oi 



9 



s at present making healtliy progress, not only in extent of production 

 but Iq improved grades of sbeep, qualities of wool, and yield per head. 



1854 ... 

 ly.io ... 

 185« . . . 

 1657... 

 1858 ... 

 1859... 

 1860... 

 1861 ... 

 1862... 

 18G3... 

 1864... 



Value. 



36, 



80, 



165, 



190, 



356, 



397, 



507, 



1, 668, 



1, 205, 



1,254, 



Ono 

 000 

 000 

 000 

 9C9 

 738 

 198 

 297 

 087 

 151 

 778 



1805. 

 1866. 

 J 807. 

 1868. 

 1869. 

 1870. 

 1871. 

 1872. 

 1873. 

 1874. 



549,931 

 662, 129 

 057, 631 

 225,181 

 747,791 

 238, 000 

 064, 638 

 578, 98') 

 238, 376 

 088, 701 



Value. 



$1, 334, 425 



897, 938 



1,14.3,571 



2, 436, 594 

 2.370, 165 



3, 655, 000 



6, 067, 772 



7, 450, 000 

 6, 450, 300 



8, 182, 000 



American Cotton in India. — The Bombay Chamber of Commerce 

 reported, couceruing IS^ew Orleans seed, grown iu the Dharwar district, 

 a staple of good color and fair length, tine and siliiy, but deficient in 

 strength as compared with the Hiuguughat and the better kinds of 

 Oomrastee. Later experiments in other districts are adverse to the 

 further use of American seed. Eyots are no longer urged to cultivate it, 

 and there is less disposition to experiment with it. 



Cotton experiments have been conducted for several years on the 

 government farms in Berar with New Orleans, Sea Island, Egyptian, 

 Peruvian, and Pernambucoseed, with unpromising results in all cases, the 

 " Dharwar acclimatized New Orleans " succeeding better than the others. 

 The natives took a fancy to this sort, and in 1872 the cultivation had ex- 

 tended to 3,534 acres. But the result of this extension was not favor- 

 able ; while thriving on the hills south of Berar and at the foot of the 

 Souptura range on the north, on the low-lying black soils the crop gen- 

 erally proved a failure, dampening the ardor of the natives for its 

 farther cultivation. 



A BETTER SYSTEM WANTED. — The Secretary of a farmers' club in Beu- 

 tou County, Arkansas, writes as follows : 



Horses are thin, owing to shortness of last year's corn-crop, with no grass, clover, hay, or 

 anything else to fall back upon, except corn iu shock half rotted. This system of farming 

 is our leading one, and is slowly but certainly leading us to ruin. But it is beginning to 

 take a new turn. The Department has done much for us iu disseminating practical information 

 on a better system of agriculture, through the annual and monthly reports, though thousands 

 fail to appreciate or even to read them. 



Great ruin of grain-crops. — The secretary of the Loami Farmers' 

 Club, Sangamon County, Illinois, reports that in that county the rye 

 has been about all killed, and the winter- wheat to a very wide extent, 

 by late unpropitious spring- weather. He states that thousands of acres 

 will be plowed up and put in corn, spring-wheat, and oats. " The early- 

 sown was killed the worst, the late broadcast-sown the least." 



The ayinter in Wisconsin. — Our correspondent in Douglas County 

 reports that between the first of November and the last of March, at 

 Superior, the mercury fell below zero on eighty different days. The like 

 has not occurred there before within the last nineteen years. The snow 

 wa« not excessive until the loth of March, when a depth of 18 to 24 

 inches on a level fell. 



Indigenous plums. — Oui* correspondent iu Martin County, Minne- 

 sota, writes : 



Wild plums of many va;ieties are cultivated with success here. If they are not better 

 than the ea-stern tame plums, they constitute an excellent substitute for them. They are used 



