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AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

The importance of Agricultural Statistics is year after year becoming more fully appreciated. During the past twelve years Ohio has required at the hands of the Assessors an annual statement of the acreage and product of wheat and corn in each county of the State. The publication of the statements has served a better purpose to demonstrate the condition of agriculture so far as actual production is concerned, in the State than any other method yet devised.

It is a source of gratification, to say the least, to know that the annual statements of the acreage and produce of wheat and corn, together with the annual stock statement of Ohio, are eagerly sought for and copied by the prominent agricultural journals of Europe and Great Britain. Ohio is the only State in the Union-and perhaps the only one in the world, where annual enumerations are made and published, of acreage, produce, and live stock. On the continent of Europe estimates of products are made in some places, estimates of acreage in others; but there are no published statements except once in 7, 10, or 15 years. In England, Scotland, and Ireland, annual statements of acreage are published of such estates as are leased at £10 and upwards, per acre; but the acreage of small farmers, and crofters, as they are termed, are not taken. The amount produced in Great Britain is estimated from the acreage; or as we in the West would say, is "guessed at." The average estimated product of wheat in 1857, in one district in Orkney, (Scotland,) is put down at 16 bushels per acre; in the adjoining district, it is put down at 314; and in some districts in Inverness, Ross, and Cromarty, it is estimated at 40 bushels per acre. These estimates are perhaps correct, but the fact that the amount of produce is not returned by the farmer, but the acreage only, affects the integrity of the entire statement.

Correct annual agricultural statistics are just as important to the government of Ohio, as an annual inventory of stock, notes, and accounts is to a merchant; because it enables the Government, not only to know the amount of industrial resources, but the value and condition of these resources. If information of this character is at all desirable on the part of the Government, it would seem that a knowledge of the entire agricultural resources would certainly be more desirable

than a portion only.

Up to the present time we have statistical returns of the principal crops only. In 1826 the first enumeration of horses and cattle was taken, but as this was for purposes of taxation, animals under a certain age were not included; in 1846, or twenty years afterwards, sheep and hogs were first enumerated for the same purpose, and the young of these kinds are not enumerated. In 1848 wheat and corn were first enumerated, and were the only crops returned until 1858, when rye, barley, oats, buckwheat and hay were added to the list. But as these crops constitute in part only of what in Europe is denominated white crops, and as in the various European States and Great Britain, green crops, occupy fully 25 per cent of the land in crops, it would be well to secure returns of the whole, both white and green crops, in Ohio. Especially should sorgho and its products, as well as flax, be added to the list.

From the most reliable sources of information accessible to the Secretary of the Board, it appears that no less than 2,500,000 gallons of syrup were manufac tured in various portions of the State from the sorgho in 1860. The same authorities report no diminution in the crop of 1861. In the present unhappy condition of our country it would be well to ascertain with a greater degree of precision, the amount of sugar and syrup produced from this plant, as well as the acreage devoted to its culture. The successful culture of this plant in Ohio is now demonstrated beyond a peradventure; and the syrup and sugar produced from it will compare favorably with that produced in the Southern States from the ordinary sugar cane. Sugar, in small quantities, has been made from the beet, by Prof. Mot, of Columbus, during the year. Sugar production will certainly become ant important branch of industry in this State.

There is no doubt that a substitute for cotton will be found in some of the preparations of flax, now in the course of experiment throughout the several Northern States. It is desirable to know how much flaxen fiber and seed Ohio ordinarily produces, and whether she can produce a larger quantity without detriment to other crops. A plant called the tree cotton, (Gossypium Arborium.) has been grown successfully in the northern part of Maryland, yielding an annual crop of many pounds of a superior article of cotton. It is stated on good authority that this plant can be successfully grown wherever Indian corn can be grown. If proper encouragement were given to the farmers of Ohio, ma y of them would undoubtedly engage in the culture of this tree-cotton. The encouragement necessary is simply for the Government to furnish a supply of seed or cuttings, and the undertaking of growing and gathering will cheerfully be performed by the farmers. Mr. R. C. Kennedy says of this plant:

"In its native condition, and in the higher southern latitudes, the average size and altitude of the Gossypium Arborium, equal the medium peach tree of North

America-say eight inches in diameter at two feet from the ground, and in height twenty feet; in its general structure more nearly resembling the white mulberry, than any other tree with which I am familiar. The leaves are abundant, distinctly denticulated, and of a glossy, silvery green. Flowers profuse, very double variegated, and in size about a third smaller than the perfected hollyhock, the tree when in full bloom, presenting one of the most beautiful effects imaginable. The bolls at maturity are twice the size of those borne by the herbaceous plant, and whenever it approached the colder regions, I found the fibre finer, and the length of the staple increased.

The perennial cotton tree is propagated from seed, or more readily from cuttings simply thrust into the ground, and possesses this peculiar advantage in any country, over the herbaceous plant. It may be planted out as an apple, peach, or pear orchard, and the field cropped with any of the cereals, until the tree having reached its maximum standard, should entirely occupy the land. It bears cutting as kindly as any known tree, and in field culture, may always be kept so pruned that its produce shall be within reach of the hand.

And now having shown that the production of cotton to an unlimited extent in a large proportion of the free States is possible, let us consider, briefly, the relative differences between producing and preparing for market, an acre of cotton in the slave States, and an acre grown and prepared by free labor at the North.

The interest on an average field hand in the Cotton States is.. $80 00
Clothing and food annually..

Loss of time by sickness, and medical attendance...

75 00

30 00

$185 00

Allowing four acres for each hand to cultivate, and 500 lbs. per acre, (both allowances being above the actual average) and allowing ten cents per pound, we have as a result of a year's labor per hand, $200. Leaving the slender balance of $3 75 per acre, which is very often more than absorbed by commissions, transportation, and other incidental expenses, always greater in the slave than in the free States. There are a great many Southern cotton planters who do much bet ter than this; but there are also thousands who do a great deal worse.

Let us now turn to the Northern side of the picture. Allowing that the perennial cotton required the same amount of culture and care annually, that the her baceous variety does, (which it does not) a good farm hand will cultivate six acres, occupying only six months of the twelve in preparing, planting, tending, and picking.

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