34 



of 1871 exceed those of the corrcspoiKling period of the preceding year 

 by nearly $20,000,000 ; about oue-third of the imports were from the 

 United States. 



Cheese factories, — The American cheese-factory system is affect- 

 ing the markets of England to such a degree that, at the late discus- 

 sions of the Ayrshire Farmers' Club it was stated that this S3%stem must 

 be introduced there generally, or they must give up dairying, on the old 

 system, altogether. In the rich grazing district of Cheshire, where 

 11,000 tons of the best cheese in England is made, the American factory 

 system is being introduced with great favor ; and in other districts it 

 is proposed to send deputations to this country to fully investigate the 

 workings of our cheese factories. At a large sale of cheese in Liver- 

 pool, the product of the Derbyshire cheese factory sold higher thau the 

 produce of the Cheshire dairies generally. Many dairymen have ex- 

 pressed their decided conviction that under the factory system they 

 could manufacture cheaper, and produce a superior article, with a great 

 relief to farmers' wives. While Cheshire cheese has not advanced iu 

 j)rice from what it was fifty jears ago, butter, for several years, has 

 l3een sold, steadily, sixty per cent, higher. 



Condensed milk is becoming a large and new trade, and will ulti- 

 mately contribute largely to the food of the world. Milk is wanted not 

 only at sea, but in the ra])id growth of many large cities, pure milk, as 

 an article essential to children, becomes less and less abundant. Con- 

 densed-milk factories have been established in various places in Great 

 Britain, in the Argentine Eepublic, and even in Australia, whence con- 

 densed milk has become an article of export to Europe. 



Physicae DEaENERAOY OF CITY POPULATION. — At the last meeting 

 of the British Social Science Association it was stated as an unquestion- 

 able fact that, with the increase of factory and in-door work, the physical 

 type in Englishmen has degenerated of late years. Broad chests and 

 powerful limbs are no longer the rule among laborers and artisans, 

 and the recruiting sergeant comi)lains that the doctor rejects every year 

 a large proportion of the men recruited by him, and even those admit- 

 ted to the ranks are very inferior in bone and muscle to their older com- 

 rades. Of those enlisted in the last few years, 38 per cent, have been 

 rejected ; in some districts four out of five are rejected on the ground ot 

 physical disqualification. This is ascribed to the concentration of the 

 working classes in cities, to the depressing circumstances of their city 

 life, and to the large iiroportiou of those engaged iu in-door employ- 

 ments. So many females also are withdrawn from rural to factory life, 

 that gross ignorance as to the use and preparation of food, and of do- 

 mestic economy and cooking, abounds among the poor, rendering their 

 condition deplorable. 



Irrigation. — It is suggested in England that Parliament, by special 

 act, authorize two or more landholders to join together for united action 

 iu the construction and development of irrigation works, and that loans 

 at low interest be granted by government upon the security of the pro- 

 perty thus improved. So important is this subject considered by the 

 Spanish government that irrigation works are authorized by the "Ley 

 del Agua," by an enactment most judicious and comprehensive. 



Adulteration of tea. — So extensively is this now carried on in 

 China, that Mr. Medhurst, the British consul at Shanghai, states that 

 when he wrote 53,000 pounds of willow-leaves were in course of manip- 

 ulation at one i)ort alone, to be mixed with tea for shipment at the 

 ratio of from 10 to 20 per cent. The trade in these willow-leaves (which 



