120 DIMINUTION OF CHOPS*. 



grated from Ohio since 1850. We cannot feel much surprised, 

 therefore, that the Indian corn crop of Ohio in 1856 was a mil- 

 lion bushels less than that of 1849, and the wheat crop of 1856 

 actually a million bushels less than it was seventeen years be- 

 fore, in 1839. 



From the results of a series of crops extending over nine 

 years, it may be inferred that Indian corn never fails in Ohio, 

 but that the produce alternates in alternate years ; that the 

 years of least productiveness are those of more than usual dry- 

 ness ; and that the difference between a good and a bad season 

 may make a difference of half the produce. Between the crop 

 of 1855 and that of 1856 there was a difference of 30,000,000 

 bushels. 



The production of wheat in Ohio has been diminishing dur- 

 ing the last eight years, though this received a slight check 

 during the three years of high prices before 1858. It is, how- 

 ever, quite clear that wheat is found to be a very precarious 

 crop in Ohio. While Indian corn is rarely injured by anything 

 but drought, wheat has to contend not only with that, but with 

 other enemies not less destructive, viz. winter freezing, rust, 

 the midge, and red weevil. The average produce has thereby 

 been reduced to fourteen bushels an acre, and the average for 

 the State in 1854 was only eight bushels ! Such scanty crops 

 can leave no profit to the farmer. 



Nor have animal products undergone any material increase 

 during the last eight years. Horses and mules have increased 

 considerably, but the increase of cattle is met by a proportional 

 decrease of sheep, and the numbers of swine, in the production 

 of which Ohio is the chief State of the Union, have not materi- 

 ally augmented during the last seventeen years. In 1840 the 

 number was 2,099,000, and in 1857 2,331,000. 



The net income received from cultivated land in Ohio is 

 reckoned at 10 per cent. This includes rent and profit, except 



