REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. ov 
The average yield per acre of the two Carolinas, in 1870, was, of wheat, 
7.8 bushels; in 1877, 9.1 bushels. Of Minnesota, in 1870, 15.2 bushels ; in 
1877, 18.5 bushels. Virginia, 1870, 9.6 bushels; 1877, 10.4 bushels. 
Pennsylvania, 1870, 12 bushels; 1877, 13 bushels Georgia, 1870, 8 
bushels; 1877, 9.5 bushels. Showing an increased average product in 
- the States named ranging from 1 to 3 bushels per acre, adding millions 
of dollars to our annual values. 
Of purchases and of distributions which have been made and not hith- 
erto reported, [ would remark that in the summer.of 1877 I purchased 
in Hungary, and imported to this country, some of the celebrated wheat 
called Sandomirka, the flour of which has long commanded the highest 
price throughout all Europe, and is also imported into the United States 
for certain special purposes. This wheat had the reputation for very 
many years of being the best grown in that country. 
This importation was distributed with great care in the fall of the same 
year. With the exception of two or three localities in Tennessee and 
one in North Carolina, the results have been unfavorable; but whether, 
after being acclimated in this country, it will not prove to be a profitable 
and valuable grain, can only be determined after further experiment. 
Other new varieties,of winter wheat, such as the Golden Straw, Ar- 
nold’s Gold Medal, Sandford and Silver Chaff, were also distributed in 
the fall of 1877; in all about eleven hundred bushels. Extracts from 
the returns made regarding these varieties will be appended. 
For the spring sowing the present year, there were distributed the 
following varieties: Golden Globe, Defiance, Champlain, and Sherman, 
a total of 420 bushels, the Golden Globe largely preponderating ; the re- 
sult of this distribution of spring wheat will likewise appear in appended 
extracts. 
Twelve hundred bushels of other varieties of winter wheat, viz., Mold’s 
. White, Mold’s Red, Yellow Missouri, Victor, Swamp, and Midge-proof, 
with three hundred bushels of the previously tried Silver Chaff, have 
been distributed during the fall of the present year. These will all be 
reported upon after the next summer's harvest. 
A variety of oats, named (from some circumstance attending their im- 
portation and purchase) “The Board of Trade,” and probably of Norwe- 
gian origin, distributed in a small way last season (spring, 1878), has 
proven to be of great value to the country, and wherever tried has uni- 
formly produced large crops, the grain weighing from 35 to 40 pounds 
per bushel. it has been a very decided success. 
There were also distributed of winter oats, obtained mainly from Ten- 
nessee, about 470 bushels. 
Of rye there were sent out in the fall of 1877 aboed 350 bushels, known 
as White Winter Rye; of barley, at the same period, 400 bushels of'a 
six-rowed variety ; and 100 bushels of a spring variety, the past season, 
called Mensury, distinguished for its early ripening and excellent malt- 
ing qualities; of Silver Hull buckwheat, 164 bushels. 
