32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



From tlie facts wliich have been stated, it will be seen, that 

 wheat, rye, barley and oats, are much less cultivated now than 

 they were twelve or fifteen years ai^o. The same may be said 

 of potatoes, as will appear hereafter. This decrease may be 

 accounted for, by the greater attention paid to some other 

 crops, and afibrds further evidence of the direction which the 

 labor of our farmers is taking. Indian corn and hay are the 

 only crops yet mentioned, which have increased to any consid- 

 erable extent in this Commonwealth. 



Potatoes. 



There arc no means of obtaining any exact information in 

 regard to the potato crop of the State. It was not included 

 in the returns of 1840 or 1850, and we can judge of it only 

 from the letters received in answer to the inquiries made by 

 me. From these, we find that, in the whole State, the number 

 of acres devoted to potatoes, is less than one-half, or more 

 nearly, about one-third of the number of acres devoted to corn. 

 If we estimate the quantity of the latter, raised the past year, 

 at 2,525,441 bushels, which probably is not far from the truth, 

 and allow 35 bushels to the acre, we have about 72,155 acres 

 of corn land. Supposing one-third as much land to be planted 

 with potatoes, we have about 24,051 acres devoted to this crop. 

 At the rate of 100 bushels per acre, which is probably rather 

 below the average, we have 2,405,100 bushels of potatoes, as 

 the yield of the State. This estimate, of course, is only an 

 approximation ; but so far as we can judge from the information 

 which we have, it must be very nearly correct. 



Most farmers place but very little reliance on this crop. So 

 extensive were the ravages of tlie disease to which it has been 

 liable for a few years past, during the last season, that it is 

 likely to receive even less attention hereafter, than it has here- 

 tofore. This disease has baffled all the efibrts, both of scien- 

 tific and of practical men. Almost every individual who has 

 investigated the subject, has advanced a theory of his own, 

 respecting it. Each of these theories has more or less of 

 plausibility, but unfortunately, when they are tested by experi- 

 ment, it is found that the true cause of the disease is yet to bo 

 discovered. 



