given. It shows the number of each class-whites and blacks-males and females-who have died in Mobile, from 1845 to 1850, inclusive:

Within that decade which embraced the two years, 1848 and 1849, in which the cholera and its kindred affections swelled the mortality somewhat, we find that the average mortality was 611 per annum. By comparing this average with that of other cities, we find that in Mobile the percentage of deaths is less than in Philadelphia or New York, and very little more than in London or Paris, where longevity has been reduced to a science. Thus the average annual mortality in 1850, of

In examining the above table, we are struck with the greater mortality of males over females. The reasons for this may be found in the hitherto careless habits and often useless exposure of the male population. Not only is the health of Mobile shown to be greater than that of other coast cities of the United States, but the fact is also established that the health of the Alabama Gulf coast would be still better if the male population would avoid useless exposure at certain seasons.

If this is true of Mobile, and no one can question it, what remains to be said of the interior prairie and mountainous sections of the State? Simply, that the health of Alabama can compare favorably with that of any of the most populous States of the North.

The following table is copied from the United States census of 1860. The percentage column exhibits the number of deaths in every 100

persons; the last column shows the number, in each State, out of which

one person has died:

It will be observed from this table that the percentage of mortality is less in Alabama than in the States of Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hamp-, shire, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Nebraska, and differs almost imperceptibly from that of any of the

other States, except those remarkably salubrious States at the headwaters of the Mississippi, where the air is always dry and as clear as crystal.

By referring again to the census of 1860, the idea that Alabama is afflicted with fevers throughout her prairie belt, is dissipated by a comparison with other States, and it will be seen that exposure to the heat of the summers of Alabama is less fatal than exposure to the cold of the winters of the North. In 1860 the deaths from the following diseases, in the following States, is thus stated by the census:

This comparison proves that the State of Alabama does not suffer as much from fevers, in proportion to her population, as Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, and that the advantage which the Northern and Eastern States may possess during the three months of summer are more than counterbalanced by the diseases incident to colder climates. The deaths from consumption in 1860 were-in New York, 8,207; in Ohio, 3,495; in Pennsylvania, 5,011; in Virginia, 2,109; in Indiana, 1,704; in Illinois, 1,948. By comparing this fatality with that of Alabama, it will be seen that consumption is far more fatal at the North than fevers are at the South. Thus nature draws off the balance-sheet of mortality, and by her unbending law of compensation always finds a debit for a credit.

That distinguished physician, Dr. J. C. Nott, who has passed a life of eminent usefulness at Mobile, and whose evidence is unquestionable, does not hesitate to express his opinion that the climate and health of even the worst portions of Alabama are equal to those of the Northern States. He says:

"We have said that the pine hills are healthy, and that the whites can and do live there with health. We have on the other hand said, that the white man can not cultivate the rice fields, and a considerable portion of the alluvial cotton lands. But on the other hand there is an immense proportion of our cotton lands, on which white laborers can and will live with a reasonable degree of health—perhaps (when we take into consideration the many diseases incident to dense populations) with as much health as in most parts of Europe from which our emigrants come. "A very large portion of our cotton lands are to a great degree

exempt from malarial diseases, and making an average of the whole year, and thus including diseases of cold as well as heat, it may be well doubted whether these portions are not as favorable to health and longevity as either our New England or Western States. For example, the lime or prairie lands of Mississippi and Alabama, and the uplands generally of the Carolinas, Georgia, and other cotton States-even the fertile lands on the banks of the Mississippi, when thoroughly drained and cultivated, may be considered as quite healthy, and if a good system of drainage and culture was generally adopted, the proportion of land unsuited to white labor would be small.

"Laying aside all speculation on the subject, there are facts in abundance to prove that whites can live, labor and make cotton in our climate, and the bait is too tempting to be resisted. At fifty cents a pound, one industrious laborer can make his food and clothing, and put besides, yearly, a thousand dollars of good money in his pocket, and the white man will do it at a much greater risk of life or health than he is called upon to make in well selected cotton fields of the South.

"Even now, every-where through the Carolinas, Georgia and the Gulf States, you see little farms worked successfully by white laborers, both male and female. We should, too, have seen a great deal more of this kind of labor had it not been for the proximity of slave labor. Not only have these small farmers been driven off by the monopoly of the rich, in buying up their little farms to get them out of the way, but agricultural labor has scarcely been considered honorable at the South.. The poor white man was put on a footing with the slave that he despised.

"Another proof of the availability of white labor is seen around our towns-nearly all the market gardens around Mobile and New Orleans (and so with other towns) are cultivated by white laborers, although these localities are among the most insalubrious in the South. The towns themselves are healthy to the acclimated, but the marshy suburbs are very sickly.

"Who, let us ask, have built our Southern towns? Is it not almost exclusively Northern and foreign carpenters and bricklayers, who labor in the full blaze of a Southern sun?

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Although Germans, Irish and Northerners, can and will live and prosper in the Southern States, there is no doubt that emigrants from France, Spain and Italy would be most readily and perfectly adapted to our climate."

It may be said, that in no part of the State are the extremes of heat and cold felt, with rare exceptions, and then for no great length of time..

During the summer the mercury ranges from 104° to 60°F. In November and the winter months, from 82° to 18°, and in Spring 92° to 22°. The mean temperature of the State is about 63°, or perhaps something less, and the mercury seldom rises above 93°.

TIMBER REGION OF ALABAMA.

Description by Lewis Troost, Esq.-Capacity for fruit culture—Susceptibility of fertilization-The Dickson plan-Peculiar value of the oaksNew process of tanning-Value for turpentine and resin-Cost of a Turpentine Orchard—Estimate of the yield-Value of the hard pine -The saw-mill interest, etc.

IN an interesting article contributed to DeBow's Review, LEWIS TROOST, ESQ., of Mobile, a distinguished civil engineer of that city, thus describes the most southern region of Alabama:

"The timber region is the most southern division of the State, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and the State of Florida. It extends eastwardly and westwardly across the State, and northwardly 132 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and 40 miles from the State of Florida.

"This section, except where occupied by the immediate valleys of rivers, is covered with forests of long-leaf yellow pine (pinus australis), affording excellent timber (of matchless size) for domestic, public, and naval purposes, and yielding also tar, pitch, and turpentine.

"The low lands of the rivers have growths of white, black, and Spanish oak, and bald and black cypress. The latter furnishes a timber, stated by the old Spanish settlers to last many years, even in the most exposed situations.

"The surface of the country is gently undulating, the highest elevations being about three hundred feet above mean low tide. The soil, consisting of sand and clay, and sandy loam based on clay, is poor, but when of the latter character, it is well adapted for the cultivation of grapes, peaches, apples, and pears. When manured, it is productive of cotton and corn, and preserves its fertility.

"In this section stock rearing is profitable, and is attended with little trouble; the piney woods, bordering on the streams, affording natural perennial pastures; and the climate being mild, housing the cattle is not required. The only expense incurred in this pursuit is to herd and export the cattle to market.