8 



AGRICULTURE. 



ginia, 100 and 95; Kentucky, 88 and 84; Ohio, 

 71 and 79 ; Wisconsin, 129 and 105. Among 

 the remaining States the product, compared 

 with last year, is greater in Tennessee by 1 per 

 cent, and in Kansas by 5 per cent., while in 

 Nebraska it is less by 40 per cent. In others it 

 ranges from 77 in Indiana up to 100 in Dela- 

 ware, South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon. 



Oats. Between the thirty-fourth and forty- 

 first parallels of latitude, the crop of 1875 was 

 largely diminished and universally damaged 

 in quality by long-continued and flooding rains. 

 The comparative figures are : Delaware, 63 ; 

 Maryland, 91 ; Virginia, 81 ; North Carolina, 

 101; West Virginia, 94; Ohio, 100; Kentucky, 

 98; Tennessee, 102 ; Indiana, 77; Illinois, 106 ; 

 Iowa, 107 ; Missouri, 109 ; Kansas, 84 ; Ne- 

 braska, 73. In all these States the quality was 

 below that of 1874, averaging about 88. Out- 

 side of the rainy section, with few exceptions, 

 superior crops in quantity and quality were 

 produced. The returns make the entire prod- 

 uct about five per cent, greater than in 1874. 



Barley. The product of barley returned in 

 1875 is 87 per cent, of last year's crop. About 

 an equal reduction in quality is reported. Ex- 

 cept in Rhode Island, 77 and 93 ; Delaware, 65 

 and 87; and California, 79 and 78, the falling off 

 in quantity and quality is almost exclusively 

 within the area of excessive rains. The States 

 in which the crops suffered most are Indiana, 

 47 and 64; Nebraska (owing in part to locusts), 

 53 and 82 ; Ohio, 63 and 78 ; West Virginia, 

 77 and 84 ; Kansas, 78 and 99. 



Buckwheat. The entire product of this grain 

 equals that of last year. Early frosts reduced 

 the crop in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, 

 and slightly in the section east of Lake Erie. 

 Except in Wisconsin, 45, the crop does not fall 

 more than 1 per cent, below that of last year 

 in any State in which it is extensively grown. 

 Maine returns 116, Vermont and New York 99, 

 New Jersey 100, Pennsylvania 112, Michigan 

 132. 



Potatoes. This crop was extraordinary, both 

 in product and quality. The total yield in the 

 districts reported was fully one-fourth greater 

 than last year. Of Sweet-Potatoes the yield in 

 the Gulf States greatly exceeded that of the 

 previous year, and the quality was about the 

 average. In New Jersey, Delaware, and Mary- 

 land, the product was about 3 per cent, greater 

 than in 1874. 



The variations in the prices of wheat in the 

 United States, on December 1st, in the last four 

 years, may be seen from the following figures : 



Rice. The most southern latitudes of the 

 United States report the best yield of this crop 

 for 1875. Thus Louisiana reports a production 

 of 25 barrels per arpent; Florida, in one case, 

 planted 500 per cent, beyond any previous year, 

 and obtained a very remunerative crop. In 

 Georgia the crop on the Santilla River amount- 

 ed to 140,000 bushels, or about 20,000 bushels 

 more than in 1874. In South Carolina the tide- 

 water plantations yielded plentifully, while the 

 upland fields lost one-half by drought. In 

 Brunswick, N. C., the great crop was formerly 

 rice, but since the war the production has fallen 

 off from 200,000 baskets to less than 20,000, 

 and no crop has taken its place on the large 

 and valuable rice-plantations, which have con- 

 sequently almost all gone to ruin. 



Sugar. Sugar-cane in parts of Georgia and 

 Alabama suffered from drought. The leading 

 planters in Mississippi manufactured their su- 

 gar and molasses at home from Louisiana and 

 African cane. In Louisiana the season of 1874 

 was good, but the floods of April destroyed 

 24,713 acres of cane. The next six months, 

 with the exception of the first half of July, 

 were very dry, and the grinding season found 

 the planters with short supplies of water. The 

 total loss from flood and frost is estimated at 

 50,000 hogsheads of sugar. Mr. Sterling, of 

 Point Coupee, after several years of planting 

 the butts and tops of the cane separately, has 

 found in every instance that the tops produce 

 a superior cane. The "Robert diffusion" pro- 

 cess of sugar-manufacture promises satisfactory 

 results. A large factory upon this principle 

 has been started in St. Charles Parish. The 

 crop of Louisiana sugar for the year 1874 was 

 116,867 hogsheads. 



Maple Sugar and Molasses. In 1875 New 

 England enlarged her product of sugar. The 

 only State which has fallen below 1874 is Con- 

 necticut, in which the product was 95 per cent. 

 New Hampshire was full average ; Maine, Ver- 

 mont, and Massachusetts, were very considera- 

 bly above the average. The product of molas- 

 ses was not so large. New York declined from 

 1874, both in sugar and molasses. Pennsj'lva- 

 nia yielded about three-fourths of the crop of 

 1874. Virginia reported a product of sugar 

 equal to 87 per cent, of 1874, and 96 per cent, 

 of molasses. West Virginia and Kentucky 

 were a little in advance of 1874. Northward 

 from the Ohio River the sugar and molasses 

 product declined gradually from 11 per cent, in 

 Wisconsin to 39 per cent, in Michigan. West 

 of the Mississippi the product of sugar in- 

 creased in Minnesota, and declined in Iowa 

 and Missouri. The season was generally short- 

 ened by the cold weather. 



Sorghum. This crop, cultivated almost en- 

 tirely for the manufacture of molasses, shows 

 an extraordinary increase over the year 1874 

 in the Southern States and in the Missouri Val- 

 ley. Farther north there is a general decrease, 

 though Indiana, Michigan, and North Carolina, 

 are exceptions. In Ohio the crop is decreasing 



