JULY 10 
THE 
the largest acreage ever sown. Oats, rye and 
barley are good. Corn looks very well for this 
time of the year. Fruits of all kinds are abun¬ 
dant. The apple crop will be very heavy from 
the present outlook. We have had plenty of 
rain, and all vegetation is making an extraor¬ 
dinary growth. All in all, the year 1880 has a 
better outlook than several previous years. 
Immigration lias reached our part of the- 
Wost, and many are tnakiug their future homes 
with us. Still we have room for more, and to 
all we say “ Come.” J. w. m. 
Rockville, Bates Co.—Wheat is rather 
light on account of the chinch bugs; some of 
the beet pieces will yield 15 bushels per acre 
There are several varieties raised. Tbe lead- 
iug variety now, is the bearded Egyptian. 
Corn is very promising now, but it is too early 
to give an estimate as to the. yield. The gen¬ 
eral average is about 40 bushels per acre; all 
sorts are raised. Oats will be a good crop, 
several varieties are raised. The general 
average is from 80 to 40 bushels per acre. Rye 
and barley are not raised to auy extent. Early 
Rose and Peach blow arc the leading varieties 
of potatoes Early Rose is a good crop; Peaeh- 
blowswillnotbcduguntil November. Sorghum 
is raised for the homo market only; Early 
Amber is the leading variety this year. The 
prospect for fruit is good for au abundance of 
all kiuds. I think grapes are the surest fruit 
crop here. There has been but one failure iu 
them during the last 13 years. ,r n. c. 
Kansas. 
Arvonia, Osage Co.—Wheat, oats, rye and 
barley are almost complete failures owing to 
dry weather. Early potatoes are a light crop ; 
late ones will be a failure if tbe drought con¬ 
tinues. The acreage under corn is four times 
that under wheat. Not much sorghum is 
grown here. Apples are one-third of a crop. 
The dry winds and weather caused them to 
drop off. Peaches are ouly a short crop. 
Grapes, cherries, raspberries and blackberries 
are good crops. The weather is very dry now, 
aud the corn crop will be a failure if it keeps 
so for two weeks louger. j. c. b. 
Edgerton, Johnson Co. — Winter wheat 
throughout the country is good, and most of 
it is harvested in good shape. It was too far 
advauced to be injured much by the bugs ; the 
yield per acre will not be up to that of lust 
ycur, but the acreage is one-third larger, ami 
the quality better. Ou June 26 we had a good 
rain, and the outlook for crops is very flatter¬ 
ing. Oats are good. There is but little rye, 
and no barley raised here. A great quantity 
of flax is grown throughout this county for 
the seed which generally brings from 90 cents 
to $1 per busbel. It is looking well aud the 
late raiu will make it. The dry weather for 
two weeks before the late rain hurt the pota¬ 
toes. but they will do better now. Coru never 
looked better at this season of the year, and a 
few more good rains will insure a heavy crop. 
Strawberries were a little scarce. Raspberries 
and cherries are plentiful. Blackberries 
promise well. Peach and apple trees arc 
loaded down with fruit; so are the grape vines. 
Alexander and AmBden June peaches are 
getting ripe. Farmers’ faces look bright and 
we are all thankful, contented and happy. 
. A. B. D. 
Manhattan, Riley Co.—The prospeet for 
the principal farm crops in this section is 
about as follows :—Wheat a half crop, say eight 
to twelve bushels per acre, and the crop is now 
nearly harvested in line condition. Coru is 
very promising—the best stand I ever saw. 
Potatoes are good, but the area planted is 
small. Oats and rye will be about half crops. 
Of barley 1 know nothing, as none is grown iu 
this locality. The principal variety of wheat 
grown is the Early Red May, and 1 should 
thiuk that fully thiee-fourtbs of all the wheat 
grown iu this section is of that Burt. A small 
amount of Fultz, Lancaster, and Blue Stem is 
also grown. In this soetiou the great staple is 
corn, and I should say thut over onc-half of 
all the cultivated laud Is given over to this 
crop. If we save our corn crop wo are con¬ 
tented and happy, even though all others fail. 
The corn crop requires inexpensive machinery, 
aud its growth involves no expensive harvest 
help or thrashers’ bills. The prospects for 
fruit are not the brightest. Apples are a very 
light crop, and peaches are not much better. 
Of small fruits, with the single exception of 
strawberries, there is promiso of a remarkable 
yield, blackberries and raspberries beiug 
especially good. Of grapes, chiefly "Con¬ 
cord,’’ the yield will be above au average, but 
then, grapes are always a full crop here. 
e. m, s. 
Parsons, Labette Co.—Winter wheat only 
is raised here. The crop was injured somewhat 
by the chinch bugs, but it will be equal to last 
scasou'B, which was good. Acreage 100 per 
cent more. Beeu iu shock two weeks. The 
acreage under coru is the same as last year. 
Crop very promising and earlier than last year. 
One-half of the crop is white, aud half yellow 
aud mixed. The potato crop promises well. 
Acreage LOO per cent more than last year. 
Early Rose and Peaehblow are the leading 
sorts. The oat crop is very short and poor. 
Acreage larger than ever before. Of rye and 
barley none is raised here. The acreage under 
castor beans is the same as last year. Crop 
early and promising. The Texodusters have 
been putting in cotton crops and may or may 
not raise a crop. Strawberries were a big 
crop. Peach crop is less than an average. 
Apples this year are the best crop for this lo¬ 
cality and promise fairly. Not much interest 
is taken here in the sorghum boom. I think 
our people should look into the matter. The 
season is cool—neither wet nor dry ; but drier 
than usual. The chinch bugs are leaving the 
wheat fields for the corn; and during their 
time iu the corn Helds they have done a good 
deal of damage. Whether the destruction 
will prove general I don’t know, but some 
farmers are alarmed. j. b. 
Pakkerville, Morris Co.—Fall wheat is 
harvested. Several kinds were sown—Fultz, 
Clawson, Little May, Big May aud Odessa. 
None will make over half a crop here, but in 
some parts of the county the wheat is good, 
and Borne fields will yield 35 bushels per acre. 
The causes of the light crop of Fall wheat are 
hard, dry Winter, dry Spring and chinch bugs. 
Spring wheat will not be a full crop on account 
of dry wealher and ebineb bugs; not a large 
acreage sown. Oats are about 6ame as Spring 
wheat. No barley or rye is sown. We have 
the largest acreage of corn ever planted and it 
is looking well. If we have raiu soon and the 
remainder of the season is good the corn crop 
will be immense. A few acres were destroyed 
by chinch bugs. Early potatoes are not a 
good crop, but late may make one. Quite a 
large acreage was planted. Gardens are not in 
good condition on account of dry weather, and 
what vegetables there arc, uro being destroyed 
by worms, which are a new pest to this section. 
They are also eating the coru and potatoes to 
some extent. Sorghum is plauted quite ex¬ 
tensively, nearly every farmer having enough 
to make sirup for his own use It grows with 
but little care or cultivation, aud is not injur¬ 
ed by any kind of insects to any extent. Dhoura 
is planted to some extent. About 50 acres 
were plauted in this county last Spring. The 
fruit of this locality, with the exception of 
small fruits, was mostly killed by late frosts 
iu the Spriug. Dry weather made the straw¬ 
berry aud raspberry crops short. Wilson's Al¬ 
bany strawberry and the Black Cap raspber- 
berries are plauted. Those who had Early 
Riehmoud cherry trees large enough to bear 
had cherries this season. The season here so 
far has been the worst we have had for several 
years. We have not had rain enough to raise 
the streams since last November, aud no rain 
at all for more than a month, yet this is not the 
case with other parts of Kansas, and even in 
parts of this county heavy rains have fallen. 
J. K. R. 
Nebraska. 
Crete, Saline Co.—Com is looking fine— a 
very largo acreage of it this year. Wheat is 
not very good. The early drought and high 
winds injured it. Rye is a fair acreage; it 
looks well. Barley is poor. Oats are fair. 
Potatoes are line. Of Amber caue but little is 
grown; I have au acre that Is lookfng well. 
My cow-peas are poor. I have some Pearl 
barley that is looking well. Fruit is not very 
plentiful in this section. The high winds this 
Spring injured it very much. Peaches aud 
apples do well here. Coru bids fair tor 50 to 
75 buBhcls per acre. Some wheat that is cut 
will go from 35 to 30 bushels per acre. The 
weather is warm with frequent showers— 
splendid for corn. m. b. m. 
Grafton, Fillmore Co.—Barley oats and rye 
will be very light crops—from 50 to 75per cent 
below the average, owing to drought. From 
the end of *Nov. ’79 to the end of May, ’80, 
we had neither rain nor snow enough to wet 
the ground two inches deep, and not half a 
dozen storms even of that size. Spring wheat 
aud barley are our main crops of Bruall giain. 
Coru plauted before tue rains came up un¬ 
evenly—one-third of it failing to make its ap¬ 
pearance until June. Since then the crop has 
done well, aud we are hi hope that July and 
August will give us an average crop. Pota¬ 
toes planted iu April or about the first of May 
and cut very small dried up aud gave a very 
uueveu stand; yet where the Colorado beetle 
was fought off, the crop looks fair now. Our 
acreage uuder corn, wheat aud oats is larger 
than in any previous years—say one-third 
more. Sorghum culture is iu its iufaucy here. 
I made 800 gallons of sirup last year, aud 
most likely there will be another mill iu this 
town this year. I expect we have sown double 
the amount of cane we put iu last year. Our 
fruit prospect is away iu the lulure—the trees 
are uot yet grown. We arc iu what our school 
utlases called The Great American Desert, and 
this settlement can date back only eight years. 
Young frui t trees at first died badly; but they 
have been doing better for thu last two years 
and will, doubtless, be a success yet. Grapes, 
strawberries are uow successfully cultivated, 
but they need great care- d. a. 
Harvard, Clay Co.—The prospects for har¬ 
vest in this county are not very flattering, on 
account of the continued drought. Our first 
Spring rain having fallen May 13, the wheat 
crop will be reduced about one-half. Spring 
wheat is raised almost exclusively here, as the 
Winters are too open for Winter wheat. The 
varieties of Spring wheat raised are Sea Island. 
White Russian, Tea or Mammoth, aud Grass. 
Although White Russian is prefered, the Sea 
Island variety is the one mostly sown. Barley, 
oats and rye this year are failures, with few 
exceptions. The six-rowed barley, common 
white oats, and white Winter rye are generally 
sown. Potatoes that have been “doctored" 
with Paris-gTeen are lookng fine. The Early 
Rose does best here. There is a large area 
planted to corn this year, most of which looks 
well. Tbe dry weather having caused the fail¬ 
ure of fields of small grain, they have been 
plowed up and planted to corn. The yellow 
Dent is generally planted. The average yield 
is about 60 bushels per acre. Sorghum is not 
much grown here : but a few farmers are try¬ 
ing the Early Amber cane this year. Thei e is 
not much fruit raised in this section as yet. 
Numerous orchards were planted this Spring, 
but the dry weather finished them. Of small 
fruit the most successful kinds are the Wilson 
strawberry, the Mammoth Cluster raspberry, 
and the Snyder aud Kittatinny blackberries. 
D. A. K. 
Omaha, Douglas Co.—The wheat crop for 
this State will result, for 1880, about as fol¬ 
lows: Winter wheat, 70,306 acres—400,000 
bushels ; Spring wheat, 1,356.996 acres—10,000- 
000 bushels. Coru crop, 1,356,000 acres, pro¬ 
ducing 43,000.000 buBhels. Oats, 300.000 acres, 
producing 6,000,000 bushels. Flax, 10,643 acres’ 
yielding 85.000 bushels of seed. Potatoes, 20,- 
000 acres, producing 1,362,351 bushels. Rye, 
96.000 acres—1.000,000 bushels. Barley, 115,- 
000 acres—500,000 bushels. Cultivated timber, 
80,000 acres. This estimate, made with no 
little care, will be found correct and it covers 
the State of Nebraska. The sorghnm crop will 
be good, and sullieient molasses will be manu¬ 
factured to supply one half the consumers in 
the State. r. r. r. 
Purple Cane, Dodge Co.—Extremely dry 
weather up to the last of May has so nearly 
ruined all small grain, that but little can be 
said of such crops now. We shall possibly 
from June rains get half a crop of wheat; po¬ 
tatoes the tame. Cot-n is doiug well, but is very 
backward and weedy. I canuot give the acre¬ 
age or varieties; nearty every variety is plauted. 
Of 6orghum but little is grown for want of 
mills. No strawberries this year, plenty of 
raspberries; no tree fruit is grown here. Veg¬ 
etables will be very scarce. Grass very short, 
but stock are looking well. We have rains 
enough uow, and ofteu in floods; washouts too 
common. s. r. m. 
Dakota Territory. 
Sioux Falls, Minnehaha Co.—The wheat is 
strong, thick and heavy, and occupies an acre¬ 
age of about 40 per cent. The principal kinds 
are the Fife and LobI Nation. Oats are heavy, 
aud cover an acreage of 20 per cent, of the 
land under cultivation. Corn makes a fine 
stand. The white and yellow Dent are the 
varieties grown; acreage, 15 per cent. Bar¬ 
ley is good; acreage six per ceut. Au acreage 
of 15 per cent, is sown with tlax, which makes 
a good stand. Rye, was Winter-killed, and is 
rather thin. Potatoes are good, but only 
about oue per cent, of the cultivated land is 
devoted to potatoes aud garden vegetables. 
Sorghum is raised in small quautitles. We 
have to pay too much for fuel to evaporate 
the juice by, or burn hay- But very little fruit 
is raised here as yet, aud this only of hardy 
varieties. w. J. c. 
Colorado. 
Fort Collins, Larimer Co.—The wheat 
crop will be short, owing to lack of raiu, high 
winds, and an open Spring, Oats will be good 
and so will potatoes, especially in the moun¬ 
tains. Rye is not raised extensively nor is 
oarley. Our principal varieties of wheat are 
Mexican, Australian, Siberian and Sonora; 
of oats, black aud white; of barley, both kinds 
four and six-rowed; of potatoes, E. Rose, Nosh- 
awack, Beauty of Hebron. Sorghum, this 
year is beiug raised in small quantities by 50 
or more farmers in the county. Fruit prom¬ 
ises fair. a. e. b. 
- •» » ♦- 
SOUTHERN STATES. 
Virginia. 
Bennett’s mill, Montgomery Co.—Wheat 
not more than half a crop—Fultz and Mediter¬ 
ranean. Coru is looking well at present aud 
bids fair to be a full crop. Potatoes are good ; 
not many grown iu this section. Oats arc au 
average crop, but not matured yet. Rye not 
good—poor in bead, but plenty of straw. No 
barley is grown in this section. About the 
same acreage as in former years for all the 
above. Sorghum is raised on a limited scale; 
it did very well last season, and looks well at 
this time. The fruit prospect is good for 
apples ; no peaches this season. m. d. b. 
Chula, Amelia Co— One good rain, only, in 
two months. Wheat half a crop ; Lancaster 
and Fultz do best here. Winter oats looking 
fair, Spring oats are a failure. Barley and rye 
are not grown here. No sorghum grown. 
Peaches and apples are entirely killed. Cher¬ 
ries are good, and pears very good ; only a few 
plums are grown. Dewberries are abundant. 
Corn looks well, it has not suffered from 
drougtb as yet. No tobacco planted this year; 
plants failed owing to frost and the fly. Few 
Irish potatoes are raised, and they are very 
poor owing to drougth. We are all praying for 
rain. f. a. w. 
Fairview, 8eott Co.—Owing to the drought 
in the first part of the season we have 
or will have, 6hort crops, except wheat, which 
is about a usual crop and ou an average quan¬ 
tity of acres. Corn looks very poor for tha 
season. Oats are very short. What rye there 
is looks well, but rye is not much grown in 
this vicinity. Barley is not raised at all here. 
Potatoes have been planted in large plots this 
year and look pretty well. Hay will not be 
much over one-third of a crop. A great many 
meadows are not better than good pasture 
fields. Sorghum is not grown here. Fruit 
will be about one half a crop, except pears and 
plums, of which there will be none. Peaches 
will be a moderate crop. The apple is our 
most successful fruit here. There is a fruit- 
house here that holds about 30,000 barrels, and 
that makes apples profitable. The Willows 
are the leading appleB here. They sell now 
for $5.50@>6 a barrel. f. s. e. 
Finneywood, Mecklenbnrgh Co.—We are 
in the midst of a severe drought so that a 
great deal of vegetation is entirely scorched 
up. The tobacco crop is about half planted 
and what has been set out is constantly dy¬ 
ing. The wheat crop is all harvested, and 
some are thrashing. The yield is poor aud 
the quality inforior. The crop through our 
section is from 25 to 50 per cent, below 
last year’s. Winter oats sowed last Fall, 
are a very good crop—over an average. Of 
oats sown in the Spring large fields are 
not worth cutting—a good many won’t get 
their seed back. Corn looks very well, aud 
rather over an average crop. Gardens and 
vegetables generally are very poor. The hay 
crop is very short aud sorry—not over a third 
or a half a crop. j. l. t. 
Bilcott Springs, Loudoun Co.—Much dis¬ 
appointment is felt in this vicinity iu regard to 
wheat, which, early iu the season, promised an 
abundant yield, but it is now believed that 
there will not be more than half a crop. Har¬ 
vest commenced here on the 10th of June, 
which is about two weeks earlier than usual. 
The wheat seemed to ripen or rather dry up — 
prematurely. The varieties growu here are 
Fultz and Lancaster, the latter a red, bearded 
variety. The Lancaster will make a better 
yield with us this season than the Fultz—which 
is very uuusual. No wheat is thrashed yet, 
but it is certain that the average will be ;low— 
probably 10 or 12 bushels per acre. It is too 
early yet to speak with much certainty of the 
coru. At present the prospect is uot at all 
flattering. In this place a large amount of 
corn planted ou sod land was destroyed oy the 
cut-worm, many farmers (myself among the 
number) having to furrow out and plant a 
second time. With seasonable weather through 
July aud August we may have a fair yield, if 
the season is unfavorable, the crop will be very 
short. Potatoes are not growu here as a mar¬ 
ket crop. Oats are filled pretty well, but the 
straw is very short and will be difficult to 
gather. The “Mold’s Ennobled Oats” sent 
out by the Rural were planted in the garden 
about the 10th of April. I have just examined 
them and find they fiave made a fine growth 
of straw—a little over two feet high. No 
heads are yet visible. Sorghum and barley are 
not grown here, and rye, only iu very small 
quantities. The prospect for fruit is very poor 
iu this section. Peaches will not be more than 
a third of a crop—in many places there will be 
oue at all. Apples of all varieties will, I think, 
be very scarce. “ Wine-sap ” is ** the ” winter 
apple of this locality. Our strawberry and 
raspberry gardens have done very much to¬ 
wards compensating for the loss of the larger 
fruits. Our first picking of the “ Gregg ” 
raspberry was on June 3; the fruit is consider¬ 
ably larger thad that of the Monmouth Cluster; 
and very firm. I consider this berry first- 
class. The canes, however, were winter-killed 
rather more thau other varieties. s. t. p. 
West Virginia. 
Bedington, Berkeley Co.—Wheat in this 
county will yield an average of about 15 
bushels per acre; rye, about the same; oats 
about 33, and barley 50 bushels. We don’t grow 
many potatoes down here for sale, but they 
give about 80 bushels per acre. Corn looks 
6hort aud from present appearances it won’t 
make over30 bushels. The varieties of wheat 
raised here are numerous, the chief among 
them beiug: Amber, smooth and beardy; Claw- 
sou. Fultz, Gipsey, Lancaster Mediterauneau, 
and Zimmermanu or Blue Stem, Of corn we 
grow Yellow Dutton, Chester County Mam¬ 
moth, and several other kinds of white. Black 
and white rye are also raised, and white barley 
Of potatoes we grow Early Rose and Goodrich 
for early; white Peerless and Peaehblow are 
