AGRICULTURE. 



TABLE, showing the total numbers of Live Stock for 1864 and 1865, the increase and decrease *~hereoj 

 average price of each kind, the value of each, and tlie total value, in twenty-three, loyal State 

 tories eaut of the Rocky Mountains. 



', the general 

 j and Terri- 



Number, average price, and total value for January, 

 1865. 



Exports from New York of the leading agricultural products from January 1, 1865, toDecembt 

 with those for the same time in 1864, and their prices in New York and Chicago. 



The following table, extracted from the 

 monthly reports of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, is of importance, as giving the compara- 

 tive exports of farm produce in 186-1 and 1865, 

 and the prices ruling at New York and Chicago 

 at the beginning and close of the year. 



It will be observed that in most articles 

 there was a decided falling off in prices, though 

 not to an extent commensurate with the fall 

 of gold. 



, to December 19, compared 



In the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1864, the 

 culture of the grape was discussed at consid- 

 -erable length, and the various wine districts of 

 the country described. The experience ol 1865 

 indicates that in the districts near the Atlantic 

 coast, or on the Ohio and Mississippi Elvers, 

 the frequent occurrence of wet seasons makes 

 the wine crop an "uncertain one, both as to 

 quality and quantity. The same difficulty is ' 

 experienced in most of the wine districts of 

 Europe, where of late years hardly one year in 

 five proves a " good wine year." In the region 

 lying on Lake Erie, and embracing the southern 

 islands of that lake in "Western Missouri and 

 Kansas, and probably also in Texas, there is 

 les? difficulty experienced in making wine. 

 But California is preeminently the wine region 

 of the United States. Its dry climate, semi- 

 tropical in its character, its deep, rich, and aro- 

 matic soil, and the fact that all the tenderest 



varieties of grapes of the South of Europe grow 

 freely in the open air there and are readily 

 acclimated, render it the future wine-producing 

 regron of the continent. There are probably 

 not less than 10,000,000 vines which have 

 been set within the past ten years, of which 

 one-half were set in 1864 and 1865. The wine 

 product of 1864 exceeded 4,000,000 gallons, 

 although the extreme drought diminished it 

 somewhat. While the production of wine in 

 that State is still comparatively in its infancy, 

 and every year increases the amount and im- 

 proves the quality, we may ere long expect to 

 receive from thence wines which shall compete 

 successfully with the best products of the best 

 vintages of Europe, for with the choicest va- 

 rieties of wine grapes they have also the most 

 skilful wine makers of Europe. 



The culture of the hop though restricted to 

 comparatively small tracts of country, and more 



