ONTHLY REPORT. 



REPORT OF CROP-RETURNS. 

 MEANING OF THE TERM " AVERAGE." 



By the term " average," as used in the reports of this Department 

 wilh resjyect to grouping crops^ we do not indicate any definite product in 

 bushels, pounds, tons or bales. It is an estimate not of quantity, but of 

 comparative condition in reference to former years, embracing the state 

 of development, vitality, and healthfnlness of the plants at a given 

 date. What an average crop is in quantity the Department has never 

 determined for either county. State or nation, and never makes it 

 an element in ascertaining the actual yield. The estimates for the lat- 

 ter are always based upon the yield of the previous year, and are never 

 made till the crops have been gathered, and ample time has been afforded 

 our correspondents to ascertain the true results. 



Our correspondents are carefully instructed upon these points and 

 fully understand them. Frequent explanations have been made in pre- 

 vious reports; hence the Department cannot be held responsible for 

 misconceptions which it has made every reasonable effort to remove. 

 If parties interested in ascertaining and publishing facts relating to our 

 growing crops desire further explanation it will be cheerfully given. If 

 in default of this information and in conscious and confessed ignorance of 

 our meaning they misinterpret our results, they must bear their own 

 responsibility to public opinion. 



COKN. 



The average condition of the corn-crop on the 1st of September, as 

 indicated by our reports of that date, was 83; the maximum, 109, was 

 in South Carolina; the minimum, 37, in Nebraska. 



The average condition, compared with the reports of September, 

 1873, is shown in the following table: 



states. 



Maine 



Xew Hamp.sbire 



Vermont 



Maasachusett.s . . 

 Eliode Island. .. 



Connecticut 



Xew York 



'New Jersey 



Pennsylvania . . . 



Delaware 



Maryland 



Virginia 



Xorth Carolina. 

 South Carolina . 



Georgia 



Florida 



Alabama 



Mississippi 



Louisiana 



Texas 



Arkansas 



Tennessee 



West Virginia 



Kentucky 



Ohio....; 



Michigan 



Indiana 



Illinois 



Wisconsin 



Minnesota 



Iowa 



Missouri 



Kansas 



Nebraska 



California 



Oregon 



90 

 80 

 93 

 80 



105 

 94 

 91 

 84 

 87 

 68 

 89 



100 

 81 

 67 

 63 

 63 

 97 



102 



7G 

 91 

 53 

 66 

 89 

 87 

 93 

 76 

 96 

 78 

 91 

 96 

 92 

 53 

 45 

 37 

 105 

 100 



