The hydraulic press., 1860-04-14
US. AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Hon. G. L. Scott has our thanks for copy
of the last agricultural report of the U. s.
Patent Office. Some folks think these re-
ports are of no value, and we have seen them
kicked about in the dust like last years al
manac but they have a positive worth,
embody vast amount of original informa-
ton, otherwise unattainable, and will am
ply repay careful reading The present re-
port has an engraving of the {. S. Propagat
ing garden at Washington, with an account
of the success attending the experiments at
acclimating various foreign plants, includ-
ing the tea plant. Prof Bache contributes
list of ITO interrogatories, which is in
tended as guide for census agents in OBJ
tanning agricultural statistics. Following
this are condensed reports from large mum
Der of agricultural societies throughout the
UHion; tables showing the growth of onr
foreign commerce, resulting from agricul-
ture; papers on animals, embracing one on
sheep-rearing in California, one on the do
mestication of the wild elk, and another on
the proposed introduction of the Yak-ox
from Tartary to our great Western plains
An article on the improvement of land en-
braces history of draining and chemical
analyses of various soils: There are other
papers on forage and other crops, and on
grape and wine culture; notes on fruit cul-
ture in different States, and an elaborate es-
say and table on the meteorology of the
United States. Frequent allssion is made
to California, and many facts given going to
prove the fertility of her soil and the mild
ness of her climate. The subjoined note in
this connection is well worthy of quotation:
sTo the efforts of the Agricultural Division
of the Patent Office, California is indebted
for the introduction of most valuable vines
of the Zante grape, which produces the cell
ebrated dried currants of commerce. These
are growing and thriving exceedingly well
most significant fact, when it is said that
this variety of grape is rapidly failing, and
great fears are entertained of its total loss
in the country where it has hitherto been
grown, the islands of Zante, Cephalonia,
&c. Should those fears be realized, and this
grape reproduced and brought to its pristine
quality in California, it is believed that the
result to this State alone will tenfold reim-
burse the entire appropriations for that Of
fee. Six hundred and forty-three vessels
annually leave the Mediterranean for the At
lantic ports, loaded with figs, lemons, or
anges, lines, almonds and products OF the
vine, to the amount of $7,250,000, the total
yield of the Mediterranean for all countries,
being over $500, 100000. 1t is merely
question of time, when California will sup
ply her sister States with the above-named
articles and still have more to spare"
The Agricultural Division of the Patent
Office has done much to multiply the prod
ucts of the nation, to improve the modes of
cultivating, and to enlighten the minds of
cultivators, learned as well as unlearned, on
various important points. Hereafter, the
origin of numerous profitable branches Of
agriculture will be traced to its enlightened
exertions. Especially will it prove benef-
cent by reducing the number of imports, and
fastening the day when the different sections
of our common country shall produce all
that is produced anywhere on earth, thus
multiplying the avenues for labor with the
multiplication of laborers, and Strengthening
the bond of national unity by the necessity
for peaceful interchange of products. 1t has
already demonstrated its value, and grown
so far beyond its original proportions that
its erection into an independent department
has become a recognised necessity. When
it shall have been separated, as proposed, an
it will be the grand agricul-
tural bureau of the confederacy, and will
establish with the thousands of State and
county agricultural societies such intimate
relations as will immensely increase its util-
ity and THEIRS and bear an apt resemblance
to the form of our civil government.