500 



Tennessee, Macon : The early yellow coi'u forwarded to me by tlie De- 

 partment is the largest tield-cora withiu my kaowledge. 



Outstrip the beetle. — New York, Montgomery : In many of the 

 potato-fields beetles have been found in the hill this fall, ready for the 

 next year's crop. In view of this would it not be well for the farmers 

 to plant the early kinds as early as possible? They might thus avoid 

 destruction by the beetles. 



Maryland, Cecil : The early planted yielded tolerably well where care 

 was taken to destroy the bugs; the late planted and late varieties were 

 more seriously injured. The true plan is to plant early and early varie- 

 ties; they then ripen before the later swarms of beetles make their 

 appearance. 



Minor crops. — Pennsylvania, Bedford : Broom-corn is being intro- 

 duced and promises to be a profitable crop. The yield is good. Beaver : 

 The farmers have grown a larger breadth of beets and turnips than 

 usual, and have succeeded well. 



Maine, Cumberland : The culture of cranberries in this county is in- 

 creasing, but the yield this season is small. 



Florida, Manatee : Oranges are in fine shipping condition. Putnam : 

 Oranges in product are 125; in soundness for shipping, 150. Bananas, 

 compared with last year, are 150 in product and 125 in quality. 



Ohio, Medina: Onions are a drug in the market at 40 to 45 cents. 



Wisconsin, Walworth : All root-crops have done well. 



Iowa, Johnson: Timothy for seed is a staple crop in this county. 

 Five to six bushels per acre are generally harvested and the hay is good 

 for feed after thrashing. It pays as well as any other crop. Scott : 

 Onions are raised very extensively in the county, and this year have 

 been one of the most profitable crops, where suitable land could be had. 

 The yield is from 200 to 450 bushels per acre. 



Missouri, Cass : Over 20,000 bushels of castor-beans hav^ been de- 

 livered already, and there are at least 5,000 more to be delivered. Saint 

 Clair : Castor-beans have been a profitable crop this year. Vernon : A 

 large acreage and good yield of castor-beans, averaging 15 bushels per 

 acre. 



Kansas, Mitchell : An unusual acreage of turnips has been grown. All 

 vegetables are of an enormous size : beets, 12 inches long and 8 inches 

 in diameter; pumpkins, weighing one hundred pounds; corn, 17 feet 

 high, with two and three good ears on a stalk ; Peerless potatoes, 400 

 bushels per acre. Tree-growth is also remarkable : cottonwoods grown 

 from lastjyears seedlings have made 7 feet ; seedling apples, 3 feet 8 

 inches ; hedge from seed, about the same. 



Large yield of wheat. — Pennsylvania, Lancaster: I raised 600 

 bushels of wheat on 32 acres, (18| bushels per acre,) and this is a fair 

 average of the county. 



Department reports. — Arkansas, Prairie : The Department of Agri- 

 culture should be so enlarged as to put a copy of the report in the hands 

 of every farmer on payment of the cost of publication. I have very 

 many more applications than reports to distribute, and I loan my own 

 copies until they are almost worn out. 



Grasshoppers. — Texas, Gillespie: The grasshoppers arrived two. 

 weeks since and are depositing their eggs. Uvalde : Grasshoppers ap 

 peared here from the north in great numbers on the 25th of September. 

 They seem south ward -bound though they are checked up by a heavy south 

 wind. Coming to the ground, they immediately commence feeding on 



