Title: The Rural Magazine, and Literary Evening Fire-Side, Vol. 1 No. 09 (1820)
Author: Various
Release date: April 24, 2015 [eBook #48786]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
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Vol. I. Philadelphia, Ninth Month, 1820. No. 9.
FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.
Man has been in all ages and countries, in a greater or less degree, the victim of imposture and superstition. Their origin can every where be traced to rude and uncultivated periods of society; but subsequent stages of comparative elegance and refinement have also ministered to the support of their dominion. Egypt, Greece and Rome were successively the seats of learning and science; yet in these celebrated regions, the human mind was enveloped in darkness and loaded with chains. The Egyptians have this ancient proverb: "It is easier to find a deity than a man."—Apotheosis must have been carried to an extraordinary length indeed when this was the case. Among these deities, Isis was prominently distinguished, and universally worshipped. On her statues, these words were impudently inscribed: "I am all that has been, that shall be, and none among mortals has hitherto taken off my veil!" Who but would blush for the credulity which listened with reverential awe to the oracular responses at Delphi, a town situate in the neighbourhood of Mount Parnassus, believed by every one at that time to be the centre of the earth! And concerning this precious object, the wars denominated the "sacred wars," were so furiously and destructively waged. The Grecians were compelled, under pain of death, rigidly to observe the mysteries of Eleusis; and the wisest of the Romans were seen consulting the flight of birds and the entrails of animals, for infallible prognostics of future events. Where the footsteps of true philosophy can be traced, her triumphs have been signal; and having found most of these and many other errors exploded, we lay claim in this enlightened age and country, to an extraordinary exemption from the influence of imposture and superstition. Although the darkness and gloom of former ages have in a great degree fled at the approach of the light of knowledge, still here and there the skirts of a black cloud remain, to indicate the failure of an absolute conquest. And the presence of these potent adversaries of human happiness, should inculcate the duty on every friend of his species of lending his aid in advancing the cause of TRUTH.
Among the reprehensible customs which now obtain in the United States, none are more affrontful to the good sense of the community, and few more pernicious in their effects on youth and inexperience, than LOTTERIES, and the disgusting advertisements connected with them, which daily appear in the public journals. The funds which constitute a lottery, are principally derived from the pockets of those whose straitened circumstances, prompt them to grasp at the glittering phantoms, paraded before their eyes by professional jugglers.—Their minds become unsettled; a love of idleness and extravagance is excited; and their attention diverted from the true sources of prosperity—industry, frugality and sound morals. This cautionary advice may be deduced from the best and brightest of books; "Make not haste to be rich."[2] Experience and observation unite in confirming its wisdom. We need but contemplate the consequences, which have almost universally resulted to those who have been so fortunate as to draw large prizes! Nine times perhaps out of ten, bankruptcy and ruin have trodden close on the heels of the dissipation and thoughtlessness they have occasioned. Lotteries are made by legislation, (which ought to be much better employed,) a species of legalized gambling, altogether destitute, in every point of view, of the slightest recommendation, to the countenance and patronage of the public. Being thus prejudicial to individual and social happiness, is it not to be lamented, that respectable editors instead of branding it as they ought, with its proper characteristics; should, to augment the profits of their papers, give to this system of deception, the widest circulation, among all classes of readers. These gentlemen should remember, that pecuniary sacrifices should sometimes be made at the shrine of virtue.
Another source of imposture may be traced to the venders of QUACK MEDICINES. Few persons are, perhaps, aware of the amount of this tax, levied by unprincipled charlatans, on the afflicted and credulous portion of the community. But it is not their money only that is sacrificed, but frequently their constitutions and their lives. He, whose constant companions have long been Pain and Disease, is easily persuaded to listen to the confident promises of impudent pretenders to medical science. He indulges the flattering but false anticipation of returning health, until his symptoms assume an incurable character, and nature gives him the "signal for retreat." It is not to be expected, that for all the multiform shapes which vice is constantly assuming, remedies can be furnished by statutory provision. For many evils, and some of them of a positively mischievous character, no other cure can be relied on with certainty, than the virtue and intelligence of the public. In proportion as these shall be cultivated, will be the augmentation of social enjoyment, and the increasing splendour of the orb of truth.
It has been observed by an eminent writer, that although all argument is against the existence of GHOSTS, all opinion is in its favour.—The celebrated John Wesley, it is said, believed in them; and Edward Cave asserted confidently, though he avoided dwelling on the subject, that he had himself seen an apparition.—The story of Mrs. Veal, prefixed to Drelincourt on Death, though not conclusive, tended to strengthen such opinions. Few of those who held them, were countenanced by stronger evidence than that detailed in the following authentic narrative. In the earlier periods of the settlement of Pennsylvania, public houses of entertainment were few and distant from each other. A farmer, who resided in Montgomery then Philadelphia county, was returning from market at a late hour, of a cold winter night. As he was passing a meeting house, he discovered through the interstices of the door, a light which proceeded from a fire-place; there having been public worship held there during the preceding day. Having dismounted and hitched his horse, he proceeded to the door, and having opened it, beheld a large fire burning, a man laying before it, and between this mysterious personage and the door, a coffin! He instinctively shrunk back, as the time, the place, and the circumstances he witnessed, were well calculated to produce considerable excitement.—Summoning his resolution, however, he advanced to the fire-place, where he found a person asleep, and a new coffin along side of him. The man informed him, that being a joiner, he was employed to make a coffin for a relation who died a few miles above, and that he was taking it up from Germantown where he resided. It appeared that they had both turned in with the same object, to warm themselves; and the honest farmer was pleased to find the spectral apparition subside into a sober reality. How fortunate would it be if on all occasions, investigation were equally honest and determined. Then, indeed, would error and falsehood frequently be forced to "SHAME AND LIGHT."
☞
FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.
My favourite occupation between school hours, during the Spring and Summer, is GARDENING. The munificence of some village Lorenzo has bequeathed, for the use of the schoolmaster, several acres of ground, well situated for tillage or ornamental purposes. Since I have been the incumbent, I have taken much pains to improve it by surrounding the chief part with hedges of cedar and thorn, and planting a good selection of fruit and forest trees. The lower part of the field is in grass, and a winding gravel walk leads from one group of trees to another. Here, according to their various tastes and habits, may be seen the magnolias of our own and the southern states, the walnut, the locust, the elm, the tulip tree, and the different varieties of pine, and larch, and fir, which it has been my study to arrange so as to diversify the view, and exhibit as much as my slender means would allow, the great families into which the vegetable kingdom is divided. A brook as clear as crystal babbles along through an adjoining lot, and enters mine towards the lower end. I have conducted it to a natural hollow in the ground, and have thus, at a trifling expense, formed a fish-pond, which adds greatly to the beauty of my little domain, and furnishes me not only with wholesome food for my own and my friends' tables, but is well suited, from the natural moisture of its banks, for the cultivation of many of our beautiful ferns and aquatic plants. The middle of the lot I have planted with the various fruit trees in which our climate is so rich, if, indeed, it may not challenge a competition in this respect with the world. The upper and smaller portion of the lot, I have appropriated to what is called gardening in the stricter sense of the word. In marking out the walks, I have endeavoured to follow, as nearly as I could, what the painters, perhaps a little fantastically, call the line of beauty, so as to have but few sharp corners or square beds. At the prominent angles and the centres of the beds, are planted the Rhododendron; the two Kalmias; the scarlet, the tri-coloured and the flowering Azaleas; the Clethra and the Philadelphus, mingling with the most beautiful of the domesticated foreign shrubbery—the different Roses, Honeysuckles, and Jessamines. Underneath, and among this shrubbery, are seen the blue and scarlet Lobelias, the native Lily, the Gerardia, the Arethusa, the Orchis, the Bartsia, the Epigea, and all those beautiful flowers that spring up in our woods and meadows, and so frequently bloom and die unseen or unappropriated. These native flowers make a fine show and not an unfavourable comparison even with those beauties of Europe and the East that I have been able to collect and arrange by their side.
I have been thus particular and egotistical in describing my garden, perhaps from vanity, but partly from a wish that the plan may be followed. Our native shrubbery and flowers are not surpassed in beauty and splendour by those of any region in the temperate zone, and many of them in magnificence of foliage and colours are truly tropical. They are sought for abroad with great eagerness, and form an indispensable part of every gentleman's collection. I wish it were more the custom for our farmers and cottagers to domesticate them in their gardens and around their houses.—They improve materially by cultivation, and new varieties are frequently formed. What can be a more beautiful ornament to the front of a farm-house, or a neat white-washed cottage, than a Sweet-briar, winding between the windows and over the door? or the Carolina Passion flower, the Alleghany Vine, the Clematis, or the scarlet Trumpet flower? These rural decorations add more than one would imagine, who had not tried them, to the innocent pleasures of a family; they have no small influence in forming the taste of children; they form a favourite retreat for the birds; and they fling over the whole country an air of peace, and contentment, and innocent enjoyment, which no one, who has not travelled in the more beautiful and retired parts of England, can fully appreciate.
I recollect once in riding through the valley of Chester county with some foreign gentlemen, that they were struck with the nakedness and rudeness of the farm-houses. It appeared to them the most beautiful region they had ever seen, and they exclaimed, with one voice, that the inhabitants did not seem worthy of possessing it. On the side of some sloping hill and in front of a lawn as smooth as velvet, or laden with the riches of the harvest, would be seen a barn and a house that looked as if the master and horse had changed lodgings, both of rude unhewn stone, without a single tree, or shrub, or a trailing vine, for shade or ornament. Such an insensibility to the beauties of rural decoration, in a region where every thing seems calculated to call out and quicken the taste, is unnatural, and can only arise from sordid habits or ignorance.
If these hasty remarks should call the attention of our farmers to the subject, and induce them to devote some of their leisure hours to the ornamenting of their grounds, I shall be richly rewarded; and I can promise to them also a rich reward.—Their houses will be more cool and healthful, and they will find that by encouraging in their children a taste for gardening, and for observing the native beauties of our forests, their fondness for the innocent pleasures of home and for reading will be increased, together with that unambitious ease and industry which form the distinguishing traits in the character of a virtuous peasantry.
I began this paper with a design to eulogise the art of gardening, and investigate its effects on the mind. I have been diverted, however, from my purpose, and must, in a future number, resume the disquisition.
FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.
It does not appear that sufficient consideration is given to the case of those black people, who have been rendered free by or under the laws of the states and old provinces, from the earliest period. We have established in the city and county of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, a system professing to be for the universal education of the poor, at the public expense, to which the black people, by the taxes upon their real property, consumption taxes, and all the taxes of the whites (except the little personal or occupation tax,) actually contribute. It cannot be denied, that many of them are as truly among the poor, as the most and least poor of the white heads of families, whose children are admitted to this constitutional and legal provision. The blacks also pay all the consumption duties on imported foreign articles, so far as they consume them.
We ought to consider the very low state of the proper blacks in Africa, where their uncivilized condition has long been most unhappily made worse by the neighbourhood of the four Saracen or Moorish piratical States of Barbary, devoted to military plunder, the slavery of the whites and blacks, and the imposter superstitions of Mahomet, sacrilegiously pretending to add himself to the Almighty in the government of his church and his earth. Besides these, the slave dealers of the world have resorted to the African ports and islands, and have combined with powerful, avaricious, and inhuman princes and dealers, in that country, to make out a course of slave traffic with every nation, in whose system of industry African slaves are more profitable and efficient than white labourers. From the islands of Bourbon, Mauritius and Madagascar, round by the Cape of Good Hope and up to the Saracen or Moorish kingdom of Morocco, this system has long prevailed. It is unhappily true, that the great collection of proper Negro districts of Africa, remain now in the darkest state of irreligion, immorality and incivilization. It is also true, that this is so rooted in their system, that the actual transfer, since the year 1620, of a number of Africans to this country now amounting, with their descendants, to about one million and a half of the unmixed and mixed breeds, is to be considered as a great and complicated dispensation of Divine Providence, drawing that numerous people into the bosom and body of an enlightened nation, averse to the traffic, from the date of the first act of Virginia of 1778, abolishing the slave trade, to the present consummation of that prohibition, under the laws of the Union. We have gone, first in Pennsylvania, one step further by our act of 1780, which, while it unhappily recognized the slavery of all the living, instead of emancipating three or four thousand at the public expense, or at the expense of the holders, confined its operation to establishing the freedom of those who should be thereafter born of the slaves held and continuing to be held among us.
In order, so far as in us lies, humbly to justify and bless the dispensation of Providence, which has drawn these people out of the gloomy abyss of the human family in the vast African black-peopled district, stained as it unhappily partially is even by the awful cannibal practice, and by human sacrifices, let us, of Pennsylvania, who have been first to make their native American posterity free, be the most distinguished, in justice to their submissive and patient early labours in forming our fair old province, in dispensing to them the benefits of that religious, moral, scholastic and professional education, without which they cannot live in the good hopes of this their earthly residence or of the world beyond the grave.—It is well understood, that our city and county school system is not practically and effectually extended to the poor black people. An appeal is respectfully made to the friends of religion, morals, useful knowledge, and general industry, whether we ought not to dispense to them a more generous, just and civilized freedom. If we mean to avoid arguments against the gradual and ultimate abolition of slavery, let us endeavour to instruct them in all those things, which will enable them to labour with advantage, to get their own living in the progressive station on this continent, to which it has pleased God to suffer them to be transferred. To the black people themselves, it is proper to recommend a very modest and good conduct in all things, without which they cannot succeed, nor can the endeavours of their best friends be availing and effectual.
A Friend of all the Poor.
FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.
The invention of new instruments and machines is among the noblest exertions of the human faculties. It is said to be considered by some philosophers as the most striking distinguishing character between our species and the brute creation, that man is a tool-making animal. He is certainly the only one who selects his instruments with care and adapts them to his purposes, by altering their shape and structure. At any rate, the temporal advantages which we possess over the beasts, are universally, perhaps, obtained through this medium. As this is the case, one might suppose that they who invent and improve these engines of superiority, would receive the homage of their fellow men to their talents and thanks for their benefit to the human race. Why, then, what is called Gimcrackery should fall into disrepute, is an inquiry of some curiosity.
We cannot well deny the truth of the very common remark, that inventors are very apt to fail of realizing, by their ingenuity, a solid provision for life; nor can we well avoid concluding, that of the many contrivances daily offered to the public, that the probability of any one becoming permanently useful is very small indeed. When we consider, however, that the great mass of these inventions are designed for the attainment of wealth, and that such an amount of skill and ingenuity are employed, the above conclusions cannot fail to appear singular. One would think inventors could not, with these acknowledged talents, well fail of at least securing their own independence, although their schemes may not be profitable to others. If, however, we analyse the motives by which such persons are guided, we shall find, I think, some explanation.
There are few if any men who are not more or less influenced by a desire of some species of fame or distinction, although, in many of the common situations of life, this does not interfere with the pursuit of wealth, and only shows itself in moments of relaxation from the toils of necessity. For one who wishes to signalize himself in his trade or profession, and who is swayed by that desire as a ruling passion, there are probably many who seek to gratify their pride, by the pursuit of eminence in other things. People aim at distinction in conversational wit, in politics, philosophy or even drinking or gaming; while the hours devoted to business are guided by the wish for property alone, undisturbed by the love of fame. In the persons of whom we are speaking, this feeling, inseparable from the nature of man, has a powerful influence on their serious business. They are not to get wealth only, but distinction, by their talents; and I question much whether they are not more under the influence of a wish for the latter than the former. Praise is most generally, at least in this instance, gained by a single exertion, and by the study of a short time. The invention once made, and its applicability rendered plausible, all further contemplation of the subject is accompanied by an exulting hope that fills and occupies the mind. But applying either inventions or any other means to the common business of life, is a more monotonous, common-place labour, that affords no high and exhilarating excitement to persevere. The consequence too often is that the inventor quits one hopeful scheme before it is half reduced to practice, to fly to something still more new; showing by this that he is fonder of the act of inventing than of making money by the results. Of this preference of fame to wealth, a striking instance is often afforded by those illiterate persons who follow this pursuit. These often voluntarily abstain from studying the scientific labours of their predecessors, of which I have known instances, in order to preserve the originality of their projects, though frequently at the expense of their perfection and utility. If, then, the larger portion of the labour of these men is devoted to the attainment of celebrity, they can hardly quarrel with results of their own making, nor expect fortune to come to their hands unsought.
Persons who wish to acquire wealth, or, in fact, to achieve any permanent end, are generally obliged to use steady perseverance, and to apply all the talents they are masters of for a length of time. Precisely the same is the case with inventors. That inventor meets with very extraordinary success indeed, who is not obliged, in the application of his plans to a useful purpose, to employ prudence and economy, and all those qualities which enable a man to conduct business to advantage and to influence the minds of others. Hence it is that inventions so often lie for a length of years, forgotten or neglected, till some one of less originality, but more perseverence, influence and mercantile calculation, carries them into effect with advantage.
The want of being acquainted with the efforts and discoveries of predecessors is the cause of prodigious waste of time and talent. Hence the thousand schemes for perpetual motion, and a variety of other attempts scarce less extravagant, because made with equal ignorance. And, in fact, there is a strong tendency in having acquired the knowledge of the labours of others, to clip the wings of invention, and render men of learning much less apt to attempt novelties than while they knew less.
Extravagance in pecuniary matters is another frequent cause of the ruin of ingenious artists and of those who trust in them. This is shown, both in imprudently investing considerable sums of money without a reasonable probability of a return, and in the general lavish style in which such men often live and experiment.
In fact, to turn inventions to advantage, requires the singling out of one good, feasible plan, mercantile prudence in calculating probabilities, and mercantile economy in the conduct of the business, together with perseverence enough to prevent marring one scheme by prematurely beginning another. These qualities are so rarely found in combination with mechanical originality, or, indeed with that restless versatility which keeps men on the search for its productions, that it will perhaps always continue to be generally the case; that one man shall invent and persuade another to make experimental trials, but a third, and one totally unconnected with either, if any one, shall reap the increase.
S. C.
FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.
No subject can more deeply interest the planters and farmers of this country. Our merchants can export every American production without duty, tax or impediment. We have all the benefits of a foreign, coasting, and interior trade, free as to our own laws, and the national government are constantly engaged in negotiations and regulations calculated to soften or remove the inconveniences of foreign monopolies in commerce and navigation. Such measures are pending now with Britain and France.
When trade has exhausted its power to find a profitable market, abroad or at home, the conversion of our unsaleable surplus produce into new forms, commonly denominated domestic manufactures, becomes an object of reasonable consideration. It is well known, that the cultivated soil and the bowels of the earth give us the following principal objects as the fruits of the culture of the land, or as its spontaneous productions. 1, Hemp; 2, Flax; 3, Wool; 4, Iron; 5, Silk; 6, Hides and Skins; 7, Sugar; 8, Indigo, Woad, Madder; 9, Grass; 10, Grain; 11, Wood; 12, Tobacco, and 13, Cotton. Such has long been the unforced state of our manufacturing industry, that in 1797, in 1810, and in 1819, we did not export any surplus or quantity, however small, of the first eight of those valuable productions. Our manufacturers, without the war or double, or present duties, bought at home and worked up the whole. The returns of exports prove, that we did not ship any part of several of those articles, and if we shipped a little of some, we imported a greater weight and value of the same kinds of foreign produce or raw materials.
Of the 9th article, Grass or Hay, we shipped very little, screwed into compact bundles for the West Indies.
Of the 10th, Grain, with some Fruit and Molasses, we have a brewery and distillery, a cider and general liquor manufacture, equal to forty millions of gallons, and requiring a quantity of produce equal to the value of sixteen millions of bushels of grain, of which above seven-eighth parts are drawn from our own lands. This is equal to the value of seven millions of barrels of flour, and we did not ship to foreign countries, in 1819, more than 750,000 barrels. It is plain, that the liquor manufactories of the United States (to which we are adding wine, worth to France 100,000,000 dollars,) are a very principal support of our agriculture.—We also make of grain, quantities of starch, hair-powder, sizing, paste, ship bread, wafers and vermicelli, hominy, firmity, soft bread, pastry and other preparations of grain. It is converted into fatted cattle, hogs and poultry. Ingenuity is and should be on the stretch to employ and profitably consume grain. Pork and beef maintain better prices abroad than the grain (or meal thereof,) with which we feed cattle and hogs. The prohibition of spirits, and the distillation of molasses, in St. Domingo, will cut off our supply of molasses.
Of the 11th article, Wood, we have now one manufacture (our sea vessels, coasters, river and other boats,) worth 40 or 50 millions of dollars. We manufacture, for exportation, from 120 to 180 millions of staves, heading, hoops, boards, scantling, plank, and we have an immense cooperage for foreign and domestic sale and use. Besides buildings, fences, cabinet ware, carriages, ploughs, harrows, handspikes, turnery, boxes, cases, faggots, cord-wood, &c. &c., to a vast amount, profiting the owners and clearers of wood lands.
12. Tobacco, of which we manufacture nearly all we consume, and fabricate as much for exportation, probably, as we import in a manufactured state for our consumption. We could manufacture a quantity of tobacco equal to the supply shipped by all Europe.
Of Cotton, we are supposed to manufacture 30,000,000 of pounds, shipping above three times that weight to foreign countries. We yearly increase in the goodness, fineness, utility, variety and value of our cotton manufactures. The looms of the United States were, in A. D. 1810, 325,000, of which North Carolina and Virginia, cotton and wool states, had the most, being each nearly 41,000 looms. The water and steam are well established, and work lower than the cheapest hand looms of Europe or Asia.
The plain instruction, of these genuine facts, to our planters and farmers, is, to encourage household manufactures, and all other manufactures on the estates, at the doors, in the townships, villages, and counties in which they live, consuming raw materials, building materials, food for man and beast, fuel, drinks, and other productions of the earth. This system of adjacent manufactures saves all the cost of transportation of our productions to the sea-ports, and the expense of carrying foreign goods from the sea-ports to the interior, more profitable than canals and turnpike roads.
Every judicious member of the agricultural body must be a friend to the freedom and encouragement of our foreign commerce, as affording a constant and sure market for a considerable portion of the productions of the earth. But, that manufactures afford also a very great and sure market for a larger variety, quantity and value of our landed productions, is no less manifest and certain. The nail mill, the paper mill, the screw mill, the brewery, the spinning and weaving mills, the calico printing mill, the pottery, and many other works and arts to fabricate useful necessary supplies out of our raw materials, will (including all our manufactures) be worth, in the whole of 1820, more than five times the value of our exported goods for sale in foreign countries. Let every farmer, planter, iron-master, &c., therefore, encourage manufactures in his household, on his estate, and in his neighbourhood, as the surest method of making a profitable home demand, without the expense of transportation, for the fruits of his labour, and the natural productions of his forests, mines and quarries. We purposely avoid to urge forcing and protecting duties, referring only to those existing, which have been ordained principally for the purpose of raising the requisite public revenue. We do not interfere in the agitation of the question about protecting duties. We believe the cheapness of produce and labour and improved machinery and labour-saving processes, will occasion manufactures to prosper and increase, and thus to support the growers of produce and the owners of the land, beyond even our free and valuable trade. To this, the duties laid for revenue, for defence, and for the encouragement of agriculture, will materially contribute; such as the impost upon East India cotton goods, of 271⁄2 to 621⁄2 and even 80 and 90 per cent., as made entirely of foreign cotton, rival to our cotton, flax, hemp, wool and silk.
FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.
On the increase of the Domestic Sugar of the United States.
It would seem to be a great acquisition to our country, if we could produce from our own soil whatever sugar might be necessary for our own consumption, without having recourse to foreign Islands or nations; it will therefore be satisfactory, I apprehend, to all lovers of their country to find that we are already making rapid advances, as will appear to any person who attentively weighs the following items of information, collected at different times from our public newspapers; from whence it may be inferred, that before many years have expired a supply sufficient for our own use will be furnished within our own territories.
1812, January 10—Albert Gallatin, Esq. then Secretary of the Treasury, informed the Committee of Ways and Means, in a letter, that the Western States were then entirely supplied with salt of domestic produce; and that they consumed annually seven millions of pounds of sugar, made from the Sugar Maple tree, which, says he, is nearly all they use. Now, if in 1812 the Western States produced 7,000,000 pounds of sugar from such trees, it is probable that in 1820, they would produce not less than 10,000,000 in a year. If to this we add what is yielded in the states of Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania, it seems likely that the whole amount of such sugar, now made annually in the United States, is not less than 15 millions of pounds.
By a publication in a late newspaper, it appears that there were exported from New Orleans, in six months preceding 1st May, 1820, 15,652 hogsheads of sugar; all this no doubt was of their own growth and produced from the Sugar Cane. I am informed by a dealer in sugar, that the sugar hogsheads of New Orleans do not average less than 1000 pounds to each hogshead, making, in six months, 15,652,000 pounds, and in the whole year probably 20,000,000 pounds; total of sugar from the Sugar tree and Cane, 35,000,000 pounds annually. This exhibits a very rapid increase in the amount of sugar made, as I think Secretary Gallatin, in an older communication, not 20 years ago, stated that New Orleans at that time exported only about 2,000,000 of pounds of sugar.
The supply now furnished as above will probably be greatly augmented in future years, from the same sources.
Add to these the prospect of sugar to be raised or produced from the Cane in Carolina and Georgia, as may be collected from the following items, selected from the newspapers also, viz.
In 1814, Thomas Spalding made on Sapelo Island, in lat. 311⁄2, as much as 95 hogsheads of excellent sugar, equal to Jamaica, from Canes he had planted there.
In 1815, Major Butler, on his plantation in South Carolina, produced by the labour of seventeen hands, off of 85 acres of land, 140,000 pounds of sugar, and 75 hogsheads of molasses.
Also, John M'Queen, off of 18 acres, had 20,000 Canes per acre, worked by five or six hands; 5,000 Canes, the produce of one quarter of an acre, yielded 600 gallons of juice, which boiled down made 672 pounds sugar, and may lose 50 pounds in draining, leaving 622 pounds; or per acre, of sugar, 2,488 pounds.
Again, as to the Sugar Maple tree, or as some say it is more properly styled, "The Sugar Tree;" in 1815, 64,000 pounds of sugar were made in the town of Plattsburgh, Clinton county, New York. In 1818, 22,000 pounds were made by 80 families, in one township in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, which is on an average 275 pounds to each family.
There can be little doubt but that arrangements might be made by some of the merchants of Philadelphia, to procure a regular supply of the best Sugar Tree sugar, for the accommodation of such persons as are religiously scrupulous of using sugar made from the Cane, which is produced by the labour of slaves.
I have seen Maple sugar with which sufficient pains had been taken in the making and draining, that was as handsome in its appearance and as well tasted and good in every respect, I thought, as any West India sugar I had ever seen, and when refined equal to any loaf sugar. Of which, I remember H. D. of this city, merchant, since deceased, about the year 1789, sent some boxes as a present to general Washington, then president of the United States, residing in New York.
Near twenty years ago, when little domestic sugar was made in the United States, I computed from the duties paid, that the whole consumption of sugar annually in our country, then, was about ten pounds for every individual, on an average. There are now, I suppose, ten millions of inhabitants in the United States, who, at the above ratio, would consume annually 100,000,000 pounds sugar, of which we now make 35,000,000 lbs. per annum, as above calculated.
Last winter there was an account in some of the newspapers, that a person in Virginia had obtained a patent for making sugar from wheat, rye or Indian corn; that it was good sugar, and that each bushel yielded fifteen pounds. I have heard no more of it, but if well founded, this would be the greatest acquisition of all, because, in every part of our country, sugar, without the use of slaves, could be made in the greatest abundance, and might beneficially supplant the practice of making so much pernicious whiskey, in places remote from sea-ports.
From what has been now stated, there seems to be scarce room for a doubt, but that in a few years, we can be supplied from domestic sources with all the sugar we shall want for our own consumption.
By an account of Joseph Cooper's native Grape Vine, published in your Rural Magazine, No. 7, page 247 as little doubt can exist but that with proper care by the farmers, our country may also be supplied with good wine, sufficient for our own use, and probably with more profit to the growers, than they can find by pursuing the old beaten track of adhering almost entirely to grain which is now so low in price.
The southern and western parts of our territories would, probably, with proper encouragement, yield all the coffee and silk we might be able to consume.
All these, and many other objects of culture, are proper for the attention, recommendation and encouragement of state legislatures, of agricultural societies, and of all patriotic members of society. Thus we may become, in time, really independent; and from the extent of our country, and the variety of its climates, come to consider our own dominions as a world of our own, producing nearly all that is necessary for the use of man, as Sir George Staunton, in his Embassy, says the Chinese consider their vast extensive empire. This consideration, probably, makes them in a great measure, regardless of foreign trade.
C. E.
FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.
It is believed, that many productions possess a delicacy in their qualities, when raised on light soils, which they have not, when grown on rich and fat soils. The wool produced on the poor South Down soils of Great Britain is far superior to the wool raised on the rich alluvion lands of Lincolnshire in that country. The wines produced among the gravels and pebbles of the Medoc district near Bordeaux are much superior to the wines produced on the palus or alluvion lands between the two rivers Lot and Garonne in the same vicinity. The Tesamum produces the most delicate oil from light soils. This suggestion is worthy of consideration and experiment in respect to animals, fruits, grains, and gardeners and farmers' vegetables.
Letters écrites d'Italie en 1812 et 13, à M. Charles Pictet, l'un des Rédacteurs de la Bibliothéque Britannique par Fréderic Sullin de Chateauvieux. A Paris et à Genéve. 1816, 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 576.
Perhaps there are none of our natural advantages which it still remains for us fully to appreciate and avail ourselves of, so much as those which respect the agriculture of our country.
Without running into all the errors of the economists or adopting their entire theory, we trust that we may assert the paramount importance of this pursuit, particularly to the United States. To every country it affords at least a partial, and often a complete subsistence for its population; it gives a constant and healthful employment to sometimes more than half and never less than a fifth of the community; its profits though not so large, are more certain than those in other employments of captal; and while it replaces the annual advance invested, a surplus profit has accrued, which can be employed as private interest and the public good may require.[3] But in the United States the cultivation of the soil has these and many more advantages; nay, it is intimately connected with our national character, because it powerfully acts upon the morals and constitution of our citizens. If it be true, that the torch of liberty has always burned with a purer and brighter lustre on the mountains than on the plains, it is still more true, that the sentiments of honour and integrity more generally animate the rough but manly form of the farmer, than the debilitated body of the artisan. There is in that primitive and honourable occupation, the culture of the earth, something which, while it pours into the lap of the state an increase beyond every other employment, gives us more than the fabled stone, not only a subsistence, but a placid feeling of contentment; not only creates the appetite to enjoy, but guarantees its continuance by a robust constitution, fortified with the safeguards of temperance and virtue.
The anxiety of our countrymen to possess in fee a spot of ground however small, and the consequent paucity of leases, is a fact no less curious than it is solitary. This is not the case, or at least in any considerable degree, in any other country. Such indeed in Britain were formerly those small proprietors called franklins, who possessed a keen spirit of independence and a determined opposition to oppression; feelings which, with the alienation of their farms, have gradually departed from the breasts of their descendants.
Notwithstanding, however, the ease with which the pride of independent possession may be gratified, it is not the less true that agriculture, instead of being a favoured, has been a degraded and unpopular pursuit; that instead of cherishing every motive which might lead to its honourable extension, we have endeavoured gradually to weaken its legitimate efforts. It is indeed a singular inquiry, why the cultivation of the soil among us should have been so little encouraged, when every state in Europe, since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, has turned its most assiduous attention to this most important department of domestic economy, and ultimately borrowed from it the resources which have carried them through the prodigious conflicts of the last generation.
There have been many causes, certainly not all of equal efficacy, which have co-operated against the interests of agriculture. But there is a prominent one to which we can but just allude. During a very considerable period, since the peace of '83, the peculiar situation of Europe has afforded opportunities for commercial enterprise too tempting to be resisted.—American merchants received, in the lapse of a very few years, the most astonishing accessions of wealth; and fortunes, ordinarily the fruit of a laborious life, and never the portion of many, were amassed with unparalleled rapidity, and by large numbers. Our domestic prosperity more than equalled the extension of our trade. It was then that the compting-houses of our merchants were filled with youth from the country, who forsook the slower but surer emoluments of agriculture, for the mushroom but unsubstantial fortunes of commerce; nay, who preferred the meanest drudgery behind the counter of a retail dealer, to the manly and invigorating toil of the cultivator of his paternal acres. Unfortunately this spirit of migration was encouraged by too great a success in trade. Feelings of vulgar pride contracted in town caused the manual labour of the farmer to be regarded as degrading; this unworthy sentiment spread with baleful influence, and when the compting-houses became overstocked and afforded no longer a resource, it was no uncommon thing to see a young man with no qualifications but a little bad Latin picked up at a miserable village school, forsake a large and fertile farm and apprentice himself to a poor country attorney.
Another cause of the depressed state of agriculture, mentioned in late publication,[4] is the constant emigration to the west. There must necessarily be a tendency to a most empoverishing system of cultivation, where people feel that after having extracted all the richness of the soil, they may throw it up and remove to a country, which offers them an untouched surface, and needs no artificial aid of composts or manure. The land, besides suffering from negligence consequent on the prospect of departure, will be worn out by successive crops, and long be rendered unfit for the most valuable dispositions of the agriculturist. Indeed we have been informed, that in many instances, when the land is almost ruined by the continued culture of tobacco, it is sold by the planter to some enterprizing and laborious individual, who may restore it by his patience and attention, while he himself removes to another spot, where the same wretched system of exhaustion may again be renewed.—There are other causes we might mention, such as the unwieldy size of our farms, and particularly the want of a regular enlightened farming system. But we cannot now stop to enter on these topics, but may notice them hereafter.
If then agriculture be so important an item in a nation's resources, affording such subsistence to its population, and a surplus capital to be employed in the various objects of national industry and enterprise, it would seem to follow, that nothing but very imperious circumstances should induce any government to repress its vigour, or palsy the exertions of those devoted to it. Immediately connected with such an attempt was the late bill before Congress, establishing a new tariff of duties. But why go back to a bill which was rejected? We answer, that it is not to be forgotten that private interest is one of the most powerful incentives to action, that the manufacturing interest is large and increasing, that one defeat will not discourage its partisans, and lastly, extraordinary as the fact may seem, that the bill in question, fraught with such varied evil, was thrown out by a majority of only one vote in the senate. The tendency of this project was not only to introduce an unequal system of taxation, but first, by the destruction of a large part of our foreign commerce, to diminish very materially the market for our home products, and secondly, to divert a large portion of agricultural industry into the service of the loom and spinning jenny.
But it will be asked, are manufactures then to be entirely neglected? Most certainly not. Still there is a certain limit, in a newly settled country with a thin population, beyond which their establishment is not only useless to government, but a burden to the people. It is undoubtedly true that the manufacture of articles of immediate necessity or very general circulation ought to be encouraged by a wise and provident people; but it ordinarily happens that these need no extraordinary patronage; their extended use soon gives a facility to the artist, which enables him to enter into competition with the foreigner, provided the raw material is to be found at home in any tolerable abundance. Thus we find that hats were manufactured in the colonies at a very early period; together with household furniture, saddlery, &c. they have long since ceased to be an article of importation. It is necessary for the well-being and security of a nation, that certain articles, should be manufactured within its limits, such as gunpowder, coarse clothing, and some others of a similar discription.—But the moment people attempt to force by means of high duties on foreign imports the production of a commodity, which, by reason of the extravagance of the wages of labour and other causes, must necessarily be sold at a much greater price than the imported one, their conduct would seem no less an affront to common sense, than a solecism in political economy.
The United States possess a very restricted capital; and as the tilling of the soil requires comparatively much fewer advances than any other department of industry, that capital became immediately invested in agriculture. Land, cheap, and fertile, constituted a fund which gave a certain profit. And as the productions of the labour of more than five eighths of our population went to purchase foreign articles either of luxury or necessity, a great and profitable intercourse was constantly maintained with Europe. Under an equitable system of foreign duties, arising from this commerce, the expenses of government were defrayed, our debt gradually extinguished, and by a powerful but necessary re-action our agriculture improved and extended. But the tariff bill restricted a large and valuable commerce principally with Britain. It is not to be supposed that, while we refused the broadcloths and hardware of England, she would still continue to buy the same proportion of our cotton and tobacco. Our market then for these articles would be so far lost; and if we now feel the effects of a diminished demand for our produce in consequence of the establishment of peace in Europe, how can it be thought a wise policy to suffer other embarrassments and losses, by excluding ourselves entirely from every foreign port where we might calculate upon its sale? Where then is our produce to find a vent? For assuredly the most enthusiastic friend of domestic manufactures could never imagine, that the most extensive establishment of them could ever give an adequate consumption for the present amount of our agricultural productions.
The bill then imposing heavy duties on foreign articles, besides diminishing the number of the cultivators of the soil, would in some degree operate as a tax on its fruits, because, while the price of manufactures was enormously increased, the value of produce would be more than proportionally diminished. For the cultivator, not only deprived of the benefit of a competition between the domestic and foreign consumer in the sale of his articles, is obliged to purchase those of his neighbour, at any price which his cupidity and the tariff may determine. The expenses of the state being still the same and its usual resources dried up, a general but unequal system of taxation would be adopted, which in fact, the farmer bending under the weight of this partial policy, is less able to pay whatever contribution may be levied. These assertions are by no means novel, they are mere corollaries from the plainest and most undoubted principles of political economy. Dr. Adam Smith, the great father of the science, and all whose views on this subject, though not acted upon in a country whose domestic policy was too firmly established to be changed without a most serious revolution, ought to have great weight with us in the adoption of any permanent system, speaks in this decided manner in his "Wealth of Nations," vol. iii. p. 201. "It is thus that every system which endeavours, either by extraordinary encouragements, to draw towards a particular species of industry a greater share of the capital of the society, than what would naturally go to it; or by extraordinary restraints, to force from particular species of industry some share of the capital which would otherwise be employed in it; is in reality subversive of the great purpose which it means to promote. It retards instead of accelerating the progress of the society towards real wealth and greatness; and diminishes instead of increasing the real value of the annual produce of its land and labour. All systems either of preference or restraint therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man or order of men." M. Say, a man no less remarkable for his practical knowledge of manufacturing industry, than his profound acquaintance with every branch of economical science, has given his marked disapprobation of that system which we are discussing. "Lorsqu'au travers de cette marche naturelle des choses," says he, "l'autorité se montre et dit: le produit, qu'on veut créer, celui qui donne les meilleurs profits, et par conséquent celui qui est le plus recherché, n'est pas celui qui convient, il faut qu'on s'occupe de tel autre; elle dirige évidemment une partie de la production vers un genre, dont le besoin se fait sentir davantage." Traité d'Economic Politique, tom. i. p. 168. We can only refer to pages 172 and 201 for the expansion of these ideas. It is thus we find that the arguments adduced in favour of this system neither accord with the convictions of fact nor the suggestions of reason. Whenever the increasing capital devoted to the land can no longer be profitably employed, then manufactures will flourish and the surplus profits of agriculture be legitimately devoted to their support.
During the late war, the prospect of large gains caused by the extravagant price of all European commodities, caused many persons in our country to embark their fortunes in cotton and woollen factories.—These factories were brought into being by a temporary and unnatural state of things. On the return of the peace of 1814, many of these manufacturing establishments came of necessity to an end. Some establishments remain and ought to succeed, because they prove that the profits of their capital may enter into competition with that employed in agriculture. In this case the transfer is not only natural but conducive to national wealth.
But we are asked to patronise manufactures at the expense of agriculture, on the ground of our being rendered really more independent by them. This is, however, but an attempt to conceal private interest under the garb of patriotism,[5] and ought at least to awaken suspicion. We are not to be called dependant merely because a state of war might give rise to many inconveniences. We can do without silks or broadcloths while we possess the real means of sustenance and defence. But these factories once established, say the advocates of this interest, the citizens ought to support them in their present languishing condition, and therefore ought not to buy, even at a much less price, foreign articles in preference to our own. The force and propriety of such reasoning would appear to be similar to that of a gardener, who having in winter devoted himself to the cultivation of flowers, &c., by means of artificial heat, should in the spring apply for an act of the municipal authority, forbidding all persons to pluck a daisy or violet in the field, and requiring them to resort to his hot-house. So far from there being a necessity for any interference on the part of government, we believe we may assert that our manufactures never were so flourishing as since the peace. It is true that many establishments have been broken up and much capital sunk, but it is a fact that those factories which are in the hands of individuals, have generally been successful, while those conducted by incorporated companies wanting the circumspection and prudence of private interest, have as often become bankrupt. In the western states this branch of business has greatly improved, and recent information enables us to affirm, that the profits which are now realised are nearly as large as those during the war. In the east, we might cite an instance, which must put down all cavil on this subject. The cotton factory at Waltham near Boston, begun when manufactures were by no means in so promising a situation as at present, is a triumphant answer to every one who demands additional encouragement for the loom, and a new tax on his brethren to extend its operations.
But we hasten to return from our wanderings, and to introduce our readers to the work, of which we have prefixed the title to this article. It is in the form of letters addressed to Professor Pictet of Geneva, from various places in Italy, and contains the author's remarks upon that country. He dwells not on the palaces of Venice, neither worships at the altar of Roman genius in the Pantheon, but taking his silent way through the fields, he describes that which gave birth to both: he informs us of the processes of Italian farming, of the effects of irrigation, and of the general state of Italian agriculture. And, in our opinion, he has shewn as much taste in the execution of his design, as those travellers who have employed themselves upon inquiries commonly thought as interesting, but certainly not as useful. M. de Chateauvieux appears to be an enthusiastic admirer of the subject on which he writes, as well as to have a practical knowledge of all its details. His book is very little known among us, though it has lately been translated in England, and formerly occupied the attention of a celebrated critical journal of that country. It is our intention in this article to put our readers in mind of its existence.
The author divides Italy into three regions, distinguished by their different systems of cultivation.—The first extends from mount Cenis and the Alps of Suza to the shores of the Adriatic. The fertility of Lombardy is proved by the constant succession of its crops, and to this province he has given the name of "Pays de Culture par assolement," or the district of culture by rotation of crops. The second of the regions reposes on the southern declivity of the Appenines, from the frontiers of Provence to the boundaries of Calabria. This is called the District of Olive trees, or, by an association somewhat forced, of Canaanitish culture. The third region is that of Malaria, or patriarchal cultivation, from a supposed resemblance, which we are still less able to enter into, between the shepherds of the older and the present time. It is found from Pisa to Terracina, and comprehends the plain between the sea and the first ridge of the Appenines.
Lombardy has been often called the garden of Europe, and seems abundantly entitled to the appellation. The soil is not only rich and alluvial, but deep and perfectly level. The climate is humid, and the system of irrigation supplies water to almost every field. These circumstances, united to the heat of a southern sun, cause a most rapid and luxurious vegetation. Nothing can be more important in the economy of a farm than the situation of the farm-house and its out-buildings. In this respect our American farmers are lamentably deficient, and though we would not recommend as a model the one described by de Chateauvieux as common in Lombardy, still we think it would afford some valuable hints. The buildings raised on the four sides of a square, present on one side a central elevation of two stories. The lower part for the farmer, the upper story for his grain. Adjoining this, at each end, is a stable plastered so as not to let the dust descend, for the cows and oxen; the other three sides of the square are enclosed by a sort of portico, open within and supported by columns, which serves as a depository for straw, hay, &c.—This structure is about twenty-four feet broad, and fifteen high. Half the court is paved, the remainder is used for threshing out the corn, which, in the primitive way, is still done by horses. The place for manure is outside of the court. This plan presents the most space with the least building, and assures the preservation of every product.
The farms in Lombardy are small, and do not often contain sixty arpents;[6] notwithstanding M. de Chateauvieux asserts against Arthur Young, that they bring more to market than the large farms, and that there is no country in the world which can dispose of so large a portion of its productions as Piedmont. If the fact be so, it may possibly arise from the peculiar character of the persons who cultivate the land.—Our author, however, remarks, that this system of small farms can never take place till the advances of capital have carried agriculture to its highest point. Lombardy is cultivated by a species of farmers, called metayers. They pay a small fixed rent, valued at one half the produce of the meadow, or forty francs the arpent. The clover belongs to them entirely; the crops of wheat, Indian corn, and flax, and the wine and silk are equally divided between them and their landlord. The latter advances nothing but the taxes, and of course must find such an arrangement singularly advantageous. Father and son continue the same engagement, without the formality of a lease or any registry of the contract. M. Say regards this system as unfavourable to agriculture, and in his treatise on Political Economy, book ii. chap. 9, vol. 2, says, "il y a des cultivateurs qui n'ont rien, et auxquels le propriétaire fournit le capital avec la terre: on les appelle des Métayers. Ils rendent communément au propriétaire la moitié du produit brut. Ce genre de culture appartient à un état peu avancé de l'agriculture, et il est le plus défavorable de tout aux améliorations des terres; car celui des deux, du proprietaire ou du fermier, qui ferait l'améliarition à ses frais, admettrait l'autre à jouir gratuitement de la moitié de l'interêt de ses avances."
(To be concluded in next Number.)
Mr. Southwick,
I have stated in my former communications, the result of my experience in the cultivation of potatoes. So long as I practised setting my crop with small potatoes, the cullings of my potato bins, my crops degenerated, grew less and less for several years, and finally run entirely out.—I changed my practice, and the result has been a continued improvement for near ten years, both in quantity and quality. My practice has been to select the largest, soundest, and best potatoes for seed, to cut them into 4 quarters, and plant 4 pieces in each hill in a square of about 9 inches. The results have been every way satisfactory. My potatoes have been large, constantly improving in size, earlier, better, and more abundant from year to year. I have never been nice enough to weigh my seed, to ascertain exactly whether a potato of one ounce or two ounces be as perfect a root as one of 6 or 12 ounces. My experience both in planting and in distillation has left on my mind a strong impression that small unripe seed is very improper, and very unprofitable. I am aware that many farmers hold firmly that small seed potatoes are as good as large ones; but I also know that I have sold potatoes to these men at 5 and 6 shillings per bushel, and some of them have been convinced that good seed was an object even at those prices. In the south I am aware that it is the practice almost uniformly to plant small sweet potatoes. But I am fully persuaded it is an error. To this cause I think may be justly attributed the decrease and deterioration in the crops of this valuable root.
Middlesex, August 3, 1820.
[Plough Boy.