123 



At the ruliiif; prices of wheat at the time these sacks were bouglit and paid for, it 

 required 2,722,220 bushels of wheat, or a little more than one-eleventh of all the wheat 

 produced, to pay for them. This large amount of money was subtracted from the 

 profits of the farmers of the State to pay for the labor of producing the raw material in 

 India, the freighting of that raw material to Dundee, the manufacturing of it into sacks, 

 and finally freighting them to San Praucisco and distributing them throughout the 

 State, with the addition of the profits of the merchants, brokers, insurance-houses, &c." 



Since this report was made it has been demonstrated that the rich bottom-lands of 

 California, particularly those in the southern section of the State, and large sections of 

 our other Southern States, where facilities for irrigation are at hand, produce not only a 

 good plant and material, but actually as abundant as the best localities in India. Last 

 year the Commissiouer of Agriculture imported, direct from India, a large amount of 

 jate-seed, which was principally distributed among the farmers of California and to 

 those of the Southern or Gulf States, where it has been shown that it can also be pro- 

 duced abundantly and profitably. 



The "ramie plant," another fibrous plant of great value, was some years ago intro- 

 duced by this Department, and is succeeding well in the Southern States. So impor- 

 tant are these new sources of industry regarded that immense sums of money are now 

 being invested in perfecting machinery for the manipulating and manufacture of the 

 fiber. Specimens of both the raw material and the manufactured goods are to be seen 

 at the Department of Agriculture. 



It is certainly the duty of the Government to encourage the growth and development 

 of all new enterprises that promise to better the condition of our people, to assist in 

 developing new interests that are likely to add to our prosperity and happiness as a 

 nation, by causing us to be leas dependent upon foreign governmeuts for supplies which 

 can be produced most abundantly here. The soil and climate of California and many 

 of the Southern States is adapted to the successful cultivation of jute, ramie, New 

 Zealand flax, cotton, silk, coffee, tea, opium, rice, and the various kinds of tropical fruits, 

 such as the pine-apple, banana, mango, cocoa-nut, plantain, and many other valuable 

 fruits, and medicinal and coloring plants, while the Northern and Middle States pro- 

 dace abundantly of hemp, flax, all the cereals, pork, beef, mutton, and wool. 



The past year was one of more than average prosperity to the farming community, 

 and since the marketing of the crop of 1874 a very perceptible improvement has taken 

 place in the commercial interests of the country. The qirestion of cheap avenues of 

 transportation is one that still claims the attaation of those engaged in farming opera- 

 tions. While the farmers of the country do not desire to interfere with the lawful and 

 just rights of transportation companies, they feel that they have important and even 

 vital interests involved in the controversy, and are of the opinion that some equitable 

 means might be devised whereby tBese companies would be compelled to show less 

 discrimination in favor of certain maiket points. 



A very large portion of our western territory and several of the newer States of the 

 West was overrun by grasshoppers during the growing-season of last year, and immense 

 damage was caused by their ravages. Portions of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minne- 

 sota, and the Territory of Dakota suffered fearfully. Such a scourge has never swept 

 over any part of this great country before. The growing crops, in fact all vegetation, 

 were all swept away as by a devastating fire, leaving neither food for man nor beast, 

 and the people in a destitute condition. Notwithstanding the many noble efforts for 

 the relief of these people, much suffering has already been felt, and it is feared that the 

 worst has not yet been experienced. 



The Government promptly authorized the distribution of one hundred thousand dol- 

 lars' worth of Army rations for the relief of the sufferers, and more recently Congress 

 has appropriated thirty thousand dollars for the purchase and distribution of seeds for 

 the renewal of their crops in the coming spring. The help thus afforded has relieved 

 much distress and suft'ering, but still further assistance is called for. 



The committee would recommend Congress to grant without delay whatever assist- 

 ance lies within its legislative province for the relief of these distressed and suffering 

 people. 



CHEMICAL MEMORANDA. 



By W.m. McMurtkie, Chemist. 



Mr. Abram McMnrtrie, of Belvidere, Warreu County, ]S"ew Jersey, has 

 for many years past made use of the dark, steel-gray limestone of that 

 locality, for agricultural purposes, and has repeatedly found that the 

 lime produced from it seemed in nearly every case to have a rather 



