461 * 



for one dollar per pound, and were purchased by one of the largest- 

 tobacco firms in Cincinnati. 



Opium-poppy in Feance. — The cultivation of the opium poppy in 

 France is steadily increasing. It now occupies 50,000 acres, of the value 

 of 4,500,000 francs, yielding opium to the value of 2,000,000 francs a 

 year. Different samples of opium, raised in various parts of Europe, 

 are said to have yielded from 8 to 13 per cent, of morphine. 



' Oeange-cultivation in Louisiana. — In the orange district in 

 Louisiana there is a gradual extension of groves and" an increase in pro- 

 duction. In Plaquemine Parish about 2,000 acres are occupied by orange 

 groves. Usually there are 100 trees to the acre, and a healthy tree will 

 bear from 500 to 2,000 oranges, 1,000 being a fair average. They are 

 worth on an average $10 a thousand. 



Hops in Califoenia. — A hop circular, issued August 1, by Miller & 

 Co., of San Francisco, gives some interesting facts relative to hop- 

 growing in that State. There were under hops in the State in 1870 

 441 acres ; 1871, 332 ; 1872, 618. There were exported from the port of 

 San Francisco in 1870, 383,982 pounds ; in 1871, 223,4^5 pounds ; in 1872, 

 up to August 1, 40,697 pounds. The imports were, in 1870, 1,137 bales; 

 in 1871, 825 bales ; in 1872, up to August 1, 479 bales, a bale being about 

 200 pounds. It will be noticed that in 1871 there was a large falling olf 

 from 1870 iu acreage, exports, and imports, but a great increase of acre- 

 age in 1872, caused by a growiug appreciation of the home product on 

 the part of brewers. The estimated yearly consumption in the State is 

 450,000 pounds. The product in 1870 was 557,118 pounds"; in 1871, 

 277,055 pounds. There was, August 1, a prospect of a fair average crop 

 this season. 



Improvement of soil by green-manuring. — A correspondent at 

 Port t>ibson, Mississippi, believes a large portion of the South have 

 reached the conclusion that their i;)rosperity henceforth must depend 

 mainly on improvement of the soil, and that, for securing this result, 

 there is no other means so abundant, certain, and cheap as green- 

 manuring. He also expresses the opinion that, in that latitude, the 

 most valuable of the grains for forage, winter-pasture, and green-manur- 

 ing is rye. 



A fruit-growing region. — A correspondent in Lunenburg County, 

 Southern Virginia, represents that fruit is easily produced in that region, 

 but scarcely any attention is given to its culture, none being raised for 

 market. Peaches grow almost spontaneouidy, and ripen from June till 

 October, but are ouly raised for swine and for making brandy. Though 

 pears grow and yield abundantly, ouly the poorest varieties are raised, 

 mainly for the manufacture of perry. All kinds of grapes which have 

 been tried thrive, but few are cultivated. Said a neighbor, " What is 

 the use, when, with my little hand cider-mill and a negro to help, I can 

 go into the woods and in a half day make 10 gallons of as good wine as 

 ever was drank?" Apples do well, though more liable to decay than 

 further north. Plums and cherries do better than he has ever known 

 them to do elsewhere. Wild strawberries, raspberries, dewbenies, and 

 blackberries abound, and prunes, pomegranates, quinces, and figs can 

 be raised, and are, to some extent, in gardens. 



Goodhue, Minnesota, Farmers' Club. — Harrison Ijowater, secre- 

 tary, writes that its members had under cultivation, in 1871, 139 farms, 

 with areas in principal crops as follows : 



Wheat, 6,126 acres, yielding 83,498 bushels, or 13.6 per acre. 



