The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-04-30

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ther to inspire faith in the proposed prevcn-
tive, hope all of your "ague and fever"
readers will be encouraged to try this sim
pie sunhower experiment. Those who live
upon the prarics, in the ague and fever
Districts Of Illinois and other Western
States, would do well to surround their
dwellings with the plants, having the thick
est part of the hedge on the West side.
! From the ". y Journal of Commerce.
COTTON, TOBACCO AND RICE CROPS OF CHINA
These principal staples Of our own coun-
try are produced, perhaps, in no quarter of
the globe to so great an extent as in China.
In the absence Of statistical data as a guide
TO correct knowledge of the agricultural
products of the Chinese Empire, the proba-
ble extent Of these crops in that country
becomes Il matter of curious investigation,
and can only he approxi,natcd by compar
isons.
Their exports, like their imports. are very
few and limited-the one perhaps nearly
balancing the orlicr. 1t may therefore
he reasonably assumed that the prodnct of
those staples is equal to the home consump-
tinn.
We have never made much progress in
introducing our cotlons into China. Some
of the better classes OF the people prefer
our wide fabric, which the more ignorant
classes denominate Heaven made cloth"
because they can form no idea of loom
large eno'ig II to weave it-and yet very lit.
tie Of it finds market there, in conse
quence of its high price as compared with
their own. Our raw cotton is not preferred
to theirs for manufacturing purposes, be-
cause Of its longer staple. Their product
and the product of India-a comparatively
small quantity of which annually finds
market there's better suited to their man
ufactories. The common cloth worn bv
the people-the usual narrow width of the
yellow nankin fabric to be found in our
own markets of a coarse and thick tex
ture, and is sold everywhere in the empire
at price not exceeding twenty tscin, Tor
cash,) about one cent. and a half per yard.
With such prices our coa.sest fabrics can
not compete. The cotton jackets of u CHI
naman are his thermometer. On a hot
summer day lie will have upon his back
not more than one, and sometimes less but
us the weather grows colder, he will con-
tinue to put on one over another, until in
the coolest days Of winter his entire ware,
r"be is in requisiion. With him it is from
some Jacket cold" to "ten jackets cold :"
and his jackets are to him rs faithful re-
cords Of the temperature, as the marked
degrees in the glasses of Fahrenheit are to
us. Cottons are very generally worn
throughout China; and 1t is not unfair to
assume that the inconsidcralle imports
from this country and from India are quite
balanced by its exports Of the finer nankin
fabrics to this country and others. So we
should take it for granted that the quantity
produced there is at least equal to the guam.
titv consumed.
Take, then, the population of China at
a fair estimate of its number, together
with the fact, that all the people are con-
slant wearers of cotton cloths, (ind large
proportion Of them wear no other fabric, J
ascertain the probable number of pounds
required to clothe person there for one
year, and then multiply that number Of
pounds by the number Of the population,
and what an immense product of cotton is
the result! Even if this vast result be di.
vided and sub.divided by the most liberal
allowances for estimated numbers in the
extreme Nortls, who wear furs or skins in
winter, and the mandarin classes of the in
terror, who wear silks-for broad cloths
are rarely worn by the 'Chinese-yet the
resu). would he astonishing, as showing the
aggregate quantity annually produced.
Bv similar method of calculation may
We e'approxi'pate the probable extent Of the
tobacco. crop. The Chinese are inveterate
smokers. All classes and sexes nrc addic.
ted to the habit Like the Dutch, they
have not the habit Of chewing or snuffing
TO great extent, but like them, the pipe
and ,tobacco-pouch are Indispensable com
panions. Those WHO have spent years in
that empire, and. have travelled In Europe,
hear witness, from personal observation,
that tobacco is as freely used there as in
Holland. And it is we'll ascertained that
the amount consumed by the Dutch is not
less per annum than at the rate sof three
pounds per head for the entire population.
4 E.ae orno tobacco is simported into China,
and. We. are. therefore, isft to multiply its
/ population " three as showing Tie pro-
duct and consumption ofsten or twelve
bundled million pounds per annum. Yet