105 



Dairy. 



This business is on the increase, and will soon produce a surplus. But as yet 

 the home market, though well supplied, takes off all that is made. Butter 10 

 to 15 cents, and cheese at six to eight cents per pound. 



Neat Cattle. 



Increased attention to raising cattle is everywhere visible, though but little 

 has been done towards improving the breed. Nor is the business systematized 

 enough to tell the cost of raising at any given age. All kinds are in demand. 

 Beef at 3 to 3}^ cents per pound. Three year olds at 12 to 14, and dairy cows 

 at 12 to 16 dollars per head. Estimated surplus, 2,000 head, at $15 each, or in 

 gross, say $30,000. 



Skeep. 



Our flocks are largely on the increase, numbering probably 25,000 head, and 

 giving us an average clip of 2^^ fts. per head, or 68,750 %s, of wool, which 

 sold last summer at an average price of 37 cents. Deducting 18,750 %s. for 

 home consumption, which is probably over than under the quantity worked up, 

 we have a clear surplus of 50,000 fcs., which, at 37 cents, gives us .$18,500 oa 

 our wool. To this may be added 1000 head drove to the Chicago market for 

 mutton, at two dollars per head, which gives a surplus on the item of sheep of 

 over $20,000. 



Our sheep are of every grade from full blooded Spanish and French Meri- 

 nos, down to the common wooled stock. But few Saxony, and as far as I 

 know, no English sheep are in the county. We value our sheep more for their 

 fleece, and for clearing up and fertilizing our lands than for mutton, though 

 many are slaughtered annually for mutton. 



Hogs. 



But little attention is paid to raising pork beyond our home consumption and 

 home demand. The surplus of 1851 will probably not exceed 2,000 bbls., which 

 at the price of pork, (4 to ^%'^. per fc.,) may be estimated at $20,000. 



Hemp. 



But few experiments have ever been tried in hemp raising, and those were 

 not successful. 



Potatoes 



Are largely cultivated and highly prized as an article of food, and some for 

 exportation. The Meshanocks, pink-eye, blue and flesh colored, are our princi- 

 pal varieties. They are usually cultivated in hills, as corn, and in good seasons 

 will yield 200 bushels or more per acre; have brought the last fall 30 to 60 cents 

 per bushel, and are now in demand at even higher prices. They, in common 



