24 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
REPORT OF THE STATISTICIAN 
Srr: I have the honor to present my sixth annual report as Statis- 
tician of the Department of Agriculture. The estimates of crops of 
1870 are based upon the census returns of the previous year, as far as 
they have been available; but the tabulation of a considerable portion 
of those returns not being yet complete, the comparison of 1870 has 
been completed with our own estimates of 1869. This unchanged basis 
is used for most of the Southern States, and for a few of the Western, 
As the census schedules provide only for enumeration of domestic 
animals on farms, an estimate of farm animals in cities and stock-yards 
has also been included, as well as large numbers pastured on public 
lands, especially in the Pacific States and in the Territories. Less than 
half the cattle and sheep of the Territories are returned by marshals 
under the present census lav. 
CROPS OF 1870. 
Corn.—Au increased breadth of corn was planted in some of the 
Southern States, and in nearly all of the Western. The conditions for 
germination and early growth were generally favorable, and the pros- 
_ pect for a harvest in June and July was reported good in New England 
and in the Middle States, while in the Western States the indications of 
a large crop were general. Wet weather in the Carolinas obstructed 
cultivation and delayed the destruction of a rank growth of weeds, 
detracting somewhat from the promise made by a strong growth and 
good color; and in parts of the Gulf region the crop, though vigorous, 
was not weil advanced at this date, having been delayed by late plant: 
ing or replanting of wet lands. 
In September it was officially stated that corn had been injured in 
localities by drought, by wet weather, by worms, and by early frosts, 
but not sufficiently to threaten a material reduction of the expected 
aggregate. Almost every State made returns of high condition. In 
October it was evident that the corn crop would prove a full one, prob- 
ably the best in ten years, and much larger than those of the two years 
preceding. The States reporting less than the average were New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Kansas, Ne- 
braska, California, and Oregon, the other States ranging trom 2 per cent. 
to 22 above an average. The crop ripened unusually early, without 
injury from frosts, and is remarkably sound, with exceptions of injury 
from drought, as in Eastern Massachusetts, where some fields were cut 
up for fodder; in Virginia, where the product of valleys, overwhelmed 
by floods, was rendered enfit for use by man or beast; and in small see- 
tions of the South, and of the Missouri Valley, where the quality was 
injured by excessive rains. 
Winter grains—The opening of spring preseated the winter wheat 
and rye in a weak and unthrifty condition, in comparison with the lux- 
uriance of the previous spring, which foretold the great crop of 1869. 
Exposure to ice and freezing winds had reduced vitality in spots and 
patches liable to the injury of winter-killing, while well drained areas 
presented plants which were small, but vigorous, of geod color, and 
ready to start into healthful growth under the influence of a genial 
spring. With exceptional cases of severe freezing, the actual destruac- 
tion of the plant was by no means sweeping. The backwardness of 
rowth was mainly caused by late planting, followed by an early winter, 
