MONTHLY REPORY. 
DEPARTMENT .OF AGRICULTURE, 
Statistical Division, April 19, 1873. 
Str: I present herewith, for publication, a report of the condition of 
winter grain throughout the United States in the first week of April; a 
statement of the condition of farm-animals during the past winter, and 
of the prevalence and fatality of diseases among them during the past 
year; also, consular communications, (relating respectively to the “ vine 
disease of France,” and to “Dutch or Holstein cattle;”) a letter from an 
official veterinary surgeon of France upon * epizootic catarrh ;” a com- 
munication from Hon. R. B. Roosevelt on fish-culture; an account of 
the operations of the United States Commission of Fisheries, with sta- 
tistics of markets, and “ facts from various sources.” 
Respectfully, 
; J. R. DODGE, Statistician. 
Hon. FREDERICK WATtS, Commissioner. 
CONDITION OF WINTER-WHEAT. 
On the first week of April a considerable portion of the northern belt 
of the winter-wheat area was covered with snow. The condition of that 
which was visible gave promise of general exemption from winter in- 
jury, leaving the crop subject to the meteorological vicissitudes of 
April. In the Middle States a great improvement upon the showing of 
last spring is everywhere conceded, especially in New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania. The prospect in the States south of Maryland is less 
favorable than last year, and there are indications of diminishing area 
in the cotton States, though acreage is not intended to be given in this 
report. Michigan, the only State of the northern border in which” 
winter-wheat is mainly grown, presents green and vigorous growth, 
wherever snow has disappeared sufficiently to reveal it; and Ohio makes 
far more favorable returns than last year. In Kentucky a more check- 
ered showing is made, giving the present appearance a decidedly un- 
favorable cast, with indications of future improvement as the weather 
becomes settled. In Indiana and Illinois the unfavorable returns 
outnumber the rose-colored; the dry autumn retarding seeding and 
germination, and leaving the plants too weak and shallow-rooted to en- 
dure well the effects of winter’s changes of temperature. Similar causes 
affect the condition of wheat in Missouri, but a great improvement over 
last year is reported; and a still more favorable condition exists in 
Kansas. In Wisconsin, Minnesota, lowa, and Nebraska, as is known, 
very little winter-wheat is produced, but full reports are given of such 
experiments. The indications from California all point to another year of 
great abundance, scarcely a county reporting unfavorable condition. AS 
