540 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
An extract from Judge Drayton’s “ View of South Carolina,” pub- 
lished in 1802, shows that their existence has been known for seventy 
years; but in the state of geological science at the beginning of this 
century a knowledge of their extreme richness in phosphate of lime 
and great importance in renovating the exhausted fields of the South 
was wanting. Thirty years ago Professor Holmes had his attention 
attracted to the nodules or rocks scattered over the old rice-fields on 
the banks of the Ashley, near Charleston, that were generally consid- 
ered useless, and were gathered into heaps, so as not to interfere with 
cultivation. Careful study soon convinced him of their great value as 
fertilizers. The appointment of Mr. Ruffin, in 1842, to make a geologi- 
cal and agricultural survey of the State, awakened public attention to 
them. Ine860 Professor Shepard, appreciating their value, urged upon 
agricultural societies the importance of utilizing them. The war of 
the rebellion soon following, the public mind was wholly attracted to 
its objects, and the phosphates were neglected. In 1867 Professor 
Hoimes and Dr. Pratt satisfied themselves of their great value, and 
after unavailing efforts to obtain means in Charleston to develop them, 
resorted to the North for aid, and over $6,000,000 are now invested by 
northern capitalists in mining the rocks and manufacturing them into rich 
fertilizers. The business is rapidly extending, and is divided among 
about twenty companies, the largest of which has a capital of $800,000, 
and is chiefly owned in Philadelphia. As in all pioneer enterprises, 
many difficulties had to be surmounted by the first company : 
It was a new and untried ficld; thousands of dollars were expended before the 
proper mode of working “ the diggings” could be known. Laborers were scarce, and 
the negro, unaccustomed to such work, accomplished very little toward a day’s task. 
The best time for mining was during the summer or dry season of the year, when the 
white laborer could not withstand the chills and fever of the season; in a word, diffi- 
culties and opposition arose every day and in every form. Where the company ex- 
pected to keep employed one thousand laborers, thirty could not be placed. The thing 
could not be done in a day; time was required to develop and work out the problem. 
And perhaps it was well; for had very great quantities of the raw material been sud- 
denly put upon the market, a substance new and untried, no one can tell what would 
have been the result. Time was required for the manufacturers of fertilizers to test 
the new material. But now that they have done so at the North, East, South, and 
West, in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France, and Spain, the demand for the 
raw material has increased twenty-fold. 
ANNALS OF BEE-CULTURE, for 1870: A Bee-Keeper’s Year Book. D. L. Adair, editor, 
Hawesville, Kentucky. With communications from the best apiarians and natu- 
ralists. 12mo., 64 pages. Louisville, Kentucky: C. Y. Duncan, printer, 1870. 
There are now five monthly journals published in this country 
exclusively devoted to the management of bees, showing an extraor- 
dinary increase of interest in this subject within a few years. Many 
improvements have been made in the construction of hives, and new 
. breeds of bees introduced, of which the Italian seems to stand highest 
inrepute. Besides the preceding journals, Mr. Adair publishes annually 
a little volume filled with original articles on this subject by distin- 
guished apiarians and naturalists, as well as translations from European 
bee journals. The present volume has about thirty articles on “The 
principles of bee-keeping ;” ‘“‘ The value of the honey-bee in agriculture ;” 
““Women as bee-keepers;” “The bee-moth;” “Artificial swarming ;” 
“Alsike clover;” ‘‘ Proceedings at the sixteenth anniversary of bee- 
keepers at Nuremberg, Germany, last year,” (in the environs of which 
apiarians have more than three thousand hives); ‘“ European bee- 
culture,” &c. From the valuable contribution of Dr. Packard, on the 
value of the honey-bee in agriculture, we make the following extracts: 
Of what use is the bee? our readers may ask. The answer will recur to but few. 
The grand use in nature of the bee is the securing to the farmer or fruit-raiser a 
