Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/152

132 1.28 per cent, of the entire population, excluding the territories. The highest rates of mortality were 2 per cent. in Louisiana and 1.77 in Massachusetts; lowest, 0.69 in Oregon, 0.80 in Minnesota, and 0.81 in Iowa. The total number of births during the year, and living on May 31, was 1,100,475. Of the total number of deaths, 188,684 were from general diseases, of which 94,832 were chiefly acute and 93,852 chiefly chronic. Under general diseases are classed those affections which involve a great number of diverse organs, or the whole frame, rather than any special part of it, the most important being fevers and consumption. Under local diseases were classed 60,455 deaths from those of the nervous, 17,034 of the circulatory, 63,971 of the respiratory, and 73,999 of the digestive system, 4,744 of the urinary system and male organs of generation, and 1,318 of the female organs of generation; 4,810 from affections connected with pregnancy; 2,187 from diseases of the organs of locomotion, and 2,778 of the integumentary system. Besides these, there were 28,493 deaths from conditions not necessarily associated with general or local diseases, 2,351 from poisons, 1,069 from worms, 364 from malformations, 22,740 from accidents and injuries, and 17,266 from unknown causes. The number of deaths from certain principal diseases, with their ratio to the total number from all causes, was as follows:

The highest death rate for consumption was in the New England states; the lowest in the southern and western states, and especially the territories. Intermittent and remittent fevers were most destructive in the southern states, and least in New England.—The agriculture resources of the United States, though but partially developed, contribute largely to its wealth and political importance. Of the 12,505,923 persons engaged in all occupations in 1870, 5,922,471 were employed in agriculture, including 2,977,711 farmers and planters and 2,885,996 laborers. The exports of agricultural produce form the most important feature of

the commerce of the country; in 1874 they amounted to more than $700,000,000 in value. The exports of breadstuffs were valued at $161,198,864, including wheat worth $101,421,459, wheat flour $29,258,094, and Indian corn $24,769,951; of provisions, $78,328,990, including bacon and hams valued at $33,383,908, cheese $11,898,995, preserved meats $19,308,019, and pork $5,808,712; of cotton, $211,223,580; and of leaf tobacco, $30,399,181. The following are the most important statistics of agriculture, as reported by the censuses of 1860 and 1870: