)838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



729 



peculiar to him who advocates it, and a;e we for- 

 bidden to rr.ly on the labors ol' our f)redoressors7 

 Certainly not. I may therelnri* ijijain refer to the 

 interesiinji researches of Al. Becqiierel, and brin<j; 

 into view those mineral species which he hasfi)rtn- 

 ed in hi.s laboratory, and which present all the 

 chai'aclers of iheir natural conjreners. Neither 

 can I omit to mention the imponant liict ot' the ar- 

 tificial (ormationof feldspar hy Caiznard de Latour. 



There is si ill another objection which may be 

 made to the theoiy now presented. Il", in this 

 mixed state, the earth acts by virtue of electro- 

 chemical fon:es, why are three earths requisite to 

 the construction of a o;ood soil ? Ouijhl not silica 

 and lime, or lime and alumina to be suflicient to 

 produce, in each element of the mixture, an op- 

 posite electricity ? It is easy to answer this ob- 

 jection also, by a reliance upon liicts well known to 

 mineralogists: it is certain that the binary silicates 

 are more rare in nature than the ternary silicates, 

 and that their mass in particuhir is less powerful : 

 silica has therefore a greater tendency to combine 

 with lime and alumina together than with either 

 of these earths separately. Hence, we may per- 

 ceive, that the union of the three becomes neces- 

 pary to constitute a soil endowed with the highest 

 decree of vegetative power. 



If the ideas which I now >:iihmit to the academy 

 appear to. deserve anv attention, I propose, on the 

 return of the fivorahle season, to renew the in- 

 quiry, and to devote myself to the labor of positive 

 experiment — ex* eriments, wliich, whatever mav 

 be their ri'sulic: in relerence to my theory, will at 

 least have the aJvai taije of elicitin<r facts which 

 may be frii'iidly to agricuhute, that science which 

 is so ;)romiiiently stamped with the character of 

 utility. 



THE SYSTr.M OF PLUNDER PRODUCED BY 

 THE SYSTEM OF IRRESPONSIBLE BANKING. 



[The following letter, by Dr. Hagan, editor of 

 the Vicksburg Sentinel, and a bank commissioner, 

 presents a picture of effects which have not yet 

 been produced so completely in any state except 

 Mississippi, but which may be produced any 

 where by the same cause, viz. : banking corpora- 

 tions not being held strictly responsible for all vio- 

 lations of their legal and moral obligations. And 

 whatever may be the letter of the law ihr restrain- 

 ing bank frauds, the restrictions and penalties im- 

 posed are in fact iTiade null and void, by the state 

 and the bank being in any manner partners in 

 trade. The partnership, and (supposed but not 

 real) identity of pecuniary interest of bank and 

 state, (for the state partner is sure to be the loser,) 

 is the great evil of the system in Virginia. If 

 banks were permitted to trade only on their own 

 capital and credit, and without having the govern- 

 ment for a partner and supporter, then there would 

 be much less danger than now threatens, even if 

 in that case they were to push their operations to 

 the utmost wants of the trade, and judicious enter- 

 prise, of the country. Make them as much re- 

 spom^ible for over-trading, and for incurr;n<T obli-- 

 VoL.VI.-92 



gationa which ihey cannot perform, as are all other 

 corporations, and all individuals, and there would 

 be no greater danger of their running into ex- 

 cess. But who ii3 it, whether a private or corpo- 

 rate trader, who will not, for the sake of greater 

 gain, incur obligations which cannot be redeemed, 

 when knowing that so soon as the penally is 

 about to be incurred, the government, the strong 

 partner in the firm, will step in to ward off the 

 ihretitened blow, and annul the penalties incurred, 

 and about to be incurred? — Ed. Far. Reg.] 



From the Mississippi Intelligencer. 



We lijel it to be a sacred duty that we owe to 

 the cause of justice, to warn the public against the 

 infamous schemes which are now being concocted 

 for ihe unholy purpose of robbing the community 

 of their honest earnings. Every hobby, from 

 the theory of the alchymists to the charms of ani- 

 mal magnetism, has had its day of triumph ; but 

 the present seems to be the age and the suprema- 

 cy of swindling in Mississippi. Unless the peo- 

 ple arouse from Iheir lethargy and put down the 

 nefarious band of robbers who are now malurinir 'he 

 most extensive system of speculation and fraud that 

 ever disgraced a civilized country, the character 

 and the prosperity of the state will receive a llital 

 blow. A high-handed system of plunder has been 

 carried on by most of the banks in this state for 

 the last twelve months. The people begin loliiel 

 and understand the effects of this system; but ihey 

 have no idea of the deep and damning conspiracy 

 by which the swindlers contemplate the plunder 

 of the community. We had but an imperfiict idea 

 of the extent and the enormity of the swindling 

 and corruption of most of the banks in this state. 

 The chartered, and real estate or unchaner- 

 ed joint stock companies for the issue of pajer 

 money, seem to vie with each other for supremacy 

 in the base art of swindling the peo[ile out of their 

 property; and we now call on the public, as they 

 regard their own interests and the prosperity and 

 honor of their country, to be on their guard. The 

 banks swindled them out of the princifal part of 

 last year's crop, and they are bent on getting pos- 

 session of the present. The people were deceived 

 by the falsehood and knavery of the banks last 

 year; but it will be their own fault if they permit 

 the banks to rob them of this crop after this warn- 

 infj and past experience. The northern counties 

 of the state are more cursed with banks than even 

 the southern counties; they are spriniring up three 

 or four in almost every county, and in many in- 

 stances the unchartered or real estate banks seem 

 to be more infamous than those that swindle under 

 the Jorms of law. But it seems that this state 

 i>! not sufficiently extensive for these p'undersjand 

 they have exlented their operations to Texas. We 

 have been credibly informed that the "Oakland 

 Bank," "one of the machines for making money," 

 has despatched a pair of sadd.'e-haire full of their 

 notes to Texas, in order to obtain the property of 

 the people of that country for their worthless trash, 

 his said that the joint stock company of this 

 county has passed off in Texas fifty thousand dol- 

 lars of their paper, which is probably not worth 

 more than R dollar a bushel. We knOw that it 

 will not now pass in the very town in w^hich it is 

 issued, t+icTugh travellers have it imposed upon 



