397 



were ccciuTiug- in tbo Baltic provinces of Ilu.ssia, Avbere Bcvorc losses 

 had been sustained in many districts ; and tbat no precautious bad been 

 taken, apparently, to prevent tbe spread of the disease. One bundred 

 cattle arc said to bave perisbed in Novgorod alone. Tbe plague is also 

 reported to exist in Galicia, in Lower Austria, in Scutari, and in Cir- 

 eassia, wbeuce it would naturally spread to tbe Crimea. 



Agricultural and mineral resources of Western Texas. — 

 A coinmittee of tbo Western Texas Agricultural, Stoclc-liaisiag, and 

 Industrial Association, writing to tbe Department, say : 



Wc feci assui'ccl tbat in tbo production of wool, cotton, ccrn, wbeat, oats, vyo, barley, 

 ramie, beef, bides, tallow, wax, nicsquito gum, pecau-nuts, &c., Wetstern Texas cau 

 successfully compete witb any equal portion of tbo eartb'e surface ; also in valuable 

 minerals sucb as iron, coal, lead, silver, gold, copper, bismutb, gypsum, mica, kaolin, 

 stoatito, molybdenite, asbestos, inalacbite, i)ipe-clay, marble, calcite, &c. Wo ba,ve 

 also among our citizens tboso wbo liavo given jiroof of mecliauical and industrial 

 genius. 



Foot and mouth disease in England.— Foot and mouth disease is 

 prevailing to an alarming extent in England, especially in Norfolk, 

 Cumberland, Dorsetshire, Huntingdon, Westmoreland^ and Yorkshire. 

 English official reports recently issued 'show 091,565 animills attacked 

 by the disease in 1871, and at the present time it is even more widely 

 spread and of unusual virulence. Frequently animals are attacked the 

 second or third time, and in many districts there is a considerable per- 

 centage of deaths. About the 1st of August, returns for the week 

 showed from Northamptonshire 9,454 cattle and sheep affected ; from 

 Buckinghamshire, where the disease was rapidly spreading, 13,743, dis- 

 tributed among 396 farms ; from Norfolk, 13,000 ; from Dorsetshire, 

 11,050. In the earlj^i)art of July the council of the Eoyal Agricultural 

 Society authorized the expenditure of a sum not exceeding £100 for 

 investigations into tbe causes of ])eriodic outbreaks of this disease in 

 England, i^articidarly amotig importations from Ireland. 



Cotton in California. — A movement for introducing the culture 

 and manufacture of cotton into California, upon an extensive scale, is 

 now in apparently successful progress. A " Cotton Growing and Man- 

 ufacturing Association " has been incorporated for the purpose, under 

 the auspices of which a selection has been made of the valley, of the 

 Kern Eiver as specially adapted to tbe object, jiossessing a favorable 

 soil and climate, and ample water-power for mauufaeturing purposes. 

 Ten thousand acres of laud, including a town-site ^ith considerable im- 

 provements, have been purchased, and successful experiments in raising 

 cotton have already been made. The town is located at tbe foot of the 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the lands are available for immediate 

 planting ; and tbe property is said to embrace peculiar facilities for pro- 

 moting the growth of this special producing and manufacturing in- 

 dustry. 



The cranbeery-crop in New Jersey and Massachusetts.— The 

 cranberry crop of New Jersey is reported much below an average, 

 and that of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, almost a total failure, a large 

 proportion of tbe vines having been killed last winter, and the remain- 

 der greatly ravaged by worms. 



Potato-rot in England. — Potato-rot is prevailing to an alarming 

 extent in England, and fears are entertained that mucli the greater 

 part of the crop will be destroyed. But it is stated tbat districts where 

 the atmosphere is impregnated with vapors from smelting-works are 

 comparatively free from the disease. 



