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coudition. WLeat-growers generally are delighted with the prospect. 

 Comparisons are frequently made with former crops, and some declare 

 the crop finer at this season than in any April since 1860. 



The cotton-States cultivate wheat sparingly, and only in counties 

 which produce little or no cotton. Throughout the entire area the prom- 

 ising appearance of growing wheat is remarkable. We have never been 

 able to report such uniformity of high condition, and only once, in 1871, 

 anything approaching it. Scarcely a really marked exception is reported. 

 Although many counties in North Carolina grow no wheat worth notic- 

 ing, fifty-two reports represent a condition from fair to superior. Many 

 give precedence to present prospects over those of springs from seven 

 to ten years past. Some counties in the Carolinas and Georgia re- 

 port an increased area. Alabama and Mississippi grow wheat in very 

 small areas ; in most of the counties none. It presents a fine appearance 

 where it can be seen at all. In Bibb, Alabama, our correspondent was 

 shown a stalk in bloom 3 feet in height, representing a field of three 

 acres. In Lee, Mississippi, a field of eight acres is deemed worthy of 

 special mention. Our correspondent there, in an experiment with a 

 quart of wheat, which he sowed in a drill made with a bull-tongue plow, 

 obtained wheat enough to seed six acres, and says he intends to put in 

 thirty acres in the fall, as wheat will usually command $2 per bushel. 

 Fifty-five counties in Texas report favorably, with the slight exception 

 of the appearance of rust in Gillespie, ]\[cLennan, Victor, and a few 

 other counties. A " rust-proof" wheat is cultivated in Tyler and other 

 counties. A variety known as California wheat has done well in some 

 localities for several years. In the northern part of the State, on the 

 1st of April, wheat Avas 6 to 12 inches high ; in more southern localities 

 2 feet in height, and heading out. In many cases it made an excellent 

 winter pasture, and is claimed to give better promise of a crop in con- 

 sequence. Eecent rains have wrought injury in some sections. The 

 mildest weather and earliest spring in fifteen years is reported in Ar- 

 kansas, and a vigorous growth of wheat in small patches, than which 

 the memory of the oldest inhabitant is invoked to produce a more luxu- 

 riant. In Tennessee almost equal unanimity proclaims the finest pros- 

 pect, reports ranging from " average"' to "finest for years ;" " best since- 

 1857," and equivalent expressions. 



In West Virginia a county upon the mountains, Pendleton, reports " as. 

 dry fall and poor start," but all other sections represent good condition, 

 in some.cases the best for fifteen j'ears. Kentucky reports a very mild 

 Avinter, unusual exemption from injurious alternations of temperature, 

 and a uniformly good appearance of the growing crop. In some locali- 

 ties the unfavorable influence of ]March weather is slightly apparent. 



Two-thirds of the Ohio counties make favorable returns. In Morrow 

 fields look unpromising, but those well cultivated and seeded with the 

 drill look best. It is noted in Henry that winter-wheat fails with the 

 cutting off of the surrounding timber. " Better than for twenty years •' 

 is the record in Vinton ; " best in ten years" in Gallia; " very fine" iH: 

 Jefferson. Among the counties which have reported injury from alter- 

 nations of freezing and thawing are Licking, Hancock, Shelby, Mer- 

 cer, Eichland, Starke, Van Wert, Lucas, Defiance, Hardin, Logan, Craw- 

 ford, Wyandot, and Huron. The southern and eastern counties, with 

 a generally rolling surface, have escaped much injury. The flat, wet 

 lands of the north and northwest comprise most of the deteriorated 

 area. The Franklin correspondent says : 



"Wheat, ou proper soils for its growth, was never better. On lands poorly drained and 

 badly tilled it is considerably winter-killed. In fact, on bac.ly-manaped lands this crop has. 



