472 



KENTUCKY. 



The present rate of State taxation is forty 

 cents on the hundred dollars' worth of property. 

 Of this forty cents, only fifteen is revenue 

 proper ; the remaining twenty -five is set apart 

 as school money". The rate of fifteen cents is 

 probably as low as that of any State in the 

 Union for maintaining the State government. 

 This rate of taxation at forty cents, being a 

 reduction of five cents from the previous rate, 

 went into effect in 1877, and has hardly as yet 

 been tested. The balance in the Treasury on 

 October 10, 1877, when the last report was 

 made, was $583,394 ; but among the items of 

 extraordinary receipts for that year were 

 $70,484 from the Federal Government, on ac- 

 count of claims growing out of the war, and 

 $100,377.76 back taxes from the Louisville, 

 Cincinnati, and Lexington Railroad, as the re- 

 sult of a lawsuit. 



The following is a carefully prepared es- 

 timate of the production of whisky in the 

 State, in gallons : 



Decrease. 1,738,605 proof gallons, or 40,432 barrels. 



The crop of wheat grown in Kentucky in 

 1877 was the largest harvested since the war. 

 It amounted, according to the assessors' returns, 

 to 7,645,604 bushels. The crop grown in 1878 

 >t over 5,500,000 bushels, owing to the 

 ravages of the Hessian fly and rust in the chief 

 wheat-growing counties of the southern and 

 cstern parts of the State. The crop of bar- 

 ley grown in 1878 was the largest yet har- 

 m the State, and was not less than 

 00,000 bushels. The yield of corn in 1877 

 was 09,693,146 bushels. The drought in many 

 neighborhoods i n 1878 was so great as to 

 iown the crop 20 per cent, below 1877 



The yield of hemp in 1878 is 10 per cent, less 

 than in 1877, when 13,752,263 pounds were 

 produced in the State. The yield of oats and 

 rye is about the same as in 1877, when it was 

 as follows : oats, 6,838,405 bushels ; rye, 1,277,- 

 278. The entire crop of tobacco grown in 

 the State in the summer of 1875 was 146,136,- 

 796 pounds; in 1876, 126,809,244 pounds ; in 

 1877, 191,492,148 pounds ; in 1878 it will 

 reach not over 115,000,-000 pounds. This will 

 make the yield from 65 to 70 per cent, of an 

 average. Hay and grass did well in 1878, con- 

 sidering the dry summer. It is stated that 

 there are in the State 71,000 acres in peach 

 orchards, which in 1878 produced within a 

 fraction of 6,000,000 bushels of peaches. There 

 are in round numbers 250,000 acres of apple 

 orchards, which produce annually over 21,000,- 

 000 bushels of apples. The increase in sheep 

 and hogs shows that the farmers are paying 

 more attention to these animals tban for sev- 

 eral years after the war. The sheep have in- 

 creased from about 1,000,000 in 1876 to 1,123,- 

 956 in 1878, and hogs from 1,142,568 in 1876 

 to over 1,600,000 in 1878. Poultry has also 

 grown to be an article of great value. The 

 number of chickens in the State is now 6,381,- 

 100, and of other fowls 2,860,550. The value 

 of eggs and poultry used in Kentucky yearly 

 is nearly the same as of the tobacco crop. 

 Bees also have become a source of consider- 

 able profit. There are now reported to be in 

 the State 157,370 bee colonies or hives in good 

 working order, and the product of honey in 

 1878 was 4,723,100 pounds. 



A production called chufas is a new crop in 

 the State, and much prized by farmers for the 

 fattening of hogs, as equal if not superior to 

 corn. Some confound the chufas, the grass- 

 nut, with the nut-grass, but it is entirely dif- 

 ferent in habits of growth and value. The 

 chufas will produce from 80 to 125 bushels on 

 any moderately rich land, but is peculiarly 

 adapted, like the ground peas, to sandy loam 

 soils. When ripe, hogs will gather and eat 

 them just as they do ground peas, and will 



