320 



trees. G. That every agricultural and horticultural society receiving 

 aid in money from the State shall award 10 per cent, of the money so 

 received in special ])remiums for the largest and best groves of planted 

 forest and timber trees grown in live years from the time the act goes 

 into effect. 



Palmetto lea-^^es for paper. — Small shipments of palmetto for 

 liber have been reported heretofore. On the British steamer Darien, 

 which cleared from Savannah for Liverpool July 6, Mr. Edwin C. Denig 

 shipped four bales of palmetto leaves, which he sends to England to 

 be tested as to their value as material for paper. As books and news- 

 papers multiply rags diminish. The demand for other materials for the 

 manufacture of paper is urgent and on the increase. The esparto 

 grass — the " Spartum " of Pliny — which grows in Spain, Portugal, and 

 ^STorthern Africa, and which for some years has been very extensively 

 used as paper-making material in Europe, is beginning to fail, making 

 it necessary to secure some new fiber. Mr. Denig believes that palmetto 

 leaves will compare favorably with esparto grass as material for i^aper, 

 ■and that they can be profitably exi)orted for that purpose. 



Silk raising in California. — The impetus given to the raising of 

 silk-worms in California was checked by the failure of the cocoon trade 

 with Europe. The introduction of " family reels " for reeling the cocoons 

 is not deemed desirable, manufacturers of silks usually preferring larger 

 lots, carefully assorted, composed of threads which are uniform in size, 

 luster, and quality. It is now i^roposed to establish, at central locations 

 in silk-raising districts, reeling factories, or " ateliers de moulinage," as 

 they are called in France, where cocoons may be reeled " into grege, 

 trams, and organzines." These will afford a market to which small pro- 

 ducers can bring their cocoons, and at which they can be assorted and 

 reeled in uniform threads of different grades, and in quantities to suit 

 manufacturers. 



Comparative profit of slave and free labor. — A correspond- 

 ent from Alachua County, Florida, states : 



I formerly owned 110 slaves aud made 100 bales of sea-islaud cottou. I Lad a large 

 stock of cattle, &c. I now own 2,000 acres, one-half cleared and fenced. In 1866 I 

 'worked 86 hands and 30 mules. Am now convinced from my own experience that four 

 plows, with high manuring and diversity of crops, will furnish a better crop and in- 

 -come than those derived from all my former slaves. 



Chinch-buctS destroyed. — Mr. J. Cochrane reports from Mason 

 County, Illinois, that in the first five days of June nine inches of rain 

 fell, as much as in the five months preceding. It destroyed nearly all 

 the chinch-bugs. 



Good Sheep husbandry. — "Sir. E. Dibble, of Beatrice, Gage County 

 ITebraska, reports that he "went into winter quarters" with over 500 

 sheep, aud lost only four during the winter. Out of 284 lambs dropped 

 in the spring, he has, June 22d, 272 doing well. He thinks i^ebraska 

 is the best sheep country of which he has any knowledge. 



Cotton factories in the South. — A South Carolina correspond- 

 ent thinks that now is the time to bring the factories to the cotton. He 

 represents that there is a great abundance of water-power in Greenville 

 County, and advises factory men from New England, Old England, and 

 the Northwest to come there aud engage in the raising and manufacture 

 of cotton in juxtaposition. 



Figs in Oregon. — Mr. Charles C. Coe, of Hood Eiver, Wasco County, 

 Oregon, reports that that climate is fine for fruits of all kinds. A small 



