REPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
51 
According to these statistics the average cash valuation per 
acre, in 1850, was $9.50; while for 1860 the average is $16.59 
per acre — a very high average, considering the fact that the 
unimproved are included with the improved lands, and also a 
rapid increase in value. 
Wheat has always been the great staple crop of the State, 
and, in view of the remarkable adaptations of climate and soil 
to its production, it is probable that it will continue in the su¬ 
premacy for many years to come. As early as 1849, the 
second year of the organization of the State, the crop amount¬ 
ed, in the aggregate, to 4,286,181 bushels. These figures were 
furnished by the U. S. census of 1850; since which time, until 
the year 1857 — when a law was passed by the Legislature for 
the collection of statistics — we have no data from which to 
determine the ratio of progress in any of the various depart¬ 
ments of industry. 
In 1856 — according to the returns by the assessors, which 
were very incomplete, some localities being omitted entirely — 
the number of acres sown amounted to 521,893; the number 
of bushels, 8,717,756, or a little over 17 bushels ^per acre, 
acre. The crop of 1857 was good, but only very partially re¬ 
ported; average 17.4bushels. In 1858 the number of acressown 
was 603,393; number of bushels, 7,029,273; the average falling 
to 11.6 bushels. The crop of 1859 w^as not reported, the law 
having been amended during the session of 1858 so as to re¬ 
quire the industrial statistics to be collected only once in two 
years. The number of bushels is reported, however, in the 
returns of the U. S. census, with a copy of which we have been 
kindly furnished, in advance of publication, by the Hon. J. C. G. 
Kennedy, Superintendent. From this document it appears that 
15,812,625 bushels were produced, the probable average being 
about 16 bushels per acre. 
The annexed table will show the number of acres sown and 
amount produced by the several counties during the years for 
which we have any returns since the organization of the State: 
