Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural andDomesticEconomy. 



Vol. rv.— Ko. 4.] 



IVovember 19, 1839. 



[AVhole TXo. 58. 



PUBLISHED BY 

 PROUTY, LIBBY <fc PROXJTY, 



AT THE 



Agriciiltnral "Ware-House and Seed Store, 



NO. 87 NORTH SECOND STREET, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price one dollar per year.— For conditions see last page. 



I]3*Any gentleman remitting Five Dollars v,\\] be en- 

 titled to the Farmers' Cabinet for seven years, com- 

 mencing with the first or any subsequent volume. — 

 The volumes now published can be sent by mail, in pa- 

 per wrappers; Postage, under 100 miles twelve cents — 

 io any part of the United States over 100 miles from 

 the place of publication, eighteen cents per volume. 



On Promoting Vegetation* 



AN INaUIRY CONCERNING THE PRINCIPLES 

 OF VEGETATION; WITH A VIEW TO AS- 

 CERTAIN THE MOST CERTAIN MEANS 

 OF PROMOTING ITS IMPROVEMENT AND 

 GENERAL EXTENSION THROUGHOUT THE 

 COUNTRY. 



BY JOSEPH WIMPEY. 



The subject of this inquiry lias been an 

 object of pursuit in every age, and of every 

 civilized country ; not uniformly, and uninter- 

 ruptedly, indeed, but in proportion to the peace 

 and tranquility of respective states and times. 

 Rome, once the mistress of the world, did not 

 shine more in the arts of government and ci- 

 vil polity, than in the cultivation of her lands ; 

 and we find the same patriotic statesmen, who 

 rendered themselves immortal by their unre- 

 mitting efforts to support and maintain liberty, 

 were not less eminent for their patriotic ardor 

 to promote and encourage the beneficial cul- 

 ture of its soil. 



Wars, intestine commotions, and civil broils, 

 have ever been found unfriendly to science 

 and theart.^; but to none more so, than to ag- 

 riculture; for when the condition of the farm- 

 er is rendered precarious by civil discord, or 

 threatened or actual invasion, he has little in- 

 clination and less encouragement to attempt 

 improvement, and still less to plough and sow. 

 Cab.— Vol. IV.— No. 4. 105 



it being uncertain who may reap ; indeed, 

 whether there wall be any thing to reap ; it 

 having in times past too commonly happened, 

 that whole countries have been ravaged and 

 become desolate by the desperate frenzy of 

 hostile and bloody contenders, who too fre- 

 quently are deaf and blind to the remon« 

 strances of humanity. 



Some writers of great ability have sup- 

 posed, that the advance of commodities in 

 price is rather apparent and nominal, than 

 real. Things are npt so much, if at all, ad- 

 vanced in price, say they, as is imagined. The 

 precious metals are exceedingly increased in 

 quantity, and proportionably fallen in value.* 

 Possibly there may be some truth in this ob- 

 servation, if we go back some hundred years, 

 and if taken upon a scale that comprehends 

 all commercial and manufacturing countries ; 

 but for the term of twenty, or fifty, or even 

 from the time Mr. Locke wrote to the present 

 hour, there is little difierence in the value of 

 silver or gold; an ounce of either being of 

 much the same value now as then.f The fro 



* It is an undeniable fact, that the specie of the coun- 

 try has more than doubled in amount, within the last 

 ten years, by actual importation, after deducting the 

 amount e.xported — and this does not include the im- 

 mense sums introduced by emigrants, nor the receipts 

 from our domestic mines, the latter of which will ex- 

 ceed the annual abrasion, as three hundred and fifty to 

 one. Notwithstanding this, and the abundant cvi- 

 dence of national prosperity, and returning confidence, 

 and in a time of profound peace, too, the banks of Phil- 

 adelphia have been compelled to suspend specie pay. 

 ments— or in other words, they are either unable or un- 

 willing to meet their engagements with the people. — 

 The Baltimore, and some other banks, have followed 

 suite. The consequence is, that the farmer, the me- 

 chanic, and the laborer, bear the burden of sufltring. 

 By tliis means specie has acquired a fictitious value. — 

 We hope that in this emergency the farmers, and me- 

 chanics, and tradesmen, will assert their rights, and 

 not be humbugged by countenancing the fraudulent 

 and destructive system of s/>in plaster currency. In 

 this most deplorable state of things it becomes thn poo- 

 pie to observe the laws — tliey are all sutficient for this 

 emergency. If the banks see fit to violate the laws 

 and break their plighted faith, so be it— but lot the peo- 

 ple beware of imitating their example. — Oct. 18. 



t It is a fact. The act of Congress of \S35, regulating 

 the value of coin, but slightly affected its value. 



