PUBLICATIONS.

During the past year the Department has issued 35,000 copies of the Monthly Report, from April 15th to August 15th, both inclusive. These Reports contain the analyses of fertilizers made during the season, reports on the condition of the growing crops and other matters of agricultural interest. Besides these Monthly Bulletins, the Department has issued 17,170 circulars relating to agricultural matters and 6,734 in reference to the New Orleans Exposition, making the total number of publications for the year 58,904 copies.

The Commission has also distributed the greater part of 3,000 copies of the last Annual Report.

THE DEPARTMENT BUILDING.

The cost of the repairs on the building purchased for the use of the Department exceeded the architect's estimate. This could not be avoided, however, as bids for proposals to repair were advertised for and no satisfactory ones were received. The work was then placed under the direction of an experienced architect, and it was thoroughly and satisfactorily done. Owing to the fact that the cost was greater than the estimate, the work of repairing was stopped before all the necessary repairs were made, but only a small portion of the building has been left in this condition, and that can be finished at a small expense.

Since the last Report was made all of the offices of the Department have been removed from the State House to this building, and it is now occupied for the purposes for which it was intended. It is in every respect suitable for the Department, is an ornament to the city, is a credit to the State, and by its imposing appearance impresses strangers with the importance attached to agriculture in this State, and is an indication. of agricultural progress.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION.

It has been customary to submit with each Annual Report our estimates of the area and yield of the various crops cultivated in this State. This information is published, as far as practicable, in the monthly bulletins of the Department during the year, but it is not possible to have this information as accurate early in the year as it is later, after the crop has been made. It has therefore been found desirable to publish both the area and the yield as corrected in the Annual Report. Another reason for this publication is that the statistics are preserved in permanent form.

The plan pursued by this Department in crop reporting and in the collection and compilation of these statistics is the same as that used by the National Department of Agriculture and explained in the Department's Report for September, 1884, as follows:

MEANING OF CROP-REPORTING FIGURES.

There is occasional inquiry as to the meaning of figures used in crop reporting. The standard of comparison, 100, in reports of condition of growing crops, means that the plants occupy the ground fully, exhibiting a complete "stand"; that they appear in full healthfulness, uninjured by disease or insects; and that they have a medium growth for the date at which the report is made. It means a condition of full development that can only be exceeded by some luxuriance of growth. Hence it is absurd to report 150 for condition for most crops, It would misrepresent the comparative capacity for production. Cotton, for instance, with medium growth and a full healthy stand, promises better results than with great luxuriance or excess of 'weed," which postpones fruiting and gives smaller results, unless the date of killing frost should be unusually late, in which case a larger yield might accrue. But great growth of stalk in a short season is dreaded by cotton-growers. So with wheat and other cereals; excessive growth is not to be desired, as a large yield of grain is more valuable than abundance of straw, which is still burned by many wheat-growers. In the matter of hay, luxuriance of growth is an element of importance, and some enlargement of the standard, some increase above 100, is admissible.

It will readily be seen that "condition" cannot be expressed in bushels or pounds. There are no bushels of corn in a field just sprouting, and it is a misnomer to call first growth a final product. It is the result of characteristic American haste thus to discount the experiences and accidents of the whole season, and say that three inches of potato vine above the surface means 90 bushels of potatoes per acre. Absurd blunders in crop-report reading have often been made in that way. Some of the most positive failures in the potato crop have followed a condition of average healthfulness and good growth on the 1st of August. The months of August and September determine the potato harvest. Yet the report of condition on the 1st of August, if favorable, will be sure to be quoted in September or later, when the crop has been destroyed, as an evidence of inaccuracy of the report, when it only evidences the thoughtlessness or unfairness of the critic.

It is true that the public want to know what these reports of early growth indicate. It may be proper to gratify this public anxiety, if it is understood that the expected result is subject to the limitations and contingencies of the future.

Any intelligent reader will perceive from the above that, so far as growth may indicate a harvest, 100 must point to different results in different districts. It may promise 35 bushels per acre in the Ohio Valley, or 15 on the Gulf Coast. Each State must be considered separately, and all returns consolidated for an average of the whole field. This average, which has in some years been reported at 28 bushels for corn, would be less with a larger proportionate area in low-yielding districts, and larger with an increased proportion in the great

corn-growing States. So it will be seen at once that a definite figure to represent 100 for corn, wheat, or any other crop, as a whole, cannot be made exact and unchangeable, on account of the changes in the territory represented and other circumstances producing variations in average yield. Yet there is no difficulty, if all these changing circumstances are considered, in finding the closely approximate indications of these figures of condition.

Another fact is obvious from the above, that 100 indicates more than an "average" crop. Corn in this country, in ten years past, has ranged from 18 to 30 bushels per acre in different years, with an average of 26. Wheat has averaged about 10 bushels in the worst season, and nearly 14 in the best, with an average for ten years a little above 12.

An average crop is the actual mean rate of yield in a series of years, which include some marked by 100 or more, and others by a much lower figure. Then 100 means a full crop, not an average one.

Perhaps another difficulty may puzzle the brains of a reader of crop returns. He may wonder why July figures are so often higher than those of August, September and October; some times higher than those of June. Then he may be surprised because some crops appear so generally to decline. This is apt to occur in cotton returns. It is simply because June and July are usually favorable to growth, while April and May, from frost or rain, may be unpropitious for planting and germination, and August and September are more liable to drought, subject to insect invasion, rust and blight. The critical time, in which insects and disease make havoc, is just before maturity and fruitage. There are other crops that have shorter seasons and fewer changes. Hay is soon made. If conditions are favorable on the first of June a drought must come speedily to affect the expected result. Corn that is well reported in July and August may be represented by 100 in October, or a long drought or a September frost may cut it down to 50. These explanations are so obvious as to seem unnecessary, yet there are repeated inquiries showing the necessity: and they are given here for the benefit of all who fail to understand the purport of the figures.

So much has been said of "condition." As the harvest approaches, the result is asked by Counties in plain figures-the yield per acre in bushels or pounds, the aggregate County product compared with the previous year, etc. At the time of seeding the area in each County is asked, 100 representing the number of acres harvested the previous year. Our system in its essential features is the one used by the most advanced nations in the world; it has been adopted by the State Bureaus, and by a few newspapers that attempt to give really systematic crop returns. Its essential feature is the decimal system, which is becoming the cosmopolitan plan in weights and measures. It was first used by this Department in crop returns in 1864, upon the organization of its statistical work. It had previously been used in crop reporting by Mr. Orange Judd in the American Agriculturist, who was perhaps the first to use it in this country. It furnishes simply an opportunity for nicer discriminations than the old unsystematic and indefinite report of" half a crop," "a failure," or "serious damage," the intended meaning of which no one can put in positive figures. A reporter's deliberate judgment can certainly be presented far more accurately in decimals of a full crop.

The popularity of the crop reports is attested by the fact that nearly every newspaper. grain dealer or speculator assumes to have original sources of crop information, in some cases with the least modicum of ground for the assumption. Pretentious estimates, detailed and specific, have gone the rounds of the metropolitan and country press unchallenged aud apparently accepted, which have been copied from the Department estimates of the previous year, and made to do duty for the new crop as original information from trustworthy private sources. It would be well if the press were more discriminating, making distinction at least between well-digested and systematic efforts of legitimate newspapers in statistical collection and the multitude of charlatans and adventurers and tools of speculators. There is room for all legitimate work in crop statistics; and the best will be done with modesty and in the spirit of fairness and honesty.

The Department has about 500 correspondents, representing nearly every township in the State, who make monthly reports during the crop season on blanks sent them from this office. They receive no compensation for their services, but are furnished copies of all the publications of the Department. They manifest great interest in the work and render the State invaluable service. Some of them have been reporting for everal years and have become very expert and accurate in reporting. In

addition to answering the printed questions sent them, they note and report any other matters of interest, and often contribute articles to the columns of the Monthly Reports.

The importance of accurate statistical information, we presume, is admitted by every intelligent person, and believing this we will not present any reasons to show its necessity.

The usual census of population will, no doubt, be ordered by the Legislature in 1885. It would involve only a comparatively small additional appropriation to extend the scope of the work so as to include agricultural statistics, and it is recommended that this be done and the direction of this part of the work be assigned to the Agricultural Department.

In 1883 the area in cotton was 1,428,523 acres, and in 1884 1,418,614 acres, a decrease of 9,909 acres. The area in corn in 1883 was 1,384,411 acres, and in 1884 1,372,821 acres, a decrease of 11,590 acres. All of the reports showing the yield of these crops did not reach us in time for this Report, but an estimate based upon such returns as have been received shows that the yield of corn in 1884 will average ten bushels per acre, making the total crop 13,728,210 bushels, against 10,627,110 bushels in 1883, an increase in yield of 2,101,100 bushels. The yield of cotton is estimated from the same returns at 147 pounds of lint per acre. If this yield is obtained, the production this year will amount to 449,339 bales of 475 pounds weight, against 392,401 bales in 1883. The season for picking cotton was remarkably favorable and the entire crop was gathered in fine condition.

The area in wheat was increased from 182,547 acres in 1883 to 197,631 acres in 1884, and the yield from 1,397,051 bushels in 1883 to 1,946,817 bushels in 1884.

The area in oats was increased from 321,985 acres in 1883 to 341,866 in 1884, and the yield from 4,187,604 bushels in 1883 to 5,024,579 bushels in 1884.

The area in rice in 1883 was 76,354 acres, and in 1884 75,957 acres. The yield in 1883 was 43,919,968 pounds, and in 1884 44,057,580 pounds.

There is greater difficulty in estimating the area of the smaller crops, such as sorghum, sugar cane, potatoes, hay, etc., than in the crops of greater importance, so that detailed estimates of the area and yield of these crops is not attempted, but the returns show a slight increase of area in all of them.

The reports to the Department on the condition of live stock show that stock of all kinds have been remarkably free from diseases of all kinds. A few losses of cattle from pleuro-pneumonia were reported. These cases, however, were not fully investigated, and it is possible that a mistake as to the causes of death may have been made. In Beaufort

County the "Texas fever" prevailed among cattle to a limited extent, but no serious losses were reported. Some losses occurred in Counties where the Stock Law has not been long in force, caused by confining too many cattle on small pasturage. Where surplus stock was disposed of the reports show that the remainder have had better attention than formerly, and the necessity for having them properly cared for has encouraged the introduction of better breeds. It is also stated that cattle confined are freer from disease than those allowed to run at large. Penning sheep in pastures does not seem to protect them from destruction by dogs, as the correspondents report that the greatest losses are from the depredation from worthless curs. Cholera prevailed among hogs, but the losses were slight. A correspondent says: "Hogs completely separated from other hogs have had no cholera, but where there has been any mixture the disease has prevailed." Owing to the severity of the Winter, an unusually large number of pigs were lost. Improved breeds of swine are being introduced into many sections of the State.

LABOR.

The condition of labor was about as it has been for some years, but somewhat more easily obtained than in 1883. One hundred and fifty correspondents reported the condition of labor as "good," twenty as "bad," and eighty-seven as "indifferent."

FARM SUPPLIES.

It was estimated that 13 per cent. more farm supplies were purchased in 1884 than in 1883.

FERTILIZERS.

During the season of 1883 the tonnage tax was paid to this Department on 100,369 tons of fertilizers, and during the past season on 101,048 tons, showing an increase in 1884 over 1883 of 679 tous.

The following tables exhibit the area in cotton, corn, wheat, oats, rice and rye, by Counties and Townships: