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any year siuce 1864, aurl a great deal more would have been sown but for the waut of 

 seed. The reason of this change is found in the uncertainty of labor. As to the 

 freedmen, the/ do not like to be employed in repairing farms, but want to frolic in 

 idleness from the time the crop is gathered until planting. They cannot be persuaded 

 to take any interest in stock, only to kill and eat, and that by stealth. 



Ogh'thorpe, Ga. — There is a large increase in the acreage in wheat, and will be, I think, 

 in the acreage in corn next spring. The financial condition of the country has caused 

 our farmers to turn their attention more to the production of provision-crops and less 

 to cotton. 



Wilkes, Ga. — More disposition to sow grain. The money-panic caused some to say 

 they will change the practice and, hereafter, plant more corn and less cotton ; 

 but a high price of cotton in the spring would run them wild again. 



Butler, Ala. — Cotton crops short; prices short; hard times; I think the planters will 

 sow, next spring, a great deal more grain than ever before in this county. They will 

 pay more attention to cereals and less to cotton. 



F)-ankHn, Ala. — There is really nothing raised here worth estimating except corn 

 and cotton — the latter being the all-absorbing crop. There is now, however, a 

 very general disposition to raise wheat, clover, etc. The very rapid deterioration 

 of lands under the present system of farming has convinced every reflecting man that 

 a change is a necessity. 



Barbour, Ala. — There is a very general disposition, this fall, to sow wheat and all kinds 

 of grain. Heretofore rye and barley have been sown for pasturage only, no seed being 

 saved. 



Lowndes, Miss. — Unfortunately we, as farmers, have devoted ourselves exclusively to 

 the production of cotton. It is the custom of the county to buy all the horses and mules 

 used, and but few cattle and hogs and very few sheep are raised. The changed con- 

 dition of labor, and the high prices for cotton which have prevailed, have caused other 

 crops to be made secondary to this specialty. The failure of the cotton has well 

 nigh baukrujited the farmers this year, and will teach the wholesome lesson that an agri- 

 cultural people must diversify their products, if they will become permanently pros- 

 perous. 



Spartanl)ur(jli, S. C. — It is ruinous for our belt of country to purchase all their sup- 

 plies with cotton. We never shall be prosperous under this system. A few "panics" 

 may bring our people to raise their own supplies. 



Putnam, Fla. — There is no doul)t that we can raise our meat, horses, and mules 

 cheaper than we can raise cotton with which to purchase them. The farmers generally 

 see it in this light, but it takes time to get men out of an old groove which they have 

 run in so many years ; and then the hog and cattle thieves are arrayed against the 

 change in this, that their thieving discourages stock-raising. 



Douglas, Ga. — The farmers are not so well oft", generally speaking, as they were twelve 

 months ago. Fertilizers and provision bills secured by crop liens have pretty well 

 absorbed the cotton crop, and left nothing to pay old debts with. Our farmers must 

 turn over a new leaf. Before relief comes they will have to make their own fertilizers, 

 and raise their own meat and bread, and therefore give less attention to cotton. 



Wabanha, Minn. — Very much of the land heretofore planted to wheat is being culti- 

 vated to grasses, which are found to flourish much better than was expected a few 

 years ago. Fewer acres of wheat are planted yearly as the country grows older. 



Franklin, Vt. — The tendency, mentioned in my report a year ago, to reduce stock, for 

 the purpose of selling hay for shipment, is more apparent this season than ever before, 

 especially among the small farmers an(l dairymen. 



Aoiucui/ruiiAL RECONSTRUCTION' NKEDRD. — Hanover, Va. — The unsettled condition 

 of the business of agriculture in this part of Virginia is scarcely yet mitigated. The 

 reports we have to make by no means represent the agricultural capacities of the region 

 in a state of aft'airs even approaching a normal one. The disturbing influences are not 

 particularized, being beyond the reach of the Department; but the decided ameliora- 

 tion aftbrded by the eff'orts of the Department at distributing seeds, and in dissemina- 

 ting facts and theories, is plainly recognized. 



Upson, Ga. — The agricultural prospect in this section is quite gloomy; cotton, our 

 leading product, has fallen in price below the cost of production. Before the war we 

 grew cotton at 10 cents per pound. Tlie increase and growth of our slaves was our 

 chief income, but, having perfect control of the labor, we were enabled to make good 

 crops. We now grow large cotton-crops, but it is at the expense of our grain-crops. 

 In Crawford County, a few d.ays since, a gentleman stated to me that there was neither 

 meat nor corn in the county to supi>ly tlie people sixty days. In Upson we have about 

 four months' supply of corn, and perhaps three of meat. Our people have devoted them- 

 selves almost exclusively to cotton-growing, and depended entirely on buying their sup- 

 plies of corn, flour, meat', molasses, sugar, tobacco, and last, though not least, commercial 

 manures, to the utter neglect of producing any manures upon their farm. This kind of 

 farming has been experiuiental, and has fiiiled. Our people are all left badly in debt, and 

 consequently despondency is felt throughout the land. Large numbers of farmers and 



