AGRICTL 



waa. eooordtaf to the beat returns, cultivated 

 la twenty-iwo State* In 18T8, Mt UM product 

 wa* II per oet UM than in 187S, while the 

 crop or that year wn 8 per cent. leas Unn 

 that >M- little sugar U made, and 



lit* .trap doea DO! probably exced 15.500.0oo 

 gallus. T!M cultivation of UM i*far-lttt for 

 mfu. koo Un other hand, increasing, though 

 la UM face of eefiotaa obstacles. 



Only Mrentern 8Uta report the cu 

 of flax, anJ in sone of them the crop was to 

 large and of such excellent quality a* to raise 

 UM whole crop to about 8 per cent above the 

 average. In Kansas it wa* 60 per cent above 

 laat year, and in Iowa 88 per cent, above. The 

 crop was probably not far from 27,000,000 



&WM and Peat were about an average crop. 

 Tier* are uanally from IS.OOO.OOOto 10.000,000 

 baahrh of UMM legume* raised annually. 



Of the Kiet crop we bare no satisfactory re- 

 turn*. It baa been gradually increasing since 

 IMt, the year of the census, when 78,685,031 

 poods were raised. 



/Vnifj. The Grape crop was somewhat be- 

 low the average, except in Delaware, Mas- 

 eecbaattu, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. 

 York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as 

 well as California, showed seriously dimin- 

 UbeJ proiloction. It waa not an Apple year, 

 except to Oregon. The quality was good, but 

 the quntiiy was not more than one-half that 

 of the prevtoua year. Pears, on the contrary, 

 ware nearly up to the average, and in those 

 State* in which they are specially cultivated 

 tto crop waa above the average. 

 were nut abradant nor of very good quality. 

 'n ike bol the crop* of the year were below 

 UM average in quantity, and some of them in 

 quality, also, yet not to roch an extent as to 

 ** any eowMerable inconvenience or MI n; r - 

 lax. and not snflciently so to account in any 

 *av for UM severe financial panic which visited 

 UM country in (be autumn of 1878. 



OB page II we give our usual table of the 



rsaber and value of the domestic live-stock 



i of the increase 

 , sheep, and swr 

 I eartioBt of the country : 

 The aggregate value of the live-stock of the 



Cording to thlaestimate, was $1 . 

 41.H : and if we add to this the eatlm 



of te of our principal crop* in 1878, 

 wheat, rye, oat*, barley, 



cro, hay. and 

 amounted to $1 

 WMtt. we Uvr a total value of live - 



SilTS'S' 1 1**'*' 1 th * TW ' of 

 rt*, or abot BO per cent, more 

 that the natfcMa) debt This, It is to be re- 

 to entirely oataide of the value of 

 luipteuieajU and msrhin.-rv. 



''* oentui of 



I to KJkM.titt.ejo. WemjtfNr*. 

 aafely tl.st the agricultural in- 



f UM country in January. 1878, 

 ... 

 and dlmtnatioB of rattle, sheep, a 



vU. tadian-corn, win 

 fcfjdtwlieat, potatoea, 



!- M UHMhaT 



terest in the United States controls at least 

 $18,000,000,000 of the 180,000,000.000 01 

 valuation of property in tin 1 1'iiitnl 

 amount nn-rf than double that in\ -esti-d in and 

 produced by uinnufiu turt>. minii!^. nnd the 



ies, taken top'tln-r. '1 hi> inti r. 

 utantly incn-nsinp, and isc^i :.! U- ui nini!-t in- 



,ir tutiin-. llifi 



the agricultural intcr^t has tullVrcil from tin- 

 want of in ;i mid concentrated action ; 

 but the wide-spread movement of the past two 



rce years (ue GIUXGES and I'ATI:O'- 



tT, in this volume) bids fair to supply 

 . and by increasing the intel- 



,:d and social culture of the fanners, and 

 giving tln-m the advantages of i pow- 



er and in:: * ill place this prcnt body 



ilu- position which they should 

 have in the nation. 



There are a few other items of interest to 

 bo deduci-d from the table of live-st 

 Illinois takes the lend in horses, both as to 

 number and value. It also leads in the value, 

 though not in the number, of oxen and other 

 '.. w York is second in the value, 

 though filth in the number, of its horses, and 

 first, by a wide interval, both in the number 

 and value of its milch-cows. ' - first 



in the value, and Alabama first in the numK-r, 

 of its inn: -. with more than twice 



the number, of oxen and other cattle, of Il- 

 linois, ban only about two-thirds the value. 

 Ohio is first in sheep, both in number and 

 value, and Iowa has the same position in rela- 

 tion to its swine. It is a fon-iMi- cuimi.tntary 

 on the di\.-r>ily of our agricultural operation^. 

 that no State is absolutely first on more than 

 one kind of live-stock. Attention has 1 > . n 



: during the past \iar to the (.Teat tailing 

 off in the yield of hi-at per acre, even in 

 our i win re the soil has not been 



impoverished by long repetitions of the same 

 It seems in. r> iliM.- that in the rich and 

 formerly produc'hv w lu-at-tlelds of (!en- 

 Monroe, and Wyoming Counties, New York, 

 the . Id should now be only 12J 



bii-lu-ls to tin' acre; that in Ohio is but 

 11.7. In Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. Iowa. 

 and California, it is only 12 and a fraction ; 

 14.8 in \\isroiisin; 1(1. ', in Minm-.-oia, 

 1 s .. in Oregon; and tl u > very highest avci 

 that of Nevada, and the Territories, does not 



! -'-"' bushels. Tlu-re is something radi- 

 cally wrong in onr whttt-grvwina. Wheat 

 in good soil, properly manured, oujiht to yield 

 anywhere in the I'nited States not los 'ihnn 

 M bushels to tin 1 aero as the average of the 

 and. on virgin soils or those in a high 



livation. the yield should not b. 

 than 85 to 40 bushels per acre for a sei-l 

 > i-:ir*. < >n this subject a series of V<.T> inter- 

 eating experiments have been oond noted fm- 



D years past by Mr. .1. 15. 1 

 Hothanuitead, Kngland. He has platiie.! 

 that nnml a, wheat every year on 



the same plots, one without any manure, one 



