The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1897-04-17

WASHINGTON, April IA statement
showing the agricultural interests of the
submerged districts of the Mississippi Val
ley, south of Cairo, H., has been issued by
the Department of Agriculture.
1t is based upon a chart prepared under
the direction of the chief of the weather
bureau showing the extent of the flood
April g. 70 this chart the department.
has applied the crop statistics of 1896 as
representing more closely than any other
available data the acreage and value of the
crops Of 1897 now in jeopardy.
The statistics of population, of the num-
Der and acreage of farms and of the value
of farms and farm implements are those of
the last census, and the statistics of live
stock are the department own figures for
January /, 1897.
The total area under water April CON
sisted of about Is, 800 square miles, of
which 1900 square miles were in Missis-
sippi, 4, 500 in Arkansas, 1,750 in Mis-
souri,, 200 in Tennessee and $50 in
Louisiana.
This region contained in 1890, as far as
can be determined in view of the somewhat
indefinite boundary lines of the food, Il
population of 379, 6s5. of this number
1876, 499, or about one-half, were 10 Mis-
sissippi, 100, 235 in Arkansas and the re-
mainder almost equally divided between
Missouri and Tennessee.
Taking the entire region, the colored
population outnumbered the whites in the
proportion of II to I, the colored people
predominating in the flooded districts of
Mississippi in the ratio of more than 3 to l
and in Arkansas in that of 2 to 1. In
Missouri and Tennessee the population of
the flooded districts is largely white, in the
former State the proportion of 10 to l and
in the latter 2 to 1.
The flooded districts contain about 80,
500 farms, of which IS, 500 are in Missis-
sippi, nearly 10, 900 in Arkansas and the
others about equally divided between Mis-
souri, and Tennessee. These farms contain
total area of about 3, 500, 600 acres, one
half of which is in Mississippi and little
over oDe-fourth in Arkansas, the proper
tiors in Missouri and Tennessee being about
equal The total value of these farms,
with their improvements and implements,
is about S65, 900, 900, and here also the
proportions in the different States are about
the same as above stated.
The total number of acres improved in
this territory at the taking of the last cen
sus was about 1000, 600, and about
/, 500, 600 acres were devoted last year
to cotton and corn. The live stock on
hand January l of the present year was
valued at over 81, 500, 900, divided in much
the same proportions as other farm prop
erty It is estimated that of the crops of
last year over So, $50, 600 worth remained
on hand in the submerged region March
81, cotton representing about two-thirds of
this and corn nearly all the remainder.
What effect the flood will have upon the
crops of the present season depends upon
the length of its continuance, and the
practicability of wheat planting after the
subsistence of the food The counties
wholly or partly submerged are among the
largest cotton-p producing counties in the
United States, Yazoo county, which alone
has produced over fifty thousand bales in
season, is half under water, while Boliver,
Coahoma, Issaquena, Washington with
a productive capacity of one hundred thou
sand bales) and other famous counties are
partially submerged.
FURTHER CALAMITY EXPECTED.
The weather bureau predicts further
extension of the flooded area, but no at
tempt has been made to estimate the pos
sibilities of such extension. The bureau
publishes map of the country flooded on
April 10 and says:
''The food water now in Western Mis-
sissippi is just beginning to return to the
Mississippi river through the Yazoo and
Miliken' Landing, few miles to the north.
The gradually increasing strain expected
during the next few days on the Louisiana
side, opposite the place where the Yazoo
floods return to the Mississippi, renders it
possible that the levees may break and the
food pour through into Northeastern
Louisiana, in which case it is possible that
much, if not all, of the area in Louisiana
formerly covered by floods will be flooded
again this year. Heroic work is now be-
ing done on the levees of Northern Louisi-
ana and it is hoped that they viii be held
intact. y