AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. 379 



Production of Sugar in 1855. — According to the census returns of 1840, the amount of 

 cane-sugar produced in the United States was 119,995,104 lbs.; of 1850, 247,577,000 lbs., 

 showing an increase of 127,581,896 lbs., besides 12,700,896 gallons of molasses. It was 

 estimated that, in 1815, the cane-sugar made on the banks of the Mississippi alone amounted 

 to 10,000,000 lbs.; in 1850, it had reached the enormous quantity of 226,000,000 lbs., 

 besides upwards of 12,000,000 gallons of molasses. The amount of cane and maple-sugar 

 made in the United States in 1853-54 was estimated at 545,000,000 lbs., besides 14,000,000 

 gallons of molasses and syrup. The sugar crop of 1855-56 will not exceed that of 1853-54. 

 The production of maple-sugar in the United States for 1855 was not far from 27,000,000 

 lbs. The total consumption of sugar in the United States for 1854, cane and maple, has 

 been estimated at 732,000,000 lbs. 



Hemp Crop of 1855. — The crop of hemp in the United States for the past season has been 

 below the average. The production of 1854 was 22,000 tons, while that of 1855 will not, 

 it is said, exceed 16,000 tons. One reason for the diminished crop is to be found in the 

 scarcity of seed. Early in the present season, an agent of the hemp-growers of the West 

 procured in Europe several thousand bushels of choice seed, which will tend to improve the 

 character of our domestic hemp — possibly diminish the risk of future failures of the crop. 



Concerning the flax crop, no reliable data can be obtained. There is reason to believe, 

 however, that the production is increasing yearly. The importations of Manilla hemp for 

 the last few years have been as follows : 1851, 71,566 bales; 1852,110,258; 1853, 102,292. 

 The imports for the first six months of 1855 were 27,142 bales. 



Cotton Crop of 1855. — The cotton crop of 1855-56 is variously estimated at from 3,200,000 

 to 3,500,000 bales. The crop grown last year (1854) was a small one, amounting to 

 2,847,339 bales against 2,930,027 in 1853, and 3,262,582 bales in 1852.* An unusually 

 early frost in the cotton districts, on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of October, in South Carolina, 

 will undoubtedly diminish the crop to some extent, but more cotton than usual has been 

 planted during the last season, and the weather has also been generally favorable. It has 

 been found that the magnitude of the crop has generally corresponded with the date at 

 which the plants produce their first blooms in spring and the advent of frost in autumn. 

 It is clear that the blooms or blossoms might appear in Louisiana and Florida several weeks 

 before their appearance in Carolina or the upper sections of the cotton region. By close 

 observation, it has been ascertained that, taking the average period at which blooms usually 

 appear, it extends from the last week in May to the 15th of June; hence, the nearer the 

 blooming approaches the one or the other of these periods, in connection with early or late 

 frost, will be the yield of the crop. Early blooms and late frosts produce large crops. Late 

 blooms and early frost, on the contrary, produce short crops, or such is the theory. The 

 growth of one year's crop is included in the statistics up to the 1st of September of the fol- 

 lowing year. Hence an early frost in 1852 would appear in the statistics of 1853. In 

 examining a table extending over a period of nineteen years, we find the earliest notice of 

 a killing frost on the 7th of October, 1838, when the crop was only 1,350,100 bales. The 

 latest date at which it appeared was on the 10th of December, 1848, when the crop was 

 2,000,000 to 2,100,000. In 1851, no frost occurred until after the full maturity of the plant 

 to injure it, when the crop was 2,355,000. For the nineteen years, we find an average 

 occurrence of frost to be during the last week in October and the first few days of November. 



Wine Production of 1855. — The estimated production of wine for 1855 varies from 600,000 

 to 750,000 gallons.f 



Hay and Grass Crop of 1855. — According to the census of 1840, the hay crop of the United 

 States was 10,248,108 tons ; in 1850, 13,888,642 tons. The crop of 1855 has been estimated 

 at 15,000,000, which, at $10 per ton, would amount to $150,000,000. 



The above estimate does not include the value of the grass crop appropriated for pas- 

 turage, which equals at least in value the hay crop, giving an aggregate value for the entire 

 grass crop of $300,000,000. 



* See Statistics, pp. 238, 239. t See Statistics, pp. 71, 75. 



