Other chemists were also consulted or employed in different parts of the Union, to determine practically the feasibility of crystallizing the juice of the Chinese sugar-cane-a question, as will be seen, which has been fully and satisfactorily solved and put at rest.

An agent was also employed during the past season to visit Arkansas, Texas, and the neighboring Territories, for the purpose of selecting cuttings of the native grape-vines, with a view of testing their adaptation to wine-making and for table use in various sections of the Union. In his journeys over a vast extent of country, travelling much of the distance on foot through regions wild, rugged, often without roads, and presenting no shelter to the wayfarer, even at night, he succeeded in collecting several thousand cuttings of the best varieties of vine indigenous to those tracts, which have been placed in proper hands for direct experiment in various localities, as well as in the forcing-house of Government on the public grounds in Washington, in order that they may take root preparatory for future distribution.

The manufacture of wine from our native grapes, it is well known, was practised not only by the French settlers on the Illinois river, but by several of the Indian tribes, who regaled themselves with the "must," or juice of wild grapes. Experiments in wine-making, both with the European grape and our own species, have also been made at various periods in other parts of the territory of the United States; but the designs of those interested have never been brought to perfection with the foreign grape, California and New Mexico excepted, owing, it is believed, to the unsuitableness of our climate, which, on the contrary, is favorable to the native varieties. Notwithstanding these difficulties, many patriotic individuals have persisted in the endeavor to make this a wine country by establishing nurseries and vineyards, their motives, in many instances, doubtless being influenced by a desire to promote the cause of temperance, and consequently of health and happiness. The past experience of the world has shown that inebriety, and the attendant evils produced by the use of distilled and factitious liquors, as beverages, disappear in proportion as pure wine becomes accessible to the people.

Within the territory of the United States, it has been stated that there are at least forty well-defined botanical species, including

upward of one hundred varieties of native grapes. More than half of these are susceptible of being converted into a wholesome wine, either alone or with the addition of sugar, and among these only some ten or twelve varieties are sufficiently palatable for table use. All, doubtless, would flourish near their native sites, and many of them, probably, would succeed well, and improve in the qualities of their fruit, if transferred to other States. It has been recommended that the best varieties of the Northern grapes, which mature early in August, might be cultivated in the Middle and Southern States, with the view of obtaining them several weeks earlier than the varieties already existing in those regions.

One of the greatest checks to this species of culture in this country has been the time required for the grapes to produce well, often being from three to six years. Farmers and others, who could conveniently engage in it, have been impatient to have yearly returns in their crops, and have been unwilling to wait for the vines to come into bearing. Another obstacle has been the difficulty and expense of procuring cuttings or roots. Were they to propagate vines from seeds of the wild grape, they would never be sure to produce fruit of the same quality, as a new variety will often be the result; and, besides, many of those thus cultivated would prove sterile or male vines. Moreover, a seedling vine, unless grafted, will not bear fruit until it is five, ten, or perhaps fifteen years old, while cuttings will bear in from three to five years. Again, the process of hybridizing the European grape. on our native species is a somewhat difficult one, as well as long and tedious. And finally, the greatest discouragement has arisen from the want of a knowledge of the principles of vinification, which has so often resulted in the production of inferior or worthless articles— not wines, but unwholesome factitious mixtures.

The entomologist employed by the Office confined his researches during the past season principally to the insects frequenting the cotton plant, and the diseases affecting it in Mississippi and Tennessee. At present, he is employed in Florida, in the regions of St. John's River, in prosecuting his inquiries and experimenting upon the insects which infest the orange groves and cotton fields. His labor, it is believed, will be fraught with much benefit to planters, and to the country at large.

Among the seeds, cuttings, and tubers which have been introduced from abroad, or have been made the subject of experiment in this country since the date of the last Annual Report on Agriculture from this Office, it may be stated that—

The cuttings of the sugar cane-imported from Demerara by government for the planters of the South promise to attain a large size, and, should they prove sufficiently hardy to withstand the climate of the regions where they are intended to grow, it is believed that they will amply compensate in the end for the trouble of introducing them. In addition to the large amount of Chinese sugar-cane seed cultivated and distributed towards the close of the last year, more than one hundred bushels of the seed of this plant were imported from France, and distributed throughout the cultivated parts of our territory for experiment. Sufficient returns have been made to convince us that this new product will prove of incalculable value for feeding stock, and promises fair to be of other economical use in all situations where the corn-plant will thrive.

The success attending the culture of the Chinese yam has also been such as to warrant us in stating that it is well adapted to our soil and climate; but how far it can be depended upon as an alimentary basis as a substitute for the common potato can only be determined by further experiments. The aspersions and prejudices which have been advanced against this esculent for the last two years have probably arisen from a want of knowledge of its habits and the disadvantages under which it has often been grown. For instance, most of the plants which have been propagated in this country have been started from the small tubers, or pseudo bulbs, taken from the vines of the preceding year. These, in many cases, probably, did not possess sufficient substance to maintain the vitality of the plants, and even when they did, it was in so feeble a degree as not to allow the growth of the roots to make much progress before the second year. Several tubers have been presented to this Office exceeding two feet in length and weighing nearly two pounds each.

Among the Cereal grains distributed by the Office in the course of the past summer, I would instance several varieties of wheat obtained from the shores of the Mediterranean, and a quantity of bald barley from Tuscany, which, it may reasonably be expected, will succeed in many localities where they have been sown.

Having thus endeavored to carry out what he believed to be the intention of Congress in making the appropriation for agricultural purposes, the undersigned herewith presents the results which have been attained during the past year.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

J. HOLT,

Commissioner.

Hon. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE,

President of the United States Senate.

PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE.

PROGRESS AND PUBLIC ENCOURAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN RUSSIA, PRUSSIA, AND THE UNITED STATES.

BY D. J. BROWNE.

ALTHOUGH it is a well established axiom in political economy that the wealth and material welfare of nations, upon which their power and financial prosperity depend, are primarily determined by the productive forces each country possesses within itself, it is conceded that the effects of institutions-social, economic, or administrativehave done more to increase their industrial interests than all other moral and political causes combined. In common language, we often hear a country spoken of as agricultural, manufacturing, or commercial; but these terms imply only relative values, which serve to indicate the degree of importance occupied in a given territory by one or other of these three branches of productive industry, or rather the degree of development at which its industry or commerce has arrived; for at all times and in all countries, agriculture, the "nursing mother of nations," forms the basis of wealth and prosperity, and the plough, in its modest guise, plays the principal part in the creation of values, even in countries the most commercial and industrial. Of this, England furnishes a most notable example: In the scale of nations, she is decidedly the most commercial, as well as the most industrial-her trade and industry forming the basis of her power; and yet, it appears from the returns of her income-tax that the net revenue of all her manufactures and commerce, and of all her personal capital, does not exceed two-thirds of the net revenue derived from her agriculture alone. From this single fact, we may infer the degree of pre-eminence which should be attributed to the agricultural element of national wealth.

In proceeding to the subject immediately before us, namely, the encouragement of agriculture in some of the leading countries of the globe, it may be stated that, from the rapid advancement of this science under the mere influence of an increasing population and a more diffused intelligence, aside from all intrinsic causes, such as the infinite variety of industrial products, the unprecedented progress which industry has made within the last quarter century, the tribute