MONTHLY REPORT. 
; WaAsHINGTON, D. C.,’March 31, 1868. 
Sir: I herewith report the matter for publication in the monthly issue for 
March, as indicated by the following captions: Special Statistics of Farm 
Resources and Products; Number and Prices of Farm Stock; Universal Expo- 
sition of Agricultural Implements; The Cotton Supply; Agriculture in New 
Jersey ; Pork Packing in 1867-68; Business and Resources of Denver; Farm 
Statistics of Great Britain; Culture and Products of the Vine in Europe ; and 
Meteorology. _ 
Respectfully, 
: J. R. DODGE, Statistician. 
Hon. Horact Capron, ; 
Commissioner of Agriculture. 
a 
SPECIAL STATISTICS OF FARM RESOURCES AND PRODUCTS. 
Continued. 
1. What is the average percentage of increase (or decrease, if cases of decrease 
exist) in the price of farm lands in your county since 1860? 
2. What is the average value of wild or unimproved tracts of land; and 
what is the character, quality, and capabilities of such land ? 
3. What marked or peculiar resources have you in soil, timber, or minerals ; 
and what is the state of their development, or inducement for attempted develop- 
ment ? 
4. What.crops, if any, are made a specialty in your county; and what facts 
illustrating their culture, quantity, and the profit derived? . 
5. What kinds of wheat are cultivated; and which of them are preferred ; 
and why? What is the time of drilling or sowing? For harvesting? And 
what is the amount and mode of culture? What proportion is drilled? f 
6. What grasses are natural to your pastures? How many months can farm 
animals feed exclusively in pastures? What would be a fair estimate, per head, 
of the cost of a season’s. pasturage of an average herd of cattle? — ; 
7. What are the capabilities of your county for fruit?’ What fruits are best 
adapted to your soil and climate? Give some facts concerning yield and profit. 
MISSISSIPPI. 
1. Returns from Mississippi indicate a large decrease in value of farm lands as 
compared with the valuation of 1860. De Soto and Tippah, in the extreme north- 
ern part of the State, show a decrease of 75 and 50 per cent., re€pectively, 
attributed almost entirely to the unsettled condition of political and financial 
affairs, and the disastrous results of the cotton culture of the past. In De Soto, 
one year ago, farming lands would sell for about three-fourths their value in 1860, 
but the financial distress, consequent upon the fall of cotton prices, has thrown a 
