Professional men have long ago ascertained that the rivers of the earth move away yearly more solid matter dissolved in them than human power has ever been able to do.

That these dissolved substances of organic and unorganic origin possess extraordinary fructifying powers is beyond question; scientific examinations as well as manifold experiments having established the fact. One may think only of the inundations of the Nile, of the marshy tracts in Germany, and of the blessing which the Rhine distributes yearly below the city of Düsseldorf over the meadows and pasture-grounds. Of these fructifying substances brought forward by the rivers, 999 parts are actually lost, being carried as mere waste to the sea. To retain them and make them available to agriculture is the problem in question, on the realization of which will depend whether Europe will be able to feed its increasing population after a few decennaries, for the importation of cereals and cattle from other parts of the globe will soon find its limit. Several estimates on that account have been made by professional men, which in general aim at the following object:

All rivers and creeks of a basin are to be dammed up at suitable points, and in certain distances, in order to carry their water far off on the contiguous fields for regular irrigation. The water so dammed up and escaping by the side or over the guard-lock may be used for industrial or agricultural purposes. The height of the water in the river being considerably raised, the river itself is thus made navigable for crafts of deep draught. But, in order to prevent the banks of the river above the guard-lock being devastated, the bed of the river on both sides must be fenced in by high dikes and piers, so that it may hold the dammed-up water. To facilitate the passage of vessels, separate locks and side-beds should be made at the dams in connection with the same. A river regulated after this method would carry only one-fourth or one-fifth of its water to the sea.

The advantages of this proceeding are obvious. In this way only inundations can be made harmless, which have devastated many parts of France, and which have also occurred in Germany with rivers which hitherto seemed harmless. The banks of a river within the distance of many miles would thus be turned into exuberant meadows, potato and beet-root plantations, by steady irrigation, which at the same time is manuring them. The immediate result would be a wonderful increase in live stock, and, besides many other advantages, more manure would thereby be available for other lands.

American wheat.-Many complaints have been made of late years about the poor quality of the American wheat, California wheat excepted, a circumstance which, in the long run, may prove very injurious to American trade, especially in bountiful years. Too much care cannot be bestowed upon the selection of the finest wheat for seed, as well as upon the tillage and the treatment of the soil. The good quality of this year's crop is generally appreciated.

PRODUCTION OF BEET-SUGAR.-The quantity of beet taxed and used in the manufacture of sugar amounted in the harvest of SeptemberAugust, 1876-77, to 70,949,323 hundred-weight, as against 83,225,683 hundred-weight in the preceding year, showing a decrease therefore of nearly 15 per cent. Along with this falling off in the yield there was a still greater decrease in the production in France and in the other countries, so that the prices toward the end of 1876 reached quite an extraordinary height, and the consumption of sugar experienced con. siderable reductions. The exports of German raw sugar have therefore in the last year attained dimensions never before reached. According to the returns of exports, which at present are submitted up to the end of August, the sugar trade and sugar consumption of Germany show the following results as compared with those of the preceding years:

Notwithstanding the diminished production, the export of beet-sugar from Germany has yet experienced an increase, the home consumption on the other hand remaining behind that of the year 1875-76 by about 1,600,000 hundred-weight. With the simultaneous falling off in the beet-sugar productions in France, the home-sugar manufacturers have, however, been sufferers in a less degree than the state, or rather the customs department. The increased demand of France and of England for foreign raw sugar gave the German manufacturers toward the end of last spring an opportunity to dispose of a large quantity of their stock at a pretty good profit, and thus to equalize the decrease in production by higher prices. The state, however, in the last year has not only lost so much in duties on sugar as the production of sugar has diminished, but also in proportion as the exports have increased. The falling off in the production amounts to about 1,400,000 hundred-weight, which would represent a duty of some 13,000,000 of marks. The sugarbeet crop of Europe is estimated as follows:

This branch of agriculture has experienced an enormous development within the last twenty-five years. In 1850 the number of raw-sugar factories was 184, and the mass of sugar-beet manufactured into sugar 14,750,000 hundred-weight, whereas in the years 1874-75 333 factories were in operation, using up more than 55,000,000 hundred-weight of beet-sugar.

GERMAN FISHERIES.

The "German Fisheries Association" now existing for some years past, under the patronage of bis imperial highness the Crown Prince, refers principally in its propaganda for the artificial breeding of fish to the example set by the United States and to the authority of Mr. Baird at Washington. It is by no meaus unknown in Germany what is still lacking in an agricultural and economical direction, but the matters in arrear are too many, and the military tasks, as also the cares connected with political organization, too urgent, to permit of matters connected with farming and the like being simultaneously energetically taken in hand. For this cause the above-mentioned fisheries association does not meet with the interest or support which it deserves either from the government, the parliament, or the public. It is painfully felt in Germany that the yields from the German seas and lakes in the way of arti cles of food have not been carried to a larger extent, so much the more as the not unfrequently barren soil leaves a great deal to desire in this respect. With regard to the actual fish production, no accurate statistical returns are furnished, and the statements also published for some years past by the ministerial commission in Kiel for the exami

The German imports of herrings exceed the exports annually to the amount of about 30,000,000 of marks.

nation of the German waters concerning the results of the sea-fisheries at Hela, Lohme, Poel, Travemünde, Eckernförde, Schleswig, and Helgoland only afford an approximative survey, as an accurate method of arriving at the yields of the fisheries is not yet organized. Of the Prussian fisheries, Eckernförde and Hela have hitherto furnished the largest yields. The number of herrings for both places is between two and three millions annually, that of sprats from three to six millions, and that of turbot between one and a half and two millions. The had. dock fishery is very insignificant. In the same way the fisheries at Bohme, in Rügen, and in Schleswig scarcely deserve to be mentioned. Of the non-Prussian places where there are fisheries, those which take a prominent position in sea fisheries are Travemünde and Helgoland, as there were caught here in seven months (from June until the end of December, 1875), in the sea, in Travemünde, 6,373,800 herrings, 1,280 sprats, 134,710 turbots, 85 kilograms of salmon, and 68,340 kilograms of torsk; in Helgoland, on the other hand, 334,970 plaice or sole, 566,814 haddock, 115 codfish, and 323,400 oysters.

WOODS AND FORESTS AND THE TIMBER TRADE.

The statistics of Germany relating to woods and forests are so incomplete, and as yet so entirely in the first stage of development, that it is impossible to furnish correct figures, even as regards the produce and profits. Of the total area of the German Empire, which comprises 54,102,769 hectares, there were in the year 1871, 13,940,541 hectares of woods and forests, which might be estimated to yield some 26,000,000 meters of wood.

The past year brought no improvement in the timber trade. The prices of pine or resinous circular wood, cut square timber, and boards, receded still further, but the trade was slack, as there was a reduction in the otherwise so flourishing furniture-manufacturing trade of Germany, owing to the lack of sale. The sale of building and other timber seems also, according to the accounts of the foreign trade in Germany in the year 1876, to have receded. The imports and exports were as follows:

The imports, which chiefly come from Austria, are, according to this, behind those of the preceding year, whereas the exports in almost all articles have increased.

COMMERCE AND SHIPPING.

In the foreign trade of Germany a vast revolution has taken place during those last few years. While a dozen years ago Germany exported more than she imported in articles of food, she has now become

herein, and also as regards raw material for her industry, in a high degree dependent upon abroad, and whereas at the commencement of the last decade she could produce a very favorable balance, the deficits now from year to year are increasing.

The year 1876 has brought up the balance against Germany, which in the preceding years had slightly decreased, to the height it had reached in 1873. If one may judge from the statements for the year 1875, for which more accurate calculations are only now submitted, it would appear that the excess of imports has particularly applied to grain, groceries, raw metals, drugs and chemicals, hides and skins, spinning-stuffs and yarns, while an excess has again been visible in woven textures and in finished goods. In exports the values are not made up in the German statistics, as the statements are inaccurate. According to an approximate valuation, woven textures, grain, cattle, and spinning-stuffs are articles the exports of which represent the greatest value. As regards the commercial relations with the several countries, it seems these cannot be specified with any certainty, as imports and exports are not entered to the respective countries from whence they come and to which they are sent, but to the respective boundaries where they enter and leave. According to a statement drawn up for the year 1875, it may be gathered that the greater part of the imports enter via Austria, the Netherlands, Hamburg, Russia, and Belgium.

Imports from the United States.-Of the articles the most important for the United States are meat, grease, and petroleum. In all three articles the general imports into Germany have increased as compared with the last year, and there can be no doubt that the United States has had the greatest share in this increase, particularly as regards petroleum. According to American statistics, there were exported from the United States 261,432,384 gallons of petroleum in 1876, of which 88,000,000 came to Germany. This country is at present the largest consumer of petroleum, but it is a question whether it will remain so, in consideration of the circumstance that in government circles there is a talk of introducing a petroleum duty, which would probably depress the consumption in Germany considerably. Yet another danger threatens American industry in the endeavors of those persons here connected with the leather trade for the introduction of a differential duty on American hemlock leather to four times the amount of the present duty. If the government should give in to the wishes of the tauners, which for the present is uncertain, this measure would probably entirely destroy the export of American leather to Germany.

Table F contains a statement of the kind and value of imports into the German Zollverein during the calendar year 1876, the total value of imports for that year being $1,203,980,120 as against $1,143,494,800 of the preceding year.

Of the value of exports no returns on the part of the imperial bureau of statistics are prepared.

THE GERMAN MERCHANT MARINE.

The German merchant marine, on the 1st of January, 1877, numbered 4,809 sea-going vessels, with a registered tonnage of 1,103,650 tons, and manned by 41,844 hands. Among those vessels there were 4,491 sailingvessels of 922,704 tons register and 318 steamers of 180,946 tons register and of 49,875 horse-power. These would be distributed as follows:

If we compare these figures with those of the preceding years, the German merchant service not only shows an increase in the number of vessels, but also in their tonnage; the Baltic fleet has increased since 1871 by 290 vessels (119 sailing-vessels and 171 steamers) of 121,295 registered tonnage (22,343 tons register in the sailing-vessels and 98,952 tons register in the steamers).

In the Baltic provinces the sailing-fleet has diminished by 42 vessels and 4,555 tons register; on the other hand, the fleet of steamships has increased by 65 vessels and 25,239 tons register. The ships existing on 1st January, 1877, are distributed among 262 ports to which they belong (61 on the Baltic, 201 on the German Ocean). To particularize, there are in the province of Prussia 5 shipping places with 239 vessels of 91,235 tons register; in Pomerania, 22 shipping places with 1,050 vessels of 202,035 tons register; in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 2 shipping places with 421 vessels of 116,733 tons register; in Lübeck, 1 shipping place with 40 vessels of 8,909 tons register; in Schleswig-Holstein (Baltic coast), 31 shipping places with 355 vessels of 51,595 tons register; in Schleswig-Holstein (German Ocean coast), 57 shipping places with 470 vessels of 48,086 tons register; in Hamburg, 2 shipping places with 439 vessels of 214,898 tons register; in the Hanoverian Elbe and Weser Provinces, 69 shipping places with 453 vessels of 45,228 tons register; in Bremen, 2 shipping places with 255 vessels of 196,011 tons register; in Oldenburg, 23 shipping places with 372 vessels of 63,032 tons register; in the Hanoverian Ems territory, including East Friesland and the Prussia Jahde territory, 48 shipping places with 715 vesselss of 65,888 tons register. According to their class, they are distributed as follows: 1,221 three-masted ships (115 full-rigged ships, 999 barks, 33 schoonerbarks, 74 three-masted schooners), 2,442 two-masted vessels, and 828 one-masted vessels. Among the steamships there were 38 paddle-boats with 3,205 tons register, and 2,867 horse-power, and 280 screw-steamers of 117,741 tons register and of 47,008 horse-power.

A special interest is afforded by a statement showing the age of the existing sea-going vessels of the German fleet. Of these there were under one year old, 155; from one to three years, 335; from three to five years, 333; from five to seven years, 257; from seven to ten years, 547; from ten to fifteen years, 1,036; from fifteen to twenty years, 810; from twenty to thirty years, 835; from thirty to forty years, 361; from forty to fifty years, 78; from fifty years and beyond, 31 vessels; of 31 vessels the year when they were built is not known.

With regard to the building materials of the vessels, there were of iron 373, among these 302 steamships; of wood, 4,425, among these 16 steamships; of wood and iron, 3; of the remaining 8 vessels, the chief material is not given. Bolting and plating, or lining, only comes into consideration with wooden vessels. Of the latter, there were 2,962 without any plating; 1,190 were copper or metal-bottomed, 119 zinc, 6