FARMERS' REGISTER 



699 



healh Peach Rliould be included in every collection. 



Quince.— Ponagii\ quince of superior flavor, 

 larcre oranfre, iar^re Frencli and musk. 



By selec7in<r li-om each variety you will be ena- 

 bled to make'an excellent collection, which will 

 •rive a succession of the most gratelul, and at the 

 eame time healthful delicacies and luxuries of 

 the table— and at the same time has a powerful 

 influence in attracting men to their homes— and on 

 this account every encouragement given to in- 

 crease a taste of the kind, is additional security for 

 domestic comlbrl and happiness. 



\Vm. Summer, Chairman. 



MONTHLY COMMERCIAL REPORT. 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 



The apprehensions which prevailed, of war in 

 Europe, are almost entirely dissipated by the re- 

 cent intelligence from thence, and commercial ope- 

 rations will no longer be affected by lears of that 

 event. But while the news is pacific, it is at ihe 

 same time by no means favorable to the mercan- 

 tile (and conseciuently to the agricultural) interest. 

 The heavy drain of specie from England to the 

 coniinent had induced the bank to adopt, as it is 

 termed, " very stringent measures," and the scar- 

 city of money was severely Itilt. Interest had 

 been paid in London, on the very best securities, 

 at the unusually high rates of 7 to S per cent, per 

 annum. And while this state of things continues 

 commerce must languish. 



Although the consumption of cotton is on a 

 larger scale than at any previous time, and al- 

 though the reports of a diminished crop in this 

 country had reached Europe, yet the price conti- 

 nued very low, and little encouragement is held 

 out to expect any material advance at an early 

 day. The immense import from the United States 

 during the last season, and the accumulation of 

 both the raw material and of manufactured goods, 

 tends, with the scarcity of money, to produce this 

 effect. 



The duty on flour had advanced in England to 

 14 shiUiniis per barrel, and the price was 33s. duty 

 paid— price in bond 235. The export from this 

 country has consequently ceased. 



Kentucky stemmed tobacco is supplanting Vir- 

 ginia to such an exieni, that the latter is in a 

 great measure unsaleable, but fine Virginia leaf 

 still retains favor. On the coniinent prices of low 

 qualities had declined. 



New leaf tobacco sells at ^5.75 to ^7.25— lugs 

 3.75 to 5.25. Supplies as yet are moderate, ex- 

 cept of loose, in which state a good deal is now 

 brought to market. 



Cotton commands 8 to 9| cents — lililo at either 

 extreme. The demand for our domestic goods 

 has increased, and a large portion of the cotton 

 crop of Virginia and North Carolina will be nia- 

 nulactured within those states. 



The home supply of wheat is so inconsiderable 

 that the article is now shipped from Baltimore to 

 Richmond. The quotations at the former place 

 are 90 to 98 cents— at the latter 100 to 110 ; and 

 more lor fine white. In Petersburg the mills are 

 tirequently idle for want of grain. 



The price of flour is ^4| to ^5, in all our ex- 

 porting markets, except lor city mills. Corn 45 



cents. The price of pork is not yet established — 

 no droves having yet arrived Irom the west. X. 

 November 27, 18 10. 



PETITION TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED 

 STATES, TO EfiUALIZE THE RATE OF POST- 

 AGE ON NEWSPAPERS AND OTHER PERIO- 

 DICAL PUBLICATIONS. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives of 



the United Stales : 



The petition of the subscriber, the editor and 

 proprietor of the Farmers' Register, respectfully 

 shovveth : 



That the rates of postage on periodical maga- 

 zines and on newspapers, as established by law 

 and by usage, are so unequal, and eo much high- 

 er on the former class of publications, as to ope- 

 rate to their discouragement most injuriously, as 

 well as unjustly. 



That the postage charged on newspapers (and 

 all other periodicals, which by misconstruction of 

 law are permitted improperly to pass through the 

 mail as newspapers,) is one cent per sheet lor 

 any distance within the slate wherein published, 

 or to any distance without the limits of the state, 

 not exceeding 100 miles from the place of publi- 

 cation, and one and a half cents to all greater dis- 

 tances in other stales ; and on periodical pam- 

 phlets or magazines, the charge is one and a half 

 cents for all distances not exceeding 100 miles, and 

 two and a half cents, even though within the same 

 slate in which the publication issues, liar all great- 

 er distances. These difl'erent modes of assess- 

 ment forbid any precise or accurate comparison of 

 the amounts ; but on a general average there can 

 be no question but that the postage charged on 

 periodical magazines, per sheet, is at least double 

 of that on newspapers ; and if estimated accord- 

 ing to the respective weigliis or sizes of sheets, 

 the postage paid on the former is six-fold greater 

 than that on newspapers of large (yet not the 

 largest) size now published. 



That, on the Farmers' Register, an agricultu- 

 ral magazine established and conducted by your 

 petitioner, the postage paid, on a general average, 

 is more than ^1000 for each 1000 copies of the 

 annual publication ; while large newspapers, if 

 distributed to like distances, are charged, in pro- 

 portion to weight, but one-sixth as much as the 

 Farmers' Register. Consequently, five-sixths of 

 the tax upon the latter is eo much in excess, and 

 that excess operates as so much discouragement 

 to the publication, and to the same extent causes a 

 lessening of useful eflects of the work, and ob- 

 structs its object, the improvement and benefit of 

 agriculture. 



That another discriminating burthen on maga- 

 zines, and bounty to newspapers, is presented in 

 the legal privilege of all copies of newspapers ex- 

 changed between publishers being exempt from 

 postage, while that privilege is withheld fiom pe- 

 riodical magazines. The amount of weight of 

 untaxed papers thus added to the mail transporta- 

 tion, by the liee use of this privilege, cannot be es- 

 timated ; but it is certain that the addition thus 

 made forms a very considerable proportion of the 

 whole amount of mail freight, and of the expense 

 of the post-office department, and also increases 

 the unjust burthen on the publications to which the 



