450 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
there was promise of a large yield, but, owing to the impossibility of 
procuring pickers at the proper time, the enterprise was necessarily 
abandoned. Dr. 8. is satisfied that, with a proper supply of laber, hops 
ean be raised in that region very successfully, with a yield of 1,490 to 
1,800 pounds per acre, and that the product cn be put on the market 
from the 1st to the 10th of August, the crop being thus made especially 
valuable by early availability. Ele adds: ‘Good cotton land, in other 
words, a light sandy loam, with clay subsoil, is our best hop land.” | 
Cost of raising corn.—At the Madison County (Lilinois) Farmers’ Con- 
vention, in January, 1870, Mr. J. C. Burroughs made the following state- 
ment of the cost of cultivating and husking twenty acres of corn, no 
allowance being made for manure: 
Toss mioyine, ten days, ab $4 Der GRY - ner. -n---hpurecriennerscenp<1=-n5 pene $30 00 
Becont miowing, ben days, at go per day --.--- -- 2-2 sence: yee eeeerencas eee 30 00 
Two days’ harrowing, at $3 per day -.----'-.-----.-----.---- b Jove LOASE Se 6 00 
One and one-halfiday marking off... 2.5225 c\i22- ~ ese ide a ecie peer 2 eee 4 50 
One aod one-halt day checking off -...-.¢22p 00-3 ere ra-ceien= eer eh e eee 4 50 
RCA IONE EIS RAG COLN, 2.-!-% - nos ampimiceles vesrncoeee’ «<= ek wey = a5) se pce 2 00 
PnOratonpers, UVOlOAVA, at-Ol GAC ...2../s-- 2+ --- 2c, ween ee ===> eae a eee 4 00 
Phree days harrowing and rolling after planting .......-...--- 2-2. s-22-sces 9 00 
Plowing ave days, single team, at $2... ..-.--.---- 26 = ceo. ep ge oe ete an 10 00 
Plowing tour'days, single team, at $2.... .--- -+.--- -e--sees2ee0 o3=-55 58 see » / 8.00 
Plgwing four Gays, Single team, at P2-...- once ueressrh- cess sen sree o- = eee 8 00 
RRP POLO ORNS ee cen ote eee awie vo aoe wens ce cece cdeass he eee 6-00 
Casmignnncnrandicnpping 22. i. 2-2. See ee 22 es cae ste 50 00 
Interest on valuation of land, $7 50 per acre..-....-22--2. 22-2 oe eee eee 150 00 
“ee | oo lal ee OP eee eee eee » in bocsly > ecm 322 00 
Taxes and cost of fencing are offset by the fodder produced. At these 
rates, taking the yield of corn at 60 bushels per acre, the cost, when 
eribbed, would be about 27 cents per bushel. 
Rape culture in Wisconsin.—The rape plant is largely cultivated by 
German farmers in Fond du Lac and Calumet counties, Wisconsin. The 
quantity marketed at Fond du Lac in 1860 is stated at 4,000 bushels, 
and in 1866 at 20,000 bushels. Land under fair culture will yield ten 
to eighteen bushels of rape seed per acre, though thirty-five bushels per 
acre have been obtained. The price for a series of years has ranged 
from $2 to $2 50 per bushel. The seeds yield about two gallons of oil 
per bushel. The crop leaves the soil in excellent condition, and the 
chaff, when mixed with roots, makes an excellent cattle food. The rape- 
seed cake is highly valued in Europe for feeding dairy cows. Prices of 
ground cake this season have ranged from $16 to $20 per ton. 
The cork tree in MississippiimA correspondent in Wayne County, 
Mississippi, planted some Spanish cork-oak acorns received from the 
Department, in the winter of 1859. They all came up, and the largest 
tree had, at the commencement of 1870, attained a height cf about 
thirteen teet, the trunk being eleven inches in diameter, and the cork 
around the body more than an inch thick. His soil is poor, being sandy, 
with a clay subsoil, and, for this reason, unfavorable to the rapid 
growth of these trees. 
A valuable tree—In January, 1866, there was brought to New York 
from the West a black-walnut tree, seventy feet long, containing 4,600 
feet, board measure, which, when cut into veneers, thirty to the ineh, 
would be equal to 138,000 feet, worth, at 20 cents per foot, $27,600. The 
estimated cost of cutting, carting, and storing for sale was $700, 
Utilizing the blue jay —Charles Carlisle, of Woodstock, Vermont, states 
that he has found the blue jay a protection to his crops of small fruits, 
