35 



that I am not in possession of any special report of the out-turn of this seed; 

 but I have no doubt that its distribution has been of great benefit. lu our 

 freight statistics for the year we notice krge increase in the weight of tobacco 

 forwarded, and it may interest you to see the quantity from various stations, 

 which I annex below : 



Pounds. 



Ashley 272, 900 



Colonia 82, 500 



Tamaroa 315, 5G0 



Du Quoin 438, 640 



De Soto 124, 260 



Carbondale 4, 254, 000 



Makanda 420 



Jonesboro' 577, 370 



Cobden 430 



Dongola 220, 910 



Ullia 4, 450 



Pulaski 26, 540 



Cairo 3, 408, 280 



4 



Total 9, 726, 260 



Yeiy respectfully yours, 



W. H. OSBORX. 

 Isaac Newton, Esq., 



Commissioner of Agriculture. 



WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 



On the vexed question of what is the weight of an English bushel of wheat, 

 Mr. David Ogden, of New York, sends the Department the following: 



" I find on pages 22 and 23 of your last report a letter from C. W. Atkinson, 

 respecting the weight of the English bushel of wheat. He is entirely mistaken 

 iu his postscript. Wheat was formerly sold in Liverpool, and is yet in London, 

 at 70 lbs. to the bushel, or at 560 lbs. to the quarter of 8 bushels. I will give 

 you an example. In 1856 I shipped 10,836 bushels of wheat, at 60 lbs. to the 

 bushel; it weighed 650,160 lbs. It was sold in Liverpool for 9,278 bushels, at 

 70 lbs. to the bushel, and weighed 649,460 lbs. In this country we sell corn 

 at 56 lbs. to the bushel; in England corn is sold at 480 lbs. per quarter of 8 

 bushels — 60 lbs. to the bushel." 



But we recur to this subject principally for the purpose of saying that Con- 

 gress recognizes the importance of acting upon it, for the House of Representa- 

 tives, at the present session, has added to its standing committees one on weights 

 and measures. The Constitution of the United States confers on Congress the 

 power "to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coins, and fix 

 the standard of weights and measures;" but so long as it allows State legisla- 

 tiu-es to declare how many pounds shall constitute a bushel of any commodity 

 it fails to meet this requirement; for the words that it "shall have power" 

 mean that it must exercise it. And, surely, few subjects of legislation, in times 

 of peace, deserve more speedy or better matured action than this. 



