vation a good deal reminded me of turnip cultivation. Manure seems to be very generally used. A bale' an acre is a very good crop, but half or three-quarters of a bale is more common. In the lower land further east they get more cotton to the acre, but it is inferior in quality to the upland cotton, and the farmers on the lowlands do not seem to be so independent. It is most frequently necessary for the proprietor to supply everything, and that system generally breaks down in the end. Here a small farmer can cultivate about twentyfive acres of cotton if he has a family to help him. By far the greater portion of the land round Raleigh seems to be under cotton; one sees large stretches of it. Besides the few blacks who possess farms of their own, very many own houses and small patches of land not large enough to make them independent farmers, and these men work as hired labourers besides cultivating their patches. I hear no complaint that the blacks about here are idle. There is no decrease in their numbers, but owing to their careless habits they are not now increasing so fast as they used to, nor so fast as the whites. The disadvantage in regard to labour in these parts is that the female labour, which was largely available in slave times, is now lost, as the black women will not work; they like to copy the whites in this respect, and the preachers have taken the side of the women. They cook and wash and do household work, but, excepting the cotton-picking at the picking season, will seldom do field work. Those of the lower class of whites who have no energy to rise above the position of hired labourers are no better off than the blacks, and are not paid higher, but by far the greater part of the hired labour is black. In the town, labourers get nearly a dollar a day; in the country they are hired at eight or ten dollars a month with a house and rations, or fifty cents a day without rations. I hear complaints that many of the white people go West instead of improving the lands at home; many of the Highlanders have gone west. Here also I am told that the only complaint against the negroes is that, though generally willing to work, they are too much inclined to take holidays and amuse themselves. That is said to be an objection to employing them in mills and places where regular labour is required. They are apt to go to church meetings or to market the pro

1 About 450 lbs.

duce of their little patches. They drink more than is good for them, but I do not gather that they are very drunken.

Good land can be bought in these parts at from five to twelve dollars an acre, but there is much poor land to be had for one or two dollars. In the hilly part of this State there is no limestone, and they say that lime is necessary to make bone and produce a good race of men or animals. At any rate, they do not fatten cattle very much, but they raise store cattle in the hilly parts and send them to Virginia. Indian corn grows well. I am told that it is not considered to be suited to a tropical climate. Even in the most southerly States of the Union it is not so good as in the central States. The rainfall here seems to be very good; it averages upwards of forty inches per annum, and is pretty regular. Perhaps threefourths of the State is still covered with wood, and most of this might be cultivated if it were cleared, and manure were more or less used. A good deal of wheat is grown, but not much barley or oats.

Governor Vance, though now a Democrat, comes from the Western hill country, and both he and Mr. C and others whom I met seemed to be very well inclined towards the negroes, saying that they often make the best farmers, and generally the best labourers. The Governor says, that on the whole the black representatives sent to the Legislature are fairly selected; illiterate they are, but some of them are quite well-disposed and sensible. He instances as one of the best a black carpenter who sits in the Legislature, and when not so engaged works well at his trade. Most of the skilled trades are in the hands of the whites, but there are black carpenters, blacksmiths, and bricklayers, and the whites have not attempted to put them down. In the last State Assembly there were fourteen blacks, and there are still eight of them in the State Legislature. None of the State judges are black, but some of the county officers are. There is a black prosecuting attorney at Raleigh, but he is not very good. In this State blacks are allowed to sit on juries, and do to some extent, but not very many of them. There is still a very strong social prejudice against people with any tinge of colour, especially among ladies, who would not for their lives sit in the same room with a coloured man. I am told that the last Governor was obliged to give up his receptions because of the difficulty about the black members of the Legislature, for if they came no whites

would come. The whites have agreed to accept the blacks for business purposes, but not for social purposes. This State was originally entirely against secession and war. It was formerly a very Whig State, and although afterwards the Democrats prevailed, when the quarrel between the North and South came North Carolina voted entirely against secession, till Lincoln's military measures for the coercion of the South excited the opposition of the more moderate Southerners; then North Carolina took the Confederate side, and supplied a very large number of soldiers to the Confederate army. After the war there was a good deal of bitterness-carpet-bag rule lasted for some time, and there were Klu-klux organizations against it; but now things have quieted down.

In the present election there are still some 'radical' candidates, and some independent ones; the result of the election remains to be seen. In this State, also, the blacks have two or three militia companies, but they are deterred from forming more by the expense. In the present Congress there is only one Republican from the State, a white man. He was formerly Governor of the State, and was well liked, but I understand that he is not to be re-elected. The blacks have put up candidates of their own, and are likely to elect a black man if they do not lose the seat by division among themselves, for two blacks are opposing one another; one of them said to have been originally a West Indian. In the mountain regions the white people seem now to be generally Democrats. General Vance, the Governor's brother, is not opposed there.

As in Virginia, there has been a recent revision of the Constitution, modifying that imposed on the State after the war-much more so apparently than in Virginia. The State judges are still elected by the people, but the justices of the peace are nominated by a committee of the Assembly, and these justices elect the county commissioners, so that there is really no popular local self-government except in towns. However, it is said that things are fairly managed, and that by way of compromise the committee of the Assembly appoint some of both parties. Under this arrangement some blacks are appointed to office. The blacks are said not to have 'the same cohesion for purposes of public plunder as the whites.'

Up to 1830 the parties in the United States were Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian, otherwise, Federal and Republican. Then they changed their names to those of Whig and Demo

crat. But at the time of the war the Whigs gave up, and the present Republicans took their place, so that, in fact, the title of Republican has changed sides; the Jeffersonian Republicans of former days now being represented by the Democrats, while the successors of the Hamiltonian federals are called Republicans.

In North Carolina there was a property qualification for the franchise up to 1850, and before 1855 any free blacks possessed of property were admitted to the franchise. After those dates blacks were excluded, and all whites were admitted. The system of taxation here seems very much like that in Virginia. Besides the property tax there is an income tax, from which the necessary expense of living, not to exceed $1,000 in any case, is exempted. There is a considerable State debt, but no attempt is made to pay interest upon it at present. The roads are very bad; apparently there are no metalled roads in all the State, only the common earth roads made by the labour of the people themselves, and very indifferently made.

The town of Raleigh is, as usual, very scattered, with broad streets quite unpaved, and a good deal of ornamental ground about the houses. The population of the place is about 12,000. The Capitol is a fine building, in a commanding situation. I noticed a very large lunatic asylum, and there seemed to be a good many other institutions. There are many whiskey shops, and a good many churches. The cotton market is very busy; the general market seems well supplied. The most common fish in these parts are what are called seatrout; but I do not think that they are our sea-trout, and they do not seem very good. I am told that in the streams in the hill-country there is very abundant trout-fishing.

In the evening I went out to take tea with old Mr. D who has a very pretty place, with a very nice house, beautiful grounds, and a most pleasant family. All the arrangements seemed simple and unpretending, but very nice and comfortable. I had some more talk with the Messrs. D. They say local bodies do not borrow very much, because no one will trust them in these days. A railway is now being made by the State through the mountain country, principally by convict labour. I saw in the papers that a man has been sentenced to death for burglary, and, on enquiry, I find that burglary is a capital offence in this State, though the capital

sentence may not be very often carried into effect in such a case. On the other hand, corporal punishment is not used for minor offences, as it is in Virginia. It seems to be more profitable to imprison offenders and work them.

The next day I visited the State Agricultural and Geological Museum, established in pursuance of a law which seems now to be the fashion in most of the States. The Agricultural Commissioner seems to be an active man; he has a very good agricultural collection, and appears to be doing his best to improve the staples of the country. He has also some very useful maps. This State runs a great length from east to west, and he divides it into three belts. First, the swampy country to the east, which is rich, but very much of it is under water or under jungle; when reclaimed it is very good for rice and corn and such staples, but, owing to the disrepair of the dykes already mentioned, much of it is in a bad way. Then, in the centre of the State, is a country of sandy and red soil, much of it covered with pine trees, but also very much of it under cotton. This is, in fact, the cotton belt. Then there is the high country in the west of the State, with a granite soil and an oak vegetation. There they grow tobacco and wheat, and raise cotton. They have also a good many minerals, and hope to have a good many more if the country is opened out. In the far western corner of this State is the highest mountain in all the Eastern States, nearly 7,000 feet high, I think. The hill-country is said to be very charming. In the Agricultural Collections in these States I noticed, what I also noticed in the Paris Exhibition, the absence of any collection of Indian products. I think our Indian Agricultural Department should supply these. I notice here specimens of the Indian Jawaree, the Nile Dhoura, and well known in Southern Europe under I forget what name. It is one of the most widely cultivated food-grains in the world, but the cultivation does not seem to have taken root in the States. The specimens here are called Pampas-corn.' Sweet potatoes are a very great product in the Southern States; they grow to an enormous size, more like mangolds. There are some good specimens of beet and mangolds, but I understand that they are not much grown. The turnips are very poor. Red clover, I understand, grows well. For fertilizers, besides using the cotton seed, they have any quantity of good marl and phosphates from the Charleston beds.