EXPORTS OF CRUDE OIL, REFINED OIL AND NAPHTHA FROM ALL PORTS, YEARS 1903 AND 1904.

TOTAL EXPORTS OF CRUDE OIL, REFINED OIL AND NAPHTHA FROM NEWYORK, PHILADELPHIA, BALTIMORE, BOSTON AND PORT ARTHUR, YEAR 1904.

REVIEW OF THE WHALE FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES,

FOR THE YEAR 1904.

THE catch by the sperm whale fleet in all oceans for the year 1904 may be said to have been satisfactory; but as the price of oil ruled at so low a figure, namely, from fifty to fifty-three cents per gallon, (mostly the former,) being lower than the previous year, the results were not very satisfactory.

The season in the northern seas was very much better than in 1903, the catch of bowheads being fifty-two against twenty-one in 1903; fifteen right whales were taken, against five in 1903; the higher average price for whalebone helped to make the results quite satisfactory.

The Atlantic fleet, numbering seventeen vessels, obtained twelve thousand and fifty barrels of sperm oil, an average of about seven hundred barrels for each vessel, being a better success than in 1903, when the average of eighteen vessels was six hundred and twenty barrels. The bark Josephine cruised in the Indian ocean, the first vessel to do so for many years, and met with good success, obtaining one thousand barrels of sperm oil in six months. This vessel also made the season on the old Crozette ground from November to April, securing five hundred barrels of whale oil and five thousand pounds of whalebone, making a most successful year's cruise. Four vessels cruised in Japan waters for sperm oil, being fitted from San Francisco, as in previous years. The total catch obtained was about four thousand three hundred barrels, an average of one thousand and eighty barrels, very near the same average as the two years previous.

Schooner Era, that has been in Hudson Bay since the fall of 1903, had secured at last accounts one whale, yielding two thousand pounds of whalebone. She is expected home the present year.

The number of vessels and tonnage engaged in the business was slightly increased, being on January 1, 1905, forty-three vessels of all kinds, with a total tonnage of nine thousand five hundred and sixty-one, against forty-two vessels and nine thousand three hundred and seventy-eight tonnage on January 1, 1904.

Two vessels were lost during the year. The bark President of this port, (New-Bedford,) one hundred and twenty-three tons, on the coast of Africa, in the month of May, having on board one hundred and fifty barrels of sperm oil; all on board were saved. The schooner Carrie D. Knowles of Provincetown, one hundred and fifteen tons, foundered at sea soon after leaving her home port in January, 1904, for a whaling cruise, the captain and entire crew being lost.

Steamers Beluga, Bowhead, Karluk and Herman, with schooner Bonanza, are wintering in the Arctic.

Sperm Oil.-At the opening of the year, fifty-eight cents seemed to be the asking price, but no sales were made during the first four months. In May sales were made at fifty-three cents, and in June at fifty-two and a half cents. In July the price dropped to fifty cents, which was the ruling price for the balance of the year. Å higher price was asked at the close, but there was no demand.

Whale Oil.-But one parcel was imported in eastern ports, namely, sixty barrels, and sold for thirty-six cents per gallon. The imports at San Francisco from the north were sold in that market for home use.

In

Whalebone opened the year with high prices. In January sales of Arctic were made at six dollars and twenty-five cents and six dollars and fifty cents. In February at six dollars and forty cents, dropping to six dollars, this price ruling in March. In April six dollars and fifty cents was paid for prime quality, and there were sales at five dollars and seventy-five cents. In May the prices varied from six dollars to five dollars and twenty-five cents. July the range of prices was five dollars and forty cents to six dollars. In August, six dollars to five dollars and twenty-five cents; in September, five dollars and twenty-five cents to five dollars and thirty cents; and in December, five dollars. Trade Arctic brought about five dollars, and Japan from four dollars to four dollars and twenty-five cents, and South Sea about four dollars.

Refined spermaceti sold in January at twenty-two and a half cents. The price dropped to twenty cents in March, and to nineteen cents in June; eighteen and a half cents was the quoted price in July, and eighteen cents for the following three months, advancing to nineteen cents in November, and to twenty-four cents in December, the market closing firm at that price.

IMPORTS OF SPERM OIL, WHALE OIL AND WHALEBONE INTO THE UNITED STATES DURING THE YEAR 1904, COMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS.

EXPORTS OF SPERM OIL, WHALE OIL AND WHALEBONE FROM THE UNITED STATES FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS.

STATEMENT OF STOCKS OF OIL AND WHALEBONE IN THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 1ST, 1905, COMPARED WITH THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS.

STATEMENT OF THE AVERAGE PRICE OF SPERM AND WHALE OIL FOR EACH MONTH DURING THE YBAR 1904.

AVERAGE PRICE OF SPERM OIL, WHALE OIL AND WHALEBONE FOR THE

STATEMENT OF THE NUMBER OF VESSELS EMPLOYED IN THE WHALE FISHERY OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 1, 1905.

REVIEW OF THE COTTON CROP OF THE UNITED STATES,

FOR THE YEAR 1904.

THE Cotton crop of the United States for the year ending September 1, 1904, will be found below. It will be seen that the total crop this year reaches 10,123,686 bales, while the exports are 6,134,132 bales, and the spinners' takings are 4,144,878 bales, leaving a stock on hand at the close of the year of 111,799 bales. The whole movement for the twelve months is given in the following pages, with such suggestions and explanations as the peculiar features of the year appear to require. The first table indicates the stock at each port September 1, 1904, the receipts at the ports for each of the past two years, and the export movement for the past year (1903-1904) in detail, and the totals for 1902-1903 and 1901-1002:

The foregoing shows that the total receipts at the Atlantic and Gulf shipping ports this year have been 7,235,568 bales, against 7,632,757 bales last year and 7,571,587 1901-1902; and that the exports have been 6,134,132 bales, against 6,799,572 bales last season and 6,761,486 bales the previous season, Great Britain getting out of this crop 2,582,646 bales. If now we add the shipments from Tennessee and elsewhere direct to manufacturers, and Southern

* These figures are only the portion of the receipts at these ports which arrived by rail overland from Tennessee, &c.

+ Shipments by rail to Canada.