604 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8- 



sided. But to put our calculations out of the 

 reach of cavil, we will suppose the price of multi- 

 caulis buds two years hence to be one-eighth of a 

 cent each, only one-sixteenth of the present price, 

 and we think we can demonstrate from Mr. Kuf- 

 fin's own data, that a person who intends en 

 gaging in the business, had better give 100 cents 

 a bud now than one-eighth of a cent for a bud two 

 years hence. We take Mr. RufRn's own data. 

 "Every single bud planted next spring and well 

 taken care ot, will produce from 10 to 70 buds, 

 say not less than 30 on an average." One bud 

 then set out in the spring of 1839 will produce 30 

 in the fall, which set out again in the spring of 

 1840 will produce in the fall 900 buds, and the 

 original bud will produce the second year 100 

 buds, making in the tall of 1840 1000 buds, be- 

 sides 31 roots. The roots will be a fair com- 

 pensation tor labor, rent of land and interest. 

 The 1000 buds at one-eighth of a cent would 

 be one dollar and twenty-five cents. That is, 

 a bud for which 2 cents is now thought an 

 exorbitant price, will in two years produce buds 

 worth 81)25 at one-eighth of a cent each. It will 

 be seen then that an individual, who intends en- 

 gaging in the business at all may as well give 

 ^1,25 now lor a bud as one-eighth of a cent for a 

 bud two years hence, according to Mr, Ruffin's 

 data. We think, however, his calculations are 

 rather too high for ordinary country cultivation. 

 Twenty buds for one will be found nearer the 

 truth in most cases, though we have no doubt with 

 great care, 30 may be realized. One bud would 

 then produce 20 the first fall, the 20 would produce 

 400 the second fall. Add 100 buds for the produce 

 of the first bud the second year, and we should 

 have 500 buds the second fall. At one-eighth of 

 a cent, 500 buds would bring 65^ cents. The 

 roots paymg for cultivation, &c. According to 

 this, a person had better give 50 cents now for a 

 single cutting than one-eighth ol' a cent in 1840— 

 besides the pleasure of a comfortable hobby to 

 ride Jbr two seasons. We offer these calculations 

 for the benefit of those who have trees to sell as 

 well as those who wish to buy, and have shown, 

 we think, that if cuttings are worth one-eighth of a 

 cent in the (all of 1840, present owners had better 

 keep their cuttings than to sell them for 10, 20, 30, 

 or even 50 cents a bud, to say nothing of 2 cents, 

 and that purchasers would, of course, do better to 

 buy now at 20 times the present exorbitant price, 

 than at one-eighth of a cent in the fall of 1840. 



MuLrTICAULIS. 



[We are always willing to receive correction, and 

 submit to censure properly applied, whenever our 

 editorial errors require either ; and the republication 

 of the foregoing piece, from another print, is evidence 

 that we do not, in this case, wish to conceal the cen- 

 sure, or keep out of sight the alleged inconsistency, by 

 which it has been elicited. But we do not admit 

 the inconsistency charged; nor would our censor 

 have made the charge, if he had more carefully read, 

 and correctly quoted our expressions. The advice in 

 the first piece, " not to buy at the then exorbitant 

 prices, " was limited in its bearing to the purchasing 

 of plants in large quantities. It was not meant for 

 speculators, but for farmers who desired to commence 

 the silk business ; and the advice was founded upon 



estimates then submitted, and very similar to those 

 made (and very correctly made,) by our censor, and 

 both of which show clearly, that a very few plant* 

 bought now, would, in a few years, suffice to furnish an' 

 abundant stock of trees. The question, then, for those 

 having no view to the selling of trees, was this: " Is 

 it better to buy 2000 trees now, or only 50 or 100, and 

 be but a year later, in obtaining a stock equally large ?" 

 If most buyers had decided upon the latter course, it 

 would have moderated the violence of the speculating 

 fever ; and if purchasers generally were to choose the 

 former and quicker course, it is manifest that the 

 bubble of speculation would be distended to a hun- 

 dred-fold its then, or even its present magnitude, and" 

 that market prices would be as much advanced above 

 the intrinsic value of the plants — great as that intrinsic 

 value certainly is. Our remarks then, and our course 

 since, were designed and calculated to repress the 

 enormous excess, the madness of speculation, as much 

 as to urge proper attention to mulberry and silk-cul- 

 ture. As we first advised intended culturists not to' 

 buy many at exorbitant prices, so six weeks after, (for 

 that time elapsed between the printing of the two 

 pieces, as was stated and explained,) when the prices 

 were still more exorbitant, we advised the cultivators 

 " not to ?ell any to speculators, lower than at the highest 

 [existing] prices." This is very different from ad- 

 vising simply those who wanted, " not to buy, " and 

 those who held, "not to sell, " alone and without limi- 

 tation, with which inconsistency we are charged above. 

 The fact was, that northern speculators had been send- 

 ing all over Virginia, and, before the holders were 

 aware of the great advance of prices, had bought up 

 many nurseries at less even than the intrinsic value, 

 and at less than a sixth of what they would now sell 

 for. One individual, as we are informed, has in this 

 way made $150,000, within the last few months. Oin- 

 warning, though late, was in time to save thousands of 

 dollars to some of the cultivators. 



But though we deny the inconsistency charged 

 above, we are far from denying great changes of opi- 

 nion on this subject, within less time than elapsed be- 

 tween the writing of these two pieces. Indeed, if any 

 man has thought precisely alike, made similar calcula- 

 tions of profit and loss, and would have pursued' the 

 same course, at any two periods six weeks apart, dur- 

 ing the time of the rapid growth of this mulberry 

 mania, we readily admit that he has far more wisdom, 

 and especially more foresight, than we can boast of 

 possessing. No man could have foreseen the extent 

 and rapid growth of this mania, nor can we pretend 

 to do so at this later time. 



Our former intimation that We were preparing to 

 come into the mulberry market when we could con- 

 tract at one-fourth of current prices, was not meant 

 otherwise than to express the certainty of the then 

 high prices being short-lived. We certainly did not 

 mean to propose that any person should wait to obtain 

 his stock from us, on such terms. But the intimation, 

 then given in joke, we are very ready to execute in 

 earnest, by now contracting to deliver plants next 

 autumn, at one-fourth of the prices current at the time 



