score of years more of this wasteful culture The cultivation of the raspberry and the blackberry, introduced within the last ten or fifteen years, is becoming more and more extensive year by year, and millions of these plants are annually sold.-Market gardening, or the cultivation of early varieties of Indian corn, peas, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflowers, cabbages, kale, broccoli, celery, etc., etc., and putting them upon the market before the general supply is ripe, has become a very large and profitable business within a few years past. It is specially profitable within an area of from one hundred to three hundred miles of the large cities, where railroad or steamboat communication is easy; but New York draws its earliest supplies of these vegetables from the Bermudas, then in succession from Florida, Savannah, Ga., Wilmington, N. C., Norfolk, Va., the eastern shore of Maryland, South Jersey, Central and Eastern New Jersey, and Central and Western Pennsylvania, Long Island, and Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess and Putnam Counties. The "truck" farms are generally small, containing from eight to twenty or twenty-five acres, and usually cultivate some of the small fruits, and some of them also cherries and peaches, as well as the vegetables. They are constantly maintained in the highest possible condition of fertility, and both solid and liquid manures are applied without stint. The yield per acre is often very large, $1,000, $1,200, or even $1,500 worth of gross products being taken from a single acre. This high culture would evidently permit a far denser population to the square mile, if it could be maintained, than is now found in any country on the globe-though Japan and China, by their careful cultivation and manuring of all arable lands, have sustained a much larger population than any other countries. In the former country, all manures, liquid and solid, are most carefully husbanded, and the same crops have been grown on land for five hundred years or more, without diminishing its fertility! In our country, this extraordinary progress in agriculture is due in a great degree to the rapid increase of agricultural knowledge, communicated by periodicals, newspapers, and valuable agricultural works. The American Agriculturist, with its circulation of almost two hundred thousand copies, and other agricul tural and horticultural papers and periodicals of great merit, though of less extended influence, have done much to educate our farmers, market gardeners, and fruit culturists, to take higher views of their calling; and have opened the way for the formation of agricultural libraries private and public, in which valuable treatises on special topics by practical men have been introduced, and have stimulated their readers to higher achievements in farming. The demand for agricultural and horticultural works has increased very rapidly within the past four or five years. The most important agricultural works issued the past year, have been: "American Grape Culture and Wine Making," by Peter B. Mead; "Grape Culture," by W. C. Strong; "The Culture of the Grape for Wine," by George Husmann; "The Grape-Vine," by Frederick Mohr; "Grape Culturist," by Andrew S. Fuller; "Small Fruit Caltarist," by the same author; "Amerie Pomology," by Dr. John A. Warder; "Gardening for Profit," by Peter Henderson; Suashes: How to Grow Them," by James J. H. Gregory; "The Young Farmer's Manual," 3 volumes, by S. Edwards Todd-a work of great practical value to the young farmer; "The New Book of Flowers," by Joseph Breck; "Draining for Profit, and Draining for Health," by George E. Waring, Jr.; "Saunders's Domestie Poultry," new edition; and new editions of "Jacques' Manuals of the Barnyard, the Farm, sad the Garden." ALABAMA. The Législature of this Southern State, which took a recess at the close of 1866, resumed its sessions on January 15, 1967. A message, relating chiefly to the finances of the State, was addressed by the Governor to both Houses. He stated that an extension of the time for payment had been obtained on State bonds amounting to $1,020,000, and the sum of $245,875, being interest, had been funded. He also said that liberal supplies for the destitute of the State for Jannary and February ensuing had been obtained of the authorities at Washington. The most important measures of the Legislature were of a local nature; some reports and resolutions expressive of their views on the state of public affairs were, however, adopted. On January 17th the following preamble and resolution was passed in the House: And whereas, Persons in other portions of the country have the skilled labor and the capital, and we have the lands, minerals, and natural resources, by combining which it can be made greatly to our mutual benefit, and to the good of the whole nation : Therefore, Be it resolved by the Senate and the House ral Assembly convened, That in view of these facts, of Representatives of the State of Alabama in Geneand to accomplish these ends, we, in the name of the people of Alabama, most cordially invite skilled labor and the capital from the world, and particularly from all parts of the United States, and pledge the hearty cooperation and support of the State. Subsequently, on February 1st, the Committee on Federal Relations in the House, to whom had been referred joint resolutions memorializing the United States Congress to pass an act establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy, reported against the adoption of the resolutions. They say: Wheres, Correspondents of public journals North and West, and speakers clerical and secular, are daily asserting that it is unsafe for persons recently in hostility to us to come among us, or to reside in our midst on account of threatened personal violence, greatly to the prejudice of our interests, and the speedy restoration of those friendly relations essential to the prosperity of the people, and to the quiet of the nation: Therefore, The committee are constrained to admit the necessity of the relief sought in the joint resolutions. The late civil war has exhausted the means and resources of the people. The destruction of their property has resulted in almost universal insolvency, and widespread devastation, want, and misery. It is nearly impossible that the present immense mass of indebtedness can ever be discharged under the exist ing system of labor, and in the ordinary course of frankly to concede. Be it resolved, by the Senate, etc., That we hereby publish and declare all such assertions to be calumnies working great injustice and wrong to the people of Alabama, who are peaceable and law-abiding citizens actively engaged in the pursuits of peace, trying to restore their shattered fortunes by honest industry, and are willing to receive, and earnestly invite all who are honest, industrious, and peaceable, and are desirous of establishing themselves as farmers, mechanics, or artisans amongst us, and to become citizens of our State, to assist in tiling our fertile lands. At the same time, the following were adopted: Whereas, The issue of the late unhappy war has changed the whole domestic economy of the country, etc., etc. events. These facts the committee are forced But, while we indulge in no feeling of disrespect toward the Federal Government, and acknowledge our allegiance thereto, and would be happy to become the recipients of relief that might constitutionof self-respect forbid the propriety of further obally emanate from that source, yet the promptings truding our appeals upon a Congress which refuses to recognize the State of Alabama for any purpose And whereas, With the termination of the war we desire to see terminate the jealousies and animosities between the different sections of our country, and to see restored individual and national good feeling and good-will, the prosperity of our section adding to the general prosperity of the whole. than that of taxation. These sentiments are not ex pressed in a spirit of hostility. On the contrary, it is a source of regret that Congress has assumed an attitude toward the State of Alabama totally incompatible with the mutual obligations of allegiance and protection. lations existing between it and the State of Alabama, The past action of that body, and the peculiar reafford no promise whatever that the memorial would even be respectfully entertained, much less that the prayer of the memorialists would be granted. On February 15th a message was sent to each House by Governor Patton, communicating "an important document bearing upon the relations which Alabama sustains to the Union." It had been received from Washington, with a request that it should be submitted to the Legislature. The document was in its nature an application to Congress to propose certain amendments to the Constitution of the United States, coupled with a proposition to amend the constitution of the State of Alabama, and was as follows: Whereas, It has been announced by persons high in authority that propositions from the Southern States, having in view the adjustment of our present political troubles, would be received and considered, etc. etc. Therefore, Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Alabama, That the Congress of the United States be requested to propose to the Legislatures of the several States the following amendments to the Constitution of the United States: ARTICLE 14.-Sec. 1. No State, under the Consti tution, has a right, of its own will, to renounce its own place in, or to withdraw from the Union. Nor has the Federal Government any right to eject a State from the Union, or to deprive it of its equal suffrage in the Senate, or of representation in the House of Representatives. The Union, under the Constitution, shall be perpetual. Sec. 2. The public debt of the United States, authorized by law, shall ever be held sacred and inviolate. But neither the United States, nor any State, shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the Government or authority of the United States. Sec. 3. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the States in which they reside; and the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States. No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Sec. 4. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when any State shall, on account of race or color, or previous condition of servitude, deny the exercise of the elective franchise at any election for the of the United States, Representatives in Congress, members of the Legislature, and other officers elected by the people, to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, then the entire class of persons so excluded from the exercise of the elec choice of electors for President and Vice-President tive franchise shall not be counted in the basis of representation; and Whereas, etc., etc. Be it further resolved by the Legislature of Alabama, That the following article shall be adopted as an amendment to, and become a part of, the constitution of the State of Alabama: ARTICLE. Every male citizen who has resided in this State for one year, and, in the county in which he offers to vote, six months, immediately preceding the day of election, and who can read the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States, in the English language, and write his name, or who may be the owner of $250 worth of taxable property, shall be entitled to vote at all elections for the Governor of the State, and members of the Legislature, and all other officers, the election of whom may be by the people of the State. Provided, That no person, by reason of this article, shall be excluded from voting, who has heretofore exercised the elective franchise, under the constitution and laws of this State; or who, at the time of the adoption of this amendment, may be entitled to vote under said constitution and laws. In each House, the message and document were referred to the Committee on Federal Relations. This committee in the Lower House reported on February 18th that they entertained high respect for the eminent authority from whom the proposition emanated, and had given the subject the serious and calm consideration which its importance demanded; and while they stood ready to compromise the unfortunate differences existing between the Federal and State Governments upon equitable and constitutional principles, and were willing to yield all that should be demanded of an honorable people, yet they were unable to perceive any sound and valid reason why the General As sembly should submit the proposition to Congress. Believing it to be inexpedient for the General Assembly to act in reference to either of the propositions, they recommended that no further action should be taken. The report was unanimously concurred in. Resolutions strongly but respectfully in opposition to the proposition were adopted in the Senate-Yeas 14, nays 4. On February 19th the Legislature adjourned. On March 4th a convention of persons who professed to have been Union men through the war, from various counties of the State, was held at Huntsville, and a series of resolutions adopted, declaring that the Federal Congress and direct all executive and ministerial officers was the constitutional power to control, check, of the Government, and the constituted authority for the protection of life, liberty, and property, etc., etc. The act of Congress passed March 2d, known as the First Reconstruction Act (see PUBLIC DOCUMENTS), had gone into effect. It constituted the States of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, as the Third Military District of the five into which the ten Southern States were divided. By an order of the President, issued March 15th, Major-General John Pope was assigned to the command of this district. It was the second in area of the five districts-the fifth, consisting of Louisiana and Texas, was somewhat larger. The extent of territory embraced by these three States is about one hundred and sixty-eight thousand square miles, with a population, according to the census of 1860, of two millions one hundred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and twelve. Of this number, nine hundred and fifty-nine thousand were slaves in 1860. The sentiment, at this time, of that portion of the people who had been actively engaged in the war, is thus expressed by one of their local newspapers: "The Southern people are perfectly reconciled to their situation, and anxious to submit in good faith to the stern logic of events, although those events could hardly justify the consequences now forced upon them. They will turn to him (General Pope) in a spirit of confidence, and seek in his authority the protection which they are now unable to afford to themselves and to their families. All we ask of him is justice, and that he should, by a prompt registration of the voters, put an end to the agitation resulting from our unsettled condition of affairs-an agitation which bad men are turning to account for the furtherance of their own selfish views, and the disgrace of the whole land generally." On March 25th the Union men of Montgomery held a public meeting, and adopted resolutions declaring it to be the duty of all good citizens to carry out with earnestness and harmony the requirements of the Reconstruction Act; also, to cast their suffrages for men well known to have at heart the integrity of the United States, and the vitality of all its powers, and extending a cordial welcome to all men to political equality on this basis. A State con- Orders No. 1. HEADQUARTERS THIRD MILITARY DIVISION, MONTGOMERY, ALA., April 1, 1867. In compliance with General Orders No. 18, dated headquarters of the Army, March 15, 1867, the undersigned assumes command of the Third Military District, which comprises the States of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The Districts of Georgia and Alabama will remain as at present constituted, and with their present emmanders, except that the headquarters of the District of Georgia will be forthwith removed to Milledgeville. The District of Key West is hereby merged into the District of Florida, which will be commanded by Colonel John T. Sprague, 7th U. S. Infantry. The beadquarters of the District of Florida are removed to Tallahassee, to which place the district commander will transfer his headquarters without delay. I. The civil officers at present in office in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, will retain their offices until the expiration of their terms of service, unless otherwise directed in special cases, so long as justice is impartially and faithfully administered. It is hoped that no necessity may arise for the interposition of the military authorities in the civil administration, and such necessity can only arise from the failure of the civil tribunals to protect the people, without distinction, in their rights of person and property. II. It is to be clearly understood, however, that the civil officers thus retained in office shall confine themselves strictly to the performance of their official duties, and whilst holding their offices they shall not use any influence whatever to deter or dissuade the people from taking an active part in reconstructing their State governments, under the act of Congress to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States, and the act supplementary thereto. IV. No elections will be held in any of the States comprised in this military district, except such as provided for in the act of Congress, and in the manner therein established; but all vacancies in civil offices which now exist, or which may occur by expiration of the terms of office of the present incumbents, before the prescribed registration of voters is completed, will be filled by appointment of the General commanding the district. A corresponeence took place at this time between General Pope, as commander of the Third Military Division, and General Grant, relative to the obligations of the parole taken by late Confederate officers, in which it was mutually held that the provisions requiring them to return to their homes and obey the laws, and also refrain from inciting others to reject or resist the laws of the United States, were in force, and any attempt on their part to keep up difficulty and prevent the settlement of the Southern question, in accordance with the action of Congress, was a violation of the parole. JOHN POPE, Major-General commanding. On the next day, Major-General Wager Swayne, who had been placed in charge of the district consisting of the State of Alabama, issued the following order: General Orders, No. 1. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, MONTGOMERY, ALA., April 2, 1867. By direction of General Pope, the undersigned is charged with the administration of the Military Reenstruction Bill in this State. The principles which will control its execution A literal compliance with the requirements of the The next step in the execution of the Reconstruction Law was the registration of all persons entitled to vote. For this purpose Major-General Pope issued the following order: All payments on account of services rendered during the war to the pretended State organization, or ay of its branches, are peremptorily forbidden. WAGER SWAYNE, Major-General. Oficial: General Orders, No. 5. HEADQUARTERS THIRD MILITARY DISTRICT, I. The following extract from the recent acts of [Here follows the text of the act of Congress approved March 2, 1867. See PUBLIC DOCUMENTS.] II. In order to execute this provision of the act referred to with as little delay as possible, the commanding officers of the districts of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, will proceed immediately to divide those States into convenient districts for registration, aided by such information as they may have or can obtain. It is suggested that the election districts in each State which, in 1860, sent a member to the most numerous branch of the State Legislature, will be found a convenient division for registration. It is desirable that in all cases the registers shall be civilians, where it is possible to obtain such as come within the provisions of the act, and are otherwise suitable persons; and that military officers shall not be used for this purpose except in case of actual necessity. The compensation for registers will be fixed hereafter, but the general rule will be observed of graduating the compensation by the number of recorded voters. To each list of voters shall be appended the oath of the register or registers that the names have been faithfully recorded, and represent actual legal voters, and that the same man does not appear under different names. The registers are specifically instructed to see that all information concerning their political rights is given to all persons entitled to vote under the act of Congress; and they are made responsible that every such legal voter has the opportunity to record his name. chosen for registers shall be communicated to these IV. The district commanders in each of the States V. A general inspector, either an officer of the Army or a civilian, will be appointed at these headquarters, to see that the provisions of this order are fully and carefully executed. VI. District commanders may, at their discretion, appoint civil officers of the United States as registers, with such additional compensation as may seem reasonable and sufficient. A VII. The commanding officer of each district will give public notice when and where the registers will commence the registration, which notice will be kept public by the registers in each district during the whole time occupied in registration. VIII. Interference by violence, or threats of violence, or other oppressive means to prevent the registration of any voter, is positively prohibited, and any person guilty of such interference shall be arrested and tried by the military authorities. By command of Official: Brevet Major-General JOHN POPE. J. F. CONYNGHAM, 1st Lieut. U. S. Inf., A. A. G. The persons excluded from the right of suffrage in the elections for members to a State convention to form a new constitution according to the Act of Reconstruction, and its first supplement, at this period of time in force, were: 1. All persons who had been, prior to the war, members of Congress or officers of the United States, and who afterward participated in the war against the Federal Government. 2. All persons who, previous to the war, filled positions or exercised functions in the executive, legislative, or judicial department of any State, and who, in such capacity, took an oath to support the Union, and afterward aided or partitipated in the war against the Federal Gov ernment. On the other hand, all persons admitted to have such right of suffrage were designated as follows: 1. None were excluded by reason of having accepted any office under the Confederate States, or served in their army, if not included in the two above-mentioned exceptions. Thus Senators, Representatives, military or naval officers of the Confederate States, as such, were not excluded. 2. Attorneys-at-law, sheriffs, clerks of State courts, members of city boards, and municipal officers, were not excluded, because they were not, as such, required to subscribe to an oath of allegiance to the Federal Government. 3. No individual who, when the war broke out, had not reached the age of twenty-one years, was excluded from the electoral franchise, no matter what part he took in that war. 4. Officers of the State militia were not excluded. Subsequently, on June 21st, General Pope issued special instructions to the boards of registers, which declared that clerks and reporters of the Supreme Court and inferior courts, and clerks to ordinary county courts, treasurers, county surveyors, receivers of tax returns, taxcollectors, tax-receivers, sheriffs, justices of the peace, coroners, mayors, recorders, aldermen, councilmen of any incorporated city or town, who are ex-officers of the Confederacy, and who, previous to the war, occupied these offices, and afterward participated in the war, were all disqualified and not entitled to registration. On June 20th the War Department at Washington issued instructions to commanders of the five military districts relative to their powers and duties. (See UNITED STATES.) Public meetings now began to be held by the freedmen to appoint delegates to a State con vention at Mobile on May 1st. At Opelika a body of some three hundred assembled from the adjacent country to take into consideration the propriety of sending delegates to the convention. At their invitation, Colonel Swearingen made an address explaining to them fully their new relations toward the white inhabitants. He said their interests were identical, and they should be united in a common effort to promote the welfare and prosperity of the State. Upon its political and social prosperity depended the welfare of the freedmen. Several freedmen subsequently spoke, one of whom told those present that they were yet in their infancy so far as freedom was concerned. As they were ignorant of the real object of the convention at Mobile, it behooved them to be cautious what steps were taken toward sending delegates. They had much to learn yet, and were liable to be misled by evil and designing men. In other towns freedmen's meetings were also held, but the numbers in attendance were generally small. In Mobile, on April 17th, in the evening, a meeting of the freedmen was held. The chairman, W. W. D. Turner, on taking his seat, addressed the meeting. The substance of his remarks was of a general nature: That it would seem as if they were in an auction establishment; they were up to be knocked down to the highest bidder; they knew their rights, and would call upon the law to defend them in the exercise of those rights; they supported and were a portion of the Republican Radical party, and if the Southern party that would meet on Friday night would offer them better terms than the former they would go and join it. The speaker then alluded to the late case respecting the colored people riding in the cars, and claimed that it was their inalienable and undeniable right to ride in those cars under the law of the land. It was a contest between the prelatter must overcome the former. judices of the people and the Civil Rights Bill, and the The colored people claimed to have a knowledge of their rights as citizens; they were fools as scholars, but they had been well instructed in their rights. ballot-box, but claimed also the right to sit in the They meant, not only to enjoy the privileges of the jury box when the lives or liberties of their mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters were at stake. Although the colored people were no scholars, they were not going to send any fools to represent them-either at Montgomery or in Congress. Three-fourths of the white men of Alabama were very ignorant. At the salt-works, at which he was employed as a slave during the war, there were three white men, not one of whom could read or write his own name, and he, a read and answer all the letters that his master would slave, had to do all the work for them, and had to send from England to his overseer. The reason he mentioned this was because he wished to show that the mass of ignorant white men who had voted heretofore have not sent ignorant numskulls to Congress, and neither would the colored people. They had not the educated men among themselves to send, but they would send representatives from among their white friends who were to be depended upon, and who had the ability and the will to look after their interests, and in the mean time they would educate their own people up to the proper point. A prominent government official had told him that the negroes did not owe their enfranchisement to |