Norwich bulletin., 1909-12-01
fsnecial to The BulIetin.) }


 Washington. Nov 30.-Most pros- porous of all years is the place to which 1909 is entitled in agriculture declares the secretary of agriculture in his thirteenth annual report, made public today. The value of farm products is so incomprehensibly large that it has become merely a row of fig ures. For this year it is SS,760 ,0OO,O0O, a gain of $S69, 900, ,000 over 1908. The value of the products has nearly dou- bled in ten years. The report says: Eleven years of agriculture, begin ming with a production of $4,417, ,O00 ,000 and ending with Ss.760.00 900! A sum of $70, ,000, ,0Oe, ,000 for the periodI It has paid off mortgages, it has estab- lished banks. it has made better homes, it has helped to make the farmer a citizen of the world, and it has provided him with means for inn proving his soil and making it more productive"
 Corn Is King.
 The most striking fact in the world s agriculture is the value of the corn crop for 1909, which is about $1,T20.- 900. The gold and silver coin and bullion of the United States are not of greater value It has grown up from the soil and out of the air in 12O days-$15, 100000 a day for one crop.
 This crop exceeds in value the aver age of the crops of the five preceding years by S6 per cent.
 Cotton.
 Cotton is now the second crop in value, and this years cotton crop is easily the most valuable one to the farmer that has been produced. With cotton lint selling at 13.7 cents on the farm November 1, and with cotton seed selling for about $25 per ton, the lint and seed of this crop are worth about $S5O 900, 900 to the farmer. No cotton crop since 1873 has been sold by farmers for as high a price per pound as this one.
 Wheat, Hay, Potatoes. Oats, Barley,
 Etc.
 Third in value is the wheat crop, worth about SIPS, 1000, 900 at the farm, and this largely exceeds all previous values. It is the third wheat crop in point of size.
 The hay crop is valued at $665,000,- 900: oats at $400 000O00: potatoes at S212, GOO. 900; and tobacco at nearly $100, ,000,0 900. Beet and cane sugar and molasses and sirup, from farm and factory, will reach the total of about $95. 900. coo. The barley crop is worth $S3,0o0. GOO; flaxseed S36,o00 900, and one billion pounds of rice $25,00O,000.
 The production of all cereals com bined is 4.711,0 100000 bushels, an amount considerably greater than for any other year except 1906. It exceeds the harvest of the preceding five years by 6.5 per cent. The value of all ce reals in 1909 has never been equaled in a previous year. It is almost exactly s, GOO, 000,O0 or 34 per cent. above the ive-year average.
 What Beef Price Investigation Shows.
 Secretary Wilson has just finished a unique investigation made for the purpose of this report relating to the increase of wholesale prices of beef when sold at retail Through employees of the bureau of animal industry in- quiries were made in fifty cities large, medium and small-in all parts of the country. A schedule was pre- pared to record the actual experiences of retailers in buying and selling 8 carcass or half carcass of beef, and among the facts ascertained were the weight and wholesale cost of certain piece of beef, usually a half carcass Then followed the weight and retail price of every cut for which a uni- form price was charged by the retail dealer. Thus it was possible not only to compare high-p priced and low priced cuts, but also to compute accurately