AGRICULTUKAL STATISTICS. 

 Table No. 4 — Continued. 



603 



Names of products. 



Price in 1862. 



Price in 1863. 



Increase. 



Per cent, 

 increase. 



Indian corn bushels . 



Wheat do . . . 



Rye do... 



Oats do... 



Barley do . . . 



Buckwheat do. . . 



Potatoes do. . . 



Hay tons. 



Tobacco pounds . 



$0 34 8-10 

 93 7-10 

 70 0-10 

 36 6-10 

 86 0-10 

 56 5-10 

 3S) 7-10 

 9 20 0-10 

 11 9-10 



$0 69 9-10 



1 14 0-10 



1 03 0-10 



62 3-10 



1 11 0-10 



80 2-10 



55 6-10 



13 50 0-10 



14 9-10 



$0 35 1-10 

 20 3-10 

 33 0-10 



25 7-10 



26 0-10 

 23 7-10 

 15 9-10 



4 30 0-10 

 3 0-10 



1.00 

 .22 

 .47 

 .70 

 .30 

 .42 

 .40 

 .47 

 .25 



The foregoing table (No. 4) needs some explanation to be properly under- 

 stood. 



1. The number of husJiels. — The estimates of these have been made with 

 great care, and they approximate closely to the actual amount of the crops of 

 1862 and 1863. 



2. The number of acres. — This division of the general table has less cor- 

 rectness than any other. The correspondents of the department return to it 

 the yield per acre of each crop in their respective counties. A correct judgment 

 of what that yield is, if, like all other matters of human knowledge, is one requiring 

 time and study to perfect it. The return giving the yield per acre of the crops 

 of 1862 was among the first made to this department by its correspondents. 

 In alluding to it in my last report I remarked that, as the correspondents were 

 " among the best farmers, their returns of the yield per acre represent more, 

 perhaps, those of good farming than of good and bad together." The estimates 

 were undoubtedly too high. As the acreage of a crop is determined by dividing 

 the yield per acre into the amount of the whole crop, it is readily seen that the 

 number of acres will be less as the yield per acre is increased. Hence the 

 general acreage of 1862 was too low, because the yield per acre was placed too 

 high. 



In 1863 the correspondents had attained that knowledge which was essential 

 to an approximate correctness, and the returns for that year may be regarded 

 as correct. The table of acres, therefore, shows too few acres for 1862, except 

 in hay and tobacco, and, as a consequence, the increase in acreage in 1863 is 

 too great. This is clearly seen in the increase in wheat. The yield per 

 acre in 1862 was 16 bushels ; in 1863, I^yo bushels. To one well versed in 

 the general average yields the estimate for 1862 will be seen to be much too 

 great. 



This fault in the table is incident to the commencement of this plan for the 

 collection of statistics, and not to the plan itself, and it has been especially 

 pointed out that it may be seen how important it is to sustain a correspondence 

 where experienced judgments are so essential to obtaining correct information. 



3. The value. — The values are thus estimated : The correspondents give 

 the average prices of each crop in their counties, and from these the general 

 average of a State is made and multiplied into the amount of a crop. Ko more 

 correct mode can be adopted by which to estimate the general value of a crop, 

 except by first estimating the value of the products of each county, but this 

 cannot be done because no returns of the crops of each county for 1860 have 

 yet been published from the Census bureau. 



The table included in No. 4 exhibit some striking facts. Although the com 

 crop was less in 1863 by 163,352,132 bushels than in 1862, yet its value was 

 $83,840,324 greater. The general average price per bushel in 1862 was thirty- 

 four and eight-tenths cents, and in 1863 sixty-nine and nine-tenths cents — an 

 increase of 100 per cent. The wants of the government and the decreased crop 



