the Various Countries of the World." This article is illustrated by numerous engravings, showing the relative magnitude of these debts, and by colored maps of the relative indebtedness of different sections of the country. The "Recent Progress of the States" is fully noted, and that especially of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, receives particular attention in articles prepared from official and original documents by Professor W. M. Browne, of Georgia. Other subjects of a public nature are presented under "Labor Movements and Agitations" ; decisions of questions of constitutional law, under "Obligation of State Contracts"; "Suits against a State"; "Railroad Taxation"; "Chinese Immigration"; the surprising "Political Revolution of the Year," with its results, is set forth under "New York" and "United States." The stirring events in some foreign countries have been of unusual interest; as the "Irresistible British Campaign in Egypt," which is authoritatively narrated, with illustrations; the "Irish Question"; the "Clôture in England"; the "Struggle of Bismarck with the Reichstag"; the "Austrian Campaign in Herzegovina." The recent views on "Non-Intervention among Nations," in opposition to that intervention which is an endless cause of wars, and the "Disciplinary Power of Legislative Assemblies," both by the editor of the “whole series" of these volumes, discuss some most vital principles. An illustrated article on the "Navies of Europe" affords a complete understanding of their immense power, and of the principal naval question of the age-the contest between plated armor and heavy guns. The recent "Italian Experiments at Spezia" are reported with illustrations. Of the long list of special articles and new subjects may be mentioned, "The Sanitary Control of Epidemic Diseases," illustrating the experience with the yellow fever in Texas during the year, by Dr. John B. Hamilton. It is the first formal article on the subject which has appeared in print, and will serve as a guide to municipal health in all the States and cities of the Union; the "Progress made in Electric Lighting"; the "Storage of Electric Energy"; "Sewage Disposal"; "Astronomy," by Professor Daniel Kirkwood, of Indiana; "Physiology"; "Metallurgy"; "Egyptological and Assyriological Research," its results to the present time; the "Manufacture of Oleomargarine"; "Operations in Ostrich-Farming"; the "Harvests of the World" for 1882, etc. The record of Literature and Literary Progress in this country and those of Europe extensive as usual. is The great Engineering enterprises of the world are specially described. Articles on the great religious divisions and denominations present the religious history of the year. Biographical notices of eminent persons of all countries are included in these pages. Fine steel portraits of Chief-Justice Waite, Sir Garnet Wolseley, the conqueror of Egypt, and Sir John A. Macdonald, the Canadian premier, illustrate the volume, together with smaller portraits of prominent men of the year, including the members of the President's Cabinet, with maps and diagrams. THE ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA. AGRICULTURE, DECLINE OF, IN ENGLAND. From various sources the fact has become apparent that agriculture in England has of late years suffered a great, almost alarming decline. The whole subject is occupying the attention of the public, and numerous publications of interest have appeared, in which are investigated the various phases of this decline during the last fifteen or twenty years, and a searching inquiry is made into the state and prospects of English agriculture at the present, as well as what may reasonably be looked for in the immediate future. BAD SEASONS.-The chief occasion of present suffering is the succession of bad seasons, the loss from which has been summed up in figures absolutely appalling. And further, the uneasy, restless condition of mind with masses of the people urges the search for a deeper source of the evil, e. g., in the social and legal relations between the owner and the cultivator of the land. But, without entering into that question here, it is clear that extreme remedies urged by some) are to be deprecated, and the facts are fairly and calmly to be examined into, seeing that the land-owner, the farmer, and the laborer have really a common interest in every measure which will tend to draw the most produce out of the land for their own profit and the good of the whole community. High farming" (as it is called), which implies the importation of material from without, is not found to yield any sufficient remedy. Its expense has, hardly without exception, been found to be greater than its returns. marked improvement in the wages of domestic servants has had the effect of drawing away numbers of the daughters of laborers from field-work, and the complaint is freely made that juvenile labor is much decreased by the longer attendance at school, and the ill results of much which children learn there, in rendering them dissatisfied with house - work and farm-labor. VOL. XXII-1 A A A AMERICAN COMPETITION.-American competition, too, has had a most depressing effect upon agricultural interests in England. The wheatcrop in the United States has grown during the twenty years just past from twenty to sixty million quarters. Exports from America of meat, cheese, and butter have also largely increased. Some comfort, however—such as it is-may be drawn from the consideration that Manitoba, a rising and important part of the British possessions in America, promises to exceed in fertility all the wheat-growing countries in the world. During the past fourteen years it appears that the United Kingdom has obtained from abroad about one half the amount of its consumption of wheat. "It is clear," says an English writer, "that, however much we may deplore the losses from bad seasons, the extension of tillage throughout the world has not kept pace with the needs of our population; and the new railways and waterways abroad may not prove more injurious to English farmers, in the face of an increasing population, than the extension of roads in England was to the farmers of Middlesex, who petitioned Parliament, in the last century, against the opening up of remote districts which, they said, could undersell them, owing to the cheapness of their lands." Wheat growing is not regarded by good authorities as of first-rate importance in English homefarming; * on the contrary, live-stock seems to have become the paramount interest in agriculture. STATISTICS.-The London "Times" furnishes some very valuable as well as instructive statistics on this subject, especially with reference to the question of live-stock in farming. There is, it appears, a very great curtailing, almost relinquishing, of the breeding or fattening of Of the whole cultivated area of the United Kingdom (about 49,000,000 acres) the grain-crops occupy only 224 per cent (6 per cent only being wheat, 5 barley, and 9 oats), the green crops, clover, etc., and permanent pasture occupying the remaining 77 per cent. animals, notwithstanding that sheep are selling for one shilling per pound in their wool, and no farmer can possibly have exchanged breeding and grazing for the cultivation of wheat. Is this prostration of husbandry, it is asked, typical of a general degradation of farmers' resources? And has the process of depletion begun only in the last few seasons, or has it been operative for a decade of years or more? On comparing the stock of sheep in 1881 with that in 1868, a tolerably clear view is obtained of the loss during those thirteen years. There is not a single county in England without a diminution, more or less large, in the amount of sheep-stock. In England there are not three fourths as many sheep as there were in 1868, the decrease being 5,548,000. The loss for Wales is 201,000 sheep, or 7 per cent; for Scotland, 381,000, or 51 per cent; for Great Britain, the reduction is 6,130,000, or about 20 per cent; for Ireland, 1,564,000, or 32 per cent; and for the United Kingdom, a loss of 7,712,000, or 21 per cent. The augmentation of cattle-stock does not at all counterbalance this great decrease in sheep-stock. While sheep diminished in England, in thirteen years, 26 per cent, cattle increased only 10 per cent, and in the United Kingdom only 9 per cent. In the tables furnished, a comparison is instituted between cattle and sheep stock, by estimating each head of cattle as equivalent to six sheep; and in this way an approximation is made, as nearly as possible, to the true deficit with live-stock in the United Kingdom. From this it appears that the total combined cattle and sheep stock of England in 1881 was less than that of 1868 by a head of live-stock equivalent to 3,268,000 sheep, being a reduction of 7 per cent. Put at £2.10 per sheep, the money loss is £8,170,000 (over $40,000,000). The decrease for Great Britain was 5 per cent; but, owing to some increase in Wales and Ireland, it was for the United Kingdom 3 per cent. This is, it must be confessed, a rather sad position of affairs, after all the expense and toil incurred in the application of improved methods of husbandry. Another table gives the acres in the different counties under permanent pasture, as clover, grasses, green crops, etc., showing an increase of over 15 per cent in England, and over 10 per cent in the United Kingdom.* This increase in permanent pasture has diminished a large breadth of the area devoted to wheat. Hence, while England has probably £8,000,000 less farmers' capital in live-stock, it has a further £4,000,000 loss in wheat-crops than it possessed fourteen years ago. The fact, too, is to be faced that there is now a much lighter stocking per acre in England of animal food-crops, as compared with 1868, and this is corrected to only a small extent by the reduced acreage of straw* Rather more than half the cultivated acres of the United Kingdom (say about 25,000,000) are in permanent pasture, be sides the mountain-lands. In Great Britain, out of 32,211,000 acres in cultivation, nearly 15,000,000 are in permanent pasture, besides the mountain-lands. crops. The decline in the stock upon grass and forage crops in England is 20 per cent, in Wales 15 per cent, in Scotland 12 per cent, though in Ireland it is less than 2 per cent. Farmers, no doubt, would have multiplied their head of stock had they been able to do so; but apparently invincible obstacles stood in their way. The great drought of 1868, succeeded quickly by another hot summer in 1870, and this immediately followed by two years of great prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease, brought the herds and flocks very low, except in Wales and in Ireland, and not to such an extent in Scotland as in England. A maximum head of stock was attained in 1874 and 1875; then came a decline, partially recovered at the June census of 1879. But since then the fall in numbers has been rapid, sheep-rot and cattlediseases having made excessive ravages, while the last three or four years' failing wheat-crops destroyed a serious proportion of the capital which would have been otherwise available for raising animal produce. The decrease in breeding, too, has been remarkable, amounting to 2,136,000 lambs less in 1881 than was bred in 1868, i. e., about 27 per cent. The increase of 116,000 calves does not compensate for the decrease of lambs, since this number of calves is equivalent only to an addition of 696,000 against a loss of 2,136,000. On a comparison of small with large holdings-that is, farms of 50 and 100 acres and less, compared with those of 1,000 and 2,000 acres-it is quite evident that large farms are favorable to preservation and development of live-stock in times of agricultural depression. THE QUESTION.-It is a grave question which the people of the United Kingdom are called upon to consider at the present time; yet, despite unusual difficulties and trials, there does not seem to be any necessity for undue alarm, or for yielding to any despairing view, or for resorting to any desperate efforts toward obtaining remedies of existing evils. The English farmer must practice his art better and with more intelligence, if he would meet successfully foreign competition; and especially should he improve the breed of animals, and stamp out and keep out diseases hitherto imported. There is, no doubt, ample room for increasing the efficiency of farming in England, and judicious legislation, particularly in improving the outfall of rivers and preventing floods, will materially further this desirable end. In addition, the frank interchange of views, and comparison of interests and advantages between landlords and tenants (a beginning of which has already happily been made), will greatly aid in reaching the much-wishedfor result. The Duke of Argyll expresses his "perfect confidence in the prospets of British agriculture, provided those who conduct it are left to do so in the perfect freedom which is the fundamental condition of improvement and of success in all industrial occupations"; and an able English writer expresses himself in words worth quoting in conclusion: "Farmers would be ill advised if they allowed the pressure of present difficulties to tempt them to dabble in revolutionary remedies, and, instead of patting their shoulders to the wheel, to invoke the political Hercules of the day as one who has an unbounded power to reforin all ills." FURTHER STATISTICS.-It may be added here, from later sources, that the summary of agricultural returns of Great Britain for 1882 gives further evidence of the severe blow which a seven years' cycle of bad seasons has inflicted upon English agriculture. The area of wheatculture has somewhat increased, but probably to no profit; and there is a decrease in the number of cattle and sheep. The picture as a whole is gloomy; and the one that in the minds of those interested in the matter is, how best to increase the live-stock in English home farming. Governor, Rufus W. Cobb, (Democrat); Secretary of State, W. W. Screws; Treasurer, I. H. Vincent; Auditor, J. M. Carmichael; Attorney-General, H. C. Tompkins; Adjutant-General, J. F. White; Superintendent of Education, H. C. Armstrong; State Librarian, J. M. Riggs. Judiciary: Chief-Justice of Supreme Court, Robert C. Brickell; Associate Justices, George W. Stone and H. M. Somerville. LEGISLATURE.-The Legislature met on the 14th of November. On the 28th John T. Morgan was re-elected United States Senator by 29 votes to 2 for Paul L. Jones in the Senate, and 84 to 10 for Jones in the House. Morgan was supported by the Democrats and Jones by the Republicans and Greenbackers. On December 1st Governor O'Neal was inaugurated. No important legislation had been perfected before the close of the year. STATISTICS.-The following is a summary of receipts and disbursements for each year from 1874 to 1882 : 1874-75. 1875-76. 1876-77. 1877-78. 1878–79. 1879–80. | 1880-81. 1881-82. $91,569 49 $190,557 64 728,870 22 928,169 30 979,592 21 942,998 61 $2€0,688 77 $266,576 09 $853,528 28 $444,110 35 931,289 16 980,601 25|| 964,741 78 1,012,547 01 1,061,849 02 880,073 00 48,478 19 91,569 49 $51,574 19 $100,063 84 $198,737 58 $265,620 85 $267,051 75 Governor Cobb, in his message to the Legislature, says: I recommend a further reduction of the tax-rate. In two years the balance in the Treasury has been more than doubled, and is now entirely too large. Taxes should be collected only as they are needed, and to the extent they are needed, for the proper purposes of economical administration. The debt settlement provided for by the act of February 23, 1876, has been practically completed. There yet remain outstanding a few of the old bonds for which provision is made. As they come in, new bonds, bearing interest from the date of issue, are exchanged for them. It is probable the most of those still out are lost or destroyed. In two years, but $146,300 of the new bonds, of all classes, have been issued. The total bonded debt, including $253,500 of eight per centum bonds held by the Agricultural and Mechanical College, is now $9,407,800, on which the interest charge is $343,929. There will be no further increase in the rate of interest on any class of bonds until January, 1887, when class A bonds will advance to four per centum. The valuation of property for taxation has been for six years as follows: 1876, $135,535,792; 1877, $130,799,138; 1878, $126,773,262; 1879, $123,757,072; 1880, $139,077,323; and 1881, $182,920,115. So far as the abstracts have been received for 1882, they indicate a still larger aggregate. The scholastic year ends September 30th, but the reports of the Superintendent of Education are often delayed for reports from county superintendents. The report for 1880-'81 was $353,588 75 $444,111 07 $538,183 63 not made until the middle of February, 1882, and the report for 1881-82 was not made during the year. The total revenue of the school department for 1880-'81 was $397,479.04, derived from the following sources: Interest on sixteenth section fund, $105,424.49; interest on valueless sixteenth section fund, $5,825.47; interest on United States surplus revenue fund, $26,763.47; escheats to the State, $160.83; annual appropriation, $130,000; unapportioned balance from 1880, $1,092.45; and poll-tax collected and retained in the counties, $128,212.33. This was apportioned as follows: to counties and cities, including the poll-tax, $382,552.52; to the normal schools, $13,500; educational contingent fund, $1,000; unapportioned, $426.52. The expenditures of the fund were as follows: Paid to teachers of white schools, $225,867.77; to teachers of colored schools, $158,901.85; salaries of county and city superintendents, $11,883.80; normal schools, $13,500; and contingent expenses, $535.65. The total number of children within the school ages enumerated was 88,003, of which 217,590 were whites and 170,413 were colored. The total number of children enrolled was 176,289, of which 107,338 were whites and 68,951 were colored. The daily average attendance in the white schools was 66,840, and in the colored schools 48,476. There were 4,572 schools taught during the year, of which 2,981 were white schools and 1,591 were colored schools. The total number of teachers was 4,698, of whom 3,053 were in the white schools and 1,645 were in the colored schools. The average length of time taught in 1880. From October, 1880, to October, 1882, there 1879.. were 75 pupils in the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind Asylum at Talladega, of whom 14 were discharged, leaving at the latter date 61 in the institution, of whom 40 were mutes and 21 were blind. On September 30, 1880, there were 402 patients in the Hospital for the Insane, of whom 213 were men and 189 were women. During the two years ending September 30, 1882, 188 patients were discharged, 57 died, and 260 were admitted, leaving under treatment 417 patients, of whom 209 were men and 208 were women. Of these, 345 were white and 72 were colored. The causes of death were as follows: Apoplexy, 2; Bright's disease, 2; cerebral softening, 1; cerebral congestion, 2; diarrhoea, 1; epilepsy, 3; fracture of skull, 1; heart-disease, 2; maniacal exhaustion, 9; marasmus, 11; paresis, 6; pericarditis, 1; peritonitis, 1; phthisis, 11; pneumonia, 3; and syphilis, 1. Of the discharges, 126 had recovered, 49 were improved, and 13 were unchanged. In the two years, 155 applications for admission were refused for want of room. From the opening of the hospital in July, 1861, to the date of the last report, 1,835 patients had been admitted into it, of whom 671 had been discharged recovered, 211 discharged improved, 84 discharged unchanged, and 452 had died. The cost of maintaining the hospital for the two years was $140,003.50, of which $13,729.41 was for improvements and repairs. An extension to the hospital building is in course of construction. In 1872 only 10,000 tons of coal were mined in Alabama. In 1879 were mined 290,000 tons; in 1880, 340,000 tons; in 1881, 400,000 tons. According to the census of 1880, the State produced 699,654 bales of cotton, 25,451,278 bushels of corn, 3,039,639 of oats, and 1,529,657 of wheat. The following is the cotton statement of the port of Mobile, August 31, 1882: Stock on hand September 1, 1881. Received from Pensacola. Total.... Exports to Great Britain. 66 other foreign ports Stock on hand this day. Bales. 263,619 Bales. 4,281 22-265,040 2,096 271,417 86.822 8,231 228,755 1,099-271,220 197 265, 040 The effective militia of Alabama consists of two regiments and a few unattached companies, uniformed at their own expense, and armed and equipped by the State. These organiza- WEIGHT AND VALUE OF COTTON EXPORTS TO FOREIGN tions are numerically weak, numbering in all less than one thousand men, and they are not all as well drilled and disciplined as they should be. The Governor comments unfavorably upon one feature of the penal law, as follows: Hard labor for the county, as an alternative for imprisonment in the penitentiary, is peculiar to Alabama. It is unknown in other States. It confounds misdemeanors and felonies. It unequally punishes offenders. The felon in the penitentiary escapes the severer punishment of hard labor for the county, which must be inflicted upon the misdemeanant. The convict to the penitentiary has the benefit of State inspection, which gives him some protection while serving out his sentence, and secures his discharge at its expiration. The convict to hard labor for the county is generally hired to work outside of the county, is subjected to penitentiary discipline, is beyond the care of those who should see that he is humanely treated, and has no assurance of discharge at the expiration of |