354 



of the Soutb. The iuitiatory meeting of this general association is ap- 

 pointed at Augusta, Georgia, October 2G, 1870, during the fair of the 

 Cottou States Mechanics' and Agricultural Fair Association. State 

 and county agricultural societies are invited to send delegates, and ar- 

 rangements have beeu made with railroads to transport these delegates 

 free of charge, or at reduced rates. 



THE COTTON CROP OF 18G9. 



The Charleston Courier makes the following statement concerning 

 the crop of last year : 



The summing up of the crop of 1869-'70, as shown hy our statement, is 3,203,828 

 bales, an increase in production of 845,459 bales over 1868-'69. This increase has been 

 mainly absorbed by European countries, as will be seen by the annexed comparative 

 statement of foreign exports for the past two years : 



1869. 1870. 



To Great Britain 989, 491 1, 478, 849 



To France 224,186 346,430 



To north of Europe, Spain, &c 233, 650 348, 844 



Total 1, 447, 327 2, 174, 123 



1,447,327 



Increase 726, 796 



After making the necessary deductions there is k'ft for home consumption, north and 

 south, 964,642 bales. AVe have i»ut down for sonthern consumption 112,000 bales, 

 Avhich includes 12,000 bales taken for consumption in Virginia, and counted in tlie ex- 

 ports from that State, leaving for northern consumption 852,842 bales, against 840,720 

 bales in 1869, showing an increase of 12,122 bales. 



The value of the crop of the past year (1869-70) may be put down in round num- 

 bers at $325,000,000. This immense amount of money has been of incalculable benetit 

 to the entire country. 



The summing up of the crop, as developed in our statement, exceeds the estiniates of 

 the most sanguine in the early part of the past season from a half to three-quarteis of 

 a million of bales, which proves the utter fallacy of the many advance statements of 

 growing crops which are heralded throughout Europe and the Northern States for the 

 purpose of affecting prices. Such statements work great injury to the planter as well 

 as to the buyer and consumer. 



The disposition, so general on the part of producers, to depreciate 

 the probable production of other crops as well as of cotton is ultimately 

 an injury. " Honesty is the best policy " in marketing a cro^). No sane 

 man will make an unconditional estimate in the beginning of the sea- 

 son, or until near its close. After the 1st of October, with the present 

 acreage in cotton, an extremely favorable season may give a quarter or 

 even a half million of bales above the average expectations ; or a killing 

 frost, unusually early, and bad weather tljereafter, may cause an equal 

 reduction. It is yet too early for any authority short of Omnipotence 

 to tell within half a million bales what the present crop will be, even 

 with a knowledge of the precise number and condition of the growing 

 plants, or the exact acreage they occupy. 



IXTLE FIBER. 



Mr. J. McLeod Murphy, of Harlem, New York, has sent to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture a package of the dried leaves of this plant, [Bro- 

 melia sylvestris,) which grows abundantly on the southern shores of the 

 Gulf of Mexico ; also, a package of the tiber, remarkable for its luster. 



