We have no doubt that the estimates for the Cumberland Valley are greatly under the mark. We have no reliable statistics to guide us, but we would not be far from wrong in placing the estimate, at least, at 100,000. 8.-TEA CULTURE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. There is a gentleman in Georgia who has had several years' experience in India in the culture of tea plauts, and the manufacture of tea; and it seems to be our duty to bring the matter fairly before our readers. For reasons, not of a personal or private character, we have for some time abstained from making public the information in our possession on this subject. As early as July, 1850, the Hon. Abbott Lawrence sent a communication from Mr. Francis Bonynge. (the gentleman in Georgia to whom we allude,) addressed to the Secretary of the Interior, on the production of tea in this country, which came to the Agricultural Desk in the Patent Office, occupied by the writer. We have deemed the Letter of Mr. Lawrence, and the communication of Mr. Bonynge, of suthcient interest to insert in the Agricultural Report for 1850; and we have read a paper of some thirty-five manscript pages, written by Mr. B. to be used before the British Parliament, and seen him several times during his stay in Washington. If success in the growing and curing of tea leaves depended on the very precarious life of an insect, like that of the silkworm, we should be extremely cautious how we encouraged even an experiment in the business. But the simple matter of picking the green leaves is the great labor in tea making; as picking is the serious work in cotton culture. From twenty to thirty pounds of green leaves are a day's work for a feeble Asiatic to gather; and we have good reason to believe that one hundred hands in China, do not on an average pick so much cotton in a day, as fifty in the Southern States. Indeed, this is the secret, or one of them, why the Chinese cannot, and do not compete successfully in cotton culture with the readers of this journal. A Tea tree needs to be replanted only once in twelve or fifteen years; and an acre will yield about 1200 pounds of green leaves a year, which will make 300 lbs. of merchantable Tea. Mr. Bonynge employs some two hundred hands, and manufactured tea, after the leaves were gathered, at less than an English penny per pound. The East India Tea Com pany is now making about 200,000 chests a year, and produce a very superior article. The people of the United States annually consume over 20,000,000 lbs. and those of Great Britain over 50,000,000 lbs. It is truly one of the greatest staples of civilized man, and one that we regard as coming legitimately within the sphere of Southern climate, soil, labor, capital and enterprise. Of course we esteem it as a matter of experiment only; but an experiment which ought to be fairly made, for if successful, incalculable advantages to the South will certainly follow. We want that Mr. B. should see the tea plants near our friend Mr. A. R. Kilpatrick, of Trinity, La., referred to by him in the May number of the Cultivator. The trouble of procuring any considerable quantity of the tea seeds that will grow after they arrive in this country is quite a drawback to the enterprise. The Patent Office has received some bushels, but not a seed that vegetated." The operation will be better conducted in future; at least we hope it may. We have before us an interesting communication from Mr. Williams, American Consul at Canton, on the introduction of China fruits into the United States; extracts from which will appear in our next. Mr. Bonynge has spent fourteen years in the East, and describes a variety of Coffee acclimated in a region so high above the ocean, that the tree bears well in a climate subject to pretty severe frosts. It should be borne in mind, that cotton itself is a tropical tree-not naturally an annual plant, as we cultivate it in the region of frost. There is nothing improbable in our finding coffee trees that will flourish in all our Gulf States, as far North as 150 miles from the coast. Mangoes and other fruits are also worthy of trial. A chest of tea has been brought from Shanghae to the White House for the President, in sixty-five days, via San Francisco and Panama. Once it took nearly three years to circumnavigate the globe; now, with good luck in meeting steamers, one can go round the world in one hundred and forty days. Indeed, sailing vessels have come from China to California in thirty-three, or thirty-five days. A man must be slow if he cannot live a century in the next thirty-three years. Southern Cultivator. 9.-CULTIVATION OF TEA, INDIGO, &c. Mr. Bonynge, who is referred to in the last paper, has written a letter for the Charleston Mercury, which, as presenting some new views, we extract: My object is to show you the imperative necessity you are under to bestir yourselves, and to introduce, not one staple only, but many, and save your country from the impending depression that hangs over it. I will take the last twenty-four years of the rice trade for comparison, viz: from 1824 to 1847, both years included: You will perceive, in the above comparative review of the rice consumed in, and exported from Charleston, that in reality there is a decline, for twelve years, of one per cent. per annum. Prices from 1835 to 1841, seven years, average yearly $3 30 to $3 88 66 Showing a falling off in price of 10 per cent. nearly; but observe what is a most notorious and remarkable instance in this decay. It has taken place with a four years' famine in Ireland, and the universal failure of the potato and grain crops of the continent of Europe. There have been extensive failures this year on Cooper River, &c. In a prosperous state such failures would be the concern of the individual only; but now it is a national loss, for the successful planter will obtain no higher price. There is so much less to export and to command imports; therefore, the planters, the merchant, the mechanic, and storekeepers, will feel it. It would be well to ascertain the cause of decline in your rice trade. It cannot be, as you may see, from an over-supply produced in Carolina, for we see. From 1824 to 1835, twelve years shipments to Europe, 66 46 Decline on shipments in twelve years.... Tierces. 668,669 .556,264 102,405 Now, with eight millions of people starving for some four or five years of that twelve years, general failure of the potato and short grain crops on the continent of Europe, food must have been supplied from somewhere. The merchant must be aware of the gradual displacement on the continent of American rice by East Indian (Patna and Arrakany rice. The English merchant can ship rice, or rough rice, to England, there clean it and reship it to the continent, and undersell the rice of this state. I mean at their comparative values. However, the famine in Ireland. &c., did, in some way, retard the galloping consumption of the trade in this article, for in 1846-1847 there was one-half as much shipped to England as there had been in the five preceding years. Look to India, from where you have so much to apprehend. On either side of the Bay of Bengal. viz: from Balezore to Madras, and opposite Arrakan, the price of paddy or rough rice, is: For 120 to 260 lbs., 1 rupee, or 45 cents. Taking the bulk, the Arrakan is 530 to 710 per cent. cheaper, or according to quality, nearly 300 per cent. cheaper. The rice planter of India, with his wife and children, labor in the field. The man's clothing consists of a strip of cloth passing between his legs-one end tied up before and the other behind by a string round his body; that little piece of cloth serves him for a couple of years' clothing. His rice, fish, salt, tobacco, &c., cost him nearly thirty cents a month. It may be supposed that a poor man in that condition could not contend with the planter of Carolina with his hundreds of slaves, but that is not the case; the naked Indian has the advantage through the combination of all the planters in a district. A rice field, or rather district, is very extensive in India. Standing on the margin, the eye might wander over it, the same as if standing on the sea shore. Government makes up the water dams, &c. The rice lands are so extensive in India, none subject to failure is used, or need be used. Since writing the above, I have obtained the consumption and exports of the city of Charleston in rice : For 1848-1849, 150,330 tierces. Price $2 80 to $3 35 or a decline on the two years compared with the prices of seven years, from 1835 to 1841, of nearly 15 per cent. Now, take cotton in its yearly decline in value of say 30 per cent. for the last twelve years; rice, in quantity and value, 11 per cent. for the last seven years-making up in the two staples together a decline of 41 per cent. I have shown in my letter of the 25th instant the fears that the planters of cotton may entertain. In this letter I have shown that the rice trade is still in a far worse state than cotton, and that famine and scarcity do not prop it up. I have shown that the falling off in these staples is not temporary or accidental, but gradual, and that for years the canker worm has been eating at their vitals; and so much so, that a loss in crop injures not alone individuals, but diminishes to the extent of failure, the wealth of the state. I have shown nations all at earnest work to share in the cotton trade. England, alarmed that in case of any interruption to good understanding that she would be cut off of her supply of cotton, and millions of her subjects thrown into the utmost destitution, that the people of Manchester, and spinners through the united kingdom, and the shipping interest, have resolved upon producing a supply of cotton in East India. We know that these interests are on the proper trail, and if they will persevere, must succeed. Some will reply, danger has been often threatened. But has it not come ! Is not its advance-guard in your camp? Has it not exhausted 41 per cent. of your usual resources? You have often heard the cry of "wolf;" you have now his head and neck within your fold; he will soon introduce his body, and assuredly will carry off your too sick noislings. I will shortly recapitulate the foregoing, and show in round dollars the amount of decline. Rice from 1824 to 1835, 12 years' produce, 1,423,446 tierces, at 83 30c. to $3 88c.-84,745,878 to $5,461,882. Rice from 1836 to 1847. 12 years' produce, 1,423,446 tierces, at $2 94c. to $3 58c.-$4.191,390 to $5.083,261. This calculation will show that the highest range of prices has suffered less than the lower: however, the loss on this trade for 12 years, 8554,428 to 331,621, or yearly, $46,202 to 31,801. Cotton from 1827 to 1838, twelve years, 14,048,000 bales, at 124c. per lb., $567,890,400. From 1839 to 1850, 12 years, 25,545,000 bales at 8 1-15 per lb. $635,162,100. For 11,497.000 bales there was a price of $67,271,700 obtained, or $5 85c. per bale, or per lb. 1 5-6 cents only! Now, the tea and indigo trade together is of as great a magnitude as cotton and rice, and will be infinitely more so, once tea bursts the egg-shell space in which its cultivation is confined in China. I will show you, gentlemen, the comparatively little labor tea cultivation re-. quires at your hands. First year: Place the seeds four inches apart in drills, keep the bed weeded and moist. Second year: Transplant into fresh land, clear the brush-wood only; hoe the ground once; leaving the large trees. Third year: Hoe the ground once, weed it once. Fourth year: Labor of tea making. A woman can pick 60lbs. of green leaf. A woman or man can manufacture them into 15 lbs. of dried tea. on good tea lands is 320 lbs. of best kinds of black teas. The average 22 But if machinery, this last item disappears. The above statement is for the making of 15 lbs. of best black tea. Tea trees will last 25 to 30 years. I propose tea, indigo, and date trees, &c. I do not propose that these should displace cotton and rice; by no means. All I propose is, that you should give of 999-1000 parts of your territories now forest wastes, a little, a very little portion of that waste. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 1.-TEHUANTEPEC RAIL-ROAD. Though this great and important work has received an interruption from the absurd and narrow jealousies of the Mexican government, we cannot have a doubt it will be eventually completed. We, therefore, publish the following valuable paper from the pen of the engineer, Major Barnard, that our readers may see the practicability of the scheme : EL BARRIO, MEXICO, April 4, 1851. SIR:-Your favors of the 6th and 27th of February, and 27th of March, are just received by the Alabama. After my report of the 14th January, and other letters from Chevela, I again addressed you from Boca del Monte, communicating the progress of the survey up to that period. This was supposed to be the latest date which would reach Minatitlan in time for the Alabama's third trip. We were in daily expectation, for a month or more, and for this cause I wrote no further. I have now to state, that the survey is nearly completed, as far as I consider necessary for present purposes, and that most satisfactory results have been ob tained. I will briefly communicate the results. Mr. Temple's survey of the river, shows that he considers it navigable, at all stages, as high as Suchil, for light draught steamers, and to Paso Sarabia, or higher, during the rainy season. He has been on the Pacific coast for a month; and, though he has not yet made the soundings, he has, no doubt, about the depth of water, and considers either the Ventosa or Salina Cruz available for a harbor, the latter preferable. In fact, this coast may be considered as practicable as many or most land-locked harbors on the Atlantic; for the prevailing and strong winds are from the north and off the shore, against which, of course, the land affords protection; and, though the surface of the water may be rough, and a strong surf breaks on the shore, yet nothing like a sea is raised, and steamers or vessels can lie in perfect safety. The southerly or southeasterly winds, which occur in certain periods of the summer, are little more than squalls, and not at all dangerous. I do not think breakwaters_absolutely necessary, but eventually some arrangements would be made for landing and receiving passengers and goods with facility. In the commencement of the enterprise, good surf-boats are all that would be necessary. I think there can be no doubt about the entire practicability of this coast. I will now speak of the rail-road route. From the Ventosa to the foot of the mountains, we have level plains, offering a choice of routes, plenty of stone and timber at hand, of the best quality for the structure. The cost of this portion (about thirty-five miles) will be very trifling. The ascent of the mountains by the Masahua Pass has now been surveyed, and the line run through beyond the Sarabia. The result is found to be, that a grade of forty or fifty feet per mile can be carried up the Pass, and that the difficulties are not greater than have been surmounted on roads in the United States; thence to the "Lomas de Xochiapa," say fifteen miles, the ground is easy or moderately broken. Through the "Lomas de Xochiapa," say ten or fifteen miles, more difficulties again occur, but they are not extraordinary; thence ten or twelve miles further to the Sarabia, the ground is perfectly easy. Through the forest country, from "Paso de la Puerta" to the Jaltepec, and thence through to "Jesistepec," some difficulties will be met with, but I fancy nothing serious. The survey has, actually at this moment, been extended from the foot of the Masahua Pass to the Sarabia, and thence Mr. Avery's party is extending it towards "Paso de la Puerta" and the Jaltepec. Mr. Williams's party have just gone down to the Jaltepec, towards Jesistepec. All this will, I think, be com pleted in a month, and the parties ready to return by the middle or latter part of May. As Mr. Avery has already made a reconnoissance from Minatitlan to Jesistepec, and found the ground to offer no difficulties, I do not consider an actual survey necessary for present purposes, as the question is plain, and the ground easy. In addition, in my letter from "Boca del Monte," I stated the expediency, in the first instance, of commencing the line on the Jaltepec. Taking the whole extent of the road into consideration, the ground is remarkably easy, and timber, stone, &c., are at hand in abundance; and the right of way, (so serious an item in the United States,) will have cost little or nothing. No estimate can be made at present, but I think I am safe in saying that the means appropriated by the committee are ample. In relation to the lands connected with the grant, I think it safe to say, a finer tract cannot be found in the world. An immense number of invaluable productions, (comprehending all, or almost ll, the valuable productions of tropical climates,) can be raised here with the greatest facility, while the forests abound with natural productions of great value. Throw in an enterprising population here, and the Isthmus would become the garden spot of the world. In relation to opening a traveling route, I think it is only necessary to establish steamers, connecting with the two coasts a small steamer, or steamers, on the river, and the horse or mule transportation across would soon be supplied. Passengers can be got across the Isthmus with such means in six or seven days from Minatitlan to the Pacific. There are people on the Isthmus ready to establish the land communication the moment the steamers commence running; so that this part of the business will give the company no trouble. In conclusion, there can be no exaggeration in saying, that this is the route, and the one which will supersede all others; and leaving out of consideration the value of the route, the value of the lands, and the local wealth to be produced, would almost pay the building of the rail-road, and be an immense contribution to the commerce of New Orleans. I believe, moreover, that no statement or estimate you have seen made as yet, realizes the full value of this route and grant; it can scarcely be appreciated I would say, too, that the people on the Isthmus are all friendly to the utmost degree to the enterprise, and that large subscriptions of stock can |