P. M. P.
Answer.—The following table, compiled from the reports of the Agricultural Department, Washington, gives the estimated wheat crops of Ohio and Nebraska for the ten years closing with 1882, in bushels. How much support these figures give to the notion that the even years bear better crops than the odd ones, or vice versa, the reader can estimate for himself:
| Ohio | Av. yield | Nebraska | Av. yield | |
| Year. | wheat crop. | per acre. | wheat crop. | per acre. |
| 1882 | 45,453,600 | 14,947,200 | ||
| 1881 | 38,520,000 | 13.3 | 13,840,000 | 7.1 |
| 1880 | 49,790,475 | 17.3 | 12,922,677 | 8.5 |
| 1879 | 36,591,750 | 19.3 | 13,043,590 | 11.3 |
| 1878 | 33,120,000 | 18.0 | 13,872,900 | 13.1 |
| 1877 | 26,000,000 | 15.0 | 5,640,000 | 15.0 |
| 1876 | 21,750,000 | 11.8 | 4,330,000 | 11.5 |
| 1875 | 17,500,000 | 9.5 | 3,400,000 | 9.8 |
| 1874 | 25,993,000 | 15.0 | 3,619,000 | 11.6 |
| 1873 | 18,567,000 | 12.0 | 3,584,000 | 15.5 |
Certainly, in the case of Ohio, the aggregate yield of even years surpassed that of the odd years, and the same was true in all but one pair of years for Nebraska. As regards the average yield per acre, the even years were not so uniformly better than the odd ones, and this is the only test measure. But the following table, from the same source, showing the average yield of wheat per acre for the whole United States, for the ten years from 1872 to 1881 inclusive, is calculated to explode the notion that the oddness or evenness of the year makes any difference:
| Av. yield | |
| Year. | per acre. |
| 1872 | 11.9 |
| 1873 | 12.7 |
| 1874 | 12.3 |
| 1875 | 11.0 |
| 1876 | 10.4 |
| 1877 | 13.9 |
| 1878 | 13.1 |
| 1879 | 13.8 |
| 1880 | 13.1 |
| 1881 | 10.1 |
One of the most interesting facts to note in the above table is the rapid increase of wheat raising in Ohio, which is due in large degree to the improved methods in farming—deep plowing, use of fertilizers, tile drainage, and so forth. Another matter worthy of special notice is the large increase of the Nebraska wheat crop, owing to the steady extension of the cultivated area of that State. The falling off in the average yield per acre points to the lesson that Nebraska must learn from the example of Ohio—the necessity for improved cultivation as the country grows older.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Hillsboro, Iowa.
When was the Democratic party first organized? How long did it ever hold unbroken control of the government?