054 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



wheat in New England exceeds $1. In New York it is 85 cents, in 

 Pennsylvania 86. It is 80 cents in Virginia, and 83 in Maryland. 



The price of wheat is lower than it has ever been reported by this De- 

 partment. It is said to be lower in Great Britain than at any other 

 period of the preseut century. It is a result that is perfectly natural, 

 and that has been predicted repeatedly in these reports. A series of 

 crop failures altogether unprecedented in Europe, stimulating produc- 

 tion all over the world, could have no other outcome. These low prices, 

 however, will soon reduce the area and relieve overproduction. 



In the distant wheat-fields the hardship of low prices is most severe. 

 Clay County, in Dakota, returns the average price at 38 cents per 

 bushel; Hamlin, 39; McCook, 40; Clark, 41; Hand, 42; Stutsman, 43; 

 Grant, 14; Lincoln, 45; Hutchinson, 48; Davison, 50. The average of 

 46 in Dakota is not the lowest; Kansas reports 45, the range being from 

 25 cents in Ellis to $1 in Ford, several couuties reporting between 30 

 and 40 cents. In Buffalo and Furnas, Nebraska, the price is 3o cents; 

 in Otoe, 00; in Pawnee, 65. The range in Iowa is from 37 to 75 The 

 lowest average in New York is 70 cents; the highest, 81.10. In some 

 counties of Southern States wheat is valued as low as 50 cents, and in 

 others, where it is scarce, at $1 or more. In the wheat belt of Texas 

 the price is 50 to 60 cents, rising to a dollar, and in some cases higher, 

 in the cotton counties. 



OATS. 



The average value of oats is 28 cents, against 33 cents in 1S83 and 

 37.5 in 1882. The present value is the lowest ever reported by the 

 Department. The lowest State average is 19 cents, in Nebraska; the 

 highest is 60, in Florida; Iowa and Minnesota, 20 cents; Kansas, 22; 

 Illinois, 23; Indiana, 27; and Ohio, 29. The range is from 42 to 60 in 

 the South. 



POTATOES. 



The average farm price of the entire crop of potatoes is 40 cents per 

 bushel. The lowest price is 25 cents, in Michigan. The average in New 

 York is 39 cents; 42 in Ohio, 35 in Indiana, 34 in Illinois, 28 in Iowa, 

 29 in Nebraska, 48 in Kansas. The average price is 2 cents lower than 

 last year, though the crop is not so large. 



COTTON. 



The plantation price of cotton, as reported, ranges from 9 to 9 : \ cents 

 per pound. It is 9 cents in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas, 9.1 cents 

 in Louisiana, 9.2 cents in Georgia, 9.3 cents in the Oarolinas and Vir- 

 ginia. 



The occurrence of two crops in succession scarcely equal to the re- 

 quirements of manufacture has caused a slight increase in prices, and 

 may produce a greater advance hereafter. 



CORN AND "WHEAT IN FORMER RECORDS. 



The lowest State average price for corn in returns of fifteen years was 

 16 cents in Nebraska and Iowa in 1878. It has not beeu lower than at 

 the present time, in any other year, in either of the States. The average 

 for Miss >uri in 187i) was 23 cents, 1 cent more than the present value. 

 In 1878 the Kansas average was 19, 3 cents lower than in 1884, 



