94 



one and a half to two tons per acre. Good water can be found in tlie creeks, rivers, 

 and springs that abound in this vicinity. Young stock generally graze the year round. 

 Wheat and oats yield good returns. 



Tkxas. — Nueces : Wool-growing. Some of those who were formerly engaged in rais- 

 ing cattle and horses, and had followed it for years, and could scarcely make ends 

 meet, have purchased sheep, and have been enabled, from the sale of wool and mut- 

 ton sheep, to purchase land, build comfortable dwellings, and get around them a few 

 comforts in a short space of time. A few crosses of the Merino or Mexican (the found- 

 ation of all our flocks) will produce a sheep that will average 4 pounds of unwashed 

 wool per year ; those more highly improved produce from 7 to 8 i>ounds. The average 

 price of such improved wool is about 20 cents per pound, specie, sold at Corpus Christi. 

 The expense for care and attention of a flock of 1,200 ewes, addkig shearing, &c., and 

 hauling to market, 4^00 pounds wool, is less than !§250, coin. The increase from 1,200 

 ewes, when well taken care of, will average 80 per cent, per annum, allowing 20 per 

 cent, for losses, which increase can be sold, at 18 months old, at $2, coin, per head. 

 Hence we have 4,800 pounds of wool, at 20 cents, $900 ; 960 increase, at $2 per head, 

 $1,920 ; total, .§2,880 ; expenses as stated above, $2.o0 ; interest and taxes on sheep and 

 land, $400; total, $6.50; net jirotit, $2,230, gold. From those more highly improved 

 better results are realized. 



Indiana. — Wayne : The long-wooled variety of sheep will yield 10 pounds of wool 

 per annum in the dirt, worth from 35 cents to 40 cents per pound, a greater profit than 

 can be produced from any other stock at present. 



Wisconsin. — CoJumMa: Withoiit an j' foreign fertilizers is constantly enriching oar 

 «oil and increasing our yield, while raising cereals impoverishes. 



Minnesota. — Isanti : One flock of 70 sheep, well taken care of, sheared 260 pounds. 

 This was sold at 33 cents, netting the sum of $85.80. This was from the avooI alone. 

 Now, add to this the increase from the lambs, and the profit was nearly 50 per cent, 

 upon the investment. 



California. — Mendocino : Sheep-raising. Stanislaus : Wool pays all the expenses of 

 sheep-raising, and the increase is net profit, and the increase will average 80 per cent. 

 Next follows wheat and barley, providing speculators do not succeed in forming 

 "rings,-' and depi-ess the price in the San Francisco market. 



Utah. — Salt Lake: Wool-growers fared the best, though they were not able to real- 

 ize 50 per cent, of the ruling prices of former years. From 1,000 sheep, valued at 

 $3,000, wool was clipped to the amount of 5,000 pounds, selling for 22^ cents per 

 pound, amounting to $1,125; increase of lambs, 650, at $1 each, $6.50; total, $1,775 ; 

 total expense of herding and shearing for one year, $570, leaving a net profit of $1,205 on 

 the investment. 



MARKET-GARDENING. 



Massachusetts. — Dules : The county is rapidly gaining popularitj- as a watering- 

 place. The demand for early produce is large and it commands high prices. There 

 are now on Martha's Vineyard about 1,000 cottages, owned by summer visitors. No 

 farmer gives his whole attention to this branch, but it is not uncommon for one to 

 sell $i00 worth of early produce from a single acre. 



Rhode Island. — Kent : The most profitable branch of farming in this State, partic-. 

 ularly on the borders of the Narragansett Bay and along the Blackstone and Pautuxet 

 Rivers, where our principal manufactories are situated. 



New York. — Kings : The county is almost exclusively engaged in raising vegetables 

 for the New York and Brooklyn markets. Early cabbage, with squash for a second 

 crop, was perhaps the most profitable crop. Most of our early crops have brought 

 good prices. Our late crops have not paid us for our labor. 



New Jersey. — Hudson : Onr farmers are seHiug or leasing their farms to market- 

 gardeners, who are doing a large and lucrative business. 



Virginia. — Accomaelc: Trucking, particularly in sweet and Irish potatoes. Princess 

 Anne : One barrel of Early Rose potatoes was planted on less than one acre. Cost of 

 seed, $5; 1 bag of guano, $7; 25 loads of barn-yard manure, $25; labor, $10; rent of 

 land, $5; digging and transporting, $30; total, $82. Yield: 30 barrels, sold at Norfolk 

 at $5.50 per barrel, $165; net profit, $83. The same land was planted in corn, which 

 yielded 8 barrels, sold at $3 per barrel, $24. The fodder paid for the cost of cultiva- 

 tion ; making the net profit on less than an acre, $107. New Kent: Trucking. All the 

 large farmers turn their attention almost exclusively to grain, and after paying ex- 

 penses for labor, taxes, &c., do not have sufficient left to pay the interest on their lands 

 at assessed value. The small farmers, with a small amount of labor, and without 

 capital, manage to make a living by trucking. I have known as much as $250 made 

 on one acre in cabbages, and other vegetables in proportion. Gloucester: Vegetables 

 and strawberries have been very remunerative. Nansemond : Trucking. It has not 

 yet become general, but is on the increase. 



Kentucky. — Jefferson: A large number of Germans are engaged in the market-gar- 



