all small sized stones should be sunk into the soil, rather than picked up. Such preparation of the entire cultivated soil must be a work of time, but the point now aimed at is to direct intelligent attention to the subject as one of no small importance to the agricultural interest.

SILK.

It should be the aim of a wise, industrial economy to encourage the gradual extension of the various interests of agriculture until everything consumed in the country, to the growth of which our various soils and climate áre adapted, shall be produced on our own lands. The large accession to the number of free laborers in our country, and the rapidly-increasing intelligence and skill of our laboring population, together with the unprecedented immigration of the embodiment of hardy industry from other lands, are highly calculated, if properly regarded and directed, to give an accumulated efficiency to agricultural pursuits, and to render the present an auspicious period not only for the introduction of machinery into departments of business into which it could not formerly be extended, but also for employing unskilled labor in an increased variety of the pursuits of husbandry.

The primary wants of man are simply food and clothing, and on the first clearing and settlement of a country the pioneer is satisfied with coarse materials for both these purposes. His main object is simply the support of himself and family. Roots, fruits, cereals, milk, meat, and wool are the sum of his wants. The cow and sheep deservedly occupy a high place in his estimation. Wise economy and industry lead to competency, intelligence, and refinement, and those soon demand the supply of new wants. Among those of the products of agriculture are silk, sugar, and wine, to the profitable production of which portions of our extended country, with its great variety of climate, are remarkably well adapted.

Attention has been called to the possibilities of American silk production by Elliot C. Cowdin, one of the commissioners of the Paris Exposition, by the efforts of Mr. Prevost and others in California, and by various enterprises elsewhere.

The culture of the mulberry tree in Virginia was encouraged by James I, and the coronation robe of Charles II was spun from Virginia silk. Silk husbandry was introduced at an early day into Louisiana, and a state robe was made from Georgia silk, in 1735, for Queen Caroline. In 1749 the export of cocoons was 1,000 pounds, and in 1766 it had reached 20,000 pounds. Afterwards a decline resulted from the withdrawal of the government bounty.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey about this time became interested in the business, and Dr. Franklin, in 1770, sent seeds, mulberry cuttings, and silk-worms' eggs for distribution. A silk manufactory was established in Philadelphia in 1771, which received cocoons for several years. A court dress of silk, from cocoons of Lancaster county, was acknowledged with a present of lands. New Jersey planted mulberry groves extensively, and New York made similar experiments. Connecticut and Massachusetts led this interest in the eastern States. The revolutionary war put an end to all these enterprises.

In the revival of industry at the commencement of this century, renewed efforts to establish the silk business are observed. In 1819 five tons of raw material were produced in Mansfield, Connecticut. In 1842 the New York State prison, at Auburn, produced $13,000 worth of sewing silk. In 1840 the total domestic product of silk was 60,000 pounds, valued at $250,000; in 1844, 400,000 pounds, worth $1,500,000; and in 1850 only 14,673 pounds. In 1860 Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York produced $5,000,000 worth of sewing silk, some silk stuffs, ladies' trimmings, and other goods. Philadelphia and New York manufacture about $2,300,000 of these articles annually. The business, in all its branches, has greatly increased since 1860. Some of the most important manufactories are located in Paterson, New Jersey, and Hartford, Manchester, and Mansfield, Connecticut. The most encouraging field for this enterprise in this country appears to be presented in California; the cocoons from that State were among the finest on exhibition at the French Exposition. Great interest has already been taken in the silk enterprise, and a rapid extension of the business is in progress. Experiments in the culture of the tree and the feeding of the worms have been so favorable as to warrant the belief in results far in advance of anything in the history of silk production. In the dry, pure, and equable climate of this State the leaf of the mulberry secures the most abundant nourishment and the most perfect texture and fibre.. During the season for feeding the worms, from June to October, there are no rains to wet the food, no sudden changes in the atmosphere to check the growth of the worms, and no thunder-storms to benumb or kill them; while in all other countries the loss from these causes is scarcely ever less than 25 per cent., and frequently more than 33; in California it may be said to be inappreciable.

These facts warrant the belief that the present condition of silk cultivation in this country is well deserving the attention of the political economist and the legislator.

SUGAR.

The production of sugar from the sugar-cane has long been an important branch of agriculture in some of the southern States, but the manufacture of the same article from the sugar beet, although holding a high inherent competitive position, has not been developed, as a business, to the same degree.

The present depressed condition of the cane-sugar interest at the south seems to render imperative some action on the part of the government for its resuscitation; and the importance of encouraging its production from all other available sources commends itself most particularly to the agriculturists of the country. Our present annual consumption amounts to $60,000,000, of which we produce only a moiety. The domestic production in 1859, as returned by the census, was, of cane sugar, 230.982,000 pounds; of maple, 40,120,205 pounds. The canesugar interest, though advancing slowly from its depressed condition during the war, yielded in 1867 not exceeding 40,000,000 pounds. Of beet sugar there was produced, during the last season, by the establishment at Chatsworth, Illinois, 1,000,000 pounds. Other companies have been formed in Illinois, in California, and in Wisconsin.

When we consider the enormous outlays upon a cane-sugar plantation, for the necessary buildings and machinery for its manufacture, reaching, in some cases, $100,000, and that this is only required to be in operation two months of the twelve, it becomes an important inquiry how the manufacture of sugar from the two substances may be combined to advantage. Chemical analysis of sugar beet, at different periods of its growth, by Professor Antisell, the chemist of the department, shows that it is most productive of saccharine matter, in this latitude, in the months of July and August, or during the prevalence of alternate showers and warm sunshine. In Louisiana the beet seed may be sown in January; the beet would attain its greatest perfection in April and May, a time most propitious for that climate. The machinery, with slight additions for rasping and preparing the root, may then be put into operation and continued upon the beet until the cane is ready for use, and again, when the cane is exhausted, placed upon the dried beet for the remainder of the year.

As an indication of the importance of the manufacture of beet-root sugar and the present status of the business in this country, I may be pardoned for reproducing a portion of my letter in response to a call from the Hon. Mr. Cullom, member of Congress, of Illinois, upon this subject:

As investigations of the subject are now in progress in this office, including original analyses of the beet at different periods of its growth, a complete history of the enterprise in this country, and a synopsis of European experience and its results, I will at this time only give a brief view of the importance and extent of the beet-sugar business in its present

status.

Without government encouragement at the outset it might not now be numbered among the industries which bless the world. When the first Bonaparte fostered the art of extracting sugar from this garden vegetable as a practical matter, the possibility of obtaining a good article had long previously been demonstrated by chemists; it only remained to be shown that the manufacture could be conducted with profit on a large scale. His object was to exclude from his empire the sugar of British colonies, the price of which was then four or five francs per pound. A prize of 1,000,000 francs was offered by the French government for the most successful method of obtaining a supply of indigenous sugar. It was soon evident that such a supply must be furnished from the beet root.

In Poland also, in 1812, government loans and exemption from conscription, in aid of the enterprise, were freely offered. In fact, the principal governments of continental Europe vied with each other in perfecting and extending the new business.

A manufactory of beet sugar was in successful operation in Silesia as early as 1805, and in France repeated experiments were undertaken a few years later. Up to 1818 no very marked or rapid progress was made, though the business was constantly extended.

In 1839 the manufacture, already established upon a solid footing, embraced the operations of 268 factories in France, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. In 1848 France alone had 294, Prussia 346, and Russia 425. The present number of factories in France (according to De Neumann) is 449; many of them are far more extensive than those of former days, and 14 of the number have been established during the past year. At the 1st of January, 1868, 3,173 refineries of beet-root sugar were reported as in operation in Europe.

The total product in 1828 is stated to have been 7,000 tons; in 1851, 180,000 tons; and in 1867 the enormous quantity of 663,000 tons, or 1,485,120,000 pounds, worth $100,000,000, or about seven cents per pound.

Sixteen years ago France was able to manufacture half of her total consumption of sugar, or 60,000 tons; and Belgium, consuming 14,000 tons, imported in 1851 but 4,000 tons. Germany, at the same date, produced 43,000 tons, Austria 15,000, and Russia 35,000 tons, the latter country also importing at that time 50,000 tons of sugar in addition to the home pro