the quantity and value of licorice-extract imported during the last five 

 years : 



In England an acre of the cultivated root is said, by the firm referred 

 to, to command £100. The root is also imported by the United States 

 from Spain, Italy, Sicily, France, and Russia, but chiefly from the two 

 first named. 



Entertaining the opinion, after some investigation, that the root can 

 be successfully cultivated in several of the Southern and Western States, 

 Messrs. Mellor & Eittenhouse consider that a new industry may be fos- 

 tered, relieving us of the necessity of importing a valuable and indispen- 

 sable product. The root is worth from five to ten cents per pound, ac- 

 cording to quality, and three pounds will yield one pound of the ex- 

 tract. In addition to the yield of extract, the crushed and powdered 

 root is applied to various minor uses. Messrs. Mellor & Eittenhouse 

 attribute the decreasing importations in the statement above made from 

 the Bureau of Statistics, to the high tax on plug-tobacco, in which the 

 extract is used, and a discrimination in favor of fine-cut chewing, the 

 tax on which is about one-half that on plug- tobacco. 



The following considerations upon the subject of introducing the cul- 

 ture of the root into this country were submitted by the Commissioner : 



I am not aware that tliis root lias ever been a successful culture here — not by any 

 means on account of nncongenial climates. As far as climate is concerned, it can be 

 produced from New Jersey south and westward ; but, like many other products equally 

 well suited to our climates, such as tea, madder, opium, iudigo, &.C., &c., its profitable 

 culture depends upon the price of labor. This does not apply, perhaps, in the same de- 

 gree either to licorice, madder, or iudigo, as it does to tea and opium, because more of 

 what may be classed as unskilled labor is needed for the two last-named products. 



Practically, the soil to jiroduco good licorice-roots must be rich, and, above all, deeply 

 worked — say from eighteen inches to two feet— of a light, loosened, rich soil, a prepara- 

 tion that is best attained by hand-labor. Then, again, the crop takes from three to 

 four years to perfect, so that the estimate of its value at £100 iier acre, (which, by the 

 way, is a very,high estimate,) has to be divided by 4 to give the yearly value of an 

 acre of the root. I do not suppose that farmers would consider it a iirofitable crop 

 unless they received double the amount per pound for it that it is now imported for. 

 The same species of labor expended upon vegetable-growing realizes ten times the 

 value of product, so that there is but little to encourage the farmer to enter this branch 

 of culture. There are at least $50,000,000 in gold that yearly go to other countries for 

 products that can be produced here in equal perfection, as far as climate and soil are 

 concerned, but we cannot compete with their cheap labor. 



Cinchona. — In the year 1870 the American Medical Association me- 

 morialized Congress on the importance of introducing the cultivation of 

 the cinchona tree into the United States. The memorial sets forth at 

 some length the value of cinchona and its preparations to the health of 

 mankind, especially referring to its use in the treatment of a class of 

 diseases peculiar to tropical and miasmatic localities. The memorial, 

 states that the tree may be transi^lanted, and, under the proper condi- 

 tions of cultivation, will furnish a bark equally efficient with that brought 

 from South America. It is urged that only two questions remain to be 

 considered : 1st. Is not the supply so near at hand as South America 



