444 
These States, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, pro- 
duced only 7 per cent. in 1850, advancing to 15 in 1860, to 21 in 1870, 
and 28 in 1876. The increase in Kansas has been most rapid of late, 
nearly equaling in amount in this year the crop of the much more 
populous State of Missouri. Iowa, as yet, grows more than four-tenths 
of the crop of this section. 
The States producing less than in 1875 are New Hampshire, Rhode 
Island, those of the Atlantic coast from New York to North Caroiina, 
Mississippi, Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. MHiinois 
is credited with about 250,000,000 bushels, and Iowa with 155,000,000. 
Next in rank are Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas. These six States 
produce six-tenths of the total product. Tennessee, which once held 
the highest rank in the country, now stands first in the Southern States, 
followed by Texas, Alabama, and Georgia. 
By far the heaviest rate of increase, 75 per cent., has been in Wiscon- 
sin, where the crop of last year was a very poor one. 
The extension of this culture westward continues to be rapid. This 
year, the Missouri Valley, together with the western half of the Upper 
Mississippi, yields two-thirds as much as the area from that river east- 
ward to Pennsylvania, including the States on both sides of the Ohio. 
In quality, the crop is superior to its predecessor. New Hampshire is 
an exception in New England. In New Jersey, there was injury by 
drought. North Carolina and Florida are slightly below the standard ; 
and slight inferiority is indicated in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
Tennessee, Missouri, and Nebraska. In some portions of the South and 
West, there is complaint of rotten and worm-eaten corn. In all the 
States, the crop, as a whole, reached full maturity without injury by 
frost. : . 
There has been an increase of area in all sections, aggregating about 
two million acres, the advance very slight in the Gulf States from Ala- 
bama to Louisiana, and scarcely perceptible in the Middle States. It is 
largest west of the Missouri. Wisconsin shows the heaviest increase in 
the Northwest, and Texas and Georgia in the South. 
COTTON. 
The returns of November indicated an extremely favorable season 
for gathering eotton, except in some portions of North Carolina. The 
following synopsis was telegraphed last month: “ Frost has injured the 
top crop in the northern belt, notably in Arkansas. The fiber is cleaner 
than usual and of superior quality in the southern belt. Drought in 
the Gulf States, rain-storms in the Carolinas, the boll-worm in the 
Southwest, and the caterpillar in certain locations near the Gulf coast 
are chief causes of injury to the crop. The harvest will be completed 
at a much earlier date than usual. The crop must be smaller than that 
of last year, however favorable and long the remaining season for gath- 
ering. In comparison with the last crop, the percentages of the Atlantic 
coast States are relatively larger by reason of the poor returns of 1875, 
and smaller in the Southwest from comparison with the remarkable 
yield of that region. They are as follows: North Carolina, 92; South 
Carolina, 99; Georgia, 110; Florida, 100; Alabama, 77; Mississippi, 
78; Louisiana, 83; Texas, 100; Arkansas, 74; Tennessee, 101. The 
average is between 88 and 89.” 
To facilitate comparison with returns of former years, the following 
tables of condition since 1870, for the last two months in which the 
condition of the growing crop is reported, are presented, averages be- 
