194 



ultimate result. Last season was unpropitious to August, and afterward 

 favorable to an almost unexampled deg:ree, a tenth of the crop being due 

 to the extreme length and propitious character of the autumnal season. 

 The acreage of sea-island cotton in Texas has been increased. 



COEN. 



The returns relative to corn, though desultory and partial, indicate an 

 average condition. Systematic and complete data for all the States, up 

 to July 1, will be given in the next report. 



BARLEY. 



winter barley has nearly the same breadth as last year ; the spring 

 sowing has been increased. Its condition is fine in the States west of 

 the Mississippi, except Missouri and California, but is subject to the 

 same reduction as wheat in the Ohio Valley. 



OATS. 



There has been everywhere an increase of acreage. The condition of 

 this crop is superior on the Atlantic coast from INIaine to ZSTorth Carolina, 

 with the exception of Massachusetts and New York ; in the dry sections 

 of the West and South it is unpromising. 



GRASSES. 



The grasses are generally flourishing on the Atlantic coast, the Alle- 

 ghanian range into Tennessee, and in Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska ; 

 elsewhere below an average. Clover, in a less marked degree, is thriv- 

 ing in the same sections. It is more sown than usual, and is reported 

 favorably in Mississix)pi and Alabama, and some other southern States. 



FRUITS. 



The promise is very general for an abundant supply of apples, pears, 

 peaches, and other fruits, especially in the New England and in the middle 

 States. 



Frost, in some portions of the West, and in some of the southern 

 States, has injured the peach crop, but Kentucky, Illinois, and Michigan 

 report more than an average prospect. A full crop of peaches, with the 

 aid of young orchards coming into bearing, which will give fruit of sujie- 

 rior quality, may be expected in Maryland and Delaware. Some com- 

 plaint exists of the blossoms blighting in Virginia. Frost injured 

 peaches somewhat in North Carolina ; and in the Gulf coast States frosts 

 in February and March were very destructive. In Missouri and Illinois 

 great losses were incurred by frosts in Ai^ril, amounting to nearly total 

 destruction at several points. In parts of Illinois, however, a fair crop 

 will be gathered ; and a fine crop may be expected in Michigan. The 

 peach regions mostly depended on for market supplies will harvest fully 

 an average crop. 



It is a great apple year in New England ; even in Aroostook, Maine, 

 where the trees in blossom were covered with ice, moderate weather, 

 without sunshine, saved the fruit. The amount of bloom was also ex- 

 traordinary in New York, and the promise of a fine crop is excellent, as 

 in all the middle States, with some drawbacks from heavy rains and 

 falling of blossoms in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In Virginia the 

 same dififloulty exists in an intensified form, and in many places the 

 twigs on the extreme ends of the branches are dying from some unknown 

 cause. The reports from West Virginia and Kentucky are variable, from 



