Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1867-08-08
The Crops and the Spectators.

The Crops and the Spectators
That the whole country has been
blessed with bountiful harvest, and
that the crops are now, for the most
part, secure beyond peradventure
are well known and gratifying facts.
Our graneries are filled to overflow
ing with wheat; the hay harvest are
something enormous, while the pas
lures remain in admirable condi-
ton; and corn is SO well advanced
that nothing but extraordinary
frosts can endanger it. The report
of the Agricultural Department for
July shows material increase in
the number of acres sown in wheat
throughout New England. Its con
dition in Connecticut Massachu-
sets and New Hampshire is stated
to be remarkably fine. In Maine
and Vermont there is a slight fall
ing off in quality A uniform i'm
Iprovement in pasture is noted,
amounting to from 1G to 42 per
cent, and the hay crop is scarcely
less abundant. In New York the
improvement in winter wheat is II
per cent, in Pennsylvania 40 per
cent, and in New Jersey 25 per
cent, hay everywhere being in ex-
ira fine condition. The other crops
are, in most cases, fully up to, and
many are beyond the average, ex-
cepting that in New York there is a
deficiency in the bredth of con-
Scarcely an eastern State shows so
uniformly a good condition of all
crops as Ohio. In some counties
the wheat harvest is six, eight and
ten fold that of last ear; in 9th
els so to 100 per cent. greater
From present indications, founded
on data from nearly all the coun-
ties, the estimate of the Bureau
points to "a, ,000,0 00bushels ofwheat
against 100000 last year. In
Indiana and Illinois winter wheatis
81 per cent. better than last year,
with full average breadth of corn,
and so throughout the entire North
west, the increase, both in breadth
and condition, is very Marked
Iowa, Missouri and Kansas had full
crops in 1866, and promise equal
results this year In the South, the
corn crop is large increase, in
some States 30 per cent, and wheat,
though less generally cultivated,
shows an increased breadth sown.
These data are doubtless, in the
highest degree, cheering, or would
be were there reasonable certainty
that the consumer would benefit by
them, But what are the facts Of
last years experience? Did the de
liciency in the harvests of 1866 war
rant the ruling prices for -four of
S1S@20 per barrel, for the best
grades ? Although there was
large falling off in wheat, yet the
crops averaged five bushels per cap
ita of population, say 1SO,000,000
bushel, with o surplus for export
And there actually was exported, Of
last years crop, a million and a half
bushels. Had the ordinary laws of
supply and demand alone gov
erned the market, the price of flour
would have been but little, if any,
above the average of former years,
it now fully appearing, that there
was no actual scarcity. The June
Report Of the Agricultural Bureau
says "Both farmers and consumers
" may well deprecate the mprinci-
"pled operations of spectators,
!" and fear the effect of their combi-
" nations and perversions of facts.
|" The immense aggregation of
" wealth in the hands of fortunate
" stock and produce gamblers ena-
"bles them to accomplish what
would never have been attempted
years ago" Itnow appears, on
tho same authority, that spectators
took advantage Of the shipment of
surplus wheat from California to
New York, to circulate kilograms
designed to show the dependence
of the States on California for
wheat, and also caused the wheat
to be reshipped from Liverpool,
aud transported from New York to
Buffalo, and even to Chicago; all
for the purpose Of creating appre-
hension in the public mind, and to
induce a belief in short supplies
The report says, "liity per cent in |