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Earely has a more favorable winter for unsheltered farnd-animals been 

 Known in the Atlantic States, south of the Potomac and the Gulf States. 

 Of sixty-three counties in Virginia, fifty-three place condition of stock 

 above average, and only one claims poor cattle. This improvement is at- 

 tributed to increase of forage and attention in Suffolk, an actual gam of 

 flesh during the winter is claimed in jSTew Kent, and in Middlesex, cat- 

 tle look as well as when in the flush pastures of June, while some are 

 "fat enough for the butcher," in James City. The feeding value of tur- 

 nips is strikingly manifest in Southampton. North Carolina is repre- 

 sented by fifty-four of her counties, of which only Caldwell and Stanly 

 have thin cattle, and Wilkes divides fat and lean by partition of " shel- 

 ter." Only two in South Carolina, Marlborough and Greenville, report 

 thin cattle, because unsheltered and unfed. Eight reports of cattle 

 poorer than usual appear in a list of fifty-two from Georgia. Superior 

 condition in Sumter comes from increase of attention. In Troup, Co- 

 lumbia, Catoosa and Carroll condition is modified by too close proximity 

 to starvation. In Jackson, Florida, condition is characterized as " mod- 

 erate ;" it is more moderate still in Columbia ; in other counties from 

 good to fine. No unfavorable report comes from Alabama ; in several 

 instances cattle are reported fat. Lee and Jefferson in Mississippi make 

 the only reports of low condition in that State ; nearly all indicate some 

 degree of superiority. Among counties standing highest are Attala, 

 Amite, Jasper, Jones, Lafayette, Marion, and Yalabusha. Stock is re- 

 ported thin in Franklin and Rapides Parishes, Louisiana; average in 

 Assumption and Caddo ; in all others superior. We have fifty-seven 

 county reports from Texas, in all of which condition is better than usual, 

 in many instances very fine. The tendency to improvement of stock, by 

 breeding and better care, is manifest throughout Western Texas. In 

 some cases, as in Bell, Cooke, Fannin, Hardin, Kauffman, Refugio, and 

 Williamson, very good beef may be taken direct from the prairies. Re- 

 markable condition is claimed in Bosque, Bell, Bexar, Collin, Grimes, 

 Galveston, Medina, Navarro, Parker, and Smith. 



One report among twenty-six from Arkansas, that from Union, alone 

 indicates leanness. The buffalo-gnat, as usual, is very troublesome, 

 and in some cases fatal. In Tennessee only six reports are compara- 

 tively unfavorable; from Campbell, Grundy, Hardie, Murray, Smith, 

 and Union. In these, sheltered cattle are in good order. Reports from 

 thirty-eight other counties indicate health and. thriftiness, in a measure 

 unusually large in Dickson, Johnson, Lawrence, Obion, and Wayne. 



Coming to the Ohio Valley, an equally satisfactory state of things ex- 

 ists in West Virginia. Monroe and Pleasants have felt the effects of 

 scarcity of feed. Mercer has only a medium report, in consequence of 

 exposure to too much humidity. All other counties, numbering twenty- 

 eight upon the record, represent condition as superior. 



Kentucky fails to make so fair a record, yet a majority of the returns 

 are favorable. Among those least so are Le«^is, Russell, Owsley, where 

 feed is scarce and grain high ; and in some cases a degree of mortality 

 is reported. 



Wet and changeable weather has been unfavorable to high condition 

 in Ohio, and stock too much exposed show its effects ; yet nearly six- 

 sevenths of all reports represent either medium or superior condition. 

 A want of better barns and shelter for fodder still exists in many sec- 

 tions. 



In Michigan, Calhoun, Cass, Macomb, and Oakland, report compara- 

 tive leanness; Branch, Ingham, Manistee, and Ottawa, full medium 

 condition ; and nineteen counties, a still higher degree of thrift. 



