COMPARATIVE destination of coffee exported in 1848 and 1849, showing the increase or decrease in 1849: BAGS. BAGS. Destination. 1848. 1849. Antwerp......... 101.729 87,126 Baltic,.... 26.048 16,186 Bremen... 18,546 9,273 Channel......... 190,912 297,493 106,584 Denmark, France,. Inc'se. Dec'se. Destination. 1848. 1849. Inc'se. Dec'se. 11,082 3,028 26,249 48,806 9,422 6,366 175,775 Hamburg and Alta 475,581 70,916 104,665 1,710,707 1,453,980. ........ 256,727 COMPARATIVE export of coffee, in bags, to the various ports of the United States, from 1847 to 1849: The exportation of the first six months of 1850 will be immeasurably short of that in the same period of 1849, but to what extent it is not possible to state; nor can any estimate be made for some few months, as this will principally depend upon the quantity of new coffee which may be received by the end of "May or beginning of June. 749,039 bags were shipped by seven houses; the names of these, and the quantities shipped by each of them during the last three years, are as follows: 1849. 1848. 1847. 1849. 1848. 1847. Maxwell, Wright & Co.,..204,676 237.727 164,163 G. & W. Heymann,....... 69,684 38,328 55,721 Phipps. Brothers & Co....154,286 128,642 127,577 | Stockmeyer, Saportas & Coleman. Hutton & Co.,111,100 152,348 121.191 63,251 50.241 24.318 F. Le Breton & Co....... 91,316 130,123 69,314 Miller, Le Cocq & Co.,.... 54,726 59,806 50,201 Co.,... MOVEMENT of the flour market from 1847 to 1849, both years inclusive: 18,472 2,719 2,425 Total in 1848,..244,812 210,249 40.448 17,402 1847,..190,875 178,895 36,850 27,273 SALES FROM 1847 to 1849. Richmond. Baltimore. Southern. European. 13,427 3,214 530 66 March.... Jan. 1 to Mar. 31.. April,. May, ....... 11,786 24,258 June,. 6,865 8,977 3,022 16 1848,62.6442 4,142 4,064 1847,.....65,843 Jan. 1 to June 1849,..... 90,40112 83,506 5. STATISTICS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.* EXTENT. The extent of the republic of Liberia, on the western coast of Africa, was thus defined at a recent meeting of her legislature: commencing at the mouth of the Grand Cape Mount river, on the north-west, it runs due south-east to Grand Sesters, in 4° 41' north latitude, and 88' west longitude from Greenwich; the mean parallel distance from the ocean being forty-five miles, and the length of coast, from Cape Mount to Grand Sesters, being estimated at four hundred miles. The right of possession and jurisdiction over all this line has been purchased from the native proprietors by the American Colonization Society. For some time past, vigorous efforts have been made to procure the Gallinas ter The term Liberia was given to the then colony, by the Colonization Society, in 1824. The late Gen. Robert Goodloe Harper, of Maryland, is entitled to the honor of proposing the name; and, as he himself said, "I have thought of this name because it expresses the object and nature of our institution, and denotes a settlement of persons made free." ritory. This tract of country is immediately west of Cape Mount, and is noted as one of the chief points for shipping the poor victims of the slave trade. It is thought that there will be no serious difficulty in securing it, as soon as the necessary means are received for the purpose. POPULATION. The inhabitants of Liberia, emigrants from the United States and their children, number four thousand. To these may be added about one thousand natives, civilized and admitted to the privileges of the polls and the rights of citizenship in general. The natives, residing on land owned by the republic, and directly amenable to its laws, are estimated at from fifteen to twenty-five thousand. The population of the allied tribes in the interior, who are bound by treaty to abstain from the slave trade, under penalty of death, is not accurately known, but may be safely estimated at two hundred thousand. TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS.-Monrovia, on the south side of Cape Mesurado, near the north-western boundary of Liberia, is the capital and chief place of tradepopulation, one thousand. The other ports are Marshall and Farmington, on the Junk river; Edina, Bexley and Rosenberg, on the Saint John's river; Bassa Cove and Cresson, on the coast, near the mouth of the last named river, and Greenville, Blue Barre, Louisiana, Sinol and Reedville, on or near the Sinoe river. The more inland towns are Caldwell, New Georgia, Millsburg, Kentucky, White Plains and Heddington, on the Saint Paul's river. PRODUCTIONS OF THE SOIL.-Coffee, cotton, sugar cane, rice, indigo, Indian corn, potatoes, yams, cassadas, bananas, arrowroot, nuts of almost all varieties, castor oil beans, ginger, pepper, cocoa, beans, peas, fruits, are various and abundant, and many other tropical productions. EXPORTS.-The chief exports are camwood, ivory, palm oil, coffee, ginger, arrowroot and pepper. The value of these articles annually exported, as per official returns, is near $100,000. IMPORTS.-Tobacco, cotton goods of all kinds, silks, hardware, crockery ware, and flour, beef, pork, bacon, cheese, soap, candles, &c., are imported into Liberia, principally from the United States, to the amount of $120,000 to $150,000 per annum. RELIGIOUS ASPECT.-Churches, 28; communicants, 2,000, of whom 700 are natives and recaptured Africans. EDUCATION. Schools, 20; scholars, 670, of whom 200 are native Africans. The Sunday schools embrace a far larger number. In addition to these, the higher branches of education are taught in the Alexander High School, at Monrovia, and in the Methodist Conference Seminaries, at Monrovia and White Plains. In the foregoing, we have merely given the statistics of the new republic, as gleaned from official sources. They may be relied upon as correct. Cape Palmas, being a separate colony, under the auspices and entire control of the Maryland State Colonization Society, is not included, in any way, in the foregoing, At the present time, there is not a white person in Liberia at all connected with its government. The few that are within its limits are exclusively occupied in missionary operations among the natives. Among other interesting facts, the colored man is there working out the problem of self-government. Past events have, so far, proved his entire capability; let us try and endeavor to remove all obstacles from his path, so that the trial may be a fair one. 6. PRODUCTIONS OF CUBA. We have published several elaborate articles upon this island, in our first eight volumes, and, more particularly, in the number for April, 1850. AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER PRODUCTIONS OF CUBA IN 1849. Dairy and Domestic Animals. Garden fruits,. .$14.839.050 Beef, $3,605,780 1.346.055 Esculent vegetables and fodder,... Tobacco, Coffee, 1,884,982 Hides, 1,750,110 Mutton, 1,711,193 1,462.728 3,278,175 .$51,972,202 Grand total, 180.289 120,000 Total value of the dairy and do- mestic animals,..... Agricultural productions,........ 51,972,202 .$ 7,819,260 $59,791,462 1. COTTON-WHAT THE LONDON TIMES THINKS OF THE AMERICAN MONOPOLY. THE law of supply and demand is the leverage which moves the commercial world. When an indispensable article of consumption becomes scarce, the value, as a natural consequence, rises in the market, just as it falls in value when there is a superabundance. Applying this incontrovertible fact to cotton, you would imagine, to hear certain sapient persons talk, that they desired a bill of indictment against the whole of the southern planters, because they cannot control the seasons and furnish abundance of raw material for all the spindles in the world. These grumblers forget that the grower can no more regulate the price of cotton than he can mete out the sunshine which feeds, or the frost which kills the plant. The southerners engaged in the cultivation of the staple might justly retort, upon the lords of Cottonopolis, in the language of the ancient Briton: "If Cæsar can hide the sun with a blanket, and put the moon in his pocket, we'll pay tribute to him for light." At the same time, when the equilibrium of prices has been destroyed by an unlooked-for casualty, when exclusive dependence upon a particular country for an essential article of commerce is found to interfere with the legitimate course of capital and labor, it becomes not only necessary but imperative to look elsewhere for a supply fully equal to the requirements of the times, so as to be provided for every contingency, and in this spirit we can discern nothing to censure, but, on the contrary, much to commend, in the pains which are now taken to procure a supply of cotton from other parts of the world, to compensate for the unquestionable deficiency of the American crop. Much has been said and written about the capabilities of India to send us as much cotton as we require, and to a certain degree of faith in the capacity of that country may be traced the anxiety with which the public has watched the formation of Indian railways, and the eagerness with which their progress and completion have been regarded. The East India company has partaken largely of this feeling, and has extended a helping hand to two companies which have taken the field, and for which acts of parliament, were passed in the last session. One of these companies will cut a line from Calcutta to Delhi; the other a line from Bombay to Kalliar, in the direction of the great cotton field of Ghauts. These undertakings may be regarded as in practical operation, for the East India company has guaranteed a dividend on the outlay, which makes their completion a matter of certainty. A third line from Madras to Arcot is also projected; but whether it will struggle into existence is at present somewhat questionable. Nevertheless, grave doubts exist whether the best internal communication in the world would enable India to grow cotton in quantities sufficient to affect the price in the home market. At present India grows little more than is required for its own consumption and the export trade to China; and as to quality, it is impossible, under any circumstances, that the cotton of India can ever compete with the long staple of America. Port Natal is also mentioned with encouragement as a cotton growing district; but the smallness of the population, and the fact that no vessel has ever yet sailed from D'Urban, the only port in the colony, direct to England, shows that a long period must elapse ere its developments can produce tangible results. The most feasible scheme, of the many which have been broached, is one put forward by the owners of property in British Guiana. The West India Association, in their petitions to Parliament, as well as in their memorial to the colonial Secretary, make out a strong case on behalf of the West Indies generally, and of Demerara more especially. The labor question is at the bottom of all our West Indian difficulties. Every plan adopted, since the emancipation of the black population, to secure a sufficiency of labor has failed, and the Association ask, through Mr. F. Shand, their chairman, permission to engage blacks on the coast of Africa on the plan which the British factories on the river Bonny adopt with the natives of the Kroo coast, namely: to hire them, say for five years-at the expiration of which time they can return, if they desire it, to their native country. In the estimation of many persons, this would be equivalent to a renewal of the slave trade; but if similar arrangements were permitted in the case of the Coolies, and in the one referred to (that of the Kroo blacks), we can see no sufficient reason why precautions might not be taken on the African coast, as well as at Demerara, to protect the blacks, who might willingly enter into these engagements, from the possibility of wrong or injury. To no higher practical end could the naval force which excites Mr. Hutt's antipathy be directed, and under judicious regulations the moral and physical condition of the laborers, instead of being deteriorated, would in reality be improved and elevated by the boon which the West India Association solicit at the hands of government and the country. If the experiment were tried in British Guiana, it might, if successful, be extended to the West India islands. In the mean time the southern planters of America, stimulated by the prices which now prevail, have every inducement to extend the cultivation of cotton, with, if possible, increased power and capital. Probably the next crop may, in its amplitude, compensate for the shortness of the last one, and the outery which now exists for other fields of cultivation in various quarters of the globe, would, in the event of such a result, correspondingly abate. But, at the same time, they will read the signs which are every day passing around them very imperfectly, if they do not perceive a fixed determination on the part of the merchants and manufacturers of this country and its government, to rely less exclusively than heretofore on the cotton of the United States. Experientia docet. 2. SUCCESSFUL COTTON PLANTING IN THE POOR LANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Mr. Glen, of Pendleton, has published his plan of culture: The crop of 1848, he made, with three hands, 27,000 pounds of seed cotton; and this, too, from twenty-five acres of land. Each acre making over 1,000 pounds. Making something over 17 bags, of 400 each, or six bags to the hand, besides provisions enough for his family and stock. His farm is all upland, lies on the north side of Three-and-Twenty Mile creek, seven miles east of Pendleton, and was purchased by him some four or five years ago, at, I think, four dollars per acre, of Col. Hamilton. He says it is more convenient to plant in the middles, but better to plant on the old bed. When he manures he runs a furrow on the old bed, puts in manure in the common way, throws two furrows on the manure, and lets it lie till planting time. At planting time he breaks out the middle, which makes his ridges fresh again. But when he plants land not manured, he runs no center furrow to bed on, but simply laps two furrows on an unbroken ridge, which he leaves hard; this he does early in the spring, and, at planting time, breaks out the middles, as he does with land manured." His planting time is from the fourth to the tenth of April, which he does by making a slight furrow on the ridge with a small gofer. Then, after the seed are wet and rolled in ashes, he has them dropped in the furrow, at the rate of two bushels to the acre, covers with a board, having a notch cut in the center, and don't strike off. So soon as the cotton is up, so that you can see generally along the row, he runs around it with a plow, with a board so fixed as to throw the dirt away from the young cotton, and let the sun into the roots. Then, so soon as the third leaf can be seen in places, he begins to hoe to a stand, and lets all other farm business wait till he gets his whole crop to a stand. The third leaf is usually seen between the tenth and fifteenth of May, and by the last of May he has it all brought to a stand. If this be done by the last of May he thinks his crop pretty well made. Thinning to a stand, he means to bring it all to one stock in a place, ten inches apart on poor land, fifteen inches on better, and twenty inches on rich or manured land. He is very particular to leave no more than one stalk in a place. The first hoeing commences with the appearance of the third leaf, which generally will be about two weeks after the running round. This hoeing should leave no grass. In about a week after the hoes start, the plows should follow, and, with a mold board, throw about as much earth to the cotton as the hoes have taken away. Then the buzzard follows and bursts out the middles. He continues working in the same way throughout the crop, that is, the hoes going before and the plows following, and lays by by the middle or 20th of July. He plants the white seed. 3. HOW COTTON SHOULD BE PACKED.· The Savannah Chamber of Commerce has issued the following circular to planters: SAVANNAH, April, 1850. The attention of the Chamber of Commerce having been called to the condition of the rope and bagging, as well as to the form of packages in which the cotton is received at this port, a committee was appointed to prepare the following suggestions: As the price, which the buyers of cotton are empowered to pay for the article, must depend upon its cost of delivery at the consuming markets, and as that cost must depend upon the rate of freight, order, loss in weight, &c., it is important that cotton should be packed so as to go forward at the cheapest possible freight, and be handed in a sound condition. Now nearly all the cotton is compressed before shipment; and, as the more weight a ship can carry the lower the freight, the planter derives the full benefit of the reduction. Uniformity of package, and strength of rope and bagging, are great requisites in its being reduced to the smallest possible compass. Jute rope is almost useless to put on the bags again after pressing, and the buyer, or shipper, of the cotton, must pay extra for new ropes. Thin bagging bursts under pressure, and, in such cases, the bales must be covered anew. End packed bales will not bear compressing, as the cotton is forced out at the ends, and the package is not compressed, but only elongated. The consequence is, that bales, in light bagging, or bound with jute, grass or bark rope, or end-packed, are likely to be rejected or passed over by the buyer, particularly in a dull and declining market, or taken only at a disproportionate reduction in price, as a compensation for the expense and trouble of them. For these reasons, it is manifestly the interest of the planters to use only heavy bagging, and strong hempen rope, and a screw or lever press, with a box of about five feet four inches long, and about twenty inches wide, and to put on not less than five bands, though six would be preferable. These suggestions are the result of experience and observation, and are respectfully offered as intimately connected with the true interests of the planter, and calculated to do what all should be happy and proud to accomplish, viz.: to raise the standard of character of Georgia cotton in whatsoever market it may show itself. It is a fit occasion to congratulate and compliment our planting friends on what they have accomplished, in an almost incredibly short time, in changing their packing from round to square bales, improving the quality of their cotton, and almost entirely doing away the reproach, so often made against round bales, of being falsely packed. ROBERT HABERSHAM, Pres't of the Sav'h Cham'r of Com. 4. CULTIVATION OF MADDER. FROM the report of the Executive Committee of the New York State Agricultural Society, we extract the following: T. S. Dunnell, Esq., of Providence, writes in relation to the cultivation of madder. I feel that the cultivation of madder directly concerns the agriculturists of our country; the annual consumption of which, in the United States, bids fair, at no very distant day, to rival that of France or Great Britain. A few facts will convince you that our agriculturists cannot give too much, or too prompt, attention to the cultivation of this invaluable tinctorial root. |