Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-10-14
Agricultural Report for September.

The Commissioner of Agriculture
says:
The season has been peculiar. The
region n5st subject to drought, thai
west uf the Mississippi and Missouri,
mas had the most regular supply of rain
and ,iie valley of the former has had an
abundan, RAIN fail to its mouth, while
Alabsm- aud Georgia have suffered lrem
drough SI,: Toe Atlantic States Ill "a
still hIy her des-ree. not only throughout
the tide ~ region, but in large
portion @. lue eastern States. On the
Southern Atlantic seabOard the heat
has been greater this year than in '69,
and the rainfall less; north and east OF
New York the heat has been less, as also
the rainfall. In the one case it was
too hot, in the other TOO cold for corn
and other summer crops, which luffered
accordingly. While drough -has pre-
vailed east OF the Alleghenies, the great
Mississippi basin has had an unusual
amount OF rain. West Virginia ana
| lOhio alone of the central area had less
rainfall lin August than in 1868. The
excessive moisture of the summer is
sustained to its close, especially in Wis
consin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska,
Kansas, and Missouri. Both the early
and the later rains have been somewhat
extraordinary west of the Missouri, yet
the high temperature and deep thirsty
soils of that region have converted the
visitation into a blessing.
| The drought of the seaboard has not
been equalled in many years. Extracts
from correspondents" will show tbs in
furious effects of this excessive drought
on corn, and cotton, and garden vegeta-
bles.
CoRN.-The corn crop has been the
prey of numerous ills in every section
of the country. The only States that
show anaverage condition are: Nebras-
| ka, Kansas, Florida, Louisiana, Texas
and Arkansas. Excessive rains retarded
planting, and necessitated replanting
in the spring throughout the west and
south; cold, wet weather prevented
healthy, vigorous growth in almost every
State and in the season of caring and
maturing serious drought affected it on
the Alta ntic coast, with injurious heat
in the. South. and unfavorable reduction
of tenn perature in the North. In deep
soils, naturally drained, the extreme
moisture of the West did no injury; in
heavy or flat lands, with clay subsoil,
the damage was great, in some eases re-
sulting in total failure. The loss, as
shown in the table, is forty-nine per
cent. in Virginia; from thirty to forty in
Maine, Vermont, Maryland, North
Carolina, South Cerolina, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, Wiscon-
sin; from twenty to thirty in New
Hampshire, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana,
Ohio, Iowa, and Minnesota; from ten to
twenty in Massachusetts and Pennsyl-
vania, and one to ten per cent. in Rhode
Island, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri,
] q nd California. Unless the close of the
season is very favorable. there must be
one hundred and fifty millions of BUSH
els less than full crop.
WHEAT.-This crop, as a whole, is
large. The only States showing de.
crease are Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and
California. Some of it is inferior in
lquality, and small portion has been
!; injured by rains after harvest. but
considerable portion of the western
wheat is of good quality, and that ofthe
J south is decidedly superior.
FRU1r.-Fruits, as a rule, have yield
ed &bandantly ;..apples in a less degree
tnan g her species. New York, Penn
sylvuuis, West Virginia, Michigan and
Ill'nois. s,il apple regions have nearly O
iull -i,piy; New England a material
retis ton
s'.K ,Gs.-There is not only a re-
du a the number of stock hogs,
j sl- III condition. Missouri, Kansas,
Nebra "a, snd Minnesota, rapidly grow
ing States, have made an increase in
lnumbef = lave some of the Southern
Estates. There is apparently decrease,
as compare! with last year, OF five to
ten per cen.