97 



<lera ; many counties report little sown ; the prospect is good in Fayette, 

 Ijami)asas, Falls, Bexar, Bell, and Anderson, and very promising' in 

 Dallas, Fannin, Gillespie, Lamar, Travis, Collin, Grayson, Atascosa, 

 and Kerr. 



Winter grain is unpromising in Johnson, Arkansas; "late and back- 

 ward" in Columbia ; better tlian our corresi)oudent ever saw it in 

 Newton ; 50 per cent, better than last year in Benton, and is doing well 

 in three counties. 



Wheat was greatly injured by the cold in Davidson, Tennessee, but 

 all otlier returns are favorable. The season, according to the Giles 

 correspondent, is a month earlier than last year. 



Twenty-six counties in W^est Virginia send reports, all of a promising- 

 tenor, several representing winter crops " better than for several years." 



Thirty-six counties of Kentucky make favorable returns, and in two, 

 Butler and Christian, wheat has suifered from an open winter. It is 

 two to four weeks earlier than usual. 



Full returns from Missouri, fifty-six counties being represented, are 

 unanimous (with the single exception of Clay, in which protracted rains 

 have been injurious) in presenting a very promising api)earance of 

 winter grain, and much tbe larger portion represent the prospect as 

 very flattering. In Shelby, " better than for thirty-five years ;" in La 

 Fayette, " better than for fifteen years ;" in St. Louis, "better than ever 

 known here;" in Mann, "never better in the history of the State." 



Not a county in Illinois reports a poor appearance of winter wheat or 

 rye. It is said of the area in St. Clair that while very promising 

 apparently, " some of it looks yellow, perhaps the result of overcrop- 

 ping and exhaustion of the soil, or perhaps the fly ;" in Eandolph it is 

 claimed to be 25 per cent, better than at the same date within thirty 

 years ;" in Monroe and in Williamson it " has not looked better in 

 thirty years ;" in Putnam a similar comparison is made for a period of 

 twenty years; "never appeared better" in Cass, in Knox, or in Madi- 

 son; " has afforded pasture all winter," in Jersey; "one month earlier 

 than last year," in Clinton ; in fact, scarcely a county presents a mode- 

 rate statement. All circumstances bave favored the crop. The fall was 

 characterized by warm rains, the winter brought no freezing till Janua- 

 ry, when the ground was covered with snow, and since the snow went 

 off only the surface has been slightly frozen. Tbe Cook County corre- 

 spondent reports no wheat sown in the following crisp terms ; " We 

 have long since ceased to speculate in winter wheat and rye, as it is 

 easily shown that every dollar w^e ever made in winter grain cost us 

 sixteen shillings." The report from Pope is as follows : "Winter wheat 

 looks better than I have ever seen it at this season. There has been no 

 frost to keep the wheat back, since early in February, and the ground 

 has been wet all the time. Wheat is too rank in the top, and I fear 

 there is not root deep enough to sustain the stalk and enable the head 

 to fill with good plump grain, during the dry weather which we usually 

 have before harvest. Eye is in the same condition, looks very well, and 

 I believe will not suffer from a drought m filling as much as will wheat." 

 Of fifty-two counties reporting in Indiana, none represent winter grain 

 in poor condition, and but five indicate a mere " average " i)rospect, 

 while more than a third state that the appearance of such crops w^as 

 never excelled at the same season. In one-fourth of the number repre- 

 sented no rye was sown. 



There is some complaint of the ravages of the Hessian fly, in Han- 

 cock and Lucas, Ohio, and in Lake County the promise is not as good as 

 usual; in twenty-six counties a condition above an average is reported. 



