200 
a common subsistence, no efforts will be made to aid the natural pro- 
ductiveness of the soil. Since 1851 there has been a gradually inereas- 
ing deficit in home production of grain, which, in 1860, required an im- 
portation of 4,000,000 bushels of foreign grain, and in 1870 of nearly 
20,000,000. Don Perruelas sees no remedy for this destructive drain 
upon the Spanish soil, except in a general reform of agricultural methods 
in impressing upon the agricultural classes the necessity of economizing 
the resources of the soil. To accomplish this, agricultural schools should 
be established ; but the impoverished condition of the treasury forbids 
anything of the kind at present. 
_BEET-SUGAR IN DELAWARE.—An association of gentlemen in the 
State of Delaware has been formed with the purpose of developing the 
capacities of that State for the culture of the sugar-beet and the manu- 
facture of beet-sugar. They have imported seeds from France, England, 
and Saxony, and have distributed them among the best farmers of 
Delaware, the eastern shore of Maryland, and the southern part of New 
Jersey for experimental culture. The superintendent of Delaware Col- 
lege farm also devotes special attention to scientific experiments with 
these seeds. Circulars are sent to each experimenter with specific 
directions in regard to culture, harvesting, and preservation of the erop. 
This movement, it is hoped, will inaugurate, during the Centennial year 
of our Independence, a new and profitable industry in this section of 
our country. Within the last quarter century we have more than 
doubled the rate of consumption of sugar in the United States. In 
1850 we averaged about 263 pounds per “eapita of the population, and in 
1874, 423 pounds. We are paying from $80,000,000 to $90,000,000 per 
annum for foreign sugar, a-very considerable proportion of which might 
be saved by home production. This can be done only by intelligent 
efforts like the above to test the local capacity of different sections for 
the sugar-beet and by greater enterprise in the cane-sugar regions bor- 
dering on the Gulf of Mexico. 
INDUSTRIES OF KENT Country, MIcHIGAN.—In 1875 this county raised 
569,353 bushels of wheat on AL, 932 acres, 564,902 bushels of corn on 
19,186 acres, 503,435 bushels of other grain, 263,866 bushels of potatoes, 
43,552 tons of hay, and 251,072 pounds of wool. Of produce marketed, 
there were 1,145,944 pounds of pork, 17 285 pounds of cheese, 961,863 
pounds of butter, 18,951 pounds of dried fruit, 2,272 barrels of cider, 
and 299,509 pounds of maple-sugar. The county contains 27 flouring- 
mills, 3 of which use steam as a motive-power; these employ 85 persons 
and $418,800 of invested capital, making, per annum, 159,350 barrels of 
flour, worth $1,339,025. The live stock embraces 10, 391 horses over a 
year old, 124 mules, 1,609 oxen, 11,587 milch cows, 10, 955 cattle, 15,200 
Swine over six months’ old, and 60, ‘71 sheep. In the county are D4 saw- 
mills, employing 1,065 persons, with a capital of $905,800, and turning out 
per annum 119,528,000 feet of lumber, worth $1,466,500. From 21 shingle- 
mills, operated by 168 employés and employing $45,000 of capital, an 
annual product of $128,000 is reported. In 17 planing and turning mills, 
employing 351 hands and $436,000 capital, $560,000 worth of products 
are annually turned out; 9 founderies and machine-shops, employing 
209 hands and $212,700 capital, produce annually $309,000; 5 agricul- 
tural-implement factories, 88 hands and $162,000 capital, produce an- 
nually $220,000. Including the foregoing, the county contains 215 
manufactories, empldying 4,230 hands and $4,561,000 ‘of capital, pro- 
ducing annually $7,149,519. The prosperous condition of the farmers 
of this county shows the influence of a home market for their products. 
