304 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



facts might be meutioned to show what science has doue to throw light 

 upou the labors of the farm, aod what progress has already been made 

 in studying the composition of soils, of manures, of feeding substances, 

 and of plants, while investigation and experiment are still being pushed 

 with such vigor as to promise far more profitable and tangible results in 

 the future. 



To this end the I:^ational Government has come to the aid of the 

 States in the establishment of agricultural colleges where special atten- 

 tion may be given to the various sciences which bear directly or indi- 

 rectly upou practical agriculture. All the States have now accepted the 

 grant made by Congress in July, 1862, and, in more than half of them, 

 such colleges have been established and are actually in operation, in some 

 form or other. They will undoubtedly do a good work for the rising 

 generation ; but whatever results may flow from them, they seem to indi- 

 cate that the present is but the dawn of a new era — an era of improve- 

 ments of which we cannot yet form an adequate conception. They show 

 that a greater application of mind to the labors of the hand is to dis- 

 tinguish the future over all past generations, for the large numbers of 

 young men who will go forth every year from these institutions, many 

 of them thoroughly instructed in chemistry and kindred sciences, will 

 give us, at least, the conditions for new discoveries which will open the 

 way to higher triumphs, and so lead on to the golden age of American 

 agriculture. 



SILK CULTIVATION. 



By Lfavis Bollmax, Esq. 



The efforts made in the past to establish silk culture in the United 

 States have not been successful. The well-remembered Jlfonts muUicaulis 

 excitement Avas the result of dishonest speculation, and having no sus- 

 taining influences of a legitimate character it failed to establish a single 

 instance of successful silk production. But the condition of our country 

 in its relation to this pursuit is widely different now, and it clearly in- 

 dicates that the time has come when silk culture can be profitably fol- 

 lowed and, therefore, successfully established. 



CAUSES THAT MAKE THIS CONDITION FAVORABLE. 



The present condition of the foreign trade of the United States is not 

 satisfactory. During the last five fiscal years the balance of trade 

 against it was $510,880,873, and in the last fiscal year $182,547,568. 

 This balance has caused during the same years an exportation of specie 

 of $309,628,060, leaving $201,255,207 to be paid by the exportation of our 

 national bonds. Two-thirds of the carrying trade employed by our for- 

 eign commerce is in foreign vessels, and the profits of this have been 

 paid by us in these bonds. What the amount of it is, we have no data 

 by winch to determine, but it may be put down as not less than 

 $r)0,000,000 annually. Add to these the large suras taken out of our 

 country by Americans traveling abroad, and we can realize the causes 

 that are so rapidly making our home national debt a foreign debt, and 

 why we do not accumulate specie as a basis upon which our Xational 

 Government and banks might safely return to specie payments. 



