632 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



raised in France and oihor countries on this pecu- 

 liar object of American production, and noll:imrr 

 can be more natural at first view, than the sense 

 ol wrong and the leelin<f of resentment and re- 

 taliation. JJut is there not another side of the 

 question 1 we are not only to consider the ainoimt 

 of duties imposed in foreign countries, but, whe- 

 ther in these couniries ihe cullivatiori of this 

 odious weed is not altogether prohibited or virtu- 

 ally Ibrbiddcn by liigh internal duties, and, how 

 liar, were it not for such prohil)iiion, they are 

 capable of producing tobacco lor their own con- 

 sumption, to the exclusion of the American arti- 

 cle? If I am not misinlbrmed, and that too by 

 those who have opportunities of acquiring the 

 most extensive and practical inlbrmaiion on this 

 subject, the capacity of France and Germany to 

 produce tobacco lor their own use, very lar tran- 

 scends in quantity the general American inipres- 

 eion or estimate on that point. Permit me then to 

 ask, respectfully, through the American Farmer, 

 lor more specific information in regard to their re- 

 Bources in this respect. Let me put the question 

 to Mr. T. F. Bowie, Mr. Jeniler, Mr. Dodge, 

 and other warm and able champions of this most 

 extensive and important interest; whether we may 

 not gain more by the privilege of exclusive sup|)ly 

 under high duties to these couuiries where its 

 growth is actually or virtually j rohibited, than we 

 should by a reduction of these duties accompanied 

 by encouragements to grow the article? These 

 foreign governments admit that the duty is exces- 

 sive, but they contend that it is laid for revenue, 

 and that if they deprive themselves of that, by 

 reduction of duties to the standard which we would 

 suggest, and to a level with our moderate duties 

 on their manufactures and productions, that with 

 such reduction we must expect them to commence 

 the irrowth (or self-supply. 



What is the argument which has been used by 

 our diplomatic ayenls in reply to this t)osition as- 

 sumed by foreign governments? — What is the 

 actual capacity of England, France, Germany, 

 and other couniries to produce tobacco for their 

 own use, under the most encouraging circumstan- 

 ces ? And again is it not wise in us to let very 

 well alone — submitting to high duties in a market 

 where we have no rival. Observe, Mr. Editor, 

 that I do not undertake to answer these queries 

 in the affirmative. I only submit whether they 

 are not worthy of very mature consideration. I 

 ask only for light — wiih every candid inquirer after 

 truth, you will say, let us banish prejudice, and 

 view ihings not as we would wish them to be, but 

 as we find them. Every one remembers the labie 

 of the dog and the shadow. The culture of tobac- 

 co is, at this time, and under existing circumstan- 

 ces, with all the disadvantages ot foreign exactions 

 and monopolies, siill the most productive object to 

 which our slave labor can be applied. True, could 

 we procure the repeal of high duties in the coun- 

 tries that we, and we almost exclusively supply, 

 and at the same time be assured that in these 

 countries the growth of the article would be Ibr- 

 ever prohibited by nature and by government, the 

 prospects of the narrow tobacco belt of Norih 

 America would be bright as the milky way in the 

 heavens. — But let us not Ibrget that 



'' Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim,^'' 



is an old proverb to express the danger and the 



frequency of encountering a greater calamity, in 

 our eagerness to avoid a lesser one. Finally, Mr. 

 Ediior, let me repeat, that I ask only information 

 and only seek the truth — ihe legitimate object of 

 every Candid Iaquiker. 



KOIIAN POTATOES AKD SASSAFRAS BUSHES. 

 To ttie Editor of llie Fanners' Register. 



October 20, 1840. 



On the 31st March last I planted 40 hills liom 

 one Kohan potato, one eye in a hill, in two rows. 

 Along side of the same I planted another row of 

 the same length of 20 hills of the purple skin 

 Mercer potato (said to be) which I have been 

 raising several years. The whole of which were 

 managed alike in the preparation of the ground 

 they occujiied and in the cultivation, save that 

 whereas the Rohan potato hills had each one eye 

 only, as belbre remarked, the Mercer potato hills 

 were planted with the potato uncut. I planted the 

 tvvo kinds as above with the view of testing the 

 superiority of the one over the other, thinking 

 more had been said in favor of the Rohan than it 

 deserved, as is very apt to be Ihe case when any 

 new article is brought to notice. When I dug 

 them, however, on the 18ih September last, I was 

 disappointed ; for the 40 hills of Rohan produced 

 one bushel tliree pecks and a half. The twentj' 

 hills of Mercer produced three pecks. Difference 

 in liivor of the Rohan potato. 



Whilst pen in hand, 1 will remark that I beyan 

 to liillow a piece of land for wlieat on the 20ih 

 August, 1839, and finished it on Ihe 27lh of the 

 same month. Two-thinis of the said piece of 

 land is what may be yet called new land, as I 

 cleared it of its fbny years' growth of old field pine 

 about six years ago. The balance, one-third, be- 

 ing old land. On the 26th September following, 

 I began to fiillow the balance ol"the field (said ba- 

 lance being all old land,) and finished the opera- 

 tion on the 3d of October following. Began the 

 same day, that is, the 3d October, to seed in wheat 

 boih the first and the last fallowing, and finished 

 on the Sih of the same month, that is, October, 

 Now, one of the fiicts that came under my obser- 

 vation relative to the crop of wheat is, that the 

 wheat grown on that portion of the old land which 

 contained about one-third of the piece of land first 

 fallowed, as above stated, was very much infested 

 with onions. It is true that this is a little matter, 

 hardly worth notic^e perhaps, but if it may lead to 

 a means by which we may avoid an excess of 

 garlic among our wheat crops, it may be a matter 

 of some importance. The cause, as I think, why 

 the piece of land above mentioned abounded in 

 onions, is to be found in the difTerenl periods of the 

 year in which the fallowing was done, as before 

 stated, together with the efl^ects of frost. Thus; 

 the piece of land on which so many onions grew 

 with the wheat was fallowed at a season of the 

 year which gave the onions (both seed and roots) 

 pufllcient time to vegetate and advance so far in 

 their growth that the winter's frost did not kill 

 them ; whereas the balance of the old land was 

 fallowed at so late a period that the onions, both 

 seed and roots, not having sufficient time to arrive 

 at that stage of maturity which would enable them 

 to ward oH the etiiscts of the winter's rrost, of ne- 



