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used in whisky, which enters not at all into food. Deducting this, we have the following results:—

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But it must be observed, that wheat is almost exclusively used among the white inhabitants for bread; and that of corn, we are now exporting-which we formerly did not an amount equal to the apparent gain. On the whole, it is apparent that the increase of vegetable food in the United States has rather fallen behind than kept up with the progress of population. It is also apparent that in future the great staple in breadstuffs for us and for the world, is the maize or Indian corn. This is the only crop, even in our fertile country, which keeps up and goes beyond the increase of population. It may be well to look for a moment at the increase of this crop. We have the following data for a calculation, viz. :—

Corn crop of 1840.

Corn crop of 1850..
Annual increase

Crop of 1855 calculated on this basis..

Probable crop of 1860......

377,531,875 bushels 592,071,104 bushels 6 per cent

800,000,000 bushels 1,000,000,000 bushels.

This increase, however, will not take place unless we find a foreign market, which we shall probably do. On this head we intend hereafter to give the data for supposing that the rapid increase of the corn crop will continue.

One of the most remarkable facts, in relation to the diminution of the agricultural production, is that of the diminished relative increase of animals. Take the following proportions :

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These are very instructive facts. They teach very distinctly some of the principles, which have been silently at work, to raise the prices of wheat, of beef, and pork. Nor do we see for this state of things any remedy but the increased application of labor to agriculture; and as there is no power to enforce this but the presence of a real scarcity, so we can see no permanent diminution of pricesnor, indeed, a probable cessation of the rise, till high prices react in producing a renewed attention to agricultural employments.

There is another question connected with the production and consumption of vegetable food of great interest and importance. Other parts of the world are even less fortunate than ourselves. The result is that there is a pressure upon this country to supply the wants of Europe. The export of breadstuffs, at this time, is beyond anything that this country has ever known. With high prices and a good harvest, this demand will be supplied for a time. But as the facts above stated prove that our surplus, especially of wheat, cannot be very large, it follows that this demand, if continued, will so far exhaust the country as to make prices still higher—and, in fact, almost exhaust the home supply of wheat-flour. If this be repeated from year to year, where will it end? Can we increase the supply of wheat so as to meet a perpetual European demand for grain? Or must the people of Europe come here in still greater numbers? Or finally, as we just remarked, is not Indian corn the last resource and hope of nations?

Our opinion on this subject is fixed; that as corn is the great staple of our

country, is easily raised, and may be indefinitely extended; that this crop will go on increasing at a very rapid rate, and that it will be exported to Europe in immense quantities. In looking to the increase of vegetable food in the United States, we think it evident that the productions which are likely to increase most rapidly are those of corn, potatoes, sugar-cane, and grapes. If we are right in this supposition, the United States have yet before them a field of vast enterprise and profit in agriculture.

Of the prodigious increase in the production of corn, we have already spoken. The facilities of increase in the other articles are equally great. Two articles of agricultural production have begun to make rapid progress, which, we doubt not, will hereafter make staple crops of vast importance. The first is sugar-cane. In the last twenty years the sugar crop of Louisiana has increased fourfold, having risen from 100,000 hhds. to 400.000 hhds.

Since the introduction of Texas, the land suitable for the cultivation of the cane has been greatly increased. We suppose there can be no doubt of the capacity of Louisiana and Texas to raise 1,000,000 of hogsheads of sugar without any great effort. This is equal to 1,000,000,000 of pounds-quite a large item in the general provision of food.

The vine is a recent and much smaller addition to our agricultural list. But large parts of the United States, and especially the valleys of the Ohio and the Missouri, are admirably adapted to the cultivation of the vine. The time is not distant when millions of gallons of wine will be made on the Ohio.

The potato is a native of America, but has been much less attended to in the United States than it ought to be. At one hundred bushels per acre, which, with suitable soil and culture, is a small crop, it is cne of the most profitable raised.

We conclude, therefore, that while it is an entire mistake to suppose the United States can supply the world with wheat, when the world has driven its agricultural laborers into the hot-beds of cities, yet the United States has a staple grain in Indian corn which can supply the world, and there are new crops with which America can enrich itself.

THE GROWTH OF TOBACCO.

The statements which follow, from the Liverpool (Eng.) Times, will interest the tobacco planters and dealers :---

There is no article so universally consumed, in all parts of the world, as tobacco, by all races and by all classes. In the United States. where it is cheap, the consumption amounts to three-and-a-half pounds per head each year; in England, where it is taxed with a heavy duty, the consumption is about a pound per head. Last year, in this country, duty was paid on tobacco to the extent of thirty millions of pounds weight; in the United States the production is equal to two hundred millions of pounds weight. It is an article casily grown; flourishes in the West India Islands, at the Cape of Good Hope, in British India, Ceylon, and in Australia. Even Canada could be made to produce good tobacco; and it is well known that the climate of Ireland is peculiarly adapted to its cultivation.

France is largely cultivating the "weed" in Algeria; Spain, in Cuba and the Philipines; Holland, in Java and the East; in short, from the Torrid Zone to the Temperate of the British Islands, there is hardly a spot where this universallyused article might not be produced. The profits on its growth are enormous, amounting, it is said, even in the most indifferent seasons, to at least one hundred per cent. A connoisseur in the article, who represents the French Government in Algeria, has recently made a report to Napoleon's Minister of War, in which he declares that the tobacco of Egypt, Macedonia, and Greece, is inferior to that of Algeria; that the tobacco of Hungary is not so agreeable to the taste; that the tobacco of Kentucky is not so fine, and does not burn so well; that the production of Maryland is more bitter; and, in a word, that the French tobacco of

Algeria is the finest and best on the face of the earth. We believe that this statement must be received with considerable allowance. It has been held, that the finest tobacco is a mixture of the United States article and tobacco the produce of a country within the tropics, or near the tropics; for while the former has too much essential oil, the latter has too little, and that, by combination, the peculiar qualities of each are brought out without being impaired.

But it appears passing strange, that while we have in the British colonies, in almost every part of the world, every imaginable kind of climate, where tobacco could be produced in great abundance, we are almost exclusively dependant upon America for the supply of the article. Of the tobacco imported into England, about seven-eighths, we believe, comes from the United States. Considering the highly remunerative character of the article, this is surprising. The plant is easy of cultivation, does not require much labor, and might be rendered, without difficulty, a staple article of commerce. We are not amongst the number of those who advocate a complete independence of foreign countries by producing everything within ourselves. There are countries formed by nature for producing better and cheaper articles for the food or the enjoyment of man, and with those countries, unable to produce articles which we supply more readily and cheaply in a manufactured state, the reciprocity is mutual. But tobacco does not come under this category, and while we hear so much of the distress amongst British colonists in the West Indies and elsewhere, we ask, have these colonists, while calling for help, done all they can to help themselves?

We have alluded to the facilities which Ireland presents for the growth of tobacco. A special act of Parliament was passed years ago making the growth illegal in that country. This had reference, we presume, to the temptation which the cultivation would present for the evasion of the duty. But if Ireland be really adapted for the cultivation of tobacco, no more difficulty need be found, we presume, in levying the duty than exists in such of the counties of England as grow hops. With all the care which the government officers exercise in the ports of the three kingdoms, a large amount of imported tobacco finds its way to the consumer without payment of toll to the Queen's Exchequer, and means might easily be devised, we conceive, for making the law even more stringent than it is. At all events, no good reason, that we are aware of, can be assigned why people at home, like those abroad, should not devote their attention to the produce of an article so remunerative and in such general demand.

THE COST AND MANNER OF USING GUANO IN AREQUIPA.

Under date Arequipa, March 20th, 1856, Mr. THOMAS REUNCY writes to a friend, asking for information relative to the manner of using guano in that district, as follows:

Guano brought from Chincha Islands to Islay is there sold to the chacreros (farmers) round Arequipa at from 4 to 6 reals the fanega; the fanega weighs five arrobas, or about 125 lbs. The price varies from 4 to 6 reals; at present the latter price is asked. This would make the English ton worth about $13, or say £2 10s. in Islay.

It is applied to two crops only, maize (Indian corn) and potatoes, carefully by the hand. To maize, when the plant is about two months old and about threefourths vara high, one-half handfull is applied near each root. A large quantity is said to be prejudicial, by "burning the plant." The guano is then covered with earth, and a small quantity of water (by irrigation) is applied" to fix the guano." If the state of the soil does not absolutely require it, no more water is applied until after six or eight days.

The quantity required for each "topo" of 500 varas (about 1 acres) is four fanegas, or say 500 lbs. For potatoes the quantity required is the same, and is applied much in the same manner as regards the age of the plant, and a small quantity of water" to fix the guano." The stalk of the potato is then about one

fourth vara in height, and the earth heaped up in ridges the same as in Britain. A person inserts a spade in the top of the ridge beside each plant, whilst a woman follows pouring about half a handfull of guano into the hole thus made and covering it with earth, so that the ridge remains the same as before the application of the guano.

To wheat, the application of guano is not approved, principally, we believe, on account of the rankness it produces in the stalk, thereby delaying the ripening of the grain-a point of great importance in lands where they count on obtaining two crops a year.

RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS.

SHORTEST ROUTE BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMERICA.

Under the contract recently concluded with Messrs. Allen & Co., of Montreal, it is proposed to run a line of first-class steamers forthwith, during the summer months, between Liverpool and Quebec; and to sustain this line the province pays a bonus of £24,000 a year. Mr. Young, of the Canadian parliament, has presented to that body a memorial from the Montreal Board of Trade, which proposes that advantage be taken of this route to secure the speedy transmission of news between the two continents, by establishing a line of telegraphic communication between Quebec and Forteau Bay, a point on the north shore of the Straits of Belisle, some seven hundred miles east of Quebec. The Toronto Leader says:

"It is distant from Liverpool only 1,878 miles, while from Liverpool to Halifax the distance is 2,466 miles: so that by the Canadian route there would be effected a saving of 600 miles to the point where the news from England could be telegraphed over the continent. It is manifest, therefore, that no other point presents the same advantages for the early transmission of news as that which Mr. Young wishes to connect with Quebec by telegraph. Forteau Bay is 122 miles nearer Liverpool than Cape Race in Newfoundland, and compared with New Yorkwhich is reached by the best Collins' boat in ten days-it shortens the distance between the two continents no less than 1,135 miles, or about four days' sailing; so that a first-class boat can with ease make the voyage from Liverpool to the Canadian Land's End-the telegraphic terminus proposed by Mr. Young-in six days."

THE UNITED STATES RAILROAD DIRECTORY.

This is the title of a handsome ocatvo volume of 212 pages, compiled and published by B. HOMANS, at the office of the Banker's Magazine, New York. It contains the names of the officers of nearly all the railroads in the Union, besides a recapitulation of the roads in cach State, and the most complete alphabetical list that has yet appeared. This work must be indispensable to every railroad officer and company, as it conveys information not accessible elsewhere in so small and convenient a compass. If suitably encouraged in this, the first volume, the compiler promises improvements in the succeeding ones, that, when carried out, cannot fail to create a large demand. It will be, in short, a vade mecum, or compendium of the railroads of the country, in which every man, woman, and child, possesses an interest in some shape, either as stockholder, bondholder, or traveler, or as the means of facilitating intercourse between families and friends. The Railroad Directory has our best wishes for its success.

EXPENSES.

OPERATIONS OF THE RAILWAYS OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM 1846 TO 1855.

The following tables exhibit the number of miles in operation at the commencement, and the receipts and expenses during each year. In the
return for 1851, nine of the companies exhibit their operations for eleven months only, (January to November.)

Year.

-RECEIPTS.

Net income per cent on cost.......

$27,034,927 $2,018,163 $1,467,969 $119,217 $3,642,171 $313,798 $331,562 $1,059,604 $1,696,576 $1,945,595 $7.20 32,796.363 2,509,784 2,205,840 196,721 4,964,532 480,040 438,088 1,434,790 2,372,432 2,592,079 7.95 41,392,632 2,849,722 2,335,407 220,725 5,405,845 484,009 498,556 1,754,419 2,741,604 2,666,411 6.51 45,125,768 3,033,701 2,411,307 252,991 5,741,799 579,430 530.949 1,679,613 2,890,818 2.850,981 6.32 50,959.452 3,404,948 2,608,766 296,537 6,419,533 578,673 485,762 1,995,619 3,112,795 3,306,738 6.49 52,595,888 3,525,128 2,650,465 280,248 6,599,576 652.666 591,360 2,083,411 3,338,905 3,259,671 6.20 53,076,013 3,641,790 2,819,409 273,801 6,885,517 751,701 594,144 2,288,296 8,673,410 3,212,107 6.05 54,914,506 4,171,964 3,330,369 217,627 7,977,527 912,856 728.301 2,674,558 4.324,013 3,655,514 6.64 57,095,498 4,495,836 3,725,186 346,441 8,696,251 1,233,076 1,008,041 3,151,117 5,451,047 3,245,204 5.68 60,339,391 4,600,877 3,904,075 451,504 9,077,529 1,367,102 886,356 3,395,647 5,650,600 3,426,929 5.68

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