MONTHDYOREPORT. 
Wasuineton, D. C., September 19, 1868. 
Sir: Lherewith respectfully submit for publication, as a report for the months 
of August and September, a statement of the condition of the crops, from the 
returns of the circulars for the months named, with extracts from correspond- 
ence; also brief articles upon the Spanish fever; diseases among horses and 
mules; experiments with the potato bug; pisciculture; Scuppernong wine; agri- 
cultural resources of San Joaquin county, California; the cotton trade of 1868; 
premiums for wheat-growers; international exchanges ; sheep farming in Turkey; 
American dairymen in Switzerland; and tables and notes upon meteorology for 
the months of July and August. 
J. R. DODGE, Statistician. 
Hon. Horace Capron, Commissioner. 
CONDITION OF THE CROPS FOR AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER. 
Wueat.—The correspondence of August and September has been very volu- 
minous and indefinite concerning wheat, furnishing numerous and contradictory 
elements in a calculation of quantity. Statements of disappointed expectations 
in threshing are sufficiently abundant in the south, in Wisconsin and other parts 
of the west, to furnish themes for agricultural croakers; a little rust here and 
there, the chinch bug, and other causes of failure are found; the grasshopper 
at certain points in the distant west has been a burden to wheat-growers. On 
the other hand, cases are mentioned of a three-fold acreage with half an average 
yield, giving a fifty per cent. aggregate increase notwithstanding the loss; numer- 
ous returns declare the present the largest crop in many years; and the majority, 
in view of the general increase in acreage, show a better result than that of last 
year, after accounting for losses in the yield. It may be stated, however, that 
the average yield per acre of the whole country is scarcely equal to that of 1867, 
but the increased area sown will secure an aggregate somewhat larger than the 
pz oduct of that year. 
The States indicating a decreased product are as follows, 10 representing an 
average yicld: New Hampshire, 9.8; Connecticut, 9.6; North Carolina, 9.4; 
South Carolina, 8.9; Georgia, 8.3; Alabama, 8.4; Texas, 6.6; Wisconsin, 9.8. 
Other States give an increase: Maine, 10.8: Vermont, 10.9; Massachusetts, 
10.6; New York, 10.3; New Jersey, 10.1; Pennsylvania, 10.3; Delaware, 10.5; 
Maryland, 10.2; Virginia, 10.5; Mississippi, 12.5; Louisiana, 11; Arkansas, 12 ; 
Tennessee, 10.7; West Virginia, 11.8; Kentucky, 11; Missouri, 13 5; Illinois, 
10.4; Indiana, 11; Ohio, 10.8; Michigan, 10.6; Minnesota, 12.5; Iowa, 10.6; 
Kansas, 11.5; Nebraska, 12.5. 
he September reports of condition when harvested represent the following 
States below the average: Maine, 9.5; New Hampshire, 9.5; New Jersey, 9.3; 
Delaware, 7; Virginia, 8; North Carolina, 7.5; South Carolina, 8.3 ; Georgia, 
7.3; Alabama, 8; Mississippi, $8.8; Texas, 4.8; Arkansas, 9.1; Tennessee, 9-1; 
Kentucky, 8.6; Illinois, 9.2; Wisconsin, 9.8; Iowa, 9.5; Nebraska, 9.8; and 
the following up to or above the average: Vermont, 10.5; Massachusetts, 10; 
