Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-04-28
DIR AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS.


pride and pleasure to the progress our people
are making in agricultural pursuits, upon the
success of which all other trades and protes
sons depend. We spoke then not so much
from an actual knowledge of results, as from
what we supposed the results must be from
the evidences of thrift, enterprise and indus
try visible all around US and in every section
of the county. What we thus depicted, we
are grati6ed to learn, has been amply verified
by tables made up by the United States Cen
sus Bureau, from the returns of last year,
which were furnished in advance of any 9TH
er State, by request of our Commissioner of
Agriculture, A. P. Butler. The figures given
are gratifying, not only as relate to York
county, but the entire State as we'll showing,
as they do, the extent of land under cultlva
ton, and the manner of cultivating, and what
might yet be further done under improved
systems and by the employment of labor saw
ing machinery.
According to the census returns, in the
year 1880, in this State, the total number OF
acres cultivated in cotton, corn and small
grain, is 3,O9O,S92, which is 80, 0,442 acres more
than all the improved land" in the State in
1870. The product of cotton is SIG, ,49O bales
against 224,5OO in 1870, gain of about l3O
per cent In corn the increase is from 7,6l4,-
fsSU 81 h5Fs tksh 50 bsF ssat II csfs Tie
tables show 2,7l5,443 bushels against 613,-
593 bushels in 1870, or, in other words, the
oat product of the State has multiplied more
than fourfold in ten years. In wheat the in.
crease is from 7Ss,61O bushels in 1870 to
962,431 bushels in 1880, or nearly 20 per
cent.
The United States Agricultural Report, for
1879, shows that the average yield of cotton
per acre for all the cotton States in that year
was 1873 pounds. The smallest yield in any
county in this State for 1880 is in Beaufort
where it is reported at 1862, and that, it must
be remembered, is long staple cotton. The
average yield of corn per acre in the United
States in 1879 was % bushels; the average
yield in this State for 1880 is only 9 bushels
per acre, which shows how much more room
there is for improvement in our methods ofcul'
tivation. The average yield ofwheat for 1879
was 1873 bushels the average yield in this
State for 1880 is given at Sc bushels. The
average of oats is given at 13 bushels as
against 2S.7 bushel average per acre in the
United States in 49,.
The greatest aggregate yield of cotton,
34,9O7 bales, is in Edgefeld county; of corn,
in York, 626, ,3O5 bushels of oats, in Edge6eld
415,243 bushels, and of wheat 107, sos BUSH
els in Abbeville county. The greatest yield
of cotton per acre is in Marlboro county,
where it is S57 pounds; of corn the largest
yield is 1872 bushels in Kershaw county; of
oats 1873 bushels in Georgetown county, and
of wheat II bus. is in Charleston county, the
result of exper; Aental farming.
In York county, there was planted in cot
ton 55,239 acres, yielding 22,256 bales. or
an average of 6O5 pounds per acre. In corn,
1882 acres, yielding, 626,3O5 bushels, or
an average of IL bushels to the acre. In
oats, 1924 acres, yielding 1882 bushels,
or Sc bushel per acre. In wheat IA, IT'S acres,
yielding 1918 bushels, or 5.3 per acre. The
total number of acres devoted to small grain,
by which is meant wheat, oats, rye, barley,
&C., in York county, was 2S,3SO, yielding a
total of 195,964 bushels, which, considering
that York stands IL on the list as a cotton
producing county, is not bad showing.