No. 1. 



Restatement. 



13 



■whether any appreciable quantity of sul phuric 

 acid could thus be produced. If he had esti- 

 mated the quantity of acid thus placed at his 

 disposa' as he did of the lime, he would pro- 

 bably have arrived at the same conchision — 

 "surely all the (acid) that enters into this 

 sulphate, spread upon the ground in the 

 sparse manner in which gypsum is usually 

 strown, could have but a very inconsiderable 

 effect." This conclusion is fortified by the 

 consideration, that this quantity of acid would 

 not be brought, collectively, upon the surface 

 at one time, but in small and successive por- 

 tions every night for months, and even many 

 times for years. 



Tlie foregoing remarks are submitted to 

 the consideration of my readers, with due 

 reference to the high authority, and " chemi- 

 cal research" of the gentleman who " origi- 

 nated" most of the opinions under discussion, 

 and for whom I feel the highest respect. 



New Garden, 7 mo. Jst, 1839. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Kcstatenient. 



A rcconsirteration of arguments in favor of investing 

 capital in lands rather than six per cent, stocks.— A 

 short history of the improvements made, and in- 

 ducements to invest in the Hundreds of Red Lion 

 and St. George's, in New Castle county, Delaware. 

 Mr. Editor, — I was much pleased with a 

 communication in your May number, by a 

 " Young Farmer" of Churchville, Md., on the 

 question " whether stocks or land afford the 

 most profitable investment." 



I am of the opinion that if those who are 

 identified with the soil, and who desire its 

 permanent improvement, would make greater 

 efforts to prove to our capitalists in cities and 

 thickly settled neighborhoods, the advantages 

 arising from a withdrawal of investments in 

 stocks, which at all times are very uncertain, 

 and re-invest in lands, at moderate price.=, in 

 improving neighborhoods, they would greatly 

 promote the cause they have espoused, as well 

 as the permanent good of the country. All that 

 is wanting to make a " Farmer's life" respect- 

 able., as well as u.seful and independent, is the 

 distribution of more capital and intelligence 

 or useful knowledge among men. I therefore 

 invite the attention of those, whose funds are 

 invested in the manner above mentioned, to a 

 reconsideration of the positions assumed by a 

 " Young Farmer," in the liope that the grounds 

 on which he has based his argument of in- 

 vestments in lands may influence some to 

 abandon the over-crowded city, or too thickly 

 settled neighborhood, and locate in situations 

 vhere lands are cheap and of good quality. — 

 His argument is this — "That the decision of 

 the question whether stocks or land afford the 

 most profitable investment, will depend main- 

 ly, if not entirely, upon three things, viz : — 



The price at which land can he purchased; 

 the price for ivhich produce will sell; and the 

 price tn be paid for labor. 



lie admits — " that the investment of money 

 in land which cannot be purchased for less 

 than from $100 to $200 per acre may not be 

 as profitable as six per cent.; but contends that 

 when land equally good, naturally, can be 

 purchased for one tenth the above sum, the 

 price of produce equally high, and the price 

 of labor considerably less, the investment of 

 money in land would be much more profita- 

 ble. 



As a proof that the latter is a fact, he ad- 

 duces the condition of the lands lying on Deer 

 Creek, in Harford county, Md., no less grati- 

 fying than new to me, for the lands through 

 which the rail-road runs indicate a sterile soil, 

 and consequently impress strangers unfavor- 

 ably. Hence the advantage of agricultural 

 papers in affording a medium for a correct 

 knowledge of the condition and improvement 

 in progress throughout our widely extended 

 country. "Here," he says, "latterly some 

 small farms of prime quality, highly improved, 

 have been sold at from $50 to $75 per acre. 

 This land will produce on an average from 20 

 to 30 bushels of wheat per acre, and from 40 to 

 50 of corn. The above mentioned is the high- 

 est price at which land is held in this county. 

 But there are many farms on Deer Creek and^ 

 within three, four, and six miles of it, which 

 can be purchased at from five to twenty-live 

 dollars per acre. These are of course some- 

 what inferior to the first mentioned in quality,, 

 but with a little care, and by the application 

 of lime, can be made to produce as good (and 

 perhaps better) crops than the lands in Lan~ 

 caster, Chester, and Philadelphia eounties, 

 which are daily sold at from $100 to $1,50 per 

 acre. The vicinity to lime enables them to- 

 procure it quite as cheap as in those coun- 

 ties." 



From the above premises he deduces the 

 following supposition. " Suppose a Chester or 

 Philadelphia county farmer should purchase 

 here for $15 per acre, and put on $10 per' 

 acre in improvements, which is .$25. If he 

 could sell out for $100 per acre, he could pur- 

 chase as much land for one-fourth the money; 

 and if produce is equally high here, and he 

 could make six per cent, there, he would make 

 twenty-four per cent. here. Having now 

 stated the arguments designed as a reply to 

 some queries propounded by an ' Old Subscri- 

 ber,' he concludes his interesting communica- 

 tion by inviting him to visit his section of 

 country, saying "that if he has any idea of 

 an agricultural life, he will be induced to sell 

 out his six per cents, and invest the proceedR 

 in good twenty-four per cent, in Harford 

 county, Md. 



I hope a " Young Farmer" will not deenx 



