AGRICULTURE. 



27,000 in Egypt, 30,000 in Abyssinia, 10,000 in 

 Tunis and Tripolis. 



Protestantism prevails in Liberia, in the Cape 

 Colony, and other English possessions. In 

 Madagascar, where the missionaries have been 

 able to gather again the dispersed native con- 

 gregations, the number of Protestants is suppos- 

 ed to reach fully 10,000. Altogether the num- 

 ber of the population connected with or at least 

 under the influence of Protestant denomina- 

 tions is estimated at about 730,000. 



Of other Christian bodies, there are in Africa 

 the Abyssinian Church with a population of 

 3,000,000 ; the Copts in Egypt, whose number 

 is estimated by some at 150,000, by others at 

 250,000 ; Syrian Christians (hi Egypt), 5,000 ; 

 Greeks (in Egypt), 5,000 ; Armenians, 2,000. 



The negro tribes in the interior of Africa 

 have, since the beginning of the present cen- 

 tury, adopted to a large extent the Mohamme- 

 dan creed. More recently it has been reported 

 that Islamism is making some inroads in re- 

 gions which have been hitherto regarded as 

 secured to Christianity. On the west coast of 

 Africa it has proselyted many of the lib- 

 erated Africans, and is now extending south- 

 erly on the coast. In the Cape Colony the 

 Mohammedan working people are accounted 

 among the most orderly part of the population, 

 and many of them find wives among the Eng- 

 lish girls, who do not scruple to adopt the re- 

 ligion of their husbands. 



AGRICULTURE. The crops of the year 

 1863 were not generally equal to those of 1862. 

 The wheat crop exceeded that of 1862, in the 

 quantity produced, about one million of bush- 

 els ; but this was owing to the considerably 

 greater breadth sown, and not to the number 

 of bushels grown to the acre. The quality of 

 the grain was somewhat inferior. The amount 

 of rye produced was nearly half a million of 

 bushels less than in 1862, and of barley about 

 a million bushels less ; while the production of 

 oats (though the grain itself was lighter) was 

 about two and one third million bushels more. 

 The great falling off, however, was in the fall 

 crops corn, buckwheat, and potatoes, and 

 was due to two severe frosts : one occurring on 

 the 28th, 29th, and 30th of August ; the other 

 on the 18th of September. These frosts were 

 most severe in a tract extending from Lake 

 Superior southward as far as Tennessee, and, 

 perhaps, five hundred miles in width. In the 

 northeast, the second frost did not appear till 

 the 22d of September, and in New York not 

 until the 24th, and was much less severe than 

 in the Mississippi valley. The corn, at the 

 time of the first frost, was not sufficiently for- 

 ward to have formed much of its starch prin- 

 ciple, and as the sap flowed but little after the 

 first frost, and not at all after the second, it 

 was prevented from any complete development, 

 and dried up in a shrivelled condition. The 

 falling off in the amount of the crop, notwith- 

 standing the much greater breadth planted, was 

 over 134 millions of bushels, about one fourth 



of the crop of the previous year, and the qual- 

 ity of much of that gathered was very poor, 

 possessing no fattening properties. As a result 

 of this, the number of hogs fattened was very 

 much smaller than the previous year, and the 

 larger part of those slaughtered were not in 

 such condition as to furnish the best grades of 

 mess pork. The same frost materially dimin- 

 ished the potato crop, which, in consequence, 

 was 13 millions of bushels less than the pre- 

 vious year, and the buckwheat crop, which fell 

 off nearly three millions of bushels, or about 

 one sixth of the crop. 



The grain crops of England and France 

 were much better than they had been for 

 two years previous, and hence the export de- 

 mand was not as heavy; but the large de- 

 mand for the army and navy, and the short 

 crop of corn, enhanced the price of all descrip- 

 tions of bread stuff, and at the close of the year, 

 they were from twenty to twenty-five per cent, 

 higher than in 1862. Provisions of the higher 

 grades had advanced, mainly from the falling 

 off of the corn crop, about 30 per cent. ; but 

 the exports of these, owing in part, perhaps, to 

 the higher rates of exchange, had increased dur- 

 ing the year over any previous year. The ac- 

 companying tables will exhibit the estimated 

 amount of the principal crops in each of the 

 Northern States in 1862 and 1863, and the ex- 

 ports of agricultural produce. 



The following crops and products are esti- 

 mated in the aggregate by the Agricultural 

 Department from the monthly returns of their 

 correspondents, as follows, in 1862 and 1863 : 



Ex/ports of JBreadstvffs and Provisions in 1862 and 

 1863 from New York. 



The culture of the grape, both as a table fruit 

 and for the purpose of producing wine, has re- 

 ceived a new impulse the past year. The com- 

 parative merits of different varieties have been 

 very thoroughly ascertained. For table pur- 

 poses it seems to be settled that, in the north- 

 ern tier of States, the Delaware, Concord, and 

 Hartford Prolific are the most desirable, ripen- 

 ing earlier than others, and producing fruit of 

 a good quality. For the region lying south 

 of 40 N. latitude, the Catawba. Diana, Union 

 Village, Isabella, and Allen's Hybrid are re- 



