AGRICULTURE. 



admirably adapted for the culture of cotton 

 and the production of palm and cocoa oils. 



The Republic of Liberia has made material 

 progress within the past two years. The rec- 

 ognition of the republic by the United States 

 Government and the appointment of a commis- 

 sioner to represent it there, have been attended 

 with beneficial results. The Republic has en- 

 tered with great zeal upon the culture of cot- 

 ton, coffee, sugar, and rice, and the quality of 

 its productions, which are already exported in 

 considerable quantities to England and the 

 United States, is very superior. Within the 

 past year a college fairly endowed, and with a 

 course of instruction equal to that in most of 

 the colleges in the United States, has been 

 opened in Monrovia. Its president and pro- 

 fessors are all men of color, and possess suit- 

 able qualifications for their several chairs. 



The culture of cotton has received a remark- 

 able impulse throughout Africa. Egypt ex- 

 ported in 1862 a much larger quantity than in 

 any previous year ; Liberia and Sierra Leone 

 sent some very excellent long stapled cotton 

 into market ; the Yorubas and the tribes dwell- 

 ing on the banks of the Quorra contributed a 

 considerable quantity ; some thousands of bales 

 were sent from Kaffraria and the Cape Colony, 

 and Dr. Livingstone, in his ascent of the Shue 

 and Rovuma, found its cultivation already large 

 and rapidly increasing. In the future, Africa 

 promises to be a powerful rival to the United 

 States for the cotton trade of the world. 



AGRICULTURE. A condition of war is not 

 usually considered favorable to agricultural 

 progress ; but except in those States which have 

 formed the actual battle ground of the past 

 year, the agricultural products of 1862 have 

 been unusually large and profitable. In the 

 Southern States the area devoted to the culture 

 of cotton has been greatly diminished ; corn 

 and other cereals having taken its place in ex- 

 tensive districts, while many of the best cot- 

 ton lands have been trampled by contending 

 armies. 



In the Northern States the crops of all de- 

 scriptions have been abundant. The great ex- 

 port demand for the cereals in 1861, together 

 with the demand for army consumption, led to 

 the planting of a much greater breadth than 

 usual; in winter wheat about 18 per cent, more 



area was planted than the previous year, taking 

 the whole country together, and in some of the 

 largest wheat growing States the excess of area 

 planted was much more than this ; thus, Wis- 

 consin had 67 per cent, more area than in 1861, 

 Michigan 35 per cent., Ohio 18.Y per cent., 

 while Illinois had only 14 per cent. The yield 

 of winter wheat was 26 per cent, above that 

 of 1861. Of spring wheat the increased area 

 sown was about 23 per cent., but the crop was 

 about 10 per cent, below the average, and per- 

 haps a little more than that below the crop of 



1861. Including both kinds of wheat the yield 

 was probably about equal to that of 1861, and 

 fully 10 per cent, above the average of the past 

 five years. The crop of Indian corn was about 

 equal to that of 1861, and 22 per cent, above the 

 average of the past five years. The area plant- 

 ed was no greater than in 1861. Oats were an 

 average crop ; a larger area having been sown, 

 but the yield to the acre being about one tenth 

 less. The hay crop was slightly above the 

 average, but the great demand for the army 

 kept the price high, $30 per ton being the 

 average price paid by Government in the win- 

 ter of 1862-'3. Potatoes were slightly above 

 the average. Fruits of all kinds were remark- 

 ably abundant, the apple crop being fully dou- 

 ble that of ordinary years, and the peach crop 

 nearly quadruple. Beans were largely above 

 the average in their yield, as were also hops, 

 tobacco, and clover seed. Sorghum was plant- 

 ed in much larger quantities than ever before, 

 and the production of the syrup and sugar 

 nearly doubled. But for the tendency of the 

 seed to deteriorate by admixture with ordi- 

 nary broom corn, &c., the yield would have 

 been still greater.* 



The autumn of 1862 developed the fact that 

 there was again a great deficiency in the cereal 

 crops of Western Europe, and that the export 

 demand for American grains and flour would be 

 nearly equal to that of the preceding year. The 

 following table shows the exports of cereals 

 from two of the principal ports in 1861 and 



1862, as well as the receipts at Chicago, the 

 largest of the lake ports, and at Boston. A 

 large amount of grain was sent to Europe by 

 way of the Welland canal and the St. Lawrence 

 river ; but the amount, as compared with that 

 of the previous year, is not yet ascertainable. 



The exports of grain and flour, it will be equal to those of 1861, but since the 1st of 

 seen by the above table, in 1862 were not quite Jan. 1863, they have been much larger than in 

 . _ ; the same period of 1862, so that the total ex- 



"Thesecropstatisticshavebeencompiledfromtbe-Crop port of the Cropof 1862 will probably fully 

 Reports" of the "American Agriculturist," to which our equal that of 1861 ; the high rate ol exchange 



has contributed materially to this result. The 

 prices of breadstuffs at the beginning of the 



acknowledgments are tendered, 

 t Besides 3t,672 barrels corn meal, 

 j Besides 50,149 barrels corn meal. 



