10 



AGRICULTURE. 



In California the early attempts to grow to- 

 bacco according to the methods in use in the 

 older States proved unsuccessful. The plant 

 grew luxuriantly, but the product was very in- 

 different. Within the last three or four years 

 a planter in Santa Clara County, after several 

 years of experiment, succeeded in producing a 

 fair merchantable article. A patent was taken 

 out for the new process of culture and prepa- 

 ration, and a company formed for operations 

 under il& The first crop, in 1872, amounted to 

 a few thousand pounds ; in 1873 it rose to 

 500,000 pounds, and to about 1,500,000 pounds 

 in 1874, including other parties using the pro- 

 cess under permission. A portion of the crop 

 was from Havana seed, adapted to cigar-mak- 

 ing, the remainder being from Florida seed, and 

 better adapted to pipe-smoking and chewing- 

 tobacco. The manufacturers, having no confi- 

 dence in the quality of the new product, re- 

 fused to take it, and the company were com- 

 pelled to manufacture their own material. 

 They were, in March, 1875, making 200,000 

 cigars per month, besides packing about 10,000 

 pounds of smoking-tobacco per day. The area 

 suited to the growth of tobacco under this 

 process in California is said to be without lim- 

 it. From the United States returns for No- 

 vember, 1875, we learn that an experiment on 

 about thirty acres of dry and unirrigated soil 

 in Contra Costa, California, was quite success- 

 ful. It is thought that this State can raise a 

 very fine article of smoking-tobacco. 



Throughout the United States in 1875 there 

 was an increase in the yield of over 75 per 

 cent., as compared with 1874. All the large 

 tobacco States had a marked increase of 

 production, especially Tennessee and Ken- 

 tucky. The New England crop increased about 

 10 per cent, in quantity, and showed an im- 

 provement in quality. Maryland increased her 

 yield about one-tenth, and Virginia and North 

 Carolina between a fourth and a third. Geor- 

 gia and the Gulf States all showed an increased 

 yield. In Texas some farmers made two crops. 

 In Tennessee the yield vastly ssrpassed that 

 of 1874, both in quantity and quality. In all 

 the tobacco States north of the Ohio Eiver 

 there was an increase of production, but a 

 decline of quality. All the States west of the 

 Mississippi report a great increase, especially 

 Missouri and Nebraska. It must be remem- 

 bered, however, that the crop of 1874 in the 

 United States was uncommonly small and poor. 

 It was, in fact, a disastrous year for the crop, 

 except in the Connecticut Valley. 



Cotton. In 1875 the crop of cotton was in- 

 creased about two per cent. The plant obtained 

 rather a fairer start than usual, although ger- 

 mination was delayed in the Atlantic coast re- 

 gion. The June returns averaged in condition 

 a small percentage under the standard of good 

 development ; in July improvement was indica- 

 ted in every State except Texas, where drought 

 and insects were locally injurious, but the aver- 

 age condition of the entire area was very near 



the standard, or 100 ; in August the effect of 

 drought, especially in South Carolina, Georgia, 

 and Louisiana, was manifest in a small re- 

 duction of their percentage, yet the general 

 average for this month was fully as high as 

 that of June ; and in August and September 

 the blighting of drought was followed by ex- 

 cessive rains, causing injury by floods, by the 

 shedding of bolls, by rust, and other abnormal 

 conditions, reducing the general percentage 

 month by month from August to October. An 

 eminent European authority concurs with the 

 United States Commissioner of Agriculture in 

 estimating the crop of 1875 at about 4,100,000 

 bales. The crop of 1874 amounted to 3,833,000 

 bales. As for quality the Carolinas and Georgia 

 reported an inferiority in three-fourths of the 

 counties. In Alabama the depreciation in half 

 the State was 20 per cent. ; in about one-fourth 

 of the area the quality was decidedly better. 

 Louisiana and Tennessee reported a good quali- 

 ty from nearly half of the area ; the only States 

 in which the quality of lint was improved were 

 Arkansas and Texas. 



Fattening Cattle. The number of fat cattle 

 in the United States in 1875 was somewhat 

 greater than in the year 1874. There was a fall- 

 ing off in all the New England States except 

 Connecticut, where there was an increase which 

 nearly balanced the deficiency of the others. 

 Of the Middle States, New Jersey equaled the 

 previous year, but the others showed a decline, 

 Pennsylvania reducing her estimate six per 

 cent. The States of the South Atlantic showed 

 a small increase ; Texas, by an increase of six 

 per cent, upon her large aggregate, raised the 

 amount for the Gulf States considerably above 

 the year 1874, notwithstanding the decline in 

 all the other States, amounting to 12 per 

 cent, in Louisiana. Of the Southern inland 

 States, Arkansas reported an increase, but this 

 was more than counterbalanced by the loss in 

 all the others. North of the Ohio River, Michi- 

 gan and Illinois equaled last year, but the other 

 States fell below. West of the Mississippi, all 

 the States reported an increase ranging from 

 two per cent, in Nebraska, to 53 per cent, 

 in Kansas. On the Pacific coast the loss of 

 eight per cent, in California largely exceeded 

 the gain of nine per cent, upon the smaller ag- 

 gregate of Oregon. 



All the New England and Middle States re- 

 ported in October, 1875, a condition above the 

 average, except in Massachusetts, where the de- 

 ficiency was only one per cent., the maximum, 

 107, being in Connecticut. The South Atlantic 

 coast and Gulf States were almost all above 

 the average. The Southern inland States and 

 the States north of the Ohio and west of the 

 Mississippi were uniformly above the average, 

 the maximum, 112, being in Arkansas. Cali- 

 fornia was five per cent, below the average, and 

 Oregon two per cent, above. Texas reported 

 large sales of beeves in the Kansas and Missouri 

 markets. Both a scarcity and a plenty of food 

 may tend to increase the number of fat cattle. 



