247 



sown a month earlier. The yield was over 150 pounds — more than 75 

 fold — of sound, clean oats. The berry is plump, but not extra large; 

 the hull transparent and thin ; and in bulk the oats weigh little less 

 than wheat. 



Agriculture among the Choctaws. — Oar correspondent in the 

 Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, reports that there is great suffering 

 in that tribe for want of food. The Indians "worked pretty faithfully" 

 last year, but the extremely wet spring necessitated late plantiug, and 

 this, followed by an early drought, made very short crops inevitable. In 

 many localities there is no breadstuff attainable, and many hundreds are 

 living on meat alone. They began to prepare their grounds and put in 

 their seed as early as practicable this season, and are doing what they 

 can to guard against a repetition of the famine they are now suffering. 

 Our correspondent, who has been a missionarj' among them for eighteen 

 years, says: 



I have ever taught the Christian Indiaus that i/^eiy should be models to all the others ; that 

 the Christian religion shoxtld cause them to become more industrious, intelligent, and re- 

 fined, with better houses, larger farms, and more stock, than when they were in their wild 

 state. I often go into their tields with them, encourage and advise them as to work, and 

 exemplify the manner of doing it. Have often begged seeds from the States to distribute 

 among them, have helped cultivate them iu their gardens, and even showed them how to 

 cook the vegetables raised from them. 



Excessive rain-fall. — A correspondent at Baton Eouge, La., sends 

 to this Department a record of the rain-fall at that point, covering 

 March aud April. In March the aggregate depth of rain, falling iu ten 

 distinct storms, was 8.7 inches; in April, 6.6 inches, falling iu six 

 storms ; total for the two months, 15.3 inches. 



A HARD freeze. — Our correspondent in Russell County, Kentucky, 

 reports that " the cold snap " on the 16th and 17th of April was so un- 

 precedentedly severe as to do great damage, not only to the crops, but 

 to forest- trees. He states : 



The very heavy bloom on our white-oak and beech trees is all killed and the timber 

 greatly injured. The tops of most of the ash, white-oak, beech, and hickory trees, and 

 many branches three inches in diameter, are killed. In the tops of three-fourths of them 

 there are no signs of vitality. 



Average weight of fleeces. — The following statements are from 

 our correspondent in Sangamon County, Illinois : From a flock of 87 

 merinos, the greater part pure bred, were clipped 811 pounds of un- 

 washed wool ; average per head, 9.67 pounds. Ten or twelve of the 

 sheep were bucks, some of which yielded 17 to 19 pounds. Another 

 farmer clipped from 3 pure-bred Cotswold ewes 34pouuds ; and another 

 from 1 high-grade merino ewes, 21 pounds. The fleeces from the 94 

 sheep averaged 9.52 pounds of unwashed wool per head. 



Fruh'FUL in clover and cherries, — A correspondent in Augusta 

 County, Virginia, reports that the section between Staunton and Lex- 

 ington, embracing parts of Augusta and Eockbridge Counties, is re- 

 markably adapted to the production of clover and cherries. Within an 

 area not exceeding ten miles square, over 500 bushels of clover-seed 

 were produced last year. Ox-heart cherry-trees, some of which are 

 found 2 feet in diameter, are so abundant that, when loaded with Pipe 

 fruit, they are often cut down as a convenient way of gathering it. 



Commerce in rice. — The records of commerce and navigation show 

 a marked decrease in the exports of rice, which have been about one- 

 fifth as large in the past four years as in a similar period prior to 1870 — 



