386 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



of killing frost and the autumn weather may easily cause a variation 

 of a quarter of a million bales." 



In November it was reported that "the top crop is very light, and 

 in many places scarcely an appreciable quantity." These returns 

 were local estimates of yield per acre in pounds, which were some- 

 what lower, looking to a yield of about 6,500,000 bales. The final 

 report summed up the crop prospects in these words : "The indica- 

 tions point to a crop approximating the November estimates of yield 

 per acre, which looked to a product slightly exceeding 6,500,000 

 tales." 



The recorded movement stands : By the Financial Chronicle, 

 6,550,215 bales; by the National Cotton Exchange, 6,575,691 bales. 



Thus the crop of 1885 was foreshadowed as fairly and almost as 

 fully as it could have been if 'the result had been i)ublished a year in 

 advance of the completion of the actual count of bales. 



It is 57 per cent, of the cotton product of the world, though Ameri- 

 can cotton planting is an industrial growth of less than a hundred 

 years, while India, the original source of commercial cotton, pro- 

 duces only a third as much. 



CROP ESTIMATES FOR 1885. 



It should be understood that the following table does not include 

 all the crops of each State, and that no comparison of the agricul- 

 tural prominence of States can be fairly made from it. The only 

 comi3arison that is practicable must relate to the specific crops named. 

 Sugar and rice, fruits, market gardening, aud meats in the South, 

 and flax, hemp, broom-corn, dairy products, and meats in the West, 

 and many other products, some very local in distribution, in these 

 and other sections of the country, are not included, simply because 

 they are not estimated annually in sufficient detail. This explanation 

 is made to prevent captious suggestions of unfairness to the different 

 sections, which are absurd and unreasonable. 



Table showing the product of the cereals, potatoes, tobacco, hay, and cotton of the 

 several States named, the yield per acre, the total acreage, the average price in 

 each State, and the value of each crop, for 1885. 



States. 



Maine , 



New Hampshire . . . 



Products. 



Quantity 



produceclin 



1885. 



Indian corn bushels. . 



Wheat do 



Rye do 



Oats do 



Barley do 



Buckwheat do 



I'otatoes . . do 



Hay tons.. 



Total 



Indian com bushels. 



AVbeat do... 



Rye do... 



Oats do... 



Barley do... 



Buckwheat do. . . 



Potatoes do... 



Hay tons. 



Total 



1,009,000 



566,000 



29,000 



2, 622, 000 



276,000 



3n,00() 



6,ai)4,(X)0 



976, 646 



1,299,000 



174,000 



41.000 



l,092,0iX) 



&1,00() 



9,5,000 



2,785,000 



527, 109 



Average 



yield 

 per acre. 



32.3 



13.8 

 12.2 

 31.0 

 28.4 

 17.5 

 100.0 

 .85 



15. 

 12. 

 34. 

 22. 

 20. 

 102. 



Number of 



acres in 

 each crop. 



81,222 

 41,126 

 2,3S5 

 84, 570 

 12,302 

 21.185 

 62,0.35 

 1,148,995 



1,403,820 



38,386 



n.267 

 3,2t.O 



31,506 

 3,745 

 4,737 



27,3(H 

 658,961 



779, 186 



Value per 



unit of 



quantity. 



$0 70 

 1 25 

 84 

 40 

 69 

 .54 

 42 



11 95 



71 

 1 24 

 83 

 42 

 69 

 54 

 44 

 12 75 



Total 

 valuation. 



$706,300 



707,500 



24,327 



1,048,800 



190,140 



200,199 



2,605,470 



11,670,920 



17,153,656 



922,290 



215,760 



3-1,030 



458, 640 



58, 141 



51,160 



1,22.5,404 



6,721,405 



9,686,&30 



