MONTHLY REPORT, 



_Depaiit5ient of Agriculture, 



Statistical Division,, July 20, 1872. 

 Sir : I present lierewitb, for publication, a report of the condition of 

 the crops in the first week in July ; consular and other communications 

 concerning the rural affairs of foreign lands, and the results of experi- 

 ments and investigation in the several divisions of the Department dur- 

 ing the past month ; with market reports, and various facts from original 

 sources. 



J. E. DODGE, 



Statistician. 

 Hon. Frederick Watts, 



Co7nviissioner. 



COxNDITIO^ OF CROPS IN JULY. 



A misapprehension appears to exist in many minds as to the time of 

 making and sending crop reports. Many appear to understand, for 

 example, that the July report is made up from local reports received 

 during the month of June. On the contrary, the observations taken on 

 the 1st of July by the regular correspondent, aided by a board of 

 assistants, are put in writing and forwarded to this office, from interior 

 counties in Oregon, or in Texas, or Minnesota, as well as from nearer 

 post-offices, and, as fast as received, their information is tabulated and 

 condensed, averages made and corrected, the tables and digest analyzed, 

 and calculations made, and a summary published between the loth and 

 20tli of ^each mouth, although the reports are never all in on the 15th. 

 Still, there are some persons whose activity outruns their reason, who 

 imagine that a census can be taken and tabulated weeMy, though mail 

 service to complete it requires two weeks, from points at which tele- 

 gTaphic communication is impossible. 



CORN. 



Area. — The lateness of the spring and unfavorable weather during 

 the planting season in many sections has prevented any marked enlarge-, 

 ment of the area in corn. The tendency is toward an increase in the 

 South, and in the States in which wheat has been predominant. From 

 989 counties, including an area usually producing 600,000,000 to 700,- 

 000,000 of bushels annually, come returns indicating an increase of 3 

 per cent. This is equivalent to more than three-fourths of a million 

 acres ; and the total area in this great crop of the country, which nearly 

 equals in extent the aggregate of all other tilled crops together, is prob-. 



