But this is anticipating. I will, therefore, only further observe here that I must not be misunderstood as depreciating, in any way, the manufacturing enterprise, industry, or progress of the people of the United States. Such is very far from my intention: indeed, when I come to speak more especially of the progress of the manufacturing industry of the Americans, it will be seen that I thoroughly appreciate the vast stride their industry has made. What I have been desirous of effecting in this chapter is to clear the ground. I would not have my friends in the United States believe that I am flattering them; nor would I have my friends at home believe that I am misleading them. It is my opinion that the public statistics of the values and products of manufacturing industry in the United States, and of the amount of population engaged in them, are based on erroneous calculations, and I frankly state my opinion and endeavour to establish my position. The country has made progress enough in this respect, and it is unnecessary that it should delude itself or allow others to be misled by exaggerations, or by calculations based upon erroneous premises.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.

ALTHOUGH the civil war in the Republic extended over so great a breadth of territory, and although more than a million of men were withdrawn from the producing classes for employment in military service, yet the yield of the great staples of agriculture continued to increase, and never were they greater than in the last year of the war!

This is a most surprising fact. It can only be accounted for by the immense area of the country, the remarkable fertility of its soil, and the earnestness and industry with which the population apply themselves to agricultural improvements. One fact alone will illustrate the last position. In 1850 the cash value of the farms under actual cultivation in the United States was $3,271,575,000:-in 1860 it had risen to $6,645,045,000, being an increase of no less than 103 per cent. in those ten years. In 1865, at the close of

the war, the value of the investments in land was known to have increased.

It is unquestionably upon the agriculture of the United States that the progress of the country mainly depends. Considering America as the granary of Europe, agriculture takes its place as the most important interest of the country. It is, therefore, of the first consequence to consider what is the condition of the agriculture of the United States, and what are the prospects of her being able to compete successfully with other countries in the supply of grain to the European markets.

Fortunately, on this subject, the most complete statistics are at hand. The Census returns of 1860 give the fullest details concerning every class of farming operations and agricultural productions. We derive from them, in the first place, the important fact that the agricultural area of the country was in that year—

Thus we see that for every two acres of improved land there were three acres connected with them not as yet brought under cultivation, whilst the immense districts of land remaining to be brought into cultivation are suffi cient to prevent the possibility of any rise in the price of the cultivated lands.

But whilst land is cheap, labour is dear in the United States. This accounts for the character of the cultivation. "American agriculture," it is said, "is half a century

behind that of Great Britain." No doubt this is true as regards the drainage, manuring, farming, and fencing of the lands. But, on the other hand, says the Superintendent of the Census, "we can, and we do, produce a bushel of wheat at much less cost than the most scientific farmer of England can, by the most approved method of cultivation, even if he paid no rent."

The following figures shew the increase in the number of farms in the enclosed acreage of the country between 1850 and 1860 :—

The farms in the United States are chiefly of from 20 to 100 acres. There are not above a fifth of the whole number which exceed 100 acres, and there are only about 25,500 which exceed 500 acres. The largest properties were held in the Slave States, especially in Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, and Alabama. The greatest proportion of small properties, as might be expected, are to be found in the more densely-peopled States, such as New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. In these States the average number of acres to each farm does not much exceed, even if it

reaches, 100. In the State of New York the average is 106 acres in Massachusetts only 94. In these States a very large proportion of market-garden and dairy produce is cultivated.

The State of New York contains the largest number of farm properties, and the greatest average of improved lands. It has over 197,000 distinct properties on which 14,358,400 acres of land have been improved. respect of improved land New York stands at the head of all the States; but during the next ten years it may be expected that, in this respect, she will be outstripped, the State of Illinois having, between 1850 and 1860, thriven so remarkably as to tread very closely indeed on the heels of the Empire State. The advance of Illinois is most surprising, and I cannot better exemplify it than by placing in contrast the statistics of New York, one of the oldest, and Illinois, one of the youngest, States of the Union :

But this is not all. Illinois between 1850 and 1860 grew into the largest WHEAT-producing district of the United States. Pennsylvania stood at the head of the wheat-growing States in 1850, her produce being fifteen