AGRICULTURE. 



11 



in r>iv!mi'-: <'< <//'/>// AW/ <* Jahrlmrh (vol. i., 

 taml.ird authority in geographical 

 ^,000,000, divided as fol- 

 : * 



",610,000. 



-..nth Africa, 15,843,000. 

 Mauds in the Indian Ocean, 8,838,000. 

 4. Island-^ in the Atlantic Ocean, 114,000. 

 :.. Tin Northern Coast, 4,000,000. 



6. Mohammedan countries of Central Africa, 

 1,100 



7. Western Africa, 8,308,000. 



8. Equatorial territory, 43,000,000. 



statistics of tlio Christian population (or 

 rather the populations under the influence of 

 Christianity) are about as follows: 



ACRICULTURE. The year 1867 was, as a 

 whole, a favorable one for crops, and the pro- 

 duction in most of the cereals was fully up to 

 that of average years ; in some, largely beyond 

 it. Thi- extensive drought of the late summer 

 and autumn proved unfavorable to the Indian 

 corn crop in some sections, and to the potato 

 crop in nearly all. The cotton crop did well 

 except in the vicinity of the Mississippi River 

 and its tributaries, where floods affected it, and 

 the insect and vermiform plagues committed 



great, ravages. Still, the Crop as & whole is 



considerably beyond what was expected early 

 in the picking season. Tobacco was below the 

 average in the sections where it is most largely 

 cultivated, particularly in Kentucky where the 

 protracted drought affected it. Hops were, 

 in the principal districts, somewhat less in 

 quantity, and, owing to the continued attacks 

 of the aphides and blight, a little inferior in qual- 

 ity to the average. There were exceptions to 

 this statement, which will be noted hereafter. 

 Sorghum is suffering from a decided eclipse. 

 The season was unfavorable, and the quantity 

 sown much below former years. There seems 

 to be a strong prejudice against the sorghum 

 syrup, probably from its careless and imperfect 

 preparation; and though that manufactured by 

 the best refiners is unexceptionable, the de- 

 mand for it is decreasing. In the Southern 

 States, where, during the war, it supplied the 



* A more detailed statement of the population of each 

 division is given in the ANNUAL AMERICAN CYCLOPAEDIA for 

 1866. 



t In Abyssinia nil the Christian*, except about 80,000 Ro- 

 man Catholics, belong to the Abyssinian Church. In Egypt, 

 the majority of the Christian population are Copta. (Set 

 EABTXKN CHURCHES.) 



place both of sugar and cane molasses, it is 

 now discarded very gem.- rally for the products 

 of the cane. The production of *u<jnr from 

 the ran?,, principally in Louisiana, Florida, 

 and Southern Alabama, is considerably in ad- 

 vance of previous years, and has been success- 

 fully attempted t lie past year in South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Beam and 

 peas have done very well during the year, and 

 the crop, as a whole has been above the aver- 

 age. Buckwheat is below the average, the de- 

 ficiency being caused in part probably by the 

 drought. 



The diminished production of Indian corn, 

 falling most heavily on the sections where the 

 greatest number of swine are reared, sensibly 

 decreased the supply of pork and the prevalence 

 of hog cholera also contributed to prevent the 

 usual animal increase in the number of swine. 

 The pasturage in the latter ,part of the season 

 was also injured by the drought in some sec- 

 tions, and this led to a decrease in the number 

 of fattening cattle as well as to a deterioration 

 in their condition. 



The WHEAT crop is stated in round numbers 

 at two hundred and twenty-five million bush- 

 els, the largest amount ever raised in this coun- 

 try, though proportionally to the population 

 and acreage less than the crops of 1859 and 

 1863. From want of skilful management, the 

 production of wheat to the acre is not what it 

 should be. Even in the newer States and those 

 best adapted to the crop it does not average 

 more than thirteen or fourteen bushels to the 

 acre, when the average should be more than 

 twenty-five bushels to make the crop a very 

 profitable one. The crop in 1866 was reckoned 

 at one hundred and eighty million bushels, 

 for the entire country, but a large export de- 

 mand, and the call for it from the Southern 

 States where the crop was small, reduced the 

 reserve till the stock of old wheat on hand at 

 the coming in of the new crop was much less 

 than usual. The export demand in the autumn 

 and winter of 1867-8 has also been very great, 

 and in consequence both wheat and flour have 

 commanded high prices. 



The RYE crop is stated at twenty-two million 

 bushels, an increase of four per cent, on the 

 production of the preceding year. In most of 

 the New En gland States, and in Delaware, Vir- 

 ginia, Tennessee, and Nebraska, there was a 

 slight diminution in the yield, but this was 

 more than made up by the excess in other States. 



The crop of OATS was stated at two hundred 

 and eighty-three million bushels, an increase of 

 a little more than eleven million bushels over 

 that of 1866, and the quality is said also to be 

 superior to that of the previous year. 



The BARLEY crop was ahout half a million 

 bushels less than in 1866, being, aside from the 

 Pacific States, whose returns are not yet received 

 in full, about ten million nine hundred and 

 fifty thousand bushels. This is the more re- 

 markable as the production of the past eight or 

 nine years had varied less than this. 



