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oxen and steers, valued at $3,246,341; 184,010 milch cows and heifers, valued at $4,892,291, yielding 8,116,009 pounds of butter, valued at $1,678,557 83, 5,762,776 pounds of cheese, valued at $464,250 55, and 13,203,665 quarts of milk, valued at $755,887 90. The number of sheep is reported to be 145,215, valued at $309,845, while the value of wool produced is $155,046. The number of swine is 51,113, valued at $581,536 71.

Of the cultivated land in the State there were 91,056 acres in Indian corn, and the value of this is stated to be $2,820,108 97. There were 2,600 acres of wheat, valued at $73,928 49, and 42,143 acres of rye, valued at $560,201 53, while the number of acres in barley was 4,971, the value of barley being $110,158 45. Oats were more extensively cultivated; there were 37,623 acres, valued at $563,729 24. There were 41,892 acres in potatoes, and the value of potatoes was $2,521,906 42. Of onions, carrots, turnips, beets, and other esculent vegetables, there were 8,368 acres cultivated, valued at $937,406 98.

INCREASE OF CATTLE IN OHIO.

The Auditor's report gives the following assessed values, showing the increase in three years :

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1852. 402,696

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2,992

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1,093,218

1,791,180

65 per cent.

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40 per cent. decrease.

This shows a large increase in numbers of all sorts except hogs, which de creased on account of the high price of corn and increased facilities by railroad to get them to market.

The increase of money value of all other kinds of cattle appears by the following table equal to increase of numbers :

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While this is the aggregate of the State, the increase in value in some of the counties remote from market is still larger. This is particularly the case in other Western States, where previous to the extension of railroads, such bullocks as sell here for $50 or $60 a head, could be bought for $10 to $15 each.

The Cincinnati Railroad Record gives the following table of values of animal exports from Ohio ::

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This is about 30 per cent of the assessed value of the animals.
The number exported may be set down as follows:—

Cattle......
Horses...

125,000
10,000

Hogs.....
Sheep (wool off)..

700,000 3,500,000

There is no doubt that railroads are rapidly producing a change in the culture of Ohio. The production of cattle, horses, mules, sheep, hay, garden crops, and fruits, are all rapidly increasing, while the product of hogs and small grain is relatively diminishing.

BUFFALO THE GREATEST GRAIN MARKET IN THE world.

Some months since we transferred to our pages the statement of a Chicago cotemporary, to the effect that Chicago was the most extensive grain market in the world. Mr. JOHN J. HENDERSON, Secretary of the Buffalo Board of Trade, has presented to that body the following summary of the grain receipts at Buffalo, by lake and railroad, for 1855 :—

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Upon his statement that sixteen millions of bushels of wheat, corn, oats, barley, and rye changed hands in Buffalo, in 1855, the Secretary claims that that city is the greatest grain market in the world. That it is the greatest grain port in the world, the following table of receipts shows :

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It is only eighteen years ago that the first cargo of wheat was landed upon the wharves of Buffalo. Giles Williams is said to have brought there, to be sold, in 1838, the initiatory shipment of grain in a commerce which, in 1855, amounted to more than twenty-five millions of bushels of breadstuffs.

THE GREATEST SUGAR PLANTATION IN CUBA.

In the Southern Christian Advocate, we find an interesting letter from an American in Cuba, from which we extract the following. The writer was a guest at the sugar estate known as the "Flower of Cuba :"

"This estate contains five thousand acres of productive lands. We rode for hours through immense fields of sugar cane, twelve to eighteen feet high. These fields are divided by beautiful avenues of royal palm and mango trees. Many of the trees are sixty to eighty feet high, in the distance looking like white marble columns. They commence cutting the cane in December, and the top is used for cattle. In Louisiana, the cane has to be renewed annually-here, once in ten or fifteen years. It is hauled in carts drawn by oxen to the sugar-mill, which is usually located in the centre of the farm.

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Formerly the grinding was done by ox-power, but recently the American engine has been introduced. The buildings and machinery on this estate cost three

hundred thousand dollars. They work eight hundred hands and about eight thousand oxen for five months in the year. The mill runs night and day-Sunday and Monday. Three hundred acres are planted in vegetables, fruit, &c., for the negroes. They will make this year twelve thousand boxes and two thousand hogsheads of sugar, besides several thousand of mollasses. The product of this farm would be worth, in the Charleston market, one million dollars !"

THE LIVE STOCK OF ILLINOIS IN 1855.

We have received an official statement of the number and value of the live stock in the several counties of the State of Illinois, as they have been returned to the State Auditor, under the assessment of 1855. This table shows the number and value of each class of said stock in each county, with an average value also stated. From this table we have compiled the following table, showing the aggregate for the whole State, as follows:--

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The value varies in the different counties. We have given the average value for the whole State.

THE VANILLA OF COMMERCE.

The vanilla, so much prized for its delicious flavor, is the product of a vine which grows to the top of the loftiest trees. Its leaves somewhat resemble those of the grape; the flowers are red and yellow, and when they fall off are succeeded by the pods, which grow in clusters like our ordinary beans; green at first, they change to yellow, and finally to a dark-brown. To be preserved they are gathered when yellow, and put in heaps for a few days to ferment. They are afterward placed in the sun to dry, flattened by the hand, and carefully rubbed with cocoanut oil, and then packed in dry plantain leaves, so as to confine their powerful aromatic odor. The vanilla bean is the article used to scent snuff, flavor ice creams, jellies, &c. The plant grows in Central America and other hot countries.

THE CULTIVATION OF THE OLIVE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Mr. Robert Chisholm, of Beaufort, South Carolina, in answer to the inquiries of the Commissioner of the Patent Office, gives a highly-interesting account of his experience in the cultivation of the olive. Mr. C. obtained his trees from the neighborhood of Florence early in 1833. They were of two kinds-the small, round olive, esteemed the best for oil, and a much larger and more oval variety, upon which the first-named was grafted. The winter of 1835, he states, was an exceedingly cold one, and killed to the roots all of the orange trees in the Southern States, but did not in the least injure these olive trees. The trees at first did not improve rapidly, for want of cultivation. In order to remedy this, and at the same time pay expenses, sweet potatoes and field cow-peas were planted among them. This was found to succeed admirably; the trees grew rapidly, and soon began to bear fruit, which they have continued to do every year.

Mr. C. can now boast that he has made oil from the olive, but does not think that it is sufficiently remunerative to be prosecuted as yet, and so confines himself to pickling the fruit. His pickled olives are pronounced by competent judges superior to those imported from France. He adds that very few imported pickled olives can now be sold in that section of the country.

STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c.

POPULATION OF MASSACHUSETTS IN 1850 AND 1855.

In the Merchants' Magazine for March, 1856, (vol. xxxiv.,) we gave the population of the several cities and all towns with a population of 5,000 and upwards. We now give, from the United States and the State censuses the former taken in 1850, and the latter in 1855-the population of every town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The whole is alphabetically arranged by towns and counties. The names of cities, thirteen in number, it will be seen, are printed in small capitals. The increase of population since 1850 has been 149,327, according to this statement, which has been compiled from the official returns :—

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