It

The hay crop was not equal to last year; in the Northern States east of the Mississippi it was about one-fifth less; the Trans-Mississippi States and the South report a fair amount. does not vary much from 21,000,000 tons. The corn crop is put down as 880,000,000 bushels, of which 185,000,000 bushels are credited to the eleven States not hitherto reported, against 274,000,000 bushels in 1859. The decrease in the Northern States from the crop of 1865 is about 25,000,000 bushels, and the decrease in quality is equivalent to 75,000,000 bushels, making an aggregate decrease of feeding value, as compared with the great crop of 1865, of about 100,000,000 bushels. As, how ever, the crop of 1865 was an excessive one, 22.7 per cent. above the average, this reduction only brings the crop of 1866 to about a fair average, or a little above it.

The cotton crop was estimated from the best data, at the close of December, at 1,750,000 bales of 400 pounds each. As the actual bales are now nearly 500 pounds each, this would be equivalent to a million and a half of such bales. The cotton-planters had expected, early in the season, a much larger crop; but owing to bad seed, ignorance on the part of many of the best method of cultivation, a very wet spring followed by a dry early summer, and heavy, drenching rains in August and September, and over extensive sections the ravages of the cotton or army worm, the crop was less than half what was expected. In Louisiana there was added extensive flooding of the cottonlands from the breaking of the levees. Of the Sea Island or long-staple cotton, the quantity raised is about 20,000 bales, less than half the average before the war.

It is hardly probable that this crop will ever again reach the production of 1860. 4,664,417 bales, or if it should, that so large a portion will ever be exported as was of that crop. There are several causes which will prevent this. Among these are, the deterioration of the soil in much of the cotton-growing region, which, unless cultivated for a time in other crops, and restored to its fertility by abundant manure or seeding down to clover, and ploughing in that crop, will not yield one-fourth as much as it would eight or ten years ago. Then there will be a lack of efficient laborers for the cottonfields; the negroes, no longer compelled to labor in them will, in many cases, prefer mechanical employment, and labor less severe than that of the cotton-field in hoeing and picking time, and other crops, fruits, vines, the silk culture, etc., etc., will give a better return, for less labor, than cotton. If, however, under higher and more efficient cultivation, the exceptional crop of 1860 should be reached or surpassed, there would be a far larger proportion of it consumed at home than in any of the years before the war, not only from the increase of cotton manufactories at the North, but from the tendencies of a free and enterprising people to manufacture their raw material largely in the Southern

States. The production of yarns and of the coarser qualities of cotton goods is already, in spite of the many difficulties it has to encounter, rapidly increasing in the South.

But to return to the crop statistics of 1866. The potato crop, always an important one, was throughout most of the Northern and some of the Southern States a full average; in some of them, as in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania (all States yielding largely of this crop), it was from 10 to 20 per cent. in advance of last year, and in Texas it was unusually large and fine in quality. The only States in which the crop was seriously below the average, were South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin. The crop of 1859 was 110,571,201 bushels, and until the present year there has been no return which included the eleven Southern States. The crop in twenty-two Northern States east of the Rocky Mountains was, in 1863, 98,965,198 bushels; in 1864, 96,532,029 bushels; and in 1865, 101,032,095 bushels. The production of the omitted States in 1860 was about 8,000,000 of bushels, so that the entire crop of 1866 could not have varied materially from that of 1859.

The tobacco crop was about eleven-twelfths of an average crop, and in the twenty-two States reported in 1865 it was in advance of that crop, which however was not a large one. In Kentucky and Tennessee it was above the average; in Virginia slightly and in Missouri materially below the average, and as these four are the States of largest production, it early became evident that the figures of the crop of 1859, 429,390,771 lbs., would not be reached. The Agricultural Department estimate the crop of 1866 at 350,000,000 lbs. We have elsewhere (see TOBACCO) given a full account of the culture of this crop, which is one of great importance to our commerce.

Buckwheat was a fair average crop, about 18,000,000 of bushels.

Sorghum, though affected in some districts by the heavy rains and the premature frost of September 22d, was about nine-tenths of an average crop, being smallest in the extreme northern and southern tiers of States, while in the middle tier and in Texas it was above the average. The crop has increased rapidly within the past five or six years.

The amount of domestic live stock in the United States is a matter of great interest not only to the farmer but to all our population; for upon it depends the supply of meat for our tables, as well as of draught cattle for locomotion, the transportation of produce and freight, and the operations of the farmer. Until near the close of 1866 it has not been possible to determine with any considerable accuracy the aggregate number of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs in the United States. War had made such extraordinary destruction of horses and mules, and the great armies had consumed and destroyed such quantities of beef and pork, that the census of 1860 afforded but a poor

guide to the speculations on this topic in which the agricultural papers indulged. It was not difficult to approximate nearly to the numbers of live stock in the Northern States east of the Rocky Mountains, and this was attempted from year to year; but the data in regard to the Pacific States were small, and for estimates of the numbers in the Southern States, entirely wanting.

During the summer and autumn of 1866, however, sufficient returns were obtained from the Southern States to enable us to make a very close estimate for the whole country. We give in the foregoing table the numbers of live stock for each of the States and Territories this side the Rocky Mountains, and the estimates

of the Agricultural Department for the whole country, premising that the latter may be too large in horses and mules.

It is a matter of interest to compare these returns with those of the principal countries of Europe at a recent date. We have no very recent statistics of the number of horses in the European states, and the war of 1866 would render them inaccurate, if we had. About 300,000 is to be deducted from the number of cattle reported in the United Kingdom, and 75,000 from those in Holland for loss from cattle plague. The following table gives the number of cattle, sheep, and swine, at the dates mentioned, in the several nationalities of Europe:

Holstein..

1861..

1860..

Hanover, Saxony, Wurtem

Holland

Belgium..

France

Spain

25,244,000 45,130,800 10,097,000

Austria Bavaria

1864..

1856..

1862.

ALABAMA. The recess taken by the Legislature of Alabama, in December, 1865, closed on January 15, 1866. Upon the reassembling of this body, the Governor laid before the members a brief message congratulating them that, during their recess, the Provisional Governor had been relieved, and his authority was exercised by the Governor elect. He recapitulated the condition of the State debt, urged the importance of a law staying judicial proceedings in the collection of debts, the necessity of making the system of education uniform by allowing the proceeds of land-sales to be used in any county without regard to the location of the land sold, called their attention to the great destitution of the people in the northern part of the State, and the immediate necessity of an efficient military organization. He also returned, without his signature, a bill to regulate contracts with freedmen, on the ground that the general laws on contracts were adequate. The Legislature passed a large number of bills chiefly devoted to local affairs; also one to provide for the payment of the land-tax levied by Congress in August, 1861; another, requiring the State banks to resume payment on April 1, 1868. In the Senate, on February 8th, the following resolution was adopted:

Whereas, There is reason to apprehend that unfriendly representations at Washington and in the

Northern States of the Union, of the disposition of the people of Alabama toward the Government at Washington, will operate injuriously upon the con

dition of our people, and postpone a restoration of the State, in consequence of a misapprehension, upon the part of the Federal authorities, of the disposition of the people for the full and complete establishment of order: Therefore,

ring), That a committee of five be appointed by the Resolved (the House of Representatives concurpresiding officers of each House to inquire, so far as may be, into the dispositions of the people of the different counties in the matter referred to, and report the result of their investigations by resolution or

otherwise.

An act was passed authorizing the issue of twenty-year bonds for the payment of arrears of interest on the State debt; also another, to provide, at the State expense, artificial limbs for every maimed indigent person, a citizen or resident of the State in 1861.

The views of the Legislature on the relation of the State to the Federal Union were expressed by the unanimous adoption, on February 22d, by both Houses, of the following report and resolution, presented by a joint committee:

When the cause, for which the people of Alabama have endured sacrifices without parallel in history, was lost by the surrender of her heroic armies, the result was accepted as final and conclusive. Although compelled, by the verdict of the sword, to abandon an institution which was so thoroughly interwoven with every thread of her social fabric, that

it could not be suddenly torn asunder without leaving everywhere deep and painful wounds, the surrender has been made without a murmur. Alabama turned once more to the Government against which she had been arrayed in arms, and in solemn convention obliterated from her records the ordinance of secession, and, as far as in her power, retraced her steps to the point of her departure. Additional guaranties of sincerity were required at her hands, and the General Assembly responded to the call of the President of the United States, by ratifying the, Constitutional Amendment prohibiting slavery within her borders forever, and, by legislative enactment, securing protection to the freedman in all his personal rights, and opening the courts of the State in his behalf. Having thus cheerfully complied with all the conditions demanded as a prerequisite for restoration to her rights as a State in the Union, the people of Alabama waited anxiously, yet happily, for the meeting of Congress, and the admission of her Representatives.

Prostrated and impoverished, as she has been, by the war-with her fields devastated and her homes laid waste-and with her relations to a large class of her population radically changed-the people came up manfully to the duties of the hour, and with implicit reliance upon the magnanimity and good faith of the Northern people and the General Government -endeavored to adapt themselves as best they could to this new condition, and were rapidly advancing in the pursuits of peace. But it became, ere long, painfully evident that unknown persons were busily disseminating reports prejudicial to the honor and welfare of our people.

Kindly sympathy is manifested by the whites, with few exceptions, toward the freedmen, and their new relations to each other are being gradually adjusted in a manner satisfactory to both. Contracts have been made for labor, upon just and equitable terms, and the freedmen are generally at work. Nothing more is apparently now required for the restoration of law and order in our midst than the withdrawal Believing, then, as your committee must, from the evidences before them, that the falsehoods propagated in the North and in Congress are the offspring of deliberate malice and design, and circulated only for the basest political purposes, it remains only for us, as the representatives of the people, to denounce the authors as wilful culumniators and slanderers, and to solemnly protest against their statements being received and accepted as the truth.

of Federal bayonets from the State.

In conclusion, your committee feel this to be the proper occasion for a renewed expression of the sentiments which pervade the public heart toward the President of the United States and his policy. The following resolutions, similar in language and purport to those recently passed by the Legislature of the old Commonwealth of Virginia, are respectfully submitted, with the recommendation that they be adopted, and that a copy be transmitted to his excellency President Johnson, with the accompanying report. W. GARRET,

Chairman of Com. on the part of the Senate.
JOSHUA MORSE,

Chairman on the part of the House. Joint Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama on the state of the Union,

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama, in General Assembly convened, That the people of Alabama, and their representatives here assembled, cordially approve the policy pursued by Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, in the reorganization of the Union. We accept the result of the late contest, and do not desire to renew what has been so conclusively determined; nor do we mean to permit any one subject to our control to attempt its renewal, or to violate any of our obligations to the United States Government. We mean to cooperate in the wise, firm, and just

policy adopted by the President, with all the energy and power we can devote to that object.

2. That the above declaration expresses the sentiments and purposes of our people, and we denounce the efforts of those who represent our views and intentions to be different, as cruel and criminal assaults on our character and our interests. It is one of the misfortunes of our present political condition that we have among us persons whose interests are temporarily promoted by such false representations; but we rely on the intelligence and integrity of those who wield the power of the United States Government for our safeguard against such malign influences. 3. That involuntary servitude, except for crime, is abolished, and ought not to be reëstablished, and that the negro race among us should be treated with justice, humanity, and good faith, and every means that the wisdom of the Legislature can devise should be used to make them useful and intelligent members of society.

4. That Alabama will not voluntarily consent to change the adjustment of political power, as fixed by the Constitution of the United States, and to constrain her to do so in her present prostrate and helpless condition, with no voice in the councils of the nation, would be an unjustifiable breach of faith; and that her earnest thanks are due to the President for the firm stand he has taken against amendments of the Constitution, forced through in the present condition of affairs."

A stay law was also passed at this session, applicable to suits brought since May 1, 1865, to mortgages and deeds of trust, with power of sale when the mortgagor or trustee is in possession. Its operation was so to delay proceedings as to postpone execution, except on debts due the State, for two years, and then to give the party one year longer in which to pay off the debt in three equal instalments. A new penal code was also adopted at this session, making no distinction on account of color, abolishing whipping and branding, and substituting "hard labor." Under the authority of the Legislature, the Governor, op February 12, 1866, issued a proclamation, granting pardon and amnesty to all persons who had been, or were liable to be, indicted for offences against the State, committed between April 13, 1861, and July 20, 1865, the crimes of rape and murder excepted. The session closed about February 20th, by an adjournment to the annual session. This commenced on November 12th ensuing. The measures previously devised to improve the finances of the State had been very successful. Temporary loans had been contracted and paid, and State bonds had been hypothecated, instead of being sold below par, and ample funds thus secured. This, however, added to the debt $363,572, making, on November 12th, as follows:

Original bonded debt, partly extended
Amount of funded interest on the 5

and 6 per cent. bonds.....
Eight per cent. bonds sold for supplies
and transportation...
Eight per cent. bonds advanced to In-
sane Hospital......

Total present bonded debt.. To which add amount of loan due, including interest and commission...

Total....

$3,445,000

687,990 48,500

5,000 $4,186,490

$363,572 22

$4,550,062 22

This would make the total bonded debt of the State...... $5,079,395 55 The effect of the stay law passed at the previous session had been to stimulate creditors to commence suits, so as to secure themselves all the advantages which the law could afford. The constitutionality of the act was also tested in the Supreme Court, and a decision rendered which placed such a construction on the law as to greatly diminish the time for carrying judgments into effect. The law, therefore, did not accomplish all that was anticipated.

Only two of the State banks took advantage of the act to reduce and consolidate their stock. The Bank of Mobile reduced its stock from a million and a half to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the Southern Bank of Alabama from a million to two hundred and fifty thousand. The capital stock of the other Banks, it was believed, had been so reduced by the effects of the war, that they would be unable again to resume business. More than onehalf the capital stock of the banks was drawn out by the State during the war.

The tax of three cents per pound on cotton, ordered to be levied by the Federal Congress, operated in an oppressive manner upon the productive labor of the State. A bale of cotton weighing five hundred pounds was taxed fifteen dollars; to this was added the incometax of five per cent., which, under the estimates of the year, amounted to an additional five dollars on the five hundred pounds.

The public institutions of the State are recovering from the effects of the war. The number of insane persons in the State is estimated at seven hundred. A hospital for this class of persons, established at an expense of $300,000, is in successful operation. The number of patients, near the close of the year, was about seventy-five, although the institution could accommodate three hundred and fifty. An institution for the deaf and dumb is also in

successful operation. The arrears due to it from the State have been paid. The number of convicts in the penitentiary increased during the year from fifty-one to one hundred and fifty-eight, of whom thirty-eight were white, and one hundred and twenty colored persons. A large proportion of the colored were sent to the penitentiary from cities and large towns, whither the negroes, on becoming free, flocked in great numbers. The reconstruction of a building for the State University has been commenced, by means of a loan of seventy thousand dollars granted by the State. The common-school system has not yet recovered from the derangement caused by the war. The schools have been suspended for two years, and the public sympathy in them has greatly declined. The interest due to the fund for two years from the State has not been paid. Land

The Legislature at this session elected John A. Winston a Senator to Congress. He had been elected Governor of the State in 1855 and 1857, and was one of the Douglass presidential electors in 1860. In the House, on December 1st, a bill was introduced to extend the privi lege of suffrage to all male persons, and thereby establishing qualified negro suffrage. It was regarded as a measure calmly and carefully to be considered, although laid upon the tableyeas 69, nays 19.

In February, 1860, an act was passed to appoint a commissioner to revise the code of the State. The appointment of Turner Reaves was made, and the work of revision commenced, but in December, 1861, it was ordered to be suspended until the close. of the war. In May, 1866, the commissioner resigned, and Chief Justice A. J. Walker was appointed to complete the revision. His report was sent to the Legislature on November 15th. The work of revision embraced the statutes enacted during the previous fifteen years, which were condensed and arranged in their proper places, with some other important features. It was approved by a committee of the Legislature, and adopted. In the Senate a series of resolutions were offered, providing for the reference to the people of the Constitutional Amendment proposed by Congress. These were reported upon unfavorably by a committee, and the subject laid over. The Governor, in his annual message, opposed the amendment, saying:

opinion that this amendment should not be ratified. For reasons such as these, I am decidedly of the The first section embodies a principle which I regard as dangerous to the liberties of the people of the whole country. That principle is as applicable to New York and Massachusetts as to Alabama. The second secment which has never been complained of before. tion proposes a change in a feature of our GovernThe question of representation has never been a source of trouble or inconvenience. It contributed in no way to the recent troubles of the country, and ing any part of the results of the war. a change in it cannot be legitimately claimed as formThe third section would bring no possible good to the represented States, while it would reduce those that are unrepresented to utter anarchy and ruin.

We are sincerely desirous for a complete restoration of the Union. We want conciliation, harmony, every evidence which human action can furnish, of and national tranquillity. We feel that we have given an honest purpose to conform in good faith to the condition of things surrounding us. Alabama is today as true to the Constitution and laws of the Genthe internal revenue law, and the tax on cotton, the eral Government as any State in the Union. Under people of this State are now paying revenue to the General Government at the rate of nearly ten millions