ILLINOIS. 



1*7 



show- that in this period there has been a de- 

 crease in tho local assessment of about 87 per 

 cent. It is believed that for 1879 the actual 

 assessment does not exceed 40 per cent, of tho 

 actual c:isli value of tho property. The num- 

 ber of cattle assessed in the counties of the 

 State in Juno, 1878, was 1,775,101 ; in 1879, 

 1,722,057 ; of fat cattle for market in 1879, 

 876,573. The number of sheep assessed in 

 like manner for 1878 was 775,757; for 1879, 

 762,788; number of fat sheep for market in 

 1879, 155,532. The number of horses assessed 

 in 1877 was 915,995; in 1878, 904,948; in 

 1879, 927,117. The number of mules and 

 asses assessed in 1877 was 127,117; in 1878, 

 125,875; in 1879, 122,348. 



The crop of wheat for 1879 was the largest 

 ever produced in the State. Its amount, as 

 likewise the amount, price, value, etc., for tho 

 last twenty years, may be seen in the following 

 table: 



It will be seen that the acreage of 2,440,809 

 for 1879 has been exceeded by the wheat acre- 

 age of 1863, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1874, and 1875. 

 The average yield per aero, 18J bushels, for 

 1879, is tho largest on record. The exception- 

 ally large average yields reported generally 

 consist of new varieties of wheat recently in- 

 troduced. The 1879 crop is over forty-five 

 million bushels (45,417,661), or over eleven 

 million (11,534,263) bushels more than any pre- 

 ceding crop. The value of this crop is nearly 

 forty million dollars ($39,930,639), which, ow- 

 ing to tho low average price (87 cts.) per bushel 

 when compared with former years, will not 

 yield the producer as large returns as the 1864, 



1866, and 1867 crops. The 1864 wheat crop 

 of 33,371,173 bushels, at $1.55 per bushel, re- 

 turned the producer over fifty-one million 

 dollars ($51,725,318). The 1866 crop of 28,- 

 551,421 bushels, valued at $1.93 per bushel, 

 brought $55,104,243 ; and the following crop, 



1867, of twenty-eight million bushels, at $1.97, 

 was valued at $55,160,000. The price per 

 bushel was lower than that of 1879 in 1860, 

 85 cts.; 1861, 71 cts.; 1862, 76 cts.; 1869, 

 76 cts. ; 1874, 86 cts. ; and 1878, 80 cts. The 



spring wheat crop of 1878 was 8,870,251 bnh- 

 eU; the crop of 1879 was 3,876,409, a de- 

 crease of nearly half a million bushels (493,- 

 842). The 1878 crop was valued at $3,189,208, 

 while that of 1879 is valued at $2,668,882, a 

 decrease in one year of over half a million dol- 

 lars ($525,821). 



The product of hay shows a falling off in 

 acreage, as against 1873, of 185,793 acres, tho 

 total acreage in 1878 being 2,347,553, and in 

 1879, 2,161,760. The average yield per aero 

 in 1879 was one and a fifth ton, and the aver- 

 age price per ton $6.37, making the total value 

 of the crop $16,428,012. 



The rye crop ranks fourth in the extent of 

 area of the cultivated crops grown in the State. 

 The area of rye reported for 1879 was 235,073 

 acres ; the area for the previous year was 252,- 

 768, showing a decrease for 1879 of 17,695 

 acres. The 1879 acreage, with one exception 

 (1878), is the largest reported, and the average 

 yield per acre has not been equaled except in 

 1872. The 1879 crop of 4,238,824 bushels was 

 the largest ever produced in the State, and the 

 quality was good. Tho crop was valued at 

 $1,991,404, and has only been exceeded by the. 

 crop of 1877, which was estimated at $2,103,- 

 800. 



The crop of oats was of medium good quality. 

 The area for 1879 was 1,631,139 acres; the 



1878 acreage of oats was 1,757,953 a decrease 

 of 126,814 acres in 1879. The average yield 

 per acre of oats was 33J bushels an increase 

 of three bushels per acre over that of the pre- 

 vious year. 



Tho corn crop of 54,664,569 bushels exceed- 

 ed the 1878 yield of 53,424,555 bushels by 

 1,240,014 bushels. The average price per 

 bushel of 22 cts. was two cents in advance of 

 the price of 1878 at corresponding date. The 



1879 crop, valued at $12,059,162, exceeds that 

 of 1878, valued at $10,684,911, by $1,874,251. 



The report of the Chicago, Burlington, and 

 Quincy Railroad, which with its branch and 

 leased roads has 1,856 miles of track in Illinois 

 and Iowa, gives as the gross earnings for 1879 

 $14,812,105, and as the net earnings $7,260,038. 

 There was an increase of 61,678 over 1878 in 

 tho passengers carried, and of 711,343 tons in 

 the freight traffic. 



The number of fire, marine, and inland in- 

 surance companies complying with the laws of 

 the State, and authorized to do business for 

 1879, was 171. These companies may be classi- 

 fied as follows : Joint-stock companies of Illi- 

 nois, 8 ; mutual companies of Illinois, 3 ; joint- 

 stock companies of other States, 136; mutual 

 companies of other States, 6 ; foreign compa- 

 nies, 18. Total, 171. The number of district, 

 county, and township mutual fire-insurance 

 companies organized in the State, and author- 

 ized to do business during 1879, was 129, be- 

 ing an increase of 10 during the past year. 

 The following table gives a comparison of tho 

 aggregate business of last year with that of for- 

 mer years since 1869 : 



