177 



but coudition is 20 per ccut. below average. The following countiew, 

 which produced nearly- eight milliou bushels iu 1869, return condition, 

 Saint Clair and Monroe 110 ; Madison 100 ; Clinton, Eandolph, and Perry 

 90 ; Lawrence 75 ; Macoupin and Montgomery ijt) ; Sangamon 25. The 

 remainder of the forty-six reports of winter wheat present a similar 

 variation. In spring wheat there is a reduction of one-fourth in area, 

 while its condition is a full average. Among the counties producing 

 spring wheat largely the following report very favorably : Eock Island 

 and Carroll 110 ; Ogle and Boone 105 ; Lee 120 ; Bureau 100. Of 

 twenty-seven reporting spring wheat only four are placed below 100. 

 viz : Champaign, Menard, Massac, and Putnam. 



The wheat prospect is good in Wisconsin : area of spring w^heat, 98 ; 

 condition, 101. Thirty counties report spring wheat, of which Brown, 

 Iowa, and Washington only fall below average. The following counties, 

 representing one-third of the crop of the State, average 105, viz : Wal- 

 worth, 120 ; Green Lake, Grant, and Jefferson, 110 ; Saint Croix, Fond 

 du Lac, (these two having grown 1,500,000 bushels each,) 105 5 Wash- 

 ington, 95 ; Iowa, 90. Very little winter wheat is grown. 



The prospect is cheering in Minnesota. Winter wheat is low in area 

 and condition, but there is never fall-sown wheat enough for mention 

 as affecting the general crop. The area of spring wheat is 101, of win- 

 ter 76, but the deficiency of the latter does not amount to a quarter of 

 one per cent, of the total average. In condition the average for spring 

 wheat is 100. Eeturns are received from twenty-one counties, yet five 

 of the number produce nearlv half of the wheat of the State, viz : 01m- 

 stead, 100 ; Fillmore, 125 ; Dakota, 120 ; Goodhue, 100 ; Wabashaw. 

 120. 



Forty-nine counties in Iowa make returns of spring wheat, and 

 eighteen of winter. The area of the former is 100 ; of the latter 102 ; 

 but there are 30 acres of spring wheat to one of winter. The condition 

 of winter is averaged at 80 ; of spring at 111. Only three returns (from 

 Apj)anoose, Henry, and Carroll) place spring wheat below average : 

 eight return average; and thirty-eiglit above average. The follow- 

 ing eleven counties, which produced ten millions bushels in 1869, aver- 

 age an increased area of 1 per cent., and are placed at 12 per cent, above 

 average condition, viz : Black Hawk, Clayton, Tama, Winneshiek, Clin- 

 ton, Jasper, Linn, Alamakee, Cedar, Delaware, and Marshall. 



Missouri comes nearer a failure' than any other Western State. The 

 area of winter- wheat appears to be reduced 8 per cent., and condition 

 is 42 per cent, below average. Spring- wheat is doing comparatively 

 well, but its proportion to winter is only as 1 to 13. There are reports 

 of winter-wheat from sixty-seven counties, and only Saint Genevieve, 

 Crawford, McDonald, Eeynolds, Wayne, Carter, and Perry stand above 

 average. "A failure" is reported from Holt and Moniteau. The late- 

 sown winter- wheat was severely injured by freezing, and the spring has 

 been unfavorable. Chinch-bugs in vast numbers have attacked some 

 localities. Again and repeatedly comes the statement that drilled wheat 

 is not winter-killed in dry soil, and that that sown broadcast is very poor, 

 and in some cases has been plowed up. And yet some farmers and 

 agricultural writers have not learned of the benefit of drilling and drain- 

 ing as a protection to wheat. 



In Kansas the area is nearly equally divided between winter and 

 spring wheat, with a slight preponderanc^e of the latter. The result of 

 the present crop will tend to make the disparity wider. The area of 

 winter-wheat averages 02, of spring 140 ; condition of winter 46 ; of 

 spring 108. There are thirty returns of the former, and twenty-nine of 

 the latter. Only Sedgwick, Shawnee, Howard, and Linn, of the spring- 



