180 



to it, and good results may be looked for, if a wise use is 

 made of the offer. 



The late period of the year at which this society was or- 

 franized, precludes our offering to the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, any exact statistical report for the county. Taking 

 the census returns of 1850, which give the statistics for 1849, 

 and making a reasonable estimate of the increase on the yield 

 of that year, and we have the following approximate statis- 

 tics for 1851, as the product of Shelby county, viz: four 

 hundred and fifty thousand bushels of wheat, worth at fifty 

 cents per bushels, two hundred and twenty-five thousand 

 dollars. Of Indian corn, one and a-half million of bushels, 

 worth at twenty cents per bushel, three hundred thousand 

 dollars. Of oats, seventy thousand bushels, worth at fifteen 

 cents per bushel, ten thousand and five hundred dollars. Of 

 Irish potatoes, eighty thousand bushels, worth at twenty-five 

 cents per bushel, twenty thousand dollars. Of wool, fifty 

 thousand pounds, worth at thirty cents per pound, fifteen 

 thousand dollars. Twenty thousand pounds of tobacco. Of 

 fatted pork, forty thousand head, averaging two hundred 

 pounds weight, worth at four dollars and twenty-five cents 

 per one hundred pounds, three hundred thousand dollars. 

 There are also small crops of numerous productions not esti- 

 mated, but worth in the aggregate no inconsiderable sum. 

 These estimates are believed by those most competent to 

 judge, to be under, rather than over the truth. 



Nearly three-fifths of the land in Shelby county is yet un- 

 improved, although much of it is the best land in the county, 

 the value of which has been hitherto underrated, on account 

 of its being more or less wet, in its natural state. It is how- 

 ever, susceptible of easy and perfect drainage, either by 

 clearing or by ditching; though little effort has yet been made 

 towards showing the utility of ditching. 



Until recently, Shelby county was without easy access to 

 any market, and the cost of conveying heavy crops to Madi- 

 son, seventy-five miles, or to Cincinnati, eighy-five miles, in 



