Corkwood. Iron ore. Salt.. 13. Declared exports from Lisbon to the United States, 1880. $582,608 29 14,904 76 25,729 19 116,003 26 3,507 44 11,976 95 7, 011 85 216 00 368 36 1,976 79 17, 102 67 767 60 238 29 212 22 133 59 7-2.755-26 ITALY. ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1881 BY CONSUL GENERAL RICHMOND. UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, POPULATION. According to the statistics of births and deaths, which are very carefully kept, and may be relied upon as nearly accurate, on the 31st of December, 1880, the population of Italy was 28,524,999, of which 14,378,603 were males and 14,146,396 females. For the year 1880, according to the same statistics, the increase of population by excess of births over deaths was only about 87,900, while it reached 227,471 in 1879, and for several years back the average annual increase had been over 200,000. The third general census of the kingdom was taken on the 31st of De cember, 1881, but the official returns will only be prepared toward May or June next. However, the results in some of the chief cities are already known, among which are the following: The census returns for Naples, the most populous city in the kingdom, have not yet been received at the central bureau in Rome. EMIGRATION. In ordinary years Italy furnishes a little less than 100,000 emigrants to foreign countries. The greater number are from the peasant class. In 1880 they were 119,901 (100,726 males and 19,175 females); 84,224 went to countries in Europe, 2,408 to African countries (chiefly Tunis and other North African states), 33,080 to North and South America, and 189 to various other countries. For the six months ending June 30, 1881. the number of Italian emigrants to foreign countries was 75,044; for the same period in 1880, 1879, and 1878 it was 74,270, 61,704, and 60,795, respectively. HARVESTS. The crops of 1881 were generally short, or less than average, but harvest returns are still very incomplete, and I am able to furnish only the few figures at present in possession of the government. Wheat was short; yield, 107,607,568 bushels, being 25 per cent. less than the average crop and 42 per cent. less than the crop of 1880, when 165,494,278 bushels were harvested. Maize was also short; no figures obtainable. In 1880 its yield was 81,958,245 bushels, about 7 per cent. less than the average. Rye and barley short; yield, 15,467,170 bushels, or 20 per cent. less than the average crop, and 25 per cent. less than the crop of 1880, which gave 19,997,666 bushels. Oats, short; the yield was 14,244,380 bushels, or 25 per cent. less than the average, and 28 per cent. less than the preceding harvest of 19.301,507 bushels. The rice crop is reported fair, but no figures can be obtained as yet; 27,710,973 bushels were harvested in 1880, or about 2 per cent. more than the average crop. Potatoes were generally good, and the yield abundant; no figures obtainable. The crop in 1880 was 1,410,854.297 pounds, or 9 per cent. less than the average. Hemp, fair; no figures of the yield obtainable. The product in 1880 was 176,694,621 pounds, or 16 per cent. less than the average crop. Flax, short; the yield was 36,121,109 pounds, being 30 per cent. less than the average crop. In 1880 the product was 45,339,083 pounds, or 12 per cent. less than the average. Chestnuts, one of the important agricultural products, were fair; no figures obtainable. In 1880 the yield was 1,223,196,002 pounds, or 4 per cent. less than the average. Beans, pease, lentils, and other leguminous plants were all less than average, but no figures are yet obtainable. In 1880 their united yield was 12,691,081 bushels, or about 20 per cent. less than the average crop. Olives were short, especially in South Italy. In 1880 this product gave 86,145,150 gallons of oil, or about 2 per cent. less than the average. The vintage was considerably less than an average one, but the wine was fair in quality; no figures are yet known. In 1880 it gave 543,533,579 gallons of wine, being then 25 per cent. less than the average. Oranges and lemons suffered from drought, especially in Sicily, still the yield was middling; no figures obtainable; 2,537,425,314 oranges and lemons were gathered in 1880, or 6 per cent. less than the average crop. Other fruit, such as peaches, pears, plums, apples, &c., were gener ally short and inferior in quality. The tobacco crop was also less than an average one, but no figures of the yield are obtainable. It appears that the young plants suffered considerably from cold and changeable weather. The yield of silk cocoons in 1881 was 87,802,205 pounds; in 1880 it was 91,849,736 pounds. The annual average of the silk crop has not been officially determined; it is, however, one of the principal products, and Italy now ranks as the second silk-growing country of the world, being only exceeded by China. MANUFACTURES. I regret the entire lack of any figures relating to manufactures and manufacturing industries later than those given in the reports of my predecessors; their development in 1881 can only be inferred from the increased importation of articles of prime necessity, such as machinery, tools, and coal. Also, the first national exposition held at Milan in the summer and fall of 1881 has demonstrated that the manufactures of the young kingdom, though still comparatively in their infancy, are making considerable progress toward placing Italy among the manufacturing nations of the world. MINES AND MINING. A statistical work on the mineral resources of the country, recently published by the government, gives the following information relating to iron, copper, zinc, lead, coal, lignite, peat, salt, boracic acid, marble, &c. In these statistics the totals for the term of five years, viz, from 1875 to 1879, are given: The Italian mines produced during these five years an annual average of 215,000 tons of iron ore, giving an average annual value of $357,050. The mines of the island of Elba furnished four-fifths of the whole; the remaining one-fifth was divided among the mines of Sardinia, Piedmont, Lombardy, Central and Southern Italy. The greater part of this ore, averaging 185,000 tons per year, was exported, chiefly to France and England, and also in some quantity to the United States; for, owing to the scarcity of fuel, Italy is almost entirely dependent on other countries for the smelting of its ores and its supply of manufactures of metals. It thus appears that during the five years, as above, there remained for smelting at home only the small average quantity of 30,000 tons of iron ore per year. Pig iron from ore, old iron worked over, and steel produced by Italian founderies during the five years 1875-1879 averaged 45,000 tons per year, valued at about $4,053,000 per year. The average annual product of copper ore for the same five years was 23,400 tons, valued at about $248,970, and copper metal, 400 tons, valued at $92,640. Zinc ore from 1875 to 1879 averaged an annual yield of 65,200 tons; average annual value, $817,934. This ore was nearly all exported after calcination only. For the same period the yield of lead ore, more or less argentiferous, was about 25,000 tons per year; its average annual value was $1,061,000. These figures represent the richer portion of the ore, which is nearly all exported; the poorer portion, fused in Italian founderies, was calculated to be 10,600 tons per year. Average annual value of silver produced and smelted for the five years 1875-1879, 33,060 pounds; average annual value, $549,050. Lead in leaves and litharge, 10,000 tons; value, $772,000. Italy has no coal deposits of importance. There are only three mines now being worked in the kingdom; one at La Thuile, near the Little Saint Bernard Pass; one at Cludicino, in the province of Friuli; and one in Sardinia; a few other deposits in the Alps and in Sardinia are of but little consequence. Only an average of 700 tons of coal was mined per year for the five years 1875-1879; average annual value, $4,053. During the same time Italy was obliged to import an annual average of 4277-63 1,340,000 tons of coal, at an annual cost of about $7,758,600. The greater part of this coal came from Newcastle and Cardiff, in England. The product of lignite for the five years, as above, was 120,000 tous annually; annual value, $254,760. Coal and lignite mining now give employment to 1,500 men. Peat is found in considerable deposit at the foot of the Alps, extending from Avigliana to Udine; also in Lower Venetia and along the coast of Tuscany. It is somewhat used in local industries, such as glass-works, potteries, brick kilns, &c. Its annual production for the five years 1875-1879 averaged 100,000 tons; average annual value, $270,200; the beds now worked employ 3,000 hands. The chief mineral product of Italy is sulphur. Italy now furnishes about three-fourths of the entire product of Europe, and sulphur in its relation to her own mineral products of all kinds represents more than three-fifths of the whole. The average annual yield of sulphur during the five years 1875-1879 was 282,000 tons; average annual value about $5,983,000; over three-fourths, or 216,600 tons, was exported to foreign countries, chiefly to France, England, the United States, Germany, and Austria. Eighty-six per cent. of the sulphur product is yielded by the island of Sicily, 11 per cent. by the Romagna district, and 3 per cent. by the united provinces of Avvellino, Naples, and Rome. The Sicilian sulphur is nearly all exported as it comes from the kilns (calcaroni); it is classed in seven grades in trade, prices varying from $19.49 to $21.23 per ton, delivered at the principal ports, such as Catania, Girgenti, Licata, Palermo, and Messina. The Romagna sulphur generally undergoes a second fusion, and averages $24.13 per ton. There is an export on sulphur, both raw and refined, of $2.12 per ton, which for the years 1875 to 1879 gave an annual average of $158,568 to the exchequer. Sulphur mining and its industries now employ 21,000 men, of whom 18,000 are in the island of Sicily. Three hundred and twenty-one thousand tons of salt (15,000 tons rock salt, 11,000 tons from salt springs, and 295,000 tons marine salt) was the average annual product for the five years 1875-1879; average annual exports for the same period, 102,800 tons, sent chiefly to Sweden, Norway, England, the United States, and North Africa. Salt is a government monopoly on the mainland, but not in the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, which are the chief centers of its production. In the great salt-pits belonging to the Crown, at Trapani, in Sicily, and Cagliari, in Sardinia, the cost of salt for the government, delivered on board, rarely goes above 97 cents per ton; for exportation it averages $1.25 per ton,' but as sold by the government on the mainland the price is $106.15 per ton, and retailed in small quantities at 103 cents per kilogram (2 pounds); however, for salting stock salt is sold according to agreement. A movement has been made during the past year to induce the gov ernment to lower its rate of taxation on salt, or abolish it altogether. The promoters of this movement claim that it is contrary to the rights of the people to make an article of prime necessity, as salt is, the object of such exorbitant taxation as to virtually place its proper and necessary use beyond the reach of the masses, thereby injuring the health and weakening the constitution of both man and beast. With the present financial plans of the government, it is doubtful if any material reduction will be made in this tax on salt in the near future. Four thousand four hundred and four men are now employed in Italian salt-works. The production of boracic acid in the communes of Pomerance and Castelnuovo, in the Tuscan sea flats, was 2,680 tons per year for the five years 1875-1879; average annual value, $413,892; it was nearly all exported to England and the United States; this industry gives employment to 400 hands. A kind of earth called pozzolana has consid erable importance, known in the United States as the basis of Roman cement. It is a lava modified by the action of time, and is used in the composition of mortars for building; it is chiefly mined in the environs of Naples and Rome, although abounding in other places. The annual average production of the pozzolano pits of Naples and Rome is about 230,000 tons; average annual value, $193,000. Nine-tenths of this product is consumed at home. Concerning the product of marble in the Apuan Alps, the chief quarries of which are at Carrara, Massa, and Serravezza, for the five years 1875-1879, the quantity quarried per year averaged 132,000 tons; aver age annual value, $2,343,792. Eighty-five thousand tons of this marble were in blocks and 47,000 were sawed and wrought. For the same period the annual average production of other stones quarried was 600 tons of alabaster, worth $9,264; Veronese marble and other marbles not in the Apuan Alps, 45,000 tons, worth $173,700; granite from Baveno, on Lake Maggiore, and from Sardinia, Elba, &c., worth $44,004; other building stones, worth $1,544,000; slate, 20,000 tons, worth $69,480; pumice stone from the island of Lipari, 6,000 tons, worth $81,006; tale, 7,300 tons, worth $44,175; asbestos, 200 tons, worth $38,600; ochers and coloring earths, 2,500 tons, worth $57,900; and kaolin, 4,500 tons, worth $42,556. To complete this brief statement of the mineral productions of Italy, I may add that in 1878, the last year of which any statistics can be obtained, the production of lime, cement, &c., was 740,000 tons lime, 10,000 tons of cement, and 130,000 tons of plaster, the whole estimated to have been worth $2,509,000. MERCHANT MARINE. At the end of 1880 the Italian mercantile fleet comprised 7,980 vessels, aggregating 999,196 tons; 7,882 were sailing vessels, of 922,146 tons, and 158 steamers, of 77,050 tons. The number and tonnage of these vessels in 1880, compared with the two preceding years, were: Their classification, according to capacity, is shown by Table A. TABLE A.-The Italian mercantile fleet in 1880, compared with the two preceding years. |