AGRICULTURE. 



The hay crop was not equal to last year; in 

 the North. TH States east of the Mississippi it 

 was about onc-lit'th less; the Trims-Mississippi 

 States ami the South report a fair amount. It 



ry much from 21,000,000 tons. 

 i-,<rn crop is put down as 880,000,000 

 busing of which 185,000,000 bushels are crcd- 

 . tlio eleven States not hitherto reported, 

 1,000,000 bushels in 1859. The de- 

 in the Northern States from the crop of 

 1805 is about 25,000,000 bushels, and the de- 

 in quality is equivalent to 75,000,000 

 U, making an aggregate decrease of feed- 

 ing value, as compared with the great crop of 

 1865, of about 100,000,000 bushels. As, how- 

 ever, the crop of 1865 was an excessive one, 22.7 

 per cent, above the average, this reduction only 

 brings the crop of 1866 to about a fair average, 

 or a little above it. 



The cotton crop was estimated from the best 

 data, at the close of December, at 1,750,000 

 bales of 400 pounds each. As the actual bales 

 are now nearly 500 pounds each, this would be 

 equivalent to a million and a half of such bales. 

 The cotton-pUmters had expected, early in the 

 season, a much larger crop ; but owing to bad 

 seed, ignorance on the part of many of the best 

 method of cultivation, a very wet spring fol- 

 lowed by a dry early summer, and heavy, 

 drenching rains in August and September, and 

 over extensive sections the ravages of the cot- 

 ton or array worm, the crop was less than 

 half what was expected. In Louisiana there 

 was added extensive flooding of the cotton- 

 lands from the breaking of the levees. Of the 

 Sea Island or long-staple cotton, the quantity 

 raised is about 20,000 bales, less than half the 

 average before the war. 



It k hardly probable that this crop will ever 

 again reach the production of 1860, 4,664,417 

 bales, or if it should, that so large a portion will 

 ever be exported as was of that crop. There 

 are several causes which will prevent this. 

 Among these are, the deterioration of the soil 

 in much of the cotton-growing region, which, 

 unless cultivated for a time in other crops, and 

 restored to its fertility by abundant manure or 

 seeding down to clover, and ploughing in that 

 crop, will not yield one-fourth as much as it 

 would eight or ten years ago. Then there will 

 be a lack of efficient laborers for the cotton- 

 fields ; the negroes, no longer compelled to labor 

 in them -will, in many cases, prefer mechanical 

 employment, and labor less severe than that of 

 the cotton-field in hoeing and picking time, and 

 other crops, fruits, vines, the silk culture, etc., 

 etc., will give a better return, for less labor, 

 than cotton. If, however, under higher and 

 more efficient cultivation, the exceptional crop 

 of 1860 should be reached or surpassed, there 

 would be a far larger proportion of it consumed 

 at home than in any of the years before the 

 war, not only from the increase of cotton manu- 

 factories at the North, but from the tendencies 

 of a free and enterprising people to manufac- 

 ture their raw material largely in the Southern 



States. The production of yarns and of the 

 coarser qualities of cotton goods is already, in 

 spite of the many difficulties it has to encounter, 

 rapidly increasing in the South. 



But to return to the crop statistics of 1866. 

 The potato crop, always an important one, was 

 throughout most of the Northern and Borne of 

 the Southern States a full average ; in some of 

 them, as in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecti- 

 cut, and Pennsylvania (all States yielding large- 

 ly of this crop), it was from 10 to 20 per cent, 

 in advance of last year, and in Texas it was un- 

 usually large and fine in quality. The only 

 States in which the crop was seriously helow 

 the average, were South Carolina, Louisiana, 

 Missouri, and Wisconsin. The crop of 1859 

 was 110,571,201 bushels, and until the present 

 year there has been no return which included 

 the eleven Southern States. The crop in 

 twenty- two Northern States east of the Rocky 

 Mountains was, in 1863, 98,965,198 bushels ; in 

 1864, 96,532,029 bushels; and in 1865, 101,032,- 

 095 bushels. The production of the omitted 

 States in 1860 was about 8,000,000 of bushels, so 

 that the entire crop of 1866 could not have 

 varied materially from that of 1859. 



The tobacco crop was about eleven-twelfths 

 of an average crop, and in the twenty- two 

 States reported in 1865 it was in advance of 

 that crop, which however was not a large one. 

 In Kentucky and Tennessee it was above tho 

 average ; in "Virginia slightly and in Missouri 

 materially helow the average, and as these four 

 are the States of largest production, it early 

 became evident that the figures of the crop of 

 1859, 429,390,771 Ibs., would not be reached. 

 The Agricultural Department estimate the crop 

 of 1866 at 350,000,000 Ibs. We have elsewhere 

 {see TOBACCO) given a full account of the culture 

 of this crop, wfiich is one of great importance 

 to our commerce. 



Buckwheat was a fair average crop, about 

 18,000,000 of bushels. 



Sorghum, though affected in some districts 

 by the heavy rains and the premature frost of 

 September 22d, was about nine-tenths of an 

 average crop, being smallest in the extreme 

 northern and southern tiers of States, while in 

 the middle tier and in Texas it was above the 

 average. The crop has increased rapidly within 

 the past five or six years. 



The amount of domestic live stock in the 

 United States is a matter of great interest not 

 only to the farmer but to all our population ; 

 for upon it depends the supply of meat for our 

 tables, as we'll as of draught cattle for locomo- 

 tion, the transportation of produce and freight, 

 and the operations of the former. Until near the 

 close of 1866 it has not been possible to deter- 

 mine with any considerable accuracy the ag- 

 gregate number of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, 

 and hogs in the United States. War had made 

 such extraordinary destruction of horses and 

 mules, and the great armies had consumed and 

 destroyed such quantities of beef and pork, 

 that the census of 1860 afforded but a pooi 



