89 



cents, $375 ; net profit $255. In the foregoing estimates no allowance is made for rent 

 of laud or wear and tear of machinery. Scoit : Corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, cotton, 

 and sorghum are grown. Cotton-planting is decreasing, and grain, fruit-growing, and 

 stock-raising are on the increase. The amount of wheat sown last year is doubled this 

 year. Indei)endence : The fanners in the county engaged in the production of diversi- 

 fied crops, as wheat, corn, oats, cotton, with pork and beef, are among the most thrifty 

 and prosperous in the United States, while those devoting all their labor and capital 

 to the production of cotton are embarrassed wi1h debt, harrassed with unpaid la- 

 borers, and their houses and farms are untidy and without those tasteful adornments 

 which go so far to make rural employment attractive. Hempstead : The production of 

 home-supplies has been less unprofitable than anything else. Marion : One of my 

 neighbors has a farm of about fifty-five acres ; he planted eighteen acres in cotton and 

 the" remainder in corn and oats. His wheat was so poor that he plowed it up and 

 planted the land in corn. He raised an abundance of corn to supply him for the year, 

 and about 19,000 pounds of seed-cotton. He has three boys able to do farm-work, and 

 two girls, (and girls are- generally good cotton-pickers.) He therefore picked out all 

 his cotton without hiring, which he sold at gin at $1.75 per 100 pounds, yielding §332.50, 

 and he has left a surplus of some §200 in cash, besides a sufficiency of corn and meat 

 for the ensuing season. 



Tkxnks&ee. — Smith : Those farmers among us who have diversified their products 

 have been doing best for the past few years. Tobacco-growing brings more money 

 than any other branch, but that it has been most profitable, taking in account the 

 wear and tear and exhaustion of soil, I think hardly any one at all informed believes. 



MINNESOTA'. — Sherburne : A profitable season. One farmer sold, without decreasing 

 his stock, as follows: Cattle to the amount of §370 ; cheese, $255 ; butter, .§250 ; wheat, 

 $150 ; corn, (22 acres,) 1,100 bushels, at (30 cents per bushel, §060 ; pork, §70; potatoes, 

 &c., §100 ; total amount sold, §1,855. Blue Earth : We have an average yield of 40 

 bushels of oats per acre, with an average price through the month of Febrnary of 45 

 cents per bushel, which gives us §ld per acre, against 15 bushels of wheat per acre, at 

 an average price of 97 cents, giving us §14.55 per aero. Jly own jiersonal experience 

 was IJ tons of tiax per acre, at §12 per ton ; total §15 ; 57 bushels of oats per acre, at 

 42 cents per bushel ; total, §23.94 ; 15 bushels of wheat at 90 cents per bushel, $13.94. 

 The cost of harvesting and marketing these crops will not difter materially. 



Iowa. — Calhoun : The cost of raising 224 bushels of wheat on 22 acres of land, includ- 

 ing j)lowing, seeding, cutting, shocking, stacking, thrashing, etc., amounted to §144.40; 

 the 224 bushels sold at an average price of 80 cents per bushel, amounting to §179.20, 

 deduct amount of costs, §144.40, and a balance of §34.80 remains for a profit. On 22 

 acres of land 6(i0 bushels of corn, at an average of 30 bushels to the acre ; the total 

 expenses for harrowing, cultivating, husking, cribbing, ttc, amounted to §130.25 ; the 

 product sold at 40 cents per bushel, amounting to §204, giving a pi ofit of §133.75. Three 

 hundred bushels of oats were raised on 10 acres of land, at ai average of 30 bushels to 

 the acre ; the total expenses amounted to §'ol ; the crop bro ight 30 cents per bushel, 

 netting §90, showing a balance of §29 in favor of the farmer, uaylor : Corn mar- 

 keted in beef and pork yields from 35 to 55 cents per bushel, whereas the grain itself 

 brings in our market but from 10 to 35 cents per bushel. Beef-cattle are worth from 

 $4.75 to §5 per hundred weight, and hogs from §4 to §4.75 per hundred weight, at pres- 

 ent time. Marion: The wheat-crop has been worth §13 per acre; sorghum, §18.75 per 

 acre ; potatoes, §25 per acre ; corn, §12 per acre ; oats worth §10, and rye §9.75 per acre. 

 I mean, of course, that the profits of the crops were worth the specified amounts. 

 Des Moines : The growing of corn, and feeding of the same to cattle and hogs, is the 

 most profitable, not only in this county, but in all this region of country. Twenty-five 

 bashels of corn will ordinarily grow a 300-pound hog, which will not cost over a dollar 

 to ship to Chicago ; whereas it costs §3.25 to ship tlie 25 bushels of corn to Chicago, 

 and the haiiliug of it to the station. Jasper : Raising corn and feeding same to stock ; 

 the average yield is about 35 bushels per acre, the majority of fields yielding 40 bushels 

 to the acre ; market price about 35 cents per bushel. Mr. C. H. Parker fed during the 

 winter 33 head ; averaged 1,250 pounds when commenced feeding, two years old past ; 

 has 80 head of hogs following, the hogs averaging 100 pounds in feed lot ; cattle cost 

 4 cents per jtound in lot ; hogs 4 cents per pound ; the cattle sold to deliver at 6 cents per 

 pound, and hogs 4 cents per pound ; now, the account stands thus : cattle have increased 

 in weight 350 pounds each, hogs 150 pounds each ; by feeding 100 bushels of corn 

 to the steer, value of steer is increased in weight §96; original cost, §50; 2^ hogs 

 to a steer, gain 150 pounds each at 4 cents per pound, foot up $15, plus the §40 

 profit on a single steer, gives a total net profit of §61 on feeding of 100 bushels 

 of corn. Johnson : One instance of an acre of timothy for seed yielding the owner 

 $22 profits. The wheat-crop comes next in order, yielding 12 bushels to the 

 acre, and selling at §1 per bushel; oats yield about 40 bushels to the acre, and sell 

 for 30 cents per bushel. Grundy : Almost exclusively wheat and corn ; we are 

 following the old rules, traveling in the old ruts, no improvements; the people 

 axe poor, and no opportunities to experiment. We are wearing out our lands 



