1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



47 



or lime over the largest surface. But as the applica- 

 tion of a certain quantity of either manure is made 

 more troublesome and expensive in proportion to the 

 extent of land over which it is regularly spread, it be- 

 comes a matter of calculation whether the increased 

 trouble is not greater than the increase of effect, from 

 making the coverings very light. For this reason, in 

 the case supposed, we should prefer putting fifty bush- 

 els of lime to the acre, rather than either one hundred 

 or twenty-five. 



Jnswcr to 2nd Query. By making it an ingredient of 

 compost, as practiced in France, and described in the 

 Essay on Lime by M. Puvis, published in the 3rd vol. of 

 the Farmers' Register. 



Jnswrr to Query 3rd. Though there is an omission or 

 mistake in the words of the query, the writer's meaning 

 is plain. Pure quick-lime will be much more efficacious 

 on the next succeeding crop, than shell-marl containing 

 the same quantity of lime, because of the more perfect 

 state of division of the parts of the former. This supe- 

 riority, however, is not material in subsequent crops — 

 nor is it in the first crops so great as to direct one to use 

 lime in preference to marl, if both are equally accessi- 

 ble. — Editor. 



From the Northampton Republican. 



BOUNTY FOR BEET SUGAR, GRANTED BY THE 

 LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS. RE- 

 MARKS ON THE NATURE AND OPERATION 

 OF THE PLAN. 



One of our representatives, Mr. William Clark, 

 Jr., returned from the General Court, on Saturday 

 last, with the copies of the acts incorporating Ed- 

 ward Church and others, to manufacture from 

 beets in Northampton, and for the encouragement 

 of making beet sugar, by giving a bounty of three 

 cents a pound on all such manufactured withm the 

 commonwealth. 



With regard to the act of incorporation, we un- 

 derstand that nothing is wanted now but the re- 

 turn of JVlr. Isnard from France, to commence the 

 building of the manufactory, and to furnish it with 

 the necessary machinery for carrying on the busi- 

 ness. In the mean time, the company is looking 

 for a site somewhere on the banks of the canal for 

 the establishment. It is estimated that a capital 

 -of $ 20,000 will be sufficient to commence the 

 manufacture of sugar, and that every thing will 

 be in readmess to receive the beets for the pur- 

 pose by the month of October. This capital is 

 already engaged by the petitioners who have ob- 

 tained the charter, so that in fact, this most glo- 

 rious enterprise has already commenced. With 

 regard to the other act, we understand that the 

 basis upon which the legislature fixed the three 

 cents bounty, was founded on an average duty of 

 three cents a pound on West India sugar, viz: two 

 and a half cents lor brown Havana, and three and 

 a half for the white ; thus it is, that a plantation ni 

 Louisiana can furnish us with sugar at a profit of 

 three cents a pound over our nearer neighbors in 

 the island of Cuba, who must pay first that amount 

 of duty on every pound imported into Boston. The 

 legislature therefore acted very wisely in giving to 

 our own citizens the same encouragement to man- 



ufacture sugar from beets, that congress indirectly 

 gives to the people of Louisiana. But it is said 

 fhat the bounty will make a serious impression 

 upon the state treasury. Be it ao. The farmers 

 will now make their own sugar, and instead of 

 paying three cents a pound duty to Louisiana, will 

 receive three cents a pound bounty from the com- 

 m.onwealth. And when did the fiarmers of our 

 state ever before receive any encouragement in 

 their business '? They have often been called 

 upon to aid the manufi^icturing, the commercial, 

 and the shipping interests, and have done so with 

 alacrity; and they have now received from the le- 

 gislature a boon of inestimable value, which they 

 will duly appreciate. We have one word of ad- 

 vice which we give them with the utmost sincer- 

 ity and singleness of purpose: — secure your beet 

 seed — secure it immediately, for depend upon it 

 that the children of almost every family can raise 

 beets enough for a hogshead of sugar. 



[The granting a bounty of three cents the pound for 

 all beet sugar made in Massachusetts, is sufficient evi- 

 dence of the people of that state being determined to 

 carry through the experiment. Whatever may be the 

 impelling cause, and faulty as may be the mode, at least 

 enough encouragement is thus offered for this produc- 

 tion to give the new business a fair trial, and to show 

 whether it is really a profitable direction for enterprise 

 and capital, in this country. This experiment is highly 

 important to all the states, and we rejoice that Massa- 

 chusetts has been so generous as to have the experi- 

 ment made at her own expense. 



The principle impulse to offering this very liberal 

 bounty is the fanatical spirit of abolitionism, of the 

 great extent and influence of which abundant evi- 

 dence was furnished in the recent proceedings of the 

 senate of Massachusetts. The main object is to 

 limit the use ot sugar made by the labor of slaves. 

 The working of this motive we predicted when the 

 manufacture of beet sugar was first proposed in this 

 country ; and we said then, and repeat now, that it is 

 a matter for rejoicing, if a new and profitable culture 

 is introduced, though by the efforts of the abolition 

 party. In this way good may be produced by these 

 fanatics, who are agents of unmixed evil in every other 

 of their movements. 



The political economy of this mode of encouraging 

 the new product is also very objectionable. But di- 

 rect bounties for production, such as Massachusetts of- 

 fers for beet sugar, are, in every point of view, less 

 objectionable than the indirect, given in protecting du- 

 ties, for cane sugar, by the general government. The 

 taxing operation of the former is palpable — and the sys- 

 tem would not long be borne, if as general and onerous 

 as was our national protective tariff', by the most patient 

 and stupid people on earth. If Massachusetts, by the 

 continual payment of a bounty of three cents a pound, 

 shall cause enough beet sugar to be produced for the 

 consumption of all her population, the commonwealth 

 will lose precisely the amount of the bounty paid, ex- 

 cept to such extent as the profit of the new culture may 

 exceed all others not sustained by bounties. If such ex- 

 cess of profit should exist, and to the extent (for exam- 

 ple) of the state's bounty, then there will be no general 



