of a fine yield. Zllis: The weather quite favorable for picking; more than half
now saved, Liberty: Damaged at least one-third by the recent storm. Lamar: Crop
will be very large; more lint per acre than in any year since 1861. The county will
raise about 10,000 bales, from which 1,000 have already been shipped. At least 25,000
will be shipped from Brookston, our depot. Lavaca: A storm, commencing on the 16th
and lasting three days, blew almost a hurricane ; rain falling all the time. Cotton was
blown out fearfully, and damaged at least 20 per cent. Nacogdoches: A severe gale on
the 17th, with one of the hardest rain-falls, lasting twenty-four hours, did a great deal
of damage, blowing out all the ungatheréd cotton and inundating all the low lands,
just where the most cotton is made. Upshur: Now picking ; some will gather 2,500
pounds of seed-cotton per acre, and others not more than 300. Rust has done much
damage on all low lands. Bosque: Opening finely, and planters well up with their
picking. Fort Bend: Injared 50 per cent. by the great storm. Bastrep: The great
equinoctial storm destroyed 10 to 15 per cent. of the amount opened, the loss being
equal to 1,000 bales. ‘
ARKANSAS.—Craighead : Picking just commenced. Hempstead : Rust has reduced it
almost to an average. Calhoun; Turning out well. Arkansas: The best crop for
many years. A great deal of it picked and marketed. Columbia: Greatly damaged
by asevere storm of rain and wind, continuing forty-eight hours. Crittenden: Too-
much rain, rotting the bolls and causing the top squares to fall off. Cross: Has failed
considerably since the last report. Independence : Some injury from rust. Montgomery:
Rust commenced about the date of the last report, and one-third or more of the area
is afiected. Picking has just commenced. Stone: Promises the best for many years.
Bradley: Rust is the cause -of reduction. Prairie: The best crop we ever made.
Crawford: Only thaton upland is ready for picking; that on the bottoms is two weeks
late, and a heavy frost now would damage it much. Fulton: Best crop for years if
frost keeps off a short time. Jackson: The best crop we ever had. Sharp: Being
now shortened by drought. Jzard: Several slight frosts, benefiting cotton by check-
ing growth and causing it to open. Union: Injured by rust, and the heavy rain Sep-
tember 17 caused it to fall out, and a great deal to be gathered in a damaged condition.
Dorsey : Rain has done almost incalculable damage to the crop; reduced it 20 per cent.,
and much more will be wasted for want of help to gatherit. Yell: Opening very
fast, and the picking-season unusually good up to this time. Drew: Damaged some-
whatby rust and rain-storms. Howard: The promise of a month ago reduced by
429
drought. Marion: Never the like produced’ before in any two years. Sevier: Rust
mostly confined to low land. Picking progressing rapidly. Jranklin: The yield 20
per cent. below on uplands, and 20 above on bottom-lands; average 110. September
uniformly dry, hastening the opening. e
TENNESSEE.—Grundy: Considerably behind. Giles: The outlook very poor. Fayette;
No top crop; from the ground half-way up the stalk a good crop, but none above.
Wilson : Not a large yield, but the quality good. Putnam: But few bolls on cotton;
what has opened is of inferior quality. Lauderdale: Opening fast, and picking pro-
gressing well, considering the extra amount of sickness. On the bottoms of the Missis-
sippi one-half the crop was destroyed by overflow. ;
POTATOES.
The crop, as a whole, promises to be extraordinary in both yield and
quality. The only drawbacks upon condition, reported as originating in
September, are too dry weather in isolated localities in Ohio, Wisconsin,
and Missouri, and slight injuries from frosts in parts of Michigan, Illi-
nois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. The principal causes in opera-
tion previous to September, resulting in a reduction of condition to some
extent, are the Colorado beetle and rot, the latter as a consequence of
rust in some instances and of excessive wet in others. Reduction by
the beetles is noted in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, Arkansas, and Ohio; by rotting, in Maine, Vermont, New
York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.
But at the time of reporting extensive damage from the latter cause was
not apparent in any State except Maine, in which rust, followed by
rotting, has reduced the condition since the 1st of August from 103 to
90. The other New England States are all above average, as are the
six States which, with Maine, produce more than three-fifths of the
whole crop, namely ; New York, 101; Pennsylvania, 108; Ohio, 110; Ili-
nois, 124; Michigan, 112; Wisconsin, 114. In Michigan, the returns
generally concur in representing the crop as unprecedented in both yield
and quality; and in Illinois, ‘abundant and of the best quality” ex-
presses the prevailing tenor. Excellence of quality is also frequently
referred to in Wisconsin and Indiana, condition in the latter being 104.
The States beyond the Mississippi return, Minnesota, 101; Iowa, 107;
Missouri, 110; Arkansas, 106; Kansas, 119; Nebraska, 127; California,
92; Oregon, 111. In New Jersey (87) and Delaware and Maryland (80)
early drought had an ultimate effect, with the beetle, in reducing the con-
dition. South of the Potomac and the Ohio, the States above average
are, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia, 102, and Kentucky,
108. The other States range between 91, in Alabama, and 98, in Virginia,
North Carolina, and Texas. Returns from Florida, Alabama, Texas, and
Arkansas call attention to the fact that the figures for condition refer to
a second crop. Our reporter in Prairie, Arkansas, states that he has
raised this season a second crop from seed of the first, and on the ground
which produced it.
MarnNe.—Piscataquis : Not more than two-thirds of a crop; stopped growing when
the rust struck them. Waldo: About three-fourths of a crop; vines killed in August
by rust. Franklin: Early Rose rotted the latter part of August. York: Extra nice;
some fields have rotted. ®
VERMONT.—Rutland: Good crop. Orleans : Rotted in the field; some have to leave
on the ground; 50 per cent. affected ones. The yield good. Starch-factories pay only
20 to 25 cents.
: MASSACHUSETTS.— Berkshire: The heaviest crop for years, and free from imper-
ections.
CONNECTICUT.—New London: Have seldom yielded as bountifully.
NEw YORK.—Queens: The Late Rose very fine. Genesee: Not as good as expected a
month ago. Wyoming: Rotting to some extent, and do not yield as expected.
2A
430
New JERSEY.—Cumberland: Almost a faflure, owing to the beetle. Atlantic : Nearly
a failure, owing to the beetle and to blasting.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Bucks : Early yielded well; late, cut short by drought and beetles.
Cameron: Selling at a lower price than for ten years. Bedford: Good yield, but early
potatoes affected by rot. Delaware: Injured in quantity and quality by the beetles.
Lawrence: An excellent crop. Mifflin: The best crop for years. Sullivan: So abun-
dant that they will have to be fed to the stock. Elk: A “ powerful” crop, sound and
good ; the Peerless the most productive, and equal to any in quality. Northwmberland :
An enormous crop of very large and very fine potatoes.
MaryLanp.—Howard: A small crop, overrun with weeds, and bitten down by the
Colorado beetle. Cecil : Injured by the beetle.
DELAWARE.—Kent : Greatly damaged by the beetle.
VirGinia.—Rockingham : Very much injured by the beetle, especially the late crop.
Chesterfield: Good crop, in excellent condition. Highland: Good in every respect.
Washington: Affected with rot.
Fioripa.—Jackson : Second crop in good growing condition.
ALABAMA.—Calhoun: Badly injured by drought. Bullock: The first planting turned
out excellently, but the second planting (to which the figures refer) not so promising.
Mississippi.—Pike: Fine. Hancock: Yielded better than usual.
Trxas.—De Witt; The figures refer to the fall planting, now being worked for the
first time.
ARKANSAS.—Prairie: Good. Have raised a second crop from the seed of the first,
and on the same ground. Jzard: Rotted before digging to a greater extent than for
many years.
TENNESSEE.—Greene: A fair crop. Blount: Fine. Dickson: Large crop. Henry:
Large crop, and safe from damage.
Kentucky.—Lincoln: The best crop for many years. Harrison: The crop four times
that of 1874, and the quality 50 per cent. better.
Ounro.—Medina: Early varieties yield largely ; late, injured by the Colorado beetles.
Ross: Fine crop. Fulton: Have matured very finely. Miami: The largest crop ever
produced, Marion: Early, considerably affected by the rot; late, extraordinary.
Williams: The crop very good. Sandusky: Better than tor many years; would not sell
for 20 cents per bushel. Adams: Early, fine; late, doing poorly, owing to dry weather.
Hancock: The largest crop ever known; selling at 20 to 25 cents. Delaware: An extra
growth, but one-third rotted before digging. Athens: Very large yield and sound.
Micuican.—Kalamazoo: Late, injured by a heavy frost September 18. Grand Trav-
erse: Back from the bay, injured by frosts. Tuscola: Good. Monroe: Never better.
Oceana: Late; some damaged by frost. Delta: The price lower than eyer before,
though pinched by drought. Delia: Late, damaged by frost. Saginaw: Extra crop.
Shiawassee: Heavy yield. Newaygo: The best crop ever known, in yield and quality.
Ottawa: A first-rate crop; dry and mealy. Mason: Plentiful and very fine. Wayne:
Never better. Oakland: The yield and quality never better.
?
Inprana.— Ripley : The largest crop ever raised ; secured in good order. Franklin;
Very abundant and fine. Whitley: A large crop of good quality. Marion: Poor crop.
Jasper : Never better. Steuben: Rotting. Perry: The crop a failure.
Intwo1s.—Pike: Extra large. Carroll: Late; injured by frost. Pope: Drought in
September will shorten the product. Bureaw: Much better in quantity and quality
than for years. Cork: The largest crop for ten years. Shelby: Abundant, and of the
best quality. Fulton: Abundant, and nosale. Montgomery: Abundant and excellent.
McLean: Never a better crop. Marshall: Enormous yield. Massac: Rather dry for
late potatoes. Hancock: Abundant and good.
WIsconsin.— Waupaca : Turning out from 75 to 2C0 bushels per acre; beginning to
rot in some localities. Ozaukee: The condition would be higher than 110, were not the
tops of the late kinds killed by frosts. Pepin: Begging at 20 to 20 cents per bushel.
Fond du Lac: Immense crop and of the best quality ; market price 10 to 15 cents. Ver-
non: Extracrop. St. Croix: Yield 150, and quality good. Green: The best crop for
ears.
MINNESOTA.—Chisago: Rot badly, owing to wet weather. Mower: Never better in
quantity or quality. Rock: The best crop ever raised. Wright: In some localities de-
stroyed by a heavy frost August 21. Steele: Never better.
Iowa.—Alamakee: Much damaged by frost. Hardin: A heavy crop, but some rot-
ting. Harrison: Fine. Lee: Dull at 25 cents per bushel. Muscatine: Late; not as
ood as was anticipated. Des Moines: All killed by frost ten days ago. Franklin: A
arge yield, but rotting. Cerro Gordo: A big crop, but rotting badly. ;
Missourt.—Greene: A large and fine crop. Nodaway: Never better. Perry: Late,
almost a failure from drought since the Ist of August. Jron: Very abundant and
fine.
Kansas.—Reno: Splendid; the best crop ever produced. Osage: Very large and fine
crop. Montgomery: Unusually large crop.
NEBRASKA.—Johnson: Yield bountifully, and are very fine. Merrick: Better crop
431
than ever seen before. Clay: In yield and quality cannot be beat; never so good be-
fore. Otoe: The late potatoes have developed very finely. Richardson: Look splen-
did. Knox: Abundant. York: Enormous crop; in many cases 500 bushels per acre.
CALiroRNIA.—Sonoma: A partial failure, owing to blight and non-rotation.
SWEET-POTATOES.
The condition is average in Delaware; in Mississippi, 111; Louisiana,
101; Arkansas, 113; Kansas, 103. In other States which grow the
crop to any extent, it ranges between 82 in Georgia and 98 in Pennsyl-
vania, Maryland and Virginia. New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennes-
see, West Virginia, and Missouri are 97. In the Gulf States, except
Mississippi and Lonisiana, the crop did not fully recover from the pinch-
ing effects of the early drought. Recent dry weather has had some
effect in reducing the condition in Illinois and Missouri, frost in Ohio,
and excessive wet in Indiana and Iowa.
\ New Jersry.—Atlantic: Fine.
VIRGINIA.— Chesterfield: Quality never better. Princess Anne: The season too wet.
Northampton: Poor yield.
Norra Carorrys.—Gaston : Matured, and a very fine crop. Chowan: Short crop.
SourH CaroLina.—Clarendon: The ground still entirely too dry and the roots very
small. Lexington: Suffered from the early as well as the late drought. Georgetown:
Has suffered seriously from drought.
GrorGeiAa.—Marion : Shortened by drought. Muscogee: Rains came too late. Jeffer-
son: Almost ruined by drought. Berrien; Cut short by drought. Wilkes; It has
been entirely too dry for the crop.
FLorIDs.—Gadsden: Much benefited by the August and September rains. La
Fayette: Badly injured by drought. Jackson: Doing finely.
ALABAMA.—Crenshaw: Improving. Mobile: Backward, but now doing well as could
be. Montgomery: Improving. Jefferson: The crop will be very large. Calhoun:
Badly injured by drought. Conecuh: Somewhat damaged by late drought. Dallas:
Very promising. Bullock: Improved more than 10 per cent. since September 1st.
Mississippi.—Pike: Fine. Hancock: Yielded better than usual. Jefferson; Fine.
Lee: Very heavy crop. ?
Lovuistana.—Franklin : Very promising.
Texas.—Austin: The crop will be the smallest for many years. Rusk: Now growing
finely. De Witt: Short in quantity 20 per cent.; many prevented from planting by
drought. Bastrop: Small crop, owing to the drought.
ARKANSAS.—Arkansas: The best ever seen. Fulton: The present drought has
injured the crop 10 to 20 per cent.
TENNESSEE.—Dickson: Large crop. Henry: Large crop and safe from damage.
Onto.—Lorain: Killed by frost September 24.
InpiaAna.— Carroll: Much injured by the wet weather.
ILLiINoIs.— Montgomery: Abundant and excellent. Massac: Rather dry for sweet-
potatoes.
lowa.—Harrison: Too wet for sweet-potatoes.
Missouri.— Phelps: Cut short by drought.
CRANBERRIES.
NEw JERSEY.— Atlantic: The crop promised to be extra large until a few days before
picking time; then a peculiar disease, which seemed like the bite of an insect, attacked
them, and most of the crop is lost. There are several hundred acres in the county,
and the loss amounts to many thousand dollars. Camden: Badly scalded in some
localities.
WISCONSIN.—Juneau: Will not be over 25 per cent. of an average crop. The loss to
this county is heavy, as they are an important production. Portage: Did not, bring to
the owners one-quarter of what they promised early in August. Monroe: Afair crop,
although one-third frozen. ,
Minnesota.—WMille Lacs: Frost, August 22, destroyed the crop. Chisago: A totil
failure; killed by frost.
TOBACCO.
The condition of tobacco, on the whole, is 2 per cent. above aver-
age. The New England crop is unusually fine, Massachusetts being 14
432
per cent. and Connecticut 10 per cent. above average. Of the Middle
States New York is 2 per cent. and Pennsylvania 10 per cent. above
average. The great central tobacco region-including Maryland, 100;
Virginia, 106; West Virginia, 98; North Carolina, 105; Kentucky, 116;
and Tennessee, 95—will, on the whole, realize an unusual crop, though
in some counties injuries from frost and other untoward influences are
complained of. The season has been mostly very favorable both for the
maturing and curing of the plants. In Virginia, Prince Edward, Car-
roll, Goochland, and Orange Counties claim crops larger and finer than
for many years; Campbell, with an unusual quantity, complains of
loss from ‘‘ frenching” and “ firing.” In North Carolina, Caswell has a
large crop, but poor and deficient in oil. In Person the product is fine,
and the coal-curing process for bright wrappers has been remarkably
successful. In Kentucky, Daviess claims a crop of 8,000,000 pounds, a
third larger than that of the census year. Christian will gather a larger
quantity than ever before. The rains of July and subsequent drought
injured the yield in Cumberland, both in quantity and quality. Some
complaints of frost are received, but the increased yield must be very
great, though in some counties producing an unusual proportion of
lugs. Frost is also reported in Tennessee, where the reduction of the
State average is owing to injuries to the crop in one or two large tobacco
counties; the reports generally are quite favorable. The small crops of
South Carolina, Georgia, and the Gulf States are above average, not-
withstanding a deficiency of 10 per cent. in Louisiana and 7 per cent. in
Texas. Arkansas is 9 per cent. above average.
Our reports from the tobacco regions north of the Ohio indicate seri-
ous injury to the crop, mostly from the early occurrence of frost. Ohio
is 22 per cent. below average; Michigan, 50 per cent.; Indiana, 16 per
cent.; Illinois, 8 per cent.; and Wisconsin, 33 per cent. The higher
the latitude, the greater the depreciation. West of the Mississippi River,
Minnesota and Iowa are full average and Nebraska 5 per cent. above.
Missouri, the only large tobacco State of this region, is 3 per cent. and
Kansas 4 per cent. below, considerable frost being noted in some coun-
ties. On the Pacific coast, California is full average. In Contra Costa,
the plant grows astonishingly without irrigation. The culture is here
increasing. The very small crop of Oregon is 2 per cent. below average.
MArYLAND.—Charles : Much improved since the last report. Calvert : The weather of
September favorable for securing the crop; but much of it was badly fired and con-
verted into “ ground-leaf,” reducing the quantity per acre. The quality, color, and
texture, will be above average. Howard: A favorable planting and growing season
has given one of the largest crops ever raised.
VIRGINIA.— Campbell : More than average in quantity, but much of the crop frenched
and fired. Nottaway: The greater part must be housed green in order to prevent frost-
ing. Carroll: Finer crop than any previous year; larger leaf and finer in quality.
Halifax : Fine weather for saving and curing. Large crop in pounds, but the quality
very common. Orange: Magnificent crop. Pittsylvania: Inferior in quality, but not
in quantity. Caroline: The weather has been propitious for curing and housing the
crop, which may now be regarded as safe. Floyd: Slightly injured by frost. Chester-
field: Quality very good; muchcut and housed. Goochland: Season favorable for cut-
ting and securing ; prospect for a much heavier crop than last year. Page: Favorable
weather for maturing. Madison: Generally good, but much of the crop light, owing to
late planting. Prince Edward: The largest and best crop in ten or twelve years. Meck-
lenburg : Most of the crop housed. Fluvanna: September very favorable for the ripen-
ing of tobacco.
NortH CaROLINA.—Caswell : The curing has been generally successful, resulting in
a larger quantity of yellow-leaf than usual, but poor in quality—deficient in oil.
Davie: The weather has been remarkably fine for cutting and curing. Person: The
great staple of this county will be of fine texture, and farmérs have succeeded splen-
didly in coal-curing for bright wrappers. Union: The quantity produced yet small,
but increasing from year to year. Heywood: Very fine.
~
433
FLoripa.—Gadsden: The crop of Cuba tobacco, in both yield and quality, the bes
since the war; estimated at 800 boxes of 400 pounds each.
ARKANSAS.— Fulton : Never better.
TENNESSEE.—Grundy : The last week in September brought some frost, which injured
the crop in places. Smith: Will be a large crop and average in quality if carefully
handled. Dickson: Good condition ; most of it housed without frost. Wilson: Condi-
tion good, and the yield will be large. Henry: Fair crop; about all housed in good
condition. Macon: The fine weather of August and September brought the crop out
greatly, but the quality will be poor. Lobertson: The crop improved very much in
September ; the late cuttings are good and very fine in quality.
Wesr VirGtnia.— Will be of unusually good quality. Mercer: Good in quantity,
but is thought not to be so good in quality. Some damaged by frost. Summers: In-
jured to some extent by frosts.
Kentucky.—Livingston; A good deal frosted. Warren: The weather now fine for
tobacco. Jefferson: The season has been very favorable for the maturing of the
crop. Christian: Willbe more made than ever in any year before. Monroe: Generally
late and in danger of frost. Cumberland: Rains of July and subsequent drought have
materially injured the crop both in quantity and quality. Daviess: Generally small,
and nearly one-half uncut. The present prospect is for a crop of 8,000,000 pounds.
Graves: As much cut and housed as ever before, or more; but there will be a larger
per cent. of lugs than usual.
Our10.—Guernsey : Late tobacco considerably injured by two severe frosts. Monroe:
Some damage from recent frosts—perhaps 5 per cent. Noble: On low land injured by
frost. Adams: Mostly housed before frost, and a pretty fair article. Morgan: Heavy
frosts on the 23d and 24th killed all not housed.
Inprana.— Carroll : Greatly damaged by the wet weather.
Introis.—Pope: A larger area than usual, but the quality not good. Massac: A
nice dry fall for saving tobacco.
Wisconsin.— Walworth: Ruined by frost.
Towa.—Allamakee : Much damaged by frost.
Missourt.—Camden: Of No. 1 quality, and being housed in good condition. Ozark:
Damaged by frost 33 per cent. Pettis: Considerable of a crop; of excellent quality.
GaALIFORNIA.—Contra Costa: Tobacco takes root with astonishing readiness and
grows surprisingly without any irrigation.
RICE.
Nortu Carorina.— Brunswick : The great crop was formerly rice, but since the war
the production has fallen off from 200,000 baskets to less than 20,000, and no crop has
taken the place upon the large and valuable rice-plantations, which have consequently
almost gone to ruin.
SourH Caroiina.—Beaufort : On upland, cut off almost one-half by drought; on the
tide-waters will prove a large yield. Colleton: The crop very fine.
GEORGIA.—Camden: The crop on the Satilla River, now being taken to market, will
amount to over 140,000 bushels of rough rice; about 20,000 bushels more than last_year.
McIntosh; Above an average crop, of poor quality.
Fiorwa.—Santa Rosa: The amount planted is much larger than usual, and it isa
yery remunerative crop. La Fayette: Acreage 500 per cent. and a fair crop.
Louistana.—La Fourche: The, crop very fine in yield and quality. I have afew
arpents of land in rice, which have produced 25 barrels per arpent, worth $14 to $15
per barrel.
SUGAR-CANE.
GEORGIA.—Jefferson : Almost ruined by drought. Berrien: Cut short by drought
Upson : Cut short by severe heat in July and August.
FLorIDA.—Jackson : Not more than 30 per cent. of a crop planted for want of seed ;
will make an average yield. Madison: A little better than last month. Gadsden:
Brought up to full average by the August and September rains.
ALABAMA.— Crenshaw : Improving. Mobile: Largely increased acreage, in average
condition. Conecuh: Greatly damaged by drought. Bullock: Seriously injured by the
drought in July, but much improved since.
MississiprI.—Franklin: Our leading planters are manufacturing their sugar and
molasses at home from Louisiana and African cane, Winslow: Much cane will not be
ground up for want of mills, and will be lost.
LovistaNa.—La Fourche: Has not justified the promise by its fine appearance in the
spring.
434
-£ORGHUM.
NortH CAROLINA.—Hertford: Increased, and a very fine crop. Haywood: Very fine
Grorcis.—Hart: A large crop gathered. Jackson: On the increase, and next year
the quantity will be doubled, from the fact that we have introduced the Cook evap-
orators. Upson: Cut short by the severe heat in July and August. ;
ALABAMA.—Calhoun: Fine; a great increase in acreage over last year, perhaps 200
per cent. Conecuh: Above average 50 per cent. Shelby: Almost every class and con-
dition, from the gray-headed sire of seventy to the stripling of sixteen, are busily en-
gaged in having their sorghum made up, leaving cotton and everything else to the
mercy of wind and rain. Sorghum is pushed to the front as a, compromise between
the high price of meat and the low price of cotton. Bullock: Seriously injured by the
drought in July, but much improved since.
MississipP1.— Winslow : Nearly all blown down after a heavy rain. At least 50 per
cent. more will be planted the coming season than last.
Trexas.—Austin: The first crop yielded 80 gallons per acre of fine sirup. The sec-
ond crop will not be worth grinding. Upshur: The crop has been greatly increased.
ARKANSAS.—Columbia: Largely on the increase. A number of mills and evaporators
brought into the country will induce the planting of a still greater breadth. Jnde-
pendence: Twenty-five per cent. more planted than usual. Fulton: Increased acreage
and excellent crops.
TENNESSEE.—Blount: Better than for years. Dickson: The largest crop ever grown ;
made into sirup of good quality. Wilson: Unusually large yield. The mills have
been running for weeks, some of them all night.
InDIANA.—Shelby : Some injured by frost.
ILLino1s.—Madison: Late, but promising a full average.
WISCONSIN.— Richland: Cut short by frost.
Iowa.—WMarion: Nearly a failure. Guthrie: Seed sent out as “imported” is a per-
fect failure; has a drier, whiter inside than corn or broom-corn. A good mill can get
but very little juice out of it, and that little proves to be worthless. Other seed gives
a good crop.
Kansas.—Osage: A large crop of good quality.
NEBRASKA.—Knoxv: The growth of the crop stopped while much of it was in bloom,
by frost accompanied with ice, September 21.
HOPS,
New YorK.—Oneida: The crop all barvested and the yield at least one-third more
than any crop for the last five years.
MicHiGAN.—Calhoun: Yielded about 500 pounds per acre, and of very fine quality.
Wisconsin.— Monroe; About two-thirds of a crop.
CALIFORNIA.—Alameda: The product quite good; from one-eighth to one-fourth
_ more than last year.
ORrEGON.—Benton: Excellent crop; large yield on all the fields. The culture here is
yet in its infancy, but the bottom-lands of the Willamette will probably prove the
finest lands in the world for hop-growing.
HEMP.
Kentucky.—WMercer : Our hemp-crop is very fine, and has been cut in good time,
Fayette : Have just finished cutting a larger crop of hemp than has been produced for
several years, and the quality, up to this stage, is above average.
FATTENING CATTLE.
The number of fattening cattle in the country is somewhat greater
than last year. There is a falling off in all the New England States
except Connecticut, which reports an increase nearly balancing the de-
ficiency of the others. Of the Middle States, New Jersey reports a
number equal to last year, but the others show a decline, Pennsylvania re-
ducing her estimate 6 percent. The South Atlantic Coast States show
a small increase, North and South Carolina making good the loss of 7
per cent. in Maryland. Texas, by an increase of 6 per cent. upon her
large aggregate, raises the number of the Gulf States considerably
above last year, notwithstanding the decline in all the other States,
43)
amounting to 12 per cent. in Louisiana. Of the southern inland States
Arkansas reports an increase, but this is more than counterbalanced by
the loss in all the others. North of the Ohio River, Michigan and Illi-
nois equal last year’s report, but the other States fall below. West
the Mississippi all the States report an, increase ranging from 2 per
cent. in Nebraska to 53 per cent. in Kansas. On the Pacific coast the
loss of 8 per cent. in California largely exceeds the gain of 9 per cent.
upon the smaller aggregate of Oregon.
All the New England and Middle States report a condition above
average except Massachusetts, where the deficiency is only 1 per cent.,
the maximum, 107, being in Connecticut. The South Atlantic Coast
States and Gulf States are all above average except Maryland, 98, ‘and
Florida, 99. The southern inland States and the States north of the
Ohio River and west of the Mississippi are uniformly above average,
the maximum, 112, being in Arkansas. On the Pacific coast, California
is 5 per cent. below average and Oregon 2 per cent. above. From the
accompanying notes of correspondence it will be seen that scarcity or
plenty of feeding material may both operate to increase the number of
fattening cattle. In some counties, as in Sullivan, New York, it is
ound more profitable to utilize a scant stock of food in preparing ani-
mals for market than to keep them over. In others, as in Cook, Ili-
nois, and Greene, Missouri, the abundance of the feeding crop is an
inducement to enlarge the number of fattening stock. In several coun-
ties of Kansas the immense corn-crop is being largely consumed by cattle
from abroad.
, Martne.—Piscataquis : Much above average in condition.
New YorxK.—Queens : Root-crops for fattening cattle are abundant, and the stock look
better than for several seasons past. Sullivan: Scarcity of hay increases the number
of fattening cattle, and good, full feed gives them a condition above average.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Bucks : Short pastures and scarcity of fodder prevented the usual
supply of fattening cattle from being brought into this section. Armstrong: Few cattle
attening.
VIRGINIA.— Rockingham : Stock of all kinds looking well. Carroll: Better than last
year and increasing. Highland; Will compare favorably with last year.
Norru Carorina.—Davie: In better condition than usual. ‘
Texas.—Coryell : In fine condition, but the number reduced. Dallas: In fine condi-
tion, with good prices. Medina: Large sales of our beeves in the Kansas and Missouri
markets have reduced their number.
WES? VIRGINIA.—Pocahontas : Fattening well.
Micuican.—Newago: Not as plenty as last year, but in excellent condition.
INDIANA.— Marion: Very few will be fed this season. »
ILLINOIs.—Cook: Our abundant crop induces more feeding. McLean: Never saw
them look so well.
Wisconsin.— Walworth; Will be but few fattened, for want of a corn-crop.
Iowa.—Lee; Plenty, and in unusually good flesh. ;
Missourt.—Greene: Think there was not a dozen catile fattening in the county last
year. We had no corn, and nearly all our hogs were shipped. This year we have an
immense corn-crop, and but few hogs. The result is that large numbers of cattle will
be fattened for market.
Kansas.—Nemaha: In place of but few fattening cattle in the county last winter,
there will be many this, both native and foreign, to consume the corn-crop, which is
immense. Woodson: Our farmers are endeavoring to market their surplus corn by feed-
ing cattle. Lyon: Last year none fattened except for home consumption; this year
many hundreds, for shipment, corn being abundant and cheap.
CALIFORNIA.—Have fallen off greatly in numbers, but are in excellent condition.
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EXTRACTS FROM CORRESFONDENCE.
DISEASES OF HOGS.—Frederick, Maryland : Hog cholera is prevailing
to an alarming extent in several localities. Some planters are reported
to have lost nearly their whole stock. Best baking-soda, one table-
spoonful per hog, is said to be a sure and speedy remedy ; also for chol-
era among chickens. Jasper, lowa: A great many hogs dying of
cholera.
FULTZ WHEAT.—Juneau, Wisconsin: Winter-wheat was below aver-
age, owing to rust, except Fultz, which was not much injured. A
neighbor had 18 bushels of Fultz from one acre, and from an adjoining
-acre only 11 bushels of the common variety. Another neighbor raised
118 bushels of Fultz, all of which is engaged for seed.
FRUIT CULTURE EXTENDING.—Camden, Missouri : Many of our farm-
ers are investing largely in fruit culture, especially apples and grapes:
Orchards and vineyards are being put out in every direction. The great
lever in promotion is the Fairview Pomological Society, which by seat-
tering information on the subjects, and by personal examples, is doing a
good work in this direction.
FRUIT CULTURE IN FLORIDA.—Orange County: The cereal crops are
being fast abandoned, and supplanted by the culture of oranges. The
whole county bids fair to become one vast orange-grove. New experi-
ments in the use of fertilizers and in irrigation are being made. On the
1st of September there was organized at Maitland the Farmers and
Fruit-Growers’ Association of Orange County. Greene: Fully matured,
and by far the largest and best crop in ten years. Putnam: In this
county rapid progress is being made in the production of fruits. Oranges
- and lemons bid fair to be an average good crop. In a few years these
products will be of great importance. The Musa or banana, owing to a
mild winter, are producing wonderfully, especially Sapientum. We have
also several varieties that are fruiting finely, and are superior to the
above. We also have an excellent crop of guavas, and doubtless a
large quantity will be converted into jelly. Limes are quite abundant,
and will soon be furnished in quantities for shipping.
CYCLONE IN TEXAS.— Galveston : A cyclone, commencing on the 15th
of September, and continuing three days, caused the waters of the Gulf
to cover almost the entire island, thirty miles long and about two miles
wide, and portions of the county on the mainland. Almost everything
in the shape of crops and vegetation is badly injured, and in many cases
entirely ruined, by the salt-water of the Gulf and the severe winds. The
injury to the catton-crop is very severe. The damage to the city of
Galveston will not much exceed $100,000. Nacogdoches: On the .
17th of September a severe gale’ from the northeast, with one of the
hardest rain-falls, lasting twenty-four hours, did a great deal of damage
to farmers generally. It blew out all the ungathered cotton, and inun-
dated all the low lands just where the most cotton is made. Beyond
doubt this county was injured to the amount of many thousand dollars.
De Witt: The cyclone which destroyed Indianola, September 15 and
16, amounted to quite a gale here. Wherever cotton was not gathered
it was blown from the bolls and destroyed. Fort Bend: The recent
great storm that visited our coast, extending far into the interior, greatly
damaged our corn and cotton crops, It blew down the corn, and inun-
dated the land, causing it to rot and sprout. It tore the cotton to pieces,
439
blew all that was open out of the bolls, and blew down cotton-houses,
thus exposing that which had been picked. It injured the crop at least
50 per cent. Matagorda: A most terrific storm began on the morning
of September 15; about dark it increased to a gale, and continued of
about the same intensity for twenty-four hours, when it increased to a
terrible tornado, which continued until 3 o’clock the next morning, the
17th. It carried in its course destruction, desolation, and death. At
the same time rain deluged the earth. As the papers will give full
accounts of the destruction of towns, houses, farm-animals, and people,
I will confine myself to its effects on the crops. This it is impossible
yet to estimate. All open cotton, which constituted the bulk of the
‘crop, was blown and washed away. Many gin-houses were either blown
down or unroofed, by which much cotton was either lost or damaged.
The cotton-stalks being entirely stripped of leaves by the wind, a bright -
sun and warm days rapidly developed the remaining bolls, when, on the
nights of the 24th and 25th, we had a recurrence of the gale. This was
not so severe, but materially injured the lately-opened cotton, reducing
the condition to 25 per cent. It also did great damage to the corn, _ On
the 18th of September, 1854, just twenty-one years ago, this county suf-
fered a similar disaster, though the storm was less in duration and
extent. Bastrop: The great storm, which caused immense havoc and
ruin in our coast towns, did much damage to the cotton-crop in this
county. The loss is not less than 1,000 bales, or 10 to 15 per cent. of
the amount opened.
MIXED HUSBANDRY VERSUS COTTON.—Sussex, Virginia: The cereals
are attracting more attention from our farmers. They are becoming
more alive to the fact that cotton alone is not sufficient for all the
demands made upon it. Before the war we raised negroes, and worked
them, ourselves, and our lands almost to death in order to get money to
buy more negroes. Now, cotton has been substituted for the negro.
We work ourselves almost to death to make cotton, and, aS soon as
made, we sell it to buy commercial fertilizers and hire labor to make
more cotton, and so on, never having anything except a little cotton,
which we expend, in the ways indicated, to enable us to make more cot-
- ton. But let us get to making grain largely, raising stock, and diversi-
fying our crops, and the good old days will return when, instead of sit-
ting down to our dinners with a little piece of scrawny western shoulder,
bought on credit, we will have Virginia ham and cabbage, both of our
own raising, and all the splendid luxuries on which we were raised, but
which now are creatures either of fancy or of the memories of the dead
past.
Nash, North Carolina: We are beginning to plant wheat and turn more
attention to grass and stock-raising. ;
Hart, Georgia: The farmers of the county have raised more provis-
ions than in any year since the war, and there is a reasonable prospect
of a greater increase next year.
Henry, Alabama: Our people are determined to plant more small grain
than ever since the war, and to study economy in every department of
the farm. We will try to make our farms self-sustaining, and at the
earliest day possible will remove our smoke-houses and corn-cribs from
the West and locate them at home.
Carroll, Louisiana: The county will raise plenty of corn for home con-
sumption, and more meat than for years.
CASTOR-BEANS AND FLAXSEED IN MISsouRI.— Vernon: Castor-beans
and flaxseed are quite crops in this county. The former averages this
440
year 134 bushels per acre, or 106,000 bushels in the county ; the latter
62 bushels per acre, or a total of 133,000 bushels.
Saint Clair: Castor-beans and flax are crops with us this year. The
latter was greatly injured by the wet weather.
Pettis : The crop of castor-beans is quite large for an experiment, and
promises a large yield.
LARGE POTATOES.—Knox, Kansas: On my garden, first crop, after
breaking the sod, I planted one-half bucket of Early Rose, cut to single
eyes, planted two feet distant. The yield was 30 bushels, and the aver-
age weight was a half pound each, many weighing one pound each, and
over. Potatoes weighing two pounds each are reported in the county.
BroomM-corn.—Sumner, Tennessee: The broom-corn crop of this county
has been quite remunerative, yielding at least $40 per acre. About 3800
acres were planted.
Saint Clair, Missouri: About 100 acres of broom-corn were raised in
the township of Roscoe, and other crops were raised in the county. The
yield is very heavy. It is now baling for market. —
CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
Upon the occasion of breaking ground for the erection of “ Agricul--
tural Hall,” preparatory to the celebration of the Centennial, at the
park in the city of Philadelphia, the Hon. Frederick Watts, the
Commissioner of Agriculture, was invited by the United States:
Centennial Commission to deliver an address on the 4th of July,
1875. Upon the platform erected for the speaker there were Maj. Gen.
Jos. R. Hawley, President of the United States Centennial Commission ;
Hon. D. J. Morrell, chairman of the executive committee; Ex-Goy-
ernor William Bigler; John Welsh, esq., President of the Centennial
Board of Finance, with a number of the members of the legislature
and members of the select and common council of Philadelphia. The
following is the text of the address:
FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: We are prone to congratulate ourselves upon the
attainment of our glorious independence—proudly to boast of the happily-conceived
Constitution and laws under which we live, of the commerce of the seas which we
enjoy, the right to choose the professional career of life for which our talent fits us
and the manufacturing industry which our energy or taste may indicate ; freely to
express our thoughts without fear, and, above all and over all, to worship God accord-
ing to the dictates of our own conscience. But what were all these if they were
bestowed upon a barren and fruitless land? How worthy would they be of our con-
sideration if we could forget for a moment that the enjoyment of them all is dependent
upon the successful efforts of man to cultivate the earth ?
What of the spirit of independence if our surroundings were the threatenings of
poverty? What of the fundamental law of the land, if for our lives and property we
had not constantly in view the stimulants which the productive character of the earth
affords? What of the speculative and roving business of the merchant upon the high
seas of the world, if he had not the products of agriculture to deal with? What of the
ingenuity and skill of the manufacturer if his daily bodily wants were not supplied by
the farmer? What of the value of freedom of thought and speech, if it were not for
the marvelous proceeds of the earth, and the science and skill by which they are pro-
duced? And with what spirit could we approach God’s throne of grace if we had not
all these results for which to be thankful ?
It is fit and proper, therefore, that in the preparation now being made to celebrate
an event which affords a resulting example of free government to the world, and an
exposition of its ability to progress in art and science for the first hundred years of its
life, that they who plan this work and seek to guide its progress to a successful ter-
mination should give prominence to that feature which will dedicate this spot to the
——-
» 441
nterests of the farmer, and not only so, but to the undying memory of the Hon.
Richard Peters, who lived and dwelt here, and whose name is like a household god in
the family of every Pennsylvanian, to be worshiped as a teacher in the science of
agriculture.
When we reflect that one-half of the population of the world is engaged in the busi-
ness of agriculture, and that they and the other half are dependent for their existence
upon its successful results, and both constantly hope that the bountiful supplies of
God’s providence may conduce to an abundant harvest, we have the united prayer of
the whole human race, ‘‘ God speed the plow.”
It is not, then, to be considered a subject of wonder that we assemble here to-day
to signalize the effort to give prominence to the position which the science of agricul-
ture is to take in this international exhibition of this New World’s progress.
What occupation of life has made such strides as that of agriculture? The steam-
plow of to-day will supply the labor of the fifty horses of afew years ago; the sepa-
rator now does the work of fifty men; the reaper and its attendants will accomplish
fourfold the work of the labor of men, and with the rake, the tedder, the roller, the
hay-fork, by all of which labor is made easy, and the laborer relieved from the toil which
once oppressed him. In the exhibition of the world’s progress there is no more favor-
able example than the march which the science of agriculture has made in the last
century. A hundred years ago it was enough to know that if the earth be stirred and
the seeds be sown their product and all else was the natural result of God’s providence ;
that the plow, rude as it was then, was the best implement with which to till the
earth, and that seed sown by the hand of man was all that was necessary to enable us
to drag through the natural period of existence, thus made toilsome and miserable.
But the eyes of men have been since opened. It is not now enough to know that we
live and move and have our being. That large portion of mankind engaged in the
work of the world was not content thus to grovel and crawl, but werestartled into an
attitude of ambition and enterprise by the prodigious products of the minds of men
around them, and their march was onward, never again to relapse into or contemplate
an inferior condition. Now the. agriculturist is taught to look upon this lovely earth
of ours as the beautiful landscape of God’s creation, which is imhued with the powers
of life, to breathe and feed, and to yield’ its elements and products to the nursing and
delicate operations of his hands. While he follows the plow he perceives its use; he
sees in it how the educated mind of man has infused mechanical science into its struc-
ture. He marks well the work it has to do, and how wellit is adapted to the work.
He now contemplates the seeds be commits to the earth, and does not believe that it is
the work of chance that they grow. He sees, too, that they are imbued with the germi-
nating powers of life and light. He perceives that they are distinguished by the quali-
ties of good and bad, and he knows that perfect analogy which characterizes life in its
inception, growth in its progress, the product of their results, and the final death of all
vegetable as well as animal creation. But, above all, and more than all, he haslearned
to know himself; that he is a part of this special work of God’s hands, placed here to
direct and govern,all these things.
These are no artificial objects on which the agriculturist is to expend his happy life
and thoughts. They are the delightful things of nature on which he operates, and
nature co-operates with him in all his labors, and sweetens them to his contented
spirit. And he rests upon this as the grand secret of his attachment to rural life, that,
while he modulates and benefits by her functions, she takes up, quickens, and completes
the work of his hands.
There is a living, moving, acting principle in the labors of the agriculturist which
distinguishes his from other pursuits of life; the earth yields its strength and increase
to the seeds he casts upon it, and to his cattle that walk upon it; the winds seem to
blow, the rains to fall, and the waters to run for him; the very frosts and snows of
winter give salutary checks to vegetation, lighten his soil, and destroy what is nox-
ious for him, and every principle of animal and vegetable organization‘and existence
co-operates to support and enrich him. There is a charm in this which must last while
the spirit of man feels and acknowledges the strivings of his own mind, and the om-
nipotent power of God around him.
Farmers do not reason thus, but they feel it, and it is the mysterious working of
this acting charm which has infused its sweetness into the hearts of all rural people
in all ages of the world. :
__ We have assembled here to-day to initiate a leading feature of the approaching cen-
tennial; to mark and fix the place where will be collected the products of American
soil, and the machinery used in its production, a place to which the attention of the
world will be called as a marked feature of the event which the approaching centen-
nial meeting is intended to commemorate.
One hundred years ago this land was comparatively a barren waste, the habitation
of savages and wild beasts, while now it is a beautiful garden; the field of the farmer,
the home of the scientist, the city of the merchant, the office of the student, and the
shop of the mechanic, where all work together in the prosecution of a common pur-
442
pose to promote the wealth, the health, and the happiness of each other, and the honor
of our much-loved country.
In taking the first step toward the erection of this house, to be dedicated to the
work of agricultural science, we address ourselves to the merchant and mechanic, the
active and energetic motive-powers of busy life, and ask them to look with favor upon
a project which has for its object the display of industry and science, as exemplified
by the products and implements of agriculture. The busy marts of men are filled with
the products of the farmer. His success and his profits largely contribute to that trade
and commerce which are the products of your enterprise.
While the abundant yield of the husbandman enriches him, the result is favorably
felt in every department of the merchant’s counting-house and the mechanic’s shop.
As then you move and make your impress upon the minds of men, let your actions be
tempered with the idea that all business, whether in the merchant’s store, the me-
chanic’s shop, or the mariner’s ship upon the ocean, is dependent for its working ele-
ments upon the product of the farm.
We will not appeal in vain to the professor and the student, who possess the lights
of reason and enjoy the fruits of knowledge, that their influence may be thrown into
the seale of agricultural progress, that while you have in your hands that helm of
power which gives direction to the elements of government you will always have in
mind that to promote the true and efficient principles of political economy, to expand
and increase the influence of that virtue whereby alone we may hope to maintain our
own free government and laws, is to encourage the farmer. ,
We ask cf the statesman while he advocates the interests of his constituents at the
bar of the Senate, of the lawyer who advocates the cause of his client at the bar of
justice, and of that sacred office which advocates the cause of man at the bar of
Heaven, that they may ever remember the magnitude of the bounties of God’s proyi-
dence which come from the hands of the husbandmen.
Let me not forget to exhort her whose influence is always so strongly marked upon
the characters of men, from their cradle to their grave, to look kindly and with favor
upon that marked morality which characterizes the life of the husbandman—the
mother whose affections root so deeply in the existence of her child; whose anticipa-
tions are often stimulated to painful anxiety for its welfare; who watches its progress
in life with an eye to doubt and danger; whose hopes are elevated to the Giver of all
good, that He may smile graciously upon the career of her darling child, or whose
fearful forebodings may be realized in the spectacle that he is despised by the society
of men and frowned upon by the attributes of Heaven. We invoke the prayer of this”
influence on the work this day began. And to all those assembled here we ask a help-
ing hand and cheerful spirit in aid of those patriotic men who have undertaken to ex-
hibit to the world the progress which has been made in science and art under the
stimulating influence of a free government.
ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD,
By TOWNEND GLOVER, ENTOMOLOGIST.
THE CHINCH-BUG.—The chinch-bug or Mormon louse of Walsh, Mi-
cropus (Ehyparochromus) devastator, is one of our most destructive
-- insects to wheat, corn, &c., in some of the Western States, and
<< has done considerable damage to the crops. The eggs, to the
';s number of about 500, are laid in the ground about June, on or
. among the roots of plants, and the young larve, which are of
a bright-red color, are said to remain underground some time
after they are hatched, sucking the sap from the roots, and have
been found in great abundance at the depth of an inch or more
The full-grown insects measure about one-twelfth of an inch in length,
and are of a black color, with white wings, and may be known by the
white fore or upper wings, contrasting with a black spot in the middle
of the edge of the wing. -
According to Dr. Shimer, an entomologist who has devoted much time
and labor in the special study of this insect, the female occupies about
twenty days in laying her eggs, which remain in the egg state fifteen
days. The first brood matures from mid-July to mid-August, and the
_—>
443
second brood hatches outlJate in summer. Although only two genera-
tions are usually produced in the course of one year in Illinois and the
more northern States, yet farther south there may be three broods.
Some of the perfect insects continue alive throughout the winter, con-
cealed under brush-heaps, logs, bark, stones, moss, &c., and revive in
the spring to deposit their eggs in the earth. One specimen was taken
in Washington, buried in the ground at a depth of about one inch and
a half, in midwinter, and when first taken up appeared stiff and lifeless,
but, after being placed in a warm room, it soon revived, and was as
lively as ever. These insects in the larve, pup, and perfect states
attack and destroy almost every description of garden-vegetables, grain,
maize, herds and other grasses, wheat, oats, potatoes, and even injure
buds of the pear and other trees, preferring principally the most succu-
lent parts, as the buds and terminal shoots, puncturing them with their
beaks, sucking the sap, and apparently poisoning the parts attached. In
the summer of 1865, according to Dr. Shimer, the progeny of the broods
of the preceding year were entirely swept off by an epidemic disease,
which was doubtless produced by deficient light and electricity com-
bined with the excessive humidity of the atmosphere.
This insect was named and described by Say, in 1831, as from Indiana,
and in 1854 did considerable injury in Missouri. In hot, dry seasons
‘these insects are most destructive, but heavy rains destroy them. In
the single State of Illinois, Dr. Shimer estimated the damage done in
1864 to the wheat and corn crops by the chinch-bug at over $73,000,000 ;
and to give some ideaof how these insects swarm in localities, it has been
stated that in Ogle County, Illinois, as many as thirty to forty bushels
a day were taken out of holes dug to entrap them, and the process was
repeated until only three or four bushels could be shoveled out of the
holes.
It is probable that the normal state of this insect is to take wing in
spring and summer, during their love season, but at other times they
appear unwilling to use their wings at all; and it is said that there are
two varieties, one with long and the other with short wings. It is also
stated that this insect is found in Canada, and was remarkable for hav-
ing the wings only half as long as the abdomen. Chinch-bugs multiply
much faster in dry seasons, wet weather being unfavorable to them.
They are destroyed by several parasites, among which are several
species of lady-bugs, (Coccinellidew.) The false chinch-bug, an insect
mentioned below, and which, in outward appearance, very much resem-
bles the true chinch-bug, is said to kill them; and two or three
lace-wing flies are said to destroy them. The common quail is
stated to eat numbers of them, and therefore these birds should
be preserved as much as possible, by wheat-growers especially,
as the stomachs of some shot in wheat-fields were found to be
filled with these destructive pests. The pseudo or false chinch-bug, or
insidious flower-bug, above mentioned, has frequently been mistaken for
the true chinch, as it resembles it somewhat in shape and size. It is
found upon the same flowers and leaves, but the larve are of a bright
orange color, and not of a vivid red, like those of the true chinch; and the
perfect insect is also smaller, of a broader form, and marked in a different
manner. It is probably highly beneficial, by feeding on other insects.
Two European species, A. minutus and nemorum, have been well known
as preying on plant-lice. The perfect insects inhabit flowers, and the
immature ones wander about in search of plant-lice, which they transfix
with their sharp beaks, and suck out the juices. Our native species
(Anthocoris insidiosus) most probably also feeds on the true chinch and
444
the grape-leaf gall-louse, (Pemphigus vitifolie.) This insect is extremely
common in Maryland on the ox-eye daisy, and not unfrequently upon the
fruit of raspberries and blackberries, and is one of the insects which
produce such a disagreeable chinchy taste when taken into the mouth
with the fruit.
Many remedies have been recommended or suggested for the destruc-
tion of chinch-bugs, or to drive them away; among the rest, lime is
said by some farmers to have been used with good effect, when dusted
over the plants when the insects first appear. Other farmers, however,
assert that they have used lime, and have derived no benefit from it.
Burning the ground before plowing, or after the infested crops have
been removed, has also been recommended, and all the chaff and refuse
remaining after winnowing grain ought likewise to be burnt. If small
piles of refuse or trash be heaped up here and there in the fields, and,
after cold weather sets in and these heaps are dry enough to burn, they
are fired on a chilly morning, all the insects sheltering under them will
be burned and destroyed, as the chinch-bugs are very apt to take shelter
under such heaps from the inclemency of the weather. From other
farmers we have received reports as to the efficacy of gas-lime in
driving the msects away from growing crops, but they say nothing
about the benefit or injury the plants themselves receive from such an
application.
In a former report, Mr. Laughlin states that although he used lime
with no effect whatever, yet “the application of salt to only one acre of
wheat, in the proportion of one bushel to the acre, drove all the insects
away, and saved the crop on that single acre, while the rest of the ten
acres planted was destroyed by the chinch-bugs.” Salt, however, when
applied too freely, would be very apt to injure the plants themselves.
Mr. Laughlin also states that he was satisfied that if he had sown 1}?
bushels of rock-salt (not more) to the acre, by the first of June, or ten to
fourteen days sooner, he would have saved his whole crop; and, at the
same time, he recommends a spoonful of salt to be put to each hill of
maize. Some farmers at the West tried the experiment of sowing Han-
garian grass with wheat and other grains, and state that their crops
have been saved by the chinch-bugs preferring the tender grass and
leaving the grain uninjured. Open trenches or ditches, dug around the
fields overrun with chinch-bugs, have been highly recommended as
preventing the migrations of these insects from an infested field to
another uninfested field in the immediate vicinity. These trenches
should be dug a foot or more in depth, having a sloping side toward the .
infested field and a perfectly perpendicular side toward the field intended
to be protected, so that the insects could readily crawl into the trench
from the field already injured, and, not being able to crawl up the per-
pendicular side toward the uninjured field, would fall back into the
trench, and could be destroyed by lime, or gathered up and destroyed
by fire or some other means. It would even be better if the perpen-
dicular side of the trench should slope somewhat inward at the bottom,
so as to make its upper edge project a few inches over the trench, and
then it would be almost impossible for any chinch-bugs to ascend and
crawl into the next field.
Pine or fence boards set lengthwise and close together, or the ends
even a little overlapping each other and sunk a little in the earth, so
that the bugs cannot creep through the crevices made by the joining of
the boards or underneath, and the upper edge of this fence kept moist
with coal-tar, will also prevent the migration of the chinch-bug from
field to field, as they are unable to cross the tarred line, and fall to the »
445
ground. Insects of this order are not very apt to be killed by applica-
tions of such poisonous substances as Paris green or hellebore to the
outer surface of plants, as has been recommended for the destruction of
the Colorado bug or potato-beetle, as the chinch-bugs do not eat the
whole substance of the leaf, like the real beetles, but merely insinuate
their piercer or sucker through the outer cuticle into the parenchyma, or
inner fleshy substance of the leaf and stem, in order to suck up the sap,
leaving the outer surface on which the poison is deposited almost un-
disturbed. .
TWO METHODS OF DESTROYING THE COLORADO POTATO-BUG.—The
Department of Agriculture has received, through the President of the
United States, a communication addressed to the Executive by two
French gentlemen of Point-a-Pitre, Guadaloupe, West Indies—Count
A. @Adliemar and G. Barret de Nazaris—announcing their discovery of
two effectual methods of destroying the Colorado potato-bug, which they
freely offer to the people of the United States. The first of these remedies
‘is as follows: Soak guano in lime-water, and apply the liquid to the
roots of the potato-vines. The second: Take lime-water, salted to two
arcometric degrees, and in it dissolve two kilograms (say five pounds) of
common sulphide of potassium to each cubic meter (say 264 gallons) of
water. Pour this mixture into the concavities of the ground all around
the potato-vines. This last remedy is said to have been used in France
with excellent effect for destroying the Phylloxera upon grape-vines.
The remedies as above proposed for the extermination of the Colorado
potato-beetle have evidently been written by theorists who know nothing
whatever of the habits of the insect, and under the false supposition
that it injures the roots, like the root-louse or Phyllovera in France, which,
being found on the roots under the earth, may be destroyed by liquid -
solutions or mixtures which soak into the ground. Our Doryphora, how-
ever, does not attack the roots at all, but contents itself with the
foliage.
MICROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS.
BY THOMAS TAYLOR, MICROSCOPIST.
In accordance with instructions of the Commissioner of Agriculture,
Il attended the annual meeting of the New Jersey Cranberry Associa-
tion, which met at the Tom’s River, New Jersey, on the 9th of Septem-
ber last. It was composed of a large and highly intelligent class of
gentlemen, nearly all of whom are engaged directly in cranberry cul-
ture. The subject. which principally engaged the attention of the
members was the cranberry-rot and its remedy. The effectsof manur
ing, irrigating, salting, sulphuring, liming with gypsum and caustic
lime, sanding, and the use of phosphates were all discussed, and various
opinions expressed as to their respective merits.
The secretary of the society, Mr. A. J. Rider, stated that he had tried
guano, phosphates, lime, plaster, salt, and sand, all of which had proved
beneficial, with the exception of salt. The methods of application have
much to do with the substances employed. Weak solutions of manu-
rial compounds will prove of more value, when frequently applied, than
those highly concentrated. Mr. D. R. Gowdy said that he had used no
fertilizer until the present year, when he spread 600 pounds of guano on
five acres of bog land, but discontinued the use because he noticed that
OA
446
the vines were dying where the buckets containing the guano had been
placed. Mr. Gowdy thought that he should pick 1,000 bushels this year
where he obtained only 193 last year. Several members stated that the
application of plaster, phosphates, guano, and lime has proved to be of
great value in increasing the growth of. new roots and vines, but that it
is conceded by all intelligent cranberry-growers that an application of
sand every four years to the extent of at least one inch in depth is
much better. The object of sanding should not be misunderstood. It
is simply to increase the growth of rootlets, branches, and leaves. It,
therefore, increases the necessity for the application of available plant-
food, which should be experimentally and intelligently applied.
It has been shown by an analysis made in the laboratory of this
Department (see page 125 monthly report for February and March, 1875)
that the cranberry contains insoluble silicates, lime, magnesia, perox-
ide of iron, phosphoric and sulphuric acids, chlorine, potassa, and soda.
The new roots absorb these substances from the earth and the leaves
elaborate them intothe proper food for the growth of the berries.
Since making my investigations on the cranberry plantations of New
Jersey and Cape Cod, [ am convinced that the scald and rot, so called,
of the berry may arise from dissimilar causes, although chemically con-
sidered they are practically the same, viz, the conversion of their
starch into grape-sugar, a fermentable substance forming a nidus for
the growth of fungi. All fruits have a tendency to decay more or less
while growing under unfavorable conditions, not only before but after
they are considerably advanced in size, and especially while they contain
their minimum of starch. Inthis condition, particularly during rainy
seasons, the fruit contains its greatest percentage of gum, organic acids,
and water. The fruit, under these conditions and high temperature,
frequently ferments or rots. In such cases I have always been able to
detect the mycelium of fungi within the berries. In the early stages of
the rot the mycelium appears first on the inner surface of the skin.
When a portion of the rotting pulp is viewed under a power of about
300 diameters its many ramifications are easily seen. I have frequently
shown this fact to the cranberry-growers by the use of the microscope.
At the request of this Department, Mr. A. J. Rider, secretary of the
association, in August last forwarded sixteen samples of peaty matter
taken from’ healthy and unhealthy cranberry-plantations of New Jersey.
One-half of the samples consisted of sub-soil ; the others of top-soil.
Twelve were from the unhealthy and four from the healthy bogs. Solu-
tions of all were made in pure water, and allowed to remain in a room
at a temperature of about 75° Fahrenheit for twelve days to settle and
give time for fermentation, the object being to ascertain the presence of
albuminoids in the solution, or solids present. The healthy specimens
were taken from the bogs of the Rev. Isaac Todd and Mr. Newman,
whose plantations are noted for their healthy condition, and on which
rot has not been known for the last ten years. These ‘eave perfectly
pure solutions. The peaty matters of these bogs are composed chiefly
of small twigs and leaves, and are well rotted. Their solutions are
colorless, and no infusorial or fungous scum appears on their surface.
A specimen solution of Mr. Todd’s peat has been in my possession over
twelve months. It contains about half a pound of peat to a pint of -
water, but has given no indications of mold on its surface during all this
period, while a solution of peat from an unhealthy bog standing by the
side of it during the same time remained highly colored, and a.thick
scum appeared on its surface. This scum was composed of infusorial
and fungous mycelium and spores. The twelve solutions from the un-
s
447
healthy bog-peat were more or less colored, some of them being thickish
and soluble. These exhibited slight fermentation after standing twelve
days. In fifteen days swarms of infusorials appeared in the ‘surface:
scum when viewed by the microscope.
In my first report, published in the monthly for October, 1874, I
showed that the principal cause of cranberry-rot was improper cultiva-
tion. In many cases the vines have been planted in fermenting peat-
soil; but it has also been shown that high temperatures and great
drought produce the same results, as was the case near Pemberton last
year. There are many seeming contradictions as to the cause of cran-
berry-rot, and some growers have lost all confidence in human judgment
' on the subject, and are disposed to leave the cultivation of the cran-
berry to nature. The following will illustrate some of the principal
facts which have led to great confusion of ideas among growers: H has
a bog always covered with water; his berries never rot. 5B, his brother,
has planted a bog, similar as to quantity of water, with vines selected
from the plantation of H. After copious rains and hot suns the berries
of B rot while those of H remain in perfect condition, although grow-
ing apparently under the same general conditions. This seems inex-
plicable. But the bog of H is surrounded by high bluffs which pour
out a never-ceasing supply of comparatively cold water, The roots are
kept always cool, but not too cold for growth. The fruit is longer in
maturing than that of some of the neighboring plantations differently
situated, but the berries of H ultimately become fully matured, very
firm, and highly charged with starch. B has no high bluffs to supply
him with cool water. On the contrary, his bog lies in an open plain,
subject to the effects of a scorching sun. The temperature of the water
becomes too high for healthy growth, and his berries consequently suc-
cumb to these unfavorable conditions.
There is conclusive evidence that matured berries will grow only on
matured vines. It is the experience of all growers that the berries of
vines two or three years old, however large and beautiful, are not good
keepers; while the same vines when they become aged, under ordinarily
favorable circumstances, will produce good-keeping fruit. Asa general
ey it is found that the old healthy bogs produce the most reliable
ruit.
When at Pemberton last year I expressed the opinion that the cran-
berries growing in that neighborhood rotted from drought and high
temperature. Nearly all of the soil in that district seemed to be free
from bad odors; but, under converse conditions this year, rot of the
berry occurred on the same plantations. One of the most intelligent
growers of Pemberton informed me that the rot commenced immediately
after the heavy rains of August.
The eranberry-pi!ant is very hardy; its leaves are glossy and strongly
resist climatic changes. Its wood has a solid texture, and with-
stands very cold weather, although it may be killed by a severe frost.
The roots, when planted in pure sand, or when growing in gray moss,
have a translucent, whitish appearance, and are not easily broken.
Unhealthy roots are of a dark brown or blackish color, and may be
ground into a pulp between the fingers. The blossoms and berries are,
‘ however, very much subject to blight or rot. When we take into con-
sideration the large amount of water contained in the best varieties or
the cranberry, it need not be surprising that inferior kinds should suce-
cumb under even slightly unfavorable conditions. The following are the
results of an analysis, made at the Department, of a dark-colored and
448
hardy variety of the cranberry, taken from the plantation of ©. G. and
EK. W. Crane, of New Jersey, known as the Cape Cod Early Black-Bell:
Moisture 22 it ee SOT DAT aS CRB Ne ee <)< a a 86.50
COROT G AGEOED 70 fois ard oie RR a eh tae Pep 13.25
Inorganic matter ...... GAS 0.0 aC Me ae a oie! a Pre 25
The common potato, which is a very succulent tuber, has only 74 per
cent. of water, and with that amount is very liable to ferment when
subjected to a moist atmosphere followed by high temperature.
When the cranberry is well formed and firm in texture, its ripening
should not be hastened. Sudden transformations of conditions should be
avoided, so as to prevent a renewal of root and wood growth when it is
desirable to bring the berry to maturity. My advice to the members of
the association is the same as last year, namely, irrigate, sand, and lime
all unhealthy plantations, and be more careful in the selection of new
bog-land for cranberry-plantations.
The following letter from Mr. Bishop, one of the most noted cranberry-
growers of New Jersey, will be read with pleasure by all interested in ©
eranberry culture:
MANAHAWKIN, OCEAN CouNTY, NEW JERSE y, September 30, 1875.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS,
Commissioner of Agriculture : :
Str: In answer to your inquiries in regard to the cranberry-rot on my plantations
this season, I would say that on the large one, called Oxycoccus, visited last year by
Mr. Thomas Taylor, microscopist of your Department, I shall have a larger, perhaps
much larger, crop of very fine fruit than I had the year he Visited it. I have found
soft berries on several smaJ]l spots of the plantation, but not in sufficient quantity to
cause any serious fears of permanent injury. We had never noticed or thonght any-
thing about soft berries at Manahawkin until last season, but the great interest now
felt in this matter has caused us to inquire carefully into the past history of wild and
cultivated bogs in our vicinity. We have recalled to memory two or three small spots
of bog on this plantation which produced a few quarts each of soft fruit several years
since, yet on those spots we have had fine fruit continually since that time.
Mr. Charles Hinchman, of Taunton, was here about the first of the month, while I
was absent. His experience is large, and his judgment so good, that I always listen
with interest to what he says about cranberry-culture. When he saw some berries on
young vines growing on the hot dry sand which covered the peat, he said that the soft-
ness of the berries was not occasioned by the causes which usually produce the “rot,”
but was the result of the intense heat of the sun. On all my finest-producing beds of
old vines, whica have yielded hard fruit for years past, [remember that the vines when
young produce soft berries, but after they became well matured and matted—say, when
four or five years old—the fruit yielded was of good quality, and has contjnued to be so
_ to the present time.
While I cannot help feeling that you have found the main cause of the “rot,” I am still
forced to believe that much of the soft fruit found on very young vines is the result of
the very hot rays of the sun and moisture, independent of fermentation of imperfeetly-
drained bog-bottoms. Weare harvesting at present a very fine crop of cranberries.
The fruit is larger, more highly colored, and more abundant than that of last year,
despite the most unfavorable season for their cultivation that we have ever known.
Cranberries taken from the vines, and left for two or three days on the black peat
along the ditches, would in a short time become thoroughly baked like apples that
have been cooked in an oven. ;
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF InDIA.—Mr. C. R. Markham, a prom-
inent Anglo-Indian statistician, in a late paper before the British Soci-
ety of Arts, states that in oriental countries the necessity for agricul-
tural knowledge has been recognized from time immemorial, and statis-
tics have been gathered, but unfortunately the records have not been
449
carefully preserved. Attention to this vital point has marked all periods
of good administration of government, and its neglect has ever been
the concomitant of social disaster and misery. In India the reign of
Akbar still looms up amid the imperfect memorials of history as an era
of great prosperity, in which the interests of agriculture were brought
within regulations devised by profound wisdom. British rule has em-
braced the principles of native legislation, and has adapted itself to the
agricultural problem in India with remarkable sagacity. The relations
of village communities, of land tenures, and of other social interests
have been settled into a regular system of common and statute law and
of recognized local customs, which have given stability to the productive
system of that vast empire. Special attention is given to agricultural
statistics, upon the correctness of which the welfare of the people
directly depends. The variation of local institutions and customs ren-
ders it difficult to reduce such statistics to a uniform system, but the
facts are laboriously gathered, and the best practicable use made of
them. As an illustration of these local differences, it is stated that in
Bombay the land-revenue amounts to 3s. 4d. per head; in the northwest
provinees it is 2s. 5d.; in the Punjab, 2s.; in Madras, 2s. 6d.; in Bengal
and Assam it is only 18. 13d.
To give amore graphic idea of Indian social eat Mr. Markham selects
a village in the Bombay presidency as a type. The village system is
here in better preservation, and records of statistical inquiry at three
different periods are more numerous and accessible. The Bombay agri-
culturist is a lean man, with prominent muscles, small hands and feet,
eyes full and black, cheek bones high, and teeth stained with betel. His
clothing is by no means abundant. He is frugal and provident, devoted
to his children, more intelligent than European laborers in general, but
cunning and false. He is one of a population of 600 to 1,000, cultivat-
ing an average tract of 4,000 acres, and lives in a village of 150 to 200
houses of sun-dried brick, with terraced roofs and open porticoes, and
a few small, dark, interior rooms. ‘The furniture consists of a few cop-
per cooking-utensils, about twenty earthen pots for the storage of rice
or grain, a kneading-trough, and a few other very elementary articles otf
furniture, the whole not worth over $10. A yoke of oxen and a plow
of cross-sticks, without plowshare, a rough wooden cart with solid
wheels, a harrow with wooden teeth, and a few other rude implements
constitute his stock in trade.
The arable land is classed as unirrigated, irrigated, and garden land.
Two crops are generally grown; for instance, spiked millet, sown in June
or July and harvested in October or November, is immediately followed
by wheat or other cereals, to be harvested in January or February. The
land is plowed only every other year, and that only to the depth of a
span, but it is frequently subjected to the drag-hoe, first lengthwise and
then across, in order to kill the weeds. The grain is trodden out by
bullocks, the ears having been separated from the stalk, and winnowed
by being poured from a vessel] held several feet from the ground in a
strong breeze. The agricultural laborer requires but little food, and
that very inexpensive. A cake of millet, a few greens, pods, or fruits
cut in pieces, boiled or fried, and a little coarse porridge are sufficient
for his sustenance. His labors are diversified by pilgrimages to temples
and holidays. In October he paints his oxen with fantastic colors, dresses
them up as deities, feeds them with sugar, and then falls down before
them in abject worship.
The statistics of agriculture are collected through a peculiar local
government. The barra baloota, which is a board of twelve village
450
fathers, including the patel, or head of the village, the kulkarmi, or
accountant, the sutar, or carpenter, the lohar, or smith, the chamhar, or
shoemaker, &c. These officials receive for their services a regular allow-
ance in money or produce, and do the work of their respective handi-
crafts. without charge ‘to the villager, who only furnishes the material
to be manufactured. As their perquisites consist, in part, of certain
proportions of the growing crops, they necessarily inform themselves of
the extent and character of those crops. This social organization then
furnishes, ready to hand, the machinery for the collection of agricultural
statistics. The original records are kept in the vernacular language,
abstracts of which are translated into English for the information of the
Anglo-Indian government.
The statistical unit of land is approximately the smallest extent that
can be plowed with two bullocks and tilled by the cultivator or bread-
winner for the support of his family. In the Bombay “ survey” the
“numbers” or fields of a village, varying in size from what a pair of bul-
locks can plow to double that quantity, are carefully measured, with the
necessary “‘ checks” to insure accuracy. Lands held by drfferent ten-
ures and for different kinds of culture, such as wet, dry, or garden land,
are treated as separate “numbers.” The “checks” are taken by a Enro-
pean assistant, and the errors of native measurement are not allowed to
exceed two per cent. After measurement the “ numbers” are classified,
for assessment purposes, according to the productive capacity of soil,
into three kinds—black, brown, and yellow or gravelly. They are
gauged again according to their depth, on which depends their ability
to imbibe and retain moisture. The presence of ‘ faults,” or deteriorat-
ing ingredients, such as nodules of limestone, sand, want of cohesion,
roughness of surface, &c., is also noted, as well as facilities for irrigation,
distance from market, &e.
At intervals of sev eral years aregular return is made for each village
of the above statistics, but ever y year there is a special return showing
the number of acres under twenty-eight of the principal crops, with the
number left fallow, besides prices and rates of wages and village popu-
lation. The village accounts of each district, called a taluk, are consoli-
dated ; the taluk accounts are aggregated in those of a collectorate, and
these into a whole presidency. This is the normal system of the Bom-
bay presidency, which is the type of Indian social organization. In
other presidencies more or less important modifications of the system
are extant. The records of the Madras presidency, between 1810 and
1825, are especially full and complete. The present measuring system
is more accurate than in Bombay, while the classification of soils is pre-
served upon similar principles. Annual returns are made of the area
of cultivable and uncultivable land in each village, of irrigated and dry
crops, including specially sugar, cotton, and indigo, with prices and
rates of wages; but the acreage in millets, pulses, and some other crops .
is not given in Bombay, Punjaub, Oudh, &c. There is also in Madras a
quinquennial census of population, live stock, implements, &c., such items
as are furnisbed in Bombay at each periodical “settlement.” The records
of the northwest provinces have not been kept up to date, though they
‘are quite full for the period represented. The central government has
taken measures for the completion of these records. The Punjaub
records, embracing accurate maps and plats of survey, are especially .
valuable, and special information is given in regard to classification of
soils, rotation of crops, the number of plows, carts, and cattle, together
with the population, prices, and rates of wages. In the lower provinces
of Bengal the native machinery for the collection of such statistics has
451
\
' been mostly superseded by other arrangements, and the information is
but partially and superficially acquired by other methods.
An extension and perfection of the system of irrigation-statistics igs
demanded. The present returns give the area under irrigation, the
classification of soils, and the rain-fall. It is proposed to bring these
side by side with the village statistics and develop their close relation;
ship. The sources of water-supply and the depth of wells are points
upon which regular and definite information is solicited. The modifying
influence of irrigation upon cultivation is illustrated by the fact that in
a district of Rohileund the area under well-irrigation increased between
1835 and the last ‘‘ settlement” from 4,991 acres to 202,505. The expe-
diency of introducing canal-irrigation in some districts rests on consid-
erations which can be made obvious only by a more thorough statistical
inquiry. In the open country of Mysore, for instance, the presence of
population depends mostly upon works of irrigation. The tanks have
been extended over about 60 per cent. of the country by the patient
industry of the people.
The question of fuel and timber supply is also assuming a very serious
aspect in India. Torest preservation and restoration have been com-
menced, but not before the pressing necessity of this movement has
become generally apparent. In the “ceded district” cart-wheels are
made of stone on account of the scarcity of wood. Other districts find
their agricultural operations greatly crippled by the same scarcity. The
destruction of forests has greatly curtailed the production of leaf and |
other forest manures, so that in many parts of India the land is perma-
nently exhausted. Leaves have also been largely used for live-stock
food, and their growing scarcity shortens the production of animal-
manure. The influence of forest-denudation upon the deposition of
atmospheric moisture also needs the collection of facts as a basis for the
study of distribution of rain. A survey of reserved and communal for-
ests has just been commenced in Northern India, but has not yet been
sanctioned in Madras. Information upon these points, so vital to the
agricultural character of the Anglo-Indian empire,'is very superficial,
and presented in a mutilated and fragmentary shape.
The important question of internal communications also demands
both general and special statistical inquiry. It is certain that even in
famine years the crops of India would be ample for home consumption
if the means of intercommunication existed by which the surplus produce
of the productive districts could be brought in contact with the scarcity
of the deficient ones. The question of food-supply, then, resolves itself
into one of distribution. The prices of grain, even in famine districts,
precludes its transportation by ordinary methods for any material
distances. How to secure snch a distribution, then, depends upon a
thorough induction of original facts and a comprehensive study of their
significance, which demands a thorough system of statistics. The admin-
istration has become convinced of the necessity of raising the standard
of intelligence among the native officials through whom these funda-
mental facts are cathered.
The leading original purpose of the acute: in compiling these
statistics was to constitute a basis for the intelligent assessment of taxes.
It has been found that, in many cases, these are too light, while in others
they press with crushing weight upon the poor cultivator, absorbing
nearly all his annual earnings. In some districts the squalid poverty of
the farmer is beyond expression. He is the slave of the usurer and of
the government, and lives on the verge of starvation. Improved methods
of inquiry and a more intelligent study of facts have already discovered
452
some of these gross inequalities of administration and have suggested
some means of partial alleviation. The gravest public interests imper-
atively demand the extension of the system of statistics and more
effective devices for relief of the evils of the Indian social state. It is
evident that disease and crime have been greatly increased by lack of
subsistence. The moral discipline and well-being of society, then,
demand that this great interest should be fostered, and that more effect-
ive measures be taken, both to ascertain the needs of Indian scciety
and to devise measures to meet their demands.
In looking to foreign systems of statistics, Mr. Markham -finds but
little to approve of in the methods extant in England and Ireland, which
are too dry and abstract, and without commentaries giving them a
practical value. He finds his ideal better realized in the statistical sys-
tem of the United States Department of Agriculture, with its organiza-
tion of county boards of correspondents and its monthly returns from
all parts of the country, regularly tabulated and interpreted by careful
study. In France, agricultural returns are most voluminous, and are
now being codified in valuable general treatises. Holland has of late
directed special inquiries in regard to her colonial possessions in the
East Indies, of which compilations with graphic illustrations have been
prepared. These models Mr. Markham proposes for imitation to the
Anglo-Indian government.
ENGLISH “AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS” ACT.—This act, embodying
reluctant concessions from the land-holding to the land-cultivating in-
terest, applies only to England, and will be in force on and after Febru-
ary 14, 1876. After carefully defining the terms tenant, landlord,
holding, &c., it provides that the tenant shall hereafter be entitled to
compensation for three classes of improvements placed upon land, viz:
1. Drainage, erection or enlargement of buildings, permanent pas-
ture, osier-beds, water-meadows or irrigation-works, making gar-
dens, making or improvipg roads or bridges, making or improving
water-courses, wells, &c., making fences, planting hops, planting
orchards, reclaiming waste-land and warping of land; 2, boning land
with undissolved bones, chalking, clay-burning, claying, liming, and
marling; 3, purchased manure, artificial or other, consumption on the
land of cake or other feed not produced on it. The first class shall be
considered unexhausted for twenty years, the second seven, and the
third two years after the termination of the lease. The amount of
compensation for improvements of the first class is to be determined
by the sum actually laid out, deducting a proportionate part for the
continuance of the tenancy after the year in which the improvement
was made; but if the landlord was not absolute owner of the holding at
the time the improvement was made, the compensation shall represent
only the actual addition to the letting-value of the land. For an im-
provement of the second class the compensation will be the actual outlay,
deducting asum proportionate to the time the tenancy endures after the
year in which the improvement was placed upon the land. The com-
pensation for a third-class improvement shall be the ‘actual value
thereof, at the termination of the tenancy, to an incoming tenant.
Improvements of the first class must be made with the full consent of
the landlord, given in writing, and from the amount allowed shall be
deducted what is: necessary to put the premises in tenantable repair.
Notice in writing must be given to the landlord from seven to forty-two
days before executing an improvement of the second class. A claim for
such improvement shall not be valid if executed after the tenant has
received notice to quit, unless with the previous written consent of the
453
landlord, nor after an exhaustive crop, such as hay, potatoes, or corn,
shall have been taken from the land. Breaches of covenant or waste,
by either tenant or landlord, will subject their claims for improvement,
or in reduction of said claim, to a reduction proportioned to the extent
of the injury caused. Landlords’ claims for waste committed more than
four years before the determination of tenancy are barred.
An outgoing tenant must, at least one month before the expiration of
his lease, give notice in writing to the landlord of his intention to claim
. compensation for improvements, and the landlord must give counter-
notice within fourteen days of the same period. Such notice and coun-
ter-notice must set forth the particulars of each claim. A controversy
between tenant and landlord shall be decided by a joint referee, or by
two referees and an umpire, one referee to be selected by each party,
and the umpire by the referees. Several provisions regulate the course
of proceedings in case of the failure of the referees through death, dis-
ability, &c. Either party, on proper notice, may require the appoint-
ment of the umpire by the inclosure commissioners or by the county
court. The appointment of a person as referee cannot be revoked. The
' referees and umpire may proceed to adjudicate the case after due notice
to the parties, whether they are present or not. The award must be in
writing, and duly signed by referees and umpire. A single referee
must make his award within twenty-eight days after his appointment.
Where there are two referees, the award must be made within twenty-
eight days of the last appointment, but by consent of both parties it
may be delayed to forty-nine days. Failure to do so within the time
specified renders their appointment void. The umpire is allowed twenty- |
eight days, or such extended time as the registrar of the county court
shall fix.
The award must state the time of exhaustion of improvements, and
specify the separate acts and things for which compensation is awarded,
and the amount awarded for each. The costs of the investigation shall
be divided between the parties in a proportion to be determined by the
referees and umpire, but shall be subject to taxation in the county court.
The award must specify the day of payment, which shall be at least a ©
month after its rendition. Hither party, within seven days, may ap-
peal to the county court to set aside the award, on the ground, 1, that the
award is invalid; 2, that the compensation has been awarded, or that
breaches of covenant or waste have been committed ; 3, that compensa-
tion has not been awarded for improvements, waste, &c. The decision
of the judge shall be final, save that, at the request of either party, he
shall state_a special case on a question of law to the high court of jus-
tice, whose decision shall be final, and the county court shall adjudicate
the case in accordance therewith.
Other provisions regulate the proceedings in case the landlord is un-
der age, of unsound mind, a married woman, &c. The county court
shall regulate the cost of its own proceedings, but the lord chancellor
shall from time to time prescribe a scale of costs.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF IRELAND.—The annual abstracts of
inquiries made under the authority of the registrar-geueral of Ireland
for 1875 have been published. ‘These inquiries were made by 3,800
men, selected from the royal Irish constabulary and metropolitan police.
The replies to those inquiries were entirely voluntary, no legal penal-
ties being provided in case of refusal; yet of over 600,090 landholders
only one refused compliance.
The total acreage in all the crops during 1874 was 5,331,655, an in-
454.
crease over 1874 of 62,651 acres. Of the cereal crops, 161,321 acres
were in wheat, a decrease of 26,657 acres ; oats, 1,499,371 acres, an
increase of 18, 474: barley, 233, 747 acres, an increase of 22,139; bere
and rye, 10 312 acres, an increase of 411; pease and beans, U1, 047 ‘acres,
an increase of 256; net increase in cereals, 14,623 acres. "Of green
crops, 900,277 acres were in potatoes, an increase of 7,852 ; 332,783 acres
were in tur nips, a decrease of 805; 43,274 acres were in mangel- wurzel
and beet-root, an increase of 4,947 ; BA: S74 acres were in cabbage, an
increase of 1,690; 37,184 acres were in carrots, parsnips, &c., an increase |
of 2,490 ; 21,694 acres were in vetches and rape, an increase of 269; net
increase in ‘green crops, 16,443 acres. Meadow and clover crops Cov-
ered 1,943,923 acres, an increase of 37,244. In flax there were 101,248
acres, ‘a decrease of 5,659. The total decrease in wheat, flax, and tur-
nips, amounting to 33, 121 acres, deducted from the total increase of all
other crops, amounting to 95,772 acres, leaves a net increase of 62,651
acres.
The wheat acreage has declined aah year but one, 1874, during the last
five years, being 244,541 acres in 1871, and 161,321 in 1875, The oats
acreage showed an increase in 1875, but a decrease during the previous
years, being 1,636,136 in 1871, 1,480,897 in 1874, and 1,499,371 in 1875.
During the same period the barley acreage varied from 211 608 i in 1874 to
233,747 in 1875; bere and rye from 9, 924 acres in 1873 to 11 005 in 1871;
beans and pease, from 10,913 acres in 1871 to 12,873 acres in 1873; pota-
toes fell from 1,058,431 acres in 1871 to 89,425 acres in 1874, but rose dur-
ing 1875 to 900,277 acres; turnip acreage was bighest in 1873—347,848
acres, and lowest in 1841—327,035 acres; mangel-wurzel and beet-root °
have’ gradually risen from 31, 921 acres in 1871 to 34,874 acres in 1875;
cabbage has varied between 28, 115 acres in 1873 and 39,452 in 1872; :
carrots, parsnips, and other green crops have gradually increased from
29,869 acres in 1871 to 37, 184 acres in 1875; vetches and rape had a
maximum of 31,422 acres in 1871, and a minimum of 21,425 in 1874;
flax has declined from 156,670 acres in 1871 to 101,248 acres in 1875;
meadow and clover land has increased, with a little fluctuation, from
1,829,044 acres in 1871 to 1,943,922 acres in 1875.
"The live- stock returns show an increase of 304 horses and mules in
1875, as compared with 1874; a decrease of 688 asses; a decrease of
12,766 cattle; a decrease of 193,540 sheep ; an increase of 150,049 pigs ;
an increase of 12,141 goats; a ‘decrease of 12,607 poultry. Of horses
and mules, during the last eleven years, the number has gradually de-
clined, with some fluctuations, from 568,142 in 1865 to 547,676 in 1875.
Asses’ have increased during the same period from 168, 009 to 179,742;
the highest number, 181,351, being in 1872. Cattle have gradually. cone
up from 3,497,548 to 4, 1 990, the aggregates of 1874 being a few thou-
sand greater than those of the current year. Sheep were at their min-
imum, 3,694,356, in 1865; and at their maximum, 4,901,496, in 1868,
declining to 4, 248, 158 in 1875. Pigs were in smallest number, 869 578,
in 1868; and in largest number, 1 G21 »423, in 1871, declining to 1, 249,235
in 1875. Goats have regularly increased from 17i,2 207 in 1865 to 268,894
in 1875. Poultry has increased in the same years from 10,681,955 to
12,055,768.
Of stallions, in 1875 the number of thoroughbred was 403, of which 254
were native-born and 149 imported. The largest number of thorough-
bred sires, 145, was in Munster; 134 in Leinster, 78 in Ulster, and 46 in
Conna ught. Of 542 half-breeds, 530 were home-born and 12 imported.
Of 206 Clydesdale stallions, 161 were bred in Ireland and 45 imported.
Of 126 Suffolk Punch stallions, 100 are natives and 26 imported. Of
455
138 draught-stallions, only 4 were imported. The grand total, embrac-
ing a few not enumerated above, was 1,476; of which 1,228 were home-
bred and 248 imported. Leinster reported 456 of these, Munster 438,
Ulster 393, and Connaught 189.
RECLAMATION OF THE ZUYDER-ZEE.—The reclamation of the Zuyder-
Zee has long been contemplated by the Dutch people and government,
‘in whom the hereditary instinct of conquest from the sea still survives.
At the late session of the legislative body an appropriation was made
for soundage and survey. It is now proposed to reclaim about half the
surface of the inlet designated as the Zuyder-Zee by some geographers,
or the whole of it according to others. An enormous dike, 40 kilome-
ters or 24.85 miles long, is to be constructed from Kampen, near the
mouth of the Yssel River, on the eastern shore, to Enkhuizel, on the
western shore. The dike is to be 23 feet above the water-surface,
with an upper parapet 164 feet high and 10 feet wide on the top, sloping
down to an exterior berme or bench 16 feet wide and 64 feet above the
water. An interior berme will serve first as a tow-path to a canal, and
afterward as a track for a railway after the reclamation shall have been
finished.
The dike will cost 53,000,000 frances, or over $10,500,000, and the
entire expense of the whole work is estimated at 180,600,000 florins, or
$87,120,000, allowing a. value of one-tenth of a British pound sterling
for each florin. The area embraced in the present project is about
481,864 acres, of which 46,950 acres will be needed tor highways, canals,
basins, &c. The remainder, 434,914 acres, will represent the amount of
land disposable at a cost of about $200 per acre. Last December the
government sold 875 acres of land reclaimed from Wykermeer, at an
average of $1,051.09 per acre. At this rate per acre the national treas-
ury would receive a prompt re-imbursement of the expense with a surplus
of 400 per cent., or a clear profit of over $370,000,000. This, however, is
somewhat excessive, but the surplus could scarcely be less than $200,-
000,000. :
There is a difference of opinion as to the time necessary to complete
the work, the estimates varying from twelve to sixteen years. The aver-
age depth of the Zuyder-Zee is stated at 44 meters, or about 143 feet,
and the total volume of water to be drained at over 7,500,000,000 cubic ,
yards. A steam-machinery of less than 10,000 horse-power could expel
the water within the embankments within two years.
The new province of Zayder-Zee will be the tenth province of the
kingdom, and will cover an area of seven hundred and fifty-three square
miles, a little less than two average counties of Ohio. It will constitute
about one-eighteenth of the surface of Holland. It will be a welcome
addition to the productive area of this industrious kingdom, and will add
greatly to the national wealth and resources.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF BRITISH COLONIES.—The following
are from official statistics of British colonies, not including those of
North and South America:
New South Wales: Population, 560,275; area, 207,000,000 English acres;
total acreage under crops in 1873-74, 456,825, viz: In wheat, 166,647; in
barley and bere, 3,559 ; in oats, 16,173; in rye, 1,234 ; in maize, 116,141;
in other grains, 276; total cereals, 304,030; in potatoes, 14,212; in sugar-
cane, 6,671; in tobacco, 200; in vineyards, 4,525 ; in grass for hay pro-
duction, 70,700. There was an increase of the total acreage over the
previous year, and in oats, sugar-cane, vineyards, and grass; all others
show a decrease.
456
Victoria: Population, 790,492; area, 55,572,000 acres; total acreage
under CHOPS in 1873~74, 964 996, viz: In wheat, 349,976; in barley
Hi bere, 25,333; in oats, 110,991; in rye, 722; in pease "and beans,
14,229; in maize, 1,959; total in cereals, 503,210; in potatoes, 38,349 ;
in tobacco, 583; in vineyards, 5,222; in bare fallow, 66,989; in grass for
hay, 115, 672. The total acreage in cultivation shows an increase over
the previous year, as wellas wheat, barley, rye, maize, beans and pease,
and tobacco; the others show a decrease.
South Australia : Population, 198,257; area, 245,330,000 acres; total
acreage under crops in 1873-74, 1,225,073, viz: In wheat, 784,784; in
barley and bere, 11,827; oats, 2,011; pease and beans, 4,295; total
cereals, 802,917 ; . potatoes, 3,313; vineyards, 5,217; bare fallow, 235,210 ;
grass for hay, 142,167 . There was an increase over the previous year in
total acreage, wheat, and potatoes, bare fallow and grass for hay, and a
decline in all the other crops.
West Australia: Population, 25,761; area, 626,111,000 acres; total
acreage under crops in 1873, 51,724, viz: Wheat, 25,697; barley and
bere, 5,083; oats, 1,474; rye, 1,423; pease and beans, 52; maize, 113;
total cereals, 33 342; potatoes, 473 ; vineyards, 775; grass for hay,
millet, and sorghum, 15,941. The total acreage decreased, as also did
wheat, oats, and maize ; "the other crops increased.
Queensland : Population in 1872, 146,690; area, 453,920,000 acres;
total acreage in cultivation in 1872, 62,491, viz: Wheat, 3,661; barley
and bere, 852; oats, 155; maize, 21,143; other grains, 211; total cere-
als, 26,022 ; potatoes, 2,837 ; cotton, 12, 002; sugar-cane, 11,757; to-
_bacco, 52; ; vineyards, 391; grass for hay, 5,127.
Tasmania: Population, 104,217; area, 16,778,000 ; total acreage in
cultivation in 1873,-74, 324,105, viz: Wheat, 58,610; barley and bere,
6,440; oats, 26,750; pease and beans, 6, 272 total cereals, 98,072 ;
potatoes, 7,910; tobacco, 13; bare fallow, 23, 360; grass for hay, 26,406.
Of these acreages all show a decrease from the’ previous year, except
_ barley and bere, pease and beans, and potatoes. q
.New Zealand: Population, 310,437; area, 68,006,000 acres; total
acreage under crops in 1872-73, 1,416,933, viz: Wheat, 131,797; barley
and bere, 15,266 ; oats, 96 958; potatoes, 12 623; bare fallow, 120,032 ;
grass for hay, 33, 588.
Natal : Population, 289,773; area, 10,333,000 acres; total acreage
under crops in 1872, 165,247, viz: Wheat, 1,903; barley and bere, 163 ;
oats, 3,418; pease and beans, 383; buckwheat, 51; maize, 100, 364 :
other grains, 41,469; total cereals, - 147,751; potatoes, 3,123 ; cotton,
1,420 ; sugar-cane, 6,702 ; tobacco, 129.
Cape of Good Hope: Population, 566,158; area, 128,390,000 acres;
total acreage under crops in 1865, 460,754, viz: Wheat, 202,257; barley
and bere, 34,569; oats, 99,609; rye, 24,330; pease and beans, 8,784;
maize, 50,126; total cereals, 419,675; potatoes, 12,845; tobacco, 1,974;
vineyards, 16,177.
LOUISIANA SUGAR PRODUCTION.—Mr. L. Bouchereaun, in his Louisiana
sugar report for 187475, says that the planting season of 1874 was
good and the ground unusually well prepared. The early part of the
season was favorable to both seed-cane and stubble, but the disastrous
floods of April destroyed 24,713 acres of cane, which, at the rate of 1,462
‘pounds of sugar per acre, (the average yield of the tracts uninjared,)
would have added 31,766 hogsheads, equal to 35,329,312 pounds of
sugar, besides 3,209,376 gallons of molasses. The next six months
with the exception of the first half of July, were very dry, and the
457
grinding season found the planters with short supplies of water. The-
State election disturbed the labor market’ and delayed the grinding
operations until in November, when dry freezing-weather destroyed the
value of the cane standing. The quantity of seed-cane planted for 1875
was also quite small. The total loss from flood and frost is estimated
at 50,000 hogsheads of sugar.
The “ Robert Diffusion” process of segar-manufacture has been sub-
jected to scientific experiment, and has shown such satisfactory results
that a large factory upon this principle has been started on the Louisa
plantation in Saint Charles Parish. ‘The company propose to purchase
eane of the small planters at fair prices, and thus save them the outlay
for machinery. This will bring into cultivation a large area of aban-
doned lands by men of limited capital, who will thus be enabled to
concentrate their energies upon cultivation. The number of independent
factories is expected to increase rapidly.
Among the-reports of special culture is that of Mr. L. A. Bringier, of
Ascension Parish, who from 236 acres of cane produced 482,000 pounds
of first and second sugars and 28,348 gallons of molasses, an average of
nearly 2,042 pounds of sugar and 120 gallons of molasses per acre. Of
this area 19 acres that had been heavily covered with cow-peas for two
years previous to planting, and turned under each year, averaged 4,014
pounds of sugar and 214 gallons of molasses per acre, or double the yield
of the land not fertilized.
Mr. James Vigues, of Point Coupee, in 1872, fertilized two and a half
acres of very poor land with bagasse at the rate of three or four tons
per: acre, the ground being plowed to a good depth and the manure
harrowed in. Sound seed was planted and carefully covered with the
hoe. The cane grew very large and yielded 14 hogsheads of kettle-
Sugar per acre. In 1873 the stubble grew almost as large as the original
plant, yielding 24 hogsheads per acre. The yield of 1874 was 14 hogs-
heads per acre, and the stubblies in 1875 are still very promising.
Mr. J. B. Sterling, of Point Coupee, after several years’ experiment
in planting the butts and the tops of the cane separately, has found in
every instance that the tops produce a superior cane.
The crop of Louisiana sugar for each of the last ten years is stated as
follows: 1865, 18,070 Bae henge 1866, 41,000 hogsheads ; 1867, 37,647
hogsheads ; 1868, 84,256 hogsheads ; "1869, $7,090 hogsheads ; 1870,
144,881 hogsheads ; 1871, 128, 461 hogsheads; 1872, 108,520 hogsheads
1873, 89, 498 hogsheads ; 1874, 116,867 hogsheads.
STOCK-FEEDING OR ARTIFICIAL MANURES.—Mr. Mechi, in a commu-
nication to the Mark Lane Express, gives reasons for his preference of
stock-raising as the basis of a recuperative farming, using artificial
manures merely as an auxiliary. A neglected, poor farm with shallow
soil, after draining, should be constantly plowed by steam and covered
with the best Peruvian guano and salt, about two hundred weight of .
each per acre, with, perhaps, a little nitr ate of soda and phosphate of lime.
This would give a good supply of root-crops and green crops for stock-
feeding. These fed on the land with cake, to sheep and cattle under
cover, would at once place the land in condition for grain-crops. On
heavy land summer folding, and on light land both summer and winter
folding, should be practiced. A crop of winter-tares following the steam-
plow would keep down the weeds, and, if fed off in spring, would nicely
prepare the ground for root-crops. An abundant supply of these being
secured, should be fed to stock with grain and cake. The farmer is now
measurably independent of artificial fertilizers which cost Mr. Mechi
458
ten shillings per acre for his whole farm. Their function is to quicken
the exhausted forces of vegetation, but their influence is transient and
not to be compared with home-manures in permanence. During the
last ten years Mr. Mechi has consumed cake, corn, malt-culms, bran,
hay, linseed, and Beach’s condimental food at.a cost averaging sixty-
six shillings, or over $16 per acre in gold at market-prices, besides
expense of veterinary andegrinding, and yet his balance-sheets show
large profits. He has but 6 acres in permanent pasture; 18 acres in
clover to be mown for hay; 4 acres in winter-tares ; 12 acres in Italian
rye-grass; 6 acres in kohl-rabi and cabbage; 6 acresin mangel, and 6
acres in white turnips after pease. The first cutting of clover and
pasture and part of the rye-grass is made into hay. Six horses consume
a portion of the tares, the second growth of clover, and two acres of
mangel, besides a considerable portion of the rye-grass, so that the
actual area devoted to other farm-animals averages somewhat less than
25 acres. The manure produced by feeding the root-crops of these
25 acres to animals under cover, besides £577 per annum in purchased
food, aided by the horse-manure, house-slops, &c., makes great crops
from the whole farm of 175 acres. The small acreage in green and
root crops is made to goa great way by the shelter afforded the animal,
which greatly lessens the draught upon its vital energies and requires a
smaller amount of food in order to be kept in good condition.
OUR CHEESE INTEREST.—The associated effort of American dairy-
men to elevate the character of their industry has met with marked
success. This effort has been directed, first, to improvements in pro-
‘duction, and, secondly, to increased facilities for marketing. The high
quality of the product and its popularity in foreign markets shows the
success of the first point in the enterprise. The marketing of American
cheese has been reduced to a regular system. In New York, before the
war, a dealer would contract for a season’s manufacture upon terms which
would allow him a specially wide margin. Payment for a spring’s work
was delayed till the following January. Subsequently buyers itinerated .
from factory to factory and made purchases in lots. The producers not
being posted in regard to prices, mostly disposed of their product at a
lower figure than they should have demanded, leaving a considerable
margin tor speculation on the part of the buyers. Subsequently regular
market-days were appointed at accessible points where salesmen from
the country congregated and made the best bargains they could in the
absence of regular market-reports from New York, London, and Liver-
pool. In 1871 boards of trade were established at Utica and Little
Falls, New York. Under the regulations established by these bodies
the trade of Central New York is now carried on.
Little Falls, in Herkimer County, New York, is the oldest cheese mar-.
ket in the United States. Formerly cheese was brought in wagons on
market-days, and the streets were crowded with wagons the contents of
which were piled high upon the railway platforms. Buyers inspected
- each separate lot and bargained closely with the farmers. The factory
system has changed all this. Samples of cheese are now exhibited by
only a few “private dairies.” Factory cheese is fully known on the
market by the brand of each establishment. New York dealers now
arrive on the market at 1 o’clock p.m. on market-days, and find the
town filled with salesmen of different factories, and contracts are speedily
closed. New factories whose brand is not yet familiar to market-men
present smail “plugs” of cheese carried in vials. Buyers’ orders specify
a particular brand, and frequently several orders for the same brand
459
gives it a special prestige. As the reputation of each brand is at stake
under powerful competition, there is every motive present to secure a
careful adherence to the standard. Each brand is guaranteed.
In Utica there is a more systematic arrangement, the summaries of the
New York trade for the previous week being shown upon a large black-
board, and compared with the corresponding week of the previous year.
These summaries include the receipts and exports of cheese, premiums
on gold, and foreign exchange, ocean-freights, prices, &c. A salesman,
at a glance, can gain an approximate idea of the course of trade. Where
the exports are close upon the receipts, he reasonably expects a good in-
quiry for his cheese, while the movement of prices can be readily calcu-
lated by a business-man. No.class of business-men are more shrewd
than cheese-dealers and producers. Hach salesman writes upon the
board the factory he represents, and the number of boxes he has for
sale, thus showing the entire quantity of cheese on the market. After
contracts have been made the salesman immediately sends orders to the
factory for the shipment of the cheese.
OLEOMARGARINE CHEESE.—The manufacture of oleomargarine cheese
has provoked a very animated, if not acrimonious, discussion among
dairy-men. Three or four years ago Mr. Henry O. Freeman was making
butter and skim-milk cheese in Chenango County, N.Y. He made several
experiments with different materials to supply the specific elements that
had been removed from the milk in the form of cream. He first tried
unmerchantable or inferior butter from the New York market, which he
melted and purified of its disagreeable taste and odor. This was mixed
with skimmed milk, and the mixture subjected to the cheese-making
process. The product was not unpalatable, but differed from cream-
cheese in being. oily and soft instead of hard and tough. Mr. Freeman
secured a patent for this process of making cheese from skim-milk.
The discovery of oleomargarine suggested to Mr. Freeman another
material for enriching the depleted elements of skim-milk. This aroused
a strong feeling among the regular cheese dealers, who denounced the
new cheese as a filthy and noxious compound. Agricultural chemists,
however, after a careful analysis, have shown that the oils combined in
the oleomargarine are identical with those of butter, minus certain subtle
odor-giving elements in the latter which chemical analysis has not yet
been able to de.ect. In the manufacture of cheese, however, these fine
cream-oils, which give to butter its peculiar flavor, are mostly dissipated,
and hence cheese can be made of oleomargarine, of a composition so
nearly identical with that of cream-cheese that no appreciable difference
can be detected by analysis.
An American correspondent of the English Agricultural Gazette has
subjected both kinds of cheese to the test of the microscope. Placing
in focus a thin transparent scale of the material, he found that the creain-
cheese was of an even, close structure, and the tiny round oil globules
‘were held closely together in the curd. In the oleomargarine cheese the
oil was observed in considerable masses in irregular cavities or ‘ long
slots.” This method will easily detect the difference between the two
kinds of cheese.
About a dozen factories have already been established in this country
for the manufacture of oleomargarine cheese, and equipped in the best
style. The men engaged in the business have a considerable capital,
and evince a respectable share of energy and business tact. This method
combines butter and cheese making. The new milk is first subjected to
conditions which will abstract as large a proportion of cream as possible,
which is used in making the finest grades of creamery butter. The skim-
-
460
milk is then placed in vats and heated to 92° Fahrenheit, when the
oleomargarine, heated a few degrees higher, is poured in through a cloth
strainer. The latter is brought in barrels, in which it appears to be an
- opaque, odorless fat with an oily taste, but no specific odor, but in heating,
it assumes a clear, rich gold color, and at first floods the surface of the
milk with a bright yellow coating. The mixture is then thoroughly
agitated with large wooden paddles, and the rennet poured in. The
agitation continues for about eight minutes, in order to drive the oil
through the milk during the curdling process. The curd is allowed to
stand ten minutes longer, when it is cut with a curd-knife and pressed
in the usual way. The unappropriated oil then comes upon the surface
of the whey, and is skimmed off. The process is quite similar to
that of cream-cheese manufacture, the elements of the oleomargarine
undergoing changes analogous to those of the cream, except that nature, ©
in the udder of the cow, more perfectly performs the necessary emulsion
of the oily materials of the milk than man can do by any mechanical
process. ;
The manufacture of oleomargarine cheese is advocated on the ground
that it utilizes a vast amount of otherwise waste material in the skim-
milk. It does not propose to enter into competition with the finer
grades of cream cheese. This class of products has an element of
profit in itself which would render an attempt to invade its field
entirely hopeless. But inferior brands, known to the trade as ‘half-
skims” or ‘‘hard-skims,” will probably be driven out of market by this
process. There is no danger of any attempt to palm off oleomargarine
cheese as cream cheese, as the means of detection are too numerous
and too easily applied. Oleomargarine cheese has a function of its own,
the supply of cheap food material, which does not attempt to grade with
good brands of cream cheese. The severe denunciation which met the
article upon its first introduction has measurably subsided. Organs of
the cream-cheese interest demand that a careful distinction be made be-
tween the two kinds in every market, a necessity which will be less felt
in proportion as the cream-cheese factories scrupulously adhere to the
- standards which have given them their specific reputation. .
MEAT CONSUMPTION IN LONDON.—Beef: During 1874 there were im-
ported for consumption into London 265,477 carcasses of cattle, weighing
75,580 tons, besides 293,000 live beeves, weighing 83,714 tons, which
were slaughtered within the limits of London district. The total num-
ber of cattle required was, then, 558,477, weighing 159,564 tons, or
640 pounds per head. At 7d. per pound, the value of this beef was
£10,424,848, or $52,224,240.
Sheep and lambs: Careasses, 1,592,850, weighing 45,510 tons; live ani-
mals, 1,749,000, weighing 50,864 tons; total, 3,341,850 animals, weighing
93,374 tons, averaging 64 pounds per head; total value, £6,296,454 13s,
Ad., or $31,482,173.
Swine: Carcasses, 530,950, weighing 32,755 tons; live animals, 7,000,
weighing 300 tons; total, 537,950, weighing 23,055 tons, and averaging
96 pounds per head; total value, £1,506,260, or $7,531,300.
Calves: Carcasses, 265,460, weighing 13,511 tons; live animals, 35,000,
weighing 1,781 tons; total, 300,460, weighing 15,292 tons, and averag-
ing 114 pounds per head; total value, £999,077 6s. Sd., or $4,995,387.
Summary: Carcasses and live animals of all kinds, 4,738,737, weighing
294,285 tons; total value, £19,226,620, or $96,233,100. -
BRITISH IMPORTS OF BREADSTUFFS.—The imports of grain, flour,
461
meal, &¢., into the United Kingdom during the first eight months of
1874 and 1875, respectively, were as follows:
Quantities. Values.
1874 1875 1874. 1875.
Wheat from— Cut. Cut.
Oj. a al ia IRE see aa 2,984,460 | 5,849, 644 |£1, 848, 376 | £2, 949, 519
Sk, 55 aR a IRE ae 5 See 94, 822 147, 766 64, 552 76, 423
ETE ESE SS aie ney : 5 Ae 1, 828,651 | 3,363,407 | 1,330,616 | 1, 840, 436
9 hui. -2 2) lei a Roane ee Re 55, 475 492, 760 34, 595 258, 836
Austrian territories . .-............---5-------5, 1, 047 13, 286 810 6, 997
Turkey, Moldavia, and Wallachia ....--.---.---- 449, 118 515, 436 269, 380 243, 969
os hia MSE eR SS 267, 820 631, 699 157, 692 312, 120
PRMOT MR SE MUES Gi. © «eas aia a n\wivim &,ccin ee! he wmisie =~ = == 16, 158, 390 | 16, 217, 734 | 10,510, 285 8, 413, 585
RE ee aa fer craie sia sas ean one Sele melee +a ne 1, 380, 730 418, 736 887, 984 221, 983
amish Noro America ...-.-.----.-s2-.ss-5----- 2, 437, 248 1, 530, 642 1, 504, 709 814, 350
MEMEPICOMINULION o- os6 so =o ae sce a eccw sees tee 1, 933, 572 912, 312 1, 284, 905 491, 643
SET MO ER Oba =~ < calacc fenic co osc clewiacicn nue a 27, 591, 333 | 30, 093, 432 | 17, 893, 904 15, 629, 861
Sk EEE ne ee Seen = See Be 5, 472, 274 | 7,189,590 | 2,704,677 | 2, 975, 811
UH cece ale ace ee a ee eee 8, 026, 820 | 8,863,443 | 3,613,551 | 3, 899, 702
aS ROC to. anise nsid cece eres heenageecosee 1, 129, 014 1, 101, 658 515, 109 508, 406
Rar ee a ois kee oc sel 1,507,563 |) :2) 163, 878 708, 540 9284, 791
LSG) anid a ee aegis 13) 860, 699 | 13, 386,164 | 5,891,511 | 5,502,822
PN eno oh pat 4 nok ob akon ap ae 57, 587, 703 | 62,978, 165 | 31,103,723 | 29,501, 592
Flour and wheat-meal from—
Suvi Ss 45852. eae een Scorer ere 508, 204 475, 057 501, 043 380, 166
“TES u TEL. ay ee Ee eg a 216,983 | 1, 245, 916 234, 643 962, 157
“oa vinta. ae a ae re eee eee 2,539,942 | 1,536,985 | 2,321,045 | 1, 150, 330
rinse Monn AMeLiCH ... J2----.0c-- 200-2 nonns 293, 511 171, 117 258, 965 121, 008
ienemcountries:s-"/5.-.228 of! 8. 2libeee sic eet 913, 953 486, 656 932, 876 465, 480
4 fie Ee eal 208 a
Total of flour and wheat-meal............-..--- 4, 472,593 | 3,915,731 | 4, 248, 572 3, 079, 141
Indian-cornmeal; ....:-.0....---. Ri Cplited Bs PES 5, 159 5, 691 | 8, 998 8, 065-
eR EMO AT (OLDS = vot 26 elses cicis etme sa + sere sm rales = sielll atmwinlahnis\a sere 35, 361, 293 | 32, 588, 798
From the foregoing it appears that the wheat supply from Russia
increased nearly 100 per cent. over the previous year in quantity, and 60
per cent. in value. Denmark increased 50 per cent. in quantity, and
nearly 20 per cent. in value. Germany increased 84 per cent. in quantity,
but Jess than 40 per cent. in value. France increased her small supply
to nearly nine-fold in quantity, eight-fold in value. The Austrian terri-
tories increased their still smaller supply to thirteen-fold in quantity,
and eight-fold in value. The Turkish Empire added 15 per cent. in
quantity, but lost nearly 10 per cent. in aggregate value. Egypt more
than doubled her quantity, and nearly doubled her value. The United
States slightly exceeded her previous year’s export, but lost 20 per cent.
in value. Chili fell off over 70 per cent. in quantity, and 80 per cent.
in value. British America lost 50 per cent.in both. Other countries
lost nearly 60 per cent. in quantity, and over 70 per cent. in value.
The entire wheat import increased 9 per cent. in quantity, but declined
nearly 13 per cent. in value.
Of the other grains, total barley import increased 30 per cent. in quan-
tity, and 10 per cent..in value; oats, 10 per cent. in quantity, and 8 per
cent. in value; beans, nearly 45 per cent. in quantity, and 40 per cent.
in value. The import of pease decreased 2 per cent. in quantity, and 14
percent.in value. The entire raw grain import increased over 9 per cent.
in quantity, but declined 5 per cent. in value. Flour and wheat-meal fell
off 12 per cent. in quantity, and nearly 25 per cent. in value. France
-alnoe increased her quota, raising it to six-fold in quantity, and four-fold
in valeu. The United States declined 40 per cent. in quantity, and 50
4A
462
per cent. in value. British North America shows a still greater reduc-
tion. Flour and wheat-meal lost 12 per cent. in quantity, and 27 per
cent.in value. The trivial import of Indian-corn meal increased slightly
in quantity, but fell offin value. The aggregate value of the breadstuff
import declined nearly 8 per cent.
Of the wheat import of 1875, the United States furnished 53.8 per
cent., against 58.6 per cent. the previous year. Russia raised her pro-
portion from 10.8 per cent. in 1874 to 19.4 per cent. in 1875. The
proportions of British North America for the two years, respectively,
were 8.8 per cent. and 5 per cent.; of Germany, 6.6 per cent. and 11.2
per cent.; of Chili, 4.9 per cent. and 14 per cent. The proportion of
other countries was still smaller. Of wheat flour and meal, the United
States furnished 56.9 per cent. in 1874 and 39.3 per cent. in 1875;
France, 4.9 per cent. in 1874 and 31.5 per cent. in 1875; Germany, 11. 4
per cent. in 1874 and 12.1 per cent. in 1875.
The approximate average import values per hundred-weight of wheat
during the two years, respectively, were as follows: Russian, 12s. 5d.
and 10s. 1d.; Danish, 12s. 7d.. and 10s. 4d.; German, 14s. 6d. and 10s.
84d.; French, 12s. 6d. and 10s. 6d.; Austrian, 15s. 6d. and 10s. 64d. ;
Turkish, 11s. 10d. and 9s. 54d.; Egypt, 11s. 9d. and 9s. 104d.; United
States, 13s. and 10s. 84d.; Chilian, 12s. 104d. and 10s. 74d.; British
North American, 12s. 4d. and 10s. 8$d.; other ons: 13s. 34d. and
10s. 112d. ; general average, 13s. 44d. and 10s. 9d. ; ; general average of
barley, 9s. 103d. and 8s. 3d. 5 ; oats, $s. and 8s. 94d; pease, 9s. 14d. and
1g; 5 beans, 9s. 43d. and 9s. 14d.; general average of all grains, 11s.
74d. and 98. 7d.; average of German flour and “wheat-meal, 19s. 11d.
and 16s.; French ditto, 21s. 1$d. and 15s. 54d.; United States ditto,
18s. 34d. and 14s. 11d.; British North American, 17s. 7$d. and 14s. 3d. ;
ditto, from other countries, 20s. 5d. and 19s. 4d.; general average of
flour and wheat-meal, 19s. 54d. and 15s. 84d.; general average of Indian-
corn meal, 34s. 73d. and 28s. 4d.
In 1874. the small import of Austrian wheat, which probably was ot
a very select character, brought the highest value, 15s. 6d. per hundred- .
weight, and Egyptian the lowest, 11s. 94. per hundred- -weight; in 1875,
the ‘highest value, 10s. 113d, was averaged by countries not enumer-
ated, ‘and the lowest, 9s. bad, by the Turkish provinces. United
States wheat was below average in both years. Of flour and wheat-
meal the French import reached the highest value, 21s. 14d. per hun-
dred-weight, and British North American the lowest, 17s. 74d.; in
1875 Germany received the maximum, 16s., and British America the
minimum, 14s, 3d. United States flour and wheat-meal was below the
average of both years.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF ONTARIO.—The commissioner of
agriculture of the province of Ontario, in his report for 1874, gives the
following as the average yield of grain-crops per acre in that province
during four years :
Crops. 7 1871. | 1872. | 1873. | 1874.
alewvitGa Gress seas te soe cas oe babe tee SOR eh aoe eels ectcteere'sle bushels 27%} 18 22 1st
SPLINE wWh eas oe a peeebte ses od aos oo Sida = So aha na eee are alee tail = ale dase SF [ety 154 162
ORT ene oi Siain creiieete a e's 3 in a's ole reine of a oro 2 lee etal whale lal =) imine ia do....{ 37% | 33 393 383
BE er 8 As esp ee ae >) ey a AP ee eee ey ee ee A do...) AGE tee 19} 17
grew see 2 leas = |r ome halos -\< -comwide won eSatetey seit ime ~~’ einai do 30 38 374 303
OARS sn de ceeeign icine ose a eaieb «= os cciis ae » annie se eieeenen [xn aim on wlmim nie do 244 | 21 263 243
These averages are made up from the returns of ‘‘ electoral division ©
societies,” of which only 43 have made returns of a whole number of 81.
463
Thirty-four divisions also report in regard to potatoes; of these, ten
average less than 100. bushels per acre; fifteen, from 100 to 150; six,
50; ten, 180, and one, 200.
~Turnips, mangolds, and carrots were also represented, presenting a
wide range of yield. The maximum of mangolds was 1,000 bushels ;
of carrots, 700; and of turnips, 600.
Contrary to expectation, the largest yields are not found in the more
southern and sunny districts. A very great difference in yield is found
to be due to differences in farming skill and experience. Many farmers
of the province have taken up the business after having spent the earlier
part of their lives in some other calling.
The report generalizes thus: “ It is noteworthy that the higher and,
consequently, drier portions of fields escaped injury more or less from
spring frosts, while in the lower portions, where the soil was generally
deeper and wetter, the crop was generally injured, and in not a few in-
stances absolutely destroyed.” These facts indicate the necessity of
under-draining, in order to remove the surplus water from the soil.
OUR FOREIGN TRADE.—The report of the Bureau of Statistics of the
Treasury for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, gives the following
aggregates:
1874. 1875.
aropeeiejacee Of duty ...22 2... . 222 2. 2222+ ees » $179,936, 668 $167, 180, 644
EG Ae yo oie oni oh: nn wns 41, GOA, BBO 386, 527, 509
Mere ie TPES Oe Le nt B95 Bat, 948 553, 906, 153
MmMSMMIIES ICL... 2 22 nk) ats hes sae se (699,039,054 643, 094, 767
(a Fests CS ees ae a a ee aa 23, 780, 338 22, 432, 624
eee es con tas SI Ae eh BES ON PIG BIG) 3G2 665, 527, 391
Of the imports, $20,900,717 were in gold and silver coin and bullion,
a decrease of $7,554,144, compared with the previous year. The im-
ports of merchandise amounted to $533,005,436, a decrease of $34,400,943.
Of the exports, $92,131,692 were in the precious metals, an increase of
$25,501,287; the exports of merchandise amounted to $573,395,699, a
decrease of $76,793,338. The totalimport tradehas declined $41,955,095,
and the total export trade $51,292,051. In 1875 the total exports
exceeded the total imports by $111,621,238; in 1874 the excess was
$120,958,194. Of the precious metals, the exports of 1875 exceeded the
imports by $71,230,975; in 1874 the excess was $38,176,544. Of mer-
chandise, the exports of 1875 exceeded the imports by $40,390,263 ; in
1874 the excess was $82,782,650. Of the imports of 1875, $13,083,968
were brought across the frontier in land-carriages, against $14,513,335
the previous year, or 2.36 per cent. in 1875 against 2.44 per cent. in 1874.
American vessels brought in $157,872,626 against $176,027,778, or 28.5
per cent. in 1875 against 29.41 per cent. in 1874. Theimports by foreign
vessels in 1875 were $382,949,559, against $405,320,135, or 69.14 per
cent. against 68.15. Of the exports and re-exports, $7,507,550 were
transported across the frontier by land-carriage, against $8,509,205 in
1874, or 1.14 per cent.against 1.19 per cent.; American vessels took
$156,153,444, against $174,424,216 in 1874, or 23.39 per cent. against
24.33 per cent.; foreign bottoms transported $501,866,397, against
$533,885,971 in 1874, or 75.56 per cent. against 74.48 per cent. Both
import and export trade, then, shows an increasing preponderance of
foreign shipping.
464
Two-thirds of our imports for 1875, amounting to $363,637,580, were — ;
received at New York; Boston received $51,982,266, or nearly 93 per
cent.; San Francisco and Baltimore received about 5 per cent. each, the
former $29,697,483 and the latter $27,778,992; Philadelphia, $24,236,387,,
or about 44 per cent.; New Orleans, $12,356,487, or nearly 25 per cent. -—
Of the total exports, native and foreign, New York shipped $344,703,969,
or 53 per cent.; New Orleans, $71,613,982, or nearly 11 per cent.; San
Francisco, $31,838,343 ; Boston, $30,866,033 ; Savannah, $29,666,666 ;
Philadelphia, $28,611,654; Baltimore, $27,615,822—between 4 and 5 per
cent. each; Charleston, South Carolina, $19,655,966, or 3 per cent.;
Texas, Texas, $16,225,907, or 25 per cent.; Mobile, $10,132,188, or 13
per cent. ]
The aggregates of imports and exports of leading foreign countries
during the twelve months ending May 51, 1875, respectively, were as
follows :—Brazil: imports, $42,033,046; exports, $7,372,443. China
and Japan : imports, $21,252,742; exports, $538,002. Irance: imports,
$63,342,631; exports, $50,753,911. Germany: imports, $40,893,336 ;
exports, $53,762,305. British Islands: imports, $157,047,827 ; exports, ~
$373,354,422. Canada: imports, $32,359,559; exports, $34,879,719.
British North America: imports, $404,311; exports, $1,843,161. British
West Indies: imports, $4,642,891; exports, $7,754,661. Cuba and Porto
Rico: imports, $73,675,609 ; exports, $24,420,629. Other West Indies:
imports, $4,134,780; exports, $2,848,109. East Indies: imports,
$22,359,498; exports, $1,507,208. Mexico: imports, $11,634,983; exports,
$5,781,783. Holland and Belgium: imports, $8,542,756; exports,
$20,271,642. In the last enumerated aggregates the imports are stated
in specie-values and the exports mostly in currency.
Of agricultural imports the value of living animals was $2,083,152 in
1875, against $2,627,502 in 1874; of breadstuifs, $10,388,013, against
$11,947,689; of unmanufactured cotton, $408,808, against $704,784; of
eggs, $600,544, against $747,866; of seeds, $319,696, against
_ $175,799; of raw silk, $4,504,306, against $3,854,008; wood, unmanu-
factured, $1,895,363, against $2,262,441; of flax, unmanufactured,
$1,092,405, against $902,038; of fruits and nuts, $12,537,568, against.
$8,281,418; of hemp, unmanufactured, $3,110,303, against $3,676,967 ;
of jute, unmanufactured, $1,273,034, against $1,006,618; of potatoes,
$166,981, against $331,370; of provisions, not including vegetables,
$1,229,379, against $1,747,442; of leaf-tobacco, $3,724,534, against
$5,537,651; of unmanufactured wool, $11,069,701, against $8,250,306.
Of agricultural domestic exports the value of living animals was
$2,668,900 in 1875, against $3,310,388 in 1874; of bark for tanning,
$193,938, against $160,670; of unmanufactured breadstuffs, $85,425,488,
against $129,024,418; of unmanufactured cotton, $190,638,625, against
$211,223,580; of fruits, $1,317,670, against $710,513; of ginseng,
$658,926, against $448,760; of hay, $110,225, against $111,872; of
unmanufactured hemp, $21,856, against $8,901; of hides and skins, other
than fur, $4,729,725, against $2,560,382 ; of fur-skins, $4,396,424, against
$3,334,365; of hops, $1,285,497, against $27,973; of bacon and hams,
$28,611,930, against $33,383,908 ; of beef, $4,197,956, against $2,956,676 ;
of butter, $1,506,764, against $1,092,351; of cheese, $13,659,561, against
$11,898,995; of condensed milk, $123,565, against $79,018; of eggs,
$8,743, against $5,239; of lard, $22,900,486, against $19,308,019; of
pork, $5,671,495, against $5,808,712; of vegetables, $742,822, against
$679,467 ; of rice, $19,806, against $27,075; of seeds, $1,291,015, against
$738,914; of tallow, $5,692,203, against $3,135,320; of unmanufactured
tobacco, $25,241,549, against $30,399,181; of wood and lumber
465
$14,740,194, against $17,353,721; of unmanufactured wool, $62,754,
against $72,169.
Crops IN MicuicAN.—The following statements are condensed from
a communication to the Department by Mr. J. P. Thompson, secretary
of the Michigan State Pomological Society: Wheat.culture in Mich-
igan is making progress. Preparation of soil, fertilization, and the
quality of seed are receiving more attention. The crop of the past
season proves, on thrashing, to be full average in quantity, and better
than was anticipated in quality. In Mr. Thompson’s place of residence,
Cascade, and surrounding towns, the average yield reported by the
thrashers is 20 bushels per acre, and the product of the county, Kent,
is $00,000 bushels. Though-corn was somewhat cut by frost, yet the
crop is the largest and best ever produced in the State. Whe same is
true of the crops of potatoes and buckwheat. An unusually large area
of the former was planted, owing to the high price of potatoes at the
time of planting; and of the latter, owing to fears of a failure in the
wheat-crop. The potato-beetle has been easily kept at bay, and is
receding before the combined power of “ parasitic enemies and the vig-
orous application of Paris green. , All root-crops have done well.
Our statistical correspondent in Mecosta states that 7 acres of Diehl
wheat which escaped frost yielded 35 bushels per acre; 28 acres of Diehl
aud Treadwell, 37 bushels; 1 acre of Clawson, 414 bushels; and a field
of “‘ white amber,” 40 bushels. Headds: “ Had it not been for the June
frost, our average yield would have been enormous. All the yields men-
tioned are products of the natural soil, without fertilizers of any kind,
and with just fair cultivation.”
WHEAT-YIELDS IN WISCONSIN.—A correspondent in Outagamie Coun-
ty has ascertained from the thrashers that in that county: the varieties
of wheat have yielded at the rates stated: Deihl wheat, 34 bushels per
acre; Fultz and “ Russian wheat,” (lately imported from Russia by a
miller at the village of Neenah,) each, 33 bushels. The latter is a white
wheat, said to be equal to the Fultz in standing the winter, and there-
fore thought to be preferable. The variety of spring-wheat producing
the largest yield was the Canada Club—33 bushels per acre. Our cor-
respondent states that, owing to the large yield of winter-wheat, a large
acreage will be sown this fall.
AN UNKNOWN DISEASE AMONG HOGS.—A correspondent in Juniata
County, Pennsylvania, states that a new and fatal disease is prevailing
among hogs in that and the adjoining counties of Perry, Snyder, Dau-
phin, and Northumberland, and that it has already resulted in losses
amounting to thousands of dollars. He describes its symptoms and
effects as follows:
Most of the animals affected live only a few days after the first noticeable attack. In
some if commences with costiveness, and in others with diarrhea. The excrements are
black and very offensive. From the first attack all breathe with great difficulty. Some
refuse food altogether, while others seem to have their appetite scarcely diminished
until, perhaps, a few hours before they die. The disease seems to be altogether in the
lungs. Post-mortem examinations have proved that in some instances the lungs are
entirely decayed or rotten, crumbling apart in whitish particles by a very slight touch;
in others the lungs were found to be only a mass of slimy white matter, emitting an
offensive smell. So far no remedy has been discovered either as a preventive or as &
cure.
DISEASED. CATTLE.—Our correspondent in Medina County, Ohio, re-
ports that Mr. f B. Chamberlain bought August 13, at East Saint Louis
stock-yards, 37 th e2-year-old Illinois steers. He shipped them by rail,
via Toledo, to Elyria, Lorain County, and drove them thence, about
466 ;
thirty miles, to his farm in the south part of Medina County. ‘They
soon began to sicken, and our correspondent has obtained from Mr.
Chamberlain and forwarded the following statement of the disease and
treatment. vai
Out of the 37, 30 were affected, and 15 died. The others are now doing well. Symp-
toms: The cattle look dull in the eyes, have hot horns, are weak in the hind parts,
always want to lie down, try to get as near water as possible, their urine highly colored,
their breath heavy,and they seem to be in great pain. Those that were worst had no
movement of the bowels. If a movement could be effected when they were not too
far gone, they got well. They were at times a little cross in temper. The medicine
given was salts and ginger. It did good work.
PRODUCTS IN SOUTHERN TENNESSEE.—A correspondent in Marion
County, which lies on the border of North Carolina, just west of Chatta-
nooga, is authority for the following statement: A neighbor of his
“cow-penned” one-fourth of an acre of mountain land for one year.
He then planted it with Russet potatoes, and between the potato-hills
planted corn. The returns were, 200 bushels of potatoes and 15 bushels
of corn; that is at the rate of 800 bushels of potatoes and 60 bushels
of corn to the acre.
The same correspondent sends to the Department a specimen of wild
grass, together with its seed, which proves to be Sorghum nutans, very
common on western prairies. He states: ‘+ It grows on very poor soil,
from 6 to 8 feet high, and it makes very good hay, which cattle and
horses eat with a relish. It is up earlier in the spring and withers later
in the fall than almost any other of the native grasses.”
RAMIE IN CALIFORNIA.—Experiments made by Dr. Drury in growing
ramie the present season in Kern County have been quite successful.
He had produced plants 7 to 10 feet in height, and in sufficient quan-
tity to plant, as he intends, 40 acres the coming season. It is claimed
that the hitherto-existing impracticability of separating the fiber from
the stalk has now been overcome by the invention of a machine which
does it effectually, and at the rate of 1,400 pounds of cleaned and
dressed fiber per day.
467
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS, OCTOBER, 1875.
The following quotations represent the state of the market, as nearly as practicable, at the
beginning of the month:
Articles.
NEW YORK.
Flour, superfine .......-.. per bbl.| $5 10
extra State ......... do...
extra to choice western,
PEMDArre) o.- =<. - 0-10;
common to fair southern
extras.........-per bbl
good to choice southern
xctrascones-.--' per bbl.
Wheat, ae. 1 Sees - Bee bush
spring ....... do...
winter red, western,
MEUIPASHE!. 22-20-25
winter, amber, western,
per bushel ........--..
winter, white, western,
per bushel ..2.-..-2-.-
Peeie same s cw ss/aciom <= -- per bush
LET) Seth ae do...
(Vili 6S ok i do...
Hay, first quality ....... per ton
second quality......-. dor
Bech Mess 35 --.2-:----- per bbl
extra mess -..--..--.. do...
Pork mess=)- 25526 2.2... dose.
extra prime.......-.. do..
prime mess.......... do.
DG ee eee ee per lb
Butter, western............ do...
State dairy......-.- do...
Cheese, State factory....... Gos:
western factory .-...do...
Sugar, fair to prime refining,
MOU MOUHG 25.45 a5. --
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
nary er lb.
low middling to good
middling ... ...per lb.
Tobacco, lugs pet lb.
low leaf to east
CONS ae per lb.
Wool, American XXX and pick-
lock per lb.
American X and xx, per
(O1TG" 22 eee ee
American, combing, per lb.
pulled do...
ec spring clip, per
California fall clip. .per lb.
BOSTON.
Flour, western superfine. per bbl.
common western spring
Gxire POL LD... scee.
red wheats, good to fancy
northwestern . -per bbl.
white wheat, good to
fancy western. -per bbl.
southern family... -. do. -
Midi pe eS eee per bush
CONT 6s) 65 00 CSE eae ee ae do.
(OL SoU; ee do..
em Mette < =\-it= ach ens oe & ae
LE GIA) 2358S Sane eee ae
Hay, eastern and northern, ae
Th 1D So See I era pee
Beef, meds. ...... peice (e's per bbl.} 10 00
extra moess..........- o...| 12 00
Articles.
Boston—Continued.
Beef; familys. 3i41--5044
Pork, Primo.ses eesanes sec d
Butter, New York and Vermont,
per pound
western :
New York and Vermont
factory.) <2s<-22- per lb.
Cheese, western factory. .-per lb.
Sugar, fair to good refining.do-. --
Cotton, ordinary to good ba
n
ary rl
low Toiddling to aboa
middling...... per lb.
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania,
Per poun@eas esc ssoseeae
Michigan .......--.
combing fleece ......
Californians. 22224565
PHILADELPHIA.
Flour, swperfine.........
Pennsylvania extra to
ides Seta per bbl.
western extra to choice,
per barrels. 3 eden eee
Wheat, red
Hay, prime baled ....... per ton.
baled, common to fair ship-
ping
"extra mess .........-. :
Warthman’s city family,
pembarrelles2 e832 hese
ROrK, MOKS2. see e eros se) per bbl.
prime mess.......... do...
’ choice pected é
Cheese, New York factory, good
to\fancy, sasseeene per lb
Ohio factory, good to fancy
per poundatee eases lees a.
Sugar, fair to good refining.do...
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
nary er lb
low middling to good
middling lb
’ other western
tub-washed.........-
BALTIMORE.
Flour, superfine
OxiM ane seemed ae Se :
family and fancy .-- ae ae
Prices.
14} to
20
18
to
to
104 to
10
to
7} to
11
13
44
42
40
29
37
16
to
.|$17 00 to $17 50
16 50 to 17 00
-| 22 50 to 22°75
15
33
34
Articles.
BALTIMORE—Continued.
Wheat, red ---2.2 5. per bush
AMpeM jo ccosecceklas. do..
White's. 24h esac. do..
RADE ea onetc Soho en nes Aer do
GDS ers wae nice tideisesceees do
( CHES CTD eB APS Fagg SS ae do..
Hay, Middle States .---- per ton.
IPOrk, MESS ein a> sare een. per bbl.
extra primoe)-----.-.-- do.
Ward ite cae caterecinsc ss per Ib.
Butter, western .-....-...-. do..
GASbeIMN se. i. bes. . do. .
Cheese, western factory, good to
GDDIGE es. etn =< per lb:
eastorn factory, good to
Choice fess ece per lb.
Sugar, fair to good ete do. .
New | Orleans, grocery.
Pradese tHe. per lb.
SLapAcco lage) ose we ss a do..
common to medium leaf,
er pound. eo <oesrinac
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
NANYiel as seria neee er lb.
low middling to good
middling .-.-...- per lb.
CINCINNATI.
Flour, superfine. ..-.-.-- per bbl
Gh EMER BSE eee ae 0.
family and acs Beli (se
Wheat, winter, red .-- “per bush.
hill, (amber).. = eRe doz...
OAD A alolaioe ats cate do
LN on ins aaeee eal ene ta eae do
Lillonge eb soba eee ore: do
com ES tise pe ea Aah be eee do.
Osta ce ee era dons
He, baled, No. We. co: per ton.
lower Oradege esos. a= dors:
Beef, /1) Eira EIS per bbl
Pork, MAGES eas aclaes aac oe do
Tit a aA per lb
Butter, choice...-......---- do...
prime..-..--......- do: 2:
Cheese, prime to choice factory,
MEGFDOUMO ie sn ae see
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good,
per pound --- 22 soos.
prime to choice. ...per lb
ToebReco, WIGS, son. ae nine” das:
EC EA do...
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
Nay)... 42-4--per lb:
low middling to good
middling. ...-.-- per lb.
Wool, fleece-washed, common to
ea 3 = foragtaee? te Fe ie per lb.
tub-washed......... do..
unwashed, clothing do..
unwashed, combing . do...
pulled
CHICAGO.
choice white winter ex-
tras, per barrel .
common to good white
winter extras ..per bbl.
choice spring extras .do..
Flour,
patent spring .-----. do. .
spring superfines. . ado.
Wheat, No.1 spring - _.per bush.
No. 2 spring-..----- :
No.3 spring. --.---- oa
Corn, INO epee tee site mete - do. .
468
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Prices. Articles.
Cuicaco—Continued.
$1 10 to $1 40 || Barley, No. 2......-.... per ine
1485) to LV S5o Oats, INO eae seats do...
120 to 1 40 || Hay, timothy. .......... per ton.
80 to 85 PILATE | sae icine sie do...
45 to 52) || Beef, mess .-..-2- 2.0.5. per bbl
63 to 80 eXtra, MeSS.(. Secs e ne do...
20:00) to 27 00\||Pork, mess: . 2:25:58. --2. do..
23 00 to 23 50 extra mess .......-.- do
16 50 to — — extra prime.........- do.
143 to 1) Maar. 5.)[ sete mol eee atte rate Be lb
19 to 30 || Butter, choice to fancy ....do.-.
20 to 30 medium to good .. “0:6
Cheese, good to fancy factory, do.
11 to 13 || Sugar, brown, common to choice,
: Per POUNG so. late
124 to 133)| Wool, tub-washed ....-...- per tb
7% to 8h fleece-washed........ do..
UDWASHEG 2. votes has do..
— to _— pulled 222, 2s csseee do.
Beton) ail
SAINT LOUIS.
10 to 14
Flour, winter, common to choice,
— to — per Dbl.e oc esnb es eee
SPHINN 2 canes per bbl
124 to 133|| Wheat, white winter-- per bush.
red winter... ----.. do...
SPring...'-22 ee ae dow-2
[Oy HSee Sree seri Sn se do..
4 (50) to) 5 OO)|| URYO 2s. 2 cets sae severe nee do. .
525,60 4° 0 %9)||| (DablOVin sc neers <b ane beer do. .
G25 60S 255) Oats ie aie terom ici = oie do...
110 to 1 42 Hay, timothy Balas ce een per ton
—— to —— PLANE Kosa. ota do...
130/\toy 2°50) Beet emess: se sc. ee per bbl
60 to 80 Pork, MONS: usc «o's oaeene do...
5) to.) 2 a5) Dail ae. ee ee per Ib.
60 to 65 || Butter, prime to choice ee
30 to 48 ‘per pound.) Saas
20 00 to 22 00 country packed... .per Ib.
14 00 to 18 00 || Cheese, Ohio factory .....-- do...
—— to —— N. Y. factory ....... do...
22°25 to 22 75 ||Tobacco, lugs.-.-2-.-. 2. =. dors
134 to 143 leat )ce uae per lb
28 to 35 || Wool, tub-washed ..,.... .-do-.-
22 to 25 fleece-washed........do...
unwashed -..-----772 do...
12 to 13 || Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
NALRY cio. eee er lb.
— to — low middling to good mid-
— to — dling...) .015- -per lb.
7 to 9
12 to 15
NEW ORLEANS.
10$to 113
Flour, superfine -.--..-.. per bbl
128 to 134 Oxtra ce ce-seceneseee do.
choice to fancy .-.-.. do.
38 to 4301 Con 3... - ti ehereeerg atererate per bush
43 to AS NP QBNS | hoon e eee do...
3L to 32) ||| Welaly. ChOlG@ see cena se per ton
34 to 38 PLME see eee steels dots:
31 to Oi) sBeOL hOxasr esas a aoans 5 Den ae
WOSPODI SL a nitt ates
Fulton market. .-per ; bbl
Porvkumesse-genceb cae ee per bbl
Mera hice as see ne Seeing er lb.
650 to 7 50 || Butter, choice Goshen...... do...
choice western ..... do...
5 75 to 6 50 || Cheese, choice western factory,
5 50 to 6 00 per pound ..- 5... 2s
675 to 8 50 ‘N. Y. cream......-- per lb.
375 to 4 75 || Sugar, fair to fully fair..... do...
116 to — — prime to choice ..--. do..
ULE tol is clarified, white, and yel-
99 to 1 02 LOWic- ce neateaeees per lb.
554 to 56 || Tobacco, lugs ....-- SE ee do..
72 to —_ leat iste onsen do
Prices.
$l 02 to $1 03
34 to 374
—— to 16 00
10 50 to 12 00
900 to — —
10 00 to — —
2275 to — —
Re) -__—
ee ( n
13§ to 13%
26 to ae
18 to 23
10 to 113
ii to 94
40 to 53
40 to 4s
26 to 33
om. GO, a
400 to 7 50
3 75, fo 5.75
130 to 1 60
110 to 160
= oe
52 to 67
65 to wal
100 to 132
30 to 46
16 00 to 18 50
700 to 950
14 00 to 15 00
22:50 to 23 25
12 to 14
27. to 28
20 to 23
10 to 114
13° to; “dae
53 to 64
7% to 16
44 to 56
35 to 38
27 to 37
1034 to 114
12 to 13£
450 to — —
475 to 625
650 to 9 00
72 to 78
40 to 52
— — to 2400
2150 to — —
10 00 to 10 50
16 09 to — —
11 50 to 12 00
23 75 to 24 50
14ito. 15f
35 to —
23 to —_—
10 to 103
14 to 16
8% to 9%
94 to QF
93 to 103,
74 to 10
1l to 20.
469
Market-prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles.
New Orvteans—Continued.
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
MIATY)05: /0- 5 => - per lb
low middling to good
middling --..-.- per |
Woolekes.,-.--.-.-:..-. do...
SAN FRANCISCO.
Flour, superfine ......... per bbl
1 OBO A Sane Goes aeae dol=3
family and fancy ..-..do-..-
Wheat, California ....per cental.
NORA ON esc < aicicinini< do...
LG) A Oe eae do...
Mi sehiosenceesedas gcc do..
Ree oe Oo
owoxnouc
naooucese
Articles.
SAN FRANCIScO—Continued.
Corn, white.......... per cental
WeuUowis-- see = sess 0...
Hay, State.c<.he.= 2. per ton
Beef, mess-.--.5..--5-n- per bbl
family mess...... per + bbl
POT GSS ie cee alee een per bbl
prime mess ..........-. do..
LOTR gs ee per lb.
Butter, overland .....---...- do..
California - 5-4-5325. do...
(O} deforey eee do.
Cheese .....- Oe neee atte ae do
SWiOOl Wanye races etait do..
(Oftulnios okie bie See ea do..
Oxreponl ea. eee aoa es do...
Prices.
‘LIVE-STOCK MARKETS.
NEW YORK.
Cattle, extra beeves.-per cental.
good to prime....-. Gore.
common to fair ...-.. do.» ..
Texans.--.-.--. per cental
thilch-cows ..... per head.
veal calves....per cental.
Sunsl-Tp. oct ooeGereep Seneee do...
RAVE Een a eTocte mic cicac''s = 2,- do...
PHILADELPHIA.
Cattle, prime beeves-..per cental.
fair to good ...-.-.- do...
common ... med. =
Sheept-2.. 2-4 sad 2)
Swine, corn-fed ...--..-...-. doze
BALTIMORE.
Cattle, best beeves...-per cental.
first quality...-... dose
medium or good quality,
per cental..........-'.
ordinary ....-. per cental.
general average...do....
most of the sales ..do....
milch-cows -...per head.
-per cental.
(Si) OU Hae See Sane doz:
MISO oc cls aie cnt as am
CINCINNATI.
Cattle, good to prims butchers’
steers ...-.-per cental.
fair to medium....do....
Somnroen 522 5.6.05. dossre
milch-cows ....per head.
veal calves. ...per cental.
Shi) eae se Oe se!
_— OD
S Or crt 1-2
ooo Sinsit
Sal Be me 09 CO
S|
oc
Ssasl kas
onal Co we OT
ouoc
CHICAGO,
Cattle, extra-graded steers, 1,300
to 1,550 pounds, per
cental as carseat
choice beeves, 1,250 to
1,450 pounds, per cental.
good beeves, 1,150 to 1,350
pounds...... per cental.
medium, 1,100 to 1,250
pounds...... per cental.
INTENOI ase e eens GONae:
Texans, through droves,
Der Cental oe fee eine
Sheep socteeste ean per cental
Swine. Seoul ei ee doz:
SAINT LOUIS.
Cattle, good to choice native
steers, per cental .....--
common to fair natives,
per centale ves ssc ence:
interior and common, per
Cental cae esas
Texans, fair to choice,
per *:centall.252-%)-/4- 354
Sheep ins esse ease per cental
PWIMGUS chee cence aceite do. 32
Horses, plugs........-. per head.
PAIN sete ae donee.
street-car --.-...-- do....
heavy-draught....do-...
good drivers ..---. dossae
OGTR ees os Sates do. .-. |i
Mules, 14 to 15 hands high.do.--..
15 to 16 hands high.do....
@xbrays. utes ees do, -23.
NEW ORLEANS.
Cattle, Texas beeves, choice, per
head <cun Se Esee sr lye ree
first quality....per head.
second quality..... doy: :
WeSHOIT Ceti oe C: 0) ae es
milch-cows........- do...
Sheep ist2e. ert mS NT UM do. .
Switlesy oo ee eel yas a do..
to $1 50
to 135
to 19 00
to 10 00
to 8 06
to 25 00
to 17 50
to 164
to 27
to 414
to 25
124 to 15
10 to 15
15 to 235
15 to 25
to $6 40
to 6 00
to) 5025
to 4 65
nie as Mia"
ton Bvt.
to 5 00
to 9 50
to 6 25
to Suis
to 3800
to 4 40
to 425
to § 00
to 75 00
to1L0 00
to 125 00
to — —
to — —
to ——
to 120 00
to 180 00
to 200 00
to 46 00
to 35 00
to 25 00
to ——
to 100 00
to 500
to 11 00
470
FOREIGN MARKETS.
WHEAT.—The late rains in England have placed the ground in
fair condition for the plow, and so far is favorable to the next wheat crop.
The unfavorable weather of July had caused an excessive importation
of foreign wheat, causing considerable decline in prices. British farm-
ers, however, show an indisposition to hurry their crops to market,
while holders of foreign grain are equally reluctant to accept ruling
prices. From these causes it was hoped, about the close of September,
that the downward tendency of prices would be checked. The English
provincial markets report a very slight activity, and a tendency to hold
over for better prices. Hull, the leading point of import for northern
European grain, is overstocked with foreign wheat, leaving a large
amount on hand for which there is no demand, except for.a few fine
new Baltic sorts. The Scotch and Irish markets are equally inactive,
the foreign arrivals being generally above the demand. French holders
stoutly resist the downward sweep of prices. Paris yielded but 1 frane
per 280 pounds of flour during the week ending September 25, and
held fast to her wheat figures. “The French provincial markets, how-
ever, were less tenacious; 14 markets advanced during the week, 73
remained firm, and 110 declined, yet the average rates were but slightly
depreciated. Belgium markets were calm, the decline having been
arrested. The same may be said of Holland. In Germany, Hamburg
was firm, while other German markets showed an upward tendency.
The previous reduction in prices had caused a falling off in supplies,
farmers preferring to wait for better prices, especially as their crops
were generally housed in fine condition for preservation. Dantzic,
however, manifested some discouragement as to the future. At Ade-
laide, South Australia, up to July 15, the wheat export amounted to
*105,000 tons, or about 3,500,000 bushels, with a reserve awaiting export
of 78,000 tons, or 2,600,000 bushels; but the prospects of the growing
crops were not remarkably good. It was thought that at least 30,000
tons, or 1,000,000 bushels, ‘would be held over. A large part of the
-shipments. were to new settlements in the Antarctic and South Pacific
regions. In the middle of August, however, advices unfavorable to the
growing crops of England stimulated inquiry for wheat and tended to
enlarge the export.
In ‘England, during the week ending September 25, the sales of do-
mestic wheat amounted to 49,791 quarters, at 48s. 7d., against 72,524
quarters, at 46s. 8d., during the corresponding week of 1874, The Lon-
don averages during the same week were 48s. 10d. on 1,620 quarters.
The imports into the United Kingdom during the previous week
amounted to 1,578,481 cwt. The deliveries of En glish wheat, then, show
a deeline of 30 per cent. compared with the same period of the previous
year. The week opened in Mark Lane on moderate supplies of domestic,
with good arrivals of American and Russian. Essex and Kent white
wheat was quoted at 48s. to 55s. per quarter; ditto, red, 47s. to 50s. ;
Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire red, 41s. to 50s. ; Dantzick mixed,
Bls. to 55s. ; Kénigsberg, 48s. to 53s. ; : Rostock, 46s. to 508.5 ; Silesian red,
45s. to 50s.; Pomeranian, Mecklenberg, and Uckermark red, 46s. to 488.3
Ghirka, 45s. to 46s. ; : Russian hard, 42s. to 44s.; Saxonska, "468. to 498. 5 ;
Danish and Holstein red, 45s. to 48s. : ; American red, 44s. to 47s.; Chilian
white, 49s.; Californian, ‘Dls. 3 Australian, 50s. to bbs. In Paris prices
ranged from 45s. to 49s. ; ee Brussels old native wheat brought 49s. ; at
Hamburg prices remained firm at 44s., which was about the ruling rate at
471
Berlin, Cologne, Vienna, and St. Petersburg for wheat on the spot,
though prices for future delivery at several points ranged higher. At
Odessa prices were firm, but had given way at Pesth, in Hungary.
FLouR.—The imports into the United Kingdom during the week
closing September 18 amounted to 114,403 ewt. The following week in
Mark Lane opened upon a good supply of British flour, but business
was at a stand-still, and holders were disposed to recede from previous
quotations. The flour movement was heavy and languid. In Mark
Lane the best town households brought 43s..to 47s. per 280 pounds ;
best country households, 37s. to 40s.; Norfolk and Suffolk, 34s. to 36s. ;
American, 24s. to 29s. per barrel. At Liverpool, English and Irish su-
perfines brought 37s. to 39s. per 280 pounds; ditto, extra, 40s. to 42s.;
French, 40s. to 48s. 6d.; Trieste, 50s. to 62s.; Chilian, 36s. to 39s. ; Cali-
fornian, 40s. to 42s.; American, western and extra State, 25s. 6d. to 27s.
6d. per barrel; Baltimore and Philadelphia, 25s. to 30s. 6d.; Ohio and
extra, 28s. to 30s. 6d.; Canadian and extra, 26s. 6d. to 31s. At Paris,
_ the range for consumption was 35s. 11d. to 39s. 2d. per 280 pounds.
MAiIzr.—British imports of maize during September were quite un-
important. No advance upon previous low prices was noted. In Mark
Lane white was quoted at 80s. to 32s. per quarter, and yellow at 29s. to
31s. In Liverpool, American brought 29s. 3d. per 480 pounds formixed ;
Galatz, 31s. to 36s. ; Trieste, 29s. to 29s. 3d.
2)
FL wit eibetat 1b S cay,
. y ’ ’
if: Koved: wp t fab aaa a
, :
Ty wile?
9
} : Ne ie
£.G4 At ni
TE PAGS
we “
pos oe oft 3 es
ree
He by sin
GEO! piled a ‘itis
>t Pair ; Dv. pier ¥ aie
1) eH bo : ve flee
h - ‘ rt eT | ae Pid RGD)
i
by 50, 52, 3) ted
i {h,/ ae 18d bon: (tae
ir é i) ae
Re
MONTHLY REPORT
ap
OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
dia
NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1875.
\
WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1875. °
CONTENTS.
Page.
STATISTICS :
Digest of crop-reports:
GOT oe -obenk Soe Ue cied wocieae sce cot cae eeeetiice naa mee eee oe 475
Potatoes. ss cce ccs cose ato ee Soe beee dd cloccs 2 cabetee eee ae 480
Sweet-potatoes..-..----. watts Ss Seseeavs sete ehee ere six ee ations ae Seeee 483
Cottome es see ered ccecke eon been Soc ee a eee 483
ROPACEO! 22s Jes ces aes bem a tise eames oale ehae male ao ee See PRS Gos cle,
PUIG oe se at ee w cee Beate eee ae Na 490
lO EASE Se SES AcitOOb EO Sub CHicopeabeSemea Goce anoemScach<--0c-- 02 492
1 ued ea) 1 Sth raya MA RE oh ae ey Re RE ae se ef eal oe vat he Ab ik 493
Sorghum) 2 pose ae SC a eee oe ERP A Sc 494
IONS e ee ee cent ese eerie beside cele Si bene SSeS SS SARE eee ea
121, Eee pete 2 Every eee epee a earn fetei etek MeL Se 495
Tabulated TEbOrMe'ss ese ees ese es ee TS Soe ie eens hoe 496
EXTRACTS FROM: CORRESPONDENCE! 20250050 250: 25ck cen Cobice noes cee a eee 498
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES! 220520 cciceen sce sce emcees oa come eule aes eee 510
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1875....--.--..----------: 529
DDVE=STOCK MARKETS . cocigs cwnecesccucesdcmsdsancecbiiee mee cee sce eee 531
PORBIGN MARKETS cincccscciecc ce cdcelecs cama sisce aes been eee nee 532
By the Commissioner:
THE DESICCATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES ..--. Soc cce se LU 507
MONTHLY REPORT.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
STATISTICAL DIVISION,
Washington, D. C., Dec. 1, 1875.
Str: I present herewith for publication a synopsis of the returns of
statistical correspondents for November, showing the production of
corn, cotton, potatoes, tobacco, and other crops, in comparison with the
products of 1874; and domestic and foreign market-reports and minor
statistics.
Respectfully,
J. kt. DODGE,
. Statistician.
Hon. FRED’K WATTS,
Commissioner.
DIGEST OF GROP REPORTS.
7 CORN. |
Our November returns show the estimated corn yield of 1875 in per-
centages of the crop of 1874. The final estimate of the Department,
however, is not made till after the reception of the December returns
embracing the average yield per acre. The acreage having been given
in previous reports, we shall then have the data for an independent esti-
mate, which, by comparison with the aggregate yield reported in Novem-
ber, enables us to reach a common result by separate lines of inquiry.
With this explanation the November returns are accepted as fore-
shadowing very nearly the final results. They indicate that the crop
of 1875 was one of the largest ever grown in the country, probably
equaling the very large crops of 1870 and 1872. It is at least a fourth
greater than the crop of 1874, and about a third larger than the crop
of 1869 reported in the last census. °
Every section of the Union reports some increase. The:New England
States appear to have made a small increase; the Middle States about
10 per cent.; the South Atlantic Coast States a small advance, and the
Gulf States about 17 per cent.; the Southern Inland States over 50 per
cent.; of the States north of the Ohio, Illinois has made an enormous
increase upon the small crop of last year, and the States west of the
Mississippi nearly 60 per cent., or more than 100,000,000 bushels.
The quality of the crop is below that of 1874 in most of the States.
In New England, only New Hampshire equals her previous crop in
476
this respect. It is remarkable that none of our reports from this State
contain any complaints of injury from frost, while all the other States
of this section will have a large proportion of soft corn, either from
frost or imperfect ripening. Of the Middle States, New York and Penn-
sylvania report poor quality, while New Jersey and Delaware have
sounder corn than in 1874. In Maryland and Virginia the quality of
the crop is above average, in spite of local injuries; but in the other
Atlantic Coast States the quantity is deficient. Complaints of rotten or
chaffy corn are frequent in this region, while on the other hand the crop
is regarded in many places as the best for many years. Of the Gulf
States and Southern inland States, Florida and West Virginia report the
average quality low, while all the others report crops of better quality
than last year. The improvement. in Arkansas is especially marked,
being estimated at over 50 per cent. Local injuries from storms de-
pressed the general average below what it would otherwise have been.
Of the States north of the Ohio, only Illinois reports a crop equal to last
year’s in quality. The more northern counties report the greatest de-
pression, which resulted from heavy frosts or cold, wet, autumnal weather.
Floods and storms were especially destructive to crops in the larger val-
leys, but the injury from this source was greatly exaggerated in the first
reports of the newspaper press. Rotten and chaffy corn will be in
excess. The same causes injured the quality of the crop in Minnesota
and Iowa, while in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska,.the improvement
in the quality of the crop keeps pace with its astonishing increase of
yield. Harly-planted crops were especially prolific and good. Loeal
prices have been greatly depressed by large yields. On the Pacific coast
the quality of the crop is nearly equal to last year.
MAINnE.—Sagadahoc: Injured to some extent by early frosts. Cumberland: Injured
by early frost.
New Hamevsuire.—Rockingham: The crop large, ripe, and sound throughout the
county. ¢
VERMONT.—Lutland: Did not ripen perfectly. Lamoille: Prevented from fally
ripening by a heavy frost September 22.
MaAssacHusrerts.—Berkshire : Much soft corn.
ConneciicutT.—New London: A little injured by frosts.
New Yorx.—Delaware: A heavy frost June 14, and another September 23, made a
short corn season. (Queens :° Very sound, and turns out, on being husked, much bet-
ter than last year. Washington: The crop injured materially by a large white grub.
Steuben: Affected by frost. Warren: A heavy growth of stalks, but not so well eared
as usual, in proportion, and more soft corn. Genesee: Not well ripened when the
frost came. Early planted was not much injured, but fields planted late are of little
value. One acre of the best is of as much value as ten of the poorest. Saratoga:
Injured by early frosts; very early planted fine. Wayne: Badly injured by the
cold season. Wyoming: Injured some by frost. Ontario: Much soft. Sullivan:
Much soft.
New Jersey.—Ocean: The lightest crop harvested for many years, owing to ex-
tremely dry weather during the whole growing season. Burlington: Seldom favored
with such a large crop. Hudson: The ears not so large or well filled asusual. Salem:
Exceedingly good; 25 per cent. above average.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Clearjield: Frosts in June, drenching rains in July and August, and
early frosts in September have injured the crop materially—more in quality than
quantity, the great bulk being soft. Clinton: Late fields did not mature before the frost.
Perry: The largest crop ever produced, and of good quality. lk: Killing frosts in
September injured almost all the crop; some fields not producing one sound ear in a
bushel, and scarcely any ripening well. Montgomery: A full crop of very good quality.
Westmoreland: A much larger portion of the crop than usual immature. York: The
largest yield within a farmer’s lifetime. Armstrong: Good on the hills, but the valleys
frost-bitten ; one-half soft. Chester: The largest yield for years, but more moldy
corn than usual. Cambria: A great amount of soft corn, owing to late planting and
early frost. Sullivan: One-fourth or more has not ripened. Bedford: Good crop in
stalk and ear, but much of it not matured when frost came; 60 per cent. of late corn
soft. Beaver: A great amount of soft corn. / Indiana: Move soft corn than +was ex-
ATT
pected. Lancaster: An immense crop; nearly all husked. Zawrence: An immense
quantity of soft corn; killed by frost before ripe. rie: A good crop, but owing to
wet and cold weather in October not seasoned well for husking and the crib. Lycoming :
A little thin on the ground, but well eared. Montour: Being secured in good condi-
tion; not as much soft as was anticipated. Potler: What escaped spring frost was
injured by the cold before ripening; some estimate their yield as low as 10 per cent.
Tioga: Of inferior quality.
Marybanp.— Carroll: Will average 50 bushels per acre. Dorchester: An immense
yield of extra fine quality. Harford: The best crop for years. Howard: A large crop,
but a little more soft corn than usual. Caroline: Not turning out as well as antici-
pated before harvesting. Prince George: Larger crop than last year, but more rotten
corn than usual. Baltimore: The finest crop for many years; the fodder carefully
saved. Calvert: Above average in quantity, but inferior in quality. Cecil: Never
better.
ViRGINIA.— Carroll: A greater quantity of soft corn than I ever saw in any year
before, owing to early freezes; but the yield of good corn is far beyond any previous
year. Fluvanna: Better than an average crop by one-fourth. Powhatan: Now
being gathered, and fully up to the standard of 150 in the October report. Spottsyl-
vania: Now being harvested; sound and fully 25 per cent. above last year. Craig:
The largest crop for years, but one-third injured by frost. Floyd: The quality
injured 10 per cent. by frost. King George: A fine crop of excellent quality.
Matihews : Farmers much disappointed in the yield; a larger bulk than usual, but
poorly filled and a large quantity unsound. Page: Most of the crops are splendid, but
the frost nipped some of the late corn, reducing the quality about 5 per cent. Prince
Wiliam: The replanted corn generally did not mature. lizabeth City: Much the
largest and best crop since 1869; at least 25 per cent. increase in acreage, more than
double the average yield, and superior excellence in quality, fully warrant the estimate
of 250. Orange: The area exceeds that of last year 25 per cent., and the quality was
never better. Amelia; The excellent season of August and September has given a
large crop. Henrico: Unusually good. King and Queen: A decided improvement on
any crop for six years. Middlesex: Turning out well. Wythe: The quality very fine.
Chesterfield: The largest yield since 1860 and the quality very good. Halifax: Yield
and quality excellent. Highland: Much of it soft when frost came. Lancaster: By
far the best crop since the war. Washington: Not cured so as to crib. Westmoreland :
Better than usual. ;
Norte Carouina.—forsythe ; A very large crop, but late and not well filled. Iredell:
Better than was expected. Nash: Better than for years. Hertford: The best in ten
years. Beaufort: Unusual crop; of good quality. Wilson: Inferior to last year’s
erop, much being rotten. Person: Very fine on upland; damaged by rain on flat-land,
yet largely above average.
SouTH Carorina.— Fairfield: Saved in good order and turns out well. Marlborough :
Large crop, but much complaint of rotten ears. Orangeburgh: As much made as last
year, beause more planted, but the yield is only 80.
GuorGiA.— Berrien: Yielded better than was expected. Harris: The drought did
not injure corn as much as cotton. Gwinnett: The crop very spotted, varying from full
average to less than half. Worth: Light; not enough to bread the people. Clayton:
Better than since the war. Floyd: An unusual amount of rotten corn; not less than
12 to 15 per cent. Upton: Turning out better than other crops. Dooly: Yields better
than expected. McIntosh: Cut off one-half by the late drought. Wilkinson: Very
large crop planted; enough made to do the county. Wilcox: Chaffy and considerably
rotten. Hancock: Very good. Towns: The best crop for several years.
FLoriwa.— Putnam: The acreage somewhat larger, but the crop short from drought.
ALABAMA.—Olarke: Cut short by drought. Greene: Has exceeded expectations in
_ quantity and quality; is plenty and cheap—40 to 50 cents per bushel. Montgomery:
Better than for several years. Lauderdale: Never better. The yield of one acre,
attested by good authority, measured 220 bushels, and received a premium at the State
Grange fair; the largest yield known in our State. Morgan: Wilk crib double the corn
we did in 1874, and of much better quality. Covington: A bountiful crop, owing to a
large increase in acreage. Colbert: The largest crop we ever had, and of the finest
quality. Conecul: Turning out better than expected in quantity and quality.
Mississrppi.—Grenada: The increased acreage makes the amount fully equal to last
year’s. Pike: Turns out fine, and quality good. Newton: More rotten than last year,
but that not rotten of better quality. Wayne: A very satisfactory crop nearly gath-
ered. Lowndes: An abundant supply housed, and asurplusin many places. Jefferson :
A good crop, all housed; enough, I think, for home consumption.
Lourstana.—Saint Mary: The crop so abundant that.no one will have to buy from the
West. Iberia: The crop largely better than any since the war. Morehouse: The
reduced quality due to storms which blew down the stalk and left the ear to rot on
wet ground. Franklin: Large percentage of rotten corn, caused by winds and rains.
Saint Landry's: A gocd yield; all housed.
478
Texas.—Dallas: All harvested; yields from 30 to 50 bushels per acre. Red River:
Abundant crop; price 50 cents. Upshur: Small crop, damaged by smut; much of it
not fit for bread. The county will need 5,000 bushels imported. Collin: Harvested
better than expected. Harrison: A shade better than last year. Bosque: Great com-
plaint ofsmut. Titus: Far short of the crop of 1874.
ARKANSAS.— Arkansas: The best yield for many years, and mostly gathered in good
order. Boone: The best crop I ever saw. Prairie: The most bountiful crop we ever
had. Fulton: So much superior to last year’s crop that I was tempted to put it at 500.
The heavy crop yet generally ungathered. General sickness for the past two months
has caused farming operations to be almost entirely suspended. Marion: Made; almost
universally an astonishing yield. Bradley: Harvested, and enough for home-consump-
tion. Woodruff: Better than last year, 25 per cent. Franklin: Good in yield and
uality.
2 TENNESSEE.—Monroe: Best crop for many years. Bradley: More abundant than
ever before. Lincoln: Will be more than double last year’s crop. Gibson : Unprece-
dented in area, yield, and quality. Greene: Late, and much not fully matured. Lou-
don: Turning out very well. Polk: Not as good as supposed before gathering.
Putnam: Abundant crop. Cheatham: The crop twice as large as last year, and the
quality much better. Rutherford: Increased acreage and vastly increased product,
and of excellent quality. Wilson: The largest crop for years. Mobertson: Very fine
in product and quality. Sullivan: Where properly manured and carefully cultivated,
the crop is very heavy. Tipton: The crop unprecedented. Bledsoe: A good crop; the
ears sound and well filled. Giles: By far the best crop since 1461.
WEsT VirGinis.—faleigh : Turned out very well, but the quality not so good. Put-
nam: Better than expected. Ritchie: Unusually late, and more soft corn than aver-
age. Summers: Not well matured; considerable soft corn. Braxton: Very good both
in yield and quality. Brooke: So large a portion was immature when the frost killed
the stock that the quality is much inferior. Upshwr: Made a wonderful improvement
in the last month; cured out beyond expectation. Jefferson: Ripened well. Mercer:
Frost prevented the late-planted from maturing. Soone: Has dried out well; late
corn quite chaffy. Mason: Late in maturing and injured to some extent by frost.
Kentucky.—Lewis ; Never before so good or the product so great. Cumberland:
Nota large yield per acre, but of superior quality. Ohio: Very well matured. Callo-
way: Very fine. Owsley: Not more than half acrop. Graves: Never better. Hardin:
Not turning out as well as expected. Boyle: Not well matured. ¥
Out0.— Hocking : Very fine yield, but some injured by early frost. Pickaway : Loose
on the cob and inclined to be chaffy. Preble: Acreage greater than ever before, but
poor yield and quality; injured by frosts. Ross: Chatty ; affected by early frosts.
Logan: The product and quality considerably reduced by early frosts. Warren: Be-
ing gathered in fine order. Coshocton: Unusually good, but the frost came a little too
early. Sandusky: A great deal of soft corn. Van Wert: Owing to early frost one-
half soft and the other half rather poor. Geauga: Rather light. Butler: Poorer in
yield and quality than expected. Clarke: Heavy, and being secured in good order.
Ticking: A great deal of sott corn in the level portions. Medina: Greatly exceeds the
yield of last year, but poor in quality. Mercer: Very poor; not well matured. Monroe:
At least 10 per cent. will be soft and unfit for market. Noble: Injured by frost. Perry :
Large crop, but considerable soft, owing to frost. Carroll: Damaged by frosts. Craw-
ford: Injured by frosts. Delaware: Increased acreage and greatly increased yield.
Holmes: Large crop, but a considerable quantity overtaken by frost and not sound.
Athens: Destroyed by floods on low-lands; a large crop on uplands, but much frosted.
Harrison: Large yield, but not well- matured. Zrwmbull: Much injured by frost; a
great deal of soft.
Micuican.— Kalamazoo ; Considerable soft corn unfit for market, owing to early and
severe frosts. Wesrford: Almost entirely ruined by frost. One per cent. ot a crop looks
small, but it is fully as much as there is of sound corn. Allegan: Did not ripen, owing
to early frosts. Grand Traverse: Injured by frost, back from the water. Lapeer: A
good yield, but some soft corn owing to frost. Ottawa: The ripening stopped by
frost while much was green. Zmmet: Scarcely any matured. Tuscola: Serious injury
by frost. Van Buren: Large amount of soft. Washtenaw: Much soft. Lenawee: Un-
usual growth and the best eared ever known, but injured by frost. Barry: A heavy
crop but a great deal of soft, and nothing to feed it to. Hillsdale: Twenty per cent.
soft, and not hogs enough to eat it. Jackson: Much larger amount of soft corn than
usual; much the largest crop we ever had, but asmall proportionsound. Lake: Badly
damaged by frost. Livingston: Badly injured by frost. Mason: Almost an entire
failure from frost. Mecasta: Cut off by early frost. Muskegon: Injured by frost. Shi-
awassee : Somewhat injured by early frosts. Antrim: Late planted not well ripened.
Charlevoiz : Injured by frosts. Leelenaw: Did not ripen well. Newaygo: Not more
than 25 per cent. available for any purpose except immediate feeding. Montcalm:
Nearly one-third soft, owing to frost. Oakland: A great deal soft, owing to frost.
Kent: A heavy crop; badly injured by frost; 25 per cent. soft.
~
479
Inprana.—Grant: Half a,crop. Madison: Not more than half a crop, and that not
of good quality; frost. Posey: The great flood swept away fully half the crop; the
quality is good. Decatur: The rains caused the thin uplands to produce astonishingly,
making up for the losses by high water. Union; Damaged by frost. Ripley : Loose on
the cob. Dearborn: Lighter and more chatty than last year. Martin: Much of it light
and chaffy. Wabash: Poor; a cold, wet August and early frost will reduce the value
of corn 50 per cent. Warren: Frosts injured the late planted; upland will yield 50
bushels per acre. Wells: Lightand chatty. Hamilton: A very large per cent. injured
by frost. Jasper: All late corn untit for market; damaged by frost. Marshall: Planted
late and injured by early frosts; none yet fit to crib. Warwick: A great deal on bot-
toms entirelyruined. Lawrence: That left by the flood ripened well and is very sound.
Pike: An average crop except on flat and bottom lands overflowed, on which 50,000 to
100,000 bushels were destroyed,
ILtmoris.— Henderson : Late will be very light. Julton: Large yield, but light and
chafty. Lake: The early frost destroyed the hope ofa large yield of soundcorn. Wood-
ford: A very heavy crop. Clinton: Have not had as good a crop in the uplands for
ten years. Mercer: Damaged by frost. Pike: Goodand wellmatured. Shelby: Allon
high land well matured and yields 40 to 65 bushels; on low land, nipped by frost.
Grundy: Yet unfit to crib. Johnson: Main crop in good condition, but late-planted
injured by frost. Lee: Much soft. Macoupin: On upland, much better than usual;
on lowland, injured by frost. Vermilion: Injured by frost. Carroli: Much soft. De
Kalb: Did not ripen sufficiently to make good merchantable corn.. De Witt: From 50
to 75 per cent. soft, and will not make good merchantable corn. Iroquois: The yield
will be large, notwithstanding many pieces on flat land were destroyed; very little yet
dry enough for cribbing. Knox: Damaged by frost; a wonderful quantity of soft corn.
Mason: Late corn suffered from frost, but still the crop is very large and of good qual-
ity. Ogle: Badly injured by frost. Some farmers will not have half a crop in yield or
quality. Winnebago: Not more than half a crop either year. Franklin: On all high
land, never better in yield and quality; on low, flat land,a failure. Montgomery: Not-
withstanding the amount drowned out, the crop is abundant, and is selling, delivered,
at 25 cents. Saint Clair: Notwithstanding the losses by the heavy floods, we have an
extraordinarily fine and well-matured crop; 60 to 80 bushels per acre on good corn-
land. Zfingham: As good a. yield as last year, and better in quality, but hardly half
acrop. Henry: Very large in quantity, but materially injured by frost. Boone; A con-
* siderable amount of poor, soft corn. Jefferson: Superior in quality on high lands. Fay-
ette: On high lands, turns out well; of the best quality, and a fine fall for gathering
it. Peoria: Lighter in weight than was anticipated. Morgan: Comes out much bet-
ter than was anticipated.
Wisconsin.—Lawu Clair: The light crop owing to frost, August 22. Juneau: So badly
frost-bitten and unripe, that very little will do for seed.. Rock: Did not mature well ;
yield light, and quality very poor. Chippewa: Ruined by frost in August; some pieces
of early corn produced part of a crop. Clark: Almost entirely destroyed by the
frost in August. Dodge: Nearly all killed by frost in August. Walworth: In the
northern part, on all low ground an entire failure; all light and of poor quality.
Richland: Too green and sott tocrib. Washington: One-half issoft. Jowa: Killed on
low ground by early frost. -
MinnesotTa.—Redwood: The best yield ever grown. Winona: Late in maturing, and
* too soft for market. Jillmore: Poor crop, owing to frost and wet, cold autumn.
Wright: Injured by frost. IJsanti: A very large percentage is soft, owing to the severe
frost August 22. Goodhue: Very little ripened. Jackson: The season too cool to
secure a good crop. Mille Lacs: Injured by frost in August. Rock: Caught by frost in
most places.
Iowa.— Black Hawk: A fine crop, but the quality very inferior owing to frost. Story:
Frost-bitten and loose on the cob. Johnson: Damaged by frost. Mitchell: A very
slim crop. Pocahontas: Not turning out as well as expected. Guthrie: Not as’ good
as expected before husking. Franklin: Killed before ripe; loose on the cob. Hardin:
The more the cropis handled the poorer it is found to be. Marion: More unmer-
chantable corn than usual. Clinton: The season too short and cold for the crop to ma-
ture; alarge per cent. unfit for market. Des Moines: Taking yield and quality together,
not half a crop; more soft corn than for the past five years, owing to frost. Fremont :.
Late corn very much damaged; otherwise we should have had an enormous crop;
’ some make 125 bushels per acre. Greene: Did not {fill out as was expected. Harrison:
Slow in drying; but little gathered. Howard: Very little sound corn. Jasper: Frost
came before maturity ; scarcely an ear can be found not loose on the cob. Polk: Will
not do to crib for a month to come. Pottawattamie: Price, 25 cents per bushel. Wood-
bury: Prevented from maturing by continued rains. Calhoun: Not yielding as well,
and not as sound, as was anticipated. Grundy; Soft and much shrunken. Linn: Not
as good as was anticipated; much loose on the cob. Madison: Not yielding as ex-
pected; light and chatfy.” Emmett: A poor crop. Shelby: Twenty per cent. will be
480
soft. Washingion: Late-planted, light and loose on the cob; injured by floods on flat
lands; but eayly-planted on dry land, never better.
Missouri.—Chariton: The largest crop ever raised, and of excellent quality; many
will gather 75 to 80 bushels per acre. Greene: The best crop in ten years. Camden:
Late corn materially damaged by frosts, but the best crop for four years. Nodaway:
This year and last, 50 per cent. of a crop. Moniteaw: Extraordinary in yield and qual-
ity. Benton: Magnificent. Christian: An abundant yield. Saint Clair: Ten to one
of last year, and very good quality. Saint Francis: Considerably injured by frost.
Johnson: That planted in June and July killed by frost. Perry: Compared with last
year, 150, but about an average crop. Phelps: Very much more abundant than last
year, and better quality. Morgan: The largest crop ever raised, and very sound.
Newton: Unusually large yield. Lawrence: Better than for the last ten years. De
Kalb: The early planted not injnred by grasshoppers, heavy; replanted, fair. Holt:
Of the first stand, which is one-half the entire crop, the yield is enormous, being from
80 to 100 bushels and higher. Howard: The best for thirty-five years. Dent: Late,
injured by frost. Muries : Now in fine condition for gathering. Cape Girardeau: Good
in yield and quality. JZaclede: Good, notwithstanding the foods destroyed much on
the river-bottoms.
Kansas.—Jackson: The very favorable fall for corn planted after the locusts had
left, acconnts for the high percentage; selling on the streets by wagon-load for 20 to 25
cents per bushel. Marshall: Some fields yield over 100 bushels per acre. Miami: An
extraordinary breadth, and the season just right; ears 12 inches long, well filled with
the most solid grains, quitecommon. Mitchell: Stalks 17 feet high, with two or three
good ears. Doniphan: Planted about the first of July, it makes a remarkably good
showing. Smith: Will yield about 50 bushels per acre ; the best filled of any crop ever
raised. Cherokee: The quality very superior. Cowley: The product at least 500 per
cent. greater than last year, grasshoppers not considered; will produce 1,250,000
bushels. Butler: Much better than ever raised before; will average more than 50
bushels per acre, and in some instances will yield 100. Clay: Will yield 50 bushels per
acre; price 15 cents.at the depot. Labette: The yield enormously above anything we
ever had before. Osage: Inimense crop; much now in the crib, averaging 85 to 100
bushels per acre, and the general average 50 bushels, of superlative quality. Atchison:
That planted before June 20, fully matured; that later, frosted. Leavenworth : More
than average in quantity, but a part soft. Shawnee: Will average about 60 bushels
per acre.
: NEeBRASKA.—Dizxon: The best crop ever raised. Lancaster: So much that farmers
hardly know what to do with it. Webster: Last year none; this 60 to 100 bushels per
acre, and the quality extra. Antelope: Will average 30 bushels per acre; 10 per cent.
soft. York: None last year; 20 per cent. above an average erop this. Cass: A large
amount being planted after the grasshoppers left, about the 20th of June, will conse-
quently be very light. Thayer: None last year ; 125 in yield and quality this. Clay:
An entire failure last year; this, rans from 20 to 60 bushels per acre, and averages 40;
all sound; sells at 20 cents. Nuckolls: Sound and good. Merrick: Last year none;
this, a better crop than for ten years. Adams: Last year all taken by the grasshop-
pers; this, a good crop.
OrEGON.—Douglass : Cut short by drought.-
CoLorapo.— Wild: Has generally matured.
Uran.— Washington: Extra good. San Pete: Light, and the quality inferior.
POTATOES.
As foreshadowed in previous returns for condition, the crop is extra-
ordinary in both product and quality. The total yield in the districts
reported is made fully one-fourth greater than last year. Among the
States producing heavy crops, New York exceeds last year’s product 7
per cent.; Pennsylvania, 12; Ohio, 25; Michigan; 59; Indiana, 41; Ili-
nois, 107; Wisconsin, 28; Iowa, 71. In Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska,
where partial failures were reported last year, the crops are very large,
upon an increased acreage. North of the Potomac, States not claiming
a larger yield than in 1874, are: New Jersey, 99; Delaware, 95; and
Maryland, 86, the reduction being chiefly caused by early drought and
by the beetle ; and Maine 20 per cent. below last year in product, caused
mainly by early rust, which killed the crop in many localities before ma-
turing, and occasioned more or less rotting. In Aroostook County
which grows potatoes on a large scale for both food and starch, and n
which the yield is usually abundant and the quality superior, the ground
.
481
was ‘so saturated with water that the yield is light and the quali ,
poor.” The average quality for the State is 8 per cent. below tthat of last
year, while in all the other New England States it is better than last
year. Orleans, Vermont, has marketed many thousand bushels, at 20
to 25 cents, for starch. Berkshire, Massachusetts, reports the heaviest
crops for many years, selling at 30 to 35 cents. In Washington and
Warren, N. Y., the crop was injured “by a large white grub.”
Montgomery, Penn., reports that owing to the beetle many localities did
not return the seed. But this is the only really adverse return. The
prevailing descriptions of product are “immense,” “prodigious,” “greater
than for twenty years,” ‘ greater than ever before,” &c. The quality
averges for the State 2 per cent. better than last year. The price re-
ported in Cambria is 30 to 40 cents. In Virginia the yield is 8 per cent.,
and the average quantity is 3 per cent. better than in 1874. Thereturns
from King George state that “‘neglected fields were completely ruined
by the beetle,” and from Washington, that the Peerless, especially, have
rotted badly.
An unprecedented yield is indicated generally throughout the valleys
of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri. The same is true of
Michigan as a whole, though there are some local exceptions. Menom-
inee reports a yield much less than last year, but of good quality, while
Deita reports a light yield, with quality much below par. In Antrim
and Charlevoix, Peach-blows did not fally ripen. On the other hand,
many counties report extraordinary crops in both yield and quality—
among them, Lapeer, Lenawee, and Jackson, the largest ever grown;
Newaygo, the bestin yield and quality ever known, “selling at 20 cents,
if lucky enough to find a buyer;” Tuscola, an extra crop, selling at 25
cents. Williams, Ohio, reports the best crop in yield and quality ever
grown; dull at 25 cents. ‘Many specimens weigh 3 to 4$ pounds.”
The minimum price is 15 cents, in Marshall, Indiana; Schuyler, Ilinois;
Blue Earth, Minnesota: Pottawattomie, Iowa; and Clay, Kansas. In
Mitchell, Kansas, the Peerless yielded 400 bushels per acre; and Butler
produced many single potatoes weighing more than 14 pounds. Hall,
Nebraska, reports that from about 3 acres 1,100 bushels of excellent
quality were sold off.
MatneE.—Piscataquis: Small, owing to early rust. Aroostook: Extensively raised
both for food and for starch. Usually an abundant yield of superior quality; but this
year the crop has been so saturated with water that the yield is light and the quality
poor. Waldo: Very light crop, owing to rust, and the quality not average. Cumber-
dand: Rotting to some extent in the cellar.
VERMONT.— Orleans : Late potatoes injured by severe freezes. Many thousand bush-
els marketed for starch at 20 to 25 cents per bushel. Rutland: A large yield and low
prices, 25 to 30 cents. Caledonia: Good yield and excellent quality.
Massacnuserts.—Berkshire: The heaviest crop for many years, and of excellent
quality ; price, 30 to 35 cents.
New York.— Washington : The crop materially injured by a large white grub. War-
ven: Much lighter crop than was anticipated; injured! by a large white grub, and
_Peach-blows injured by frost before fully grown. Wyoming: Some affected by the rot.
Sullivan: Unusually good.
New Jersey.—Ocean: The smallest yield for many years, owing to early dry weather,
the beetles, and excessive rains in August. Burlington: Late varieties destroyed by
the beetle.
PENNSYLVANIA.—/k: A prodigious yield, of superior quality. Montgomery: Many
localities did not return the bushels planted, owing to the Colorado beetle. Armstrong:
Large, and in good condition. Cambria: Immense crop ; selling at 30 to 40 cents.
Sullivan: Never better. Bedford: Excellent. Butler: Not such a crop in quantity and
quality for the last twenty years; all housed in good condition. Mifflin: Very large
‘crop, and excellent in quality; more in the county than ever before in one year. Colum-
bia: Gathered, and keeping well. Lycoming: The crop very abundant and the quality
fine. Tioga: Less in yield, but of excellent quality.
MARYLAND.—Frederick: A little rot. Dorchester: Almost a failure, on account of the
482
beetle. Caroline: Did better than was expected. Prince George: Late potatoes almost
entirely destroyed by the beetle. Daltimore: Acreage much reduced, but the crop
much better than last year.
VIRGINIA.—Spottsylvania: Large crop, and very fine. King George: The beetle com-
pletely ruined neglected crops. lizabeth City: Much above average in quantity and
quality. Henrico: Fine. Chesterfield: Very heavy yield; quality good and size iarge,
some weighing 2 poundseach. Highland: Never better. Lancaster: Very good. Wash-
ington: Have rotted, especially the Peerless. Westmoreland: A good crop of very fine
quality. Wilson: Small compared with last year.
FLoripa.—Suwwannee: The second crop not as good as the first.
ALABAMA.—Lauderdale : Good. :
Texas.— Dallas: Yield and quality good. ed River: Abundant; price 75 cents.
Rusk: The second crop promises a fair yield.
ARKANSAS.—Fulton : Excellent in yield and quality.
TENNESSEE.— Monroe: Good. Bradley: Few, but good. Bledsoe: Very good in yield
and flavor.
West VirGINIA.—fiichie : Rotting to some extent. Braxton: A good crop in yield
and quality. Mason: The largest crop ever raised.
Kentucky.—VNicholas: Larger yield and better quality than last year. ~ Ousley :
Badly injured by the beetle.
Outo.—foss: The largest crop for years. JVilliams: In yield and quality the best
crop ever raised. Many specimens weigh 3 to 44 pounds. Isaw one specimen which
weighed 4 pounds and 10 ounces; selling at 25cents, and dullatthat. Sandusky: The
best crop ever known. Van Wert: Plenty, and very fine; 25 to 35 cents per bushel.
Geauga: The most abundant crop ever known; good quality; in some instances one-
half the crop offered for digging. Butler: Late; very short, and poor in quality.
Medina: Only 25 to 30 cents in the county, and in Cleveland market only 30 to 45
cents. The Jersey Peach-hlows sell for the highest price, and Early Rose the lowest.
Monroe: Good; 25 to 40 cents. Perry: Large crop, of good quality. Delaware: Early
Rose very fine; later varieties not so good, Athens; A very large crop, of fine quality.
Trumbull: More plenty, and cheaper than for many years.
MicuicANn.—Menomince : Good in quality, but the yield much less than last year.
Wexford: Enormous crop. Lapeer: The largest product ever. raised, and the quality
remarkably good. Delta: A light crop, and the quality much below par. Tuscola:
Extra crop; 25 cents per bushel. Lenawee: The largest crop ever known. Barry:
Has not been such a crop in ten years. Jackson: Largely exceeds any previous crop
in yield and quality. Mason: Very good. Antrim: Early Rose first-rate; Peach-blows
notripe. Charlevoix: A great yield, but Peach-blows more or less injured by frost.
Newaygo: The best crop ever known in yield and quality; sell for 20 cents, if lucky
enough to find a buyer. Montcalm: A very large crop. Kent: A heavy crop; rot-
ted considerable in heavy soil. ;
Inp1ANA.— Decatur: Yielded enormously, but rotted before digging. Dubois: Very
large crop, but some rotted in the ground. Jasper: The best crop ever known. Mar-
shall: Worth 15 to 20 cents, and slow sale at that. Perry: Small crop, of good quality.
Iniinors.— Piatt : Extraordinary crop in both yield and quality. Fulton: The finest
crop for many years. Woodford: A very heavy crop. Clinton: First-rate. Pike: Good
and cheap. Sangamon: Very abundant. Montgomery: Plenty, the first time for many
years, and of excellent quality. Schuyler: I think 250 rather under than over the mark.
There is but little demand for potatoes at 15 to 20 cents per bushel. Boone: Very large
and fine. Fayette: The finest crop everraised. Morgan: Very great yield, but of poor
quality.
WISscONSIN.—Chippewa: Early, very good; many late pieces were not dug. Dodge:
Good in yield and quality. Walworth: Large yield, of good quality. Crawford: A big
crop. Jowa: Injured by early frosts.
Minnesota.— Meeker: Remarkable yield. Blue Earth : Plenty, at 15 cents per bushel.
Redwood: Excellent in yield and quality. Steele: Large crop. Waseca: Better than
for many years.
Iowa.—Pocahontas : Excellent in yield and quality. Marion: Rotting to some extent.
Harrison: Very fine in yield and quality. Muscatine: The quality decidedly poor.
A peculiar dry black rot has attacked them. Polk: The best crop for many years.
Pottawatomie : Price, 15 to 25 cents per bushel. Linn: Splendid crop. Scott: Unusu-
ally large crop and very fine.
Missourt.—Chariton : A large yield, of excellent quality. Greene: The best crop in
ten years. @amden: Remarkably fine. Cass: Never a better crop. Newton: Good
yield and fine quality. Lawrence: The Early Rose 50 per cent. superior to any crop for
five years. é
Kansas.— Miami: The crop wonderful for extent, size, and quality. Mitchell: Peer-
less, 400 bushels per acre. Cherokee: The finest crop ever raised. Cowley : Very fine
in yield and quality. Butler: The crop has scarcely a precedent, making in some
instances 200 bushels per acre, of the best quality, many of the potatoes weighing more
483 i
than 1} pounds each. Clay: Never better; price, 15 to 20 cents. Labette: Never bet-
ter. Osage: Exceeds any crop before raised. Leavenworth: Badly ripened. 5
NEBRASKA.—Dixon: The best crop ever raised. Lancaster: Very large crop. Hall:
The farmers of Nebraska will remember 1875 as “the great potato year.” From about
3 acres 1,100 bushels of excellent quality were sold off. Anielope: An enormous yield ;
will average 225 bushels per acre, and one acre of my own gave 325, Early Rose and
Harrison, of excellent quality. Clay: An increase of 25 per cent. in acreage ; the yield
twice that of last year, and the quality much better. Nuckolls : Good, and free from
disease. Merrick: Quantity and quality better than since the world began.
CALIFORNIA.—Sonoma: Injured by blight. Lake; Unusually good. Mendocino:
Badly affected by the blight.
OrEGON.—Douglas : Cut short by drought.
CoLtorapo.— Wild: Remarkably good crop.
Uran.—San Pete: Light crop, but the quality very good.
SWEET-POTATOES.
In the rainy section the crop suffered in yield and quality from exces
sive moisture. In the Gulf States and west of the Mississippi the yield
largely exceeds that of last year, and the quality is about average. In
New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland the product is about 3 per cent.
greater than in 1874; the quality in the two former is slightly depreci-
ated, and in the latter slightly improved.
MARYLAND.— JVorcesier: Not average. The summer rains caused rank growth to the
vines at the expense of the potatoes. Caroline: Turned out well.
Vireinisa.—Patrick; Too much rain for this crop. Matthews: Very short crop; too
muchrain. Henrico: Fine. Northampton: Inferior in quality. Chesterfield: Quality
excellent. Lancaster: Very good,
Norta Carorima.—/Iredell :,Of fine quality. Nash: Very fine. Gaston: Good. Chowan:
Only three-quarters of a crop.
GrORGIA.— Berrien: Materially benefited by recent rains. Wayne: Suffered much
from drought; not more than half a crop. Clayton: Short; owing to drougkt. McIn-
tosh : Cut off one-half by the late drought. Wilcox: Cut short by dry hot weather.
ALABAMA.—Clarke : Doing well since September rains. Montgomery: Turning out
exceedingly well. Lauderdale: Good. Covington: Yield per acre short, but large in-
crease in acreage.
IssissipP1.—Pike : Abundant and fine. Newton: Of superior quality. Jefferson:
Splendid.
Texas.—Dallas: Fine yield, of unsurpassed quality. Red River: Abundant; price 75
cents. Upshur: Quality much better than last year. Harrison: Good.
ARKANSAS.—4rkansas: A bountiful crop, of first quality. Fulton: Materially injured
by drought.
TENNESSEE.— Monroe: Almost a failure. Grundy: Inferior insizeand quality. Greene:
Better in quality than quantity. Cheatham: A fair crop last year,and better this.
Bledsoe: Generally very small. Mason: The largest crop ever raised. Ousley: Injured
by the rains, and eut short by frost.
Out0.—Athens : Less than average, and not good.
InDIANA.— Ripley : Yielded well, but were poor in quality.
lowa.—Harrison : Too wet for sweet-potatoes. '
MissouriI.—Chariton: A large yield of excellent quality. Camden: A magnificent
crop. Some specimens weigh 7 to 10 pounds.
Kansas.—Miami: Too wet for sweet-potatoes. . Cowley: Very fine in yield and
quality.
COTTON.
November returns make a direct comparison of the product of this
year with that of 1874. As former reports of condition have indicated,
the States bordering on the Atlantic all show a reduced product, and
those in the Mississippi Valley an increased yield.
Prior to November 1, killing frosts had appeared in the more northern
States of the cotton-belt, in some counties of Northern Georgia, and in
the district north of the Tennessee River, in Alabama. Elsewhere the
cotton-plant was uninjured, and generally in vigorous growth on the .
best lands. In one parish in Louisiana (Claiborne) it is claimed that
z 484
a week’s continuance of fine weather would increase the local yield sev-
eral hundred bales. -
There is much inequality in the progress of packing. In some coun-
ties of Georgia and Alabama the harvestis nearly over. In Mississippi,
the work has been delayed by political difficulties and by sickness. In
Washington County, two-thirds of the crop was ungathered, and it was
feared that Christmas would find one-fourth still in the fields.
Fine weather has been the rule, with a few exceptions; but in
Louisiana muclr fiber has been lost or stained by storms. The effect of
the great September storm in Southern Texas proves less disastrous
than was at first represented.
The amount of lint in comparison with weight of seed-cotton is quite
variable, ranging from 25 to 33 per cent., but, so far as reported, appears
to be less than in 1874.
The State percentages, representing the aggregate quantity as com-
pared with last year, are as follows: North Carolina, 91; South Caro-
lina, 76; Georgia, 74; Florida, 99; Alabama, 102; Mississippi, 111;
Louisiana, 100; Texas, 114; Arkansas, 135; Tennessee, 116.
From a review of the monthly returns of correspondents, it appears
that the area in cotton was increased about 2 per cent. The plant
obtained rather a fairer start than usual, though germination was
delayed on the Atlantic coast region. The June returns averaged, in
condition, a small percentage under the standard of good development ;
in July, improvement was indicated in every State except Texas, where
‘drought and insects were locally injurious, and the average condition
of the entire area was very near the standard, or 100; in August, the
effect of drought, particularly in South Carolina, Georgia, and Louis-
iana, was manifest in a smail reduction of their percentages, yet the
general average for this month was fully as high as that of June; and
in August and September the blighting of drought was followed by
excessive rains, causing injury by floods, by the shedding of bolls, by
rust, and other abnormal conditions, reducing the general percentage,
month by month, from August to October. The following comprises the
tabulated statement of the season from June to November inclusive:
s Condition: 100 representing | ¥
Q average growth and unim- | 98
BS s paired vitality. ard
Or >
States. aS B 33
23 3 | 2 x | es
aon 2 | 8 |se
ee og | 2S eee
iS) Fe >
4/6 | 8.) Se
North Garolinanisecss age ieea se aces sa sbel a eae ee i | 102 92 95 99 90 85 91
Son bh around see eee eee eoeas Seceise elses apa aie ie 106 97 99 84 80 77 76
CCT RD AE Giada RE ALE me dane Bee Sorcducop tunes + 96] 91) 97%); 86) 7 71 4
2a: EE ee ee Sere Shee es a Cae sci ee amor hace crite 99 94] 101 85 75 70 ’ 90
EAU pai aN ei eine eo cnectee se Senne sieccer soa eee ees eee 104} 101} 102 93 87 94 102
Mississippi 102}. 100} 103) 104 98 96 111
PGUISUATION es ies == a5 = ess met el ratio 101 95 |} 105 99 88 90 100
5 US Spa eS er See nee eae 108 96 93 93 94 88 114
IATRKAMSAS ee cao esas od Sac beep ene 101 90 | 104] 108 99 | 103 135
"PENNENSOO setae os nbs =o - awl ap ecient -inlein em 92 99 | 109} 107 96 90 116
The percentages of the several monthly returns of the present year,
up to the last report of “‘ condition,” in October, were higher than in the
previous year, and naturally indicative of a larger crop. A possible
modification of this increase—scarcely a total destruction of it—might
arise in case of an early frost and bad weather for opening and picking,
or both circumstances combined.
485
Next we come to the first direct estimates of quantity expected, made
November 1, before killing frosts appear in the main cotton-belt. The
tabulation of these gives the November percentages represented the
quantity expected this year, compared with the actual crop harvested last
year—figures about which there is no mystery or difficulty, expressing
their meaning so plainly that a wayfaring cotton-broker, though a fool
in his assumed simplicity, need not err therein.
Such is the record made by our correspondents. There will be one
more in December, when all, except a portion of the last picking, has
been gathered. ‘Till then no estimate of the total product will be made
by the statistician. It may be stated, however, to avoid misunderstand-
ing, that the accurate figuring of the November percentages makes an
ageregate approximating 3,900,000 bales—not 50,000 less, as some have
calculated, their error consisting in giving too large a number of bales
to the seaboard States, whose percentages are low, and too small totals
to the Western States, especially in giving Alabama a larger production
than Mississippi, which she lacks by nearly 20 per cent. But the No-
vember returns are always more conservative than those of condition
during the summer, and a careful analysis of the season’s reports, in all
their aspects, would compel an estimate, if made with no further data,
not far from five per cent. greater than the returns of November
alone would indicate. It might be still larger but for comparative late-
ness of development and reduced yield of lint in proportion to seed.
This renders it almost certain that the crop will pass the limit of 4,000,000
bales. So much may be said in advance of the final return and official
estimate.
The best cotton-authorities of this country and of Europe have
already made interpretations of the season’s returns, which accord with
their obvious general tenor. Among them may be named that eminent
European authority, the firm of EKNison & Co., of Liverpool, an extract
from whose communication of October 30 is as follows:
Upon the basis of your reports we have made very successful estimates of the cotton-
crop for two seasons past. Our plan is not to take the condition for any one month,
but the average condition for the season. We may or may not be right in our theory,
but for two seasons we have been suecessful. For the present crop we put down:
3,900,000 to 4,100,000 in July last, when other people were making 4,500,000 to
4,800,000 out of your figures. Since then the tendency has been to come down to our
figures. At present we lean toward 4,109,000, owing to the improved condition shown
in your last report, and we think 4,250,000 possible with an open winter; but we
think 4,500,000 out of the question, and we do not think that at any time this season
so large a crop as 4,500,000 looked at all likely.
Experienced statisticians will not be guilty of the absurdity of inter-
preting any series of crop-reports by a comparison of the returns of any
one month with those of the same month of the previous year, without
reference to all the facts reported throughout the season. With fair
expression of the most reliable human judgment as to the condition of
the growing plant, it would be an impossible thing to indicate
in advance the ultimate outcome in pounds of cotton, evenif the state
of future weather and length of the cotton season could be determined
with prophetic accuracy. In an expected crop of four million bales, a
reduction of the lint from 30 to 284 pounds in each 100 pounds of seed-
cotton would reduce the yield 200,000 bales; and there is greater differ-
ence than this in the yield of different years. If killing frost cuts short
the period of growth and maturation a single week, the season is shortened
one-tenth, and the crop, other circumstances being equal, is reduced at
least a quarter of a million bales; and if the weather afterward con-
’ 486
duces to waste and prevents picking, the reduction may be a half million
bales.
These are circumstances that may, if all combined, which would be
unusual but not impossible, reduce an expectancy of 4,000,000 bales in
October of any given year to 3,300,000, or raise it to 4,700,000. There-
fore it becomes the duty of the crop-reporter to give present facts rather
than utter prophecies that the weather or other agency may overturn in
the next ten days. Even after the crop was nearly gathered and almost
half of it marketed, there were savans skilled in cotton lore that last
winter exceeded the truth a round half million bales in their estimates.
The following extracts from correspondence are appended: '
VIRGINIA.— Dinwiddie: The diminished area to make room for tobacco shortened the
crop. It is opening well.
NortTH Caroiina.—Iredell: The crop better than was expected. Nash : Short staple.
Rust on some lands. Fine time for picking. Gaston: The frost about the 12th of
October caused a much larger per cent. of unripe bolls than was expected. Beaufort:
The picking season has been rather too wet, causing some rotting of bolls. Chowan:
Injured by rust; staple short. Fine weather for picking. Wake: Short crops; the
first picking yielded an astonishingly small proportion of lint; the late picking yields
better. Wilson: Staple short and not yielding well. Camden: Better than indicated
one month ago; the weather all that could be desired. Anson: Materially shortened
by protracted drought and early frost. Rutherford: The increased product owing to
increase in acreage.
SouTH Caroiina.—Fairfield: The great frost on the 16th of October cut short all
hope of an average crop. Marlborough: All gathered, and turning out unusually bad
from the seed; it requires 1,400 pounds to make a bale this year in place of 1,200 last.
The weather was fine for picking and the lint is clean. Orangeburgh: Injured by
drought. Clarendon: Less than half the product of last year; four pounds of seed
yield one of lint. Marion: The yield of lint 10 per cent. less than last year, the seed--
cotton being 80. Newberry: The yield higher than expected, but the lint rather short.
Georgetown : Injured by frost on the 16th of October. Lexington: Not over two-thirds
of a crop, but the quality very fine. Spartanburgh: Late cotton injured by frost.
Edgefield: The percentage of poor cotton smaller than ever before. Laurens: Will be
more yellow cotton than usual. The proportion of lint to seed-cotton less than last
ear.
| GEORGIA.— Berrien : The top-crop materially benefited by recent rains. Harris: Al-
most a complete failure. Montgomery: Yielding much better than anticipated; the
staple much better than usual and the finest weather for picking. Dougherty: Have
had through the month splendid weather for cotton, which, if it continues, will add
materially to the crop. Forsyth: Not over 75 per cent. of an average; 1;700 bales, of
450 pounds, will cover the crop, and 300 of these will be stained. Gwinnett: The staple
is fine, and yields one pound of lint to three in seed, and pay for ginning. Terrell: The
weather warm and dry, and some cotton may yet open. Worth: Badly rusted, and
lint very light. Clayton: Very favorable for gathering; nearly all picked out in good
condition and is of good quality. Floyd: The top-crop greatly damaged by a killing
frost October 14. Upson: Short crop, and of inferior quality. Dooly: Badly injured
by dry weather and rust. McIntosh: Cut off one-half by the late drought. Mitchell:
Rusted and shed its fruit. : Wilkinson: Injured by drought and rust. _ Wilcox: Cut
short by drought and rust. Carroll: Light yield, owing to drought and rust. Han-
cock: Turning out poorly. JValion: The crop will be full average. JWhiifield: Greatly
injured by severe frosts. Appling: The full crop cut short by dry weather. Douglas:
Favorable weather for picking. Putnam: A frost, about three weeks since, killed all
the cotton. Milton: Owing to favorable weather, the yield at least 10 per cent, better
than anticipated. arly: A wonderful top-crop of grown and half-grown_bolls, but
slow in opening.
FLOoRIDA.—Gadsden : The promise of a top crop on clay-lands has improved since the
last report. Favorable weather for picking and help abundant.
ALABAMA.—Clarke: Since the September rains a new crop has started in places; a
Jarge number of bolls, nearly full grown, are on the plants, and, should no severe frost
come, will open and make cotton in eight or ten days. Greene: Said to be the best
crop for many years. Jéadison: Injured 10 per cent by the heavy frosts. Montgomery:
Will average about 170 pounds of lint peracre. Shelby: Favorable weather for cotton-
opening. Chambers: Nearly all gathered and sold. JZauderdale: The lightest crop
since 1866. Limestone: Cut off fully 33 per cent. by a destructive frost October 12.
Russell: The bulk of the crop gathered and sold. franklin: Scarcely two-thirds of a
crop will be gathered. . Monroe: Very favorable for gathering. The quality of the
487
lint not so good as last year, owing to drought and rust. Covington: A large increase
in the quantity planted, but shortened by what is reported as rust, but is in reality the
ravages of small insects. Colbert: Favorable season for picking, but a large part yet
unpicked for want of labor. Will average about 700 pounds per acre in seed-cotton
and 235 in lint. Wilcox: Very favorable for picking. Barlow: Very favorable for
gathering; picking almost finished. Conecuh: Owing to absence of frost the plant is
doing well, and will reach a full crop. Bullock: The favorable fall has improved the
‘yield greatly.
Mississipr1.—Grenada: The increased acreage makes the aggregate 10 per cent.
greater than last year. Not more than half as much picked out as last year at the
same date, owing to much sickness, polities, and laziness. Pike: Nearly a full crop,
but the quality not very good; being gathered and brought to market rapidly. War-
ren: Some loss by rains and winds. Lafayette: The quality greatly improved by the
favorable weather of the past month. Newton: The yield fully one-third less than
last year and the lint of inferior quality. Wayne: Since the 15th of August has grown
finely, and is maturing very well. Washington: From present appearances nearly one-
fourth of the crop will be found in the fields on the Ist of January for want of labor ;
not one-third yet gathered, though the better part of the season is past. Lee: An unu-
sual amount open and unpicked in the field. Lowndes: Favorable weather for gather-
ing. Tishemingo: Not as much in market at date as last year, owing to much sick-
ness. dams: Fine weather for picking. Jefferson: Reduced by early frost, rot, and
rust.
LoursaNa—Iberia: The crop largely better than any since the war. Lafayette: Last
year, 50 per cent. of an average; this year, 75. Caldwell: More favorable than antici-
pated in September. Morehead: Turning out better than was expected. West Feliciana:
The picking-season one of the most unfavorable ever known, owing to excessive rains.
Caddo: Very trashy, from being beaten and blown out of the bolls by wind and rain.
Labor picking well, and the crop will all be gathered early. Madison : .The crop being
saved in very good condition. Claiborne: Heavy rains and winds have greatly injured
the quality. There is now a crop of green bolls just beginning to open, good staple,
and, if the present favorable weather holds on a week, the crep in this parish will be
increased several hundred bales. Franklin: The yield of seed-cotton per acre will equal
last year’s, with a greater proportion of lint of superior quality. Saint Landry: Fine -
weather for picking. Concordia: Picking retarded by sickness; loss by storms and rot ;
an immense amount open and unpicked.
Trexas—Bowie: Turning out a great deal better than expected. The Red River bot-
, toms are yielding an average of 500 pounds of lint per acre and the uplands 200. Dal-
las: Turning out fineiy. The crop will average 400 pounds of lint per acre, and in
quality will class above any crop before raised in thecounty. Palo Pinto: Better than
for several years. Washington: Yields a little over half a bale per acre. ed River:
Abundant erop; better, than for many years. Fine weather for picking, but labor
searce. Upshur: The fall remarkably favorable for the maturing of the late crop; often
see the cotton-bolls ripe and open from the ground tothe top. Williamson: Acreage and
product increased over last year. Collin: Opening very fine, and very favorable weather
for picking. Cooke: Good time for picking. alls: The fall very favorable for cotton.
Rusk: The greater portion gathered. Lavaca: The top crop is maturing, and much
has already matured. The cotton from this county has graded higher than ever before.
Poik: The damage by flood and wind not as great ds at firstsupposed. Anderson: Fa-
vorable indications for a heavy top crop. Harrison: The crop nearly all gathered.
Lamar: Far the largest and best crop since the war; the lint very fineand good; classes
very high in market. Nacogdoches: The crop hasimproved. Smith: Fine weather, and.
the crop stilf doing well. Bosque: All late cotton damaged by drought and early frost,
but very fine season for picking; quality good. Titus: Yield much better than ex-
pected; the weather fine and the crop nearly gathered; lint fine and staple bet-
ter than for many years. Fort Bend: Owing to the very favorable weather, much more
has been picked than was anticipated. Bastrop: Mostly saved, owing to the favorable
season. Matagorda: A fair indication of nearly half a bale per acre. . Hunt: Fine
weather for picking.
ARKANSAS.— Arkansas: Good; great part picked; favorable weather. Boone: The
ry weather the last two months has caused the crop to open better than usual. Little
River: Extraordizary yields; in four or five large crops the first picking is reported as
yielding 2,000 pounds per acre, and as much more in the field. Dallas: Most favora-.
ble weather for housing the crop. The fiber the best I have seen for years. The labor
better than it has been. Fulton: So much superior to last year’s crop that I was
tempted to put it at 500. JIzard: Very favorable fall for picking, but much sickness
has caused the larger part to be left still hanging on the stalk. Marion: On very rich
soil the stalk grew too large, but on land not so rich, particularly on sandy soil, the
crop was extra fine and opened well. The lint of finequality. Saint Francis: Greatly
damaged by rust or blight. Yeil: The season has been very favorable for opening and
picking. Some farmers have made 450 pounds of lint per acre. Bradley: Being gath-
488
ered slowly, owing to more sickness than for a number of years. Independence:
Seriously injured by early and severe frosts. Very favorable for picking. Woodruff:
Will fall short of the September estimate 33 per cent. Ouachita: Matured and opened
earlier than ever known before. Weather very favorable. Jranklin: In making the
estimate 130 indicates the quality; the aggregate product will be at least 200 per cent.
more. The fall exceedingly favorable for cotton. The staple is good in quality and
condition.
TENNESSEE.— Lincoln: Seriously injured by trost. Maury: Seriously damaged by
frost. Gibson: Very seriously damaged by frost. Putnam: Slow in opening and not
as good as usual. Jayetie: Better than last year 10 per cent., but 15 to 20 per cent.
below an average. ftutherford: Damaged by frosts. Wilson: The yield very light.
Tipton: The acreage 10 per cent. less, but the crop 10 per cent. greater than last year.
Hardeman: Very fine on new lands, but light on old. Giles: The outlook gloomy ; the
crop will prove a great loss to those growing it.
TOBACCO.
Our November returns indicate an increase in the tobaceo-yield of
over 75 per cent. as compared with last year, when a partial failure was
experienced. All the large tobacco States show a marked inerease in
production, especially Tennessee and Kentucky. The New England
crop has increased about.10 per cent. in quantity, and every county
reporting from this region indicates a greater or less improvement in
quality. The cut-worm was injurious in some parts of Connectient dur-
ing the early stages of the crop, making the growth somewhat uneven,
but favorable conditions for curing indicate a very fine quality for leaves. -
for cigar-wrappers. The other tobacco States of the Atlantie slope
indicate an increased production and an improved quality. Maryland
increases her yield about one-tenth and Virginia and North Carolina
between a fourth and a third. Worms were troublesome, disfiguring
the leaf in Amelia, Virginia; and excessive rains are complained of in
one or two counties; but the general conditions of growth, harvesting,
and curing appear to have been very satisfactory. Iredell, North Caro-
lina, reports the finest bright wrappers ever produced in that county.
Quite a number of counties doubled their production. Georgia and the
Gulf States all show an increased yield. In Bowie, Texas, some farmers
made two crops. The plant will probably be grown on an enlarged
scale in this region hereafter. All the Southern inland States show an
increased product and an improved quality. A lack of skill in curing
is noticed in some counties of Arkansas and Kentucky. In some of the
more northern counties frost cut off some of the crops, and in others a
lack of sunshine is noted; but these were exceptions to the prevalence
of good growing and curing weather. No complaints of any sort accom-
pany the reports of Tennessee, where the yield has increased enormously
from last year. In all the tobacco States north of the Ohio River there
has been an increased production, but a greater or less decline in quality.
In many cases the erop was cut green to avoid frost, which was very-
destructive. All the States west of the Mississippi report a great
increase in yield, especially Missouri and Nebraska. Chariton ané How-
ard Counties, Missouri, will probably market each 10,000,000 pounds of
fine quality. Frost was but slightly felt here, but was more severe in
some other counties. In Contra Costa, California, an experiment in
tobacco-culture upon thirty acres of dry soil, unirrigated, was quite suc-
cessful. It is thought that California can raise a very fine article of
smoking-tobaceo.
ConnectricuT.—Hartford: Very much injured by the cut-worm in its earlier stages,
which makes the growth uneven. Favorable weather for curing, and appearances
indicate a very fine leaf for cigar-wrappers.
MaryLanpv.—Montgomery: Perhaps the largest crop ever grown. The quality gen-
erally good and secured in good condition. Howard: A good planting, growing, and
489
gathering season and a largerarea than usual combine to give us alargecrop. Charles:
The crop one-third better in quantity and quality than last year, and the yield of last
year was underestimated. Calvert: The season for curing fine.
Vireinra.— Caroline: Harvested in good condition ; the weather favorable for curin g.
Carroll: Beyond any previous year in quantity and quality. All I have seen is of the
first grade, and will be used exclusively for wrappers. F'luvanna: The largest crop for
10 years. Powhatan: The figures (200 for quantity and 150 for quality) I think are
below the reality, but prefer to fall below the mark rather than overestimate. Spott-
sylvania: Tobacco (marked 150) ought to be put 300 for quantity. Pittsylvania: The
quality injured by too much rain. Dinwiddie: The area twice that of last year. The
erop was cultivated and secured with more care than any previous one; no grass to
bother, but few worms, and just rain enough to make it grow. Orange: The season
has been unusually favorable for curing, and the quality will be above average. Ame-
lia: The excellent season of August and September has given a large crop. The yield
is large in pounds, but the leaf is disfigured by worms. They were more numerous
than ever before. Henrico: We have but little, but the yield is double the average.
Chesterfield: Large area, yield very heavy, cut and cured in good condition; quality
average. Grayson: Much larger and better product than last year.. Halifax: Quality
injured by excessive rains. Mecklenburgh: The season very propitious for cutting and
curing ; none injured by frost.
“NORTH Carouina.—VForsyth: A very large crop; I think over 1,000,000 pounds in
this county. Jreddl: All housed and safe; at least double the quantity of last year
and fully equal in quality. Have seen the finest samples of bright wrappers that I
have ever seen in the county. Haywood: The wet which destroyed the cereals has
been an advantage to the tobacco. Caswell: The staple in this county, poor in quality,
in weight will fall 2& to 30 per cent. below the average. Davie: Double last year’s
amount, and of better quality. Person: Seriously damaged by wet weather while
ripening, yet almost a double crop.
Froriwa.—La Fayette: Badly injured by drought.
ALABAMA.—Covington: Increased acreage and the quality improved as the farmers
learn better how to handle it.
Trexss.—Bowie: Will be an extensive product in the future. Better this year than
ever known before, and in many instances has made two crops. Titus: A large crop
planted, but much died out from dronght.
ARKANSAS.— Arkansas: A good crop, but not well cured in some places. Fulton: A
choice crop in yield and quality.
TENNESSEE.— Maury: Not over fifty acres last year; this year the acreage ten times
' greater. Gibson: The area larger than since 1865. Putnam: Acreage 50 per cent. above
average and the quality very good. Cheatham: Have put the crop at five times as
much as last year, and think this is short of the reality. The quality is much better.
Trousdale: The fall very favorable for tobacco. The crop will be larger in pounds
than in 1873, but not so good in quality. Wilson: A large crop has been made and all
eut before trost. Dickson: Housed in good condition. Robertson: Will about equal
the crop of 1873 in product, and the quality 25 per cent. better than last year. Lewis:
Five times the amount that was raised last year. :
WEST VirGiIniIA.— Putnam: Too much rain and too little sunshine for the crop. Suwm-
mers: Above the average in every respect 50 per cent.
KentTucky.—Adair: The latter part of the season very favorable and the crop im-
proved very much. Lewis: The product very satisfactory. Inexperience in tending
and securing the crop affected the grade and quality. Cumberland: The greater por-
tion will be of inferior quality. Nichols: Some injured by the early frosts. Ohio: The
last six weeks quite favorable, and the yield will be larger and the quality better than
anticipated. Todd: About 90 per cent. of an average crop, but the product compared
with last year is 150. Warren: All housed and of fine quality. Breckinridge: A full
average crop for any year. The quality reduced by its being of a smaller staple.
Graves: The largest crop we have ever housed, but somewhat impaired in quality.
Butly : A large crop and but little frosted.
Inpiana.— Vanderburgh ; Not quite a fall crop, but the quantity at least double that
of Jast year. Warwick: A poor crop in yield and quality.
Intryvo1s.—Johnson : Most of the crop was cut too green through fear of frost, hence
the inferior quality.
WISCONSIN.—fock: Acres in 1874, 518; in 1875, 2,210. A good growth, but the Au-
gust frosts did much damage, especially on low ground.
Missouri.— Chariton: The crop estimated at 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 pounds in the
eounty. Many think this estimate too low. The quality is fine. Not damaged by
worms or storms, and but a small portion by frost, and that slightly. Camden: A heavy
erop, but somewhat damaged by frost. Perry: Average with last year, but only half
a erop and poor quality. Howard: The yield will probably reach 10,000,000 pounds.
CaLIFORNIA.— Contra Costa: About 30 acres were raised for the first time. It did re-
markably well on dry soil, without irrigation. The promise is that we can raise the
fimer varieties of smoking-tobacco to perfection.
2A
490
FRUIT.
The yield of the various fruits corresponds to the low condition indi-
cated in our previous reports. The year has been mostly one of disas-
ter to the fruit-growers, though some parts of the country have enjoyed
a total or partial exemption from this injury. Late spring-frosts follow-
ing severe winter-freezes, with the recurrence of low temperatures in
April, crippled all the leading crops at the opening of the season. Insect-
injuries were inconsiderable in extent, though quite a variety of these
pests were noted at different times in different parts of the country.
The severe winter of the previous year had killed many of the bearing
trees. Those parts of the country which received good crops found the
high prices of transportation a great hinderance to their disposal; so
that, while some communities were entirely destitute, others were com-
pelled to see their crops rot on their hands or dispose of them at unre-
munerative prices.
GRAPES.—Grapes attained higher condition than either apples or
peaches, yet the yield equals last year only in Rhode Island, Delaware,
Maryland, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, and Oregon. In New England °*
early autumnal frosts shortened the crop. In some parts of New York
and Pennsylvania the fruit did not ripen, but turned sour; while, in
Virginia and South Carolina, there is complaint of late spring-frosts.
In South Carolina there was a tendency to rot, but the Seuppernong
showed its characteristic vitality in the South generally. Few specific
complaints came from the region south of the Ohio River, Texas, or
Arkansas, though the yield in several of these States was below last
year, Kentucky not being over two-thirds. North of the Ohio River
and west of the Mississippi River the crop was quite scanty. In the
southern counties there was a tendency to rot, while to the north there
was a failure to mature and an early recurrence of frost to cut off the
crop; yet some counties report extra crops. The crop of California,
though full average, falls 10 per cent. short of last year in its yield. In
Lake County the crop was injured by the white fly. In Utah grapes
which escaped frost were generally fine.
APPLES.—The apple-crop yielded above last year in Rhode Island,
Mississippi, Texas, and Arkansas. In all the other States the yield is
reduced, the minimum, 13 per cent., being in Ohio. The distribution of
disasters was quite singular and capricious ; while Rhode Island gathered
25 per cent. more than last year, Connecticut harvested 74 per cent. less.
The Atlantic slope reports a greatly diminished yield, though in some
counties there was an abundance of good fruit. The Gulf States do
better, nearly equaling their previous year’s gathering. The Southern
inland States, except Arkansas, are all below last year, West Virginia
not gathering over 20 per cent. of her previouscrop. North of the Ohie
the case is still worse, the crops ranging from 13 per cent. in Ohio to
62 per cent. in Michigan. West of the Mississippi River the yield is
larger, ranging from 36 per cent. in Kansas, where many trees had been
destroyed by grasshoppers, to 89 in Minnesota. California gathered 70
per cent., and Oregon 93 per cent., of last year’s crop. Drought injured
the crop in some parts of the Pacific slope.
PeARS.—This crop did not suffer quite so severely as the apples, but
it falls below last year in all the States except Florida, Texas, and Ar-
kansas. It returned the smallest averages in West Virginia, 26 per
cent.; in Ohio, 32 per cent.; and in Virginia, 36 per cent. The New
England and Middle States and Maryland gathered at least three-fourths
of last year’s crop; South Carolina, about half; and the Gulf States,
491
- about seven-eighths. The other States, both north and south of the
Ohio River, exhibit the same destructive meteorological conditions
which so nearly destroyed the apple-crop. The States west of the Mis-
sissippi, except Kansas and Nebraska and on the Pacific slope, will
average over three-fourths of last year’s crop. In the neighborhood of
Salt Lake, Utah, the codling-moth was destructive to this fruit as well
as to apples.
Marne.— Piscataquis : Few apples on the trees, and small in size. York: The frost
of September 25 spoiled our grapes. Waldo: The lightest crop of apples for years.
New HampsHire.—Grapes destroyed by early frosts.
ConnectTicuT.—New London: Grapes injured by frost.
New York.—Queens: All kinds much less than last year, especially grapes and
pears. Washington: Apples and pears more plentiful than was anticipated, but have
not ripened well; grapes in many of the best yards are nearly a failure, becoming sour,
instead of ripening naturally. Steuben: The grape-crop short, from dry and cold
weather. Wyoming: Grapes did not ripen; pears, half crop and blighted.
New Jersry.— Warren: Very short crop of apples, but good in quality ; the crop of
pears good in product and quality.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Bedford : Grapes poor in quality; did not ripen well. Erie: Not
over one-tenth the fruit in the county there was last year. Potter: Nearly a full crop
of apples. Tioga: A large crop of grapes, but they did not mature well; a small crop
of apples of first-rate quality ; a good crop of pears of fine quality.
MARYLAND—Dorchester : Apples abundant. Caroline: Best crop of apples for years ;
ears dropped off before maturing. Prince George: Very few apples. Baltimore:
bundant fruit for home consumption; grapes a reliable crop of late years.
Vireinia.—Pittsylvania : Grapes promised better than ever before, but rotted before
ripening. Page: Our fruit-crop almost an entire failure, owing to frosts in the spring.
Dinwiddie: Late frosts injured the grapes and nearly destroyed all the apples and
pears. Chesterfield: Large yield of pears and good in quality. Washington: Grapes
rotted badly.
Norra Caro.imna.—Davie: Grapes very good. The Concords and the Clintons stood
the wet weather better than any other varieties. Hertford: The grape-crop very
abundant. Chowan: Grapes short; frost in spring killed the buds, except Scupper-
neng, which are fair.
SouTH CaroLia.—Clarendon: Small varieties of grapes rotted badly; the Scup-
pernong the only kind that reached an average. ~
Mississippi—Pike: Apples, pears, and grapes very fine.
Loutstana.— Union : The fruit-crop unusually large, and of superior quality.
Trexss.—Red River: Apples and pears improving every year in quantity and quality.
ARKANSAS.—Fulion : Apples and grapes fine.
TENNESSEE.— Monroe: Grapes good; pears almost, and apples quite a failure, Brad-
bd pe Grapes abundant; sold at 5 cents. Greene: Grapes yielded largely, but rotted
adly.
WEsT VirGinii.—Jefferson: Heavy crop of grapes; apples and pears light. Bercer :
Less fruit than for ten years.
KENTUCKY—Lewis: Apples a failure, except on old seedling trees. Meade: The
yield of apples much greater than anticipated in the early season. Campbell: The
fruit-crop an absolute failure.
Ox10.—Pickaway: Apples and other fruit almost a complete failure. Preble: No
apples, and grapes considerably afiected with the rot. oss: Except two or three va-
eee of grapes, all fruit a total failure. Monroe: Very little fruit; grapes almost a
ailure.
MicHIGAN.— Kalamazoo: Apples not over half acrop and not of first quality ; grapes
much injured by frost. Allegan : A large yield of grapes, but did not ripen well. Lena-
wee: The largest apple-crop ever known. Hillsdale: Double the apples expected,
and the quality very fine. A fair yield of grapes, but seriously damaged by frost.
Jackson: Grapes more than half frozen on the vines. Livingston: Apples cut short.
Leelenaw: Grapes did not ripen well. Newaygo: All kinds of fruit unusually light
except grapes.
ILLino1s.— Mercer : Grapes did not ripen well. More apples and better than were
anticipated. Pike: Apples scarceand high. De Witt: Apples almost afailure. Grapes
in some vineyards matured nicely ; as fine as lever saw ; in others, not half a mile dis-
tant, they began to rot when half grown and not a tithe ripened. I have never seen
the like before. Franklin: The grape-crop nearly a total failure from rotting. The
apples dropped from the trees and rotted badly. McHenry: Grapes promised well,
but were overtaken by frost before maturing, Montgomery: A hail-storm destroyed
many ef the apples left by.the spring frosts. Grapes were badly injured by the wet
492
weather. Schuyler: Never so near a total failure of apples since orchards commenced
bearing. Boone: Few apples. Morgan: Almost no apples. ,
WIsconsin.—Brown: At least two-thirds of the grape-crop did not ripen. Clark:
Grapes fatally injured by the August frosts. Jefferson: Grapes a total failure from
frosts. Washington: An abundant crop of grapes was spoiled by a hard freeze in
September. Jowa: The best crop of grapes for many years spoiled by frost.
Mriynesota.—Isanti : Apples and grapes damaged by frost in August.
Towa.—WMarion : Good crops of apples and grapes. Decatur: A good crop of fruit.
Harrison: Grape-crop fine, and apples unusually fine.
MissourI.—Perry: Apples half acrop. Grapes all rotted. Schuyler: The grape-crop
was rotted by the warm moist weather.
CALIFORNIA.—Sonoma : The grape-crop a full average, though 90 compared with last ©
year. Butler: The fruit-crop almost a failure owing to the dry season. Lake: Grapes
injured by the white fly.
Uran.— Washington: Pears good; grapes extra; other fruit damaged by frost. San
Pete: Grapes and apples much injured by hail. Salt Lake: Apples and early pears
destroyed by the codling-moth. Beaver: Fruit entirely destroyed by frost in June.
HAY.
In 1874, New England, except Maine, and the Middle States, reported
a large crop, of good quality. Compared with last year’s crop, Maine
reports aa increase of 10 per cent, but in the other States of that sec-
tion, also in Virginia and West Virginia, there is an average falling off
of about 13 per cent.; the principal cause being an early drought. In
New England, as a whole, the good quality of 1874 is fully maintained ;
but in the other States throughout the whole section north of the thirty-
sixth parallel, and east of the Mississippi, the quality was much dam-
aged by the rains prevailing in the season of cutting and curing. In
all that section, Michigan is the only State which returns an average
quality equal to that of last year. West of the Ohio and south of Vir-
ginia, Georgia, 97, Alabama, 96, Louisiana, 98, California, 92, and Oregon,
99, are the only States returning a yield below last year’s. In the fol-
lowing States, which report an extraordinary increase on last year’s
crop, the figures for 1874, as compared with the previous crop, are
given first, as affording a better indication of the import of those for
1875: Mississippi, 100; 145; Texas, 113; 121; Arkansas, 74; 200;
Tennessee, 75; 126; Illinois, 95 and 116; Kansas, 94 and 184; Ne-
braska, 81; 216. The entire crop, compared with that of 1874, is 3 per
cent. greater in quantity. .
MAINE.— Piscataquis : Not secured in good condition, owing to bad weather. We are
learning that it pays to cut hay early. Aroostook: Abundant, but much injured m
quality by rains in the cutting-season.
VERMONT.—Caledonia : Quality extra.
New York.— Washington: The crop materially injured by a large white grub. Sul-
livan: Suffered by drought; not much over half a crop.
New JersrEy.— Very light crop, and not gathered in good condition, owing to heavy
rains in July.
PENNSYLVANIA.—Monroe: Very short, owing to drought. Bedford: A larger crop
than last year, but much damaged by excessive rains. A good crop of aftermath was
secured in good condition. Montour: Very light, nearly a failure on upland, owing to
drought. Potter: A full crop, of excellent quality. ;
MARYLAND.— Frederick : Probably less than 40 per cent. of a crop. Howard: A great
deal damaged by the protracted wet. Baltimore: Short crop of all kinds.
Vireria.—Carroll: Suffered very much from wet weather during the haying season.
Powhatan : Good, both cultivated and wild. Spottsylvania: Very shortcrop, but good in
quality. Floyd: The quantity reduced by drought, and the quality greatly injured by
wet weather. Dinwiddie: Late frosts and early drought cut short the quantity; the
quality is good. Wythe: A much larger crop than last year, but the quality very bad ;
it being impossible to cureit, owing totherains. Chesterfield: Short. Highland: good
yield and quality. Washington; Very much injured by wet weather in harvest. Franklin :
Much entirely lost in curing, and the remainder greatly injured. i ‘
Nortu CaroLina.—Good crop. Davie: Could not be cut at the proper time, owing
to wet weather. Chowan: Muchdamaged by wet weather.
493
ALABAMA.—Montgomery : Our hay, that promised nothing the ist of August, is now
turning out heavy and of excellent quality. Lauderdale: Never so great before; prin-
cipally Hungarian andGerman millet. Colbert: A large quantity saved.
’ Mississrepi.—Jefferson : Splendid.
Texas.—Red River: Abundant and fine crop. Collin: Second crop extra.
ARKANSAS.—Arkansas: A good crop; somewhat damaged by rains. Julton: A good
crop, but injured by rains.
TENNESSEE.—Grundy: Great quantities of wild hay have beensaved. Greene: Much
destroyed by floods and rains. Putnam: Extra crop; more saved than ever before.
Cheatham : Better in quantity and quality than last year. Rutherford: Large crop of
superior quality. Wilson : German and Missouri millet and Hungarian grass were sown
in large quantities, and a very heavy yield of hay has been secured. Robertson: Good
crop. The acreage of German millet and other annual grasses was largely increased.
WEsT VIRGINIA.—Puinam: Spoiled by rains; no good hay. Ritchie: Damaged, at
least 25 per cent., by floods. Swmmers: Greater yield than last year, but injured by
rains. Braxton: Large product, but damaged by therains. Monongalia : The smallest
crop in twenty years. Monroe: Better than last year 25 per cent., though not quite
average.
Kentucky.—VNicholas: Very light, and put up in a damaged condition. Meade:
Product large, but very much injured by the rains.
Oun10.—Pickaway : The crop equal to last year’s, but that was short; the quality the
worst for years. Morgan: Muchinjured by wet. Van Wert: Badly damaged by wet. .
Clark: Large crop, but much damaged by rains. Monroe: Much damaged by the
rains. Noble: Injured by floods. Athens: Greatly injured bythe rains.
MICHIGAN.—Delta: A light crop. Montcalm: Very poor.
InpiAna.— Vanderburgh: Cut late and injured by rains both before and after cutting.
Decatur: Was good, but damaged, and much of it lost by the rains. Hamilton: The
quality very inferior. Warrick: Fine yield, but large per cent. damaged.
Inirno1s.—Piatt: Prairie-grass was better than usual and a large amount was saved
in excellent condition. There was also considerable Hungarian raised and well saved.
Clinton: Never more nor better. . Seed that was sown with wheat last fall,-has pro-
duced, since the wheat was cut, from one to two tons per acre. Macoupin: A larger
crop than usual, but saved in an inferior condition. Saint Clair: A very fine crop very
poorly saved. Lffingham: A much larger crop than usual, but of very poor quality.
Morgan: Damaged by rains.
als mer adel : Good. Walworth: In unusual abundance, and of the best
quality.
Mixnersora.—The best in quantity and quality, both tame and wild. Winona: Seri-
ously injured in the stack by excessive rains. Pope: Damaged byrains. Steele: Much
injured in yield and quality by rains.
lowa.—Story: Damaged by overflows. Hardin; A heavy crop, much damaged in
stack. Harrison: The floods destroyed great quantities on the bottoms. Some farmers
lost 200 or 300 tons in the stack. Madison: Damaged by rains. Zmmett: All wild, but
never more abundant or better. 4
Missourt.—Nodoway ; Prairie-hay never better. Benton: Magnificent. Christian:
Much damaged by rains. Vernon: Prairie-hay seeded this year and the crop enormous.
Johnson : No timothy or clover, but those who had prairie-meadows or sowed Hun-
garian grass or millet, reaped a bountiful harvest. Perry: Abundantin yield but poor in
quality, owing to rains. Morgan: Badly damaged byrains. Newton : Heavy crop, but
injured by rains. De Kalb: Cheaper than at any time for five years. Howard: Hun-
gavian grass and millet are abundant, but timothy was destroyed by the worms. Cape
pig oy : Reduced by ravages of the army-worm. Butler: A good crop but damaged
y rains.
Kawnsas.—Cherokee: Very fine. ‘Cowley: Large and fine. Osage: Exceeds any crop
before raised. Atchison: Fifty per cent. more put up than usual. Leavenworth: In
excess of any previous year, and of very good quality.
NEBRASKA.—Cass: Very much damaged by the rains. Clay: More than last year
25 per cent., and of better quality.
CaLirorRNiA.—Placer: A full crop, of splendid quality.
BUCKWHEAT.
Returns indicate that the entire product equals that of last year.
Early frosts reduced the crop largely in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minne-
sota, and slightly in the section east of Lake Erie. Except in Wiscon-
sin, 45, the crop does not fall more than 1 per cent. below that of last
year in any State in which it is extensively grown. Maine returns 116;
Vermont and New York, 99;.New Jersey, 100; Pennsylvania, 112;
494
Michigan, 132. These States grow considerably more than four-fifths
of the entire crop. In the Missouri Valley the figures are very high,
owing partly to the reduced yield last year. They are, compared with
previous crops, for 1874 and 1875, respectively, in Missouri, 65 and
237; Kansas, 43 and 202; Nebraska, 50 and 544. This great increase
in product is also owing in part to a largely increased area—20 per
cent. in Missouri; 23 in Kansas, and 28 in Nebraska. In Virginia,
West Virginia, Missouri, and Nebraska, the silver-hull variety, from
seed from the Department, is reported as a decided success, being very
prolific in yield; in Madison, Nebraska, ‘‘ by count, one stalk yielded
3,040 grains, after some grains had been lost off in carrying it to the
house.” The product was 12 per cent. greater than last year in Michigan,
Indiana, and Texas, and 18 per cent. in California,
CONNECTICUT.—New London: Injured by frost.
New Yorx.—Steuben: Affected by frost. Saratoga: Early sown, very heavy; late
sown, badly blasted.
PENNSYLVANIA.— Monroe: One farmer sowed 4 bushels on the 5th and 6th of July,
and thrashed 331 bushels. Sullivan: Never better. Butler: Not such a crop in quan-
tity and quality for the last twenty years; all housed in good condition. Tioga:
Good yield and fine quality.
MARYLAND.—Caroline: Cut by the frost.
VIRGINIA.— Spottsylvania: A fine crop. Highland: The best crop for many years.
The silver-hull, from the Department, takes the lead of all other varieties, being ear-
lier, heavier, and more productive.
WEST VirGINIA.—WVercer: Good; the silver-hull preferred.
Oun10.—Perry: Plenty, and of good quality. :
MicHican.— Wexford: Nearly ruined. Ottawa: Injured by frosts, early and late.
Emmett: That sowed late an entire failure. Lake: Almost a total failure from frost.
Mason: Almost all killed. Muskegon: Destroyed by frosts. J/ontealm: A good crop.
InDIANA.— Decatur: A good crop. Marshall: Extra good.
WIsconsin.—Eau Claire: The light crop owing to frost August 22. Dodge: Killed by
frost in August. Jefferson: A total failure, owing to early frosts.
MINNESOTA.—Redwood: Has yielded far better than last year. Isanti: A very large
penoentaae damaged by frost in August. Mille Lac: Entirely destroyed by frost in
ugust.
Iowa.—Hardin: More extensively sown than usual, and yielding well. Marion:
bert poor crop. Harrison: Increased acreage, and fine crop. Howard: A failure from
rost.
Missour1.—Cass: The like of the crop was never raised in the county before; aver-
age, 15 bushels per acre. De Kalb: Raised more extensively than ever before. The
silver-hull, from the Department, is a success, giving large returns.
Kansas.— Osage: Exceeds any crop before raised.
NEBRASKA.—Cass: A great amount sown, in consequence of the destruction of wheat
and corn by the grasshoppers. Madison: The silver-hull did very well.
SORGHUM.
An extraordinary increase in this crop, over last year, is indicated in
the Southern States and in the Missouri Valley. Georgia returns an
increase of 40 per cent.; Alabama, 93; Mississippi, 83; Arkansas, 121 ;
Tennessee, 59; Kentucky, 28; Missouri, 54; Kansas, 90; Nebraska,
66. Further north there is a general decrease, though Indiana, 116,
and Michigan and North Carolina, 108, are exceptions. While Dear-
born, Indiana, reports a very heavy increase in the product, Butler,
Ohio, reports that the culture is decreasing every year, and Medina,
that it has already reached the vanishing point. The report from Cow-
ley, Kausas, states that at least one-third of a crop, very fine in quantity
and quality, will not be worked up; the reason is not given, but appar-
ently because the crop exceeds, by that much, the capacity of provided
machinery. Our correspondent in Kane, Utah, reports that fields in
that county have yielded as high as 200 gallons of sirup per aere; also,
495
that he raised, on 1} acres, 250 gallons of excellent quality, weighing 11
pounds per gallon, and worth $1 per gallon.
Nortu Carorina.—Hertford: Above an average crop, yielding well.
GrorGis.—Clayton: Have made more than since the war. Dooly: Injured by dry
weather.
ALABAMA.—Calhoun: The figures for sorghum (800) may seem unreasonable, but it
is the first year it has been raised to much extent in this county. I know of three farm-
ers in the same vicinity who have made, in the aggregate, over 3,000 gallons of good
sirup; and nearly all the farmers have made their own supply. Chambers: The people
have made more this year than heretofore. Conecuh: Yield 1U0 per cent. greater than re-
ported in October, Bullock: Unusually large crop planted, and the yield improved by
the favorable fall.
MississippP1.—La Fayette: The favorable weather of the past month has improved the
quantity and quality in an unprecedented degree. Choctaw: Not less than 50,000
gallons of sorghum molasses made in the county this year.
TExas.—Red River: Good; raised to a considerable extent this year; none here-
tofore. Upshur: Twice as much made this year as in any former. Rusk: A good
deal of sirup made and the culture on the increase.
ARKANSAS.—Fulton : Splendid crop, and quality of sirup choice.
TENNESSEE.—Blount: Good; more made than for several years. Monroe: A heavy
crop, and the quality of sirup superior. Greene: Good. Loudon: Farmers are improv-
ing very much in raising sorghum and making sirup. Rutherford: An enormous crop.
Wilson: Much above an average.
Onto.— Butler: The culture growing less and less every year. Medina: We have
ceased to grow sorghum.
InDIANA.— Dearborn : A very heavy increase in the produet.
Iowa.—WMarion: Very poor crop. Calhoun: Very poor yield. The stalks seemed to
be destitute of the usual amount of sweetness.
Missouri.—Johnson: More abundant than anticipated, and good molasses is being
manufactured.
Kansas.—Cowley : Very fine in yield and quality, but at least one-third of the crop ,
will not be worked up. Osage: Exceeds any crop before raised.
NEBRASKA.— Antelope: Excellent in quality ; average yield, 100 gallons of sirup per
acre.
HOPS.
New Yor«K.—Schoharie: More than an average crop, good in quality; selling at 10
cents.
WIsconsin.—Juneau : The least profitable of any crop; average price not over 8
cents. Clark: Fatally injured by the August frost.
Iowsa.—Jones: About 25 per cent. of an average crop. Fremont: A large crop.
CALIFORNIA.— Contra Costa: A yard of 10 acres is the first planting in the county.
The plants grew well under unfavorable conditions, and the product is half a crop of
choice quality. Mendocino: Becoming an important crop; the acreage 50 per cent.
increase on last year, and a fair yield.
FLAX.
On10.— Van Wert: A great crop, but damaged by rain.
Inirnors.— Piatt: A larger area sown than ever before, but, owing to the excessive
rains, little of the crop was harvested, and that in bad condition. McLean: The crop
for seed was a good deal injured by the long-continued rains. Boone: Unusually large
acreage, and yield as high as 17 bushels per acre.
MINNESOTA.—Pope: Did not yield nor fill well.
Iowa.—Hardin: Sown toa greater extent than ever before, but damaged by wet
weather.
Missouri.—De Kalb: A good crop; never raised here before.
Kansas.—Bourbon: Badly damaged by rain, after being harvested.
NEBRASKA.—Clay: Did not yield as well as last year, but the acreage was much
larger and the product is fully 500 per cent. greater.
496
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EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
SMALL POTATOES FOR SEED.—JHlizabeth City, Virginia: I have made
an experiment the past season, the result of which, I think, explodes the
theory that small potatoes for seed will only return a small crop of small
potatoes. Cut seed planted under our burning July sun is sure to rot,
while the use of large whole potatoes involves considerable expense. A
square of ground containing 2,500 square feet, from which a crop of
cauliflower had recently been taken, was prepared and planted July
12, with white Peachblow culls. Few of them, if any, were larger than
pigeon’s eggs. Asis always the case here, even with the best seed,
some failed to grow, say 5 percent. The plants began to show them-
selves early in August, at which time heavy rains set in and so continu-
ally saturated the soil that no working was possible until September 5.
Then-a plow was run through the rows and a dressing out with the hoe
was given them. Soon after the vines so covered the ground that
further cuitivation was impossible. The patch was harvested October
30. The product was a fraction over 20 bushels of the largest and finest
potatoes ever grown in this section. With the exeeption of 23 pecks
of small potatoes, about the size of the seed sown, all are large. Fully
one-half average one pound each in weight, and the remainder are of
full marketable size and fine appearance. Thisyield is at the rate of
350 bushels per acre. A heavy coat of barn-yard manure was applied
to the previous crop, but no additional fertilizer was used.
Mast.— West Virginia, Braxton: The corn-crop is supplemented at
least one-third by the very large acorn-crop. It is large in quantity
and very good in quality. Hogs are getting very fat in the woods, and
the crop will probably feed all the hogs left in the county, after butch-
ering, all winter.
Indiana Hamilton: A fair crop of mast.
Drovucut.—Kansas, Wabaunsee: There is a great drought in this sec-
tion; no rain toamount to anything since July. Cattle are being driver
five and six miles to water. If winter should set in without rain, our
condition would be alarming, for over one-half of our population would
be entirely without water.
Hoes.— West Virginia, Jefferson: About 109 hogs have died of cholera
within the past six weeks; about a dozen have been stolen from the
pens during the past month, and 700 or 800 have been driven from the
county, mostly at 7 cents per pound, gross. Nearly all went to the Han-
nisville distillery near Martinsburgh, Berkeley County.
Ohio, Montgomery : There has been a serious loss of hogs by cholera.
Some farmers have lost all their stock. The usual remedies have failed
to save them.
Indiana, Bartholomew: The cholera has played sad havoc with our -
hog-crop this season. It will not exceed half that of previous years.
Fayette : Hog-cholera has been prevailing, and is still, to an alarming
extent. Many farmers have lost $1,000 worth of hogs. Hogs of all ages
have died. The remedies heretofore thought to be good have failed.
Henderson : Hogs have all died, so that there will not be enough in the
county for our own meat. Johnson: Hogsare dying of cholera and other
diseases to an alarming extent. It looks as if the farmer would have to
turn his attention to some other kind of stock. JZawrence: Hogs are
dying with the cholera at a fearful rate. Pike: Onur hogs have been
499
and are dying with cholera, in consequence of which the crop will be
short. ;
Illinois, Fulton: Hog-cholera is prevailing to an alarming extent.
Clinton: About one-third of our hogs have died of cholera. Pike: Hog-
cholera bad. Vermillion: A great deal of hog-cholera in different parts
of the county. Hancock: Hog-diseases more than usually present.
Scott: A great many hogs have died with cholera.
Wisconsin, Richland: Fat hogs have been mostly bought up and
driven out of the county.
Towa, Marion : Hogs are extensively diseased. <A very large number
have died within the last three months. Many farmers have barely
enough left for domestic use. The disease is called hog-cholera. I think
it a disease of the throat and lungs. Washington: A few hogs have
died with cholera.
FINE MERINO WOOL FOR A DIME.—WNebraska, Saunders : I send here-
with a sample of Nebraska wool from sheep unhoused and unwashed ;
such as can be grown in any portion of the State at a cost of 10 cents
per pound, and in the western portion for less. Will Congress con-
tinue the present wool-tariff until this great national industry becomes
fully established throughout the West? Millions are involved in the
solution of the question.
RESULT OF SEED-DISTRIBUTION.— Wisconsin, Outagamie: There will
be hundreds of acres of Fultz wheat sown in this county next year.
There were over 700 bushels raised this season, all from the 4 quarts
sent me by the Department four years ago. The Schonen oats are now
sown by nearly all the best farmersin the county. They average at
least 10 bushels per acre more than any other variety. So it is seen
that the introduction of new seeds is doing a great amount of good,
especially for field-crops. Clark: The Fultz wheat furnished by the
Department is growing into general favor. It makes about two weeks
earlier than the other varieties. The different varieties of oats and bar-
ley furnished by the Department seem well adapted to our soil and cli-
mate.
Kansas, Woodson: At our district fair (including four counties, and
open to the world,) the Westchester corn from the Department bore away
the premium; also the silver-hull buckwheat took the first premium ; it
yielded 45 bushels per acre; also the red (Etampes) pumpkin. It is
large, rich, Sweet, and the grain solid and fine as that of a squash.
Allen: From seed sent out by the Department were produced a mam-
moth squash weighing 115 pounds, and a total on one vine of 1,096
pounds; also potatoes weighing 2 pounds each; beets, 9 pounds; tur-
nips, 14 pounds; cabbage, 36 pounds.
Nebraska, Thayer : The winter-rye sent from the Department, in hard-
iness and yield, beats anything in these parts.
Virginia, Grayson: From seed sent to me by the Department last
spring, I have raised large bright yellow pumpkins, weighing 112 and
117 pounds apiece.
North Carolina,-Forsyth: Myr. A. Fagle, from 1 bushel of Clawson
wheat raised 41 bushels.
Arkansas, Saint Francis: The Westchester yellow-corn sent from the
Department last spring is a grand success; I raised some that measured
13 inches to the ear. It is some three or four weeks earlier than our
ordinary corn, and yields as much per acre as the very best. Benton:
My Willis corn yielded 40 bushels per acre; common white, 55; Penn-
sylvania yellow, 65.
JUV
Tennessee, Macon: The early yellow corn forwarded to me by the De-
partment is the largest field-corn within my knowledge.
OUTSTRIP THE BEETLE.—New York, Montgomery : In many of the
potato-fields beetles have been found in the hill this fall, ready for the
next year’s crop. In view of this would it not be well for the farmers
to plant the early kinds as early as possible? They might thus avoid
destruction by the beetles.
Maryland, Cecil: The early planted yielded tolerably well where care
was taken to destroy the bugs; the late planted and late varieties were
more seriously injured. The true plan is to plant early and early varie-
ties; they then ripen before the later swarms of beetles make their
appearance.
MINOR CROPS.—Pennsylvania, Bedford: Broom-corn is being intro-
duced and promises to bea profitablecrop. The yield isgood. Beaver :
The farmers have grown a larger breadth of beets and turnips than
usual, and have succeeded well.
Maine, Cumberland: The culture of cranberries in this county is in-
creasing, but the yield this season is small.
Florida, Manatee: Oranges are in fine shipping condition. Putnam:
Oranges in product are 125; in soundness for shipping, 150. Bananas,
compared with last year, are 150 in product and 125 in quality.
Ohio, Medina: Onions are a drug in the market at 40 to 45 cents.
Wisconsin, Walworth: All root-crops have done well.
Lowa, Johnson: Timothy for seed is a staple crop in this county.
Five to six bushels per acre are generally harvested and the hay is good
for feed after thrashing. It pays as well as any other crop. Scott:
Onions are raised very extensively in the county, and this year have
been one of the most profitable crops, where suitabie land could be had.
The yield is from 200 to 450 bushels per acre.
Missouri, Cass: Over 20,000 bushels of castor-beans have been de-
livered already, and there are at least 5,000 more to be delivered. Saint
Clair : Castor-beans have been a profitable crop this year. Vernon: A
large acreage and good yield of castor-beans, averaging 15 bushels per
acre.
Kansas, Mitchell: An unusual acreage of turnips has been grown. All
vegetables are of an enormous size: beets, 12 inches long and 8 inches
in diameter; pumpkins, weighing one hundred pounds; corn, 17 feet
high, with two and three good ears on a stalk; Peerless potatoes, 400
bushels per acre. Tree-growth is also remarkable: cottonwoods grown
from last,year’s seedlings have made 7 feet; seedling apples, 3 feet 8
inches; hedge from seed, about the same.
LARGE YIELD OF WHEAT.—Pennsylvania, Lancaster: I raised 600
bushels of wheat on 32 acres, (182 bushels per acre,) and this is a fair
average of the county.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS.—Arkansas, Prairie : Tne Department of Agri-
culture should be so enlarged as to put a copy of the report in the hands
of every farmer on payment of the cost of publication. Ihave very
many more applications than reports to distribute, and I loan my own
copies until they are almost worn out.
GRASSHOPPERS.— Texas, Gillespie: The grasshoppers arrived two_
weeks since and are depositing their eggs. Uvalde: Grasshoppers ap
peared here from the north in great numbers on the 25th of September.
They seem southward-bound though they are checked up by a heavy south
wind. Coming to the ground, they immediately commence feeding on
501
anything green, though they prefer beans, cabbage, and other soft veg-
etable varieties. For the last few days they have been very busy in
depositing eggs in the ground. They prefer sandy loam for that pur-
pose. In places, the earth is literally filled with eggs to the depth of
ene inch. Bandera: We have had myriads of grasshoppers for a month.
They made their appearance two weeks earlier than formerly.
Missouri, Jefferson: The meadows are literally covered with small red
grasshoppers. Franklin: Grasshoppers are damaging wheat in some
places. Moniteau: The destructive grasshopper, Colopterus spretus, is
seattered in small numbers all over our county, and great fears are en-
tertained that they are depositing eggs.
Utah, Bow Elder : The grasshoppers havecome from the north in clouds
and are depositing their eggs in various parts of the county.
WHEAT-PLANTING.— Pennsylvania, Beaver: The wheat sown this fall
is not making the progress in growth it should. The weather of Sep-
tember was unfavorable. Jndiana: Prospect that a greater area of
small grain will be sown this fall than ever before. lk: A very great
breadth sown.
Virginia.—Spottsylvania: Sowing has commenced, and the eround i isin
fine condition. Caroline: The ground is in excellent. condition. Page:
Seeding is progressing finely.
Texas.— Coryell: A larger acreage than ever before will be planted.
Dallas: The acreage will “be increased 25 per cent.
Arkansas.— Arkansas: Many have sown, and the plant looks beauti-
ful.
Tennessee—Giles: A large acreage will be sown. Loudoun: Being
planted in better condition than usual. Hancock: The weather is very
favorable, and a larger acreage than usual is being put in. Henry:
September was so dry, that no stubble-land could be plowed. This will
render wheat-sowing universally late,and much will be sown in bad
order.
West Virginia.—Marion; The ground is in fine order, and more than
average acreage is being sown. Wood: About the usual amount has
been, and some more will be, sown.
Ohio.— Franklin: It has been a very hard time for farmers to put in
their wheat, and the usual quantity is not yet in. Montgomery: The
prospect for wheat is moderate; the dry weather, since the floods,
has baked the ground badly. - e
Indiana.— Ripley : Less than usual will be sown. The want of good
seed and very dry weather make it very difficult to seed. Hlkhart:
Wheat has been sown on good moist soil, has germinated well, and has a
good start. Brown: Wheatis not coming up well. Marion: The ground
is very dry and hard, which renders seeding difficult, and leaves the grain
sown in bad condition. Gibson: Seeding progresses finely.
Illinois.—Monroe : Stubble-land is so dry that farmers dislike to sow.
In many cases they are leaving the rolled fields to wait for showers.
Scott: Less has been sown than for several years. Marshall: But little
pe sown this fall. Massac: Itis too dry for breaking up land for
wheat.
Missouri.—Jefferson: Owing to the dry weather no wheat has been
sown yet. Boone: There will not be more than two-thirds of an aver-
age crop sown. The ground is too hard to plow. Camden: Owing to
dry weather very little has been sown, and the indications are that
there will be a falling off in area of 25 per cent. Nodaway: The new-
sown wheat is 110. Crawford: Very. dry, and but little has yet been
sewn; not over one-third of last year’s area will be sown. Perry: It is
502
too dry to prepare for seeding. We have not yet begun, when we ought
to be nearly done. Moniteaw: No rain since the last of July, and very
little sown. Franklin: No rain for six weeks. The ground is so hard
that farmers cannot plow; 20 per cent. less than average will be sown,
and that late. Jasper: No rain for two months, and wheat-sowing
nearly suspended. Putnam: Late rains have made the ground in good
condition, and a large area is being plowed for fall crops. Pettis: The
eround is too hard to break up, owing to the extremely dry weather,
and there will not be nearly last year’s amount sown.
Kansas.— Woodson : The area will be double that of previous years.
Bourbon: Dry weather makes it bad for sowing wheat. Jackson : More
sown than in any previous fall. Cloud: The seeding isalldone. Labette :
Chinches have injured the wheat after it came up, by killing some.
Lyon: Dry; the wheat not growing, and much of it not up. The pros-
pect for a crop next year is growing less every day, but that which
was drilled in early is growing and looks well. Cowley: A full crop is
being putin. Shawnee: A large acreage sown.
ke Pennsylvania.—Bureau : An increased breadth sown, but the wheat
has not grown as it should. Lancaster : Thickly and well set, and looks
very fine. Oolumbia: Planted in good condition and looks very fine.
Maryland.—Harford: A greater breadth being put in than usual. At
least three-fourths of the farmers prefer drilling. The fine weather
causes the crop to look well. Queen Anne: An unusual breadth seeded.
The almost entire failure of the oat-crop for several years past has
induced the farmers to put nearly all their corn-land into wheat. This
has been seeded rather late, but fertilizers have been used freely, and
abundant rains have put the crop in fine growing condition. The Fultz
wheat has grown in public favor rapidly, and all who could obtain seed
have seeded largely with it.
Virginia.—Caroline: The weather has been favorable for seeding.
Spottsylvania : A fine fall for seeding wheat. A greater breadth than
usual sown, and looks well. King George: Farmers have generally fin-
ished sowing. The wheat comes up well. Middlesex: The weather is
remarkably pleasant and fine, and efforts are being made to seed heavy
erops of wheat. Frederick : The wheat sown from the 20th of Septem-
ber to the 1st of October was never exceeded in promising condition.
North Carolina.—Nash: More seeded than usual. Caswell: Fall
remarkably favorable for seeding, and a full average sown.
Georgia.—Harris : The farmers have planted largely. Troup: Will
be more sown this year than last. Barton : Early-sown wheat is look-
ing well. Carroll: Planters will sow largely ; more than usual. Doug-
las: The farmers are sowing a great deal of wheat. Jefferson: The
ground is dry as an ash-heap; in condition for nothing bat sowing
wheat, oats, &c. My experience is that the cereals all do better sown
in dry weather. More:small grain will be sown this fall than for a num-
ber of years. . :
Alabama.—De Kalb : Preparations are being made to sow a wide area
of wheat.
Texas.— Dallas: Planters trying to sow. The seeding will be much
retarded for want of rain. Cooke: The ground so dry and hard that
wheat-sowing is suspended. Uvalde: Wheat-sowing deferred up to
date, waiting for the disappearance of the grasshoppers. Bastrop:
Will be a greater breadth sown than last year. Hunt: Too dry to sow
wheat.
Arkansas.—Baxter : So dry that farmers have not sown any wheat,
and cannot tillit rains. Boone: Se dry that no wheat has been sown
503
yet. Prairie: The best season ever known for sowing grain. IJzard:
No rain since August, which has greatly retarded the sowing of wheat
and rye. Marion: The extremely dry fall unfavorable to sowing
w heat.
Tennessee.—Knox: The ground better prepared than heretofore ; bet-
ter seed selected, and more being sown. The past year demonstrated
clearly the marked value of the drill and fertilizers. Fayette: The
acreage is being increased considerably this fall. Montgomery : Grass-
hoppers are eating the early-sown wheat, which injures it very much.
Farmers unusually backward in putting in wheat; dry weather. Giles:
A large acreage being seeded.
West Virginia.— Marion: Larger acreage than usual sown ; has come
up, and looks remarkably well. Wood: Looks finely.
Kentucky.— Hardin: Looks badly, on account of the dry weather;
grasshoppers have eaten a good deal.
Ohio.— Miami : Wheat-fields are looking green and in the best con-
dition. Vinton: September and October dry. The ground is hard;
wheat backward and looks bac. Montgomery: The seeding has been
later than usual, owing to the bad condition in which the summer-rains
left the ground. It will require a favorable November to make the
growthlarge enough to stand the winter. Clark: Much ground has been
seeded, and looks well. Mercer : Making a splendid start ; never looked
better. Crawford: Looking well. Fairfield: Growing wheat rather
backward. Harrison: Starting well.
Michigan.— Washtenaw: Looking well. Charlevoix: October was
too cold and wet for late-sown winter-wheat.
Indiana.—Grant: Early-sown wheat looks well. Madison: Young
wheat looks rather poor, having no rains and no warm weather. Posey:
Our farmers are sowing very large crops, using the most approved
plows and drills. Dubois: A large breadth is sown, notwithstanding
the weather was very dry in breaking-time. A large portion of it is
drilled. Lawrence: An average acreage sown, which looks exceedingly
well. Pike: A large acreage sown and looks well.
Litinois.—Pike : The weather is dry and the wheat small. Crawford:
A dry fall and the prospect for a wheat-crop next year very poor.
Wisconsin.—Clark : The area of winter-wheat:will be much larger
than last year. Crawford: The prospect is poor, on account of late
sowing, wet, and cold. Richland: Less sown than usual.
Missouri.—Camden: Indications that not one-half as much will be
sown as last year. Franklin: Continued drought has caused farmers
to be very late in sowing. Grasshoppers are damaging wheat in some
places. Moniteau: Not one-third of the usual amount sown. No rain
since July 31. Benton: The seeding this fall presents a fine appear-
ance. Saint Francis: Very little sown owing to dry weather, and what
has been sown and come up is being destroyed by the Hessian fly.
Maries; None of any consequence sown; set in dry the middle of
August, and no rain yet. Cape Girardeau: The fall too dry for the
wheat-crop; many farmers still sowing. Clay: A drought has pre-
vailed for two months, very trying to the small grain seeded, but a rain
last night will make all right.
Kansas.—Jefferson : Looking well, though the weather is almost tod
dry. Clay: Never looked better. Lyon: The dry weather hard on
wheat; much of that sown has not sprouted. Marion: Grows very
Slowly; very dry since August 1. Leavenworth: Does not grow well
tor want of rain.
5 04
California.—Stanislaus : Farmers have planted two-thirds of their
grain, and a fine rain gives them a good prospect.
Utah.— Box Elder: As it has been proved that fall-wheat will grow
faster than spring-wheat, and be out of danger of the grasshoppers be-
fore they become developed for work, the farmers are striving to put
in much this fall, but the process is difficult, as we have had no rain for -
a long time.
AGRICULTURAL VICISSITUDES.— Varyland.—Howard: Our people are
advancing rapidly. We are putting up many new houses and other
barn-buildings, and are materially improving our farming implements
and processes. The politicians are beginning to act with more honor
and patriotism, and with their help we shall have an agricultural mil-
lenium in Howard County. .
North Carolina.— Beaufort: Until this year this county has imported
large quantities of hay fromthenorth. This year it has imported none,
and the quantity of long forage, mostly fodder and sheaf-oats, now on
hand, is more than sufficient to supply all demands until the next crop
comes in, Duplin: A larger breadth of wheat will be sown in this
county than ever before, and our farmers are generally returning to the
system of raising their own supplies of every kind. If the low price of
cotton continues, this county will sell pork and corn, instead of buying,
within two years. Pork at $8 per hundred, the present price here, is a
much better business than cotton at $12 per hundred.
South Carolina.—Barnwell : With short crops and short prices we are
to have a hard time, butitmay be beneficial in driving our farmers to the
production of what they now import, and at less cost. Marion: The
outlook for the farmers is gloomy; a short cotton-crop and a low price
for the staple, while 35 per cent. of the hogs have died of cholera.
Georgetown : Great mortality among hogs and poultry throughout this
eounty during the past summer. The extent of the loss among hogs
could not be ascertained while they were pasturing in swamps and woods,
but now that they are looked for to put in potato-fields, &c., they cannot
be found. In many cases from } to 4 of the number are missing.
Georgia.—Harris: The farmers have lost largely this season, and
much suffering is anticipated another year; but they have planted
largely in wheat, rye, oats, and barley, and the prospect is good. Clay-
ton: Our prospect is better than it has been since the war. We have
planted more corn, and it has been better cultivated; we have also
made better crops of wheat, and will fatten more meat. We shall be
nearer self-sustaining than usual, though the price of cotton is low, and
I suppose will be, until our people learn not to plant so much, to the
neglect of other crops which we ought to raise. Upson: Cotton is sell-
ing below the cost of production. This will leave the mass of planters
and farmers in debt, with little or no hope of extricating themselves ;
all the result of the blind policy of planting cotton to the exclusion of
home-supplies. Mitchell : Cattle and sheep are healthy and in fine con-
dition, but only a few hogs are left by the cholera. The short corn-crop
will necessitate the buying of both corn and meat by our planters, very
few of whom will be able to pay cash, owing to the short cotton-crop
and the unremunerative price. Hence, they must pay big rates of in-
terest for acceptance by the coimmission-men. The outlook is notin the
, least encouraging.
Alabama.—Greene : The farmers are in a fair way to prosper. We will
import no corn and less meat than usual. The cotton-crop, though the
price is low, will almost pay the county out of debt. The freedmen have
more to show for their labor than any year since 1865. Henry: Our
; 505
people are fast awakening to the importance of raising all our supplies
of every kind asnearly as possible—corn, small grains, bacon, and
beef—and not devote so much land, time, and labor to cotton-planting,
toour own injury. Marengo: A favorable change in our mode of planting
is apparent this season. Cotton and corn are not the. only products
raised ; oats, field-peas, sorghum, and sugar-cane are attaining the im-
portance of crops. A wide-spread interest, also, is shown in improved
cattle, sheep, and hogs. We can raise almost everything we need to
feed and clothe ourselves, while we are blessed with a climate healthful
and delightful. This portion of Alabama cannot be surpassed in the
world as a farming country. Russell: More grain, especially rust-proof
oats, will be sown this fall than ever before. The low price of cotton
has forced the majority of farmers to change their smoke-houses and
corn-cribs from the West to nearer home. The general topic is, more
grain and less cotton. The bulk of the latter has already been gath-
ered and sold; yet times are tight and tighter, and meat is scarce and
searcer. Hundreds of families, both white and black, have not had
a pound in a week—some, in months; rabbits and opossums are all the
meat they get.
Mississippi.cLowndes: An abundant supply of corn has been housed,
and in many places a surplus. There is a great demand for hogs and
stock of all kinds to breed from; indications are hopeful. There is a
general determination to diversify products, plant less cotton, and
become self-sustaining. Cotton is below the cost of p:oduction, and
necessity will force the planter to raise home-supplies. Choctaw: The
farm-stock numbers about 30,000. There appears to be a great improve-
ment in every branch of agriculture; also in procuring new and
improved farm-implements, in reducing expenses, and bestowing better
preparation and cultivation on a decreased acreage. Kemper: There
is a greater disposition to diversify crops. More small grain is being
sown, particularly wheat. Z
Texas.—Falls: It is an unmistakable fact that cotton is ruining us.
Our people must try mixed husbandry, or all go into bankruptcy. Har-
rison : There is a disposition here to sow grain, and to plant less cotton
and more corn. Many farmers have already sown wheat, oats, barley,
rye, &c., for pasture next spring. This is a move in the right direction,
for almost anything will beat cotton, as the price now is.
Arkansas.—Prairie: The drought of last year has been of great benefit
to our State in turning the attention of farmers to other crops than
cotton and corn. Nearly all our farmers will be out of debt with the
proceeds of this year’s crops. Quite a number of our farmers have
bought steam-power for gins, and several new steam gins and mills
have been built. Saint Francis ;: Farmers are intending to abandon cot-
ton and go into the production of small grains, in order to avoid bank-
ruptcy. Sebastian: Our success with wheat, oats, and barley has very
much encouraged us to go ahead with further experiments. There will
be less cotton and corn and more small grain planted in 1876 than ever
before.
Ohio.—Medina: We have,ceased to grow sorghum; I hardly know
why. The extent in the western reserve counties in 1873 was as fol-
lows: Ashtabula, 9 acres; Lake, 1; Medina, $; Portage, 3; Mahoning,
7; Geauga, Cayuga, and Lorain, none. According to the State statis-
tician, we have decreased from 4,696,089. gallons of sirup in 1866 to
692,314 in 1873. The southern and some of the new western counties
continue to grow it in considerable quantities.
Michigan.—Sheboygan : This county is new, but is,being rapidly!settled
3A
506
with thrifty and active farmers. Some three hundred families have
moved in within the past year.
Indiana.—Posey: The great flood along the Wabash Valley and tribu-
taries swept away fully one-half of our corn-crop. But the farmers
have gone to work, replaced the fences, cleared out their fields, and say
they will raise the next season, the Wabash permitting, the largest corn-
crop ever grown. They are sowing very large crops of winter-wheat,
and using the most. approved plows, drills, and other modern labor-
saving machines.
Illinois.— Livingston: At this season last year a great scarcity of all
grains existed; now we have plenty, and to spare. What we have to
buy is low; what we have to sell brings a fair price. This is about as
near the millennium as the average farmer expects to get. White: The
outlook before us for the coming winter is dark. But all our stock that
- we could spare, except horses and mules, has been sold off and shipped
to the more fortunate localities, from whence we will ship corn for our
remaining stock.
Wisconsin.—Jureau; The hog-crop will pay better than any other farm-
production in this county; price 6 to 7 cents, live weight. Hops are
the least profitable of any crop; the average price in this market is
about 8 cents, which is not more than half the cost of producing. Clark:
The whole season has been very uncomfortable and unprofitable.
Although a larger area was planted and sown, the yield has been far
below the average. Still, the farmers are not at all discouraged. They
are making preparations for a much larger planting next spring. The
area of winter-wheat will be much larger. Crawford: Times are good
for farmers out of debt, though hard for those having demands to meet.
Wheat is worth $1 per bushel : corn, 50 cents; barley, 7 75 cents; oats,
more than a full crop, 25 cents ; ; potatoes, a big crop, 25 cents; cattle,
$2 to $3, gross; hogs, $6.50 to $7, gross; sheep, gross, $2.50 to $3.
Shawano: This is a new county, mostly settled by Germans. Among
its products in 1875 were about fifty tons of maple-sugar and about one
thousand bushels of blueberries marketed.
Minnesota.—Nobles : We have produced the past season the best crops
ever raised in the county, both in quantity and quality... Martin: Can-
not report in comparison with last year, as we produced nothing of any
account, owing to destruction by grasshoppers. This year all kinds of
crops raised here are generally good. Broom-corn, a specialty with some
of our English farmers, was of first quality, but suffered much for want
of help to save it. Help could not be secured. Wheat averaged 20 to
22 bushels per acre. It was but little damaged, about half being No. 1.
Steele: The season has been a good one for farmers. All kinds of grain
are turning out a larger yield, and less injured by the August rains than
expected. Dairy products have yielded well, and .bear remunerative
prices. The end of the season finds the farmers in better condition than —
for three or four years.
Towa.— Guthrie : Our people < are not ready for winter, and are behind
every way. There is too much speculation, and not enough good farm-
ing; too many mortgages on the farméPand not enough manure and
clean culture. Ruin is coming to hundreds of homes in this way. Des
Moines; Since the 20th of May, about twenty-six inches of water has
fallen. While this has damaged our crops very materially, it has stimu-
lated tile-draining to a wonderful degree; so that good may yet come
from an apparent evil. Jasper: Lowa has less corn by 15 per cent. than
at. this date last year. The high price of corn during the year, and the
507
_ failure of the wheat-crop, caused the old corn to be sold out closely,
especially as a large new crop was in prospect.
Missouri.—Saint Clair : Our people are hauling more produce to the
railroad, at various points, than ever before: castor-beans, broom-corn,
flax-seed, onions, potatoes, and cabbage. The two years of failure have
recuperated the soil, and caused the people to plant more kinds. Hence
every one has something besides corn to sell. Johnson: Nearly all the
pear-trees standing one year ago have since died, or are badly blighted.
The cause is difficult to discover. The autumn has been propitious for
the farmer. No excessive rains have fallen to injure the fodder of corn
in the shock, which is our main dependence as forage for the winter. Even
corn cut entirely green is now thoroughly cured. All vegetables that
are seasonably late are abundant, and of excellent quality. Clay: Since
the destruction by the grasshoppers, crops of all kinds have grown
beyond precedent, as to quantity aud quality. Food for stock is abun-
dant, and pastures abound with rye instead of blue-grass. Laclede:
Although the floods destroyed much corn, wheat, oats, &c., on the river-
bottoms, yet almost all kinds of crops are good. The uplands are so
much better than common that the whole crops are placed above aver-
age and the prospects of the county are far better than last year.
Kansas.—Miami: The failure of wheat, oats, timothy, clover, flax, &e.,
by ravages of the grasshopper, caused the planting of an extraordinary
breadth of corn, potatoes, beans, buckwheat, and vines of all kinds.
Then the finest season for the growth of these crops has brought our
farmers bountiful harvests of them. There was a little too much rain
for sweet-potatoes, but the season was just right for Irish potatoes and
corn. Ears of corn 12 inches in length, and well filled with the most
solid grains, are quite common. The potato-crop is wonderful for
extent, quality, and size, worth 15 cents in the market here. The crops
of pumpkin and squash are great. Of the Chilian mammoth squash,
many weigh 100 pounds, and the premium one at our county fair weighed.
143. Our people are well supplied with everything but “ greenbacks.”
Nemeha; Last year we had almost nothing; this year we have a great
abundance. Cowley: Our corn-crop this year, averaging 35 bushels
per acre, will yield 1,250,000 bushels; wheat, 20 bushels per acre,
500,000 bushels; oats, 40 bushels per acre, 250,000 bushels. Graham:
All our crops were destroyed last year, while this year they are all good.
Osage; Last season we had nothing worth noting; this season our crops
are large beyond any precedent.
Nebraska.— Dixon; Neither corn nor potatoes were raised last year.
The whole crops were destroyed by grasshoppers. This season we have
the best crops ever raised.
THE DESICCATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES,
BY THE COMMISSIONER.
There is, perhaps, no subject which at this moment is commanding
more attention, and none which possesses more substantial interest to
the agriculturist, than the process for the preservation of food. Of all
the vegetables which supply the wants and provide for the comfort of
men and animals, there are but few that do not soon decay and are lost.
And perhaps, of all the fruits and vegetables that grow, it would be
508
safe to say that one-fourth at least become useless and perish, because -
there are no means at hand for their preservation. From seventy to
ninety per cent. of them all con-
has sists of water, which is the cause
yeas of their decay.
Sth In all time the desiccation of
fruit and vegetables has been
deemed an industry of some im-
portance and of great necessity ;
but it is carried on by a process
so slow, so uncertain, so ineffi-
cient, and so unprofitable, and,
withal, so unsatisfactory in its
results, because of the oxidation
of the substance dried, of its loss
of some of its valuable constituent
parts, and especially of its expos-
ure to vermin during the long pro-
cess of drying. Itis, therefore, a
matter of congratulation that the
minds of ingenious men have been
successfully applied to the inven-
tion of machinery by which any
species of fruit or vegetable may.
be so effectually, speedily, and
cheaply desiccated as that it may
be kept for any time and in any
climate, without decay or injury.
Within the last few years three
several machines have been pat-
ented, each of which professes to
have attained the desired object—
a perfect desiccation of fruits and
vegetables. :
In 1861, letters-patent were
granted to Francis H. Smith, of
~ Baltimore, ‘ for improvements in
-the drying and preserving of
fruits, vegetables,” &c. In 1870, like letters-patent were granted to C.
Alden, of New burgh, N. Y. In June, 1875, letters-patent were granted
to A. J. Reynolds, of Baltimore, for a machine called “ Reynolds’s im-
proved evaporator.” a
. It may be truly said of all these, that it is their object, their principle,
their plan, and mechanical operation, by the application of artificial
heat, to drive off all the water which is contained in the matter sub-
jected to them, without depreciating in any degree its valuable proper- -
ties; so that when the fruit or vegetable is again subjected to water, it
is restored essentially to what it was before it went into the machine.
It is doubtlessly true that the slow process of drying by exposure to the
sun and air greatly oxidizes and discolors the material, and doubtless
deprives it, to some extent, of its saccharine constituent; while the oven,
which is used for the same purpose, is somewhat irregular in its action,
not effectually drying some and scorching some, while it also deprives
the material of some of its valuable constituent parts. The merits of
the machines lately invented, I believe, consist in the application of
artificial heat to the material to be desiccated, within a confined space,
509
whereby it is speedily dried, and not subjected to the escape of any of
its constituent parts, except that of water. The fruit is preserved in its
purity, to be restored to its original condition when again subjected to
water.
It is not my province to exercise any judgment, nor do I purpose to
express any opinion of the relative merits of these patented machines,
but only to communicate to the agricultural community an idea of the
mechanical structure of them, that they may judge of their mode of op-
eration, their efficiency, and their practical usefulness.
Of the first two named, Alden’s and Smith’s, while [ readily observe
the difference in their mechanical operation, I confess I cannot perceive
any difference in the principle which governs the application of heat,
or the result obtained. Each consists of a vertical square box of wood,
lined with galvanized iron, varying in height from fifteen to five and
twenty feet, in which is hung a series of shelves, about nine inches apart,
upon which is placed the fruit. or vegetable to be dried, and at the bot-
tom of which artificial heat is applied? These shelves, made of wire or
of any perforated material, are moved up and down, in one ease, by an
attachment to an endless chain, and in the other, by aserew. The
green fruit is placed upon these shelves at the bottom, or at the top, as
the case may be, and taken out at the bottom or top when sufficiently
dried. The shelves are moved ‘up and down by a crank, the speed of
which is governed by the necessity of the case and the judgment of the
operator. Each of these machines is large or small as the exigencies
of the case require a greater or less amount of work to be done. And
their cost is in the same proportion, varying from one to five thousand
dollars. ; '
The machine of A. J. Reynolds differs essentially from the others in
its application of heat. Its shelves of fruit, operated also by a crank
and cog-wheels, have a rotary motion; the heat is introduced at the bot-
tom of a cylinder, which may be of a size proportioned to the amount of
work to be done, within which rotate the fruit-shelves upon a spindle which
supports them, and in the center is a hollow drum, whose only office is
to occupy space, and thereby confine the heat to the material to be dried.
Unlike the machines of Alden and Smith, before described, the vapor
created by the heat and process of drying is not allowed to escape di-
rectly at the top, but is there conducted into condensing-tubs of water
and flows off gradually. The shelves of fruit, when dried, are all
removed at once by opening a door of one side of the outer cylinder.
_ Heatis also introduced into the side of this machine through the medium
of the smoke-pipe, which passes up alongside of the outer cylinder. It
is claimed for this machine, that it consumes less fuel and diffuses the
heat more generally and continuously than any other; that it may be
used of so small a size as to be adapted to the top of a common stove,
and from such a size up to the largest, which is 10 feet tm diameter and
16 feet high. The price varies from fifty to twelve hundred dollars.
When we consider the great importance of the desiccation of fruit and
vegetables effecting the saving of so large a portion which is now lost;
for keeping them for any length of time, and in all weather and climates,
and in view of their transportation, (their weight is reduced at least
three-fourths,) too much importance cannot be attached to the subject.
I would have been pleased. to have furnished drawings of each of
these machines, whereby they might have been better understood, but
only that of ‘“‘ Reynolds’s Improved Evaporator” was at hand, and that
is herewith given.
ee 0,
FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.
A NEW RAMIE-MACHINE.—At the late
Mechanics’ Institute fair in San Francisco,
| Mr. C. C. Coleman, of Honolulu, Sandwich
MN Islands, exhibited ‘a machine of his inven-
eg tion for the preparation of the fiber of the
Sail WN
, | {| tion given, the process appears to be very
es i simple. The plant, freshly cut at its fall-
ripe stage, is passed through a series of
Z rollers, being carried along by moving
wire screens. Itdips into tanks filled with
steam, hot water, and bleaching-chemicals.
The rollers crush the plant and squeeze
out the glutinous matter, which is absorbed
by the water and steam. The mass is
passed through the machine as often as
may be necessary to dissolve and remove
all the extraneous gum and other elements
and to bleach the fiber itself. After each
submersion it is passed through rollers,
which squeeze out the water with the mat-
ter it has absorbed from the plant. It is
not even necessary to remove the leaves, as
these are separated by the machinery. The
fiber is not broken nor even weakened by
the process. Thisis an immense reduction
of labor from the manual process of India
and China, where a workman does well if
he secures a pound and a half of clean fiber
per day, making its cost about $150 per
ton.
If this machine should realize the ex-
pectations of its inventor, it will solve at
once the problem of ramie-production in
this country. It is claimed that large
| tracts of land in California will average
1,250 pounds of pure fiber per acre, caicu-
lating it at 10 per cent. of the entire bulk
of the plant. Uthers estimate the yield of
fiber at only 5 per cent., and the truth lies,
probably, between the two estimates. The
prepared fiber, formeriy exported from Cali-
fornia to England, passed through the cus-
tom-house at a declared value of £9 to £80,
or $45 to $400 per ton. It is claimed that
Coleman’s machine will clean the fiber at
a cost of $20 to $30 per ton.
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS IN NEW
JERSEY.—Results of experiments by Dr.
George H. Cook in growing corn on the
Agricultural College farm are reported as
follows: The corn was planted on plots of
one-tenth of an acre each. On two plots
ih Ih,
7
I) ramie or China grass. From the descrip-
511
planted on sod without any manure, it yielded at the rate, respectively,
of 93 and 94 bushels per acre. On a third plot, ammoniacal manure,
costing at the rate of $26 per acre, gave an increase of only one bushel
per acre. On a fourth plot, 100 pounds of muriate of potash, costing
$2.75, increased the yield to the rate of 109 bushels per acre. The
quantity was determined by weighing the corn on the cob, and allowing
eighty pounds to the bushel.
Dr. David Petit, of Salem County, is reported to have harvested this
season, from corn planted 2 feet by 3 feet apart, 283 bushels per
acre, the fact being attested by a “‘sworn statement.” It is added, that
he has produced single ears of “‘ yellow field-corn” which would yield a
quart of shelled corn each.
Mr. John Wall, of Madison, Morris County, grew a field of fifteen
acres, which was treated as follows: Six years ago the field was cleared,
plowed, treated with 50 bushels per acre of gas-lime, and sown in grass.
Last spring the sod was turned, a little ashes and bone put in the hill,
and, after the corn was up, 50 bushels per acre of slacked lime spread
on. The product of one acre, judged to be a fair average of the whole,
was measured, and the yield was 171 bushels of very large ears.
Mr. Wall also reports the result of an experiment in growing potatoes.
On sod-land, barn-yard manure was dropped in heaps last fall, at the
rate of twelve loads per acre. In the spring this was spread broadcast
and plowed in. With a ‘‘cabbage-plow,” very shallow furrows were
made 3 feet apart, and about 600: pounds per acre of bone-dust were
dropped in the furrows, in which cut potatoes, of the Peerless variety,
- with two eyes in a piece, were planted, 12 inches apart, and covered
lightly with the plow. When the plants were 5 inches above ground, 50
bushels per acre of slacked lime were spread on. The field was plowed
three times: first deep, and throwing the furrow away from the rows;
second, throwing the furrow to the rows; and third, the middles were
split, throwing the furrow to the rows. The beetles were caught and
killed. The product measured 2883 bushels per acre. Most of the seed
used was of large potatoes, which gave a better yield than that of
small. On measured portions of the field, Mr. Wall applied bone-dust
in different quantities, and from the result concludes that 2,000 pounds
per acre is the most profitable rate. He is decidedly in favor of shallow
planting and covering.
CRANBERRIES IN NEW JERSEY.—A correspondent in Atlantic County
New Jersey, reports the following facts respecting cranberry production
in the western portion of that, and in the eastern part of the adjoining
county of Camden. Within an area having a radias of about ten miles,
there are 1,000 to 1,200 acres in cranberry meadows. ‘They are owned
partly by companies and partly by individuals, and vary in extent from
half an acre to 100 acres. The early promise of an enormous yield the
past season was reduced at least one-third by the rot. On all meadows
thoroughly drained and well supplied with running water, the fruit suf
fered but little. On low places where tke water is stagnant, and on
meadows where the top muck has been removed, the fruit rots every
year. This year the fruit was attacked by a new disease, or by the old -
one in a new form, and later in the season. In a bunch of matured
berries, in contact, a part will be sound and others affected, and single
berries are found one-half sound and the other soft. Some meadows
have proved au entire failure, while others have yielded more than 100
bushels per acre. The average yicld will not be more than 35 or 40
bushels per acre. In respect to size and evenness, the quality is about
512
:
average. Our correspondent regards it as settled, that cranberries can-
not be successfully raised without a muck-subsoil, sanded on the top,
good drainage, and a command of plentiful running water.
PEANUT CROP IN VIRGINIA.—The following statistics, respecting the
peanut crop of Virginia, for the year ending September 30, 1875, are
condensed from a “review” prepared and forwarded to this department
by Mr. Thomas B. Rowland, of Norfolk. Scarcely a bag of the old crop
was left in-the State on the 1st of October, when the new began to appear
in the Norfolk market. The price began at $2.50 per bushel, and ranged
between that and $2.25 the first half of that month; but during the
Jast half worked down to $1.50. In the first half of November it de- .
scended as low as $1.25, but by the 20th was up again to $1.50, between
which and $1.80 it ranged, for the most part, through the year ending
September 30. But under “speculative attempts” and “spurts” limited
sales were effected in February at $2; March, $1.90 to $2.25; April, $2.25
to $2.50; and in May, $2. By the 1st of @ctober, 1875, none of the old
crop that could be classed ‘“ good” was left in market. Mr. Rowland
gives the monthly receipts at Norfolk for the year, and the lightest were,
October, 1,051 bags; the heaviest, December, 12,117 bags; January,
14,689; February, 15,047; March, 16,339. The aggregate was 91,407
bags. At Petersburg 15,910 bags were received, and Mr. Rowland esti-
mates the receipts at Richmond at 20,000, making the total production
in the State, in 1874, 109,317 bags. At 34 bushels per bag, which Mr.
Rowland regards as rather under the average, the amount would be
382,610 bushels. Mr. Rowland thinks the acreage of the crop of 1875
was 10 to 20 per cent. above the previous one, and that it is * excel-
lent in quality.” He states that the light frosts have scarcely _
‘damaged it, and that the crops left in the ground have continued to
improve in maturity to a wonderful degree, promising that the later
diggings, which constitute by far the larger portion of the crop, will be
extra, plump, and well filled, needing only bright cool weather to cure
one of the best crops ever made. The receipts of the new crop at Nor-
folk, up to November 1, were 2,186 bags.
LARGE CORN-CROP.—Mr. Tom Crutchfield, of Amnicola, near Chatta-
nooga, Tenn., reports the yield of his corn-crop in 1875 as follows: In a
field of 40 acres, bottom-land, an average acre, gathered and measured
November 2, yielded 1194 bushels by measure, or 10613 by weight. An
average acre in another part of the field, planted earlier, gathered and
measured on the 21st, yielded 1142 by measure, or 10933 by weight. In
a field of 118 acres upland, an average acre in one part, gathered and
measured on the 22d, yielded 554 by measure, or 5133 by weight; in
another part, 584 by measure, or 5511 by weight. The bottom-land had
been in grass some years and heavily pastured with sheep annually, from
the time the hay was cut until the following March. Last spring the
flood left upon it a sediment 6 to 18 inches deep. It was plowed to the
depth of about 9 inches, cross-plowed, harrowed, checked off, 4 feet by
2, and planted from the 29th of April to the 11th of May. The seed
was soaked twenty-four hours in copperas water and rolled in gypsum.
The covering was done with a shovel-plow. After a good stand was
secure, it was thinned to an average of one stalk per foot in the-row
and kept clean and well cultivated.
IMPROVEMENT IN WHEAT CULTURE.—A correspondent in Henderson
County, Tennessee, in reporting favorably on the condition of wheat
sown this autumn, states that in that section there is a decided im-
‘ 513
Q
provement in the process of wheat culture; such as a more careful
preparation of ground, selection of seed, &c.
CATTLE DISEASE IN ARKANSAS.—The following statements are con-
densed from a communication by our correspondent in Crittenden, re-
specting a disease among cattle in that county: The disease is confined
to cattle along the river, (in no way exposed to Texas cattle,) and among
them those on some farms entirely escape; those on the farm of
our reperter, residing at Grayson, were not attacked; on two adjoining
farms nine-tenths were lost. In that immediate neighborhood the loss
amounts to fully three-fourths of all the cattle, but will not average for
the county more than one in two hundred. The first symptoms are loss
of appetite and high fever. In some instances death follows in a few
hours, but the average interval between the attack and its fatal termi-
nation is about four days. One farmer, who out of twenty-five lost all
but two, reports that he saved the latter by feeding them on cotton-seed.
He thinks the whole seed better than meal, and ascribes its virtue
chiefly to its effect in moving the bowels.
Eprzoory.—Our correspondents in different sections have noted a
distemper or influenza prevailing among horses this autumn. Itis gen-
erally described as a recurrence of what was known as the epizooty.
But if so, it is in.a much milder form than at its previous visitation.
Very little serious damage and scarcely any loss has been reported ;
though a correspondent in Mobile writes, November 18, that in that city,
and throughout Alabama, the disease is causing much trouble, and
“seems to be growing worse every day.”
COTTON MANUFACTURE IN TExAS.—The Northeast Texas Council,
Patrons of Husbandry, headquarters at Jefferson, Marion County, re-
port the organization of a joint-stock company for manufacturing cotton
fabrics. The president and local agent is Dr. J. R. Biggs, of Jefferson.
The stock is issued in shares of $25, to give everybody a chance to par-
ticipate. Every county should organize a similar enterprise, by doing
which the ery of hard times would be banished from the South.
Loss OF ANGORA ‘GOATS. —Mr. Hardy, of Mohave County, Arizona,
recently purchased 2,000 Angora goats in California. As they were
passing through the “Mohave Desert, in Kern County, they ate freely of
a variety of milk-weed, from the effects of which 500 died, and many of
the remainder are left ina very enfeebled condition.
ANGORA GOATS IN OREGON.—Messrs. Landrum and Rogers, of Wes-
tonville, Cal., introduced 2,400 of these goats into the Willamette Val-
ley to aid in subduing the cc club land” for cultivation.
HORSE-BREEDING IN ENGLAND.—Sir Charles Legard, member of Par-
liament , commenting upon the remissionof the tax on horses, stated that
the historical pre-eminence of England, as a horse-producing country, had
of late been contested by several continental countries in which special
attention had been paid to this branch of agricultural industry for the
past twenty years. Foreign breeders have shown a determination, at
almost any cost. to obtain the best blood of England for their own studs,
and their late triumphs at some of the English races was a note of
warning tu the government to take immediate steps to retain in the
country the choice stallions and the best strain of the blood extant.
Prussia had especially been active, buying up all the active, short-legged,
sound hack-mares in the United Kingdom at £5 per head more than
any other buyer would offer. This class of animals was now almost
514
.
extinct in the country. The progeny of these mares, crossed with pure-
blood stallions, gave the Prussian cavalry a great efficiency in the late
Franco-German war. While the British government haggled about £40
per head for artillery horses, the French government got the choice of
the market at £45 and £50 per head. During 1872 14,000 brood-mares
were exported to France, every one of which should have been retained
in the country. The honorable gentleman proposed that the govern-
ment should keep a full number of first-class stallions in different parts
of the country, and allow them to serve good mares at as low prices | as
would be consistent with the expense incurred.
Mr. Jacob Smith, chairman of the Boroughbridge Agricultural Asso-
ciation, differed from the above conclusions of Sir Charles Legard in sev-
eral points. He did not think that there was any scarcity, for instance,
of thoroughbred horses. Hunters of high character had increased in
value, but were accessible to those who were willing and able to pay
'the market price. The scarcity was greatest among harness-horses,
especially on farms. The select parliamentary committee had attributed
this scarcity first to exportation of mares, but this export had nearly
ceased. Secondly, the attention of farmers was distracted from horse-
breeding by the superior profits of cattle and sheep, assuming that there
was some profit in horse-breeding, which the speaker doubted. He did
not believe that one in twenty of English horse-raisers could, upon an
intelligent presentation of expenses and values, show any appreciable
margin of profit: upon a four-year-old horse, while many were con-
scious of serious loss. The third reason urged bythe committee for
the decline in horses—that the rapid growth of the population in num-
bers and wealth, by enlarging the demand, produced a relative if not
an absolute scarcity—he thought did not apply to carriage-horses. The
greatest demand now is for a class of animals formerly almost unsala-
ble, ride and drive horses, and horses between that class and cart-horses.
Agricultural horses had increased most in value, and had fluctuated
most in price. The supply of the latter is undoubtedly increasing.
Nearly every farmer now has cart-mares, and will breed from them at
current prices. Though not disposed to attack racing, he could not help
alluding to the large number of fine mares kept for sport which should
be put to breeding. The high prices of horses was producing a reaction.
The number of mares kept unbroken for breeding purposes in England
was 268,177 in 1874, an increase of 25,695 over 1873. Every county in
England and Wales showed an increase. The English farmer would not
be slow to find a margin of profit in horses as well as in sheep and
cattle.
BRITISH MALT CONSUMPTION.—During the year ending with Septem-
ber, 1874, the common brewers of the United Kingdom consumed
47, 219, 730 bushels of malt, an jnerease of 1,685,504 over the preceding
year. The increase was nearly all. in England alone, Scotland showing
a decrease and Ireland only 39,000 bushels more than in 1873. The
consumption of other parties than the common brewers, such as victual-
ers, licensed retailers, &c., brewing their own beer, amounted to
10,843,493 bushels, a decrease of 868,268 bushels.
DEEP OR SHALLOW WHEAT CULTURE.—Mr. Mechi has been in the
habit of cultivating wheat after mangel, kob]-rabi, cabbage, and turnips.
For the preliminary crop he subsoils deeply and manures heavily, but-
for the subsequent wheat-crop he breaks the ground only with a single
plowing with one pair ef horses. He finds that deep culture just before
wheat-sowing enlarges the straw product at the expense of the grain.
515
The heavy foliation of the plant is often very deceptive in regard to its
yield, while light-looking fields generally produce largely in quantity
and of very superior quality. He quotes Liebig in support of his views as
follows: ‘‘ But in proportion as the conditions for the formation of the
straw and leaves became more favorable, so did the quality of the seed
deteriorate as the quantity diminished.” He cites the practice of some
successful farmers who, on finding their crops too rank, trod them with
men and horses. Salt stiffens the straw and checks rank vegetation, but
it should be used in moderation. He always scattered it in connection
with guano.
FRENCH CROPS.—M. Barral, with the approbation of the Association
Frangaise pour VAvancement de Science, proposes the following method
of estimating the crops of France. The departments are divided into
six classes, according to the extent and quality of their crops. The
first class embraces those in which the crops are very good, and their
- area is multiplied by 20; the second class is characterized as good, and
their area multiplied by 18; the third class, as tolerably good, and mul-
tiplied by 16; the fourth class, passable, multiplied by 14; the -fifth
class, as poor, and multiplied by 12; the sixth class, as bad, and multi-
plied by 8. The sum of these products, divided by the sum of the areas,
is assumed as an approximate indication of the yield and quality of the
crops. In 1874, M. Barral determined the average of the wheat-crop
at 18.50, the maximum being 20, the total yield being estimated at
130,000,000 hectoliters, or 368,916,600 bushels. In 1875 he makes the
average but 12.50, and the yield 82,000,000 hectoliters, or 232,701,240
bushels. During the current year none of the departments reach the
first class as yielding very good crops; 13 departments are of the second
class; 26 of the third; 25 of the fourth; 30 of the fifth, and 8 of the
sixth. France annually consumes from 72,000,000 to 74,000,000 hectoli-
ters, and uses 14,000,000 to seed her wheat-fields. She has then a defi-
ciency of 4,000,000 hectoliters, or 11,351,280 bushels. This deficiency,
however, is more than made up by ‘the’ unconsumed surplus of 1874.
About 10,000,000 hectoliters of the crop of 1874 were exported; a por-
tion of the remainder was of poor quality, leaving from 15 ,000, 000 to °
18, 000, 000 hectoliters available for consumption. The foreign outlook
shows. a small crop in England; a good one in Germany; a bad one in
Russia; below average in the United States; a good one in Italy and
Austria; a bad one in Hungary ; below average in the Danubian prin-
cipalities. Foreign countries will therefore demand a portion of the
French crop instead of supplying its deficiencies. The French rye-
crop is good; ee and maize are below last year, and oats much
better.
The Paris correspondent of the Mark Lane Express says that the most
trustworthy judges estimate the French wheai-crop at 95,000,000 hee-
toliters, (269,592,900 bushels,) with a surplus of the crop of 1874 equal
to 20,000,000 hectoliters, (56,756,400 bushels.) Spanish crops have suf-
fered from an unfavorable growing season.
FRENCH VINTAGE OF 1875.—The Journal des Debuts says that the
summer solstice was marked by wet, showery weather, which was followed
by continuous sunshine, presenting, on the whole, a remarkably good
season for the maturity of the fruit and the excellence of the wine-prod-
uct. The noted wines of Bordelais and Burgundy promise their usual
standard. In Central France, Lower Burgundy, and Champagne there
has rarely been in the past a promise of larger yield than during the
present year. Vine-growers in this region confess themselves perfectly
516
satisfied. In the south the damage from inundation, though serious,
was not so great as was as first stated. The prolific yields of the past
few years have placed the vine-growers in comparatively easy circum-
stances. On the whole the French wine-product will be abundant, and
at least of medium quality ; it will probably reach 60,000,000 hectoliters,
or 1,585,068,000 gallons, worth, at 20 franes per hectoliter, $240,000,000.
France exports wines to the amount of 250,000,000 francs per annum,
but this represents less than one-tenth of the home consumption in a
productive year. About one-tenth of the total product is used for the
manufacture of brandy, and ‘scarcely 1 per cent. for vinegar. Yet this
mighty productive interest stands aghast at the ravages of the Phylloxera,
which threatens to undermine its prosperity.
The Paris correspondent of the Mark Lane Express estimates the
French vintage at 80,000,000 hectoliters, (2,113,424,000 gallons.) The
distribution is quite unequal. The floods in the south have cut down
the crop, while in the interior the yield is above average. ~
FRENCH AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.—From the census of 1872 it
appears that the agricultural population of France, including men,
women, children, and domestics, numbered 18,513,325. Prior to the
revolution of 1789 two-thirds of the landed property of the country
was in the hands of nobles and ecclesiastics. In 1854 the namber of
Jand-owners was 7,846,000, or 1 in 5 of the population. From 1845
to 1872 the proportion of cotes fonciéres continued to enlarge,
the number being 10,083,731 in 1815 and 13,563,795 in 1872. What is.
called ‘petite culture” ceased to increase in consequence of late
changes in legislation, yet half the exploitations embrace tracts of 5
hectares (124 acres) or less, and three-fourths of 10 hectares (25 acres) or
less. Medium culture embraces tracts between 10 hectares and 40
hectares, (100 acres,) and grand culture all properties still larger.
Small culture embraces 75.18 per cent. of the whole number of exploita-
tions; medium culture, 19.75 per cent.; and grand culture, 4.77, per
cent.
The cash value of the soil, including shops, barns, &e., in 1821
amounted to 39,544,000,000 franes; in 1851, to 83,744,000,000, an in-
crease of 116 per cent. in thirty years, and the cadastral revenue from
1,580,597,000 franes to 2,643,366,000 francs, or 70 per cent. during the
same period. The present value is estimated at 120,000,000,000 francs.
The principal financial charges are the land-tax, (impdot foncier,) les
droits de mutation et Vhypothéques, and the interest on mortgages amount-
ing to about a third of the income of rural properties. Farm-laborers are
divided into two categories, those permanently engaged and residing on
the farm,,and day-laborers. According to a table-compiled in 1858 by
the minister of the interior, the average day’s wages of a laborer was,
at that time, 1.75 franes, and is now about 5. per cent. more. The sta-
tistics of 1852 showed the following average of annual expense of living
of an unmarried day-laborer as follows: lodging, 27 franes; board, 230
franes; clothing, 45 franes; total, 302 franes. This expense has since
risen to about 350 francs.
Human labor in 1852 was supplemented by the employment of 1,450,000
‘horses, 173,000 mules, 220,000 asses, 1,680,000 oxen, 1,370,000 cows, or
4,893,000 draught-animals. Cereal culture has ever been the predoini-
nant branch of French farming, occupying an annually increasing acre-
age since the commencement of the present century. In 1815, 32,814,431
acres were sown in cereals; in 1835, the acreage had risen to 36,790,713 ;
in 1855, to 41,783,830, showing an average annual increase in forty years
517
of over .220,000 acres. Wheat-culture especially has shown great ex-
pansion. In 1815, this grain occupied 11,346,493 acres, producing
111,982,133 bushels, or 9.9 bushels per acre; in 1873, 16,857,469 aeres
yielded 232,296,648, or at the rate of about 13% bushels per acre. During
the year last named the crops of leading countries in Europe and
America were estimated as follows: England, 106,627,114 bushels;
Scotland, 3,868,772 bushels; Ireland, 6,915,837; total United Kingdom,
117,411,723 bushels; Prussia, 80,278,561 bushels; Austro-Hungary,
112,151,000 bushels; Russia, 227,040,000 bushels; Spain, 187,308,000
bushels; Italy, 101,465,200 bushels; United States, 281,254,000 bushels.
The ruling prices of wheat in France are stated as being between $1.14
and $1.35 per bushel, averaging $1.23; but local circumstances un-
doubtedly considerably widen this margin. In abundant years France
has a surplus of wheat for exportation; in scant years she finds it nec-
essary to import. From 1816 to 1873 short crops in thirty-four years
required an excess of imports; in twenty-four abundant years the ex-
ports were in excess; the imports are mostly drawn from Russia, Poland,
Prussia, the United States, Roumania, Spain, Italy, and Egypt. The
liberalization of tariff legislation in different countries during twenty
years has exerted a very favorable influence upon the French grain-
trade.
The vineyards of France cover 4.27 per cent. of her area, and are
found in all the departments except ten. This culture has notably in-
creased since 1788, when from 3,873,943 acres 132,088,000 gallons of
wine were produced, averaging nearly 35 gallons per acre. In 1873
the acreage had risen to 4,975,842, and the production to 943,528,080
gallons, averaging 189 gallons per acre. The most abundant year, 1875,
yields about 2,113,000,000 gallons, while 1854, the poorest of late years,
yielded only 285,044,601 gallons. In 1806 the averag® price was 20 cents
per gallon; in 1873, 414 cents. In 1837 the importation of common
wines amounted to only 14,318 gallons, valued at $4,442, and the exports
to 31,224,281 gallons, valued at $8,503,694. In 1873 the imports amounted
to 15,976,303 gallons, valued at $4,913,448, and the exports to 106,652,195
gallons, valued at $55,453,249. Wines are imported mostly from Spain,
Italy, and Germany. The bulk of the export goes to England, Belgium,
the United States, Germany, and Algeria and other French colonies.
ROTATION OF FLAX.—At the last session, at Nantes, of the Associa-
tion frangaise pour ? Avancement de Science, M. Reynard presented a paper
showing that economic or industrial plants, which return to the soil
little or nothing in exchange for the fertilizing principles withdrawn
from it, should not be cultivated ‘two years successively upon the same
ground. Flax is one of these, and should not be grown even once with-
out a heavy covering of the strongest manures. In common with other
tap-rooted plants absorbing their nourishment from the extremity, the
flax uses the fertilizing principles of the surface while absorbing those
of the subsoil. Pliny said, with reason, that this plant burned and im-
poverished the soil.
The interval between flax-crops has varied in past ages. Anciently
it was fifteen years, but flax was then not in so general use as now;
such long intervals then made the crops more excellent. Flanders, to
sustain the reputation of her linen fabrics, formerly held to an interval
of twenty years, though many efforts were made to shorten it, and the
interval is now variable. In France it ranges from three to seven years.
The shorter intervals secure but indifferent quality of fiber, while longer
periods are observed by experienced cultivators. The Belgians vary
from three to twenty years.
2518
Experiments for the shortening of the interval, by means of powerful
fertilizers, have been unsatisfactory. Soils thus forced do not readily
recover their fertility. Even when cultivated on a new soil, but along-
side of one cultivated in flax the previous year, this crop often fails to
come to maturity for three or four meters next the old soil, and some-
times for double that distance.
In addition to these discouraging facts, the culture of flax is one of
the most laborious, and its product. can be utilized only after passing
under the hands of the retter and the stripper, the latter being gener-
ally called the flax-maker. But if thus greedy of labor as well as of
capital, flax-culture is one of the most remunerative, a good crop re-im-
bursing several bad ones. It also leaves the ground in better condition
for subsequent crops. .
For use, and on account of being an indigenous crop, flax is regarded
as above cotton by the Belgians as a textile, though many farmers
prefer hemp as a remuuerative crop. Such ignore the fact that flax is
more productive than hemp, and that in certain soils hemp is only used
to prepare the seed-bed for flax. For use, also, hemp is much less dur-
able than flax; the thickness of its fiber, charged with gum, gives it a
weight which is greatly reduced by washing.
Subventions of the English government have caused the culture of
26,000 acres in Ireland with flax. The French government has never
granted any subventions, but local committees have given partial assist-
ance; hence flax-culture has lost ground in France.
Since the formation of the Belfast ‘‘ Irish Association for the Propa-
gation of Flax-culture,” Robert Kane has been analyzing numerous types
of this textile, and preparing a formula for good and cheap manures.
This formula, still employed in Ireland, is composed of pulverized
bones, chlorides ®f potassium and soda, powdered white plaster, and -
sulphate of magnesia.
Subsequently, at the Agronomic Institute at Versailles, Georges Ville
proposed a formula for flax-fertilization antipodal to Kane’s prescrip-
tion. Regarding chlorides as injurious to many crops, especially to
flax, his formule were exclusively composed of acid phosphate of lime,
sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, nitrate of potassa, and plaster, in
different proportions. He cashiers all raw salts, chlorides and. sulphates
of soda and potassa. Ville’s formula embraces 400 kilograms of super-
phosphate of lime, 200 kilograms of nitrate of potash,.and 400 kilo-
grams of sulphate of lime; total, 1,000 kilograms per hectare, or 892.2+
pounds per.acre.
The Société agronomique of Eastern. Flanders, located at Ghent, tried
several experiments in flax-culture with farm-manures and with the
formula of Ville on different plots of equal size. During five years, com-
mencing with 1869, one of these plots was fertilized each year at the rateof
20,000 kilograms of barn-yard manure and 500 kilograms of colza-oil-
cake per hectare, or about 17,844 pounds of the former and 446 pounds
of the latter per acre. The other was fertilized with 1,000 kilograms of
Ville’s preparation per hectare, or 892.2 pounds per hectare. In 1869
the first plot produced 3,359.16 pounds per acre of straw and 679.86
pounds of beaten flax; the second, 4,098.81 pounds of straw and 317.26
pounds of flax. In 1870 the first produced 4,218.36 pounds per acre of
straw and 807.45 pounds of flax; the second, 4,098.81 pounds of straw
and 847.60 pounds of flax. In 1871 both plots produced the same
amount of straw, 3,857.91 pounds per acre, but the chemical fertilizer
made 1,048.35 pounds of flax, while the barn-yard manure made bat
753.92 pounds per acre. In 1872 the Ville fertilizer produced 3,947.13
519
- pounds of straw per acre and 868.12 pounds of flax, while the barn-yard
- manure made but 3,134.33 pounds of straw per acre and 505.88 pounds
of flax.
_ Previous to 1872 flax had been sold in Flanders with but little regard
for differences of fiber, but it was subsequently found that the flax grown
with chemical manure was worth 14 franes per 6 pounds more than that
grown with barn-yard manure.
In 1873 the society renewed its experiments. Three sowings were
made, twoon experimental plots and a third on a well-worked oats-
stubble, oats being considered a very eligible preliminary to flax-
culture. The last-named plot had been treated with 33,011.72 pounds
of barn-yard manure in November, 1872, and on the 5th of April, 1873,
was fertilized with Ville’s preparation at the rate of about 250 pounds
per acre; it produced 4,881.27 pounds of straw, 1,262.48 pounds of flax,
and 308.7 pounds of seed per acre.
The second plot, one of the original plots on which four previous
crops of flax had been grown, was fertilized with Ville’s preparation at
the rate of 1,070.65 pounds per acre, and produced for its fifth con-
secutive crop 4,095.24 pounds of straw, 861.87 pounds of flax, and 240.89
pounds of seed per acre.
The third plot, of new ground, was treated with 35,688 pounds of
farm-yard manure and 802.98 pounds of colza-oil-cake per acre ; it
yielded 1,446.27 pounds of straw, 251.6 pounds of flax, and 120.45
pounds of seed per acre.
From these experiments it appears that the new oats-ground, with
a comparatively light chemical fertilization following the heavy stable-
manuring of the previous autumn, yielded the largest crops, while the
new land heavily manured just previous to the sowing showed the poor-
est return. The other plot, from which five crops had already been
grown, maintained about its average production with previous years.
INFLUENCE OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.—In a late address
before the agricultural committee of Ambazac, in France, M. Teisserenc
de Bort stated that while in France the culture of the soil employs forty-
five persons per hectare, in England it employs but sixteen, and in the
United States nine. This difference is ascribed to the extended employ-
ment of machinery, especially in America, which causes farming opera-
tions to be more thoroughly and promptly performed. French farms
are mostly too small to admit the expense of perfected machinery. The
great English land-owners subdivide their estates among tenants in
such a way as to secure the greatest benefit. Hnglish farms average
45 hectares, and Scotch 30 hectares. Of 2,660,000 American farms,
2,070,000 are less than 40 hectares. A hectare is 2.47 acres. American
farmers often associate their capital for the purchase of costly machinery,
an example which French farmers would do well to follow. Large
landed proprietors should take the initiative and secure machinery for
the use of their tenants at a reasonable cost.
MARKETING OF FARM-PRODUCE IN PARIS.—The Journal Pratique
@ Agriculture, from official sources, gives the following figures, showing
the quantities of meat, butter, and eggs sold at the halles of Paris
during 1872 and 1874:
520
1872. 1874,
, Average : Average
Quantity. fe Quantity. He =~
i Francs. Francs.
Jaye Wee fg SR ara se ee a EE 5 goed te kilograms 5, 747, 033 1, 43 6, 956, 550 1.37
Viealie2 o. 588 ob oc pintmecact tic wocet we mmoite case cine do.. 7, 614, 979 1, 56 8, 454, 683 1, 37
aL LTE 0) bea Rs Lea SR le ey Sp ae BE 5 do... 2, 638, 971 1. 58 4, 024, 595 1.33
POT, oes ore Lee ewes Boe Pacts eae ob eematee do... 2, 149, 675 1. 43 2, 728, 447 iE 30
Batters ose cee ee. Ske do.-} 10, 228, 933 2.90} 10,349, 421 3.18
TOE TR Rote ges =e Aa eM .. thousand 232, 195 78. 63 213, 413 81. 85
In addition to the above there were sold at the Marché de lVabattoir
de la Villette, of beef, 238,093 kilograms, at 1.29 franes, in 1872, and
209,703 kilograms, at 1.14 franes, in 1874; of veal, 75,819 kilograms, at
1,24 franes, in 1872, and 92,870 kilograms, at 1.22 franes, in 1874; of
mutton, 14,242 kilograms, at 1.42 frances; of pork, 20,323 kilograms, at
1.23 franes, in 1872, and 31,006 kilograms, at 1.14 franes, in 1874. The
total quantity of meat marketed in 1872 was 18,499,140 kilograms, or
40,784,708 pounds ; in 1874, 22,540,879 kilograms, or 49,696,729 pounds.
FRENCH EXPERIMENTS IN FIXING DRIFTING SANDS.—Along the coast
of the departments of Gironde and Landes, in the southwest of France, —
dunes, or hills made by drifting sands, extend from the mouth of the
Garonne to that of the Adour. The distance is one hundred and twenty
miles, and they had attained an average breadth of about three miles.
They thus covered a surface of 200,000 acres. By the action of winds+
they were steadily widening. In their progress they not only buried
the soil, but all the inprovements, including the buildings. At Soulac,
these drifting sands bad left only the belfry of the old church above the
surface. In the sections where the winds have the clearest sweep, the
hills thus formed had attained a height of 300 feet. All attempts to
stay their overwhelming advance had failed, until a plan for covering
them with a forest, designed and proposed by M. Brémontier, was tried.
That, at a very small outlay compared with the beneficial results, has
proved permanently effectual. Its essential features were as follows:
beginning at the foot of the dunes on the west or shoreward side, a plat,
not exceeding in extent the means at command for the required treat-
ment, was sown with 18 pounds per acre of pine-seed and 7 of broom-
seed, to which in case the location was specially exposed to the winds,
were added 43 pounds of gourbet-seed, (Calamagrostis arenaria.) Imme-
diately after the sowing, was laid om a covering of small brushwood, cut
so as to lie entirely flat, and made to lap like the feathers of a bird. At
points where necessary, a further temporary protection was added by
fences of boards or wattled fencing. The former was constructed of.
inch boards, 6 or 8 inches broad, 5 feet long, inserted in the sand 2 feet,
with intervening spaces of # of an inch ; in the latter, the stakes were
about 24 inches in diameter and 5 feet in length, inserted 20 inches deep
and 20 inches apart. The gourbet is described as a very hardy plant,
unaffected by heat or cold, or proximity to the salt-water, grow-
ing at all seasons, and having the peculiarity of continuing a thrifty
upward g growth, however deeply the sand may drift ‘around it. It is-
reported | as growing vigorously through a layer of sand, above the sur-
face on which it was planted, over 8 feet deet deep. The broom comes
up much sooner than the pine, and, before the covering of cut brushwood
fails, supplies its place with a vegetable growth. At the same time it
serves as a protection for the later germinating and more slowly grow-
ing pines. But within four or five years after the planting, the pines
521
outstrip the broom, and become sufficiently rooted and branched to’
completely withstand the winds and fix the shifting sands. The btoom
is then removed and turned to profit by serving as brushwood for a new
plat. The only further work required is to prune out the pines to the
proper stand for the most thrifty forest. The work of thus staying the
desolating line of march, one hundred and twenty miles long, and of re-
pairing its zone of desolation, already three miles broad, was completed
in 1862. The whole expense was 450,000 pounds sterling, averaging a
little over“47 shillings, or $11.75, per acre. The pines, now covering the
unes “with a magnificent forest,” are described as a variety of ‘sea-
pines,” very thrifty in that climate and soil, and valuable for both timber
and resin.
CROPS OF DENMARK.—British consular reports show that Denmark
has produced, the past season, about 9,000,000 quarters of grain. The care-
_fully-prepared statistics of this little kingdom show an increasing sur-
plus, during the last five years, of live stock and provisions, but a
declining surplus of grain, indicating that cattle-feeding and butter-
making are attracting increased attention and effort. During 1874, the
export of butter amounted to 103,322 barrels, a large increase over the
preceding year, and about double the export of 1870. Of the export of
1874, 81,351 barrels went to Great Britain, where they commanded high
prices. The export of eggs, from very insignificant beginnings, has
within five years reached the aggregate of 1,426,900 score, represent-
ing a capital of 600,000 rixdollars. The Danish rixdollar is worth
about 48.8 cents. The last year’s export of fowls was officially valued
at 265,289 rixdolars, all of which went to Germany. Rabbit-breeding
has become one of the recognized industries, and is expected to furnish
considerable matter for export. Denmark has the largest proportion of
agricultural population—more than three-fourths. Danish farmers re-
ceive comparatively little attention from the government.
TRRIGATION IN INDIA.—The cost of the irrigation-canals of the Pun-
jaub was £2,684,279. The revenue from these canals amounts to
£145,411, of which £48,555 were derived from water-rates, and £96,856
from increased land-revenue.
HoP-GROWING IN TASMANIA.—Near Norfolk and on the banks of
the Derwent and Lachlan, are large alluvial, low-lying tracts, irrigated
by dams in the rivers. The water of the Derwent is lifted by steam-
pumps in order to gain the necessary fall. Here hop-growing has been
inaugurated on a large scale by cultivators occupying from 6 to 90 acres
each, the whole hop-acreage amounting to 488 acres. On the Huron
and at other points, the acreage has been increased, making that of the
whole island about 664 acres. Last year 627 acres in bearing averaged
about 1,300 pounds, or 113 hundredweight per acre. The Norfolk dis-
trict averaged 13 hundredweight per acre. During the current year it is
estimated that the productive acreage will be smaller, and the average
yield will be reduced to 11 hundredweight per acre, bat from the de-
cline of the British crops it is thought that the Tasmanian farmers will
receive a larger sum for their product than last year. Prices ranged
from 1s. 7d. to 2s. 6d. per pound. The primary markets of this trade,
Melbourne and Sidney, are liable to be overstocked, not having any
great capacity, and hence it becomes the producers to be careful in send-
ing theircrops to market. Irrigation is generally practiced, there being
but few soils that can grow hops without it. Both science and experi-
ence are essential to the proper regulation of irrigation. Water must
be admitted to the land at proper times and in proper quantity. Over-
4A wie Res
+ 3 \ wow Xe Weelddadaced
a)
522
irrigation induces an excessive flow of sap, which is sure to be arrested
by the low temperature of the cold nights. This produces an abnormal
condition favorable for the growth of the spider, for which no remedy
has been discovered. The only way of resisting the spread of this pest |
is to destroy the infested plants.
Irrigation must be commenced before the natural moisture of the soil
is exhausted; it isequally important to cut off the water at the right
time, though occasionally, when pickers are scarce, it is let on again to
keep the unripe plants green a little longer. Early irrigation is the
most favorable to plant-growth. Poling is still in common use.
Abundant manuring has been found necessary even on the richest soils.
The picking season lasts five or six weeks. Pickers receive 14d. per
bushel, good hands averaging about 15 bushels per day. The poor
people from the towns thus find good employment, enabling them to
tide over the winter in tolerable comfort. The sparseness of popula-
tion, however, will probably prevent any great enlargement of hop-
growing by necessitating a short supply of labor. Hops must be picked
immediately after ripening, and any considerable delay is attended by
deterioration of the crop. Hops are kiln-dried with either charcoal or
anthracite, and require about twenty-four hours for this operation.
Careful arrangements are made to keep the picking, drying, and press-
ing going forward without interruption.
LATE AUSTRALIAN STATISTICS.—The returns tor the year 1874~—75,
show that South Australia still maintains its pre-eminence as a cereal-
producing colony. In Victoria, wheat-culture has fallen off, which
seems strange, in view of the fact that the country has been filling up
more rapidly than ever before with population. The actually oceupied
area has reached 12,264,566 acres, or about half the area of Ohio.
During 1874, 771,021 acres passed into private lands, nearly all of which
is inclosed. The land under tillage increased 46,803 acres, making a
total of 1,011,799 acres. The wheat-acreage declined 17,041; oats in-
creased 3,930 acres, and barley 4,172 acres, yet the total grain-surface
was but 496,141 acres, against 503,210 in 1873. Green and root crops,
on a smaller acreage, yielded larger crops, especially potatoes, which,
from an area_ 3,170 acres less than in 1873, produced 124,299 tons, or
14,477 tons more than the previous crop. The hay-crop of 157,556 tons,
covered 113,120 acres, or 3,448 acres more than the previous year. The
average crop—1.03 tons per acre—was the same as in 1872 and 1873.
The fallow land increased from 66,989 to 77,912 acres. Artificial grasses
are increasing; rye-grass, lucerne, clover, and vetches, for fodder, de-
clined 5,339 acres, but the loss is more than compensated by the
increased culture of other perenniai grasses, of which 46,374 acres were
sown last year, making the total acreage in Victoria 254,278 acres. The
acreage in tobacco has been enlarged to 733, and the crop, 6,839 hun-
dredweight, is 3,145 hundredweight greater than last year. The vine-
yards report 8,545,364 vines, a decrease of 1,039,984, but it is believed
that this decrease is mostly in worthless vines, adding but little to the
productive value of the vine-area. The grape-yield has increased,
90,980 hundredweight beingmade into wine and brandy, or 5,709 hun-
dredweight more than the previous year. The total vintage amounted
to 599,093 gallons, an increase of 36,380.
Australian journals complain that Victoria does not produce enough
breadstuffs for her own consumption. From the amount of land annu-
ally taken up, ostensibly for cultivation, it is argued that not only should
. the home demand be met, but also that a surplus for export should be
523
secured. The failure in this respect is attributed to the speculating
character of the land appropriations. Men are purchasing largely of —
the best lands, and awaiting the rise in values in order to sell again.
Only a portion of the new ‘Settlements are made by bone. -fide cultiva-
tors. The liberalized land legislation is thus benefiting a class against
whom it was intended to work, the land-sharks.
New ZEALAND STATISTICS.—Late returns do not indicate as rapid
progress as in former years. The total area under cultivation in Feb-
ruary, 1875, was 1,788,797 acres, an increase of 285,445 acres. The
wheat-area was 105, 673 acres against 132,425 the previous year, and the
crop 2,974,339 bushels, a loss of 417,297 bushels. The average yield
per acre, 23 bushels and 8 pounds, is still unapproached by any of the
Australian colonies. Oats 1 is the only crop showing a decided increase;
it has become the leading grain-crop of the island. The acreage was
157,543, an increase of 48, 071, and the crop 5,548,729 bushels, against
2,194,923 bushels the previous year. These figures do not include 21,053
acres of oats cut for hay, which, in addition to 41,159 acres of mown:
grass, yielded 52,201 tons of hay. The barley acre eage declined from
92.132 to 16,235, and the yield from 606,492 bushels to 447,162 bushels.
Potato- culture, on the contrary, advanced : the acreage rose from 11,614
to 12,152, and the aggregate yield from 51,757 tons to 63,682 tons. Per-
manent pastures cover 1,393,555 acres, an increase of 206,207. This one
year’s increase in New Zealand exceeds the entire breadth of Victoria.
The high price of beef and mutton in New Zealand has induced this ex-
tension of grass culture. The agricultural population of the colony is
rapidly increasing by immigration, and the railways under construction
or in contemplation will soon give access to the markets of the world.
The wheat-product is ample for home consumption. Including oats,
there will be available, as breadstuffs-export the current year, over
20,000 tons. ,
SHEEP-HUSBANDRY IN GEORGIA.—A late “Manual of sheep-hus-
bandry in Georgia,” issued by the State commissioner of agriculture,
gives the following points of information derived from inquiries ad-
dressed to correspondents in the different counties. Of those who have
tested cross-breeds, 98 per cent. consider the cross between merino and
native the most profitable. The following averages are deduced from a
vast number of individual facts: Annual profit on capital invested in
sheep, 63 per cent. Aunual cost of keeping per head, 54 cents. Cost
of raising wool, 6 cents per cg the market-price for unwashed being
33% cents per pound gross, and 274 cents net. Hach 100 ewes produce
74 lambs. Yield of unwashed wool, 3.44 pounds per head, yielding, at
274 cents, 94 cents per fleece. Price of lambs sold to butchers, $1.87
per head; price of stock-sheep, $2.58 per head; price of mutton-sheep,
2.75 per head.
The census of 1860 reported 512,618 sheep in Georgia; the census of
1870, 419,465; the latest returns of the tax-receivers show but 319,323;
decrease from 1860 to 1870, 93,153; from 1870 to 1875, 100,142; total
loss in fifteen years, 193,295, or 38 per cent., whereas there should have
been an increase of 100 per cent. Ninety per cent. of the reports show
that dogs are the principal obstacle to sheep-husbandry—in most of
them the only one. Several state that sheep-husbandry has been en-
tirely abandoned in consequence of the ravages of curs. That is, a cap-
ital which, in favored localities, in spite of these pests, yields an annual
return of 65 per cent., is crippled aud depressed by the presence of
99,415 dogs, which killed 28,625 sheep during the year. The losses by
524
dogs amount to 15 per cent. of the whole, while the losses from all other
causes are but 6 percent. There are 31 dogs to each hundred sheep.
The commissioner estimates that the abatement of this nuisance would
greatly enlarge the capital invested in sheep, and raise the annual rate
of profit from 63 to 72 per cent. Ina few years the number would be
quadrupled, and the clear profit on the investment would amount to
$2,372,687 per annum, a sum exceeding the annual receipts of the State _
treasury, and more thana fourth of the State debt. The value of sheep
killed last year, $73,852, would more than pay the per diem and mileage
of the house of representatives of the State.
Correspondents estimate that 100 sheep, regularly folded, would fer-
tilize eight acres so as to double its next subsequent yield. At this rate
the number of sheep now in Georgia would annually fertilize 25,544
acres. Supposing that unfertilized land would bring half a bale of cot-
ton per acre, the increased yield of this area would be 12,772 bales,
worth, at $50 net per bale, $638,600. If the number of sheep were
raised to 2,000,000, which might easily be done, if the dogs’ ravages
were arrested, their manure would add $4,000,000 annually to the pro-
duction of the State. Thousands of farmers are ready to engage in this
business as soon as the law affords adequate and just protection to this
interest. Millions of acres, now unoccupied, will be opened as sheep-
walks, and immigration will be enlarged. The large sheep-proprietors
have capital enough investet to warrant keeping shepherds for the pro-
tection of their flocks. Small farmers cannot incur this expense, and
consequently will not be able to engage in the business. ;
The climate of Georgia corresponds to that of the best sheep growing
regions in the world, e. g., Spainand Australia. Mr. David Ayres, in
Mitchell County, in the southwest, keeps 3,500 sheep, at an average
annual cost of 14 cents per head; he shears about three pounds
of wool per head, which he sells at 30 cents per pound, realizing 90
per cent. profit upon the capital invested. Lands suited to sheep-
raising in that part of the State can be purchased at from $1.50 to $10
per acre. Myr. Ayres never feeds his sheep and has never introduced any
improved breeds. A cross of merino upon his native stock would great-
ly enlarge these results. About all the care bestowed upon them is
their annual shearing and marking. Dogs, hogs, and eagles are destruc-
tive, especially upon the lambs of this tlock. This case is compared
with that of a farmer in Washington County, Pennsylvania, who, from
650 highly-improved sheep, costing annually $1.54 per head, shears four
pounds of brook-washed wool, at 56 cents per pound, or $2.24 per
sheep. The last winter being very severe reduced his average return to
$1.60 per head. The sheep are worth $3.50 per head, and the profits
amount to 46 per cent. on the capital invested. The Georgia wool being
free from hay-seed and cleansed by the heavy spring rains is nearly equal
to the Pennsylvania washed wool. The latter occupies land worth $50
per acre, or ten times that of the Georgia farmer. The Pennsylvanian
keeps two sheep per acre, and the Georgian one; the former invests
five times as much money as the latter in land and realizes buat one-half
the rate of profit.
A farmer in Putnam County, Middle Georgia, keeps 133 sheep, a cross
between merino and common stock, as a part of his farming enterprise.
They cost “only the salt they eat,” while they realize annually 100 per
cent. on the capital invested, from lambs, mutton, and wool. The fleeces
average three pounds per head, and bring a minimum price of 25 cents,
costing only the price of labor in shearing. This flock utilizes the Ber-
muda grass, so much dreaded by Georgia farmers in the summer, and
525
in winter ranges the fields from which crops havé been gathered, and
the canebrakes. No diseases infect the flocks to any marked extent
in Georgia.
The commissioner insists that increase of lambs is increase of wool,
and that lambing should take place as early in January as possible, as
“a January lamb is worth two March lambs.” The bucks should be
allowed to run with the ewes about the Ist of August. During the
lambing season the bearing ewes should be kept in a separate flock and
daily attended to. If pasture be short they Should be fed moderately
on cotton-seed, which, with oats and rye pastures sown early in the fall,
will give an abundant supply of milk and keep the ewes in healthy con-
dition. The commissioner presents a variety of judicious suggestions
suited to the wants of sheep-raisers in Georgia. Of the sheep-raising
capacity of the State he remarks that there are 10,000,000 acres of land
suited to this industry, which are practically unoccupied. The sponta-
neous Bermuda grass forms an impenetrable sod, and is fuily equal to the
Kentueky blue-grass. Where partly protected by pine-trees it remains
green all winter. On lands unprofitable for cultivation, this grass will |
support five sheep per acre during nine months of the year. Other nat-
ural grasses may be profitably utilized in sheep-husbandry. Artificial
pasture may be easily and cheaply secured. Pea-fields from which corn
has been gathered will fatten sheep or prepare them for winter-quarters
in the cotton-field, which, having been sown with rye or oats in August
aud September, will give nutritious winter-pasture. Turnips sown at
the same period may also be used to give green food until the return of
early spring vegetation. Movable fences will render it practicable to
herd the flock for suecessive periods upon separate areas of turnips
sufficient for their support. In consuming the crop the sheep will fer-
tilize the land.
The legal protection of this industry is urged ou considerations grow-
ing out of the labor question. It will relieve the pressure of the de-
mand, and erable the farmers to deal more independently with it.
WOOL-PRODUCTION OF SouTH AMERICA.—The wool-export of South
America, by a rapid increase, reached 234,916 bales in 1868, most
of which was from Buenes Ayres. Since then this upward move-
ment has been stationary, the export of 1874 being 237,458, or less
than 3,000 bales increase in six years. In 1862 the port of Buenos
Ayres shipped abroad over 58,000,600 pounds of wool; in 1866 this
aggregate was doubled; and in 1873 the figures of 1866 were increased
50 per cent. The official statistics of 1568 show that the Argentine
Republic then had 67,700,000 sheep. At present the number is about
70,000,000, of which 60,000,000 are in the province of Buenos Ayres.
Sheep-busbandry, which to-day constitutes the principal industry of
the Argentine Republic and of Uruguay, has made great progress in
those countries within the last few years, and finds a prospect of still
further expansion in view of the increasing European demand. But
the conditions of production have been gradually changing. Sheep
have been multiplied, not by the processes of intelligent breeding, but
by a headlong impulse to enlarge the flocks, with but little regard to the
means of subsistence, or the more exacting requirements of the foreign
market. Buenos Ayres, especially, shows signs of having been over-
stocked with sheep. Its pastures are running low, as is indicated by
the spread of epidemic and parasitic diseases. The leading parasites
infecting South American sheep are the fluke in the liver and worms
in the head, showing either a deterioration in the organic constitution of
the animals, or in the quantity and quality of the pastures. Perhaps
\
526
both these influences have been operative. Buenos Ayres has a dry,
hot climate, and vast plains lightly timbered, and originally covered by
nutritious indigenous grasses. The increase of wool-production was at
one time so rapid as to ‘wive rise to fears of overstocking the market. But
from protracted droughts, from overstocking of pasturage, and from
political convulsions, threatening the security of both life and property,
this industry has of late years experienced a severe check. It is not
probable that the pastures already occupied constitute the whole or even
the greater part of the areas of this continent available for wool-pro-
duction, but the power of the government is not adequate to the pro-
tection of this class of property in large areas of land occupied by a
frontier population, and but little amenable to the restraints of social
order. But as government becomes more stable, its power will probably
be exerted to repress such disorders, and thus widen the area within
which it will be safe to invest capital in sheep-husbandry.
In Australia, wool-production can no longer expect those sudden
expansions which have so seriously disturbed ‘the markets of the world
within the past few years, as in the case of the opening up of the Riverina
and North Queensland sheep-walks. The newly reconnoitered regions of
West Australia are said to be of comparatively limited area. In the
extreme northern parts of the country sheep cannot be profitably raised.
In North Queensland, for instance, imported flocks, after apparently
doing well for a time, began to decline in both wool and flesh, aud finally
became worthless. but the regions farther south, by judicious manage-
ment, are evidently capable of a great enlargement of wool-production,
as well as of a great improvement in quality of fleece. Here, asin South
America, the limit of wool-production upon natural grasses is indicated
by the prevalence of epidemic and parasitic disorders. It is evident,
then, that natural resources may be overtaxed, and that wild grasses.
must be supplemented by artificial grasses and fodder-plants, if wool-
production is to experience any further enlargement even in the wilder-.
nesses of South America and Australia. Another element of profit is also
to be introduced into the problem—that of meat-production. The neces-
sity of this is felt by sheep-raisers in both these great regions. In Buenos
Ayres, where mutton has hitherto been of little value, it is now shipped
to London in boxes, and sold at 12 cents per pound. Operators in this new
trade now talk of throwing the meat of 10,000,000 sheep upon the foreign
market annually. Such expectations are doubtless extravagant, but
they indicate the gradual perception of a change of condition in pro-
duction, which will compel sheep-raisers to enlarge the scope of their
industry beyond mere wool-production. If these wild regions can be
brought under the regime of civilized industry, we may expect a more
regular and normal growth of wool-production, with less destructive
fluctuations than in the past.
SHEEP-BREEDING IN NEW SouTH WALES.—At a late meeting of
the New South Wales Agricultural Society, Mr. John Smith traced the
history of merino breeds of modern Europe, and compared them with
the Australian merino. The Spanish merino was introduced into
England by George III, in 1791 and in 1804. At a public sale of
the progeny, rams averaged £19 14s.,and ewes £3 15s. each. Four years
later the rams averaged £33 10s. and ewes £23 12s. 6d. In 1810 rams
were sold at an average of £58 and ewes £37 10s. per head. Subsequently
the Merino Society was organized, under the presidency of Sir Joseph
Banks, with fifty-four vice-presidents. Yet, after all this imposing
demonstration, the attempt to cross the merino with the coarse-wooled
527
English sheep was a total failure. Not only were the points of differ-
ence too wide for combination, but also economic reasons arrested the
project of amalgamation. Three Southdown sheep could be fattened as
easily as one merino, and the demand of the English market for mutton
rendered the lean merino a very undesirable acquisition. In Germany
the perfection of the fleece was the leading idea, and hence the merino
here found a more congenial home. The Australian merino is mostly
of German origin instead of Spanish, its original stock. Hence, being
the progeny of a cross, there is a tendency to individual degeneracy.
Hence, also, the necessity, impressed by intelligent sheep-breeders, of cull-
ing out such animals from the breeding-flocks. Yet the merino type has
attained in Australia higher qualities than any that could be imported
from Europe at the present date. To a large extent sheep-breeding has
there been judiciously condacted with reference to selection of breeding
animals, and of the most eligible conditions of climate, soil, pasturage,
&e. The undulating slopes of the great dividing-ridge of the continent
turn out merinos in great perfection, endowed with superior softness
and elasticity of fleece. The mild winters yield natural food, while the
dryness of the climate favors the retention of yolk. The abundance of
forest trees gives shelter in winter and shade in summer, thus modifying,
to a very important degree the action of the natural elements upon the
wool.
In Germany, sheep are too much confined in sheds, in order to pre-
serve the fleece. Hence the growth of the animal, in size and muscle,
is impeded, and its constitution weakened, The free exercise of the
Australian sheep-walks, with the variety of pastures afforded, gives a
symmetrical development anda hardy constitution, with a superior
fleece. The German merino-wool, protected as it is from the elements,
is superior to the Spanish in softness. Australian sheep-farming is yet
to attain something of this result by providing shelter in the heavy-rain
season. The flabby corrugations of the imported Negretti, in Australia,
are soon rounded out by judicious breeding.
Adaptation to local climate and circumstances is a point of special im-
portance in Australia. Flocks removed from the table-lands of New
_South Wales to the plains and sand-ridges of the Darling showed
marked changes in the character of their fleece. Sheep first taken to
Queensland, just north of New South Wales, and occupying the north-
east corner of the continent, began to yield a light, harsh, and dry wool,
bringing only reduced prices. In subsequent years, however, these
qualities enhanced its value, Manufacturers found that the dry atmos-
phere, by absorbing oil from the fleece, increased the weight of wool
proper, compensating the waste from scouring. Queensland wool then
rose to prices higher than that of New South Wales of the same fine-
ness. The hot sun and the fine sand mingled with the wool absorbed the
yolk. The northern part of the continent lies within the tropics; hence
it has been suggested that the breeds of these regions be constantly
renewed, in order to prevent the deterioration of wool into hair. Much
may be done in this direction by proper selection and by artificial shelter
from the extreme sun-heat. The Negretti is, probably, the best sheep
for these warm arid districts. Some districts of this region are supposed
to be favorable to fine combing-wools. This class of wools require that
the animal be kept in good condition through the winter as well as
through the summer.
Some fine strains of Leicester blood have been introduced into Aus-
tralia, but the perpetuation of their good qualities demands close atten-
tion and judicious management on the part of the breeder. Passing to
528
the interior, a great deterioration in sheep is noted. This is attributed
to the land-laws not admitting of pastoral homesteads ; and the squatter
who merely camps upon the public lands breeds only for numbers, with
but little regard for quality. A large portion of these sheep are not
worth shearing. Itis estimated that at least half of the 20,000,000 sheep
of New South Wales should be slaughtered, and their places supplied
by improved breeds of wool-prodaecing animals. The improvement of
9d. per fleece on 10,000,000 sheep would amount to £375,000 or $1,875,000
per annum.
The speaker complained of the ‘land legislation, which crippled the
greatest industrial interest of the colony—wool production. Squatters
who have gone in advance of civilization and have established sheep-
stations in the wilderness, dining off the kangaroo, extinguishing the
bush-fires, and adding greatly to the beef and mutton product of the
country, are at the mercy of free-selectors, who, under the law, can
appropriate all the improvements found upon the land. <A pre-emption
law; like that of our American public-land system, by giving the actual
settler inceptive rights within a limited period to the refusal of the land,
would arrest this land-grabbing process and secure the possession of the
soil to that class of owners which will manage it more in accordance
with the public interest. The regular occupation of the country and
the erection of fences is necessary to secure the excellencies of the Aus-
tralian merino. The indigenous grasses of the country are disappearing
and varieties bearing pernicious seed are springing up in their place.
The country must be fenced and sown in desirable varieties in order to
secure adequate nourishment for the increasing flocks of the colony.
529
MARKET-PRICES OF FARM-PRODUCTS FOR NOVEM-
BER, 1875.
The following quotations represent the state of the market, as nearly as practicable, at the
beginning of the month:
Articles. Prices.. |
NEW YORK.
Flour, superfine ......... per bbl.
extra State ........-. do...
extra to choice western,
ee POE REITON cs asce-552522°
common to fair southern
extras. .........per bbl.
good to choice southern
OXUNAN: - neve per bbl.
Wheat, No. 1 spring -..per past
No. 2 spring ...--.-- do...
winter, red, western,.
per posber).~...-.-..
winter, amber, western,
er bushel .......---.-
fay, first quality -.-...- per ton.
second quality. -..-..-..-. do. -
Beef, mess ..--...-.-.--- per bbl
@xtra Mess ....-...... do.
Dna. Gs): ee do.
Gxira primes. ........d0..:
PLINeeMESS). ~~. 5: do.
HET. Joost 5 o33 3 ES eee eee per lb
Butter, western ..........-- do.
Soaieseeeccicr i n-- = do..
Cheese, State factory...-.... do...
western factory - peedos.
Sugar, fair to prime refining,
BRepOUNAP $2.40 <=
Cotton, ordinary to low ordi-
ENING ers cle cia = er lb.
low niddbing to good
middling ...... per lb.
Powsecow Nes =. = 2-2 5- er lb.
ow leaf to medium
DOREE cots na 0) per lb.
Wool, Apna SOCK ani pick-
TOG rete ae as Lease per lb.
American XX and X, per
TUG ES SS Ee
American, combing, per lb.
pulled sce eS Ea do. .
wae spring clip, per.
catifornia fall clip. .per lb.
BOSTON.
Flour, western superfine. per bbl.
common western spring
extra, per bbl
good to fancy northwest-
ern extras per bbl.
a fancy western, per
southern family ..per bbl.
WLC See eee per beet
DET chk AOS eee do...
OD Gi Sse i dov.e
LV Giose ee aeeooe do..
Lop ) n eee do...
Hay, eastern and northern, per
Tit’ 254. aeene es
IBSGRINESS. Oo. nc. ci505 8. per bbl.
@xtra MeSS.....:....- doze-
5A
$5 10 to
5 50
5 50
1
10 00
11 00
Articles.
Boston—Continued.
Beet, family. cnc s. cnn ane per ie
IPOLPkK7 MESS foo 2 so Somare cae do.
PUIG scars aelsianiaeee do...
Mar dee: Scemociet ct <2 sou tes er Ib.
Butter, New York and Vermont,
per-pound) . < s.6 eseicee
WEStErn =. 22-555 -- er lb.
Cheese, New York and Vermont
TACKOLY 7? \-4-Tase0 per lb
western factory. ...do.
Sugar, fair to good refining. do...
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
nary
low middling to good
middling...-.. per lb.
Wool, Ohio and Pennsylvania,
PHILADELPHIA.
Flour, superfine......... per bbl.
Pennsylvania extra to
choice...--.---. per bbl.
western extra to choice,
Pen banal sy see s-eecs
Wheat, red ...-........ per bush
Hay, prime baled ....-... per ton.
baled, common to fair ship-
y SH Re eset 2 er ton.
Beef, western mess -....- per bbl
extra mess ........--. do...
Warthman’s city family,
Der) baLrel see eee ee
orks, Messece soup -|-6 ssh per bbl.
prime mess...-...... do.
PEIMOE eee tate opiate do...
andie toe octee gees asses er lb
Butter, choice Middle State.do. uy
choice western do. -
Cheese, New York factory, good
to fancy -:..--- per lb.
Chio factory,good to fancy,
Perpoundicsose. uses:
Sugar, fair to good refining. perlb.
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
Nay oe cganemes er lb.
low middling to good
middling ......- per lb.
Wool, Ohio X and XX...... do..
other western ....... do..
tub-washed.......-.. doz
Nulledseee tesa. stws.cs do..
COMPING see soci oie do.
BALTIMORE
Flour, superfine ......-.. per bbl
(sig he a Seren eae P= do
family and fancy ... habe:
{
Prices.
$16 50 to$17 00
-| 23 00 to 23 50
16 00 to 17 00
133 to
143
33
34
134
13%
By
12¢
530
Market- prices of farm-products—Continued.
Articles.
Articles. Priees. i
BALTiImORE—Continued.
Wheat; red’..-... ---.- per bush. $1 36 to
amber -Ee tte (svete do...; 150 to
Willies tea 1am be Sore do...| 1 20 to
DOS Tae nb oeeese <r chsesc a do. . 80 to
Onterte tees ceca see eke do. . 40 to
Cormeen Oy- SO eee ae do.. 63 to
io Middle States ----- per ton. | 19 00 to
Pork, mess .'..--.-..----- per bbl.| 23 50 to
extra, prime ...--.... do...| 16 50 to
US Te SRS oe per Ib 143 to
Butter, Western .......-.--- do... 26 to
Basheras se esiss pen. do... 26 to
Cheese, western factory, geod to
GNGIEGE Seen -- per lb. 12 to
eastern factory, good to
choice ./.--.-.-% per lb. 13 to
Sugar, fair to good jenanie do... Ti to
New Orleans, grocery
amG Gi ws aca per lb. — to
Tobneco,Jugs----..5-.------ do... 64 to
common to medium leaf
per pound .-.......... 9 to
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
TA A pee amcese per lb. — to
low middling +0 good
middling ......- per lb 123 to
CINCINNATI
Flour, superfine .. -...-- per bbi.| 4 00 to
(22.¢ 2 ea ae Rare aE do 4 50 to
family and fancy .--.. do..| 9 40 to
Wheat, winter, red ../.per bush.| 1 00 to
hill, (amber) 2 awa do..| — — to
Wisibe y.0 eaoees do 1 00 to
AR IEE Soir Toe ee arse eae 73 to
Biamley teh <2 =e selene do. 50 to
CORE Res ee et ims do... 45 to
ORGS eae chan oe wecning cia tine do... 25 to
Hay, baled, No.1.-...... per ton.| 18 00 to
lower grades. 42-52. do...| 12 00 to
Beef, plate
Pork, mess -
Ded 2.205) et dees
Butter, choice. do.
INTC seat Seyc oh soe do... 24 to
Cheese, prime to choice factory,
per pound 4.76205 s.- 13 to
Sugar, New Orleans, fair to good,
per pound eis. lta 24 to
Tobacco; less 2 <p. ns per Ib 15 to
Sates ee RL do. . 28 to
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-
MALY joe tae at per lb 103 to
low middling to good
middling. ...... per lb. 124 to
Wool, fleece-w ashed, common to
Hie sgese see tee per lb. 38 to
tub-washed .......-.- do.-: 3 to
unwashed, clothing do... 28 to
unwashed, combing .do.-- 34 to
1120 LY 2Y PS eel i Ee 3 C= 31 to
CHICAGO.
Flour, choice winter extras,
POr ALLE ee ssa ss ds 700 to
cominon to good white
winter extras -.per bbl.| 5 75 to
choice spring extras .do.. 5 50 to
patent spring ...-.-- do. 6 75 to
spring supertines....do...| 3 75 to
Wheat, No.1 spring ---per bush.| — — to
No. 2 spring.....-.. do...| 1 083 to
No. 3 spring..-..--- do... 94 to
Corn, No. , do.. 51 to
Rye, No. 2 Sa 638 to
Batley, No. 2 81 to
— = | m OO
Blas
Le]
=| w= 00 C2 Od
cr
(=)
Cuicaco—Continued.
Oats, NOo.2)). seem aes per bush.
Hay, timothy. ...-...-.. per ton.
PLAINION LC ses saree oe do.
Beef, mess.....--- 20-02 per bbl.
xtra MESS. +e aoe ae « do...
Pork, Messjiet .ocececeeaee do..
prime mess. ../2- 225. do...
extra prime... 25...) do...
Bard J... 03oso 2 sees er lb.
Butter, choice to fancy ....do...
medium to good .. .do...
Cheese, good to fancy....... do..
Sugar, brown, common to choice,
per pound Pe Pa ee
Wool, tub-washed ......--per lb.
fleece-washed........ douse
URWASHKER =. . 5. cece do. .
pulled 2 joe do. .
SAINT LOUIS.
Flour, winter, common to choice,
eR 58 epee
spring..... SBE + per bbl
Wheat, white winter.. per bush.
red winter .-------. do...
SPHID Pot nes a geen do...
COPD o a- ta ope a cnet eee do...
R622: 'sia stem =< paheos cose eee do.
IBarlby, = te patentma ns = aeeoe do...
OF 1h Rs in A ees Se do..
Hay, timothy...-..-...-- per ton.
DIAC Coos = siete ae eee do...
IBOeL, NCS on ace elec ames per bbl
POrk MCss. eo aan-<ce=- ieee do...
ard ot ge Nee er lb.
Butter, prime to choice dairy,
per pound... -e-esns
country packed...per lb.
Cheese, chy factory -..<-.-- do...
N.Y. factory-- 6 doa.
Tobacco, lugs ata datenm enya do..
lear deen do...
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi-*
ene eee et lb.
low middling to good mid
dlings $3. =) eee per 1
Wool, tub- qashell Rah) Be do. .
fleece-washed........do-.
unwashed ..-....-..: do..
NEW ORLEANS.
Flour, superfine.....---- per bbl.
OXtle. 25-2. - sae doz...
choice to fancy ------ do. .
Cpr. 20 aaase eee per bush.
Oats) sce -- - do- oe ne eee do..
Hay,- choice... .-.- 55-1 per ton.
PLUME o- ones eee do..
Beef, Texas... ..------- per bbl
WW OS6EIDR [see es osraain ns doa:
Fulton market-..per 4 bbl.
Pork, mess . -.-..-------- per bbl.
Leite ae Rene deo > Beemer per lb
Butter, choice Goshen....-. do...
choice western ..-.-. do..
Cheese, choice western factory,
per pound......-.-.-.-
Ni ¥. cream. -. <2: per lb.
Sugar, fair to fully fair..... do...
prime to choice .---.- do...
clarified, white, and yel-
LOW 2-2 <n eseeece per lb.
4|| Tobacco, lugs .......------- do..
UCU) (RESP AGH SA HA" do..
Prices.
$0 314 to $0 312
14 09 to 16 00
8 50 to 11 00
1000 to — —
11 60 to — —
21 00 to 21 50
18 00 to 18 25
14 00 to 14 25
1221-4to — —
30 to 33
20 to 24
11} to 13
Ti to gt
44 to 52
38 to 44
25 to 33
=. £0 em tas
400 to 6 75
ee ee
110 to 1 35
100 to 155
=; eee
46 to 68
50 to 68
55 to 1 30
28 to 42
16 50 to 18 90
8 00 to 10 50
14 00 to 14 50
21 60 to 22 00
143 to 14%
28 to 30
20 to 25
123 to 133
13 to 14
54 to 5¢
7% to 17
10} to 114
12 to 13§
49 to 56
47 to 483
25 to 35
430 to 450
475 to 575
600 to 825
75 to 85
43 to 54
27 00 to — —
22 00 to 25 00
10 00 to 10 50
16 00 to — —
11 50 to 12
24 00 to 24 374
14ito 15
33 to 33
23 to 28
13ito 143
16 to ——
7 to 7%
8ito — —
83 to 93
7 to 9
9%to 17
531
LMarket-prices of farm-products, §¢.—Continued.
Articles. Prices. Articlea. Prices.
Se ee an
NEw OnLeans—Continued. | | San Francisco—Continned. |
Cotton, ordinary to good ordi- Corn, white. >..:..2.- per cental.; $1 29 to $1 40
ABV om « Suh dc erlb | —— to # 113 VEHOW Bess os anes do...| 117%to 1 20
low middling to good Bing’ Statey oF ee per ton., 12 00 to 21 00
middling ......perlb.| 70 12ito* 143|| Beef, mess.......-.....-. per bbI.| 8 00 to 10 00
Wools lakeié. 52.255 -.6...- do...} — — to — — |} family mess...... per? bbl.} 8 00 to 10 06
He POUE (MESS lo see nis lan alee per bbl.| 22 00 to 23 00
SAN FRANCISCO. t prime mess ......-...- do..| 17 00 to 18 00
| Prardescassteeb os. ces os per lb 134 to 16
per bbl.| 450 to 5 00} Butter, overland ...........-. do. 15 to 25
do:.-}) 5.25. to’. 5 75 California --.24-2: 62. do..! 30 to 60
o...| 600 to 6 50 Ouepeni-e posse nae do. 20 to 25
Wheat, California ....per cental.| 1 85 to 205 || Cheese.......-.........-..-- do..| 124 to 15
Go222)) (21.00; te+-2)05)| Wool, native’. .2...;. 2.2 cekje 2 do. 10 to 15
do... ./€0h.20. "to. 1 50 Californias: > 245). sees do 15 to 25
do...| 165 to 2 00 Qreror®.. 23. 2a are do. 15 to 25
NEW YORK. | CHICAGO.
|
Cattle, extra beeves..per cental. $13 60 to — — | Cattle, extra-graded steers, 1,300 |
good to prime.....-. do..--| 11°75 to $12-75 |! to 1,550 pounds, per |
common to fair-.....do....| 8 00 to 11 50 || Gentale 2iyase A gtes 28 Be ;— — to — —
IROSANIGN (2 bean cde a do... 6 50 to 8 50), choice beeves, 1,250 to |
milch-cows ..-.- per head.| — — to — — || 1,450 pounds, per cental.) $5 80 to — —
veal calves....per cental.| — — to — — || good beeves, 1,100 to 1,350
SUS oe Aas es a do....| 4 75 to- 6 00 || pounds.....-. percental.| 4 75 to $5 20
Rial sake Cees saeco. do... 8 664to — — medium, 1,150 to 1,250
pounds...... per cental.| 440 to 4 65
inferior natives ....do....| 255 to 405
PHILADELPHIA. Texans, through droves,
perigentales::.Gee nse: 275 to 3 75
SHEGD ceceten ea cater percental | 300 to 5 00
Cattle, prime beeves.:per cental.} 7 (0 to 7 50 || Swine................-.... do....| 650 to 8 00
fair to good ........ AOe ase e Oreo. 625 ;
common ........... do....| 350 to 5 50 SAINT LOUIS.
DNGEP!. 5. set eee ns cael e a. do...-| 450 to 6 00
Swine, corn-fed ........... do....| 11 50 to 12 25 || Cattle, good to choice native
steers, per cental ....... 3 25. to 5 50
common to fair natives,
BALTIMORE. por, centals-. .cassss4.c- 350 to 4 50
interior and common, per
Cental. os/acke seis calse 225 to 350
Cattle, best beeves....per cental.| 5 62 to 6 12 | Texans, fair to choice,
first quality....-... do..-./' 450 to 5 624 per cental: 2222. -b-2e: 300 to 4 25
medium or pyod quality, | SHESp ar. We sera sass per cental.| 300 to 4 75
MOMCANUA 6 aoe a aeae | 400M tor. 14 50) | Swines...2-03260. 2k do? 2% =|) p) 2aomOOh tees
ordinary ...... per cental.| 250 to 3 50 || Horses, plugs.......... per head.| 25 00 to 50 00
general average of the plaice...) dseee a. do....| 60 00 to 70 00
market ..... per cental.| 4 12 street-car .-......-do....| 75 00 to 125 00
most of the sales ...do....| 350 to 4 75) heavy-draught ....do-.-.|115 00 to 125 00
milch-cows ..... per head.| 35 00 to 40 00 | good drivers ...... do.-..|100 00 to 150 00
Stil Se Oe ee per cental.| 400 to 5 50 || extralsy =. Cee es do....|175 00 to 200 00
SMe sa- 4 do....! 10 50 to 10 75 |} Mules, 14 to 15 hands high.do....| 80 00 to120 00
| | 15 to 16 hands high.do....}120 00 to180 00
| | CXC B oe < slesigs See do....|175 00 to 200 00
CINCINNATI,
y NEW ORLEANS.
Cattle, good to prime butchers’ Cattle, Texas beeves, choice, per
_, Steers ...... per cental.| 400 to 5 50) head 3.222032 ee 40 00 to 46 00
fair to medium....do....| 3.00 to 4 00! first quality.-...per head.} 30 00 te 35 00
common........... do....| 2:00 to 300 | second quality.-..- do..-.| 20 00 to 25 00
milch cows ...-per head.| 30 00 to 60 00 western....... per cental.| — — to — —
veal calves....per cental.| 250 to 7 00 milch-cows .--.. per head.| — — to 90 00
S1CEI 2 see ae i eg doses |3'25 ton 525) ||\SHeep 282. J. 2 eh dos 2.2 42100 ato 600
SAE 8 poe do....| 675 to 7 60 Sywitle.t 5 ect ooue aa per cental.| 8 00 to 11 00
FOREIGN MARKETS.
The sales of English wheat in the United Kingdom, during the first
week of November, amounted to 52,392 quarters, at 47s. 4d., against
* Ob2
54,414 quarters, at 44s. 1d., during the corresponding week of 1874. The
London averages were 48s, 9d., on 2,592 quarters. The imports into the
United Kingdom during the last week of October were 1,286,686 hundred-
weight. The following Monday opened upon a moderate supply of British
wheat, but with not less than 92,000 quarters of foreign wheat, of which
60,000 were from Russia and 12,000 from the United States. In Paris the
wheat-offers by growers were scanty, but numerous holders at second-
hand were ready to dispose of their stocks. Notwithstanding some
local enhancement in the provinces, it was difficult to secure previous
rates. Prices ranged from 42s. to 50s. per quarter, the latter for fine
white. At Havre, fine American and Chilian received offers of 49s. 6d.
per quarter. In the French country-markets offers were not numerous,
and prices in consequence were steady. During the week 9 local markets
had advanced, against 23 the previous week; 63 were from calm to firm,
against 62 the previous week; 21 either declined, or showed such tend-
ency, against 14 the previous week. At Brussels the top price of native
wheat was 51s. per quarter. Wheat on the spot, at Hamburg, was calm
at 43s.; at Cologne, firm at 44s.;.at Berlin it stood at 42s. 6d., with an
upward tendency; at Dantzig it brought 55s. to 58s.
In Mark Lane, Essex and Kent white, 43s. to 55s. per quarter; ditto
red, 42s. to 50s.; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire, red, 41s. to 50s.;
foreign wheats, Dantzig, 52s.to 57s.; Konigsberg, 49s. to 54s.; Rostock, 47s.
to 50s.; Silesian red, 46s. to 51s.; Pomeranian, Mecklenburg, and Ucker-
mark, 46s. to 49s.; Ghirka, 45s. to 47s.; Russian hard, 42s. to 45s.; Sax-
enska, 46s. to 50s.; Danish and Holstein red, 46s. to 49s. American red,
45s. to 49s.; Chilian white, 51s.; Californian, 53s.; Australian, 52s. to 56s.
In Liverpool, British white was quoted at 10s. to 10s. 4d. per cental;
ditto red, 9s. 6d. to 9s. 10d.; Canadian white, 10s. 6d. to 11s.; American
white, 10s. 6d. to 11s. 6d.; ditto red winter, 10s. 3d. to 10s. 8d.; No. 1
Minnesota, 10s. to 10s. 3d.; spring No. 1, 10s. to 10s. 1d.; spring No. 2,
9s. to 9s. 8d.; spring No. 3, 8s. 10d. to 9s.; French, 10s. to 10s. 3d.; Bom-
bay, 9s. 3d. to 10s. 6d.; Kurrachee, 8s. 11d. to 9s. 1d.; Egyptian, 7s. 7d.
to 10s. 6d.; Californian, 10s. 11d. to 11s. 1d.; ditto club, 11s. 5d. to IIs.
8d.; Oregon, 11s. 5d. to 11s. 9d.; Chilian, 10s. 5d. to 10s. 7d.; Australian,
11s. 8d. to 11s. 10d.
FLouR.—The imports of flour into the United Kingdom, during the
last week of October, amounted to 144,549 hundred-weight. The follow-
ing week opened with good arrivals of British flour, but the trade was
quiet, onky the best sorts of either domestic or foreign flour being sought
for retail. In Mark Lane, the best town-households were quoted at 43s. to
47s. per 280 pounds; best country-households, 37s. to 40s.; Norfolk and
Suffolk, 33s. to 35s.; American, 24s.to 29s. per barrel. In Liverpool, Eng-
lish and Irish superfines, 37s. to 39s. per 280 pounds; ditto extra, 40s. to
42s,; French, 40s. to 48s. 6d.; Trieste, 50s. to 62s.; Chilian, 36s. to 39s. ;
Cailfornian, 39s. to 40s.; American, western and extra State, 26s. to 28s. ;
Baltimore and Philadelphia, 26s. to 3ls.; Ohio and extra, 28s. 6d. to
31s.; Canadian and extra, 28s. 6d. to 31s. 6d. In Paris, prices for con-
sumption ranged from 34s. 7d. to 38s. 7d. per 280 pounds; superior flour,
for November, was held at 36s. 1d.
MaizE.—In Mark Lane the supply of maize was fair, but previous
values were maintained. White and yellow were quoted at 30s. to 32s.
per quarter. At Liverpool, American white brought 32s. 6d. per 480
pounds; ditto, mixed, 31s. 6d. to 31s. 9d.; Galatz, 32s. 6d.; Trieste, 31s.
to 31s. 6d.; Dais, 26s. to 29s. At Paris the best old maize was 38s. per
quarter.
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