120 



REPORT OF THE COxMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



dent that the yield per acre is larger than in 1860, the tendency of fer- 

 tilization, reduction of size of farms, and increase of white labor being 

 toward increase of yield. Yet the ditference is not great. In Missis- 

 sippi, in 1860, the area in cultivation exceeded that of last year by more 

 than a half million acres. The entire area in cotton in 1860 was cer- 

 tainly not less than 13,000,000 acres. 



ACREAGE IN CORN AND COTTON. 



A comparison of the relative areas in cotton, corn, and other products 

 of agriculture betokens a gradual change for the better in the extension 

 of the area in corn, wheat, oats, clover, pease, as well as in fruits and 

 vegetables, for home use and shipment to northern markets. The dif- 

 ference is noticed in all sections by our correspondents. 



When we consider the adaptation of this section to a range of produc- 

 tion including all the growths, cereal, textile, the fodder-plants, and fruits 

 found in the temperate zone, together with a great variety of sub-trop- 

 ical fruits and fibers, the proportion of cultivated area in cotton is sur- 

 prising. 



It is the more so, as we remember that one-half the cotton is grown 

 in a little more than a tenth of the total number of counties of this belt; 

 that 93 of 759 counties in 1870 produced no cotton whatever ; and that 

 227 others from less than a thousand bales down to a single one. Corn, on 

 the contrary, is grown everywhere as a prominent crop. There are 23 

 counties in Tennessee that produce no cotton, and 4 of the 85 yield four- 

 tenths of the crop. In Xorth Carolina a large portion of the area is not 

 adapted to cotton ; not a bale was returned in 1870 ficom 20 counties, and 

 its distribution in the tide-water region is very unequal. The unequal 

 distribution of cotton is shown in the accomi)anying map, (frontispiece,) 

 on which the counties producing not less than 10,000 bales are marked, 

 only 79 in number, yet aggregating 48 per cent, of the entire crop. The 

 following is a condensed exhibit of this inequality: 



Per cent. Per cent 



In North Carolina 2 count Jea yield-. 18.3; G8 counties yield 81.7 



In South Carolina 5 counties yield.. 40.7; 20 counties yield 53.3 



In Georgia 7 counties yield 2r),5; 119 counties yield 74.') 



In Alabama 14 counties yield r)7,G; 51 counties yield 42.4 



In Mississippi 20 counties yield 07.8; 43 counties yield 32.2 



In Louisiana 14 counties yield 07.3; 37 counties yield 32.7 



In Texas 7 counties yield 2.i.l; 98 counties yield 71.9 



In Arkansas counties yield 34 ; 54 counties yield GO 



In Tennessee 4 counties yield 40. 2 ; 58 counties yield 39. 8 



The list of counties is as follows : 



Stato and county. 



NORTH CAKOLINA. 



Edjcccombo 



Halil'^ix 



Total 



SUto 



Percent 



SOUTH CAKOLmA 



Abbevillo , 



Barnwell 



Darlington 



Edgefield 



Fairfield 



Total 



Stato 



Percent 



Bales. 



1?,361 

 ) 1,710 



State and county. 



30, 077 

 144, 935 



13, 924 

 24, 010 

 34, 5U1 

 IT, 553 



14, 0-24 



105, 002 

 224, 500 



GEOBGIA. 



Burke 



Dougherty 



Lee 



Monroe 



Stewart 



Snmter 



Washington 



Total 



state 



Percent 



ALABAMA, 



Barbonr 



Bullock 



Dallas 



Hale 



Lee 



B.ile3. 



14, 2!)0 

 14, 034 

 10, 179 

 10, 434 

 13, 641 

 12,823 

 11, 338 



86,741 

 473, 934 



25.5 



17, Oil 

 17,973 

 24, 819 

 le, 573 

 11,591 



