AGRICULTUEE. 



Connecticut, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, 

 and Illinois, produced much more than the 

 average, while tin- remaining States were gen- 

 erallv somewhat l>elow their usual mark. 



u hardly an average crop, though 



California, which grows more than any other 



had increased twenty-one per cent, on 



the 7.2*7.'Mni bushels of 1871, and Kansas, 



aska, Oregon, Texas, and Tennessee, had 



materially increased their production, which 



not previously large; hut New York, the 



second State in its" yield, had fallen off six per 



rent., and Ohio, which stood third, had lost 



j'er cent. The aggregate can hardly he 



less than 26,000,000 bushels. 



lini'kirhtnt, always a small crop and culti- 

 vated in only twenty-six States, will not, prob- 

 ably, aggregate much more than 8,000,000 

 bushels for 1872. 



The crop of Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) 

 in 1871 was above the estimate, reaching 120,- 

 461,700 bushels; that of 1872 is believed to 

 have been about 6,000,000 below this, or, in 

 round numbers, 114,500,000 bushels. The 

 ravages of the Colorado beetle (the ten-lined 

 rman) are said to be decreasing in the 

 Western States, but the rot is more severe 

 than usual in the Eastern and Middle States. 

 The horse-disease greatly impeded the market- 

 ing of this crop. 



The Sweet-potato crop (Batatus edulis) was 

 about seven per cent, below that of 1871 in 

 quantity, and probably did not exceed 47,000,- 

 000 bushels. 



The Hay crop of 1872 was much better than 

 that of 1871, and approached very nearly to 

 that of 1870. It was also of excellent quality, 

 except when injured in making, by wet weath- 

 er. It could not have fallen below 24,000,000 

 tons. The money value of this crop is strange- 

 ly ignored in most of the estimates of our agri- 

 cultural wealth. It is not, like cotton, ex- 

 ported, and therefore does not affect our for- 

 eign exchanges, but its actual cash value, in a 

 when the crop is one of ordinary magni- 

 tude, is greater than that of the cotton-crop. 

 For the year 1872 the market value of the hay- 

 crop was not less than $380,000,000. 



Tobacco was on the whole a remarkably suc- 

 .1 crop. That of 1871 turned out much 

 better than was expected, yielding 203,196,000 

 pounds, instead of 240,000,000, as estimated, 

 but the crop of 1872 was so much larger, 

 especially in the States which produce most or 

 it, that the yield could not have fallen below 

 240.000,000 pounds. The quality averaged 

 about tin- sam ear, though in Ken- 



tucky and Missouri it was slightly better than 

 in 1871. 



The Cotton crop was somewhat below the 

 average, though considerably laiger (probably 

 about 16 per cent.) than the small yield of 

 1871. The Commissioner of Agriculture esti- 

 mates it at 3,472,444 bales, or 1,614,686,556 

 pounds. It would have come up to the aver- 

 age, but for local droughts and a somewhat 



wider prevalence of insect depredations than 

 usual. The following table shows the proba- 

 ble crop in each of the cotton-growing States : 



The crop of Sugar from the sugar-cane was 

 somewhat below that of last year. There are 

 but seven States which cultivate tha sugar- 

 cane viz., South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 

 Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, 

 and of these only Louisiana and Texas produce 

 nny considerable quantity. In Louisiana, polit- 

 ical disturbances, heavy taxation, a constant 

 deterioration of the seed-canes (it is only prop- 

 agated by layers there), the clayey character 

 of the soil, the need of larger capital for the 

 introduction of steam-ploughs and of improved 

 processes in sugar-making, are seriously inter- 

 fering with this crop, and rendering us more 

 dependent upon imported sugars. The sugar- 

 producing islands of the "West Indies and the 

 Sandwich Islands are, with each year, supply- 

 ing larger quantities of sugar to our markets 

 The home production from the cane in 1872 

 would not much exceed 130,000 hogsheads. In 

 a few instances, superior cultivation brought 

 the sugar production up to 3,500 or even 4,000 

 pounds to the acre, but very many of the sugar 

 plantations yielded less than aton to the acre, 

 and some not a single hogshead (1,000 pounds). 

 The Sandwich Islands sugar-lands produce 

 from 3 to six tons per acre, and the West In- 

 dia sugar -plantations from 2 to 4| tons; 

 while the improved processes of manufacture 

 enable them to save products wasted in Louisi- 

 ana, which are alone sufficient to pay the cost 

 of manufacture. A crop which cannot ^e 

 raised from the seed, and is so constantly lia- 

 ble to deterioration, can hardly be deemed 

 worth cultivating. Sugar, and molasses are 

 produced from the sorghum in twenty-four 

 States ; but the product was about eight 

 per cent, below the average last year. Still 

 it does, in many sections, supply the place 

 of cane-sugar, and is now so refined as to differ 

 from it very little in flavor. The supply of the 

 maple-sugar is about the same each year. It 

 is, except in some limited districts, only a lux- 

 ury, and, as such, brings fancy prices. Sugar 

 from the sugar (or Silesian) Icet is gradually 

 becoming a more staple article, and will event- 

 ually, doubtless, in part, supply our annnally 

 increasing demand for sugars. The best suc- 

 cess, so far, has been attained in its production 



