The early notices of the crop in Missouri which meet us are like the following:

"The tobacco crop in Missouri.-A gentleman familiar with the subject has recently been travelling up the Missouri river. He informs us that he saw and conversed with a number of planters, and had means of gaining correct intelligence of the prospect of the coming crop in the counties of Boone, Howard, Chariton, Randolph, Macon, Calloway, Montgomery, Warren, and St. Charles. In these counties our informant states that the crop will nearly equal in quantity, and greatly excel in quality, that of any former year. Our informant states, that since his return he has had opportunities of conversing with planters, and received accounts from most of the other tobacco-growing counties, all of which concur in the above statement. It is now pretty certain that the quantity in the State will about equal, (probably from the increase of growers,) if not exceed, that of any former year, and be of fair complexion, and better adapted to manufacturing than any previous crop."-St. Louis Republican.

The information obtained since the crop was gathered hardly corresponds with the above. For instance, in sections of the State we are told that "the crop was but about one-half a crop, on account of the overflow ;" and, again," two thirds of a crop.". We believe, from all we can ascertain, that there was a falling off of from 20 to 25 per cent.;" but that, allowing for the increased culture, on account of new lands, &c., we may estimate it at about 15 per cent.

The following is the statement in the St. Louis Gazette, which, at 5,000 hogsheads for one-third of the crop, is near our estimate:

"Tobacco.-The crop sent to this market falls short of last year, when there were about 7,000 hogsheads. This year the number will not much exceed 5,000 hogsheads, and the quality is not generally so good. It has been cut too green, and is specifically lighter than that of a more mature growth. Prices vary from $1 to $11 per hundred. The crop throughout the State for 1844 will probably amount to 20,000 hogsheads. Only about one-third of the entire crop comes to this market. About two-thirds is shipped direct to New Orleans, from the different harbors along the river." Tobacco is raised in some of the other States; but the quantity is comparatively small, and attracts so little attention, that no very definite calculations can be given respecting the crop in them. We have fixed the estimates in the table, according to the best judgment, from a comparison of former productive seasons, contiguity, &c.

The whole tobacco crop of the United States for 1844 we suppose may be fixed at 151,705,000 pounds.

In a Richmond paper we find the following statement respecting the crops of Virginia and North Carolina, under date of October 3: "The total inspections embraced in the statement to the 30th of September, is 10,861 hogsheads less than at a corresponding period in 1843; but still the returns do not accurately exhibit the real deficiency between the productions of 1842 and 1843, in consequence of a larger quantity of tobacco being reprised and inspected a second time; the present year, perhaps 1,500 hogsheads were, at least, thus counted twice in the inspections. At this time the stock of old tobacco held by the planters is very small. Relative, therefore, to the crop for inspection in 1845, it must be mainly confined to the production of 1844, which, in the aggregate, will not exceed 10,000 to 45,000 hogsheads. The home demand for tobacco is regularly increasing."

Statistics of inspections and stock, to 30th September, 1844.

The kinds inspected during the year 1844 at Baltimore, it is said, were

In a Virginia paper, we find the following remarks with reference to the amount of production, and the effect of a failure in the crop, which we subjoin, as furnishing some facts which may be useful to record:

"From the year 1800 to the year 1839, the whole quantity of tobacco exported from the United States, annually, amounted to about 82,000 hogsheads. During this period, one or two short crops in Virginia would affect prices. The Western States, during this period, had never exported, on an average, more than 35,000 hogsheads. In 1840, the West exported 40,000; in 1841, 54,600 hogsheads; in 1842, 68,000 hogsheads; in 1843, . 89,800 hogsheads; and in 1844, 81,200 hogsheads. We refer you to the New Orleans price current of the 7th of September, for the exports of tobacco from 1835 to 1844, inclusive; by which you will see that New Orleans alone has exported, in the last two years, as much tobacco, on an average, as the average products of the United States previous to 1835. This, we think, is sufficient to account for the low prices of 1843 and 1844; and we may say, the very inferior quality of the Virginia tobacco for two years past has contributed not a little to lessen its value, and to bring the Western tobacco into more general use. The fact is, that the West produces now nearly as much as the consumption of Europe demands. The failure of a crop in Virginia has very little, if any, effect on prices in Europe. It does, however, affect prices at home in our own market, since our manufacturers require annually from 18,000 to 20,000 hogsheads of Virginia tobacco for the consumption of the country, which is about half of what is supposed to be the crop of Virginia grown this year; and the consumption being on the increase, it is fair to suppose that at least onehalf of the tobacco raised in Virginia hereafter will be manufactured for home use. It should be remembered that the growth of tobacco is not

confined to the United States. It is supposed that at least as much as 75,000 hogsheads are raised in other countries. It is true the consumption is on the increase; but it seems that the production is far ahead of the consumption, as will appear from the statement of exports and products." In letters which have been received from Algiers, (as we learn from the foreign journals,) it is stated that the French have been successful in their plantations of tobacco formed there; so that it is not improbable that, in the course of some years, they may derive a portion of their supply for the market from that colony. The opinion is expressed that China may open to us a considerable sale, as the milder kinds, cut fine, and sent in packages of 5, 10, or 20 pounds, would be quite profitable there. They are said to use an immense quantity of their own raising, but it is far inferior in quality to the American. That which is taken out from this country by the captains and mates of ships is said to find a ready sale. As ships from every quarter of the globe visit that part, and not much is exposed for sale, the opinion seems probable that there would be a very considerable traffic, were it attempted, as might now be through the ports opened to us. Several valuable papers on the culture of tobacco have been published by Dr. Gardner, who enters very fully into the question as to the conditions of the soil, the preparation necessary, &c. He states that "in rich loams, where the solution of the minerals of the soil is rapid, and where 10 to 20 per cent. of vegetable matter is incorporated in the earth, tobacco may be obtained for many years; but it is always an exhausting crop." He adds: "It has been stated that 170 pounds of mineral matter are removed in less than three months, by a crop of tobacco, from one acre of land." "This is very much more than wheat or other grains carry off in eight or nine months. Thus, wheat planted in October, and cut in June, takes from the soil, of the same mineral substances, 22 pounds in a crop of 20 bushels, with straw. In these estimates, the sand or silica is omitted, inasmuch as its supply is too great in all soils to cause any fear from exhaustion." "The important mineral substances presented in Havana tobacco, examined by Hertwig, (Liebig's Annalen for April, 1843) are: Salts of lime, 51.38, Phosphates

Salts of potash, 34.15,
Magnesia,

in one hundred parts ashes.

4.09,

9.04,

"These substances were, for the most part, insoluble in earth, and must have been dissolved during the growth of the crop.

"We have now arrived at a clear view of the cause of sterility in lands as respects tobacco-saline substances and ammonia are not rendered fit for food with sufficient rapidity. We also see why a large amount of dead leaves, or other vegetable rubbish, will yield a crop, by giving up to the roots a sufficient quantity of these bodies.

"The great question is-whether there are economical means by which land, which has lost the power of sustaining tobacco, can be rendered fertile, and be maintained in that condition."

He recommends the attaining a suitable soil by providing means to promote its porosity, and then to hasten the solubility of its saline matters. This (he says) may be done by liming; by burning part of the surface soil with lime in the kiln; by incorporating vegetable matter in the soil; by burning of clay, and pulverizing; also, to secure the ammonia of the soil. On these subjects, he makes many remarks. The whole essays deserve the careful perusal of the tobacco planter, as they contain numerous

valuable suggestions. They have been published by most of the agricultural journals in the tobacco-growing regions.

In a late number of the Southern Planter, a new remedy is described to prevent the destruction of tobacco plants by the fly. The writer says: "I had a bushel or two of dry ashes put into a large tub, and added train oil enough (say one gallon of oil to the bushel of ashes) to dampen and flavor the ashes completely; this was well stirred, and mixed with the hand, and sowed broadcast over certain patches, Nos. 2 and 3." The trial was successful, as it likewise was another year; while on No. 1, another left without the remedy, the plants were destroyed. In consequence of the expectation that a duty amounting to a prohibition would be imposed in England on tobacco strips, it is mentioned in a public journal that the stemmeries of this country had been closed, and no tobacco would go forward in the shape of strips. England was the only foreign market, before, in which strips were taken.

COTTON.

There can be no doubt that, with regard to this great crop, which exercises so mighty an influence on the trade of this country, the crop of 1844 is much larger than that of 1843. Indeed, had it not been for the floods of the Mississippi, it would have been probably as large, if not larger, than any before raised in this country. The return of the crop of the previous year, as it appears, was about 2,000,000 of bales, which, at 375 pounds to the bale, is only about 3,000,000 of pounds from the tabular estimate of 1843. It is possible that, in the proportional distribution of the crop, there was less accuracy. We see it strongly insisted upon by some of our correspondents, that Mississippi is now the foremost State in the production of cotton; and we are inclined to think that this may be true, as the progress of the culture is gradually more and more westward, though we felt justified in reducing the crop of that year, and raising that of Georgia in 1843, by the accounts which we could gather from the various States.

In Virginia, there was probably a falling off of cotton, from the drought: the decrease is, in some sections, even as high as 30 per cent.; but it was of superior quality.

The cotton crop of North Carolina is thus noticed at an early date in one of the public journals: "The prospect of a good cotton crop in the northern part of the State is somewhat doubtful, owing to the drought. Some fields are much injured." In the northeastern section of the State, however, subsequent intelligent information is given: "The cotton is better than I have known it for many years; but, in consequence of the low prices at which it had been selling, planters did not try to raise it extensively this year, but curtailed their crops. In the northwest counties, the crop was an average one, yet little was planted." In the southwest, it was "good, clean, and dry, and opened well." In the southern central section, bordering South Carolina, it is thought to have been "one fourth less, on account of the drought." On the whole, the crop for the State may have been a slight increase of from 5 to 10 per cent. over the crop of 1843, which fell off considerably from the previous year.

The following are some of the notices which have been gathered, from time to time, from the public journals, to mark the progress of the cotton crop in South Carolina.

From the Charleston Courier, of June 20, in regard to the crops, we quote the following extract of a letter, dated Jeffries Creek, June 10: "I have melancholy news to write in relation to the cotton crops in this neighborhood, and, I may say, so far as I have heard, in this region of country. About a fortnight or three weeks since, our prospects were never more flattering; but, in this short time, the aphis gosypii, or cotton louse, has attacked our cotton in such numbers, that, without some speedy arrest of their ravages should take place, there is a strong probability, from present appearances, that many crops in this neighborhood will be entirely destroyed; and none that I have heard from will escape extensive injury. I have ploughed up one-fourth of my own crop, and planted it in corn; and in the balance of my farm, there can scarcely be found a stalk of cotton but what is stocked with the insects. I have heard from most parts of this district, and from a portion of Darlington, and complaints from this insect are almost universally heard of."

"The weather and the crops.-This present month of July will be noted for intense heat and protracted drought. The surrounding country has suffered incalculably for want of rain. The corn crop is materially affected; and even cotton, which, up to within a few days, promised a most abundant yield, has commenced shedding its bolls to a most incalculable extent."-Cheraw (S. C.) Gazette of July 30.

A letter in the Charleston Mercury gives a melancholy picture of the cotton crop, which account is confirmed from other sources of information. The Mercury says: "This disastrous result of a season that promised, in the other part, more richly than any, for some years past, is not confined to that State, but is true, with more or less of mitigation, of the entire cottongrowing region. The peculiarity of the growth is, that the plant attained a precocious maturity, and that all growth, and consequently all possible increase of the product, is now at an end. The crop is now nearly all gathered, or ready for gathering. Frost may come early or late; it is all the same. There will be nothing for it to kill. Favorable localities may, to a limited extent, have escaped this injury; but, beyond a doubt, the disaster has been general. The Sea Island crop is believed to be much better in the upland, as one might expect."

The Anderson (S. C.) Gazette says: "We have no rain yet. The cotton crop has been cut off nearly one-half."

"Edisto Island, August 5.-Though for some weeks past our dry and parched fields have been entreating in their behalf the prayers of the faithful, never, till ten days ago, had I seen a better promise of cotton to our painstaking planters.

"The effects of the long-continued drought, however, have at last become alarmingly apparent, and our fields now present an aspect of premature age. The stalks are red-an indication of maturity; and the leaves on some plantations, withering and dying, cover the earth as after a frost. In the low lands, where, from some remains of moisture, the plant has been enabled to endure the fiery trial, a red bug, unknown except to our oldest men, has appeared in great abundance, and is now sucking up its vital energies, and doing even more damage (some say) than the caterpillar of known destructiveness."

The view taken by other informants, respecting the crop in this State, corresponds mainly with the above. It seems to have been better, however, in the northwestern section of the State, as the crop was about the