AGRICULTURE. 



In the French colony of Algeria, the territo- 

 ry subject to civil government is steadily en- 

 larged. In 1874, the area amounted to 15,059 

 square miles, and the 'population to 992,368. 

 The department of Algiers was divided into the 

 three arrondissements of Algiers, Dellys, and 

 Milianah ; the department of Oran into the 

 four arrondissements of Oran, Tlemcen, Mas- 

 cara, and Mostaganem; and the department of 

 Oonstantine into the arrondissements of Con- 

 stantine, Philippeville, Bona, and Setif. 



The progress of civilization is greatly pro- 

 moted by the extension of railroads and tele- 

 graphs which from various points on the coast 

 are steadily advancing into the interior. The 

 telegraph, between Khartoom and Cairo is now 

 in successful operation, and among the new 

 routes projected is even one from Constantine 

 to Timbuctoo. Various schemes continue to 

 be proposed for converting a part of the Saha- 

 ra into an inland sea. 



AGRICULTURE. The crops in the United 

 States for the year 1875 were extraordinary 

 in quantity, but not uniformly of the best 

 quality. Extremes of cold and heat, long and 

 violent storms, and in some places inundations, 

 were unfriendly to the productions of the 

 earth. In certain regions grasshoppers, Colo- 

 rado beetles, or other insects, made desolating 

 raids. The dreaded migratory grasshopper or 

 locust of the lands beyond the Mississippi was 

 less destructive in 1875 than in 1874. In Cof- 

 fee County, Kansas, there was a visitation near- 

 ly approaching in severity that of the previous 

 year, cutting the wheat in the head, devour- 

 ing the corn as fast as it came up, and stand- 

 ing guard over the roots. They destroyed po- 

 tatoes and garden vegetables by wholesale ; 

 and devoured the fruit, foliage, and even the 

 bark of fruit-trees. They left tokens of their 

 mischievous presence in many other parts of 

 Kansas. They also damaged cereals and fruits 

 in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and 

 Nebraska. In many places they appear to be 

 perishing from the assaults of parasites. In 

 one instance from two to eleven worms were 

 observed upon the body of a single locust feed- 

 ing on the internal parts and leaving only the 

 shell. In another case one-third of the locusts 

 were infested with red parasites. The Colo- 

 rado beetle has reached New England, but its 

 severest ravages were felt in the Middle States, 

 Maryland, and Virginia. In the West it was 

 comparatively harmless. The grass army- 

 worm, or something resembling it, was espe- 

 cially destructive of the oat-crop of Ohio and 

 of a few counties in adjacent States. The 

 dreaded chinch-bug scourged only a few local- 

 ities. Cotton-insects did so little harm that 

 they did not affect the general yield, while 

 fruit and grain insects were very sporadic in 

 their demonstrations. 



Wheat. The 'wheat-crop of 1875 in the 

 United States was considerably below that of 

 1874, notwithstanding the increase in acreage. 

 The estimated yield, per acre, of the leading 



wheat-producing States, given below, will indi- 

 cate the comparative range of this crop in the 

 past two years : 



Of these States only Wisconsin and Minne- 

 sota had an excess over 1874, which is more 

 than counterbalanced by the reduction in other 

 States. The crop shows a depreciation in 

 quality as well as a decrease in quantity in the 

 great wheat-growing regions. 



The little wheat grown in New England was 

 about the same quantity as in former years. 

 The Middle States had about two-thirds of the 

 crop of 1874, the decline being greatest in New 

 York, and growing less with lower degrees of 

 latitude. All the Southern States below Vir- 

 ginia increased their production, some of them 

 from 50 to 75 per cent. 



The crop of the Pacific coast was also short. 

 The average for the entire territory was about 



80 per cent, of the production of 1874. It 

 gives a crop of 246,000,000 bushels, with a de- 

 preciation of nearly 62,000,000 bushels. In 

 quality the crop averaged 84, or 14 per cent, 

 below sound condition. The losses by sprout- 

 ing and rotting in shock or stack, though not 

 so heavy as was expected, were so great, how- 

 ever, as to cause shipments of wheat from 

 Maryland to Ohio in order to make a mixture 

 that would produce a salable flour. And yet 

 during the spring of 1875 in Marion County, 

 Oregon, the price of wheat was so low that 

 farmers fed it to hogs, the price being 65 cents 

 a bushel, while pork was worth from six to 

 seven cents per pound. 



Corn. The following facts show the com- 

 parative yield, per acre, of the largest corn- 

 producing States for 1874 and 1875: Ten- 

 nessee, 1874, 16.8 bushels; 1875, 30.5 bush.: 

 Kentucky, 1874, 25 bush. ; 1875, 33.3 bush. : 

 Ohio, 1874, 36 bush. ; 1875, 33.2 bush. : Indi- 

 ana, 1874, 27 bush. ; 1875, 34.5 bush. : Illinois, 

 1874, 18 bush. ; 1875, 34.5 bush. : Iowa, 1874, 

 29.2 bush.; 1875, 35 bush.: Missouri, 1874, 16 

 bush. ; 1875, 36.6 bush. : Kansas, 1874, 10.5 

 bush. ; 1875, 38.4 bush. All the New England 

 and Middle States had an increased yield, ex- 

 cept Connecticut; New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania had a very marked increase. All the 

 Atlantic States showed a decreased average, as 

 also did Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ore- 

 gon. All other States increased their yields. 



Rye. The product of rye for 1875 falls short 

 about 4 per cent, of that of 1874, which was 

 about an average crop. In the States which 

 grew it on a large scale, the figures for com- 

 parative product and quality are : New York, 



81 and 98; New Jersey, 79 and 97; Pennsyl- 

 vania, 93 and 98 ; Maryland, 97 and 96 ; Vir- 



