80 



BRAZIL. 



BRONGNIART, ADOLPHE T. 



the province of Matto Grosso, or throughout 

 an area of nearly 1,200,000 square miles, has 

 represented during the three quinquennial 

 periods 1859-74 almost one-half of the total 

 value of the exports. Much care and atten- 

 tion are bestowed upon the culture and prep- 

 aration for market of this article, the demand 

 for which, in foreign countries, is constantly 

 increasing, as may be seen in the subjoined 

 tables for the five-year period of 1839-'44 and 

 that of 1869-'74: 



Here is observed a mean annual increase of 

 2.86 per cent, in the quantity and of 11.72 per 

 cent, in the value of the coffee sent out of the 

 country during the periods mentioned. 



But the rate of increase grew sensibly larger 

 in the second of the two periods just mentioned, 

 as attested by the subjoined comparative table 

 of the quantities and values of the exports for 

 the biennial periods of 1870-'72 and 1872-'74: 



The total quantity of coffee now produced 

 in the empire is estimated at 572,000,000 

 Ibs. per annum, of which one-fifth, approxi- 

 mately, is reserved for home consumption; 

 and the total number of coffee-shrubs is stated, 

 by competent authority, to be not under 600,- 

 000,000. 



Cotton. This staple has been constantly 

 cultivated, from the early colonial times down 

 . to the present. 



The following comparative table serves to 

 exhibit the increase in the quantities and value 

 of the cotton exported in the five-year periods 

 1839-'44and 1869-'74: 



Sugar. Sugar-culture, formerly very ex- 

 tensively carried on in Brazil, was somewhat 

 neglected after the introduction of the coffee- 

 shrub ; but the production of sugar has been 

 once more extended, and that, too, in a con- 

 siderable degree, as is shown in the following 

 comparative tables of the exports in the quin- 

 quennial periods 1839-'44 and 1869-'74 : 



Hides dry and salted manifest in like man- 

 ner a constant increase in quantity and value 

 of exports. There were 61,451,372 Ibs. of 

 these commodities sent out of the country in 

 the five years 1869-'74, at a value of $5,829,- 

 576, being more than double the quantity and 

 nearly four times the value of the exports of 

 the same articles in the quinquennial period 

 1839-'44. 



It is calculated that there are at the present 

 time 20,000,000 head of bovine cattle in Brazil, 

 representing a value of $113,600,000. 



India-rubber. This important commodity, 

 extracted from the Siphonia elastica, which 

 grows spontaneously in great abundance in the 

 provinces of Para and Amazonas, from the 

 sea-shore to a distance of some 2,000 miles 

 westward, has become of late years the object 

 of an immense trade, and is steadily advanc- 

 ing in value. Here follows a table of the ex- 

 ports of India-rubber for the same periods 

 given in the foregoing tabular statistics : 



Tobacco, in the periods hitherto referred to, 

 increased threefold in quantity exported, and 

 more than eightfold in value. The exports do 

 not, however, yet exceed 6,500,000 Ibs. per 

 annum, at a value of about $742,000. 



At the beginning of 1876 there were, in 

 Brazil, twenty-two lines of railway, with an 

 aggregate length of 1,143 miles; sixteen lines 

 in course of building, with an aggregate length 

 of 830 miles; and some twenty-eight pro- 

 jected, to have a total length of 4,080 miles. 



BRONGNTART, ADOLPHE THEODORE, a 

 French botanist, born January 14, 1801 ; died 

 February 18, 1876. He was the son of Ale- 

 xandre Brongniart, an eminent French natural- 

 ist. At an early age he devoted himself to 

 the study of the natural sciences, particularly 

 to that of botany, making the history of the 

 cryptogams a special study. Before 1825 he pub- 

 lished his "Classification des Champignons," 

 and in 1828 he presented to the French Institute 

 the first two volumes of his " Histoire des Vege- 

 taux Fossiles, ou Recherches Botaniques et 

 Geologiques sur les Vegetaux renfer'mes dans 

 les Diverses Couches du Globe." The progress 

 of this last-named work was interrupted by his 

 feeble health. He was appointed, in 1833, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany in the Museum of Natural 

 History, and in 1852 Inspector-General of the 

 University for the Natural Sciences. In 1834 

 he was elected a member of the Academy of 

 Sciences in the place of Desfontaines, and in 

 1866 he was created a member of the Coun- 

 cil for Secondary Special Instruction, and a 

 member of the Imperial Council of Public In- 

 struction. He was one of the founders of the 

 "Annales des Sciences Naturelles," and con- 

 tributed to this, as well as to other scientific 



