64 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



The proportion ofcirculation to coin, in the said 

 banks, in 1841 and 1842 : 



J,x\>. 1, 1841. Jan. 1, 1842. 



Bank of Virginia, $:3.10 lo $1 coin. §3 38 to §1 

 Farmers' BMiik, 3.34 to 1 " §.50 to 1 

 Ex.-hange Bank 2.53 lo 1 " 2 90 lo 1 

 From the above etaiements, made from official 

 reported, il therelbre appears that the ihree great 

 banks ol the state have, during 1841. (on an ave- 

 rage,) 



Increased fhftk outstanding debts ^667.462 56 

 /ncreased iheir circulation, 3S0.983 33 



/)ecreasec/ their specie, 27. 581 23 



Nothing can possitiiy more plainly show, than 

 these and earlier comparaiive siaternems which 

 we have before publisiied from the offici;il reporis 

 ol" the banks made by their own officers, the in- 

 conceivable lolly and siuridity of those persons 

 who yet continue to believe that the extending the 

 times ol indulgence to suspended banks will have 

 any effect in causing the banks to prepare to pay 

 ej)ecie. Such stupidity in believers cun only be 

 equalled by the unblushing falsehood and knave- 

 ry of those who knowing thefalsehood and a^srxr- 

 dt<i/ of such pretences, continue to urge the eri- 

 bciment of extended indulgence to bank suspen- 

 sion ol payments, as the proper and sufficient 

 means of the banks'' preparing to pay specie. We 

 have, lor the last year, been telling the self-evident 

 truth on this head, but it was to the ears of those 

 who would not hear — and laying it belbre the 

 eyes of those who would not see, even if the 

 truth were as manilesi as the noon-day sun. We 

 have no hope now of inducing many to mark 

 what we now again set belore ihem, though it be 

 taken from the reports of the banks themselves. 



But though fiiTures, in these condensations of 

 etatistical and official reports, show at a glance 

 the general and importHnt truth that we have 

 tried so much and in vain to establish, there is no 

 need to resort to such testimony, lor the purpose 

 of knowing that such viust be the result, from the 

 nature of things and the nature of man. The 

 directors of banks, and those who most influence 

 directors, have every operating inducement, of in- 

 terest and feeling, to keep ihe banks unprepared 

 to resume pnyment ; and no inducement what- 

 ever to make preparation, save the mere cold 

 and feeble dictates of right, justice, and moral 

 obligation, even if liiese were not generally and 

 entirely obscured and silenced, by the stronger 

 promptings of interest and feeling. The greater 

 number of bank directors, are also regular bor- 

 rowers, and the largest borrowers from ilie banks. 

 Though they take the lion's share of tlie loans, 

 they cannot take all; and therefore, that they 

 m ly ijet as much as possible liir themselves, they 

 »re obliged to lei other claimants be also supplied. 

 Thus, while avarice urges them to continue ex- 

 pansion to supply their own wants, and, as an ex- 

 cuse for this, to supply the demands of other bor- 

 rowers, the whole procedure is concealed under 

 the plausable disyruise of friendly sympathy lor 

 the wants of individuals, and of a public spirited 

 sustaining of the trade and business and general 

 weal of the community. Again — to keep the 

 bardis totally unprepared to meet specie payments, 

 and to keep the greatest number of debtors in the 

 greatest possible danger of ruin, by sudden and 

 heavy demands for payment, is the condition of 

 things which serves precisely as the great and al- 



ways unanswerable argument lo the legislature 

 to postpone lor another year the resumption of 

 payments — as resumption must alwajs be disas- 

 trous to the banks and to their debtors, if com- 

 menced when totally unprepared lor, eitlier by the 

 banks or by their debtois. 



Il, then, there were no other reason whatever 

 operating on bank directors, and the borrowing 

 class which conirol directors and banks, and all 

 others wtio likewise desire the continuation of sus- 

 pension, would they not certainly endeavor to 

 maintain (as they do) the stale of total unfitness 

 o\' tiie banks to resume, as the sure means of ob- 

 taining furllier indulgence lor continued non-pay- 

 ment ? 'I'he idea that extending to the banks the 

 time of indulgence ol non-payment will alone 

 serve to induce them to make preparation to pay, 

 is so absurd and ridiculous, that no inteNigent 

 man, but a bank director, or a bank borrower, 

 would have the hardihood to assert it, or to pretend 

 to believe it himself, unless to convince an auditor 

 deemed stupid enough to be imposed on by the 

 grossest possible delusion. 



In conclusion — we repeat, that if it be honestly 

 desired by the legislature to compel the banks to 

 return to specie payments, the only and the cer- 

 tain means will be to STOP THEIR MAKING 

 LOANS, as well as declaring dividends. If this 

 had been done ni ls37, with a very slow and lenient 

 curtailment of the existing debts, the banks would 

 have resumed specie payments in two years at 

 larihesi, and might now be in as sound condition 

 as the banks of South Carolina, which are all spe- 

 cie-paying, and in good credit. Even now, 

 though nearly five years have been lost to this ob- 

 ject, by foolishly or knavishly leaving it to fraudu- 

 lent banks to stop their own legalized and profitable 

 I'rauds, yet even now, if this policy were adopted, 

 it would bring about specie payments in less than 

 a year, and much sooner than any other legisla- 

 tive requisition and penalty whatever. And with- 

 out thus stopping or greatly limiting ol loans, the 

 banks of Virginia never will pay specie, until 

 forced into liquidation, or driven by general want 

 of confidence into avowed bankruptcy. 



IRISH POTATOES FROM SEED. 



From the London Fanners' Magazine. 

 Squeeze the mucilaginous pulp with the seed out 

 of the " apples" in^o a basin containinii a weak 

 solution of soda or common potash (lukewarm,) 

 when on stirring the mixture, the mucilage will 

 dissolve^and allow the seeds to fall to the bottom ; 

 they may then be drained or strained out, and 

 washed in clean tepid water— strained again, left 

 to dry on a cloth, and hnng up in paper bags to 

 the kitchen ceilinsj till Marrh, when they may be 

 sowed in beds of light rich earth, prepared in the 

 usual way lor small seeds. The writer found it 

 the best way to sow them in drills at one loot 

 asunder, lor the convenience of weeding, &c. 

 They should not he sown thick ; they will grow 

 very freely. When the leaves and stalks are all 

 withered (the early kinds will be momhs before 

 others) they must' be taken up and preserved in 

 boxes of sand, or very light, dry earth, till the fol- 

 lowing spring, when they may be planted (whole) 

 in small drills in the usual way, about 1^ or 2 in- 



