MONTHLY PvEPOET. 



Department of Agriculture, Statistical Division, 



WasMngion, D. C, Septemher 15, 1871. 

 Sir : I present lierewitli lor publication a digest of the reports of 

 August and September upon tbe condition of the harvested and the 

 growing crops of the country, with brief notes from statistical reporters 

 in relation thereto; also a variety of extracts from the communications 

 of regular correspondents; articles on the British imports of wheat and 

 cotton; sugar and! molasses .crops of Cuba for 1870-'71 ; the"Fultz" 

 wheat ; notice of meeting of the American Pomological Society ; a list 

 of sales of short-horn stock; a mention of personal observations in 

 Colorado and Wyoming; statistics of live stock, and of flax i^roduc- 

 tion in Ireland; together with an entomological record, scientific notes, 

 and a variety of industrial data ; a list of fairs for 1870 ; market prices 

 of farm products in August and September; meteorological tables and 

 notes, &c., «S:c. 



Yery respectfully,. 



J. R. DODGE, 



Statistician. 

 Hon. Frederick Watts, 



Commissioner. 



COI>fDITI0X OF CEOPS. 



Great unevenness, meteorological and statistical, appears in the pres- 

 ent returns. The most encouraging and very unpromising indications 

 are presented from the same State, and often from the same district. 

 Changes in the tenor of returns of the same county from month to month 

 have sometimes been necessary. 



The New England States have had generally a good supply of rain, 

 with storms of hail, high winds, and at several points a hint of earth- 

 quakes. July was unnsually cold; August generally warmer than 

 an average temperature for that month. At Cooperstown, N. Y., there 

 was frost on the 24th of July, and at several points in the same State 

 the month was recorded as the coolest for several years; while the Au- 

 gust temperature was exceptionally high. The rain-fall was large dur- 

 ing both months, particuhirly in August on the sea-coast. Abundant 

 moisture, somewhat unevenly distributed in point of space and time, 

 was enjoyed in Xew Jersey and Pennsylvania. In portions of the At- 

 lantic coast, from Delaware to Georgia, drought was suffered, broken 

 at last by heavy rains ; and the season in that district has been marked 

 by extremes of temperature, the occurrence of cyclones, and other dis- 



