1 83SJ 



F A l{ M 1^ K S K IO(M ST i: Ix' 



443 



the county ; indeed, I do not know or hear of any 

 part of tins county, Pittsylvania, or Campljoll, wln'io 

 the (lrou;;-ht does not pii'vail to an alarming extent. 

 Our tohaceo-crops, of course, are very backward, and 

 are bcginniu'^to burn more at bottom than they grow 

 at tof). Tobacco, liowver, is a part of our crojis tiiat 

 will recover from the elFocts of drouglit. wlien all 

 hopes are apparcnlJtj gone. If it should shortly rain 

 plentifully, and be a late AUI. wo may yet make re- 

 spectable crops of tobacco; but, at jiresent, the pros- 

 pects for corr. and tobacco are dreadful — defying all 

 accurate description." 



" iVTipm.KSKx, N. J. August 13th, 1S.3S. 

 " Our farming prospects in this section of the coun- 

 try are vrnj dull. Up to the mi<ldlo of June, the ju-os- 

 jiect never was so ilattering. (-orn, jiolatoes, harl(\y, 

 t.afs, all as promising as could be di^sired. Since that 

 time, however, we have had no rain that has done any 

 thing but scald — the mercury ranging from H()° to !)s° 

 in the shade. The corn halfway up the stalk is dead, 

 one-third destitute of ears, and the residue so misera- 

 Ide, that no calcidation can be formed of the result. 

 Potatoes, of which many thousands of acres have 

 l)een planted, will be an entire loss. ]5arley and oats 

 half a crop. Rye very poor and shrunk. Buckwheat, 

 on which great dependence is placed for winter bread, 

 in many cases never came up, and on the whole only 

 one-fourth of an average crop can be realized. Last 

 night we had a Ihiinder-shovver, and slight lain liom 

 the south ; but all is bright and hot again. Thermo- 

 meter 91° at 10 A. M." 



" Princess Anne, Va. August Itlh, IS.IS. 

 " We have had the driest and hottest weather 1 

 have ever seen or felt here. VVe have not had a good 

 rain since the ISth of June, and only one or two light 

 showers since that time. A great deal of our corn is 

 burned up to the ear, and we cannot make more than 

 half or two-thirds of a crop." 



" Queen Ann'.^ Co., Md., August 17, 1838. 

 " While writing, I will take leave to add, that never, 

 I believe, within the memory of our oldest people, 

 has this section of our country been visited with so 

 early and destructive a drought as that which we have 

 lately experienced. Our crops of corn, potatoes, &.c. 

 are nearly destroyed; and it is generally thought, so 

 far as I have heard, and so far as my own observation 

 extends, it verifies the opinion, that this peninsula can- 

 not now, whatever rains may come, even the most 

 favorable, make any thing like corn sufficient i'or its 

 necessary consumption. Our clover fields are burnt up, 

 with scarcely the appearance of vegetation upon them, 

 even since tlie late rains. Indeed, the whole face ol' 

 the countiy wears a most melancholy asjicct. We 

 made large crops of straw, in proportion to iiie ground 

 sown in wheat ; which was less, probably, from a 

 fourtli to a third of that which, some years ago, used 

 to be put in that grain. The yield from the straw, 

 however, is much less — say from twenty to thirty per 

 cent.— than a fair average, owing principally to rust. 

 The rye and oats crops also turn out badly. But 

 enough of this lugubrious matter." 



" From Louisville, Ky., August 17. 

 " We have had through the months of June and 

 July, and so far in August, the most favorable weather; 

 plenty of rain and the crops of wheat, corn, is.c., are 

 superabundant. Owing to the scarcity of plants, the 

 coldness of the spring, and the low prices last season, 

 there will be a small crop of tobacco made." 



Coggin's Pqint, Pk. George, Va., Aug. 26. 

 "Our corn crop, I much fear, threatens to be even 

 worse than I had anticipated. The stalks had made 

 so much improvement in growth, that I thought some 

 weeks bagk, there might be some approach to an ave- 

 rage crop made on this farm. A careful examination 



yesterday confirms my later and worst fears. Though 

 the stalks look generally well, the number that nro 

 without ears I would suppose to be nearly one-third; 

 and (he remaining two-thirds are very indifferent. 

 Tliis is what 1 feared would be the rcsidt, from tliR 

 burning up by the extreme drought (as formerly 

 stated,) of so great a proportion of the tassels, beforu 

 the exhibition of the sillvs ; but the extent of injury 

 from this cause is much greater than I had anticipated. 

 All prospects of even half a crop here, I fear, ore now 

 dissijjated. 



Directly in contradiction to all such accounts, from 

 these and numerous other less authentic sources which 

 all tho newspapers aro full of, the following com- 

 munication appeared in the 'Baltimore Patriot' of 

 August 17th. We know not whether it was to 

 this very positive, and seemingly very plausible state- 

 ment, or to other causes, that was owing the latter 

 part of tho remarkable occurrence in the Baltimore 

 market of a sudden rise in the price of corn, of 15 

 cents or more, in the bushel, and as sudden a fall to the 

 first mark, and all within a few days. 



[To the Editor of the Ilaltiinoie Patriot.] 



" I having seen a dreadful account given in the pub- 

 lic prints, concerning the failure of crops, which by 

 all appearance, has caused a g:reat rise in the price of 

 grain. I, as a well known citizen of Ballimore, deem 

 it my duty to let the commercial part of the citizens 

 know the true state of the crops of grain in Viio-inia 

 and North Carolina. I was continually travellim-- in 

 the above states, from the first of June to tlie firs^t of 

 Angust, and have been accOstomed to travel in the 

 same states for the last eighteen years, and do say, I 

 never saw such fine crops of corn and wheat before, 

 in any place; and I heard it as.serted, they excelled 

 the crops of any season ever recollected, by the oldest 

 farmers— the corn was getting hard then, and consi- 

 dered as good as made. Some of the farmers had 

 succeeded in engaging their growing crops of corn 

 at one dollar and fifty cents per barrel, but that price 

 could not be easily obtained. I heard a farmer say 

 that he did expect corn to be as low as one dollar per 

 barrel, at the heap when gathered. 



I write the above for the benefit of my fellow citi- 

 zens, that they may know how to make their pur- 

 chases. And if any gentleman should suspect me of 

 having any pensonai interest in view in the matter, I 

 assure them, 1 am neither a merchant nor speculator 

 in any article whatsoever; and they can have my 

 name by apjjlying at the Patriot ofiice. R." 



If some of our subscribers, in every different region, 

 would regularly furnish montnly reports of the state of 

 crops, so as to enable us to present in extracts from 

 their letters a full and authentic statement of the ge- 

 neral condition of the country, it would be of o-reat 

 value, as information, to the readers of this publica- 

 tion, and to the country at large. One of the certain 

 effects would be to prevent groundless panics in the 

 markets, and also to extinguish such re])oiters as the 

 author of the foregoing communication. 



August 29, 1838. Ed Far. Reg. 



EXTRACTS OF PRTVATK CORRESPONDENCE. 

 SEASON AND STATE OF CROFS. 



Hanover, September 5, 1838. 

 '' We have made more than half an average 

 crop ofcorn in this neighborhood, notwithstandinf? 

 the long continuance of the drought. I have, hovv^ 

 ever, seen many fieldp oC corn between this and 

 Charlottesville, which will Ihll below half an 



