REFORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 17 



Foity-flfth Congress, and wbich, so far as known, was warmly approved 

 of by mcinb(3rs of Congress, shall become a law. 



The report of crops for the year presents the same gratifying aspects 

 as that of last year. Although the yield per acre in some instances is 

 below that of 187S, the increase of area more than compensates for the 

 declining average. As a whole, the wheat crop of the country is un- 

 precedented in yield, being within a small fraction of fourteen bushels 

 to the acre. The increase in area, some 2.3 per cent., is not so large as 

 that reported last year. In the great wheat-growing States of the 

 Northwest the same climatic influences that were so detrimental in 1878 

 were again felt this year, and the yield per acre in these States the 

 present year shows little variation from that of its predecessor; whUe 

 hi the States contiguous to and bordering upon the Ohio Eiver, but in 

 which winter-sown wheat prevails, there was an extraordinary product. 

 In the State of Indiana the yield was increased from sixteen bushels 

 per acre to twenty and three-tenths. In fact, the crop in all the coun- 

 try was above the average, except in Texas and Kansas. California had 

 a good croi>, but not as large as in 1878. The acreage of corn was in- 

 creased this year about three per cent. Drought in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States was detrimental, but in those States bordering on the 

 Ohio and Mississippi Elvers the season was favorable, and the yield 

 was very large. The total product of corn in 1879 is some two hundred 

 million bushels more than in 1878. This result is remarkable, as it is the 

 fifth consecutive year of abundant crops. 



The cotton crop, which is so important in its bearing on the prosperity 

 of the country, because it furnishes one of the chief articles of foreio-n 

 export, shows a slight decline from the yield of last year. As compared 

 with 1S78; which was the year of the largest production, the deficit will be, 

 in round numbers, 21)0,000 bides. 



In the product of other important crops there is no material change, 

 except that the short yield of potatoes in 1873 is replaced this year with 

 a full crop. Full details of the aggregate production of each of the 

 principal crops, together with area planted and the estimated value of 

 the saaie, will be found in the statistician's annual report. 



His tables afford much general information useful to the thoughtful 

 farmer in the luiJidling and marketing of his crops. The average-price 

 table, showing the difference in value between the market nearest his 

 farm and in New York, PbQadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston, acquaints 

 hiju witli the average cost of transportation, insurance, and commission 

 from the point of production to that of consumption. The wages table 

 is very instructive. It shows that ordinary farm-labor commands most 

 in New Euglaud, where education is universal, and the laborers are 

 cojisequontly intelligent. This advance may be considered a premium 

 on intelligence. In the South and West, while farm-labor is lower, 

 being generally uneducated, that of thf^ iprolligent mechanic is cousid- 

 erabl}' h'jghev than it is in New England. This again may be considered 

 2 AG 



