The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-06-13
CORN.
OOrsGs
WI There BE a short Cron

CORN.
VIII There BE n short CrOpg
The opinion begins to prevail that
the backwardness of the season will
prevent the planting of anything like
the usual area of corn in the districts
that bear the most important relations
to the general crop of corn IL the Uni
ted States. In this State, which has
for some years past produced more corn
than any other two States of the Union,
1t is possible to plant corn as late as the
10th of June and still raise fair crop,
but it requires that the remainder of
the. summer be extremely favorable and
that the fall should be late. With corn
planted any time after the LIST of June,
there is great danger that the first
frosts in the fall will cut it off before
the grain is sufficiently matured In
seasons of usual weather, the great bulk
of the complaining has been done in
Illinois and Iowa before the present
time; but this season it is well known
that the excessive moisture has kept the
ground too wet to pillow for several weeks
past, and at the present writing, there
Is No improvement In the prospect in
that particular. Ten days, or even a
week more, of such weather as has pre-
vailed for the past four or five weeks
would make it tolerably certain that the
corn crops of both Illinois ard Iowa
would fall far short of those of the last
two years. In order to show the rela-
tive Importance of the CROPS of these
two States to the aggregate corn crop
of the United States, we refer to the
crop reports of the Agricultural Blu
reau for the year 1871, which is the lat
est official report accessible. The en-
tire crop of the United States in 1871
was 991, S98, 900 bushels, of which Hi
nois produced 2O3, 1871 900, Iowa 80, 019,-
600 bushels, Ohio S9,306, 900 bushels,
Missouri 81, 800, 600, Indiana 79, pos, 900,
Kentucky %, $40, 900, Tennessee As, 9OO,-
600. No other State in the Union pro-
duced as much as 40, 900, 00O
There are but three important dis
tricts in the United States where the
production of corn for the last four or
five years has been enough greater than
the home consumption to furnish a sur
plus for expectation to neighboring
States or foreign countries. OF these
three districts the most important lies
in the centre of the State of Illinois,
another lies IN the southern and western
part of Iowa, with a few counties along
the Missouri River in the northwestern
corner of Missouri and southeastern
corner Of Nebraska, and a third, but a
smaller one, along both sides of the
Mississippi River, south of Cairo and
north of Fort Pillow. The census re-
port for 1870 contains a "corn map"
of the United States. The map is tint
ed in accordance with the relative i'm
portance of the crop to the sections in
yyrlT ~ 10 Cd oil 70 oh
the relative Importance to the crop of
the United States. The three districts
above mentioned are tinted several
shades deeper than any other parts of
the United States, and show at a glance
where the expOrtable surplus of corn
comes from.
The great corn district of Illinois en-
braces nearly thirty counties, and may
be roughly outlined by the following
boundaries, viz: beginning in Kanka-
kee and Illinois Rivers westward to
Hennepin, thence sOuthwestward, along
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail
road, to Quincy, thence southeastward-
ly through Jacksonville to about Hills
bOrO, on t ne Terre Haute & Alton Rail
road to Nation, and thence north on
the Illinois Central Railroad to Kanka-
kee County. The thirty counties en-
braced within this circuit are the only
ones that have as yet raised corn to sell
to any considerable extent.
The greatest contrasting district of
Iowa and the Missouri Ri er is embra-
ced within a boundary which may be
traced as follows, viz: From Marshall
town, In Marshall County, westward
along the Chicago e Northwestern Rail
road to Dennison, in Crawford County
thence northwestward to Sioux City
thence down the west side of the Mis-
souri, River to st. Joseph; thence east
ON the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad to
the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad
thence enthusiastically to the State line
of Iowa thence directly north to Mar
shalltown. This district embraces
about twenty-seven counties in Iowa
and nine in Missouri. Part of the ex-
portable surplus of corn comes east by
rail to Chicago, and part goes down the
Missouri River to st. Louis, but the
freights to both markets are a heavy
tax on the value of the corn, and leave
the farmers so little for their labor that
for the last year or two they have been
directing their attention more to the
raising of stock, and are thus endeav-
oring to consume as much of their own
corn as possible.
The greatest contrasting district of
Kentucky and Tennessee is small COM
pared to the two above mentioned. 1t
embraces about fifteen counties. all
west of the Tennessee River, and mainly
on the Mississippi River, from Column
bus nearly as far south as Fort Pillow.
The three districts above mentioned
are probably the most important sources
IS H. 1
regulation of the price of corn in the
great market is concerned, and the as
poets of the weather and the progress
of cOru- planting in the counties en-
braced IN boundaries above described
will be watched with unusual interest
IN view OF the present predictions of
short crnn