FARMERS' REGISTER— EXPENSE OF CURING HAY. 



443 



more flour than is required by the limited demand 

 for exportation. Some large sales of flour have 

 been made by the Richmond millers at .36 per 

 barrel — but the price of country flour is at and un- 

 der ><5. i 

 The published reports of the importation of 

 specie into the United States since the 1st of De- 

 cember 1833, exhibit an amount of nearly twenty ; 

 millions of dollars. Recently the importation has 

 ceased, and some silver has been exjiorted. Span- 

 ish dollars no^v command a premium — reversing 

 the state of things which existed previously to the 

 change in the mint value of gold. Exchange on 

 England is at 6^ per cent, premium. Virginia 

 Bank stock 110, Farmer's Bank 108. The stock 

 of the Petersburg Rail Road which had beenciuite 

 low in price, has appreciated nearly to par — a 

 dividend of five per cent, having been ascertained 

 for the last six months. 



Nov. 27th, 1834. 



MorrcT vEsuvirs. | 



The most afflicting details of a recent eruption of 

 Mount Vesuvius, have reached us. In a former 

 account we stated that in August an eruption had 

 taken place, which on the evening ot the 25th be- 

 gan to subside. On the 27th, 2Sth, and 29tli; new 

 craters opened, and produced ravages awful to 

 contemplate. Thousand of families were fl\"ing 

 from their native land, old and young, dragging 

 through heavy masses ol heated cinders. Fifteen 

 hundred houses, palaces and other buildings, and 

 2,500 acres of land, have been destroyed by fire, j 

 The \-illage of St. Felix had been already aban- | 

 doned. i 



The lava soon poured upon this place, and in ! 

 the course of an hour, houses, churches, and pa- 

 laces, were all destroyed. Four villages, some i 

 detached houses, country villas, vines, beautiful • 

 groves, and gardens, which a few instants before 

 presented a magnificent spectacle, now resembled 

 a sea of fire. i 



On the third instant, nothing but stones and 

 cinder were ejected, and every prospect existed of 

 the eruption being soon at a close. The palace of: 

 the Prince of xlttayauno, and 500 acres of his 

 land, are utterly destroyed. The cinders fell dur- 

 ing an entire night over Naples, and if the lava 

 had taken that direction, there would have been 

 an end to that citv. 



From the Cultivator. 

 EXPENSE OF CUniXG HAY. 



An accurate account of expense in different ope- ' 

 rations of farming, has heretofore been so little ! 

 attended to, that in making out an estimate of j 

 cost of any one process of the many that are to ; 

 be performed, the farmer has to be governed more j 

 by conjecture than by any rule of correct calcula- 1 

 tion. This deficiency is owing to his own neglect, ' 

 and if he now suffers, as he must necessarily. ; 

 from the evi], a Uttle time and pains are all that 

 are required to enable him hereafter to count the : 

 cost of any one process he may wish to have per- : 

 formed. It is as important to the farmer to know I 

 what ought to be the reasonable cost to have a ! 

 piece of work done, as it is for the manufacturer 

 to calculate the expense per ib. or per yard of card- ' 

 ing, spinning or weaving, and we are well assured, ; 



that if the last is unacquainted with the expense of 

 each of these processes, he is totally incompetent to 

 carry on his business successfullv. It is the same 

 with the mechanic, and that one only, at this day, 

 becomes wealthy, who is competent to make a 

 correct account of profit and cost. Where a fiir- 

 mer does all his own work, it may not be so neces- 

 sary to keep a debtor or creditor account, but when 

 job work is to be done, as it must in a variety of 

 cases, accuracy of cost is essential to the interest 

 of all engaged. We do not hesitate to say, that 

 a man who would keep a correct account of all the 

 expenses and labor upon a farm, giving a separate 

 page to each laborer, each lot, each horse, ox and 

 cow, with the profits derived from each, and this 

 system kept up for successive years, and extended 

 throughout his whole arrangement, and published, 

 would aid more directly the class of community to 

 which he belonged, and it would give rise to more 

 beneficial results, than the present opening of new- 

 canals, or originating other great improvements. 

 We would then be furnished with a guide or table, 

 from v,-hich we would calculate the expense of 

 each operation and class of husbandry-, and settle 

 the many princi.nles which are now lef\ to reason, 

 and, in many cases, to conjecture. It has been for 

 many yeare, and is yet, a disputed point among 

 the most intelligent farmers, whether the raising 

 of grain or stock, where there are proportionate 

 facilities for each, is most conducive to their inter- 

 est, and we do not see that the controversy can be 

 settled m any wavj except by keeping the debtor 

 and creditor account we have mentioned. It is 

 useless to enlarge upon this subject. Doubt and 

 uncertainly, will always rest upon it, and we sufi'er 

 from a continuance of the evil, until we adopt a 

 better and more systematic manner of calculating 

 all our expenses and profits. Our object at this 

 time is, to give the exi;ense of cutting hay, and it 

 is as accurate as circumstances would allow. It 

 would be better could we estimate the cost per ton, 

 but as a farmer has not the conveniences, and does 

 not weigh the haj- intended for his own consump- 

 tion, it would be difficult to say, with certainty, 

 what is the cost of curing by weight. It is a com- 

 mon obsen-ation, however, that 20 feet square and 

 one foot high of well packed hay, give one ton of 

 2240 lbs. by weight; how far it is correct, we have 

 never had the opportunity of ascertaining. We 

 have estimated it by the load, and a two horse 

 load, with the wagon, or one \%'ith an ox cart, are 

 considered equal — each load we put down as 12 

 cwt. of well cured hay, such it would turn olit 

 from the mow. 

 Cutting, curing and housing 126 cart 



loads of hay, 8143 00 



do. " 124 waeron do. 136 00 



do. 38 cart' do. 34 37 



Total. 2S8rdscosting, -5313 37 



Or 81 08| per load. 



We give three different statements as the work 

 was done on three different farms, and the first two 

 under the direction of the pei-sons hving upon 

 them who were hired tenants, and who employed 

 men to work Avith and under them — the work was 

 charged at 81 per day wages and board, which 

 was the actual price. How far the tenants who 

 had no interest m the hay, or were not charged 

 with anv part of the payment of the expenses, 

 might, if' thev had been concerned in either or 



