MONTHLY REPORT. 



Department of Agriculture, Statistical Bureau, 



Washington, D. C, October 20, 1875. 

 Sir : I submit berewitli for publication a digest of the monthly statis- 

 tical returns for October; the centennial address of the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture ; an entomological record ; microscopic observations ; and 

 minor statistics. 



Kespectfully, 



J. E. DODGE, 



Statistician. 

 Hon. Frederick Watts, 



Comtnissioner. 



DIGEST OF CROP REPORTS. 



WHEAT. 



The wheat-crop of the present year is a short one, and the deficiency 

 is augmented by a marked deterioration in quality. 



The little grown in Kew England is as small a quantity as ever, but 

 not much reduced. The Middle States have about two-thirds of the 

 crop of last year, though the decline is unequal, being greatest in New 

 York and becoming less in degree with lower degrees of latitude. Vir- 

 ginia is the last State in this direction to show a reduction in yield ; all 

 the other Southern States have increased their production, some of 

 them 50 to 75 per cent. None of the States east of the Mississippi, 

 except Wisconsin, appear to have equaled the crop of last year. Min- 

 nesota is credited with an increased production, notwithstanding the 

 ravages of grasshoppers and tlie losses from sprouting in the shock. 

 The other prairie States, as far as reported, ^ow a decrease, but the 

 extension of area, both in reported and unreported counties, may make 

 up in some degree this deficiency on a final canvassing for aggregate 

 estimates. The Pacific coast crop is also short. 



The average for the entire territory reported the present month is 

 about 80 per cent, of last year's production. If this indicates the total 

 depreciation, it amounts to nearly 62,000,000 bushels, and gives a crop 

 of 240,000,000 bushels. But the quality is also lower than last year, and 

 the depreciation is heaviest in what are known in a special sense as 

 wheat-growing regions. In quality, the crop averages 84, or 14 per cent, 

 below sound condition. This is equivalent to a further reduction of the 

 crop, though it means poorer bread rather than less of it. 



The losses by sprouting and rotting in shock or stack jiroduced in 



