The following table contains for 1897 and and fiber crops, tobacco, hops, and wine. 1898 the official statistics of various other The official figures are, of course, reduced crops, including some of the minor grains, to their equivalents in the denominations pulse, seeds, potatoes, sugar beets, forage in use in the United States: TABLE 2.-Statistics of certain crops for 1897 and 1898. Roumanian Crops for the Years 18941900. The following figures on the principal crops of Roumania are those of the Roumanian Ministry of Agriculture reduced to their equivalents in the denominations in use in the United States: a In the case of mixed grain, buckwheat, millet and sorghum, and pulse, the quantities were stated in hectoliters and are reduced to their equivalents in measured bushels, but in other cases they were given in metric quintals of 220.462 pounds and are therefore necessarily reduced to units of weight, 60 pounds being used for the bushel of potatoes and clover seed, 56 pounds for flaxseed, 50 pounds for rape seed, 44 pounds for hemp seed, and 40 pounds for spelt. bOn the larger part of the area under buckwheat, that grain is cultivated as a second crop. c Including that grown as a second crop. 1898 5, 238, 693 101, 907, 482 don about two-fifths of the area cultivated in forage roots, they are grown as a second crop. e Including vetches and maize cut while green. The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, | document entitled "Agriculture in Bosnia formerly a part of European Turkey, are and in Herzegovina," published at Sarajevo now under Austro-Hungarian administra- in 1899. The quantities having been origition, and the statistics of their crops, nally given in units of weight, are here Flax.. though not included with those of either reduced to their equivalents in centals and Austria or Hungary, may appropriately be weighed bushels, 60 pounds being used for presented in connection with the foregoing wheat, 56 pounds for rye and maize, 48 tables. The data are taken from an official | pounds for barley, and 32 pounds for oats. TABLE 3.-Chief grain crops of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 5,003, 918 27,720, 640 €35, 077 1895 232, 027 3, 350, 472 the Consul-General's report, the weather The exports of barley rose from about Chilian Exports of Wheat and Barley. According to the report to the German Government from the Imperial Consul-General at Valparaiso, made under date of June 21, 1900, the exports of wheat from Chili since January 1, of this year, amounted to only about 6,000,000 kilograms, or about 220,000 bushels. The exports for 1899 amounted to 45,812,687 kilograms (1,683,328 AUTHORITIES upon broom-corn producbushels), against 76,964,606 kilograms tion estimate the world's consumption of (2,827,964 bushels) in 1898. The very small export in the early part of 1900 is due to the short crop of 1899-1900. Up to the date of brush to be about 30,000 tons, grown on Transportation Rates Effective November 1. Chicago and East St. Louis are the two greatest centers east of the Mississippi River for merchandise requiring shipment to Atlantic seaboard cities. Through rates from Chicago to New York have for many years been used as the standard or basis for the construction of tariffs to be applied from cities located in the territory north of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers and east of Chicago and the Mississippi River, which are directly or indirectly in competition for eastern business. Such rates are therefore of great importance to the shipping public. The rates herewith presented are from Chicago and East St. Louis and cover the transportation of live stock, provisions, dressed and salted meats, grain and grain products to the principal eastern seaboard cities. Credit is due the Auditor's office, Interstate Commerce Commission, for assistance rendered in the construction of this table. The Cotton-Seed Industry. of the production of cotton seed in the Unit- late years, about 65 per cent of the total crop could have been made available for industrial (and fertilizing) uses, the remaining 35 per cent being required upon the plantations for planting. It is scarcely necessary to state, however, that the total of this availCotton and cotton-seed crops of the United able surplus has never yet been utilized in 1891 1892 The cotton-seed industry of the United States is wholly an outgrowth of the enterprise of what, in common parlance, has become known as the new or industrial South. Under the old slave system of labor, cotton seed, although it represented in weight two-thirds of the gross product of the cotton plantation, was regarded as absolutely of no commercial value and, aside from that used for planting and the modicum used for fertilizing purposes, the crop 1890 was a cumbersome and neglected waste. The adoption of the free-labor system and, later, the awakening of the South to its natural manufacturing advantages, especially 1897 in respect to its great staple, cotton, have resulted, among many industrial achievements, in none more phenomenal than the conversion of this quondam waste of the southern cotton fields into manufactured products, the total value of which now gives to cotton seed the distinction of being the most valuable oleaginous seed crop produced in the United States. The quantity of cotton seed annually produced in the Southern States has never been the subject of special statistical investigation by this Department, and no official figures on yield are extant. It is generally recognized, however, that cotton as picked from the boll consists roughly of two-thirds seed and one-third lint; and, although climatic, soil and other conditions may cause local variations in this relative proportion of seed to lint, an estimate based upon it will at least serve to supply the lack of carefully collected statistics and to illustrate, with fair approximation, the magnitude of the cotton-seed crop. An estimate 1893 1895 1896 1898 manufacture. In the earlier years of the industry, the limited crushing capacity of the few mills, the high transportation charges upon so bulky a crop, the low price of the seed, the undeveloped state of the market for the manufactured products and like causes prevented the utilization in manufacture of more than an insignificant portion of the crop; but, later, the rapid construction of new mills, in response to widening markets and uses for their products, and the convenient distribution of these mills over the most heavily producing areas so multiplied the manufacturing capacity and so facilitated the delivery of seed to the mills that the proportion of the crop utilized for industrial purposes rapidly The manufactured products upon which the value of cotton seed chiefly depends are cotton-seed oil, cotton-seed oil-cake, and oil-cake meal. The yield of these products to the ton of seed (2,000 pounds) is subject increased. In the crop year 1871-72, accordto variations, but a fair estimate would be about 37 gallons of oil (275 pounds) and 725 pounds of oil-cake or oil-cake meal. The residue, 1,000 pounds in each ton, consists of linters and hulls, of comparatively small commercial value. The application of the yield per ton to the figures of total production given above will furnish a comprehensive idea of the possible output of the oil mills of the South, when once this industry shall have attained its full development. The quantity of cotton seed that could be utilized for manufacturing purposes, in case the industrial demand were equal to the supply, naturally varies from year to year, but it is considered a fair estimate that, of ing to commercial estimates, only 4 per cent of the total cotton-seed crop of the United States was utilized for manufacture; in 1881-82 the proportion had increased to about 12 per cent; in 1891-92 it had attained approximately to 25 per cent; and in 1898-99, when the percentage manufactured had reached its maximum up to the present date, the quantity used for industrial pur-. poses was estimated to be 43 per cent of the entire crop. The status of the industry in the crop year 1898-99 would, therefore, seem to indicate that about 78 per cent of the cotton-seed crop was utilized for seeding and industrial purposes combined, leaving approximately 22 per cent for use as a fer tilizer, or to go to waste. In the crop year Total Visible Supplies of Grain Available in the United States and Canada at the 1899-1900 the percentage used in manufac ture showed, as might now be expected in a short crop year, a slight decrease from the preceding one. In the current year, however, owing to the prevailing high prices of cotton-seed, it would seem reasonable to expect a considerable lessening of the difference between the available supply and the industrial demand. The wealth that has accrued to the South through this industry is best exemplified by statistics of the exports of cotton-seed oil, cotton-seed oil-cake and oil-cake meal. In the fiscal year 1871-72, when the growing importance of the exports of cotton-seed oil first warranted a separate, specific statement in custom-house accounts, the quantity exported amounted to only 547, 165 gallons, valued at $293,546. In 1899-1900, less than three decades later, the exports had increased to 46,902,390 gallons with a value of $14,127,538. The following statement illustrates the growth of the export trade in cotton-seed oil since 1880: Dates Given, as Reported to Bradstreet. tion East of the Rocky Mountains, stocks in Manitoba elevators, and stocks afloat on lakes and canals. The following figures represent stocks of grain available at 62 of the principal points of accumula Pacific Coast stocks are shown only in the case of wheat. The Cotton-Seed Industry-Continued. 1895 Dollars. 5,476, 510 10, 137, 619 14, 127, 538 Years ended June 30 10,657,000 3,650,000 1,906, 000 3,409, 000 4,188,000 6, 282,000 8,858,000 11,085,000 10, 678,000 5,903, 000 5,770,000 7,483,000 10, 208, 000 crop is estimated at about 68,000 bales, or 10.6 per cent. On a basis of $50 per bale, the amount destroyed would represent a Quantities. Value. value of $3,400,000. The area under corn is estimated to have Pounds. been about 815,000 acres, with an indicated 11,051,812 $86, 695 26, 980, 110 179,621 production of about 17,500,000 bushels. 26,556, 024 170, 604 The loss to this crop is estimated at about 32, 764, 781 34,443, 806 197,023 1,000,000 bushels, or 5.7 per cent, representing a value of about $500,000. 197,258 49,855, 238 346, 230 Over $25,500,000 was realized in the fiscal 6,897, 361 year ended June 30, 1900, from the exports 12,077,519 alone of what, a little more than thirty years ago, was considered a commercially valueless product of the Southern cotton fields. An amount considerably over half of this very large sum may be added for the total value of the manufactured products that entered into domestic consumption. The exports of the last two years represent, respectively, about 55 per cent and 65 per cent of the total quantity of cotton-seed oil manufactured in the United States dur ing the corresponding periods, the remainder having been reserved for domestic consumption. The exports of cotton-seed oil-cake and oil-cake meal were not separated, in the official statements of the Treasury Department, from the exports of linseed oil-cake and oil-cake meal until 1895. The following statement gives the exports and values since that date: Texas Flood Report. The investigation conducted by the Statistician of the Department of Agriculture into the agricultural situation in those counties in Texas that were visited by the West India hurricane of September 8 was completed and the results made public on October 19. Reports were received from the Department's regular correspondents Exports of cotton-seed oil-cake and oil cake and from many prominent citizens identi meal. Years ended June 30 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 The loss of rice is estimated at 73,000 barrels of four bushels each, representing a value of about $219,000. Of pecans, there is an estimated loss of 2,500,000 pounds, valued at $100,000. Three thousand trees, valued at $75,000, are also reported as destroyed. The loss of farm animals is estimated at 1,300 horses, 150 mules, 20,000 cattle, 2,800 sheep, and 900 swine, representing a total value of about $490,000. The loss of sugar cane, sorghum, and other minor crops has not been ascertained with sufficient definiteness to warrant the publication of an estimate. Exclusive of the damage to farm buildings, machinery, etc., the total loss may be estimated at $5,000,000. It should be stated that all the counties visited by the storm were included in the fied with the agricultural and commer- crop report issued October 10. cial interests of southern Texas. Two experienced special agents personally Condition of Autumn Seedings in Germany. visited the storm-swept region and care4,310, 128 fully investigated the existing situation. In addition, much valuable assistance was 8,010,710 rendered the Department by the Census 11, 229, 188 Bureau in determining the acreage of crops prior to the storm. 3,740, 232 9,253,398 For cotton seed in its natural state, the export demand, though unimportant, has shown a steady increase during the past six years, as is shown by the following state ment: The area under cotton in the counties in which serious damage resulted from the storm was approximately 1,300,000 acres, with a promise on September 1 of a crop of about 640.000 bales. The reduction of the The condition of fall-sown wheat was officially reported by the German statistical office on October 16 as 2.5, that of spelt was rated 2.1, and that of rye 2.6. The figures 2.1, and 2.4, respectively. As these ratings for the corresponding date in 1899 were 2.3, are on a scale in which 1 means "very good," 2 "good," 3 "medium," 4 "bad," and 5 "very bad," it appears that the condition of these grains at the date mentioned was considerably above medium. The October condition of young clover was marked 2.7 in both years. Chi- Chicago. cago. Per bu. P.bu. P. bu. P. bu. P. bu. 85 1.02 221 251 284 311 17 19 36 43 97 1.034 255 274 304 32119) 221 45 48 Chicago. New St. New New St. New Chicago. Elgin. New St. New St. York. Louis. York. Louis Per ton. 8.50 9.00 8.00 1898 Nov 644 691 742 1899 Jan.. C64 76 Apr.. 70 764 79$ 791 748 744 78 55 May.. 634 674 78 June. 65 874 July 74 811 81 Aug.. 71 Sept 721 Oct. 71 781 791 763 783 391 241 277191 180 lbs. P.bu. P.lb. P. b. P. lb. 100 lbs. P. lb. P. lb. P. doz. P. doz. P. lb. 21 32 10/15 17 17 20 21 2.90 3.70 20 23 18 231 20 24 14 19 10 10 9 10 8.50 37 53 15 17 29 3130 31 3.15 3.80 23 231 22 23 19 22 14 17 8 8 9 10 8.50 1.25 1.50 30 41 18 20 28 29 254 26 3.10 3.85 23 23 22 22 20 24 15 19 8 9 10 10 9.00 1.25 1.62 39145 18 18 28 26 26 3.30 4.05 19 21 18 20 17 29 13 22 10 10 10 11 7.75 8.50 1.25 2.00 42 55 18 18 26 26 3.45 4.05 19 25 18 22 19 35 13 32 10 11 11 11 8.50 10.00 1.25 2.37 53 75 17 18 26 3.50 4.00 20 22 20 21 12 30 10 17 11 12 11 11 9.50 10.50 2.00 2.37 56 72 26 3.50 4.15 17 21 17 204 12 14 10 11 12 12 12 12 9.50 10.50 1.00 3.50 40 55 261 3.45 4.05 16 19 16 18 131 16 101 111 84 12 101 12 10.00 11.50 1.00 3.50 42 52 27 3.45 4.00 18 18 17 18 14 15 10 11 74 83 9 9% 10.00 13.00 .50 3.00 261 3.55 4.70 17 18 17 18 15 161 9 10 8 99 10 9.00 13.00 27 3.85 5.00 17 21 174 20 15 18 9 12 91 111101 10 9.50 11.50 .75 1.50 32 40 27 3.90 4.90 20 23 20 22 18 21 11 154 11 113 114 12 9.50 11.00 .75 1.65 32 40 281 3.80 4.90 23 24 23 234 20 22 14 15 12 12 13 13 10.50 11.50 .75 1.50 33 44 32 3.55 4.35 24 27 23 261 21 24 16 17 12 12 12 13 10.50 11.50 .90 2.00 43 48 35 8.50 4.45 261 28 26 27 21 24 17 17 12 13 12 12 10.00 11.50 1.25 2.00 43 52 35 3.70 4.921 24 30 24 29 17 26 12 17:124 13 12 12 10.50 11.50 1.25 2.00 43 50 86 3.70 5.10 24 26 24 21 13 19 10 14 12 13 12 12 10.50 11.50 1.25 2.25 35 46 35 4.00 5.521 231 26 24 24 12 178 154 13 13 12 12 10.50 14.00 1.25 1.75 27 40 34 4.25 5.85 17 23 18 22 12 18 8 11 11 13 12 12 561 10.50 12.50 1.00 1.62 30 45 34 4.00 5.574 184 19 19 19 12 14 9 10 9 11 10 11 10.00 11.50 .75 1.50 36 45 24 4.10 5.424 18 19 13 15 8 10 9 10.50 12.50 .50 1.75 19 13 17 7 91 9 91 101 10 214 14 18 9 11 9 103 10 12 22 20 21 12 14 16 19 12 12 10 118 221 201 22 19 21 14 16 109 114 114 12 22 22 22 20 21 16 16 102 101 112 113 P. lb. 10 10 10 29 4.25 5.55 19 20 19 Twelfth Census of the United States. A preliminary statement of the census made in advance of the official announce Production of Olive Oil in Italy. Available Publications. Bulletin. The yield of olive oil in Italy in 1899-1900 The following publications are now availwas of poor quality and deficient in quan-able for distribution and can be had on aptity, amounting to only 920,000 hectoliters, plication to the Statistician: against a normal production of about 2,500,000 hectoliters. This was partly due to deficient blooming of the olive trees in some districts, partly to arrested develop ment of the fruit owing to prolonged drought, and partly to the ravages of the olive fly. The official figures for that year and three preceding years are given below, with their equivalents in gallons: ment, shows the total population of the Territories at that census, 32,052 persons in Closing Quotations on Midland Upland Food-Nutrients--Food Economy. Markets. Alaska, 180,182 Indians and other persons In all probability it will be possible to publish the final official statement of population in the next issue of the CROP REPORTER, at which time the figures in detail will be given. Commercial estimates of the 1900 wheat crop of Siberia place it at 32,000,000 bushels. Cotton on Dates Named. New Orleans.. Mobile. Charleston. Wilmington. Norfolk St. Louis. 51 78 10 4 Memphis New York.. a 240 pence equal $1.8665. 98 Pence. Pence. 5 No. 23, Office of Road Inquiry. Farmers' Bulletins. Money No. 16. Leguminous Plants for Green Manuring and Feeding. No. 21. Barnyard Manure. No. 26. Sweet Potatoes: Culture and Uses. No. 29. Souring of Milk, and other Changes in Milk Products. No. 40. Farm Drainage. No. 45. Some Insects Injurious to Stored No. 48. The Manuring of Cotton. Published by authority of the Secretary of Agriculture. VOL. 2. WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER, 1900. THE December issue of the CROP REPORTER has been delayed several days beyond the regular date of publication. The purpose was to publish in this number the final estimates of most of the principal crops produced in the United States during the year 1900. It has been found, however, that the necessary tabulations can not be completed in time to render this possible, and the full report will, therefore, appear in the January issue. All communications for the CROP REPORTER should be addressed to the Statis tician. operation, and rarely, if ever, a time when they were so severely taxed to meet the demand for cotton goods. Such was the activity that many mills, both North and South, were obliged to run day and night, and but for the untimely complications in China the latter part of the season, the whole of the year would have been one of remarkable prosperity to manufacturers of this staple. In consequence of the great demand for American cotton goods, the United States consumed more raw cotton than any other Country, leading Great Britain, which for a century and more has held supremacy in this industry, by over half a million bales. But perhaps the most extraordinary feaPreliminary Estimate of the Cotton Crop ture of the year was the wide range of prices of 1900-1901. from the beginning to the close of the season. Spot cotton opened in New Orleans on September 1, 1899, at 51%, and in New York at 64 cents a pound for middling upland, and on the last day of the season, Au The Statistician reports 10,100,000 bales as the probable cotton production of the United States for 1900-1901. In the making of this estimate the same methods and agencies have been used that were em-gust 31, sold in New Orleans at 93, and in ployed last year. Many thousands of ginners have, however, made reports for the first time. New York at 93 cents per pound, a difference of 3 in the former and of 3 cents in the latter market. The difference, however, The estimated yield, in pounds of lint to the planter was not so great as this, as cotton per acre, is as follows: the average price of spot cotton in September in New Orleans was about 6 cents, and 226 in January (when the season is practically 177 over with the planter) 74 cents, a difference 275 of 14 cents, or about $7.50 for a bale of 500 289 pounds. 318 The estimated area, in thousands of acres, after eliminating all acreage that has been entirely abandoned, is as follows: Virginia North Carolina South Carolina. Georgia Florida. Alabama Mississippi Total.. 44 Louisiana 1,342 Texas 2,367 Arkansas. 3,551 Tennessee 169 Missouri 2,998 Oklahoma. 2,896 Indian Territory 25,034,734 acres. Another noteworthy feature of this crop is its total value as compared with that of 1898-99, the largest crop ever made; for, 1,285 although over two millions of bales less, its value is over $29,000,000 greater. 7,041 1,899 801 53 344 In estimating the crop of the States and 246 Territories the Department has followed its usual method, the statistical data used being furnished by the officials of the rail and water lines that have transported cotton The Cotton Crop of 1899-1900. from the States of production; by the offiThe commercial cotton-crop year, which cials of the mills located in those States; ended August 31, 1900, was, in some respects, and by special agents of the Department at one of the most remarkable in the history the Southern ports and important receiving of this industry. There never was a time points in the interior. The reports from when so many American spindles were in these sources are condensed in the accom No. 8. panying table, so as to show the number of bales of cotton moved from each State and Territory to the ports, to Northern and Western mills, to Canada and all other foreign destinations; the number taken from the current crop by the mills; the number forwarded from one cotton State to the markets and mills of another, and the number taken by the mills from the ports. The column "Taken from other States" includes all cotton forwarded by rail, water, and wagon from interior points and plantations of one State to interior markets of another; also all cotton shipped from interior points of one State to the mills of another-all of which is first credited to the State in which it originates. The amount of cotton taken from other States is 72,050 bales greater than in 1898-99, due almost wholly to the increased demand of Southern mills. In further explanation of the large amount of cotton "taken from other States," it may be stated that at points like Augusta and Columbus, Ga., there are large deliveries of cotton by rail, water, and wagon from adjacent plantations in South Carolina and Alabama. There are also considerable deliveries from Alabama plantations at Columbus and Meridian, Miss., and from Indian Territory plantations at Denison, Gainesville, and Sherman, Tex. At Shreveport, La., the receipts from Texas, Arkansas, and Indian Territory are very large. Moreover, the mills of nearly all the cotton States obtain supplies from other States at some time or another during the year. Hence, such movements from one State into another are deducted, otherwise there would be a duplication. "Taken from ports " includes only the cotton purchased at the ports by mills situated in the cotton States, and which has already been counted in the movement to the mills is 10,505 bales greater than in the ports. The amount thus obtained by 1898-99, and is likewise due to the scarcity of cotton and the unusual activity of the Southern mills. The cotton produced in Kansas was partly used by local mills and partly marketed at St. Louis, and that in Kentucky was forwarded by river to St. Louis. The 26 bales made in Utah were used in one of the local mills. All round bales of light weight, that is, bales weighing about 260 pounds, are counted as half bales. |