per hand, are cultivated in cotton. The average production of the valley lands is about 400 lbs. of cotton per acre, and, in the first-class upland and creek-bottom lands, about 200 to 300 lbs. per acre. ESTIMATE NO. V. Estimate Cost of Raising Upland Cotton.-Planting 100 acres in cotton, and the same quantity in corn; employing ten good hands. Expenses. 120 bushels corn, $90; bacon, $273......... 5 mules, $90; provender, $360.. 5 plows, $40; 2 carts, $60; 1 wagon, $100....... Hoes, and other utensils........ 10 laborers, $120........ Total.......... Products. 300 lbs. cotton to the acre, 30,000 lbs. at 40 cents........... 30 bushels corn to the acre, 3,000 bushels, at 75 cents.... $363 810 200 100 1,200 .$2,673 ..$12,000 2,250 $14,250 .$11,577 Leaving net profit......... Remember there is nothing difficult or scientific in the raising of cotton; the least skilled labor in the world, under the most unskillful direction and management, has made the fortunes of those engaged in it. Our New England farmers can learn it without an effort in a single season, or can manage a plantation with the aid of an experienced overseer, at once. Men laboring for a bare living here, can, at the South, with the present prices of land, amass a fortune in two years. ESTIMATE NO. VI. Estimate on a Farm of 40 Acres.-10 acres in cotton, 15 acres in corn, potatoes, fruit, etc., 15 acres in wood-land, for fires, fences, etc., by his own labor only. The land will cost from $5 to $20 per acre, according to locality and improvements. Corn at 75 cents per bushel; bacon at 15 cents per pound. Expenses per Year. Food for himself, corn, 12 bushels, $9; bacon, or equivalent, 200 lbs., $30..$ 39 00 Mule, $100; provender, $60...... Cost of cart, $40; plows, $12........ Hoes, etc........ Products. Clean cotton, 3,000 lbs........... Corn, 300 bushels......... Fodder, 2,500 lbs........... 160 00 52 00 10 00 261 00 $1,200 00 225 00 18 75 $1,443 75 It may be said, generally, that an industrious man can, on a farm of the above description, support himself, family and stock well, and raise from six to ten bales of cotton clear of all expense. The estimate of 300 lbs. cotton per acre is quite moderate, as 400 lbs., and more, are often raised. REMARKABLE PRODUCTIONS OF ALABAMA. Other agricultural products-The Okra plant-Its use in the manufacture of paper-Cost of cultivation—The Ramie plant-Its history—Remarkable fibre―Three crops each year-Mode of culture-Value, etc. APART from cotton-planting, which is made a specialty in the richer portions of the State, there are other branches of agriculture which are. not overlooked, and which are made productive of. wealth. We do not call special attention to the corn which grows in every section of the State, and justifies the planter in making enough to meet the wants of his plantation; nor to the wheat which grows luxuriantly in the valleys of middle and north Alabama; nor to the early fruits with which every portion of the State abounds, and which anticipate the Northern market by several weeks; nor to the castor-plant which grows almost spontaneously, and offers to the oil traders a handsome return for cultivation; nor to the hundred other productions which grow alike in all sections of the country. We allude now to but two products to which the attention of the people is directed with special interest for the first time-the OKRA and the RAMIE plant. The Okra plant has heretofore entered simply into the economy of the garden. It now promises to enter into the economy of the plantation. Experiments have been made at the Chickasabogue Paper Manufaetory, near Mobile, which resulted in the demonstration of the fact that a very superior article of paper can be made from the Okra plant. These experiments were conducted with great care, and every step taken was scrutinized very closely by men skilled in the work of paper manufacture, and not favorably inclined to the proposed innovation. The demonstration, however, was so complete as to remove all doubt from the minds of the most incredulous of lookers-on, and the fact that a superior article of paper can be made from the Okra stalk may be regarded as established. It is also considered certain that the Okra can be bleached to any required degree of whiteness; that the cost of reducing it to "half stuff" and pulp will not, on a considerable scale, be greater than the cost of converting rags into pulp. The paper itself is as strong as that made from pure linen-thus combining in one material a great desideratum in paper making-flexibility and strength. The paper made of cotton rags requires an admixture of hemp or other material of strong fibre to give it the requisite strength, but the Okra may be used as "hard stock". to give strength to any other material-or by itself alone. It will work well in combination, in any desired proportion, with any other stock, or it may be made to alternate with rags, as the circumstances or exigencies of a mill may at any time demand. The great value of this property in the Okra will be apparent to any one at all acquainted with the business of paper manufacture. The Mobile Tribune, criticising the experiments made by the Chickasabogue Mills, says that the point left to demonstrate is the cost of Okra stalks in comparison with that of other paper stock. This, of course, can not be fully determined without further experiment. The Tribune takes it for granted, however, that Okra can be grown on a large scale very cheaply, and that it can be made to pay a handsome profit to the producer and yet be sold to the manufacturer at a price so low as to enable him to reduce the cost of the manufactured article to consumers, and "take the market" even from the manufacturers of straw and wood papers. The Okra plant is indigenous to the South, and with a soil moderately fertile will grow luxuriantly. It requires little skill to cultivate it. The fruit is a valuable and increasingly popular article of diet, and if produced in too large quantities for the table, it will be found an excellent article of food for cattle and hogs. The seed is valuable, and will at all times command a ready sale at good prices. It is estimated that the seed product will be ample to pay the entire expense of cultivating the plant. In our genial climate the farmer has the option of a continuous growth until frost, or growing two crops in one season on the same land. Although of the same family as cotton, it is free from the attacks of the multitudinous enemies which seem to delight in ravaging the cotton field. On rich canebrake or bottom lands it is confidently believed that from five to eight tons per acre of these stalks can be produced, and this, sold at the lowest price named-say twenty dollars per ton-would pay the planter much better than the same land in cotton. The cost of cultivation is very small; it is easily cured and the preparation for market is rapid and inexpensive. But it can be readily and profitably grown in the sandy and piney woods lands, and the lands in the neighborhood of the Chickasabogue Mills could be made to yield sufficiently of stalks to run or nearly run the mills. Women and children can cultivate the Okra plant, and with a reliable market close at hand can, from the sale of this product, make a comfortable living from a few acres of land. The Tribune understands that the Chickasabogue Mills will commence using the material as soon as a sufficient supply of it can be obtained, and as their consumption will, in all probability, equal one hundred tons per month, it will be seen, that there is every inducement for people, particularly in the pine woods section, to give early attention to the growth of this important fibre. If the manufacture at Mobile results as favorably as is anticipated, it requires no prophetic ken to discover what immense advantages are to accrue to the South. Other mills will speedily adopt this fibre, new mills will be started, and the time will not be distant when Southern manufacture will enter the markets of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, and compete successfully at their own doors with the manufactures who have heretofore, with inferior products, monopolized, to a great extent, the paper supply of this country. But the product adapted to the climate of Alabama which promises to rival and surpass the productiveness and value of cotton, without liability to the dangers which lie in wait for cotton every month of the year, is the Ramie, the beautiful cloth made from which, resembling silk in its fineness of texture, has attracted so much attention in Europe. This new textile, lately introduced to Southern agriculturists, is a native of the Island of Java, and was first brought to Europe for investigation in 1844, where it received the botanical name of Boehmeria Tenacissima, and by the beauty and strength of its fibre, attracted much attention in manufacturing circles. Since that time every encouragement has been given to producers in the East Indies to induce them to cultivate Ramie in sufficient quantity to supply the demand; the result is that a considerable quantity is annually received in Europe and manufactured into fabrics of the finest quality, excelling in strength, beauty and finish, linen of the finest texture, and rivaling even silk in lustre. Since its introduction into the United States in March, 1867, it has excited much interest among European manufacturers. They consider the fibre of the Boehmeria Tenacissima superior to that of any other textile plant, and very valuable for manufacturing purposes; the supply from the East is entirely inadequate to fill the demand, and unequal to the fibre here produced in quality; they are, therefore, very desirous of seeing Ramie successfully cultivated in some country where the yield will be large and regular. The soil and climate of the Southern States are particularly adapted for the cultivation of Ramie, which requires a loose, sandy soil, and temperate climate. These advantages can be secured in any of the cotton growing States. At the present time most of our planters and farmers are financially crippled, and can not afford to expend the large sums necessary to secure the labor to make cotton and sugar profitable crops; both of these articles require large capital and continuous cultivation to bring them to perfection, and both may be injured or destroyed by unfavorabe seasons, or other causes. Cotton may be totally destroyed by the army worm, or other insects. The fibre of Ramie, being contained in the inner bark of the stem, can not be injured in that way, and will not be hurt by either long-continued wet or dry weather; besides, it requires small capital to start a Ramie plantation, the plant being easily propagated and cultivated; it is a perennial, and will not require re-planting. Those who have been interested in Ramie culture since its introduction in Louisiana in 1867, have made frequent experiments in extracting the fibre from the stem and preparing it for use, and have tried plants grown in that and other States with the most satisfactory results. They find that our fibre is even finer than that of Java, and that the yield per acre is greater. In any of the Cotton States Ramie can be harvested at least three times a year, each harvest or cutting will produce between nine and twelve hundred pounds, making an average annual crop of about three thousand pounds of crude unprepared fibre, worth at present in Europe ten cents specie per pound; in preparing the fibre for manufacturing purposes it loses about one-half, and increases in value to sixty-five cents per pound. Thus, it is apparent that Ramie, requiring little or no tillage to produce such magnificent results, is the most profitable crop that the planter can cultivate. The fiber, when prepared for the spinner, is beautifully white, soft, and glossy, closely resembling floss silk in appearance; it is much stronger than the best flax, and readily receives the most difficult dyes without injury to its strength or lustre. A rich, sandy soil is the most suitable for Ramie cultivation, and is particularly desirable for a nursery, where plants are to be rapidly propagated. For field culture the plant will thrive in any good sandy land. To secure a rapid and vigorous growth of roots, the land should be thoroughly and deeply broken up to a uniform depth of about ten |