REPORT OF THE STATISTICIAN. 25 
which allowed of little more than germination before cold weather set 
in. Mild weather and light snows, accompanied with few sudden 
changes, prevailed in early winter, while the colder and rougher weather 
of later winter was attended with heavier snows, which furnished val- 
uable protection and relieved the severity of the winter-killing. The 
amelioration produced by the favorable weather of May was general, 
and in places quite marked, brightening the promise of a moderately 
abundant harvest. In June the principal wheat-growing States made 
returns of condition of winter wheat varying from 6 to 24 per cent. 
below an average. The Southern States presented a more favorable 
showing than usual. The condition of spring wheat was also under an 
average. The superiority of the early-sown winter wheat, manifested 
so prominently in spring, was maintained as the season advanced ; in 
deep and meliow soils, even with a high temperature and drought, it 
presented a vigorous appearance and weli filled heads, though the straw 
might be somewhat shortened. The drill-seeded fields invariably made 
a finer show than those sown broadcast. Among the casualties reported 
were rust, which had a limited range; hail-storms, especially prevalent 
in the Ohio Vailey; driving rains, in Virginia and North Carolina; 
grasshoppers, in Utah; and squirrels, in Contra Costa County, Califor- 
nia, where their destruction of wheat, “‘by the acre daily,” called forth 
public assemblies to repel the invaders, the losses being estimated at 
$100,000. 
In July the estimated reduction in acreage, as compared with the 
crop, was 6 per cent., and in condition 13 per cent. The final returns 
in October indicated the yield which appears in our tables, the compari- 
son being made with the census returns of the crop of 1869. Every 
prominent wheat-producing State exhibited a reduction ranging from 2 
to 18 per cent. 
The Tappahannock appeared to be most prominent among varieties 
succeeding well, particularly in the South and West and Utah Terri- 
tory. 
Hay.—The season was favorable for this crop in the State of New 
York, on the western slope of the Alleghanies, and on the Paeific coast, 
and the product was large in those sections. In New England, New 
York, and in the Ohio Valley, and west of the Mississippi, a material 
reduction in the yield appears. The quality, as a whole, was above 
medium. . 
Potatoes.—The yield of this important esculent was under an average 
in all the Atlantic States southward to Virginia, and in ail the Western 
States north of the Ohio River, the depreciation ranging from 15 to 44 
per cent. An average crop was obtained in Virginia, Kentucky, Ten- 
nesseé, and Arkansas. A slight reduction was experienced on the Pa- 
cific coast. The potato beetle, Doryphora decemlineata, extended its 
theater of operations to the Ohio line, and committed great devasta- 
tions on his eastward march, not forgetting to leave detachments to 
occupy in future the country already conquered. Drought caused much 
loss, both east and west. 
Cotton.—The spring and early summer were more favorable than in 
1869, theugh there was complaint of “bad stands” in South Carolina, 
of drought for five weeks in Georgia, of a less extended season of dry 
weather in Alabama, and of a late and unpropitious start in Texas; yet 
it was a general fact that vigor aud thrifty growth were offset by as few 
local drawbacks as could be expected, even in the average of good sea- 
sous. An increase of acreage was exhibited in the July returns, estima- 
ted at 12 per cent. above that of the previous year, assumed to repre- 
