121 



Orerfon. — The returns (which are few from Oregon and irregukir in 

 transmission, owing- to lack of prompt mail facilities) are generally fa- 

 vorable. Several counties reporting appear to grow little winter wheat. 

 The correspondent for Douglas says: "Winter wheat is in excellent 

 condition where the land is naturally drained, as there is no artificial 

 draining in this county; but on flat, heavy lands, it is drowned out to 

 some extent. I am not aware of any rye being- raised in this county this 

 year." The correspondent for Linn County says : " Wheat is at least in 

 ten x)er cent, better condition than last year. Eye there is none. The 

 months of February, March, and April, up to this writing, have been un- 

 usually wet; so much so that no plowing worth naming- has been done. 

 The spring sowing must of necessity be late and probably limited."' 



The Territories. — Where grown the prospect is generally favorable. 

 In Montana spring wheat is generally a more certain crop, though the 

 winter variety at present looks well. It is looking well in Washington 

 Territory. In Utah reports are not uniform, but generally favorable. 

 Correspondents say that winter wheat makes light stravr and heavy 

 grain there. Spring wheat vice versa. 



CONDITION OF FARM STOCK, 



The mildness of the winter has been favorable to the health of farm ani- 

 mals, in exemption from the exposure of violent storms and the extremes 

 of temperature, and rendering necessary a smaller consumption of hay 

 and other feed. A very large crop of hay was secured last season, and 

 its excessive production was quite general ; the principal exception in 

 quantity being in the drought-parched regions of the Atlantic coast, (the 

 southern portions of which save very little in any season,) and the 

 marked exception in quality, as in that iDortion of the West which 

 suffered from excessive rain, in the season of growth, as well as 

 curing. Abundance of provender is found to have more to do with 

 good condition of stock than mildness of weath^ merely. 



As heretofore, it is found that the cattle of the more Northern States 

 are in better order than those of the central or southern belts, simply 

 because they are better sheltered and protected from exposure ; they 

 are also better fed than those of portions of the central and of nearly 

 all of the Southern States. 



No cattle in the country are in a more healthy condition to-day than 

 those of Maine and of Minnesota, and those of New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 Michigan, and Wisconsin, are unsurpassed in that respect by those of 

 any States south of them. They are not only sheltered, cared for, and 

 fed with regularity, but the uniformity of the winter is a stimulant to 

 appetite and conducive to health. In the latitude of the Ohio Valley, 

 cold and warm seasons, snow storms and thaws, ice and mud, are en- 

 dured in turn, and cattle that are ordinarily very comfortable in the 

 open fields, or in the lee of a straw-stack, are left to stand in pools and 

 mire, or to buffet storms of sleet and biting cold, for many days in every 

 winter. Further south, where the friendly forest furnishes the usual 

 protection, and the green cane-brake both food and shelter, cattle are 

 left entirely to the resources of natural i)roduction, and to the protection 

 of the elements. The result is, in exceptionable seasons, and with a 

 surplus of pasturage, fine condition; but, as a rule, owing to de- 

 ficient forage at some portion of the winter, or to a cold storm of rain 



