AGRICULTURE. As usual, we are unable to give any thing more than approximate estimates of the crops of 1870, in this volume, owing to the early date at which it is put to press. The estimates are, however, unusually full. We give first the returns of the crops in 1869 as obtained by the census of 1870, premising that most of them are yet only in round numbers, and hence only approximately accurate. The year 1870 was, in general, one of fair though not excessive productiveness. The year was not a remarkably favorable one for Wheat, and the acreage was considerably less than that of the previous year. The quality is greatly superior to that of 1869. The entire crop is estimated at 216,000,000 bushels, a decrease of 48,000,000 bushels below that of 1869, but the quality is at least fifteen per cent. better. Of Indian Corn the crop is the largest ever known, though the increase in the production of this grain is hardly keeping pace with the increase in the population. The yield of 1859, the year when agricultural products were in 10,680,987 875,676 11,556,663 192,523,536 corporated in the census of 1860, was in round numbers 838,000,000 bushels. The increase in population in the ten years which followed was just about twenty per cent., and the crop of 1869 should have been 1,005,000,000 bushels. It was only 874,000,000, or but five per cent. increase. The crop of 1870 makes amends for this deficiency, being estimated at 1,100,000,000 bushels. Assuming, which is very near the truth, that the acreage of Indian corn was 39,000,000 acres against about 38,000,000 acres in 1869, the average yield would be about 28 bushels to the acre, against an average of 26.42 bushels in 1869. The Rye crop was about 21,125,000 bushels, or about four per cent. below the crop of 1869. The quality was generally good. This grain is quite largely grown for pasturage in the Southern States. Barley was also somewhat less in quantity than in 1869, the aggregate being about 27,600,000 bushels. The Buckwheat crop was about 16,500,000 bushels, a slight falling off from the crop of 1869. |