should be planted within that period in said four townships not less than five hundred olive-trees, unless it should have previously been established that the olive could not be successfully cultivated thereon.

It appears from the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, in December, 1827, that there were 7,414 acres cultivated within the above-named tract, principally in vines, cotton, corn, small grain, &c. The quantity of land devoted to the vines was 271 acres, which, according to an estimate, is not more than one-tenth part of what was originally planted. The vineyards occupied fields which had previously been cultivated with cotton, the vines standing 10 feet apart in one direction and 20 feet in the other, each fastened to a stake. The number of olive-trees standing on the grant was three hundred and eighty-eight, some of which were six years planted and others only three. There were also planted on the tract twenty-five thousand olive seeds. It has been stated that about five hundred French emigrants settled under this concession, yet, comparatively but few made any considerable improvements, although extensive and profitable farms were in possession of Americans who had purchased them from the grantees. The chief reasons assigned for the failure of performance on the part of the emigrants were not only the natural obstacles incident to the settlement of a new country, but many of them came prematurely to their lands without funds sufficient. to improve their allotments or even to provide for their immediate support. The region of country to which they were to remove was then a wilderness, almost impervious to the approach of man, and the means of transportation were so difficult and expensive, that many persons, upon their arrival, were compelled to settle temporarily on small lots of land, where their funds were exhausted, and they became unable to make a second settlement on a larger scale. For several years, the colony was remarkably unhealthy, scarcely a family escaping sickness, and numbers of the grantees died. Again, possessing, as they did, but little knowledge of our agricultural economy, strangers to the language, the manners and habits of our people, it is not surprising that they should be retarded in their progress, and be less prosperous than the citizens of the United States.

The chief causes which led to failures in the culture of the olive and the vine were ascribed to the necessity each grantee was under of first obtaining the means of subsistence; the difficulty and length of time required in clearing and preparing the land nearly seven years elapsing before this was accomplished; yet, very early importations of cuttings were made, a large quantity of which arrived out of season; and when we consider the lateness of the period in Europe at which they had to be taken, and the early time at which they must be planted in Alabama, it is obvious that any considerable delay in the arrival of vessels must have caused them to perish on the way. All of the cuttings which arrived alive were carefully planted, though large numbers of them died, owing, as was believed, to the newness of the soil. Again, the kinds of vine imported did not appear in all cases to be adapted to our climate, and, doubtless, the modes of culture in Europe and in this country are radically different. Finally,

the olive-trees that were planted perished with every winter's frost, but put up fresh shoots again in the spring, which also perished with that of the succeeding season.

On the 30th of June, 1834, Congress granted 36 sections of land (23,040 acres) to the Polish exiles, then recently expelled from Europe by Austria, on conditions of actual settlement and the improvement of the soil.

In 1838, similar views again, probably, prompted Congress to grant to Dr. Henry Perrine, a township 6 miles square (23,040 acres,) in Dade county, in Florida, on the implied condition of introducing the culture and domestication" of tropical plants. But, perhaps, owing to the want of a practical knowledge of the business and of funds adequate to carry the project into execution, little, if anything, was done by Dr. Perrine, and the enterprise was abandoned at his death, in 1839.

But

The pre-emption system afterwards expanded into one of vast proportions, under the passage of the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1799, which was special, and only included certain purchasers of lands in the Northwest Territory, under one John Cleve Symmes, being more in the nature of a relief act. At various periods since that time, extending through a space of about thirty years, special pre-emption acts were passed for the benefit of settlers in Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas. the first general pre-emption law was approved May 29, 1830. This act gave to every settler or occupant of the public lands, prior to its passage, and then in possession, and who had cultivated any part thereof, in the year 1829, the right to purchase his claim, not exceeding a quarter section, or 160 acres, in preference to all other persons, upon performing the conditions of the act, at the government minimum price of $1 25 per acre, and by its own limitation was to continue in force for a year from the date of its approval. Afterwards, several acts were passed, continuing the privileges of the above act to certain settlers. On the 22d June, 1838, the privileges of the act of 1830 were extended to every settler, who was the head of a family, or over the age of twenty-one years, in possession as a housekeeper by personal residence, on the land claimed at the time of its passage and for four months preceding.

The next in order of time is the act of June 1, 1840, which was supplemental to the act of 1838, and enlarged the privileges therein granted. But the great pre-emption act, which has superseded all prior laws on the subject, and which has disseminated its blessings throughout the extent of our great country, was approved the 4th September, 1841, and its provisions in the main have governed in all subsequent enactments up to the present time. Our legislators, at that period, seem to have been actuated by a noble spirit of liberality both to aliens and to natives, not forgetting the rights of women. This act has probably done more towards the promotion of settlements in the vast regions of the West and Northwest, and in the development of their agricultural resources and interests, than all other causes combined. It gives to every-one who is the head of a family whether

favored by the blessings of peace, brought into existence twentythree, a number which, during the eleven years, from 1831 to 1841, under the continued influence of peace, was raised to one hundred and nine. The next period, embracing the four years from 1842 to 1845, the commencement of which is distinguished for the establishment of the Board of Rural Economy, shows the formation of eightyfive societies, followed by an increase of seventy-five during the five years ensuing. From that time, up to 1855, there was an addition of one hundred and eleven societies.

This statement shows that there were one hundred and forty-two societies organized prior to the establishment of the Board of Rural Economy, in 1842, while the number formed after that time amounts to two hundred and seventy-one-certainly a gratifying increase, and no doubt greatly owing to the energy and beneficent influence, both directly and indirectly, emanating from that board, and the general administrative organization of the agricultural affairs of the country. Among these societies may be instanced the following, designed for special objects:

Horticulture

Breeding, rearing, and management of horses
Bee-culture

Cultivation of forests.

Wine-culture..

Fruit-culture

Silk-culture

Flax and hemp-culture..

Cultivation of beet-root

No. of Societies.

13

13

12

8

1

5

20

3

1

1

Collection, trial, and exhibition of the best agricul-
tural implements and machines.

Besides the above, there are a number of teachers' and villages' agricultural associations; also, seventeen societies for the improvement of the moral and social condition of servants; and an agricultu ral work-house to afford practical and theoretical training to orphans and other children in want of care. There are also several agricultural banks for savings, as well as exchanges for ascertaining the best modes of selling products and providing for the protection of the interests of mechanics. There are four societies for the embellishment of private and public grounds; joint-stock companies for draining and improving grass-lands; agricultural fire and cattle insurance societies, as well as companies for the importation of breeding animals.

It may be stated, moreover, that agricultural machinery receives a large share of attention from the government and societies in loans and donations of money, as well as in premiums and provision for the education of mechanics. There are fifty-five establishments of large size, worked either by steam or water-power, in the manufacture of machines, and twenty-eight smaller ones, principally engaged in repairing.

Among the societies, there are some which purchase and sell ap

proved implements and machines to their members; while others. cause them to be manufactured for gratuitous distribution. Of these, they possess some fifty-six cabinets of working models, including numerous machines for the manufacture of drain-tiles, for the use of members. Some of the societies own property, others lease grounds or hold public property in charge or trust for agricultural and experimental purposes. A number of them are also provided with collections of wool and Cereals, models of fruit, herbariums, mineral cabinets, chemical apparatus, philosophical instruments, designs, drawings and paintings of agricultural objects. The societies have, in the aggregate, some seventy-three libraries, for the benefit of the members, used either gratuitously or for a small compensation, a regulation also applying to the perusal of the newspapers, periodicals, and annual reports in their possession, being fifty-one in number. Of these, four are published by the government, forty-one by the societies, and six by private persons. The objects to which these publications are individually devoted are as follows: Horticulture, five; breeding, rearing, and management of horses, four; fruit-culture, one; forestculture, one; wine-culture, one; bee-culture, three; silk-culture, two; statistics, two; the rest being devoted to agriculture generally. The agricultural publications in other parts of Germany, so far as is ascertained, amount to thirty-eight; the whole number being eighty-nine.

Of agricultural institutions for education there are two classesone including the colleges, and the other the elementary schools. Of colleges, there are five, three of which are supported by the gov ernment, but two are private. In the colleges are taught the various systems of husbandry, farm management, book-keeping, cultivation of arable and grass-lands, horticulture, landscape gardening and rural embellishments, silviculture, agricultural technology, mechanics, natural philosophy, botany, mineralogy, a knowledge of the soils, mathematics, agricultural chemistry, zoology, breeding, rearing, and management of animals, veterinary surgery, classification of sheep and wool, entomology, practical operations in the garden and field, designing and drawing, national economy, and the law and history appertaining to agriculture.

There are twenty-eight elementary schools, some of which are supported by the government; others by societies; while a third class is private. In these are taught the elementary branches of agricultural education, by lectures and demonstrations, in a manner adapted to the comprehension of the pupils.

Besides the above, there are other schools devoted to special objects Draining and improving meadows, five; management of forests, ten; horticulture, six; silk-culture, one; flax-culture, four; bee-culture, one; raising of sheep, two; spinning schools, fifteen; the whole number being fifty-seven. In the neighborhood of some of these schools, there are machine shops, where the pupils have an opportunity of witnessing the making of various machines, thus uniting practice with theory. There are also model farms and experimental grounds of various sizes, amounting in all to seventy-two,

some being conducted by the government; others by societies; while a third class belongs to private individuals. Instruction is often encouraged by premiums offered by societies to the best pupils. The more important of these institutions have commissioners appointed to furnish regular reports to the Department of Agriculture, and though the greater number of them have only been in existence for about ten years, the results are considered satisfactory.

For the further improvement of flax-culture, the government provides some districts with stationary, and others with itinerant teachers, practically trained for the cultivation of flax and dye plants. There is also set aside for this purpose a special appropriation (the Royal Grace Fund) and a mutual stock company. In its manufacture penitentiary labor is sometimes employed. Some of the societies provide for the distribution of good flax-seed and machinery, publishing, also, circulars on its improvement.

For silk-culture, there are ten reeling establishments, and twentyone mulberry plantations. Some of the societies distribute cuttings and seeds, a portion of which is planted on roadsides, graveyards, and other public places. Among the silk-growers there are some who also give instruction in this branch, as is done in the model silk establishment at Breslau, which has reeling and spinning machines, with an operative hatching machine, and eighteen smaller ones, the latter distributed as models among the agricultural officers in the various parts of the districts. It has also three ingenious models for showing the interior structures made by the worms in the stages of the last development. It likewise issues communications on this subject.

The improvement of arable and grass-lands is liberally and most advantageously encouraged and promoted on the part of the government and societies by judicious appointments of draining engineers in several parts of the country, the profits of which enterprises, in an agricultural and economical point of view, are most clearly shown in the construction of excellent roads as well as in those large tracts of arable and grass-lands regained from a net of lakes and swamps in the northeastern part of the kingdom.

With regard to fruit-culture, there are several model pomological gardens, a large number of nurseries for growing fruit-trees, coniferous and foliaceous trees, and two for raising tree seeds. Some of these nurseries are conducted by the government; others by the agricultural societies, with a view of distributing seeds, cuttings, and trees among their members, an illustration of which is given in an official report on the nurseries planted in the province of Westphalia in 1855. From this report, it appears that this province has nine hundred and forty-five nurseries, containing four hundred and thirty-nine thousand, four hundred and eighty ungrafted stocks, and two hundred and twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty-two grafted ones, and that the trees sold and distributed over the province amounted to twenty-three thousand, one hundred and forty-one. Some of the nurseries are the property or in charge of private persons, especially of experienced teachers, for the purpose of diffusing that kind of