Indiana 1,608,000, Ohio 969,000, Michigan The Department of Agriculture and the 317,000, Pennsylvania 158,000, and Illinois 137,000 acres. For the area remaining under cultivation the average condition on May 1 was 88.9. While this average is 6.2 points above the mean of the averages of the last ten years and has been exceeded only three times in fifteen years, it must be remembered that the acreage plowed up, cut for forage (except in California, where it is not yet definitely ascertainable) or otherwise abandoned, has been entirely eliminated. The high averages of condition reported last month for Kansas, Missouri, Texas and other more or less important Census. Use of Penalty Envelope. The transmission of the crop reports beThe statistics of agriculture published tween county correspondents and their asdecennially by the Census Office as the re-sistants has at times been impeded by the sult of a farm-to-farm visitation are used refusal of local postmasters to recognize the by this Department in the revision of its right of these persons to the free use of the own figures, substantially, in fact, as a new mails for this purpose under cover of a penstatistical starting point. Unless those to be alty envelope. In such cases the attention collected by the Census during the approach- of the postmaster should be directed to the ing month of June should be manifestly and following order: seriously erroneous-a contingency which is extremely unlikely, in view of the great care with which the work has been laid out POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT, November 14, 1894. Order No. 374. The operation of the Statistical Bureau of the Department of Agriculture is embarrassed by post they will be adopted by the Department masters who decline to accept for free transmission in lieu of the provisional estimates of the in the mails reports under cover of the penalty enwheat-producing States that have escaped the ravages of the fly have been fully main-crops of 1899 and, with necessary modifica-velopes of that Department sent by the various astained, and on May 1 nearly one-half of the tions, of the numbers of farm animals ap-sistants to the statistical correspondent for the entire winter wheat acreage remaining pearing in its report for that year. under cultivation reported a full normal or still higher condition. ten years. The average condition of winter rye on May 1 was 88.5, as compared with 85.2 on May 1, 1899, 94.5 on May 1, 1898, and 89.7, the mean of the May averages for the last Pennsylvania and New York, with 42.1 per cent of the total winter rye acreage of the country, report conditions 11 points and 4 points, respectively, below their ten-year averages. Kansas, which ranks third in the scale of acreage, reports the high average condition of 107, the highest average reported on May 1 of which there is any record. The average condition of meadow mowing lands on May 1 was 90.8, against 84.9 on May 1, 1899, 92.9 on May 1, 1898, and 91.3, the mean of the May averages of the last ten years. The average condition of spring pasture was 91.3, against 83.5 on May 1, 1899, 91.2 on May 1, 1898, and 90.9, the mean of the May averages of the last ten years. Spring plowing is more or less late in almost every State in which its condition is a matter of any especial significance. The only notable exceptions are Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. The work already done in the country at large is estimated at 68.4 per cent of the total contemplated, the proportion usually done by May 1 being about 75 per cent of the whole. In South Caro lina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas the work is later than in any year for which records are available. In consequence of the almost, if not entirely, unprecedented backwardness of the season, the Statistician is unable to make the usual preliminary estimate of the new acreage of cotton. MESSRS. DALGETY & Co., of Melbourne, have issued a statement upon Australasian wool exports for the period from July 1, 1899, to February 20, 1900. The total for the five principal colonies is placed at 1,307,851 bales, against 1,401,624 bales for the corresponding period of 1898, a decrease of 93,773 bales. THE International Sugar Trade Journal estimates the area of sugar cane in the Phillipines to be 58,000 acres. county, said envelopes having been inclosed to the assistant for the purpose of obtaining the official information desired. The attention of postmasters is called to that portion of section 368, page 159, Postal Laws and Regulations (act of Congress approved July 5, 1884), which is as follows: "Provided, That any Department or any officer them with return address to any person or persons from or through whom official information is de authorized to use the penalty envelopes may enclose sired, the same to be used only to cover such official information and endorsements relating thereto." The Department's crop correspondents do not make independent and definite quantitative reports for each or any year. Each individual report takes the form of a comparison, on a percentage basis, with the acreage and production in the same locality the year before, the estimates for which are similarly based on those of the year preceding it, and so on, back to the Census. The statistical correspondents above referred to While this method of reporting possesses the greatest advantages and presents the are officers of the Department of Agriculture, entitled to use the penalty envelope upon official busifewest difficulties, it is, nevertheless, openness of the Government, and have been supplied to the objection that the cumulative effect with such envelopes by the Department for that of a persistent tendency either to overesti-purpose. They, therefore, have the right to inclose mate or underestimate is liable to throw them for the purpose of obtaining "official informathe Department's official reports more or less out of line during the closing years of under cover of the penalty envelopes of the Agricul an intercensal period. tion." Postmasters will promptly forward letters mailed tural Department, as contemplated by the statute. The census occurs too infrequently to afford the desired opportunities of correcting IT IS stated on reliable authority that or verifying the Department's estimates by there are about 4,900 cheese factories in the the results of an actual farm canvass. This United States, in addition to several hunwas shown by the census of 1890. While dred creameries making cheese in small the Department's estimate of the combined acreage devoted to corn, wheat, oats and hay in 1889, the year covered by the census, differed only 3.1 per cent from the combined figures of the census, based upon an actual farm-to-farm visitation, the differences in the case of some of these crops, considered separately, were much more considerable. quantities. The total output of cheese last year was 265,000,000 pounds. Of this, about 76,000,000 pounds were produced in New York State. UNITED STATES CONSUL GRIFFITH, of Matamoras, Mexico, states that the average annual production of cotton-seed oil in that country is about 3,306,900 pounds. The THE beet has been so much improved by cultivation, notably in Germany, that it now contains about three times as large a proportion of saccharine matter as it did a century ago. These differences were distinctly traceable to the faults of the system, and notwithstanding that various new agencies, in- consumption last year was about 30,864,400 cluding the employment of special traveling pounds. agents, have been brought into requisition for the improvement of the Department's crop-reporting system, no surprise need be felt if it should be disclosed by the census of 1900 that the various fluctuations in the production of the principal crops during the last ten years have not always been so accurately reflected in the reports of the Department as to prevent the existence at the close of the decade of a more or less marked difference between the Department's estimates and the actual acreage and production as census. ascertained by the A RECENT shipment of 82,000 bushels of wheat from Portland, Oregon, to Yokohama was the first cargo made up exclusively of this cereal that ever crossed the Pacific to Japan. THE present season, so far as the growth of crops is concerned, is about a month later than usual in Great Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, and Germany. Crop Statistics Compiled from Previous Reports for Comparison with Report for May 1, on Page 1. agements, the canals to-day would be active d Six years. form of administration. The figures given by the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange, appearing as they do so soon after the completion of the canal investigation, are of marked significance. The shipments of general commodities show a decided downward tendency. Only in the case of sugar is there a notable increase-of more than 75,000,000 pounds—in the shipments of 1899 over those of 1898. New York State Canals. Statistics relating to canal commerce as Owing to the rapidly diminishing volume presented by the annual report of the Buf- of traffic handled by the New York State falo Merchants' Exchange for 1899 demon- canals, Governor Roosevelt, in March, 1899, strate very forcibly that the New York State appointed a committee of seven, including canals are fast losing their importance as the State engineer and surveyor and the sucarriers of merchandise between Buffalo perintendent of public works, to make a and New York. In fact, this retrogressive thorough investigation of the canal system movement is so apparent that it would seem of the State to the end that the canal policy to be but a short time before these canals might be definitely established. The results The following table, showing the total will cease to be factors in the transportation of this investigation, covering a period of number of canal boats cleared during the business of the State, unless some method over ten months, have been widely pub- last decade and the aggregate shipments of can be adopted, which, by effecting radical lished and have created a great deal of in-grain for the same period, is indicative of changes in the operation of the present sys-terest among people concerned in the prob- the decline of canal transportation: . tem, will allow of more successful competi-lem of transportation. Briefly stated, the tion with the railroads. For years past it committee argue against the abandonment has been the opinion of many transportation of the canals which connect Lake Chamexperts that the canals have outlived their plain and the Great Lakes with the Hudson usefulness. These experts declare that it is River. They urge strongly, however, the only a question of time before the railroads, need of improved facilities, such as deeper 1889 owing to their many and varied advantages and broader channels, boats of much greater 1800 over their slower competitors, will entirely tonnage capacity, and an improved system 1892 Great stress is laid supersede the canals. On the other hand, of pneumatic locks. many intelligent and influential men favor upon the proper management of canals, 1895 canal transportation. They claim that had and it is suggested that no money be 1897 as much ingenuity been displayed by offi- expended for physical improvements un- 1899 cials in charge of canals as by railway man-less radical changes are to be made in the 1891 Years. Total number of Canal grain shipments. 6,855 Bushels. 41,741,998 6, 429 38, 225, 979 6,312 34, 499, 141 5,460 31,531, 495 1893 7,725 48,042, 715 1898 1896 4,609 21, 144, 762 Agriculture in India. The famine which is now prevailing in British India, and exciting sympathy and generous aid from many remote parts of the world, is likely to prove the most calamitous event in the agricultural history of the closing year of the nineteenth century. Over five millions of people, many of them denizens of vast and populous districts, difficult of prompt and timely relief, are now dependent for the means of sustaining life from day to day upon organized public and private benefaction; and the animal power, upon which Indian agriculture so largely depends, is being weakened steadily by the death of thousands of cattle from thirst and starvation. In a calamity like this, where a great part of a nation of approximately 300,000,000 people is involved in varying degrees of privation and want, only the imagination can conceive the scene of destitution so faintly outlined by numerical lists of actually helpless sufferers. posite, in the eastern part of the Empire, pendency. Corn is the staple food of a con- Available information indicates that the present famine embraces most of central and southern India. The northern tier of provinces, including Burma, Assam, BenAgriculture in India, the chief occupagal, the Northwest Provinces and Oudh, tion of the people, is probably carried on the Punjab and Sind, are, generally speakunder more discouraging circumstances ing, free from actual famine, although than in any other country of the world. many districts of this excepted territory Although favored by great fertility of soil will add heavily to the total crop shortage and conditions of temperature propitious of the Empire. Official data of crop yields to a remarkable variety and exuberance of are not yet at hand, but official reports on plant life, a peculiar feature of Indian agrithe condition of wheat in some of the provculture is that the germination and growth inces give a general idea of the situation. of all unirrigated vegetation depends upon Bengal, whose average annual production the characteristic seasonal rains, commonly of wheat for the past nine years has been known in India as the monsoon rains. In 16,376,000 bushels, is the only province that the spring, as the surface of this vast reports an average crop. In the Northwest peninsula becomes heated by the tropical It is apparent that, were it not for the Provinces and Ouch, where out of a net area sun, the "wet monsoon"-steady south-so-called failures of the monsoon, disturb- of 31,000,000 acres in all crops in the last west winds, amounting often to a gale-sets ing, as they do, the commerce of the Em- famine year (1896–97), almost 10,000,000 inland from across the Indian Ocean and the pire by causing a deficiency one year of acres were irrigated, the only clue to the Arabian Sea, and prevails late into Autumn. products of which it may, perchance, be a situation is that the wheat crop, which has It may be noted, incidentally, that another heavy exporter the next, and discouraging, averaged for nine years past about 52,344, monsoon, somewhat opposite in many of to say nothing of impoverishing, the farm- 000 bushels, promises this year about 75 per its characteristics, prevails during the ing classes by repeated failures of crops, cent of an average crop. In the Punjab the other half of the year. Usually, beginning the Empire of India, notwithstanding the net area in all crops in 1896-97 was 16,000, about the middle of May, these southwest consumptive needs of its enormous popu- 000 acres. Of this, 8,720,000 acres were irriwinds, diverted into various currents by lation, would undoubtedly become a con- gated. The wheat crop alone for the past mountains and other agencies, precipitate stant and therefore much more important nine years has averaged 70,341,000 bushels. upon the land heavy falls of rain. As competitor of the United States in the This year 65 per cent of a wheat crop is inwould naturally be supposed, in an empire markets of Europe. Extending from 8° dicated on irrigated soil; the unirrigated is of 1,500,000 square miles-in fact almost to 35° north latitude, a range correspond- almost a failure. In Sind the irrigated area equal in extent to all Europe, less Russia-ing to those latitudes that lie between is very large-2,500,000 acres in the last the distribution of even a monsoonal rain- the southern extremity of the Isthmus famine year out of a net area of 3,226,000 fall is never equable over the entire country. of Panama and the southern boundary acres in all crops. Of wheat, the averTotal failure of the monsoon current over of Tennessee, the vast plains of India are age yield from 1891 to 1899 has been expanses of thousands of square miles is not favored with a climatic range adapted 4,845,000 bushels. The promise this year is uncommon, and famine is the inevitable to all the products of tropic and temperate for a fair crop. result in the territory affected. In some zones. Fortunately, too, for the sometimes Outside of the northern tier of provinces, localities, in fact, rain is scarcely relied urgent domestic needs of the people, two in the famine-afflicted area proper, it is upon at all to supply a sufficiency of soil and even three crops of some food products, noticeable that facilities for irrigation are moisture; in others, the regular recurrence though not always from the same soil, may greatly deficient. In the Central Provinces of the monsoon at almost identical periods be produced in the course of a single year. there are no public canals and few private of the year is regarded as a safe assurance Wheat is cultivated in all the provinces of ones, and the 790,000 acres that were under of never-failing crops. In the northwest of India, but by far the larger quantity irrigation in the last famine year-the net the Empire, i. e., in the southwest Punjab is produced in the northern half. Cotton area cropped was 15,084,000 acres-drew and in Sind, an extensive system of irri- is likewise produced throughout the entire their water supply from tanks, wells, and gating canals is maintained as essential to country, but nearly two-thirds of the crop other sources. So far as the present prosthe successful practice of agriculture; op- comes from the southern half of the De-pects for the wheat crop may indicate the general situation in this territory, the view is appalling. Reports indicate an almost total failure, whereas the average wheat crop is about 18,000,000 bushels. In the province of Bombay, in 1896-97, 1,054,000 acres only were irrigated out of a net area cropped of 19,246,000 acres. The average yield of wheat in this province for the past nine years has been 19,609,000 bushels; onethird of a crop only is indicated for the present year. Practically no crop of wheat is indicated for Berar, where in 1896-97 the net area in all crops was 6,252,000 acres, of which only 63,300 acres were irrigated. The above details give, in brief, some features of the agricultural situation in India for all provinces concerning which official statements have been issued on the wheat prospects. From some of the territory that is known to lie within the belt of the famine, no official reports concerning any crops have as yet been made public. The Handling of Rice. In a recent report on the rice market, Dan Talmage's Sons' Co. have the following to say in regard to the handling of rice by growers in the United States: "Cleaned rice which will carry safely in Northern latitudes is apt to go to pieces in the South on the first approach of warm weather; es pecially is this the case right on the coast under the combined influence of moisture and heat. With any ordinary care, rice in the rough will carry indefinitely, but once 'unjacketed' and the trinity of seasonable foes-'weevil, worm, and weather'-begins its undoing. The industry needs enlarged warehouse capacity by which to carry the rough, that it may be milled and marketed as called for, right up to the incoming of the succeeding crop. Under deliberate procedure the present crop might easily have averaged over one cent per pound higher, or an aggregate of say three million dollars more than was realized." East-Bound Shipments of Wheat from Chicago. The appended table on the eastward movement of wheat from Chicago tends to show the result of the competition between the railroads and the lake lines for east-bound wheat traffic from Chicago. It was not until the early seventies that the railroads began to compete actively with the water routes for the grain trade. Before that time, owing to the lack of facilities for loading and unloading, and to high operating expenses and small train loads, they were at a decided disadvantage. Improved methods, resulting in a lessened cost of transportation, have, however, greatly improved their position and have enabled them not only to equal, but to surpass, their competitors in the transportation of many of the cereals and cereal products. The east-bound wheat traffic from Chicago is a notable exception to this general rule, and in this connection the lake lines have not only been able to maintain the supremacy they established in the sixties, but have been slowly and surely strengthening their control. A comparison from year to year of the amount of wheat carried by the two routes shows marked fluctuations, first in favor of one and then of the other. At a glance it would seem impossible to determine which was gaining the ascendency, but by taking average percentages by decades more definite conclusions may be drawn. During the period from 1870 to 1879, inclusive, the lakes controlled over 68 per cent of this traffic. In the next ten years this was increased to 69 per cent, while from 1890 to 1898, inclusive, the average percentage of wheat moved eastward from Chicago by the lake lines was 78. These figures cover a period of twenty-nine years and are clearly indicative of a substantial gain made by the lake lines in their competition with the railroads. Freight rates between Chicago and New York have a great significance, owing to the fact that for many years it has been an established policy to use them as a basis for making rates between many western cities and points on the Atlantic seaboard. In the rates herewith presented a strong and steady downward tendency is shown, with the rail rates always much higher than those used by the water lines. Since 1890 extremely low rates have generally prevailed, especially on shipments by water, and this has resulted in Chicago receiving an increased percentage of the wheat crop of the country for transportation eastward. The percentage of the total output of wheat of the United States moved eastward by way of Chicago in the 1880-1890 decade was 3.18, while for the eight years beginning January 1, 1890, it was 5.08. Credit is due the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department, for many of the data used in construction of the accompanying table. The east-bound movement of wheat from Chicago and the freight-rate charges between 8, 149, 209 1874. 16, 974, 149 63.57 9,725,251 36.43 1883. 1886. 1888. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1. Acreage sown this spring, as compared with that harvested in the year 1899, to each 1885of the following crops: Corn and potatoes. 1887. 2. The amount of wheat still on farms on July 1, 1900, expressed as a percentage of 1890. the amount harvested in the year 1899. 1896. 1897. 1898. a Rates from 1870 to 1879, inclusive, reduced from currency to their equivalents in gold. 3. The average condition on July 1, sep- 1894. arately, of corn, winter wheat, spring wheat, 1895. winter rye, spring rye, oats, barley, tobacco, cotton, potatoes, sweet potatoes, clover, timothy, pasture, apples, peaches, and grapes. 4. The average weight per fleece of wool. THE movement of garden truck from the Southern States to Northern markets began in 1850 with a shipment from Charleston, S. C., to New York. THE first commercial consignment of oranges from Florida to Northern markets occurred in 1865, and was from the grove of Harriet Beecher Stowe. SHIPMENTS of wheat from Argentina since January 1, 1900, have been 38,112,000 bushels, against 24,184,000 for the corresponding period last year. 15.20 25.81 9.95 12.71 20.97 8.59 10.58 14.80 10.73 15.08 19.37 9.08 11.31 17.56 11.60 13.30 17.30 12.27 15.70 19.90 8.19 10.40 14.40 7.89 10.90 14.60 2,696, 071 27.61 9,763, 728 8.37 11.50 16.50 6,322,493 5,496, 544 50.27 10,933, 005 81.02 17, 313, 351 71.52 6, 893, 504 9,894, 377 4,814, 978 2,953,826 29.68 9, 919, 660 5.85 8.50 14.31 5,470, 333 33, 498, 547 83.14 6,792, 284 19,720, 775 88.28 2,618, 327 15,016, 804 94.11 940, 202 5,666, 997 9, 845, 117 77.00 The June Schedule. The Cotton Situation. From statistics compiled by Mr. Henry G. Hester, Secretary of the New Orleans Cot The object of the Department in submitting to its correspondents the schedule re-ton Exchange. turnable June 1 is to collect data for making an estimate of the acreage sown this spring-as compared with that harvested last year-to wheat, oats, barley, cotton, and other crops; and, also, as to the condition on June 1 of each of these crops, together with the condition of winter wheat, spring pasture, apples, and peaches. The Department, as is well known, makes no attempt to estimate in advance the probable yield of any agricultural product. After an approximate determination of the acreage, its crop-reporting system is confined, during the growing season, to ascertaining how the condition of the crop on the first day of each month compares with the normal. The two most important subjects of investigation leading up to harvest are, therefore, first, acreage, as ascertainable immediately after seeding, and, second, the condition of the growth and vitality of the crops, as affected by favorable or unfavorable influences in the monthly progress of the season. It is apparent that whether the Department's reports previous to harvest are construed simply as a general epitome of the crop situation, as is intended, or whether they are interpreted as furnishing a basis for quantitative forecasts of yield-in either case, a proper understanding of their significance is to be derived solely from an observance of the relation of acreage and condition. The acreage sown is usually, except in the cases of winter wheat and winter rye, the acreage harvested. The estimates on condition from month to month are variable and, as a general rule, are the indicators of the changes in the general or local crop situation; hence are commonly construed as forecasting the quantity, current conditions prevailing, that will likely be harvested on the estimated area sown. COTTON IN SIGHT. (Including movement during each of the following four years, from September 1 to April 27, inclusive.) Receipts at ports since September 1.. Total in sight........ Total crop * Minus .net.. 6,322,994 7,923, 590 1,197, 627 *7,335 319, 114 8, 278, 353 1,097, 445 1,001,445 8,517,043 10, 441, 776 10,579, 043 92.61 833, 064 11, 274, 840 11, 199, 994 The importance of an accurate report on the cotton acreage is dealt with in a separate article. The cultivation of new lands, either as the As to the condition of growth and vitality result of opening up new farms, the tillage of the various crops mentioned in the schedof land hitherto unimproved, the extension ule, the returns should be made, not as a It will be observed that the schedule re- of irrigation or drainage, all may tend to comparison with the condition of the preturnable June 1 deals solely with the sub-considerable local increases in area over vious year, but on a.percentage basis, taking jects of acreage and condition. As to acre- that cultivated the preceding year. The as a base 100, which represents a full or age, the investigation embraces several of increased favor with which a particular normal crop. Variations in the condition the principal spring-sown crops, and returns crop is locally regarded, either on account of of the crops under consideration from a upon each of these should be expressed as a its peculiar adaptation to local conditions normal condition should be indicated by comparison with the area harvested last of soil or of the increasing disfavor of some figures above or below 100 in proportion as year. Correspondents will find it advanta- other crop, naturally tends to an expansion the present crop varies from a normal one. geous in making up their reports to keep in of area. These few circumstances are cited mind all local circumstances that are likely not as comprehensive, but merely as sugto tend to an expansion or contraction of gestive, of the manifold influences that are the acreage sown to each of the crops under constantly in force, enlarging or contracting investigation. The destruction of large acreage or readjusting it to the exigencies areas of winter wheat by insects, freezing, of the seasons and the times. or other agencies is invariably followed by With reference to the purely technical a redistribution of the abandoned area features of the schedules, the number 100, among the various spring-sown crops. High when inserted under the proper heading, prices for a particular crop are likely to will indicate that the acreage sown this have the effect of increasing the area de- spring to a specified crop is the same as that voted to that crop the following season. On harvested last year. Any increase or dethe other hand, a local scarcity at seed time of a high-priced seed will sometimes result in a considerable contraction of the acreage. or 90, 95, etc. crease in acreage should be indicated by THE United States consul at Matamoras, Mexico, is authority for the statement that the importation of many pure-bred cattle from the United States into Mexico is resulting in a marked improvement in the old long-horned, native types. It is the prevailing opinion that a cross between the pure-blooded cattle of the North and the native stock produces a large, healthy, vigorous offspring, with an unusually compact muscular development. |