54 
eountry for American manufacture, when the Japanese understand the 
requirements of our market. We demand the best and strongest fiber. 
In Europe the crop was good notwithstanding the yield of cocoons 
from imported Japanese eggs was poor. The Bengal silks were inferior. 
The prices of raw silk ruled lower than for twenty years, shrinking 
from 30 to 45 per cent. within two years. These low prices have been 
maintained in spite of increased consumption and the rapid decrease 
of manufacturers’ stocks. 
The aggregate annual values of silk manufactures imported at New 
York during the last sixteen calendar years were as follows: 1859, 
$31,877,863 ; 1860, $34,320,331 ; 1861, $12,298,863 ; 1862, $10,942 tie “ 
1863, $14, 761 186 ; 1864, S14, 621 ,202 ; 1865, $18, 293, 693 ; 1866, ’g29'9 
864 ; 1867, $16, 434, 524’: 1868, $18, 903, 232 1369, $22 064, 312; 136) 
$26, 731,2 75; 1871, $33,899,710 1872, $39,677,749; 1873, $24,379, 322 + 
1874, $23,292,551. From -92 to 95 per cent. of the manufactured-silk 
imports of the whole country are received at New York. These figures 
represent the foreign (gold) cost of the fabrics. 
ANGORA MANUFACTURES IN CALIFORNIA.—California, in pursuance 
of a characteristic fashion of doing what cannot be done elsewhere, has 
not only persisted in keeping considerable flocks of Angora goats, but 
multiplies their numbers and utilizes the fleece. There have been placed 
in the Museum of this Department some specimens of dressed skin 
with fleece intact, of divers colors and great beauty, such as are used 
for fancy robes, rugs, mats, fur gauntlets, and for other purposes. These 
gloves are very strong, durable, warm, and showy. ‘The leather is also 
used in strings for belt-lacing, and appears from its great strength to 
be very suitable for such use. This is the work of the Angora Robe 
and Glove Company, located at San José, and demonstrates the avail- 
ability of Angora products for successful manufacture into articles 
of comfort and utility. Their gloves, unlike those of buckskin, are 
dressed with the grain left on. Mr. Frank Leavis, the secretary of 
the company, is a part owner of a flock of six hundred ewes which were 
sheared last spring. In one county, Monterey, there are no less than 
twenty thousand returned by the assessors, and they constitute a por- 
tion of the stock of twenty-eight other counties. 
CHEESE IN MINNESOTA.—The statistics of the Bigelow Cheese Fac- 
tory, in Noble County, Minnesota, reported to this Department for 
1875. are as follows: Number of pounds of cheese manufactured, 15,520; 
average value per pound, 124 cents. The factory was in operation "four 
months, during which time it received the milk of eighty cows. The 
average number of pounds of cheese per cow was 194, amounting in value 
to $24. Our correspondent in Stearns County also reports that the farm- 
ers are turning their attention to cheese-making, and that a factory for 
that purpose has been established in the county the past season. 
PEELER COTTON.—A correspondent in Drew County, Arkansas, re- 
ports that from a package of seed received from this Department he had 
grown enough to sow about an acre of this variety of cotton, last 
spring. He sold the product of lint at 144 cents per pound, * while 
other cotton, raised by its side, handled with the same care, and sold at 
the same time, brought only 12 cents per pound.” He has carefully 
saved the seed of this crop, some of which he will distribute among 
neighbors, and plant the remainder for further testing its comparative 
merits. 
Fruit In MicoH1GAN.—The quantities of fruit reported as shipped by 
