AGRICULTUEE. 



We now proceed with our usual summary 

 of the crops of 1869. 



Wheat. The crop was in most sections 

 better than in 1868, and a large acreage was 

 sown. Had the spring-wheat been equal to 

 the winter-wheat, the crop would have been 

 unprecedented; but floods in some sections in- 

 jured the spring- wheat seriously, and the long 

 wet season caused it to smut and to lodge. 

 The average improvement on the previous 

 year is 11 per cent., and some of the great 

 wheat States do even better than this. The 

 aggregate cannot vary greatly from 260,000,000 

 bushels. 



The Corn crop was in some of the largest 

 corn-growing States very much below that of 

 1868. A greater breadth was sown, and some 

 of the new States and Territories raised larger 

 quantities than ever before. We put this crop 

 at 846,000,000 bushels.' 



Eye was on the average about six per cent, 

 better than in 1868, and did not vary much 

 from the crop of 1867. We estimate it at 

 23,850,000 bushels. 



Oats were materially better, both in quantity 

 and quality, than in 1868, averaging 16 per 

 cent, advance in quantity, and a considerably 

 greater weight. We estimate the crop at 

 295,750,000 bushels. 



Barley is never a large crop, and its use for 

 malting purposes is decreasing, from the sub- 

 stitution of cheap sugars. Still we have every 

 year imported considerable quantities from 

 Europe. The crop of 1869 was about 12 per 

 cent, better than that of 1868, amounting to 

 25,640,000 bushels. 



JBitcfcwheatwas worse than in 1868 by about 

 7 per cent., and the crop did not probably ex- 

 ceed 18,400,000 bushels. 



The yield of Potatoes was large, but the 

 quality was not so good as the previous year. 

 We estimate the crop at 114,600,000 bushels. 



Tobacco fell off slightly from the high aver- 

 age of the previous year. The yield is esti- 

 mated at 319,377,000 pounds. 



The Hay crop has varied but little for three 

 years past. It approximates very closely to 

 that of 1867, being not less than 26,250,000 

 tons'. 



The Cotton crop was larger than in any year 

 since 1860, amounting to not less than 2,700,- 

 000 commercial bales, of 466.8 Ibs. average 

 weight, or fully 3,000,000 bales of 400 Ibs. 



The Root crops generally were large as 

 were also the melons, squash, pumpkin, and 

 cucumber crops and of excellent quality. 



Of Fruits, the small fruits, owing to the wet 

 and cool season, were not as plentiful or of as 

 good quality as usual. Grapes were abundant, 

 and generally of fine quality. Peaches were 

 very plentiful, but not quite as large as usual. 

 Apples were not abundant, but of good quality. 

 Pears were of fine size and flavor, and mod- 

 erately plentiful. Of most other fruits there 

 was a deficiency. 

 The Hop crop was not so large as the pre- 



vious year, but of better quality, and com- 

 manded somewhat better prices. 



Wool is still laboring under a considerable 

 degree of depression, but there are indications 

 of improvement. The failure of several heavy 

 manufacturers of woollen goods, early in the 

 year, and the very low price at which foreign 

 wools were thrown upon the market, have 

 contributed to increase the discouragement of 

 the wool-growers, but these difficulties are 

 now receding, and a considerable number of 

 new woollen mills have been put in operation, 

 especially on the Pacific coast. The price of 

 wool in the later months of 1869 advanced 

 slightly, but at the close of the year there was 

 again a declension in price. The entire wool 

 product of the year, including both the clip 

 and pulled wool, did not probably exceed 

 100,000,000 pounds, of which nearly one-fifth 

 was grown on the Pacific coast. 



The Wine product of the year was very 

 large, and every year increases it. The Cali- 

 fornia vineyards produced nearly ten million 

 gallons, aside from the large quantity of spu- 

 rious wines which, we are sorry to say, are 

 manufactured in San Francisco ; and the vine- 

 yards on the Hudson River, on the shores of 

 Seneca and Crooked Lakes, on Lake Erie, at 

 Cincinnati and its vicinity, and in Missouri, 

 have added not less than six million gallons 

 more to the supply. A considerable amount of 

 brandy is also distilled from these wines. 



The production of flax and hemp has fallen 

 off of late years. Flax is grown largely for the 

 seed, but the greater part of the lint is wasted, 

 because jute, a greatly inferior but easily manu- 

 factured fibre, can be imported more cheaply 

 than the flax can be produced. Less than one- 

 fourth of the quantity of hemp is now grown 

 in Kentucky and Missouri which was produced 

 there in 1860, because manilla and other 

 Eastern fibres can be imported more cheaply 

 than hemp can be raised. 



The number of Hogs slaughtered for the 

 pork-packing trade up to March 1, 1869, were 

 about 2,400,000, against 2,781,180 the previous 

 year, a falling off of 14 per cent., caused largely 

 by the prevalence of hog-cholera, and perhaps 

 influenced to a slight extent by the alarm in 

 regard to the presence of trichinae and the 

 germs of tape-worm in pork. 



We give below two tables : the first showing 

 the number of acres devoted to each of the 

 principal crops in the United States in 1867 

 and 1868 (the acreage for 1869 will not be 

 made up for several months to come), and the 

 space devoted to the same crops, or a part of 

 them, in Great Britain and Ireland, together 

 with the average yield per acre of each crop, 

 and its average value per acre, in the United 

 States ; the second giving the average yield of 

 farm products to the acre in each State in 1868, 

 and the average value of all crops per acre in 

 each State the same year. This last table will 

 be an excellent guide to the comparative value 

 of farming-lands in different States. 



