The Portland daily press., 1873-07-14
The Crops.

The Colorado beetle is destroying the potato
crop in Dodge county, Wis.
Harvesting is in progress in Cass county, ILL.,,
and farmers complain of a scarcity of hands.
Unusually large tobacco crops have been
planted this year in Butler and Trgg counties,
Ind.
A new style of potato bug has made its ap-
pearance in Clark county, Wis. 1t is known
as the blister fly, and scientists say it can doub-
lie discount the other bug in destructiveness.
In Yamhill county, Oregon. some of the
wheat is as high as a mans head and the
prospects of an abundant crop were never so
bright. Oats in some parts of the State have
grown to height of eight feet six inches
In Champaign county, ILL.,, fruits of all kinds
are almost an entire failure Currants and
gooseberries are about half crop, apples one
sixth, cherries not one-tenth, peaches an entire
failure, and most of the trees killed,
A visit to the principal hop-growing sections
of Wisconsin reveals the fact that not more
than half the roots have come up, and the vines
do not look very vigorous or thrifty. The crop
will be light, perhaps not half what it should
be. New yards look well.
: A correspondent writing from .Durand, Pep;n
county, Wisconsin, July z, says:
"The crop prospects in this section are very
fine. The heavy showers we have had during
the past two weeks have made vast differ
ence in the looks of all kinds of grain on
sandy land. Corn Is looking fine, except on
low lands, where it is too wet to cultivate sue
cessfully, and if the weather continues cool the
wheat crop will be very heavy"
LIVES LOST IN THE FISHERIES The Cape
Ann Advertiser says that in compiling and col
lecting the statistics for the 'tFisherman's Me-
mortal and Record Book it finds that there
have been lost from Gloucester since 1884
period of forty-two and a half years-twelve
hundred and fifty-one lives and two hundred
and eighty-one vessels-valued at nearly mill
ion and a half-in the fishing and coastng
business, averaging upward of twenty-nine lives
and six vessels yearly. The value of the vessels
lost is ST.. 493.2 22; their insurance, 1922, 1885,
mostly in the local offices. Ninety-two of these
vessels were lost in the Georges fishery, little
over one-third of the whole number; fifty-six
in the Bay of st. Lawrence mackerel fishery;
twenty-nine in the shore mackerel fishery;
twenty in the shore cod fishery; twenty-three
in the Grand and Western Bank fishery; eigh-
teen in the Newfoundland herring fishery; two
in the Grand Menan herring fishery; one in the
Greenland halibut fishery; thirty-three in the
coasting trade; six burnt by the rebel pirate
Tacony, and one pilot boat lost in Gloucester
harbor
As there is no record of the number of wild
ows and orphans previous to 1853, it is impos-
sible to get at the correct plumber, but it is
probable they would average about the same
proportion as those of the last fourteen We ars,
the number of married smen being about one
third the whole number lost, and averaging
two children to man. This would give in
round numbers four hundred widows and eight
hundred fatherless children left destitute by
the disasters ct the past forty-two years, an
average of ten widows and twenty Chi ldren
yearly, which is not large estimate. A sad
record, truly.