452 AGRICULTURAL REPOR'i'. 



to sugar. lUu.strating the latter point Lo states that, diuiiig the preced- 

 ing season, au unfavorable one to ham mock -land, a small farmer ob- 

 tained on one acre of new ground, without manure, o,000 iwunds of 

 sugar, worth $300, and 140 gallons of molasses, worth $70. Another 

 farmer, the same season, made 8,000 pounds of sugar on not quite five 

 acres of manured i)ine-land, and two years ago parties made on the 

 same land 2,400 i)()unds per acre, or nearly 12,000 pounds total. 1,500 

 pounds to 2,000 pounds is common on manured i)ine-lauds. One man 

 and a horse will cultivate about twenty acres in cane, the same area as 

 in corn. The section is also excellent for oranges, peaches, figs, pome- 

 granates, grapes, &c. 



Ginsenff in North Carolina. — Mr. J. D. Abbott, of Murphy, Cherokee 

 County, North Carolina, writes that in 1871 there were three different 

 parties engaged in purchasing ginseng in that county. Prices paid, 25 

 to 27 cents per pound, green and unwashed ; amount purchased, from 

 75,000 to 85,000 pounds. This year's crop Avill be about as large. 



Mesquitc-f)um. — Mr. E. Kalteyer, treasurer of the Agricultural and In- 

 dustrial Association of Western Texas, says the mesquite-gum of thai 

 region is almost identical with gum arable, having been in use there for 

 medicinal and technical purposes, especially in the prepartion of mucil- 

 age, gum-drops, jujube-paste, &c. The past year it has become an 

 article of export, some 12,000 x)ounds having been gathered in Bexar 

 County, and as much more between that and the coast. This gum is 

 hardly known east of the Brazos. It exudes from the stem and branches 

 of a Mimosa^ several species of which grow in Texas, New Mexico, and 

 Arizona. The species most common in Bexar County grows from 20 to 

 40 feet high and 18 inches thick. Cbarcoal is manufactured from it, and 

 it is also made into handsome furniture, the grain being very fine. It 

 grows where no other fruit-tree would live. 



Baslxt osier. — Mr. A. IST. Wallace, of Wyoming County, New York, 

 eight years ago planted 2f acres with osier willow, ( iiaVix viminaUs.) 

 The land was a light sandy loam and had been prepared by thoroughly 

 plowing and harrowing, as for corn. The willow-cuttings, 8 inches long, 

 were set 6 inches in the ground at an angle of 45^^ with the rows; the 

 rows were 30 inches apart, and the distances between the sets in the 

 row C inches. No fertilizers have been applied since planting, and there 

 has been no cultivation except that given in the first season to a crop of 

 beans planted between the rows. The first year's growth of osiers was 

 cut and thrown away, and after that, on account of the scarcity of labor, 

 no crop was taken until the third year, when the growth of two years was 

 sold green and not peeled, at $12 per ton, averaging $131 per acre from a 

 total crop of 30 tons. The fourth and fifth years' crops were sold at 

 $120 per ton peeled, averaging $100 gross per acre. The sixth and 

 vseventh crops were sold green, amounted to 11 tons and 12 tons respect- 

 ively, and brought $18 per ton, averaging $72 and $78.50 ])er acre. 

 The crop of 1872 brought $20 per ton, green, the estimated yield being 

 5 tons per acre. At this price, with the present scarcity of labor, there 

 is more profit in selling in the green state and not peeled, as the shrink- 

 age in peeling and drying, with vraste of small willov.s, amounts to 75 

 per cent. The average cost of cutting has been $12 per acre. The yield 

 is very little affected by variations in heat and moisture, and there is no 

 loss from insects. 



Cheese-r.uilduf/ in Texas. — A Mr. Brown v/ho emigrated from Jefferson 

 County, New York, to Erath County, Texas, began there experiments 

 in cheese-making, in 1869. With rude apparatus, ho made from thirty- 

 five common Texas-range cows 1,000 pounds : lost 700 pounds of it, and 



