348 



cents ; plums, 3 cents ; grapes, 3 cents. According- to estimate, the 

 length of the shipping season vvoulil be about ninety days, producers 

 receiving for this period a total of $49,500 on shipments from Sacra- 

 mento ; and the total of shipments from Marysville, Lincoln, and Au- 

 burn would equal that from Sacramento. In addition to these amount^, 

 other points in California make large shipments. 



Trans-continental trade. — During the present year the commerce 

 of San Francisco with China and Japan has very largely increased. 

 July 15th the steamship America, from China and Japan, brought 25,215 

 packages of tea, of which 16,357 packages were in transit for eastern 

 cities, overland ; besides 514 packages of silk for the East, by rail. In 

 addition to tliis very large cargo of teas and silk, the steamer also 

 brought 800 bales of hemp, 300 bags of coffee, oils, spices, and chow- 

 chow, and of treasure $83,000. August 13th the steamer Japan brought 

 42,821 j^ackages of teas, 1,025 of silk, and 1,003 of assorted merchandise. 

 This is much the largest single importation of teas that ever entered an 

 American port. Of this quantity no less than 29,735 packages were for 

 New York, 2,092 for Boston, 263 for Philadelphia, 135 for Cincinnati, and 

 4,599 for Chicago, making a total of 36,824 packages for Atlantic and 

 western markets. The Japan was thirty-three days in making the trip 

 from Hong-Kong, and twenty-three days in coming from Yokohama. 

 The Sau Francisco Commercial Herald, of August 18, states that 30,000 

 tons of teas, silks, &c., were awaiting shipment to America from Asiatic 

 ports at the time of the sailing of the Japan, the greater part of which 

 would probably come to that city. Our trade with Asia, by way of San 

 Francisco and the Union Pacillc Railway, has suddenly assumed very 

 large and gratifying proportions. 



Silk-culture in Utah. — Reports of success with silk- worms in 

 Utah are increasingly frequent. The worms have been healthj^ under 

 l^roper treatment, and the yield of cocoons satisfactory in style and 

 soundness. Samuel Caruaby, of Spanish Fork, states that ui>ward of 

 fifty families in his neighborhood have produced silk this season. He 

 has silk from worms fed upon osage orange, and reports a successful 

 experience of four years in the exclusive use. of that plant. 



Sassapras-oil. — In Richmond, Virginia, a firm of colored persons 

 has for two years manufactured sassafras-oil on a large scale. The root 

 is purchased at the factory at the rate of 30 cents per hundred pounds, 

 and 40,000 pounds are used per week, producing 2 per cent., or 800 

 pounds of unrectified oil. Since this establishment commenced opera- 

 tions, other factories of like description have been started in Virginia. 

 Sassafras-oil is used for scenting toilet soaps, flavoring tobacco, «S:c. . 



Cotton in California. — Recent accounts from California state that 

 the cotton plantation on the Merced River bottoms is giving an excel- 

 lent promise, and that southern experts who have visited the region 

 pronounce its climatic conditions more favorable to the crop than those 

 of the best portions of the South. 



The Louisiana orange crop. — The Louisiana Sugar-Bowl says that, 

 notwithstanding the severity of the past winter, which greatly injured 

 the orange-trees in some localities, where the branches were not killed 

 by the freeze, they are, in every locality in Western Louisiana, well filled 

 with fruit. The crop is a very sure one along the water-courses in South- 

 ern Louisiana. The lower Teche, Atchafalaya, Boeuf, Black, Du Large, 

 Grand Caillou, Little Caillou, Lower Bayou Terrebonne, Le Bleu, and 



