92 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



any gentleman who would have the goodness to answer, or aid him in answer- 

 ing, the above queries. 



According to that veritable document, the Census of the United States for 1840, 

 the whole quantity of hops raised in the United States the previous year was 

 1,238,502 pounds. New- York gets credit for 447,250 pounds, being nearly double 

 the amount of either one of the two next greatest hop-growers, to wit — Massa- 

 chusetts, 254,795, and New-Hampshire, 243,425 pounds. But, strange to say, in 

 her own returns of 1845 we find no mention whatever made of hops ! while, ac- 

 cording to her Slate returns, Massachusetts, in 1844, produced 365,130 pounds, 

 valued at $32,251 ; being less than 9 cents a pound — a low valuation, that sur- 

 prises us. At an average often cents, the whole product of the United States in 

 1839 was but f 123,850 20. 



Here, again, little Delaware is made to sing small as usual when she falls mto 

 the clutches of Uncle Sam's agents. She is put down for 746 pounds of hops 

 and 52f pounds of hemp and flax ! Hops are now (July 14) selling in New-York 

 for 18 cents per lb. 



How easy for every family to have growing about their house and garden as many 

 vmes as would afford more than they could use for domestic purposes. What 

 vine more beautiful — what growth more clean and fragrant to look at and to han- 

 dle? Surely nobody in the country buys any ! That would be almost as bad as 

 buying apples or grapes.] 



EDITORIAL CORRESrONDENCE. 



SUBSOIL OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE LAND OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CON.IECTURE AS TO THE CAUSE OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THAT TREE. 



" Yor inquire the nature of the snhnoil of our piney lands ? It is various In many places 

 the pine lands are low and flat, or very level. Here there is no sand visible, yet it is sandy, 

 and of a dark cast — ofttni on a substratum of a dark, indurated sand, harder than slate stone. 

 Such is most common nearer the sea-board, as you may remember, 10 to -tO miles north of 

 Wilmington on the railroad. In the regions farther up, we have great levels of pine on low, 

 wet lands, with only ton or twelve inches of yellow sand and soil on a substratum of clay. 

 These are now, and will be in ages to come, the best fannhig lands of the country. 



" The long-leaf does not grow in swamp/t or mnddy places, though they do on flats and 

 lands on the borders of such places. The pine which grows in the branches, nnid and 

 swamps, is of the s/wrMeafed kind, with very little resinous matter, and of little worth, save 

 the very heart, which is said to outlast even light-wood. 



" Long-leaf pine and sand may be said to accompany each other in tlie .Southern States, 

 though, as observed, the sand is not always visible on the .surface, j-et there it is, invariably, 

 and of a yeUowish hue either on the surface or near it." 



In giving the preceding from Col. Macleod, we take the occasion to suggest, 

 rather in the way of inquiry, than for the expression of any settled opinion, 

 whether the disappearance of the long-leafed pine over large districts of country 

 spoken of by him in a recent communication, may not be caused by the ravages 

 of some insect ? The possibility of it is brought to mind by the following pas- 

 sages from Rknnif.'s interesting work on " Insect Akcihtixture-" 



This is another of those lighter ))roductions in which instruction is happily 

 blended with amusement, and which ought to be made to beguile or take the 



