COTTON CULTURE.

Cost of each item of labor and material expended in the cultivation of an acre of cotton:

Mention any other items in your practice not noted here. Wear and tear of implements to be included, as well as cost of horsepower and labor in your estimates.

In order that the object of these questions may be fully understood, it is desirable to call attention to the high importance of the development of the cotton-seed oil industry with reference to its influence upon the production of cotton itself.

Since cotton seed constitutes, on an average, somewhat more than two-thirds by weight of the crop taken from the cotton field, it is obvious that the progress of soil exhaustion, or the maintenance of fertility must depend mainly upon the use made of cotton seed itself. As a matter of fact, however, it is proved by chemical analysis, corroborated by the experience of the older cotton-growing states, that the importance of cotton seed to the soil is far greater than is indicated by its proportion to the lint crop. For out of 45 pounds of mineral plant-food withdrawn from the soil by the seed cotton required to make a 400-pound bale, but a little over 4 pounds are contained in the lint, the rest remaining in the seed. In other words, the withdrawal of one crop of cotton seed from the soil is equivalent to the drain created by ten crops of lint. Practically, cotton lint could be grown indefinitely upon most of the better class of soils without other return than the cotton seed itself.

The oil extracted from the seed, however, contains little that is of any consequence to the soil. The seedcake and hulls would be nearly as good as the whole seed. The seedcake without the hulls would be equivalent to more than three-quarters of the seed when returned to the field as a manure.

The cotton-seed oil manufacture, therefore, does not only not detract necessarily from the returns to the soil, but puts the most important portion of the crop into a far more convenient shape for use, both for feed and manure, than the raw cotton seed.

It is desired, by the aid of the data furnished by you, to place this important subject clearly and authentically before the cotton growers, showing them by the irresistible logic of figures that the cotton-seed oil mill is to them the means of utilizing a waste product, increasing materially their home supply of available stock feed, and at the same time of maintaining the fertility of their soil, instead of paying heavy tolls to manufacturers of chemical fertilizers, transportation companies, and provision

merchants.

Late experiments having appeared to indicate that among the most available and profitable modes of returning cotton seed or its oil cake to the fields is the feeding of sheep, thus producing cotton and wool on the same field, as it were, any data you may be able to furnish on this and related points will be especially welcome.

Many persons to whom this circular may be sent who are not manufacturers of cotton-seed oil, will be able to reply to all the questions in respect to the use of the seed, hulls, and meal for feed and for manure, and they are urgently requested to give such replies, especially as to the feeding of sheep and the effect of cotton seed thus used upon the production of wool.

1. Name and style of your mill or firm.

Location-town or city; county; state.

2. What is your maximum working capacity? Hullers; presses.

3. What patent or style of huller preferred?

4. From what region of country do you draw your supplies of seed?

5. What is the price per ton usually paid by you?

What amount of seed have you worked during the past season?

6. Do you use any process or machine prior or subsequent to the hulling process for removing lint left by the gin, or the short fur of the seed?

Do you find it a paying process, whether as to the value of the shoddy produced or the increased yield of oil?

7. Into what proportions of "kernel" and "hulls" does the huller used by you divide your seed?

8. How much oil cake do you obtain per ton of raw seed?

9. How many gallons of oil, crude, per ton?

10. What proportion of your oil cake do you sell for home use?

If any, is it called for in cakes or ground?

For use as feed; or as manure?

11. Please state what, according to your best information, are its merits or demerits for either use.

12. Do you find any sale for cotton-seed hulls? For packing; stock feed; any other purpose?

13. Do you use the hulls for fuel? If so, are they sufficient to make all the steam you need?

14. Are the ashes valued as a manure? If so, for what cultures chiefly, and what price paid for them?

15. Do you refine your oil yourself, or is there a growing tendency to the establishment of separate refineries?

16. What knowledge have you of the use of cotton seed or meal as a manure for sugar cane, and of its effect on the production of sugar?

17. Please give such other information or suggestions regarding possible and desirable improvements in this industry as may be pertinent to the object of these inquiries.

FOREST PRODUCTS.

AMOUNT OF WHITE PINE STILL STANDING.

[It is the desire of this office to make as careful a study of the amount of white pine still standing in the United States as circumstances will permit.

To facilitate this investigation and to supply this office with more detailed information in regard to the lumber industry of the country than has been derived from the returns of the enumerators, you are earnestly requested to answer the accompanying questions, and return your answers to this office as early as practicable.] From ...... lumber and saw mills, situated in ......, County of ...... State of

1. Please state number of thousand feet of pine sawed during the year ending June 1, 1880.

2. State cost of pine logs sawed during the year ending June 1, 1880.

3. State number of thousand feet of lumber, other than pine, sawed during the year ending June 1, 1880.

4. State cost of all logs, other than pine, sawed during the year ending June 1, 1880.

COOPERAGE STOCK.

Location of establishment-county; town or city; state.

Name of proprietor, agent, or superintendent; post-office address.

[N. B.-This schedule is designed to elicit information which is to be used in the preparation of a special report upon the different kinds of wood used in the manufacture of cooperage stock in the United States.]

(State whether headings, tubs, pails, or other

1. Nature of articles manufactured in your establishment. staves, or both, and whether for hogsheads, barrels, kegs, articles.)

2. Kinds of wood used. (Erase kinds not used by you.)

5. Have you noticed any deterioration in the quality of stock received within the last ten years? If so, to what extent, and from what cause?

6. Please state your views, with the reasons on which they are based, as far as you are disposed to do so, upon the question of the future supply of the woods used by you, and whether you have any apprehension of a future scarcity of the

same.

7. Please make any general remarks upon the American woods used by you, or upon other woods which might become valuable for your business. Remarks.

COOPERAGE DONE BY FLOURING AND GRIST MILLS.

[It is the desire of this office to make as careful a study of the amount of cooperage done at large flouring and grist mills in the United States as possible. To facilitate this investigation and supply this office with more detailed information in regard to the cooperage industry of the country than can be derived from the returns of the enumerators, you are earnestly requested to answer the accompanying questions, and return your answers to this office as early as practicable.]

1. From

of

flouring and grist mills. Location:

County of ..., State

2. Do you manufacture or purchase the barrels used at your establishment? 3. If you purchase your barrels, state from what sources you procure them. Remarks.

DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS BY FIRE.

[The destruction of the forests of the country by the rapid increase of forest fires presents a serious economic problem for future legislation; and it is the desire of this office to make as thorough a study of the whole subject in connection with the special investigation into the Forest Wealth and Forest Årea of the country, undertaken in connection with the tenth census, as circumstances will permit.

That you may understand the importance of this subject it will be merely necessary to call your attention to the fact that is generally conceded by those best able to form an opinion on the subject, that a larger area of our forests is every year destroyed by fire than by all other causes combined, and that forest fires are rapidly increasing in number and extent.

That an approximate estimate of the value of property annually destroyed in the United States in this manner may be obtained, you are requested to return to this office such answers to the accompanying questions as it may be in your power to give.]

1. State; county; township; post-office.

2. Area in acres or square miles burned over in your town or township, by forest fires, during the year 1880.

3. Approximate value of property destroyed during the year, in your town or township, by forest fires.

4.

Approximate area annually burned over by such fires, in your town or township, during the last ten years, and the average value of property annually destroyed in this manner during that time.

5. By what causes are such fires generally produced?

6. Please make any suggestions which may occur to you in regard to the general subject of forest fires; their causes, and the methods by which they may be prevented or diminished.

FOREST LANDS ON INDIAN AND MILITARY RESERVATIONS.

1. Name and character of reservation.

2. Location, stated as precisely as possible.

3. Area in square miles.

4. Area of forest lands in square miles.

Estimated? or measured?

5. Estimated amount of timber per square mile.

6. Distribution of timber, whether confined to the mountains or descending into the valleys.

7. Kinds of timber found.

(a) Botanical names, if known.
(b) Local names.

(c) Relative proportion of each.

8. If wood is used to any considerable extent by the Indians, how much and for what purposes.

9. Are any considerable depredations made by whites; if so, to what estimated

extent?

10. Amount of timber cut yearly upon the reservation.

11. Value of same upon the spot.

12. Has any considerable amount of standing timber been destroyed by fire? If so, the area in square miles. By whom were the fires set-whites or Indiansand for what purposes?

13. Mark on the accompanying map the wooded regions.

14. State any other information you may have bearing upon forest area and products.

FUEL (WOOD) CONSUMED ANNUALLY FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.

County of....

State of ......

What is the average number of cords of wood consumed annually by a family of five persons in your county?

What is the money value per cord?

FUEL CONSUMED DURING YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1880.

.... and State of

during the twelve

Fuel consumed in .............., County of months commencing June 1, 1879, and ending May 31, 1880, as enumerated by Special Agent.

me.

FUEL USED FOR HOUSEHOLD PURPOSES.

1. Is wood or coal the chief fuel used for household purposes by the people of your county?

2. If both are used, please give me a rough estimate of the proportion of each.

KINDS OF WOOD USED IN MAKING GUNPOWDER.

Name of mill or factory:

.; situated in ......, in the County of

State of

during the twelve months beginning June 1, 1879, and ending May 31, 1880. [Insert here name of proprietor, agent, or other officer in charge, with title.] Street and No.; post-office; state.

1. What is the quantity of wood used annually by you for charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder?

2. Do you convert any or all of it into charcoal yourselves, or is it done for you specially, or for general sale; if you convert a part, how much?

3. What is the value of wood so used annually?

4. From what sources is it procured?

5. State kinds of wood used.

6. What kinds of wood do you prefer, and for what reasons?

7. What is your average annual consumption of charcoal?

8. State total value of charcoal used.

9. State quantity of wood used annually by you for fuel-cords; value. Remarks.

KINDS OF OAK BARK AND SUMAC GROUND FOR TANNING AND DYEING PURPOSES.

Name of mill or factory:

1880.

.; situated in ......, in the County of ......, State of during the twelve months beginning June 1, 1879, and ending May 31, [Insert here name of proprietor, agent, or other officer in charge, with title.] Street and No.; post-office; state.

Oak bark:

1. What kinds of bark do you use?

2.

State kind and quantity of bark used annually, and cost per ton delivered at your works:

What is the nature of your product or products, viz: Extracts or ground bark-for dyeing or for tanning purposes?

What is the amount of your annual product (of each)?

State total value of your annual product.

What are the prospects for a supply of good bark in the future from the same sources whence you now procure your supply?

Sumac:

Average cost of material per ton delivered at your mill?

Average value of your product per ton.

Average annual value of your product.

Do you grind only leaf, or stems also?
Remarks.