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returns are as nearly correct as it is possible to obtain without a more complicated and expensive plan.

The Season.

The spring of 1878, will long be remembered by the farmers of our State as one of the most favorable for farm work and for farm stock of any during the last two decades. Following a winter marked with but few sudden variations of temperature, it found the teams in good order for spring work. Opening unusually early, and with continued good weather, the corn and other spring crops were put into the ground in the best of order, and the freedom from hurry, which always follows an early spring, was a cause of a more thorough preparation of the soil. The spring rains were delayed until the latter part of May, and thus added materially to the advancement of farm work. Until the second week in May, everything seemed to be favorable for large crops, but, soon after this date, a change came over the reports sent in by our correspondents, and our usually sanguine reporters in Susquehanna, Wayne, Bradford, Tioga, Potter, and Erie counties furnished us with accounts of damage done by cool weather and frost. The greatest damage was, of course, in the northern tier of counties, but, even as low down as Lehigh, Schuylkill, Juniata, Mifflin, Blair, Cambria, Indiana, and Allegheny, the fruit crop was, at first, given up as an entire failure. Reports at hand since then (as will appear under the proper heading) have changed this to a great extent, but the loss to the fruit crop has, nevertheless, been heavy.

In some portions of the State frosts were reported as late as June 10, but only as affecting the lowlands and valleys, and in all cases orchards and vineyards in low situations have suffered most.

During harvest (especially hay harvest) the weather was fine, and we doubt if (taking the State as a whole) the entire harvest was ever housed in much better condition. From the eastern portion of the State we have some complaints of hindrance from showers, but not until after wheat harvest, and, even then, not to an extent to cause any damage to the crops. In some of the north-eastern counties the rains seem to have done considerable damage during wheat harvest. In the extreme south-east this favorable weather extended over the whole harvest, and, in fact, until the pastures were needing rain badly, except for the help afforded by the second crop of clover, many of our dairy farmers would have been short of pasture.

Wheat.

From nearly every county in the State we have reports of damage to this crop, from both fly and frost, and a careful reading of these reports and notes will convince us that our farmers have received their usual annual lesson in favor of later seeding. Our older farmers can readily go back in memory over several regular stated cycles, in which the cry of damage by fly is heard, and they can also tell us that each of these infected periods has been followed by later seeding, which, while it has been persevered in has prevented a repetition of the trouble, at least to any injurious extent. After a period of total or partial exemption from the ravages of fly, our farmers gradually commence to seed earlier, until, in some extreme cases, the grain is in by the last of August. Such a course is an invitation which the fly is not slow to accept, and the usual trouble follows. Just how late the seeding may be put off, and yet be followed by reasonable expectations of a crop, seems very much to depend upon the season and condition of the soil. On heavy manured and well worked land it will

do much later. A majority of our reporters seem to fix on the middle of September as the dividing line, but a few report the almost total loss of crops sown even this late. We think that in all the counties of the State, there are not a few fields in which the heads are only partially filled. Grains are wanting at both the base and point of the head. In many cases the failure may be due the effects of frost. In many cases where this defect is noticeable, a further examination will show an extra grain in some of the middle chests near the center of the ear, but these are not usually so numerous as to make up for the deficiency at either end. It is too often the case that the estimate of yield is based solely upon the number and length of the heads. While these are, of course, important items in a correct estimate, yet the presence of three grains on a side, instead of two, or the absence of two or three at the point of the head, have much to do with the crop. Observation will often show that the heads on ground sparingly manured, are quite as long as those upon adjoining ground well manured, and yet the latter may contain forty or fifty per cent. more grain than the former.

As was intimated in our report for the quarter ending August 31, the November estimate of this crop are lower than those of July. The main cause of this decrease is to be found, in the fact that the large yield of straw led many of our reporters into the error in the probable amount of grain. Since most of the crop has been threshed out, the reduction has been found necessary.

We may make the following comparison, to show the relation of the crop of 1878 to that of the average of the past ten years, and also to the largest and smallest crops of the same period:

1878,

Average,

Largest,

Smallest,

When value is taken into consideration, we may institute the following comparison:

Crop of 1878,

Average,

Highest value,

Least value,

The crops of 1878, though only exceeded in the total number of bushels by one crop during the past ten years, has its comparative total value placed very low, on account of its low price per bushel.

Oats.

This crop shows a large yield in bushels, but continued dry weather about the time it should have been filling has, in many cases, very materially decreased the weight of the product So far as the crop has been

threshed we have the same report of a falling below the State standard in weight.

There are, perhaps, few crops planted by our farmers which receive so little manure and care in the preparation of the soil as this, and at the same time there are but few, if any, which more quickly respond to both careful preparation and manure. Many of our farmers who are very particular in the selection of their seed corn and wheat, sow their oats just as it comes from the machine. Many who, for fear of heating in the mow, place their seed wheat upon poles over the floors, will yet put their seed oats, (a grain which of all others is most liable to injury from heating,) in a large mow with the main crop, and often wonder why three bushels of seed per acre will produce so much better stand some years than others. A careful preparation of the ground, a little phosphate or bone, (even but one hundred pounds per acre,) drilled in with the seed, will produce an effect on the crop which will be more remunerative than the same amount or value of work and manure applied to almost any other crop. If the same care and manure is given to this crop which we usually give to corn and wheat, we think we will have a less number of correspondents reporting oats as "a crop which costs more than it comes to."

In many of our dairy counties the opinion is prevalent that oats and oats straw are disadvantages as producers of milk and butter, and hence Hungarian grass, millet, and sowed corn have been substituted for this crop. The effect upon milk and butter is very conflicting, and will not yet warrant the correctness of this conclusion.

The crop of 1878, when compared with the average yield of ten years, and with the largest and smallest yield during the same period, may be thus represented :

Crop of 1878,

Average,

Largest,

Smallest.

When compared in the same manner, in accordance with the market value we have the following:

Crop of 1878.

Average.

Highest.

Lowest.

Hay.

The hay crop of 1878, will long be remembered, not only for its large yield, but also for its fine quality. Grown without too much wet weather, it will be found to possess a feeding value which has seldom been excelled, and to this we may add the fact that in the absence of wet weather during harvest, it was secured in the very best condition. The only draw

LEG. Doc.]

PENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

UNIVERSITY

back to the value of the crop, is to be found in the fact that the earlyland rapid ripening of the wheat, caused many to leave the hay, to house the grain, and thus many fields were allowed to stand until the proper period for cutting (so as insure the best quality of hay) had passed. We doubt whether our oldest and most experienced farmers can re-call a year when our State had more hay stored up than at present. The mild winter of 1877-8, followed by an early and open spring, caused our farmers to turn out to pasture at an earlier date than usual, and hence more than the average amount of old hay was left over. In some cases this surplus was sold at a price below the cost of production, but in most cases it was retained, and thus swells the result of 1878.

This crop, when valued at its market price, is one of the most valuable produced in the State, but when fed on the farm, it is too often the case that this value is not obtained. Improvements in presses and a decrease in the rates of freight, accompanied by the increased use of artificial fertilizers, are slowly widening the area in which hay may be grown as a market crop. For many years hauling by wagon limited the circumference of the circle, but since ten tons of packed hay may be put into an ordinary freight car, the area has been increased in radius at least forty miles.

When compared by total yield with the crops of preceding years, we may represent the crop as follows:

Crop of 1878.

Average.

Largest.

Smallest.

When compared in a similar manner by total value, the result is as follows:

Crop of 1878,

Average,

Highest,

Lowest,

Corn.

The early estimates for this crop were the most encouraging we have yet received. The early spring gave our farmers plenty of time to get the ground in nice order; and, if care in planting would insure a crop, the corn crop of 1878 should have exceeded all others. Until the second week in May, we continued to receive very flattering reports of its appearance and condition. Commencing with the north-eastern counties and rapidly extending along our whole northern border we soon received accounts of serious injury from frost. In some cases this was so great as to cause an

entire re-planting of the whole crop, and it is a question whether it would not have been in a better condition, if it had all been re-planted especially in the northern part of the State. Reports of damage from this cause soon became so general as to indicate that June would make up for the good weather in May. Damage from frost was reported as late as June 10, but as a general rule, the injury was done during the last week in May or the first in June. As a natural result, (even where the stalks were not killed to the surface of the ground,) the crop was very backward, but, owing to favorable weather, recovered some of its lost ground, and has warranted our reporters in increasing their estimates.

In many counties the stand is good, though short, but some counties report a very poor stand, even on good land, where the crop was not injured by frost. In some cases the seed failed to sprout properly, and in others, even where it seemed to start healthy, it soon dwindled away. In most cases this trouble was due to the ravages of the "spindle worm," (Gortyna zea,) the larva of which effects an entrance into the small stalk, at or near the surface of the soil, and burrowing into the spindle or center stalk, there passes into its chrysalis state, and either very much retards or kills the plant. In some portions of Lancaster and Chester counties, much damage was done by a species of aphis, which, in many cases, destroyed the plants in spots over the whole field. In these and adjoining counties, some damage was done by the "corn weevil," (Rhyncophorus immunis,) samples of which were sent to this office. In many cases the second planting will make but little else than fodder.

A greater care in the selection and care of their seed corn, would richly repay our farmers, and if accompanied by a more liberal use of grain in planting, would do much to raise the average of our crops. It is not often the case that the re-plant produces even half a yield of grain, and the only remedy is to be found in the care of the seed, accompanied by liberal planting.

Potatoes.

Owing to its liability to be affected by too much or too little moisture, this crop seems to be one of the most uncertain produced; and yet, a careful examination of its yield and value, for the past eight years, proves that these fluctuations have not been so great as might have been supposed.

In very many cases the first planting almost entirely failed to grow, and a second planting had to be resorted to, thus retarding the crop. In nearly every county of the State more or less injury was done by May and early June frosts. The early crop, in spite of these drawbacks, was good, in not only yield, but also in quality. The later crop was shortened by a want of moisture, but in quality is good.

The Colorado beetle, though reported worse in some localities than during any previous year, has done much less damage in the State at large. than usual. This is due, we think, to the fact that our farmers are learning the habits of this pest, and to the skillful use of Paris green and other remedies. The great importance of the thorough destruction of the first or breeding crop of beetles, is becoming more generally understood, and is, undoubtedly, the key-note of success.

At one time, during the past spring, the demand caused by the necessity of re-planting doubled the price in the market, but as soon as the supply was obtained, prices fell to very near their old mark.

Some of our reporters mention a few cases of loss from decay, but further examination shows this to have been mainly confined to such as have been stored in a damp state, and in large piles.

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