AGRICULTURE. 



The following t.-iMr _i\ es the population of 

 I'u- large geographical divisions of Africa, and 

 oliticul subdivision* : 



AGRICULTURE. The year 1874 was not 

 especially favorable to the husbandman, but 

 one of the great crops being above the average, 

 and the protracted drought of the months of 

 .Inly and August, and the first half of Decem- 

 ber, having seriously reduced the crops of corn 

 ami fodder, as well as the root-crops and the 

 pasturage, throughout the States of the Atlan- 

 tic slope. In the States beyond the Mississippi, 

 over a tract nearly 600 miles in length from 

 north to south, and varying in width from about 

 100 miles at the north to 250 miles in Southern 

 Kansas, the grasshoppers, or more properly 

 the locusts, made almost a clean sweep of every 

 green thing, in some cases making a partial 

 devastation at first, and then a second invasion 

 a few weeks later, and destroying grass, corn, 

 the later cereals, and buckwheat, potatoes, 

 beets, and indeed all vegetable crops not har- 

 vested. It has usually been the fact that, when 

 our crops were not excessive, there has been a 

 large export demand, produced by short crops 

 in Great Britain, France, Portugal, etc., so 

 that a crop below the average has often proved 



as profitable as a larger one in consequence of 

 the higher prices obtained. But thU has not 

 been the case the past year. The wheat and 

 barley crop in Great Britain was exceptionally 

 large, and that of France much better than for 

 many years previous, and consequently the ex- 

 port demand which in the year ending June 80, 

 1874, was 60,551,181 bushels for Great Britain 

 alone, and 71,039,928 for all foreign countries 

 has fallen off heavily for the new crop, and 

 every effort to increase shipments has resulted 

 in a reduction of price both in England and 

 the United States, which has rendered the 

 export nearly or quite unremunerative. The 

 export of barley and oats, never very large, 

 has been decreased from the same causes, while 

 the crop of Indian-corn was so much below the 

 average, and much of it so poor in quality, that 

 there was comparatively little to send abroad ; 

 and our export, which in 1872-'78 was more 

 than 38,500,000 bushels, or about one-thirtieth 

 of the crop, will not probably in 1874-'75 reach 

 20,000,000 bushels. The export demand fcr 

 cotton was insufficient, even with the dimin- 

 ished crop, to maintain the price, and there 

 was a steady reduction in values, even in the 

 old crop. The tobacco-crop was, in the States 

 most largely engaged in its production, almost 

 an entire failure. Still, so wide is the extent 

 of our territory, and so varied the climate, soil, 

 and productions of different sections, that the 

 losses and deficiencies of one section are made 

 up by the more ample productions of another, 

 and though there may be somewhat less to 

 export, or a diminished demand for our prod- 

 ucts from abroad, a general famine is hardly 

 possible. There is in one part or another of oar 

 country "bread enough and to spare." The 

 lateness of the autumn in this as in the pre- 

 ceding year was very favorable to the gather- 

 ing of cotton, corn, and the fruits and root- 

 crops generally. 



The Wheat crop was in condition and yield 

 per acre about 2 per cent, below that of the pre- 

 vious year, but the increased acreage, amount- 

 ing to 7 per cent., makes the entire crop some- 

 what larger than that of 1873. It may, we 

 think, be safely estimated at 305,000,000 bush- 

 els, being a little larger than in any previous 

 year. On the Pacific coast, as well as in por- 

 tions of the Mississippi Valley, the yield was 

 considerably above the average, but the great 

 wheat-growing States of Indiana, Illinois, Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Kansas, produced 

 not quite their average amount 



Indian Corn. This crop was materially in- 

 jured by the drought of July and August in 

 all the States which produce the largest quan- 

 tities of it. The number of acres planted was 

 considerably in excess of 1878, but the pro- 

 duction was decidedly less to the acre even 

 where it was not destroyed by the grasshop- 

 pers. The Agricultural Department early in 

 the season estimated the yield at 812,000,000 

 bushels, but the favorable weather in Septem- 

 ber and October secured the ripening of the 



