Chapter II: Part 2

The plough, the great instrument of agricultural labour, was well known and generally used among them; it was drawn exclusively by horned cattle. Of fossile _manures_, we know that they used _lime_, and probably _marle_,[3] and that those of animal and vegetable basis, were carefully collected. Attention to this subject, even made part of the national religion; the dunghill had its god, and Stercutus, his temple and worshippers. Their corn crops were abundant; besides _barley_ and _far_,[4] they had three species of _wheat_; the _robus_ or red--the _siligo_ or white--and the _triticum trimestre_, or summer wheat; they had besides millet, panis, zea (Indian corn) and rye, all of which producing a flour convertible into bread, were known by the common name of _frumentum_. Leguminous crops were frequent; the lupin in particular was raised in abundance, and besides being employed as a manure,[5] entered extensively into the subsistence of men, cattle and poultry. The cultivation of garden vegetables was well understood and employed many hands; and meadows, natural and artificial, were brought to great perfection. Lucern and fenugrec were the basis of the latter, and peas, rye and a mixture of barley, beans and peas, called _farrago_, were occasionally used in the stables as green food. Their flocks were abundant, and formed their first representatives of wealth, as is sufficiently indicated by their word _pecunia_. Vines and olives, and their products (wine and oil) had a full share of attention and use. The rearing of poultry made an important part of domestic economy, nor were apiaries and fish ponds forgotten or neglected.

[3] For the first part of this assertion we have the authority of Pliny; for the latter, the practice of their colonies both in Gaul and Britain.

[4] Of this last, there were three kinds, neither of which is now cultivated.

[5] The lupinus albus of Linneus: "many other vegetables are used for this purpose, particularly the _bean_, but do not answer as well as the _lupin_; when this is heated in an oven and then buried, it forms the most powerful of all manures." T. C. L. Simonde. _Tableau de L'agriculture Toscane_.

If we pause for a moment, to glance at the civil institutions of this wonderful people, we discover how soon and how deeply it entered into their policy, not merely to promote, but to dignify agriculture and its professors.[6] When Cicero said, that "nothing in this world was better, more useful, more agreeable, more worthy of a free man, than agriculture;"[7] he pronounced, not merely his own opinion, but the public judgment of his age and nation. Were troops to be raised for the defence of the republic? The _tribus rusticus_ was the privileged nursery of the legions![8] Did exigencies of state require a general or dictator? he was taken from the _plough_! Were his services rewarded? this was done not with ribbands or gold, but by a donation of _land_.[9]

[6] Tanus and Numa were deified for services rendered to agriculture.

[7] Cicero de officiis. L. 2.

[8] This continued till the time of Marius.

[9] As much as he could plough in a day.

With such support from public opinion, it was not to be supposed that the laws would be either adverse or indifferent to this branch of industry. We accordingly find the utmost security given to the labours of the husbandman;[10] no legislative interposition between the seller and buyer, neither forced sales--nor limitation of prices--and a sacredness of boundaries never disturbed;[11] fairs and markets multiplied and protected against invasion or interruption,[12] and highways leading to these every where established, and of a character to call forth benedictions and admiration.[13]

[10] To cut or destroy in the night the crop of his neighbour, subjected the Roman to death.

[11] Terminus was among their gods.

[12] Assemblies of the people on days designated for fairs, and on subjects other than those of trade, were not lawful.

[13] The Appian way, yet remains the wonder and reproach of modern times.

Nor were these regulations confined to the proper territory of Rome. What of her own policy was good, she communicated to her neighbours; what of theirs was better, she adopted and practised herself. Her arts and arms were therefore constant companions. Wherever her legions marched, her knowledge, practices, and implements followed; and it is to these we are to look for the foundation of modern agriculture in Italy, France, Spain, &c. _[Albany Argus_.

(To be continued.)

_The Moral Plough Boy_.

"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not
thine hand."

The words of our motto were probably addressed by an Eastern monarch to those of his subjects, who followed husbandry, and to whom the importance of early rising was the greater, as the climate was excessively warm, and the stoutest labourer found the noon-tide heat too powerful for the energies of his frame to encounter.--This is the case in most of the oriental climes, where the morning and the evening are improved by the cultivator of the soil, as well as the man of business of every class, cast or profession.--The middle or hottest part of the day is, in those countries, given to ease and relaxation; and the charms of conversation, and the sweets of refreshment, are then the substitutes for toil and care.

But the time thus spent is not lost, because they attend strictly to the advice of the sacred moralist, and make it up by the fidelity of their morning and evening labours in the field, the workship or the counting-room. Besides the earth is there more prolific than in colder climes, like ours, and to less labour yields a greater supply, a more abundant harvest.

But abundantly as the earth yields her products, beneath an oriental sky, still it was there that man was first taught by his Maker, that she would not yield them without the sweat of the human brow. Implicit obedience was the first law given to our progenitors in Eden, as the condition of enjoying life without labour, of being surrounded by the perpetual verdure of spring, and regaled by the never-dying fragrance of its odours: But this fair condition violated, and they were doomed to know, that fruitful as the earth had come from the hands of its Creator, they should cultivate it with toil, and care, and anxiety, before it should yield them the means of enjoyment and subsistence. But for one fatal mistake, they would never have been called upon to sow their seed in the morning, and at evening to watch over it with a careful hand.

We have seen then, that the first Plough Boys were obliged to work early and late; and their successors in the same climes, are still subjected to the same diurnal labour.

But the American Plough Boy enjoys a milder clime, and may perhaps think himself less obliged to rise with the dawn of day, or pursue his labours with the declining sun. He may perhaps flatter himself that the morning may be spent at a neighbouring bar-room, and the evening at a shooting-match or a horse-race, and the day still afford time enough for all the labour that he may have to perform. But this is, indeed, an error the most fatal to his present, as well as future happiness. The mid-day beams of the sun are not so fierce on the hills or vales of America, as on the plains of Asia, where our first parents were doomed to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. But they are still fierce enough to make the PLOUGH BOY feel their enervating effects, and to impress upon his physical as well as mental frame the necessity and importance of _sowing his seed in the morning_, and of extending to it the _vigilance of his hand in the evening_.

If our American Plough Boys would, one and all, adopt with energy and perseverance this injunction of oriental wisdom, how different would be the face of our country, in many places, from what it now is! How many orchards would be planted; how many fruit trees, of every kind, would be seen growing in beauty and luxuriance, where now the eye of the traveller, or sojourner, is obliged to rest upon nought but wilds and weeds? How many fields would be ploughed and sown, and cultivated with success, which now lie waste, and barren as the deserts of Arabia. How many cattle, and domestic animals of every description, fit for the use of man, would be seen thriving and healthy, awaiting a profitable market, where now there are none, or those whose sickly and squalid appearance, bespeaks the indolence and neglect of their owners! How many substantial rail fences would be erected, where there is now scarcely a brush bulwark against the encroachments of man or beast? How many neat stone walls would take the place of rail fences, and remain as lasting monuments of the virtue of their owners--for _industry_ and _virtue_ are synonimous in agricultural life! How many ditches would be seen running through our swamps, and yielding or restoring to wholesome vegetation, those nurseries of wild, unprofitable, and poisonous plants; whose dark, damp shades are not only lost to agriculture; but send forth daily their pestilential vapours, spreading disease and death among the Plough Boys!

It is not the industrious Plough Boy who will feel the application of these remarks. He will take care that his fields and his fences, his flourishing fruit-trees, his overflowing cribs and barns, and his fat cattle, plump and smooth as a turtle-fed alderman, shall prove to the world that he never fails to attend to the admonition of our motto.

But it is to the slothful that this short essay is addressed. Pluck up the weeds, and the useful plants will take care of themselves. Reform the indolent, and the industrious will find a new spur to exertion. Ye careless and slothful Plough Boys, then, be advised by a friend. Cast off the sin of idleness, which so easily besets you, and imitate your industrious neighbours. Resolve for the future, _in the morning to sow your seed, and in the evening to withhold not your hand_; and you will soon find, that the blessings of Heaven await those who deserve them; and that health, prosperity, and a quiet conscience, are the never-failing rewards of virtuous industry. H. H. Jr. _[Plough Boy_.

Mr. Nicholson's Prize Essay.

_On a Rotation of Crops, and the most profitable mode of collecting, preserving, and applying Manures_.

(Communicated to the Albany County Agricultural Society.)

Some soils are peculiarly adapted for the growth of particular plants, and in such case many successive yearly growths of them may be raised, without manure, and without material diminution of product. We have known an instance of 14 good crops of wheat raised successively on the same ground; another of 18 crops of oats; others of at least 10 of barley, and nearly of 20 rye: But these were peculiar soils; and although this sameness of culture was found successful, no inference is therefore to be drawn that it was the most profitable, or that such soils would not eventually tire of their favourite crops, and then be found exhausted and unfit for others. Generally speaking, we conceive that one of the most important points in husbandry is a judicious rotation of such crops as are most profitable for culture, and at the same time best adapted for the particular soils which are to be cultivated. Lands seem naturally to require a change of growths. Where the oak has disappeared, after it had lifted its head to the springs of ages, another oak will not naturally rise, but some other tree. Instances have been known of lands covered solely with trees of deciduous growth, where the knots of the pitch pine were still to be found; a proof that pine was once a tenant of the soil. In the southern states, where lands have been exhausted with injudicious cropping, and then thrown out to common, they soon become covered with growths of trees different from those they originally bore. Some plants are so unfit for long continuance in any particular place that they are endowed with migratory powers, either by their winged seeds, which are wafted abroad by the winds; by their roots, by which they change their places of growth beneath the surface; or by their vines, by which they travel above ground, and thus locate themselves in different situations. Of the first description are the varieties of the thistle, the milk-weed, and the fire-weed; of the second, the potato and some other bulbous rooted plants; of the third, the straw-berry, the black-berry, the different species of the gourd tribe. The stalks of erect plants fall when they ripen, and thus the seed reaches the ground at a distance from the roots which produced them. There seems, indeed, to be generally a disposition in the earth to require changes in the plants it nourishes, in order that it may impart the food that is best adapted for each; and Providence, in his infinite wisdom, has endowed these while growing in a state of nature, with such properties as are best calculated to effect the changes. Let the cultivator, therefore, study nature, and follow her dictates, if he wishes either success or applause in his employment.

In regard to changes of crops, a general rule has been recommended of alternate growths of leguminous and culmiferous kinds, and of green crops and grain crops; but perhaps it would be quite as philosophical to insist upon alternate growths of fibrous, and tap-rooted plants; the former deriving their food from the surface of the earth, the latter from greater depths. But the value of crops, and the expense of raising each, should be duly estimated in making selections for rotations. Let us say, for instance, that the average crops of wheat, barley, and Indian corn, at their greatest extent, may average 50 dollars in value to the acre, after the grain is ready for market; crops of rye, oats and peas, not more than two thirds of this amount; buck-wheat, considerably less. From lands suitable for ruta baga, or mangel wurzel, it would seem that from five to six hundred bushels to the acre may be expected with good culture; which at 18 cents per bushel, a price certainly not beyond the proportionate value we have just given to the grain crops, will average about a hundred dollars to the value of an acre. The entire expense of either of these crops of roots, when ready for use, is not essentially greater than the expense incurred in producing grain crops; of course, it must be evident that these afford from 30 to 50 dollars an acre less of clear profit than a crop of either of the roots first mentioned. With a proper application of the requisite quantity of manure to ruta baga, it may be successfully grown on almost any dry soil, when well and deeply mellowed, from the sandy to the deep rich loams. Soils of the latter description are best adapted for mangle wurzel. Either of these roots, when steam boiled, and especially with the addition of some meal, will answer all the purposes for which grain is used for feeding cattle of all sorts, from the horse down to the hog. Even stage horses, which, from the severity of their labour, require the most nourishing food, have been kept in England on hay and steam-boiled ruta baga. Mr. Cobbett says, "a hog of a good sort may be sufficiently fatted with this root when steam-boiled." Allowing, what we believe can hardly be admitted, that a bushel of oats contains as much nutriment as three of this root, still it is evident that the usual product of one acre of it will go as far in keeping horses as four of oats. Neither of these root crops require any considerable expenditure in seed, and on this account, if on no other, they are preferable to crops of the potato and of the Jerusalem artichoke, which in the article of seed are perhaps the most expensive of any whatever. We however consider crops even of these roots more profitable than those of grain, and particularly the potato, when judiciously cultivated in climates most suitable for its growth. For the various uses of this root for culinary purposes it stands indeed without a rival. In point of profit we would also give to the carrot, the parsnip, and the onion, a preference to crops of grain; but the soils well adapted for them is more limited, and their culture is more expensive; and although they should form a part of the products of the farm we cannot recommend them as being in all instances proper for a judicious rotation of crops. The common turnip, and the cabbage, are also entitled to attention. The pumpkin is as nutritious as the same weight of any root or vegetable whatever, and its culture is cheap; but whether its product, in weight, can be made to compete with that of roots, is a matter of which we are not informed. If 15 tons to the acre could be usually obtained of this species of gourd, we should be induced to pronounce the crop, in point of profit and use, unrivalled as a preparative for a crop of winter grain. The crop would be found among those which are least expensive in seed, in culture and in gathering; none would occasion less exhaustion of soil, nor require less for manure, as a little gypsum to the hills, or drills, will be found to have a powerful effect on its growth, but of its more complete cultivation we shall presently speak.

In Pennsylvania, and farther to the south, a successful mode of culture has been put in practice of growing Indian corn and potatoes in alternate rows or drills, and in this way about a sixth more of product in the aggregate, is obtained from the ground, than if these two sorts of crops were cultivated separately. Such is found to be the fact, and the reason for it seems to be that each crop has, in this way, more space given for the extension of its roots in search of its favourite food, and each has the like room above ground for deriving from the air the nutriment that is most suitable. Corn, in particular, it is well known, is liable to much injury, if planted too closely. There is, indeed, a variety of cases where this mingling of growths is found very advantageous, and whenever we shall venture to recommend the practice, it will be founded on a conviction of its utility. There are also some instances, even in this northern latitude, in which two crops may be had in a season from the same ground, and any case where it may be advisable shall be duly noted.

It should farther be observed that in suggesting what may be deemed the most suitable changes of crops, no reference will be had to the actual state of farming among us, but merely what the state of farming ought to be; and in pursuance of this course, we shall, in a great measure, discard the idea, too long prevalent in this country, that we should make the most of our labour, not the most of our land; we shall, on the contrary, insist that, generally speaking, making the most of our lands, under a proper course of husbandry, is the right way to realize the most from our labour. We shall therefore begin with the most usual soil of this country, the dry, arable lands, which are usually suited for a variety of crops. Of the stiff clays, the hard gravels, and light sands, soils which abound but little here, we shall speak in particular. In ploughing we shall advise that the usual depth be about six inches, or about a third deeper than our farmers commonly plough: but that the depth should sometimes be greater than this, and sometimes less. We shall also insist on the ploughing being done in the most perfect manner, and not in the slight way too often practised; and we shall farther premise that the plan of culture we recommend is necessarily connected with the business of the dairy, to greater or less extent, and with that of the grazier, in feeding and fatting cattle of every description. Such we conceive to be the only true and profitable course to conduct farming in this country, but deviations from this may in some cases be found equally profitable. In general, however, we advise to this course of farming, for in this way the greatest quantity of manure is afforded, and for most lands manure is essential for obtaining the greatest crops, and of course for realizing the greatest profits.

We shall begin with the ground in wheat or rye stubble, as at the end of our course we propose to leave it. Let the stubble ground be well turned over in the fall, to the depth of, say, six inches. It should not be turned over until a sward of white clover has covered the ground, which is to be produced by giving it a top-dressing of gypsum, in the spring. Under the subject of manures the reasons for this will be explained, when treating of gypsum. In the spring give the ground one or two ploughings more, as the nature of the soil may require, and of the same depth, and let the last ploughing be just before the proper time for planting Indian corn; for this crop, with an intermixture of other plants, is what we propose to begin with. Say, for instance, that the intermixture shall consist of the potato, of the pumpkin, and of the common pumpkin, a third part of each. We propose planting these crops in drills, in preference to hills, from a well founded conviction that in the former method considerably more may be obtained from the ground. Let furrows be run, at a good depth, for the drills, at the distance of about every three and a half feet. In these furrows lay off the shortest and best of the fresh barn dung, at the rate of about 20 wagon loads to the acre. For the drills intended for potatoes the longer sort of barn dung is as good as any other. If the different sorts of barn dung can be applied to the soils most suitable for each, as is mentioned in speaking of manures; this should always be attended to; that is, sheep and horse dung for the moister parts of the land, and cow dung for the drier. As fast as the dung is laid, it should be well covered, by a furrow, moderately deep, thrown over it from each side; but where potatoes are to form the alternate drills, let the seed for these be laid on the dung, previous to covering; and for this purpose, let the potatoes be cut in halves, lengthways, so as to give each about an equal number of eyes, and then wet them and roll them in gypsum before laying them down, which should be at the distances of about 15 inches. The potato drills being thus covered, by the furrows thrown from each side, the same process serves to cover the dung in the other furrows, and thus the beds are formed for planting the other crops in the drill method. Indian corn may be drilled in at one operation by a drill machine for the purpose; the same may be observed of the turnip crop, and probably of the pumpkin; but though attended with more labour, it may usually be expected that they will be drilled in by manual operation. We should advise that the seed in the turnip drills be liberally strewn, in order that if part of the plants be destroyed by the flies, enough may still be left. The corn and pumpkin seed may be dropped at the distances of six inches, and thinned at the first hoeing, so as to have the growing plants of the former about a foot apart, and the latter about 16 inches. If any vacant places should happen in any of these drills, such vacancies may readily be supplied by transplanting sets, taken from parts where more plants are standing than are necessary. Any young plants may be transplanted after they have attained a suitable size, which is usually in from two to four weeks growth. The vacancies may be quickly filled by transplanting, and it is a matter well worthy of attention.

The practice, lately introduced, of laying barn dung at a good depth, and then covering it with mould to the depth of about three or four inches, and planting the seeds over the manure thus covered, seems to answer the best purpose for every drilled crop except potatoes, and we would therefore recommend this method of using barn dung in preference to every other, as far as it may be wanted for drilled crops. In this way this manure may be profitably applied while fresh; but in many instances we consider it more efficacious when applied after the process of rotting or fermentation has commenced. Such is the theory of Sir Humphrey Davy, and we have full confidence in its correctness. When thus buried in the earth, the growing plants, placed above the manure, have the utmost means of absorbing all its garious and soluble parts, while the process of its decomposition is going on.

In preparing seeds we would, as a general rule, advise to their being soaked about 12 hours in a strong solution of saltpetre, or of common salt, and then rolled in gypsum before being committed to the earth. The effect of this mode of preparing the seed seems to be, that the young plants start with more vigour, and grow larger than they do where this treatment of the seed is neglected; and the solution of saltpetre has the further effect of bringing plants to maturity from one to two weeks sooner than they otherwise would ripen.

In selecting seed for the corn crop, take such stalks as bear two ears, and select the best ear from each of such stalks, the grains on each end to be rejected. In all cases where it is practicable, the seeds should be taken from the largest and most perfect plants, or roots, as the case may be. By attending to this mode of selecting seed the product of the corn crop in particular will soon be found greatly augmented; a discovery, the honour of which is due to Mr. Cooper, of New Jersey. It is said that sprinkling a little gypsum on the silk of the ears of corn, will make them fill to the ends. Nipping off the blossoms of the potato crop, as fast as they appear, is found, by accurate experiment, to increase the growth of the roots about one sixth part. Salt and gypsum have each a powerful effect on their growth, though by applying too much of the latter it may cause them to run too much to vines. To the corn and pumpkin crop apply some of this latter manure after the plants are up. What effect it has on turnips we have never understood.

In ploughing between the drills let it be to a good depth, first turning the furrows from the plants, running about four inches from them, and then turning the furrows back, when the hoeing and hand weeding are to follow. The second ploughing should be similar to the first, but farther from the plants; and in general, we believe, it will be found advantageous to plough and hoe the crops the third time. We have seen it highly recommended to plough among Indian corn as late as in August. Frequent deep ploughing is certainly the best means of keeping the ground moist, and should never be omitted in case of drought. Ground that has become quite dry will be found moist after a thorough deep ploughing. At all events, the ground should be so cultivated as to prevent any weeds from going to seed in the fall, for if this be suffered, the ground will remain constantly stocked with the seeds of weeds.

We advise to the cultivation of the common turnip, the potato, and the pumpkin, in the manner we have mentioned, for the purpose of affording the early supply of food for feeding and fatting cattle in the fall and the forepart of the winter, before the ruta baga crop should be used, of which we shall presently speak. We also advise to this variety of crops, in order that the cattle may have a greater variety of food, a matter of considerable importance in feeding and fatting cattle. For this purpose also the culture of the cabbage is worthy of attention. Horses, and all sorts of cattle, fatten well on pumpkins, but for swine they should be steam boiled, and the seeds taken out, as these prove injurious to those animals, by causing too great a secretion of urine. The seeds afford an oil equal to that of the olive, and are well worth preserving for this purpose.

As soon as the ears of the corn crop have somewhat hardened, the crop may be cut up and set in shocks, with the tops tied closely together to keep out the rains, in which way the grain will harden as well as in any other, and a great addition of fodder may thus be acquired.

During the next season we propose to take two crops from the ground, to wit, a crop of ruta baga, preceded by such spring crop as ripens sufficiently early to be harvested in time for preparing the ground for a full growth of this root. In the meridian of New York, Mr. Cobbett says that from the 26th of July until some of the first days in August, is the proper time to transplant this crop, the plants for the purpose being previously grown. The method of cultivating the crop by transplanting, he insists, is the preferable way, and from our own experience we are fully disposed to agree with him. Advancing to the northward, from New York, the seasons are shorter, and of course the crop should be transplanted earlier, while at the same time the spring crops are later in ripening. At New York, barley could be taken from the ground in time sufficient for preparing for ruta baga; farther to the north this could not be the case. In the more northerly parts of this state, it would, perhaps, be difficult to find any crop, now raised in this country, with the exception of flax, that would be sufficiently early. The fact is, we want a particular crop for this purpose; and that would seem to be the new sort of spring wheat lately introduced into France, which is there called _le ble de Mai_, in English, the wheat of May. It is said to be a very productive species of wheat, affording a grain from which flour is made of about a medium whiteness between that of rye and wheat, and in that country it is fit to harvest in the latter end of May. In this state it would probably ripen no where later than the first of July, which would be in time sufficient for the crop of ruta baga. Until we can procure this wheat, we can only recommend that the preceding crop be such only as will ripen sufficiently early, and where none can be had for the purpose, to be content with raising the crop of ruta baga only in the course of the season. Where previous spring crops can however be obtained, let them be taken from the ground as quick as possible, and the ground deeply turned over, and mellowed by three deep ploughings, then furrowed at the distances of about 30 inches, the manure laid in, and covered by furrows thrown over it from each side, and the plants of ruta baga immediately set on the ridges, by transplanting, at the distance of about a foot from each other. From our own experience we are fully convinced that the plan of transplanting is, in the end, much the cheapest, and most advisable. We would, however, recommend not to transplant before the appearance of a heavy shower, but at any time afterwards; that the plants be of good size, say of five or six weeks growth, and that in setting, special care be taken to have the lower parts of the roots well enclosed with earth. For further particulars in regard to the culture of this crop, the time and manner of using it, and of saving it, we refer the reader to Mr. Cobbett's book on the subject, from a conviction that it is the best essay that has ever been published on the culture and use of this valuable plant.

It will be seen, however, that we differ from Mr. C. in the distances in which the plants are to be set, and in the manner of forming the ridges. He forms his ridges by four gathering furrows, by which the ridges are each about 4 feet in breadth. We propose to form the ridges by two gathering furrows, and at the distances of 30 inches. In England, the plan we recommend is generally pursued, and the ridges are usually but 27 inches wide.

(To be continued.)

FROM NILES' WEEKLY REGISTER.

_Cotton, Rice, Tobacco, Sugar, Wine._

The National Intelligencer informs us that in New York 133 bushels of Indian corn have been gathered this year from _one acre_; and 714 bushels of potatoes from one acre. This has led to the following statistical facts.

COTTON.--In 1817 the export of cotton from the United States was (85,649,328_lbs._) more than eighty-five million. One acre yields, at a moderate estimate, 250lbs. of clean cotton. The whole export, therefore, is the product of only 535 square miles: this is less than the 108th part of Georgia, and less than the 520th part of the cotton regions of the U. States.

RICE.--The maximum export of rice was 73,329 tierces, (in 1790,) or (43,997,400_lbs._) nearly forty-four million pounds. This, on an average crop, is the produce of only sixty-five square miles, which is less than the 440th part of South Carolina, and less than two-thirds of the District of Columbia.

TOBACCO.--The maximum export of tobacco was 12,428 hogsheads, in 1791. A hogshead is about one thousand weight; and, on average, one acre will yield one hogshead. The export, therefore, was the product of about 176 square miles, which is less than the 363d part of Virginia. Each of the 97 counties of that state contains, on an average, more than 659 square miles, viz: more than three times the quantity of land which furnished the above export.

SUGAR.--Such is, generally, the fertility of the equinoctial regions of America, that all the sugar consumed in France, estimated at twenty million kilogrammes, (about 54,000,000 pounds,) may be produced on an extent of 7 square leagues, which is not equal to one-thirtieth part of the smallest department of France.

WINE.--About 1,600,000 arpents, or 1,350,400 acres, are in France employed in the culture of the vine. The value of the annual product is about 100,800,000 dollars, at about twenty cents a gallon. In 1790 Bordeaux alone exported more than fifteen million gallons of wine. The 1,600,000 arpents are less than one 80th part of France, and less than one 20th part of Pennsylvania.

The value of the annual produce of these five interesting articles, may be thus estimated:

Cotton, at 15 cents, $12,847,399
Rice, $20 a tierce, 1,466,580
Tobacco, $60 a hogshead, 6,745,680
Wine, 20 cents a gallon, 100,800,000
Sugar consumed in France,
at 10 cents a pound, 5,400,000
-------------
$127,259,659

For the product of these articles the following quantities of land are cultivated, viz.

Square miles.
For cotton 555
rice 65
tobacco 176
sugar 63
wine 2110
----
2969

This is little less than three-fourths of the state of Connecticut.

The authority for cotton, rice, and tobacco, is Seybert's Statistical Annals, and the personal information of gentlemen of experience in the culture of those articles.

For sugar I have the authority of Humboldt's _Essai Politique_.

For wine I depend on Chaptal: his "Treatise, theoretical and practical, on the culture of the vine, and the art of making wine, brandy, spirits of wine, and vinegars, simple and compound," is a truly classic work, in which he had the aid of Rozier, Parmentier, and Dussieux. It contains all that the chemist, or botanist, or vine cultivator, or enlightened statesman can reasonably ask or wish to know. It is in two octavo volumes, of about 500 pages each, with 21 plates.

This admirable treatise should be translated for the use of our fellow citizens who occupy our wine-yielding regions. For, in a few years, the United States will produce wine for their domestic consumption and exportation.

A revolution of our planet on its axis would present to the eye of an observer, at the distance of a few thousand miles, a few spots or specks (China or Holland) fully cultivated. The rest would be as a desert. Pauperism in England, now so extensive and so dangerous, is fulfilling the prophecies of Goldsmith's Deserted Village.

"Political economy (says Jean Baptiste Say,) is founded on statistical knowledge, or (what is the same thing) history;" and that "the American confederacy will have the glory of proving that the loftiest policy is in accordance with moderation and humanity."

The most active mind has not yet conceived an adequate idea of the vast resources of the United States.

_Washington City_.

NOTES AND REMARKS--BY THE EDITOR OF THE REGISTER.

The _general_ average value of the products of the United States exported, may be estimated as amounting to 45,000,000 dollars, at fair prices; the cotton, tobacco, and rice, included in which, may be valued at 21,000,000--the balance is made up of bread stuffs and meats, the product of the forest and of the sea, and 2,000,000 in manufactures.

The chief things that we have for _export_ bear about the following proportions to their respective quantities _consumed_ in the United States--assuming 45 millions as the amount of value exported, and taking our products at their average quantities.

_Val. or am't Val. or am't
exported. consumed_.

Bread stuffs, meats & drinks, D. 13,500,000 270,000,000
Provender for horses, &c. (say) 50,000 60,000,000
Manufactures, (in general) 2,000,000 220,000,000
Product of the fisheries 1,500,000 9,000,000
-------------- forest 6,000,000 60,000,000
Cotton, lbs. 85,000,000 40,000,000
Tobacco, hhds. 75,000 25,000
Rice, tierces 80,000 80,000

The value of the cotton, tobacco, and rice consumed in the United States, being considered as included in the aggregate values of the manufactures used, or other stuffs consumed, will give a value to the consumption equal to 619, say 620 millions of dollars per annum; and assuming our population at 9,500,000, the average for each individual is 65 dollars a-year. This amount includes ALL sorts of disbursements needful to the subsistence, convenience and comfort of the people, except the product of the value of labour directly applied to the _erection_ of buildings or other permanent works. The amount, though it appears enormous, I am satisfied is less than the actual value consumed. It brings out the general result, that our exports stand to our consumption as 45 is to 620--or as _one_ is to _fourteen_, at the present time. When the price of commodities was higher, the rate was as _one_ to _seventeen_.

The ratio of each of the preceding items are about as follows:

_Exported. Consumed._

Bread stuffs, meats & drinks, as 1 is to 21
Provender, 1 -- 200
Manufactured articles, 1 -- 110
Product of the fisheries, 1 -- 6
---- forest, 1 -- 10
Cotton, 2 -- 1 (nearly.)
Tobacco, 3 -- 1
Rice, 1 -- 1

It would be excessively tedious to attempt to detail the multitude of items that affect these general conclusions. Accuracy is not pretended in either of them. Probabilities only are aimed at.

From these facts assumed as being pretty near the truth, we may estimate the importance of the home trade, or internal commerce and consumption of the people, and arrive at a multitude of highly interesting considerations. Take the following for an example:

The sudden introduction of less than 500,000 persons, would leave us no surplus of _present_ products of food for men. But it is a demand for this surplus, no matter how created, that assesses the value of the whole product. Such products, let the fact be recollected, were at as high prices during the late war, when there was very little export of them, as they are now, the difference in the value of our circulating medium being also considered. This was caused by a partial want of agricultural labourers; but more by the waste of provisions that belong to a belligerent state.

Foreign commerce, nevertheless, has a powerful bearing on the consideration of value in a state of peace, to the growers of grain, meats, &c. The amount beyond their own _immediate_ consumption and that of their families, may be about two fifths of the whole, besides the foreign export, or nearly 110 millions,--the _price_ of which is fixed by the small amount of 13,500,000 dollars' worth sent abroad! And, this little surplus remaining unconsumed, or without being wasted, at home, would depreciate the general value of the whole surplus at least 50 per cent. Hence, it would seem of greater interest to the farmers even to _destroy_ a portion of their products, than to cast them into a glutted market, according to the principles acted upon by the Dutch in regard to spices. A policy not to be recommended on the score of morality, but as according with the spirit of trade. It cannot, therefore, be advantageous to the agriculturist to depend upon a foreign market to assess the value of his articles, for it is, and ever must be uncertain and unsteady. It is his interest to have a market at home, for this may be depended upon, and the product will be regulated by the demand, so as to leave a fair profit.

A gentleman of observation, on a certain occasion, when I Was speaking on this subject, related the following case in point.

At an interval of about 10 years, he had stopped for a short time at a certain village in Connecticut--when first there, it contained two first rate taverns, and one other respectable establishment of the same kind. Two lines of stages made it their halting place every night, and all seemed flourishing and lively. When there again, the three taverns were shut up, or at least not occupied as such, and he had to apply at a private house to be accommodated during his stay, and every thing appeared dull and desolate. He asked the reason.--It was the establishment of steam-boats which had destroyed the lines of stages, and driven off the persons and horses that they had given employment to, and of course the market they created, which hitherto took off all the surplus products of the neighbourhood, had ceased to be. A thousand instances of this sort might be noted to prove that a _ready market_ is the prosperity of a neighbourhood, country, state, or nation.

On the different items, especially those of _cotton_ and _sugar_, as mentioned by the writer in the National Intelligencer, we intend to speak particularly hereafter, in the essays we have promised to write under the head of "Political Economics," the introduction to which appeared in the Register of the 13th ult. page 162.

_Vine Dressing near Vevay._

VEVAY, (Indiana) Oct. 28.

The season for making wine is just over; and notwithstanding the uncommon dry season, the vine dressers near Vevay have made four thousand eight hundred and ninety-two gallons.

[We copy the following from Niles' Weekly Register, with an intention, as his proposed essays appear, of giving them a place in the _Rural Magazine_,--having no doubt, from our knowledge of the editor, but they will be instructive as well as Interesting to our readers.--_Ed._]

_Political Economics._

INTRODUCTORY.

Though so much has been said on political economy as applicable to the national prosperity, by profits derived from national industry, that we despair of offering any new thing on the subject, we have so far yielded to the wishes of many friends as to resolve upon the publication of a new series of essays, to elucidate some of the facts that belong to this deeply interesting concern--a concern that presses itself into every man's business, which invades our fire-sides and accompanies us to our bed-chambers: yet, so beset with it, and feeling it in all that we have to sell or want to buy, and in whatsoever business we do that requires the aid of money or use of credit--still we shrink from the trouble of ascertaining its operation and extent. The mind, by repeated mortifications and disappointments, loses its tone; and we seem rather disposed to trust to the chapter of accidents for redress, than rouse ourselves to an exertion to put an end to our wrongs, through the means afforded; forgetting that effects flow from causes.

It has pleased Providence to bless us with a "goodly land," and we are favoured with the best system of government ever devised--but the seat of ancient Paradise is a howling waste, and Greece and Rome are tenanted by slaves.

A nation's prosperity is the happiness of the individuals composing it. The freeman cannot be a happy man unless private industry secures private independence; and freedom itself must pass into despotism. The power of a government rests in the moral and physical force of the governed, and its wealth is constituted by personal acquisitions of property. Governments were made for the good of the people, not the people for governments; and their object fails when private happiness ceases to be respected. Emancipation from political tyranny, without the means of preserving personal liberty, is a nullity. The gift of life without the means of living, is destitute of value.

Production is the only source of national wealth that can be depended upon. The home market, even to the most commercial nations, is of many times the amount of the foreign one. The former is not easily effected, except by a self-mistaken policy; but the latter is as capricious as the winds, and beyond our control. Speculation does not create value--the purchase and sale of a million's worth of goods does not improve their quality or add to their quantity, to the amount of a cent. A change of commodities between different countries, may increase their value to the extent of the labour expended in transporting them; and it is generally convenient, if not advantageous, when exchanges are made on equal terms. But poverty must be the lot of every society which barters the labour of two or more of its members for that of one person in another society.

Employment is the best preservative of health and morals. Things should be so that every person willing to labour for his living, should find labour to do, and live plentifully. If it is otherwise, an error has been committed that ought to be corrected immediately, for it is pregnant with the greatest evils. It is the chief check to population, and more powerful than the sword to destroy the liberties of nations. Nations and individuals are spendthrifts of the worst description when they purchase that which they can make from the spare labour at home. Who will give away a hundred dollars and their interest for ever, for the sake of receiving twenty dollars of his own money as a premium? Yet thus a nation acts when, for the sake of the duties on imports, it accepts of another nation any commodity which it might supply itself with, without detriment to its other branches of industry.

Agriculture is the noblest and best occupation of man; and in a country like the United States, where land is plenty and labour scarce, it will always be pushed to the extent which a profitable market demands. Yet if none worked but those who laboured in the field, society could not exist long. We should perish with cold and hunger. It is by an association of the arts that we live--and our comfort materially depends on their respective perfections. Only about one fifth of a population are fitted for agricultural labours, in general. The other four fifths, if idle would consume the whole amount of value produced, and send the labourers supperless to bed. It is the capacity of production in the most numerous body that must be brought into action, if families and nations would prosper and be happy. If they purchase any thing which their lost time might be applied to the fabrication of--they might as well throw its cost into the sea.

In the course of our essays, which we expect to commence in two or three weeks, we shall endeavour to point out some of the chief things that require the protection of government, just as those of a well regulated family are managed; and shew that the well being of a nation depends upon a fair exchange of labour for labour, substantials for substantials, and even luxuries for luxuries. The man who exchanges wheat for _ear-rings_, unless those rings are manufactured in his country, wastes to the country the whole amount of the _intrinsic_ value of the wheat over that of the _ear-rings_, which latter is only that of the metal composing them. A nation cannot be independent, if it looks to another for necessaries--it cannot be rich, if it exchanges necessaries for luxuries. And luxuries, especially, should not be received at all, unless things of the same class are remitted in payment for them. The effect of these on population and manners, will also be considered, and illustrated by many statistical facts--as leisure is allowed to arrange them.

FROM HUMBOLDT'S PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

_The Coffee Plant._

The coffee tree flowers only the second year, and the flowering lasts only twenty-four hours. At this time the shrub has a charming aspect; seen from afar, it seems covered with snow. The produce of the third year becomes very abundant. In plantations well weeded and watered, and recently cultivated, we find trees bearing sixteen, eighteen, and even twenty pounds of coffee. In general, however, a produce of more than a pound and a half or two pounds cannot be expected from each plant; and even this is superior to the mean produce of the West India Islands. Rains at the time of the flowering, the want of water for artificial irrigations, and a patastic plant, a new species of coranthus, which clings to the branches, are extremely injurious to the coffee trees.

_Sugar Cane._

Three species of sugar cane can be distinguished even at a distance, by the colour of their leaves; the ancient Creole sugar cane, the Otaheite cane, and the Batavia cane. The first has a leaf of a deeper green, the stem less thick, and the knots nearer together.--This sugar cane was the first introduced from India into Sicily, the Canary Islands and the West Indies. The second is of a lighter green; and its stem is higher, thicker, and more succulent. The whole plant displays a more luxuriant vegetation. We owe this plant to the voyages of Bougainville, Cook, and Bligh. Bougainville carried it to the Isle of France, whence it passed to Cayenne, Martinique, and since 1792, to the rest of the West India Islands. The sugar cane of Otaheite, the _To_ of those islanders, is one of the most important acquisitions, for which colonial agriculture is indebted to the travels of naturalists. It yields not only one third more of juice than the Creolian cane on the same space of land; but from the thickness of its stem, and the tenacity of its ligneous fibres, it furnishes much more fuel. The last advantage is important to the West Indies, where the destruction of the forests has for a long time obliged the planters to use the canes deprived of their juice, to keep up the fire under their boilers.

But from the knowledge of this new plant, the progress of agriculture on the continent of Spanish America, and the introduction of the East India and Java sugars, the revolutions of St. Domingo, and the destruction of the great sugar plantations of that island, would have had a more sensible effect on the prices of colonial produce in Europe. The Otaheite sugar cane was carried from the Isle of Trinidad to Caraccas. From Caraccas it passed to Cicuta and San Gil in the kingdom of New Grenada. In our days its cultivation during twenty-five years almost entirely removed the apprehension, which was at first entirely entertained, that, transplanted to America, the plant would by degrees degenerate, and become as slender as the Creole cane. If it be a variety, it is a very constant one. The third species, the violet sugar cane, called _Cana de Batavia_, or _de Guinea_, is entirely indigenous in the island of Java, where it is cultivated in preference in the districts of Jupara and Pasuruan. Its foliage is purple, and very broad; and it is preferred in the province of Caraccas for rum. The _tablones_, or grounds planted with sugar canes, are divided by hedges of a collossal gramen; the latta, or gynesium with distich leaves.

_American Fig Tree_.