49 



15,409,171 pounds, against 12,920,761 pounds in 1868. The amount 

 shipped to eastern markets was 13,303,531 pounds. 



In the nine months ending Sept<3mber 30, 1869, Great Britain paid to 

 the United States for receipts of wheat £1,316,629, against £3,706,955 

 in the corresponding period of 1868, and £1,469,442 in same period in 



1867. The payments made to Eussia for the nine months of 1869 

 amounted to £2,390,085, against £4,828,001 in 1868 and £6,622,639 in 

 1867; and to Prussia £2,018,485 against, £2,315,614 in 1868 and £2,315,614 

 in 1867. 



The importations of wheat into the United Kingdom during the eleven 

 mouths ending November 30, 1869, amounted to 32,648,051 hundred- 

 w^eigiit, against 30,512,493 hundred- weight for the corresponding period 

 of preceding year. Of this amount 11,086,982 hundred-weight were 

 received from the United States, against 5,513,643 hundred- weight for 

 the same period in 1868 ; from Eussia, 7,761,915 hundred-weight, against 

 9,397,245 liundred- weight in 1868; from Prussia, 4,264,520 hundred- 

 weight, against 4,004,655 hundred- weight in 1868; from British JS'orth 

 America, 2,077,850 hundred-weight, against 437,036 liundred- weight in 



1868. It will be noted that the receipts from the United States have 

 increased nearly one hundred per cent. 



Official figures from the department of the Prussian minister of agri- 

 culture show that in the several provinces of that kingdom the past year 

 the wheat crop has fallen four per cent, below the product of 1868 ; rye, 

 eight per cent, below ; barley, seven per cent. ; oats, eleven i^er cent. ; 

 peas, twelve per cent. ; and potatoes, fifteen per cent, below the preced- 

 ing yield. The straw of the several crops is reported as follows: Wheat 

 and rj'e, one per cent, below the product of 1868 ; barley, seven per cent, 

 below; oats, twelve per cent, below; i)eas, six per cent. Ijelow; and buck- 

 w^heat, thirty-seven per cent, below. 



A government commission in Prance is engaged in the investigation 

 of a disease which has for many years caused great ravages among the 

 live stock in some parts of that empire. This disease is peculiar to the 

 departments of the Cantal and Puy de Dome, in the center of France, 

 and is known by the name of " Mai de Montague." It infects the cattle 

 fed upon the highlands of the departments, which form a vast volcanic 

 plateau about 3,500 feet above the level of the sea. The southern and 

 western departments are supplied with cattle from these pastures, and 

 almost all the young beasts which are fattened in Normandy are bred 

 here. Large quantities of cheese are also made in tliese districts. It 

 seems to be established that the malady consists in an affection of the 

 viscera of the animal, caused by the presence in the blood of an undue 

 quantity of carbon ; w^hether produced by the peculiar j)roperties of the 

 flora or water, remains doubtful. 



It is stated that of the Extractum carnis, or essence of meat, prepared 

 on Baron Liebig's system, at the works of the comi)any at Fray Bentos, 

 Uruguay, the exportation for 1869 amounted to about fifty thousand 

 pounds per month. It is said that the meat of this country is without 

 fat, and is insipid. 



A French circular estimates the beet-sugar crop of that country to bo 

 from two to^wo and a half per cent, larger than that of the ineceding 

 year, and the total product is estimated to reach 250,000 tons, though 

 other circulars place it lower. A Liverpool circular reports the beet- 

 sugar production of Europe last year at 725,000 tons, against 025,000 

 tons in 1868. The number of beet-sugar factories in the countries 

 named are stated to be as follows : France, 475 ; Belgium, 120 ; Zollverein, 

 297 : Austria, 209 ; besides thousands of spirit distilleries and alkali 

 works, the results of the sugar-beet industry. 

 4 



