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the yield was not more than one half an average one. Lower down on the Mississippi, as well as on the coast of South Carolina and Florida, the abandoned plantations of persons who had joined their fortunes to the Confederconsiderable success. The desire to substitute some other textile material for cotton, led also to the greatly increased production of flax, and the introduction of machines for dressing it with greater facility and less labor, and for reducing it to a condition analogous to that of cotton. The Sanford and Mallory flax-dressing machine, invented the year before, but not introduced into market to any considerable extent till 1863, has already wrought a great revolution in the formerly difficult and laborious business of flax breaking, accomplishing as much in one day, with the aid of two boys, as could be done with far greater labor by four men in five days. The attempt to produce a flax cotton, suitable for use on cotton-spinning machinery, though greatly multiplied during the year, can hardly be regarded as successful on a large scale, probably from an erroneous view of the nature of the flax fibre.

garded as best. The To Kalon, Creveling, Adirondac and Ionia, new varieties, have also a fair reputation. The Clinton, a small grape, but prolific and of fair quality, has some good fruits. Loomis's honey grape, a remarkably sweet, large, black fruit, has begun to attract at-ates, were taken up, and cotton raised with tention. The establishment of vineyards for wine making is increasing with extraordinary rapidity. For some years past the vineyards on the Ohio, in the vicinity of Cincinnati, have furnished considerable quantities of wine of fair quality, though not well calculated to replace foreign wines. The production of this wine, which was made mostly from the Catawba grape, has been constantly increasing. Within the past year or two, large quantities of wine from California have been brought into the Eastern markets. This was at first produced from the Los Angeles and Savanna, both called the mission grape, varieties cultivated by the Jesuit Fathers at their missions on the coast; but as the wine from these grapes was somewhat objectionable on account of an earthiness of taste, the Catawba, Isabella, and many European varieties have been introduced, and are now used in the making of wines. The interest in the subject in California is so great, that an agent (Col. A. Haraszthy) was sent to Europe to investigate the methods of cultivating the grape for wine, and the process of wine making, and has published, during the last year, an elaborate and very interesting report, entitled "Grape Culture and Wine Making" (N. Y., Harper and Brothers). The California wines are gaining a good reputation. Recently, also, Missouri has become largely engaged in the production of native wines. The vinegrowers in that State are for the most part, though not wholly, Germans, and the grapes most cultivated are Norton's Virginia, the Catawba, Concord, Herbemont, and Delaware. The cost of the investment for a first-class vineyard (aside from the value of land), including trenching, larger root planting, stakes, posts, &c., is about $400 per acre, and there are no returns till the third year, when the crop should be sufficient to pay the expenses of that year's cultivation, and after the third year, the average annual value of the crop should not be less than $500 per acre, and, in favorable years, will be nearly or quite double this.

Another region, in which the grape culture for wine has already attained a considerable prominence, is on the Lake shore and the islands of Lake Erie, where the soil is admirably adapted to its cultivation. A large proportion of the vine-growers are Canadians, and the grapes principally grown are the Delaware and Concord. At Croton Point, on the Hudson, and at Georgetown, D. C., are extensive vineyards, from which, of late years, wine of good quality has been made.

The scarcity of cotton led to the attempt to raise it in Southern Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri, as well as in Kentucky. The frosts, already noticed, affected this crop severely, and

The lack of cotton has stimulated the growth of wool, and the production of that staple has greatly increased, while its quality is somewhat improved. There are now nearly eight hundred woollen factories in the United States, employing 3,000 sets of cards. The heavier broadcloths, satinets, and cassimeres, and most varieties of woollen goods for female wear, shawls, blankets, under clothing, &c., are manufactured from American wool in American factories. The finest broadcloths are still imported, but the manufacture of woollen goods has received such an impulse from the great demand of the Government, that it cannot be long before the American goods will equal the foreign in the beauty and perfection of their manufacture. The great excellence attained in the breeding of sheep in this country received a striking illustration at the International Agricultural Fair, held at Hamburg, July 14th, 1863, where a flock of twelve merino sheep from the estate of George Campbell, Esq., of Vermont, took three of the highest prizes, viz.: the first prize for the buck of the best quality; the first prize for the buck yielding the greatest quantity of wool; and the second prize for the best ewe, considering both quantity and quality. These prizes were obtained in competition with 1,761 other sheep from all parts of Europe, sixty of them being from the flock of the Emperor of the French. At the close of the Exhibition, the twelve sheep were purchased by Count Sher Thoss for $5,000. At the same fair, eleven other American inventors or manufacturers received gold, silver, or bronze medals for agricultural implements, including McCormick's and other mowers and reapers, ploughs, harrows, cultivators, seed sowers, fanning mills, root cutters, horse powers, &c.

The Agricultural Fairs, National, State, Coun

ty, and Town, throughout the Northern States during the autumn of 1863, were largely attended, and gave, to some extent, an additional stimulus to the development of agriculture. The grants of land, by the Government, under the Agricultural College Act of 1862, have been accepted by all the Northern States, and arrangements made by most of them either to organize Agricultural Colleges, or to add an Agricultural Department to colleges already established. In New Hampshire, Dartmouth College receives the endowment, and is to organize an Agricultural School in connection with the Chandler Scientific School; in Massachusetts there is a vigorous competition between the prominent towns of the commonwealth, for the location of the Agricultural College; Rhode Island bestows the lands upon Brown University, which is to have an Agricultural Department; Connecticut donates them to the Agricultural Department of Yale College, connected with the Sheffield Scientific School; New York divides hers between the Agricultural College at Ovid, New York, and the People's College, at Havana. Pennsylvania has handed over her share to her excellent Agricultural College in Central County, the most efficient institution of its class in the United States, and which, by this grant, will be placed in a condition of still greater efficiency. In most of the Western States, where Agricultural Colleges have been already chartered, the grant has been bestowed upon them, and will, in most instances, secure their speedy organization, or if already organized, aid in their rapid development.

Foreign agriculture offers but little of special interest at the present time. The crops of cereals in 1863, in Great Britain and on the continent, were generally good, and were for the most part successfully harvested. The price of wheat, in England, which, in September, 1860, had been $1.62 per American bushel, in 1861, $1.45, and, in 1862, $1.40, was in September, 1863, $1.16-a very marked reduction; and the potato crop was generally good in Great Britain, though almost a failure in Ireland. In France, the crop, though injured in some quarters by the drought, was on the whole a fair average. The practice of holding regional agricultural expositions in the different departments of France, annually, is coming rapidly into favor. For the most part these have been confined thus far to the exhibition

of horses, cattle and sheep, and agricultural implements, but in some, lately, fruits have been exhibited with advantage. A few particulars concerning the agricultural products of Sweden, a country which has furnished so large a body of farmers to the Northwestern States, may be of interest to the readers of the Cyclopædia. They were collected by the United States consul at Gottenburg.

The crop of 1863, which at one time promised to be unusually large, was damaged by rainy weather during harvest time, and thus reduced to an average amount, of which the figures in the table below may be taken as a fair statement.

About 1,500,000 Swedish acres, equal to 48,600,000 English acres, are devoted to growing grain, and 100,000 Swedish acres, or 3,200,000 English acres, to potatoes; yet the yield of potatoes is so large, that it stands in the ratio of 3 to 5. The potato can be raised in the short summer of these high latitudes, when no grain, save barley, can live, and thus becomes the "staff of life" to the Swedish peasants. Fine crops of potatoes, and occasionally of barley, are raised far within the arctic circle, and even above 70° north latitude, the highest cultivated land in the world.

The Alsike clover is the most productive clover in Sweden; cuts about five tons to the Swedish acre, can be made to yield two crops in the short Swedish summer, and has been introduced into Scotland to great advantage.

There is a kind of egg plant called “Gula Plummon," which is produced in the middle and southern districts of Sweden in considerable quantities. This plant is of a light straw color, firm, juicy, and of a peachy flavor. It is thought it would flourish in the northern counties of New England and New York.

This table is the average yearly product of Sweden, taking the figures for five years to 1861:

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85,210

6,089 434

6,478

1856..

1857..

1858.........

1859..

1860..

1861..

6,039 434 Overplus of exports....

Overplus of exports......
The table is made out in tunns-1 tunn = 4 bushels.

ALABAMA. The details of the Census of 1860, additional to these published in previous volumes, have not yet been issued by the Gov

ernment.

The changes which took place in the State of Alabama during 1863 present no new aspect. Immediately after the occupation of the peninsula, opposite Vicksburg, by General Grant's army, in January, measures were taken to cut off the communication between the inhabitants in the east and west sides of the Mississippi through Red River. From that stream the inhabitants on the east side of the Mississippi had access to vast supplies, particularly of salt, sugar, and molasses. A large portion of the Confederate army was supplied from the same source. This communication was destroyed by the gunboats of Admiral Porter, which were below the batteries at Vicksburg, and by vessels of Admiral Farragut's fleet at New Orleans. In April a scarcity of provisions prevailed in the southern part of the State, which created an advance in prices. This was attended with a depreciation of the currency, and food soon advanced almost beyond the reach of the poor. About the 15th of April a scene occurred in Mobile, which was thus described :

"A number of ladies, perhaps a dozen, composed of the wives and daughters of soldiers' families, who represented themselves and their families to have been deprived of anything to eat in the last few days, save a small portion of corn bread, were seen perambulating our streets until they came up to a provision store on Whitehall street. They all entered it, being preceded by a tall lady, on whose countenance rested care and determination. She asked the merchant the price of bacon. He replied, stating that it was $1.10 per pound. She remonstrated with him as to the impossibility of females in their condition paying such prices for the necessaries of life. He remaining inexorable in his demand, the tall lady proceeded to draw from her bosom a long navy repeater, and at the same time ordered the others in the

crowd to help themselves to what they liked, which they did accordingly, giving preference to the bacon, until they had taken about $200 worth. They went out, and on being questioned by some gentlemen as to what they meant, they related their suffering condition.

"Seeing what was going on, and feeling a deep sympathy for these ladies, a number of gentlemen, of very moderate means, who themselves have families to support, set to work to raise a subscription in their behalf."

This was one of several instances of distress which occurred at Mobile. The famine existed chiefly in the families of absent soldiers.

The scarcity of provisions was such as to induce all the authorities to wisely prepare for the ensuing winter. The Confederate Congress urged the people to plant less cotton and more corn; and the Governors of the States repeated the request.

Governor Shorter issued an appeal to the planters of the State at this time, urging the importance of raising articles necessary to keep the people from starving. He said:"Failing to accomplish our subjugation by the force of arms and the power of numbers, the enemy has called to his aid the terrible appliances of want and starvation, and is carrying out this savage and inhuman policy by the wholesale larceny of slaves, the seizure of provisions, and even the destruction of agricultural implements. Are you, the planters of Alabama, prepared to aid in this policy by pursuing a course which may tend to its accomplishment? Look around you this moment, when the crop upon which the poor must mainly depend is not yet planted, and behold the want and destitution which, notwithstanding the munificent provision made by public and private benevolence, are to be found at the hearthstones of many whose legitimate protectors have fallen in battle, or are now fighting in defence of your homes and property. Let us not deceive ourselves. The failure to raise the largest possible quantity of supplies in the present year may bring disaster

7

people. God in his providence will not permit such a confiscation of our lands, and the subjugation of a free calamity.

The Senate adopted the following resolution:

hereby pledge the entire resources of the State, to the last dollar and the last man, to a successful prosecution Resolved, That the people of Alabama and the State of the war now being waged by the North for the subthat we will never yield the contest until the achievejugation of the people of the Confederate States, and ment of the acknowledgment of our independence as a separate people.

ment of slaves was adopted as follows:
A joint resolution relative to the employ-

and ruin upon our cause. fed and his family provided for, and our home The soldier must be population, white and black, must be supported. The experience of the past and the necessities of the present give serious and solemn warning as to the future. Let not our armies, which have hitherto, by the blessing of God, proved invincible, be conquered or disbanded by the want of subsistence in their camps, or be demoralized by the presence of famine in their homes. These results can and will be prevented if the planting community realize their heavy responsibility, and discharge their full duty to the country. The Legislature of Georgia is called to reassemble to reconsider its late action upon this important subject; and the Con- by law for the employment in the service of the Confederate Congress, perceiving the danger, have federate States of America, in such situations and in Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to provide given timely notice of its approach by an earnest such numbers as may be found absolutely necessary, appeal to the whole country. The indications of the able bodied slaves of the country, whether as pioof a continuance of the war are so unmistak-neers, sappers and miners, cooks, nurses or teamable, and the necessity of providing the means indispensable to its prosecution so urgent, that I have thought it not improper to unite in the appeal to that class of our population through whose active energies and foresight alone these means can be supplied." made to the people by the Senators and RepreAn address was also sentatives of the State in Congress, urging them to plant corn and raise hogs and cattle. At this time bands of deserters from the Southern army and Union men were organized in the northern part of the State. In Wayne and the adjoining counties they were quite numerous.

Southern armies.

After the losses at Gettysburg and the retreat of General Lee from Pennsylvania, extraordinary efforts were made to recruit the On the 20th of July, Governor Shorter issued a call for an extra session of the State Legislature to be convened Aug. 17th. The reason for this session was to provide for the better defence of the State.

In his message to the Legislature the Governor confined his remarks to the subject of military defence. He examined the question relative to the classes exempt under the State and Confederate enactments, and being without means of ascertaining the number of exempts, he supposed there were several thousand. He recommended that all persons between the ages of sixteen and sixty, including those having substitutes, those of foreign birth domiciled within the State, and all who had evaded the full requirements of the Confederate Government, should be embraced in an amendment to the militia laws as liable to military duty; also that the officers of the State should be charged with the duty of arresting stragglers and deserters, and that the judicial officers should be held to a rigid enforcement of the penalties against their abettors. He concluded as fol

lows:

Alabama has and will cheerfully respond to every demand upon her, so long as the unnatural foe perse veres in his unholy crusade. May the invaded people not give way to alarm and false security, but nerve theraselves to an undying resistance to the despotism which has decreed the emancipation of our slaves, the

sters.

Yancey, deceased, in the Senate of the Confed-
On the 22d of August, Robert Jemison, jr.,
erate Congress. He was a member of the con-
was elected to fill the unexpired term of William
vention which passed the ordinance of Seces-
ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA, 1861. ALABAMA), but be-
came "a firm and uncompromising supporter
sion, and at that time a
of the war." For many years he had been a
"coöperationist" (see
member of the State Legislature from Tusca-
loosa county.

At the election for State officers in August,
1863, Governor John G. Shorter and Thomas
Watts, 22,223 votes; Shorter, 6,342 votes.
H. Watts were the candidates for the office of
governor. The result in fifty-two counties was:
The former was elected by a large majority.

named on the Bell and Everett ticket at the
presidential election in 1860. Soon after his
Governor Watts had been one of the electors
reconstruction of the Union. A letter was ad-
dressed to him on this subject, to which he
election it was stated that he was in favor of a
made the following reply:

Hon. Ira Foster, Quartermaster-General of Georgia,
Atlanta, Georgia:

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA,
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, RICHMOND, Sept. 12th.

1st inst., forwarded to me from Montgomery, Alabama,
DEAR SIR: I have to-day received your letter of the
and hasten to reply. You say that my name, since the
connection with "reconstruction," meaning thereby
that some people in Georgia suppose I am in favor of
Alabama election, has been freely used by many in
re-union with the Yankee Government of the North.
I am surprised and mortified that any body in the
those who claim my election as indicating any such
feeling in Alabama had read my letter of the 21st March
South should so interpret the Alabama election. If
to Gen. Lawler, and my short address to the people of
Alabama, dated 6th June last, they would never have
entertained such false notions. It is due to the gallant
unanimously, pledging all the men and resources of
people of my State to call attention to the resolutions
the State to prosecute the war until the independence
of the recent called session of the Legislature, passed
of the Confederate States is fully established. For my-
self, I will not forfeit my self-respect by arguing the
question of ":
ately or otherwise, in favor of "reconstruction" with
reconstruction." He who is now, deliber-

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the States under Lincoln's dominion, is a traitor in his heart to the State of his residence and deserves a traitor's doom. If I had the power, I would build up a wall of fire between Yankeedom and the Confederate States, there to burn, for ages, as a monument of the folly, wickedness, and vandalism of the Puritanic race! No, sir! rather than reunite with such a people, I would see the Confederate States desolated with fire and sword. When the men of the South become such base cowards as to wish for such reunion, let us call

on the women of the South to march to the battle field, and in the name of God and justice, bid them fight under the banner of Southern liberty! The call would not be made in vain. Let the patriotic sires, whose children have bared their breasts to Yankee' bullets and welcomed glorious deaths in this struggle for selfgovernment, rebuke the foul spirit which even whispers reconstruction." Let the noble mothers, whose sons have made sacred with their blood so many fields consecrated to freedom, rebuke the fell heresy! Let our blood-stained banners, now unfurled "to the battle and the breeze," rebuke the cowardice and cupidity which suggest "reconstruction." The spirits of our heroic dead, the martyrs to our sacred cause, rebuke, a thousand times rebuke, "reconstruction"! We have little cause for despondency, none for despair! Let us now nerve ourselves afresh for the contest, and let us not forget that

"Freedom's battle, once begun,

Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won!"

If we are true to ourselves, true to the memories of the past, true to our homes and our firesides, and true to our God, we can not, we will not be conquered! In any and in every event, let us prefer death to a life of cowardly shame! Your obedient servant,

T. H. WATTS.

In October, Mobile was visited by the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. After a review of the local troops, he was called out by the people and made a brief speech, which was thus reported:

He congratulated the people upon the fact-which he assured them he felt to be the fact-that our cause is now in a better condition than it was a year ago. Having just come from the scene of the great battle of Chickamauga, it was impossible that he should not refer to that, and though it could not be expected that he should allude to contemplated movements, yet he was happy to say that the brave victors of that bloody field stood ready and anxious to strike the blow which should secure the complete fruits of their glorious victory. He could say more-that he believed they would strike the blow, and that Rosecrans' unwieldy legions would be destroyed, or driven for refuge to the Ohio. The same spirit animated our armies elsewhere, and all they needed was to be properly seconded by the people at home to send the hordes of Yankees back to their beloved Boston, or any other place from which their return might be more difficult.

winters.

The citizen soldiery, also, he believed, were emulous of the reputation of their brethren in camp. He had been much moved, as he rode along the lines, at seeing among them young boys, some very young, and men whose heads were silvered with the frosts of many He could remind all these, regulars and others, that they are not common soldiers. They present a spectacle which the world has never witnessed-the best population of the country poured into the army. Such men may be appealed to from other incentives than that of rigid military discipline. The time, the cause, all considerations, require efforts which may be demanded of an army of heroes, for such they are.

Besides these, there are some too old to bear arms, but they, too, can do something. Let them contribute their means to the support and relief of those who are

contributing their blood; and let those who are too poor for this contribute their influence. There is something that all can do. Self must be entirely forgotten; and let those who are deaf to any other appeal, remember that he who is hoarding up wealth, in such a time as this, is hoarding up infamy, the mark of which he and his posterity must bear who shall have grown rich by this war.

The number of troops contributed to the Confederacy by the State is at present unknown. The military operations of the year touched the northern part of the State; but no important actions took place.

The foreign commerce of the State was confined to the cargoes of two or three steamers which reached Mobile through the blockade, and the export of some cotton which escaped in small vessels.

AMERICA. The political subdivisions of America in 1863 were as follows:

I. AMERICAN STATES UNDER AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS.

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The most important events in the history of the American continent, during the year 1863, are the continuance of the civil war in the United States, and the progress of the French invasion in Mexico. Both are fully treated elsewhere in these pages. At the conclusion of the year these wars were unended. In Central America the president of Guatemala, Gen. Carrera, declared on January 23d war against President Barrios of San Salvador. All the Central American States, with the exception of Costa Rica, were drawn into this war, which terminated with the victory of Gen. Carrera, and the expulsion of Gen. Barrios from the country. (See CENTRAL AMERICA.) In the latter part of the year a war broke out between the United States of Colombia and Ecuador. (See COLOMBIA, UNITED STATES OF.) In Venezuela, the Federalists, who had been at war with the Government, concluded a treaty of peace with the latter, at Coche, near Caraccas, upon the following conditions: an armistice;

*Estimated.

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