LOSS TO THE CORN CROP. 



119 



Taking the crop of 1875 as a basis this shows a loss of 53.8 per cent, 

 occasioned by locusts and drought. 



If we now take the loss on this crop in all the other States (except 

 Illinois) as representing the per cent, of loss occasioned by the dry 

 weather, and deduct this per cent, from the per cent, of loss in the above 

 named Western States, we may fairly consider the remainder as that 

 caused by the locusts. 



The total crop of corn in the United States in 1874 and 1875, as given 

 by the department reports, were as follows : 





1874. 



1875. 



United States 



Bushels. 

 850, 148, 500 

 314,913,000 



Bushels. 

 1 321 069 000 



Deduct crops of the States mentioned and Illinois 



' 672' 70o' 000 







Aggregate of the other States ... . . 



535, '235, 500 



648 36*) 000 





535, 235, 500 



Aggregate loss on corn in all the other States 



113 133 500 









Taking the crop of 1875 as a basis, this shows a loss of 17.4 per cent. 

 Deducting this from the 53.8 per cent, loss in the Western States named 

 it gives 36.4 per cent, as the portion lost, which is attributable to the 

 locust visitation in 1874. Taking 36.4 per cent, of 392,700,000 bushels, 

 the total corn crop of these States in 1875, it gives 142,942,800 bushels 

 as the aggregate loss by the locusts. Estimating this at 28 cents per 

 bushels, the average price for thpse Western States, as given in the re- 

 port for 1875, and we have a money loss of 40,023,984 dollars, or in round 

 numbers, forty millions of dollars on the corn-crop alone in a single 

 year in four Western States. 



Lest this may be considered as an unfair method of arriving at the 

 correct loss, as it does not take into consideration the difference in acre- 

 age, let us see what it amounts to by this method. 



The total acreage in corn in these four States in 1874, according to the 

 department report for that year, was 8,721,076, the average yield of corn 

 per acre in these States in 1875 was 37.9 bushels, in 1874 it was 16.4 

 bushels, showing a difference of 21.5 bushels per acre. The proportion 

 of loss by the locusts was 36.4 per cent, out of 53.8 per cent, or about 

 08 per cent, of the whole loss. A loss of 21.5 bushels per acre on 

 8,721,076 acres gives an aggregate of 187,503,134 bushels; Q^ per cent, 

 of this is 127,502,133 bushels. At 28 cents this gives a money loss of 

 35,600,597 dollars, the two results differing only about 11 per cent. 



Minnesota and Texas are omitted from these estimates because this 

 crop was fully as large in these States in 1874 as in 1875, and the loss in 

 the former in 1875 from locusts and cold season was greater than in 

 1874. 



The loss on wheat in 1874 was generally less than in 1875 as it was 

 mostly harvested when the locusts arrived in the former year, and suf- 

 fered from the young in the latter. This to a large extent was also the 



