277 



^ COTTON. 



The importations into Great Britain for five mouths ending May 31, 

 1870, are 4,909,414 hundred-weight, of which the United States fur- 

 nished 3,340,952 hundred- weight. For a similar period of 1889 they 

 were 3,990,762 hundredweight, of which 2,210,011 hundred-weight 

 were from this country. The total increase is 1,008,652 hundred- 

 weight; the increase from this country 1,130,941 hundred- weight. 

 This makes a decrease from other countries of 122,289 hundred- 

 weight. 



ENGLISH CROPS. 



The following, relative to the crops of England, is an extract from a 

 letter dated June 20, written by Geo. J. Abbott, esq., United States 

 consul at Sheffield, England : 



A severe dronght has prevailed throughout England, and more especially in the 

 northern counties, for three months past. This drought has also extended to France, 

 Its you will see by the printed slips annexed to this letter. 



The hay crop will he a very small one in this part of England. They are already 

 <>ommeucing mowing, hut the crop is light and hay has already advanced, and is ad- 

 vancing, in price. The cattle have been turned out in many grass fields before mowing, 

 the pastures no longer affording them food. 



The wheat crop, I think, has also been much injoi'ed by the drought, and whei\t has 

 iwlvanced in price. 



The probal)ilit.y is that there will be a great demand both for wheat and hay from 

 the United States. Two years ago, in 1868, when a severe drought parched the fields 

 and injured the hay crop, there was commencing a large imiwrtatiou of hay from the 

 United States, but when the newspapers reported that the foot and mouth disease* had 

 broken out among the cattle fiom Texas an order in council was issued, imposing so 

 many restrictions upon the importation of hay that it broke up the trade. 



I suggested to Mr. Johnson, who then represented the United States in London, to 

 represent to Lord Stanley, who was then at the head of the Foreign Office, that the 

 hay which was at that time coming to England from the United States was imported 

 idmost entirely from the New England States and New York, and that the cattle af- 

 fected with the disease, which was alleged to be prevailing, were more than a thou- 

 Kand miles away from the hay fields of those States, and that not one of them had ever 

 «ot foot within them, so that there was no danger whatever of the introduction of the 

 disease into Great Britain through the hay which was then importeil. The order in 

 »'.ouncil was subsequently modified, but not until considerable time had elapsed. 



bo:n"e fertilizers. 



The Department, having been applied to of late by many of its cor- 

 respondents to issue some general instructions by which farmers might 

 manufacture their own manures, has prepared the following, accom- 

 panied by such remarks as would make the manipulation intelligible. 



Bones are almost completely insoluble in water — practically so. When 

 very finely divided, as in fine bone dust, a small amount is dissolved by 

 the water of the soil containing carbonic acid, but the quantity is small, 

 and the time taken to do it is great. For the useful effects of bones, 

 therefore, the farmer must dissolve them, and sulphuric acid is alone 

 the most powerful and economical means for that end. It depends ou 

 the diflerent form of bone which the farmer operates on as to how much 

 acid A\ ill be required. The sulphuric acid nsed should be of considerable 

 strength, and the farmer should ask for it of the specific gTavity of 1.70 

 or marking 140° Twaddell. When the acid reaches the bones, the mass 

 t^liervesces, boils up, and becomes wai'm, the sulphuric acid taking away 



* Texas cattle disease is meant. — [EjD Eep.] 



