97 



this, at $10 per tou, is worth $300; deduct $!100 for cutting aud stackiug, will leave 

 $'200 protit ou this crop. 



Ohio. — Tuscarawas : Hay-crop has yielded 1^ tous per acre, v,'ith a selliug price of 

 about $15 per tou, making nearly a net protit of about $13 per acre. Wheat yielded a 

 profit of about $10 per acre, aud corn .$5 per acre. Hardin : The raising of hay has 

 been the most profitable, and the expense of securing it much less than many other 

 crops. JVilUams : A farmer here cut 22 tons of hay off of 12 acres ; the hay was worth 

 $12 per ton at the meadow. The pasture was worth at least $2 per acre in the fall, 

 fall, making a total of $200. Adjoining this meadow was another 12-acre field of equal 

 fertility, which was sown to wheat, aud produced 17 bushels per acre, and worth $1.25 

 per bushel at time of thrashing, amounting to $255. The cost of cutting aud curing 

 hay was $2.50 i)er acre, while the cost of plowing the ground, harrowing, sowing, and 

 harrowing again twice, was $32..50, and the cost of seed, Id bushels, at $1..50, (at time 

 of sowing,) would amount to $27. The hauling in and thrashing (including cutting) 

 cost 16 cents per bushel, amounting in all to $134. fcO, leaving a balance of $120.20. 



Michigan. — Mecosta : The average crop of hay here is 1.28 tous per acre, the aver- 

 age cost of harvesting the same $3 per acre, and the average price per ton up to this 

 date is $16, which leaves for the use of the laud $20.04 per acre. This is making no 

 allowance for manuring aud preparation of the soil, which is much less than for any 

 other crop raised. 



Indiana. — Cass : A neighbor of mine sold 55 tons of hay (raised on 30 acres of land) 

 at $15 per tou, making a total of $825 ; the expenses, including interest ou land, taxes, 

 mower for cutting, raking, hauling to barn and to market, footed up $370..50, leaving a 

 clear margin for profit amounting to $454..50 in favor of the crop. Brown : Our land 

 yields from 1 to 2 tons per acre of timothy hay, without any artificial manuring, and 

 would produce more by being manured. The hay sells readily at $7 to $10 per ton at 

 home. 



Illinois. — Grundi/ : Timothy grass seed most profitable; the average yield is 4 

 bushels per acre, aud the average price $3. Hancock : The steady market price of hay, 

 economy in harvesting and marketing, are inducements in favor of this branch of fartu 

 products. The usual yield is 2 tons per acre on good meadows, bringing from $12 to 

 $15 per ton. An inferior grade mixed with clover, red-top, &c., does not bring so 

 much by $3 to $5 per tou in the Saint Louis nuirkets. 



Iowa. — Jefferson : As much as $16 per acre has been realized this year from timothy 

 alone, which, taking into account the amount of labor, is very productive. 



Colorado. — El Paso: Hay seems to yield the greatest percentage for the amount of 

 outlay, and the necessary labor to produce and market it. I know a farm that cost 

 some $2,500, that produced this year $2,000 worth of hay, (natural grass.) We have a 

 blue-grass here that is far superior to the best timothy tliat can be produced in the 

 States. The farm referred to, next year, will produce $3,000. Cattle are also profit- 

 able ; it is no uncommon thing for a spring calf that is slaughtered to dress 200 to 300 

 l)ound8, taken from the range, and never having tasted grain. 



FKUIT-GROWING. 



New Jersey. — Atlantic: The light soil of this county will probably i^revent it from 

 ever becoming devoted to farming, in the ordinary sense, as the raising of grass, grain, 

 stock, &c. Some have turned their attention to the culture of small fruits, mostly 

 strawberries. M. D. Lake has 15 acres in this fruit. The severe drought last season 

 cut the crop short, and he, to avoid loss from this source in the future, has constructed 

 a large reservoir contiguous to his field. This he fills with water drawn from a well 

 by wind-power. He designs to distribute the water by cart aud sprinkler, similar to 

 those used for streets. Egg Harbor City, a German settlement, is largely engaged iu 

 grape-culture, (turning the grapes mostly into wine,) aud Hammerton in the culture 

 of strawberries. Lately pear-culture is receiving much consideration. Large orchards 

 have recently been set out. The few orchards in this fruit now in bearing have paid 

 better per acre than any other crop. One of our principal pear-growers, Mr. D. Colwell, 

 manures his orchard onceMu two years with stable-mauure and leaves composted aud 

 spread broadcast, and gives clean culture. From a portion, in which the trees are about 14 

 years old, 160 to the acre, the average yield the past season was 1 bushel per tree, worth 

 $3 per bushel. Blackberries come next iu profit. My crop, probably a fair sample, 

 paid $125 per acre clear of all expense, except cultivating and hoeing, the cost of which 

 does not equal, or certainly does not exceed, that of corn. They were tliree and four 

 years old, planted on new land, and never manured. 



Delaware. — Sussex: Especially i^eaches and small fruits; pears aud apples are 

 also grown at a profit. Kent: The adaptation of the soil aud climate to the growing 

 of a large variety of fruit-products, running through the season from May to December, 

 and the facilities for reaching the Philadelphia, New York, and Boston markets, have 

 induced agriculturists to eugage largely iu cultivating all kinds of small fruits, as 



