80 



Texas. — Parler : Owing to the continual depredations of the grasshoppers until the 

 season was too far advanced for corn, oats, &c., no other ci'op was profitable. Hood : 

 Yielded the largest return per acre. Wheat and all cereals were seriously damaged by 

 late freezes and grasshoppers. Montgomery : Nothing else is raised for export, and 

 not more cotton the past year than enough to cover expenses and purchase bread- 

 stuffs. Fort Bevd : The only branches followe(\with a view to profit are cotton mainly, 

 and sugar to a limited extent ; both of which have proved unprolitable in the last 

 two or three vears, involving planters more and more. Still: We have made at least 

 5,01J0 bales, which have sold at $60 per bale, $300,000. 



Arkansas. — Sebastian : Being the main staple, producing it at the prices that have 

 been paid for it, 9 to 12 cents in the lint, is a losing business. We do not raise a 

 sufficiency of corn, wheat, rye, oats, and potatoes for home consumption. Jackson : 

 That it is more profitable to plant all cotton and purchase coru North is believed and 

 practiced hj many of our oldest and most successful planters; it is, however, the opin- 

 ion of the majority that it pays better to raise all the planter needs at home and less 

 cotton. Sharp : Where the soil is rich and not sandy, corn pays as well. 



COliE. 



The cases classed under this liead are for the most part limited to corn 

 produced and sold directly in the market. Extensive returns one year 

 ago, in response to an inquiry respecting the relative profit on corn when 

 sold in the market and when fed on the farm, so as to return an equiva- 

 lent for what it takes from the soil, and to diminish the cost of trans- 

 portation by concentrating its value, seemed to show, so far as weight 

 of testimony from experience and observation can, that farmers who 

 practice feeding out the coru they raise get a larger profit than those 

 who practice selling it. As a rule, this conclusion is sustained not only 

 by results of annual statistics, but still more decidedly by contrasted 

 results, on farms and in i>ockets, after practice for a series of years. In 

 regard to the relative profit in producing corn and cotton, the return 

 from Green, N. C, reports that corn can be produced with some profit at 

 80 cents per bushel, while cotton, at 13 cents per pound, will not clear 

 expenses, and adds: " Cotton is now selling at 12i cents, and corn very 

 readily at $1." Another return from a county where much more cotton 

 than corn is produced, expresses the opinion that the greater expense 

 in producing the former, and the greater fluctuations in the price, make 

 the profits, in a series of years, "far inferior to those of corn." 



Pennsylvania. — Clearfield : We know of many fields which, according to the 

 accredited number of acres, yielded from 100 to 120 bushels of ears to the acre the last 

 season, though these figures are considerably above the average. 



Virginia — Washington : One man states that he raised 800 bushels on 8 acres. 

 Orange : On some farms 40 and 50 bushels of corn per acre were harvested, and in one 

 instance 90 bushels per acre were gathered from 12 contiguous acres in a field of 25 or 

 30 acres. Middlesex: The average price in this county for three years has not fallen 

 below BO cents. This may be accounted for in part by a local demand caused by the 

 absence of thousands from the farms, who are seeking a living on the vast oyster-beds 

 of every river in this section. James City : The cost and profits of cultivating an acre 

 of corn and an acre of oats of the same soil and fertility were as follows : Total cost 

 of cultivating and harvesting the corn, $13.12; returns, 3 barrels of coi-n, $24 ; shucks 

 and fodder, $7 ; profits, $17.88. Cost of cultivating and securing the oats, $9 ; returns, 

 3,000 pounds of oats, at ()0 cents per 100 pounds, $18 ; profit, $9. 



North Carolina. — Clay: The leading crop. Mitchell: I planted on good upland, 

 without manixre, 8 acres; gathered, November 1,240 bushels; placed it in a crib by 

 itself, and on the 17th of February it measnred 232 bushels ; worth, at 75 cents, $174 ; 

 cost of cultivating, &c., $34.80; net profit, $139.20. Haywood : As a general thing the 

 wheat crop is the most profitable, but last year it fell off about two-thirds of a crop, 

 leaving the corn crop in advance of all others. Burke: Our principal crop for 

 market which is sure, and pays generally very well. Pamlico : The price is about 

 80 cents per bushel, and the yield generally good. Gtnn : While corn was selling 

 at 80 cents per bushel, cotton was selling at 13 cents per pound. Corn can be produced 

 at some profit at 80 cents, while cotton at 13 cents will not clear expenses. Cotton is 

 now selling at 12i cents, and corn very readily at $1. Polk : The i^rincipal 

 crop. S'aii'y : Though much more cotton than usual has been produced, the 



