must show a very material falling off, and an advance in the wheat and flour markets, may be looked up to as a probable consequence.

CORN. It is conceded on all hands that the crop of corn for 1847, will be larger than ever before known in the West. In addition to the more than usual quantity of soil at first intended to be planted, thousands of acres on which wheat had been sown and failed, were subsequently ploughed up and planted in corn. From this cause, the crop has been increased greatly beyond what it otherwise would have been.

Receipts of corn for the last five years inclusive, have been as follows: 1843, 81,767 bushels; 1844, (short crop,) 56,720 do.; 1845, 107,927 do.; 1846, 588,644 do.; 1847, (probably,) 1,200,000 do. The latter, of course, is not the crop of 1847, but of the year preceding.

The above, it should be remarked, although representing the amount brought to market, scarcely gives an accurate idea of the rate of increase in the quantity cultivated, and for the following reason: The high prices of corn which sprung up as the consequence of a scarcity of breadstuffs in Europe, induced our agriculturists to bring to market almost every bushel of their crops, not needed for home-consumption, thus diverting from other uses much that otherwise would not have found its way to market. Low prices during 1848, should they prevail, as they probably will, must produce the contrary result, and prevent much of the crop from going to market, and hence the gross receipts at this port may not exceed those of 1817,

RLEY, OATS AND RYE.-As these are articles mainly of home consumption, they do not require very particular notice. Receipts of Barley for 1843 were 7,785 bushels. The receipts for the present year will be about 70,000 do. Of Oats, the receipts in 1843 were 55,530 do.; for the present year they will probably reach 250,000 do. Previous to 1845, receipts of Rye were too trifling to deserve notice. In that year they reached some 3,000 bushels. This year they may be estimated at 10,000 do,

HEMP --The culture of this article has greatly increased within the last few years. In 1843, the number of

year

bales received at this port was 37,523. Receipts this will be in the neighborhood of 90,000 bales. The price, both of dew and water rotted, has ranged unusually high, being for the former, during the greater part of the year, from $80 to $90 per ton, and for the latter, from $150 to $175. Choice dew rotted, for a considerable portion of the time, has ranged from $100 to $115, and for a season as high as $130 per ton. These high prices will probably stimulate agriculturists to increase the production of the article.

The formation of the American Hemp Company of Jacksonville, Illinois, will constitute an era in the history of hemp-growing in the West. This company have furnished to the farmer new inducements to enter into the cultivation of hemp, by their illustration of the fact, that, by a process simple and easy, American hemp can be rotted, perfectly, in a few days; and that this article, when dressed in the usual manner, is equal to the best Russian; nay, better than any specimens of the latter article as yet imported into this country. The American steam rotted hemp is fairer in point of color, more flexible and soft to the touch, and is capable of bearing a greater degree of weight than any specimens hitherto imported from abroad. We may reasonably look forward to the period when our navy, as well as commercial marine, shall be entirely supplied with cordage made from hemp of American growth, and when Missouri, whose natural advantages in the production of hemp are not surpassed by those of any other State, may claim to supply by far the greater portion of such material.

TOBACCO.--It is difficult to judge of the annual production of this article from the receipts, as, owing to low water, low prices, &c., a large portion of the crops have sometimes been held back, and the amount brought to market in such instances has fallen below that of a preceding year. Thus, in 1843, the amount sent to market (20,000 hhds.) more than doubled that of the preceding, as well as the following year. Indeed we think it likely, that were strict enquiry made, it would turn out that the crops of several preceding years have differed very little in quantity. Receipts at this port for 1844, were about

9,700 hhds.; for 1845, 11,564 do.; 1846, 8,588 do.; while for the present year they will probably be about 11,000 do. This shows very plainly that the culture of Tobacco does not in this State keep pace with other leading products. The crop is less certain than many others that pay equally well, and we shall probably find that as other agricultural products go on annually increasingsome doubling themselves-this one will remain stationary, or retrograde.

The crop of 1847, we learn, will prove smaller but far better, than that of the preceding year. Prices during the last year have been good, and if our information should be correct, the rates must advance during the present year.

LEAD. The high prices of this staple which have ruled during 1847, have been a mystery to many dealers. Very little of the article, comparatively speaking, has been exported; the quantity produced from the mines is somewhat greater than for the year previous; yet the price has gone on improving, until it has reached a point seldom before known in this market. The only manner in which we can account for this, is the greatly increased consumption in the way of manufacture. Meanwhile, labor seems to be diverting itself from mining, and though our mineral resources seem almost inexhaustible, still it is a matter of serious question whether if greater enterprise be not manifested in rendering available our mineral wealth, our products may not in time fall below the demand for home consumption.

Receipts of Lead for the last five years, have been at this port as follows: In 1843, 584,431 pigs; 1844, 595,000 do.; 1845, 750,880 do.; 1846, 730,820 do.; and the present year, about 800,000 do. We are informed that the consumption by the manufactories of this city, within the present year, has nearly doubled that of last, and a much larger quantity than formerly has gone to the Ohio River.

ARTICLE V.

Relative Cost of Water and Steam Power, Advantages for Manufacturing in the Mississippi Valley, Coal Fields of the United States.

The following articles which we have taken from the Louisville Journal will be found interesting to all who feel an interest in the prosperity of the west:

The writer has instituted an inquiry into the relative cost of water and steam as a propelling power for machinery; and shows that even in New England, where the average cost of coal is 23 cents per bushel, that steam is cheaper than water.

If these calculations be correct, they establish a fact that adds greatly to the other advantages which the west possesses over the eastern states for manufacturing purposes.

Óperatives can be fed in the west at from 25 to 50 per cent cheaper than in New England, the raw material of cotton, iron and wool, can be obtained at a less cost of freight, and if in addition to these advantages, the propelling power can be supplied at favorable locations for less than half its cost in the Eastern States, it would seem wonderful if all these advantages should long remain overlooked and neglected by a population. so enterprising as that of the Mississippi Valley.

COAL MINES.

The Illinois bed, as it is termed, crosses the river at St. Louis, also, and is worked on both sides of the Mississippi :

The geographical map of the United States, compiled from surveys of D. Dale Owen and others, under direction of Congrss, and from other sources, by Lyell, and published in his travels, gives the boundaries of the following coal-fields:

The first near Richmond, Virginia, of very limited extent.

The second in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which is not rich enough to compete with the foreign supply.

The third in the centre of Michigan, underlying perhaps one third of that State, and touching Saginaw Bay. Of this I cannot find any further description.

The fourth, or Appalachian, extends from the southern and interior

counties of New York, nearly to the southern point of the Tennessee river, in Alabama. Its western limit is near Pomeroy, on the Ohio river; it approaches to within about forty miles of Lake Erie, near Cleveland, and its point nearest the tide waters of the Atlantic, is perhaps from 90 to 100 miles west of Philadelphia.

On the eastern slope, in Pennsylvania, its character is chiefly anthracite; in Maryland, bituminous; and here are the richest mines of coal now known. Their value is inestimable, and is now fully appre

ciated.

9

Anthracite coal was first used on tide-water, as fuel, in 1820, and the supply sent to market in that year, was only 365 tons. In 1846, the total supply was 2,333,594 tons, and 11,468 vessels, exclusive of boats, were laoded with it for coastwise demand. The great and only drawback to the value of this coal-field, is its location in the mountains and its distance from market. Over thirty-four millions of dollars have already been expended in making cannals, rail-roads, and other facilities for transporting the coal to points where it can be profitably used, and then the largest part of its cost is the result of labor outside of the mine. The interest on this capital, and the demand for this labor, will be perpetual.

On the western slope of the Alleghanies this coal field assumes a bituminous character. The only points at which it will be of value to us is where it touches the navigable waters of the Ohio and its tributaries. Here the coal is so abundant, so accessible, so cheaply and easily worked, that geologists and "coal viewers" have not been called on to describe its strata; and the only reliable authority I find in reference to it is in Silliman's Journal of October, 1835, and taken from a memoir of Dr. S. P. Hildreth. He gives this type of the field in the valley of the Monongahale.

"No less than four deposits of coal are found from the tops of the hills to the bed of the river, the uppermost is at an elevation of 300 feet and is six feet in thickness; the second is 150 feet above the bed of the river and seven feet thick-the coal of an excellent quality; the third is 30 feet above the river, three feet thick, and coal rather inferior; the fourth bed is a few feet beneath the river, six feet thick, and of superior quality."

This coal has some of the peculiarities of the flint-stone, a variety of the Scotch, and one of the Newcastle, but superior to either.

As this coal-field passes the head waters of the Sandy and Kentucky rivers, it takes nearly the characteristics of the pure cannel. On the banks of the river where this coal is mined, its price aside from the rent, s from 2 to 3 1-2 cents per bushel, depending on the quantity mined.