that the individual contributions were more numerous than those of any other country, as they ought, certainly, to have been; the quality and variety were quite equal, perhaps, to what the reputation of the country called for.

Of the general agricultural products, natural and manufactured, we can only mention those from each country which were particularly striking, either on account of the immense quantity exhibited, their superior quality, or the fact that they are peculiar to the nations which sent them: Great Britain, Stilton cheeses, condensed milk, with various compounds of coffee, chocolate and cocoa, extracts of meat, sauces and other delicacies; France, preserved meats, fruits and vegetables in abundance, sardines, of which that country still furnishes more than any other, from Nantes, Belle-ile-en-mer and Bordeaux; Switzerland, honey and chocolate; Belgium, chicory, mustard, chocolate; the Netherlands, cheeses, particularly the celebrated "Edam;" Denmark, canned butter, some of which had been exhibited at Vienna in 1873; Sweden, anchovies and herrings; Norway, the same, with many other kinds of preserved fish, salmon, lobsters, haddock, etc., from the extensive western and northern coast of that country; Italy, sumac leaves, almonds, pistachio and avellane nuts, olives, lemons, oranges, honey in great quantity, some of it made from orange-flowers, sausages from Bologna itself, with imitations from Modena and Cremona (shade of Paganini !) macaroni from Leghorn, Turin, Palermo and Naples; Spain, almonds in immense quantities and other nuts, lemons, oranges, pepper, coffee, anise-seed, saffron, sardines, cochineal from the Canary Islands, thirty-four exhibits of honey, olives, figs, prunes, Malaga and Muscatel raisins, chocolate without limit, sausages, butter and cheese from sheep, and three hundred specimens of olive oil; Portugal, most of the Spanish products named above, with nearly as much honey, and half as many exhibits of olive oil; Russia, mustard, hemp and poppy seed, linseed, extracts and fruit paste, chicory and hops; Brazil, indigo, resins, balsams, caoutchouc, cloves, honey, wax, oils of togo, copahiba and iroba, anaja, cajanut and cocoanut, medicinal plants in very large quantities, cocoa, chocolate, seven exhibits of tea, and seventy-eight of coffee; the Argentine Republic, olives, raisins, cocoa, chocolate and some coffee; Turkey, sumac, madder, olives, figs, prunes, dates, gums in variety, resin, honey, wax, dried apricots, cherries, apples and peaches, Muscat raisins, pistachio-nuts and almonds, sponges of the finest quality and of every size, from the Dardanelles and the island of Crete, and the oil-producing seed called "sesame," with the name of which every reader of the Arabian Nights-who has not been?—is familiar; Philippine Islands, coffee, sponges, cocoanuts, cocoanut-oil, lambang oil and beneseed oil.

The displays of teas by China and Japan, respectively, were curiously illustrative of the more rapid progress made by Japan, as a member of the community of nations. More than thirty individual Japanese merchants and producers sent teas in their own name, while all that was sent from China belonged to a general collection of teas contributed by the Imperial Maritime Customs. The same remark applies to nearly all agricultural, and to many of the other products, shown by the two nations. The teas from many districts of India illustrated a transplanted agricultural industry which has been acquiring greater and greater importance during recent years. The sale of Indian tea in the English market has now assumed large proportions, forming a distinct line of the trade, and the promise of the future grows better and better. Aside from the manufactured articles shown in the "Shoe and Leather Building," heretofore briefly noticed, most of the nations sent many specimens of leather, which were classified and exhibited among the agricultural products; the morocco of Turkey and her dependencies -or should we say her "independencies?"-was particularly noticeable, and also the calf-skins and kids of France. The Argentine Republic contributed raw hides without number. Russia sent the furs of the sable, blue fox, etc., and Turkey seemed to exhaust the list of wild and domestic animals, offering the skins of cats, wolves, goats, sheep, foxes, buffaloes, deer, jackals, weasels, sables, otters, wildcats, ounces, beavers and martens. Various collections of stuffed animals illustrated the fauna more or less accurately of nearly every quarter of the globe. Our own collections, sent by many taxidermists and by state authorities, were very full and interesting, with a living president, so to speak, in the shape of "Old Abe," the famous war-eagle of the Eighth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. The general animal and vegetable products of Canada consisted of butter, cheese, pork, canned meats and fruits, etc., and there were numerous exhibits of prepared fish-salmon, mackerel and lobsters. Of our own miscellaneous exhibits, a mere general list would occupy more space than we can spare. The products most numerously and most extensively shown were canned and preserved fruits, pork in every possible shape and every variety of preparation, condiments, sauces, with other delicacies of the table, and starch. The latter product, as exhibited by our two great factories at Oswego and Glen Cove, attracted as much deserved attention as anything in Agricultural Hall. Half a dozen other American firms exhibited this material. There were also some specimens from foreign countries; but the art of making starch has reached most nearly to perfection, and the manufacture of it has assumed the most enormous proportions, in this country.

In no subdivision of the agricultural department was the truth of our statement, that the American display was inadequate to the demands of our reputation, more glaringly apparent than in that of raw cotton. Most of our cotton-growing states were represented Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, but by very few exhibitors. Two firms,

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of Boston and Philadelphia, made a showing of the "cottons of the world,' but there was no such general collection illustrative of our immense resources in this respect, as the importance of the subject called for. Nearly all the countries, on the other hand, which are our present or prospective rivals in the markets of the world, showed such an interest as to convince us that they are thoroughly in earnest in the competition. Egypt sent one collection containing two thousand samples of cotton from the crops of the past eight years, with an account of the prices during that time in England and in Egypt. Another great rival, India, sent specimens from many sections, showing the product in every stage of growth and manufacture. There were nearly forty private exhibits from Brazil, besides a general collection. Turkey contributed half as many samples, and Russia reminded us, by specimens of cotton from Turkestan, that Central Asia, with its enormous plains, may yet enter the market as a formidable competitor. The Philippine Islands and Japan also sent numerous samples of this staple. Of other fibres there was wool from Vermont, Oregon, Michigan, and other States, and some hemp and flax from West Virginia and New Jersey. There were small contributions of these materials from Great Britain, Canada, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Argentine Republic contributed about fifty exhibits of wool alone, from the finest and the common breeds. Brazil, also Spain, Portugal, Turkey and the Cape Colony, were fairly represented. Russia, without very numerous exhibits, showed the fleece of many varieties of sheep-Rambouillet, Negretti, Metis, Tzigai, Merino, Spanish, etc. The countries sending the most interesting specimens of flax and hemp were Portugal, Spain, Turkey and India. Of the less familiar textile substances, there were the fibres of pineapple, rheed, aloe and other plants from India, with manilla hemp; the fibres of abaca, babaligo and cabo-negro, from the Philippine Islands; ramie and China grass, from Spain. If there were still any doubts about the eventual success of the silk culture in this country, with its almost infinite variety of climate and soil, they should be set at rest by the fact that raw silk was exhibited at Philadelphia by countries in nearly every corner of the earth-India, Egypt, Australia, Brazil, France, the Argentine Republic, China, Japan, Russia, Portugal and Turkey. The American display of tobacco was as full and variegated as the production

of the country demanded; the tobacco-raising states were fairly represented ; among the manufacturing states, New York and Pennsylvania ranked high; Michigan was present, but made a very small showing in proportion to the extent of this industry within her limits. Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands contributed cigars and cigarettes made of that doubtful tobacco peculiar to central Europe, and particularly to the first named country. Russia sent a dozen or more specimens of her world-famous cigarettes. There were many samples of Turkish tobacco; the preponderance of snuff in the oriental exhibits gave proof that the habit common among the fine ladies of Europe a hundred and fifty years ago, but since almost discarded even by the opposite sex, has still its faithful votaries in some parts of the world. Of the great tobacco-producing countries, Brazil led the van with more exhibits than those of the United States; the Argentine Republic followed with nearly half as many. Of course Havana was supreme, as ever, in the quality of her tobacco. With the product of the Canary Islands, and the factories of Seville and Valencia, added to those of Cuba, Spain sustained her proper relations in the display of the weed. There was some tobacco also from Egypt, a little from China, Peru and Chili; and cigars from Japan. Less attention was paid to the exceedingly important subject of natural and artificial fertilizers than a thoughtful observer would have expected. The Americans, however, were not lacking in this respect, twenty or more firms and companies from eight different states, exhibiting superphosphates, guano and kindred substances. France came next, with half a dozen exhibits, followed by Sweden, Spain, Portugal and Russia; Norway contributed "fish guano," and the Argentine Republic fertilizers of dried blood. The government of Peru sent specimens of the guano deposits of Labos, Pabellon de Pica and Guanullas. imagine that British holders of Peruvian bonds examined these with special interest the public debt of Peru being secured by her guano beds as collateral.

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With an abundant supply of good whisky and bad brandy, with considerably more rum and gin in the country than is needed to fill the prescriptions of our physicians, the contributions of strong liquors from foreign countries were objects of a merely curious interest. Cordials, liqueurs, brandies and other liquors came from France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Russia and Brazil. There were a number of specimens of peculiarly national drinks from various countries; a "punch" from Norway and Sweden which has become in those countries a regular article of commerce; Scheidam gin (shnapps) from Holland; aguardente and laraginha, from Brazil; mistela and arrope, from Spain; sake, soy, punches