attention as other branches of husbandry. According to the latest statistics I remember to have seen, there are in the empire about 3,000,000 of horses, 35,000,000 sheep, 12,000,000 horned cattle; mules and jacks, 900,000; swine, 5,000,000; goats, 1,000,000.

The raising of poultry receives a good deal of attention, and bee-culture is also in favor. In the south of France where the mulberry flourishes the silk-worm is produced to a considerable extent, and the annual products of both silk and bee-culture are said to be worth 100,000,000 francs, or nearly $25,000,000.

THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS of France constitute one of its chief glories. Paris is the centre, whence radiate six great railroads into as many great divisions of the empire, with an aggregate mileage of 8,500 miles. Besides which, there are 214 Imperial highways, with an aggregate length of 22,000 miles, 79 canals with a total of 3,600 miles in length, and several navigable rivers. So that the aggregate length of land and water communication is scarcely less than 555,000 miles. the thousands of magnificent bridges, national buildings, public gardens, monuments, &c., a volume would be necessary to an enumeration. Of the highways I shall have something to say in a separate article.

POLITICAL DIVISIONS.

Of

One of the most remarkable peculiarities of French agriculture is the extent to which roots are cultivated-particularly the sugar beet. I have found it growing in nearly all parts of the country and have visited a number of large France is politically divided into 86 Departestablishments where the sugar and alcohol ments of nearly equal extent, each with its are manufactured. The production of beet capital. These are again divided into 363 arsugar, alone, has equalled 150,000 tons in one rondissements, these into 2,850 cantons, and I can see no sufficient reason why the these cantons into 36,826 communes or villages. year. sugar beet may not be successfully grown in The government, at the present, as everythe lower latitudes of the northern United body knows, is an enlightened, severe despotStates, and shall look with new interest to theism.

result of the experiments now making in Ohio.

THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE.

The general system of agriculture is both Warm-blooded, earnest, enthusiastic, genial, good and bad, though better than I had ex- generous, patriotic, heroic, I love them most pected to find. The agricultural schools estab-heartily. They number over 36,000,000; of lished within the few past years are doing much to enlighten the great public on this subject, and to explode the old errors which have so long weighed like an incubus upon the industry of the country.

As A

MANUFACTURING COUNTRY, France ranks next to Great Britain, and is steadily progressing. In the manufacture of those articles which require fineness of taste and a skill akin to that which is necessary in the department of Fine Arts, she is superior to all other nations. Total annual value of her manufactures of silk, jewelry, iron, woolen fabrics, cottons, leather and glass, $4,000,000,000.

whom some 20,000,000 are agriculturalists, 2,500,000 manufacturers, 8,000,000 mechanics, with 3,000,000 devoted to the "liberal" professions.

France is

THE RELIGIOUS TOLERATION scarcely surpassed, although the dominant religion is Catholic. Number of Protestants about four millions. The clergy, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish, are supported by the government; the total salary of the Catholic clergy alone being $5,000,000. But with all this support of the religion of the empire, the people of France are by no means too pious! Religion is one of the fashions of the day. The sabbath is practically crowded into a few hours, and the remainder of the Be-time which in America would be Sunday is devoted to having a good time.

COMMERCIALLY, she is also a great nation. Her merchant marine consists of 13,000 ships, with a tonnage of about 1,000,000 tons. sides this, about 30 per cent of her foreign trade is carried on by land.

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION in France furnishes so

wide and interesting a theme that I must, at some time in the future, prepare a separate article upon it for the Educational Department of the FARMER. It is under the general direction of a special Minister, assisted by an Imperial Council of eighteen Inspectors-General, and is characterized by many features worthy of our own consideration. This is especially true of the Professional schools, where instruction is given in the Natural Sciences and in the liberal and fine arts; in all of which France excels

all other nations.

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS abound in every needed locality, and the wants of the afflicted and destitute are provided for with a most commendable benevolence. This fact is illustrated by the circumstance that in all my stay in the cities of France and my travels in the country I have never once been asked for alms. There is, no doubt, suffering, and too much of it, but the Government carefully provides reasonable means for its alleviation, and then by stringent laws forbids any demonstration of pauperism in public. In this respect France contrasts very strongly with Great Britain and most other countries.

But I have already extended this review of the empire beyond my first intention. It has been but a glance, however, and will only give the reader a faint idea of the reality. Some day, France, I shall hope to see thy sunny plains and grand old mountains again-aye, and thy glorious people, who will then have grown both wiser and better than now. For the meantime a reluctant and loving farewell!

ters of this sort entitles them to high consideration, the undersigned in full and cordial concurrence with their views, would hereby announce that a Convention for the purposes above named will be held at Madison on Wednesday and Thursday, the 4th and 5th days of March, 1863. All persons interested in any branch of the general subject proposed for discussion in said Convention, whether citizens of this or of any other State, are cordially invited to attend, and to bring with them samples of seed and of the implements and machinery necessary to the manufacture of syrup and sugar, together with the representative products of such manufacture.

J. W. HOYT, Sec'y Wis. St. Ag. Soc. [Wisconsin papers, and the Agricultural Press please notice.]

Personal. We are pleased to learn that Thos. P'. Turner, Esq.. of Waukesha Co., who accompanied us to London, last spring, and who remained to visit friends after our return, has at length arrived in safety. We found him a most agreeable traveling companion, as well as a very careful, appreciative observer of whatever looks to the progress of Industry and of Man, and sincerely hope that his visit to the land of his nativity has been in all respects highly satisfactory.

Be Patient-Those subscribers who have ordered maps will be supplied at the earliest possible moment.

NOTICES OF NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.

Madison Mutual Insurance Company.—
We publish in this number the annual statement of this

to Statute, and can do our readers no greater favor than to

The American Cyclopedia, on the subject of insurance,

companies; and these are so numerous, se well regulated by the Statutes of the several States, and in general so well conducted, and the principle of paying only what the actual risk is worth, is so well carried into effect that no person is excusable for not protecting himself and his family or creditors against this loss."

Sorghum Convention For Wisconsin company as made to the Governor of the State agreeably and the adjoining States.-STATE AGRICULTU-commend to them the benefit of its protection. RAL ROOMS, Madison, Jan. 25, 1863.-Believ- says: "Much the largest amount of insurance against ing that the general, and especially the agri-fire in the United States, is now done by mutual insurance cultural interests of Wisconsin would be promoted by the holding of a convention with special reference to an increase of information among the farmers of this State as to the best varieties, methods of cultivation, and machin-is ery for the manufacture of Sorghum; and having, moreover, been petitioned therefor by numerous persons whose active interest in mat

above remarks, and proves that a company or corporation in no danger of rupture or failure from a rapid increase or large amount of business, if guided by wisdom and jus tice. So far from this, every additional risk under such conditions adds to the safety and economy of the thing.

The success of this company sustains the justice of the

A glance at the comparative statement of the business of the company for the last four years, exhibits a present vigor and stability which few companies can boast. Here

The display of these is magnificent, and to an agriculturist would, of itself, have been worth a voyage across the sea. They are properly divisible into five sections:

1. Implements for the tillage and drainage of the soil, such as steam cultivators, plows, scarifiers, pulverizers, grubbers, harrows, rollers, and clod orushers.

with a small wheel running before, and with strong, forward-curving, coulter-like teeth or tines which penetrate the soil like the cultivator or scarifier. When drawn by four powerful English horses no mass of roots has any business to attempt a resistance to its steady progress.

Stump pullers are not so much in demand in the great garden of England as in the wilds of this new continent, and accordingly we find nothing of this sort in the British Department worthy of especial notice. But their

PLOWS

Of every description, except the superior Yankee specimens, are the finest here. Fowler makes a splendid show in this branch of the implement department-exhibiting a hundred plows and models of plows, ancient and 2. Implements for the culture of the soil, modern, illustrations of the history of traction and the harvesting of crops, to wit:-dibbling tillage from Scripture days down through the machines, drills, manure distributors, horse- classic period of palmy Greece and Rome, unhoes, mowing machines and hay makers, reap- til this present. Here are the rude forked ers, horse-rakes, wagons, carts, and the like. stick; one branch sharpened answering for the 3. Machines for preparing grain &c. for post; another for the beam; while the trunk, market and food for cattle-locomotives, port-dressed down to proper size, served as a hanable and fixed, steam engines, steam elevators, dle by which it was held upright. Time went threshing machines, winnowing machines, on, and next we have the Roman plow, similar crushing and grinding mills, machines for cutto the first, but its nose pointed with iron. A ting and pulping feed, apparatus for washing, few generations having passed, we get the betcutting and steaming roots, &c. ter Roman plow, consisting of several parts rudely put together with carpenter's tools, and with trowel-shaped, shovel-share of iron. A few generations more, and we have the hori

4. Miscellaneous agricultural machines, implements and articles, such as churns, washing machines, carts, cheese presses, cider mills, &c. 5. Horticultural implements and machinery.zontal and the inclined share, with two narrow wooden mould-boards; then one mould-board

THE ENGLISH "GRUBBER,"

You will observe, consists of a heavy iron in the middle between two shares; next a sinframe supported upon two wheels like a cart,gle horizontal or slightly inclined share with

one mould-board fixed at the side; then, after centuries had passed, with a variety of trifling improvements, a wooden mould-board faced with thin iron; afterwards, an iron mould

was so great an affair as to entitle it to poetic
description, thus:

"Of eight feet long a fastened beam prepare ;
On either side the head produce an ear,
And sink a socket for the shining share." &c.

board; and, at last, the present implement with But then, let us count the years since then.

all its convenient appurtenances, and mouldboard of hard steel!.

Isn't it wonderful how slow and tedious the improvement of so simple and universal an implement? And even yet it is rather rare to find a plow the curve of whose mouldboard is just what it ought to be for the purpose it was designed to answer; so little has been understood by practical men of the principles of mechanical philosophy.

And then of the best modern plows, how many varieties there are!-each designed for some particular use. With most English farmers, the wheel plow appears to take precedence; others prefer the swing plow, and in this agree with their Yankee cousins.

John prides himself on the superiority of his plow and won't acknowledge, even after fair trial and being badly beaten, that Jonathan is even with, much less ahead of, him. The trial, in 1857, by a committee, of which Col. Johnson of New York was a member, convinced all who witnessed it that the Yankee plow was the best; but John has a very short memory and to-day stoutly denies that such a conclusion ever was legitimate! Still, many of the English plows are of excellent construction, and it is not unlikely that we may gain a useful hint or two from some of them. One thing we shall never like, however; they are chiefly of iron, and very heavy. We shall illustrate a few of the best models, after a time, in the FARMER.

Almost two thousand! Now the laugh is on t'other side, and we'll quietly get down without further comment.

Of the style and working capacity of the English steam plows we have talked at length, (see report of the Great Trial under the auspices of the Royal Ag. Soc. at Farmingham, in November No.), and need add nothing further now-except that we have ordered engravings of some of them, and one of these days shall be able to give the farmers of Wisconsin a bet. ter idea of their construction than is possible with words merely.

In the matter of

CLOD CRUSHERS,

His

These cir

We incline to think John may be ahead.
soil, as a general rule, needs more knocking to
pieces than the richer and more friable soils
of the New World, and he is, moreover a great
deal better farmer, and would work his soil
more thoroughly than the American, though
it should not need it half so much.
cumstances may account for the universality
of the use of such implements in England, and
for the other fact, of superiority. Crosskill's
still stands without a rival. It consists of a
series of independent iron rings upon an iron
axle-upon the extremities of which wheels
may be placed when it is desired to remove it
from the field-each ring having its edge notch-
ed, and bearing flanges upon both of its flat
sides, the outer end of which is flush with the
edge at the bottom of each notch. This crush-
er won a gold medal, worth $185, at a late tri-

THE ENGLISH HARROWS

But see! here are also steam plows, of various patterns. Let us mount this new levia-al by the Royal Ag. Soc., and is probably one than of the soil and look down from it upon of the best implements in use in this or any other country. the old crooked stick used by the proud and classic Virgil, and so make him feel our superiority! A long stride, good fellow of the olden time, between this mighty engine with its hedge of sharp steel shares, and that antiquated concern which you thought in your pride

They

Are likewise deserving of approval. are usually of all iron, and consist of a series of light harrows-two, three, or four-linked together. The teeth are lighter and more nu

The riddling apparatus consists of a series of riddles with meshes differing in size, so as One of the best kibbling mills consists of two to adapt them to different kinds of grain. solid steel rollers, with fluted surfaces, made Whilst the corn is passing through the riddling to pass each other at different velocities. By apparatus, it is subjected to a blast from the means of this machine, beans, peas, oats, bar-fan, made stronger or weaker by opening or ley, Indian corn, &c., are crushed easily and closing the doors at the end of the fan box; to any required size. the chaff being blown towards the back of the With a power capable machine. of giving it 100 revolutions a minute, it will crush 22 bushels of beans per hour.