Vol. iV. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the Hampshire Gattlle. 



ENGLISH CORN (GRAIN) LAWS. 

 Englnnil, by her corn laws enacted for the ben- 

 efit of her agriculturists, prohibits the introduc- 

 tion of foreign grain and flower unless the price 

 of domestic grain exceeds a specified sum, which 

 is about -SL^S per bu.shel for wheat. It is calcu- 

 lated that the average price of grain in England 

 is 25 cents per bushel higher tlian it would be if 

 the grain trade was left free with the United 

 States, Poland, &c. This tax is paid to the land- 

 ed interest by the manufacturers and other con- 

 sumers, and is considered necessary to the safety 

 and prosperity of the nation. So enormous are the 

 rents, tithes, and ta.\es, that it is said they could 

 not be paid by the farmers, if the corn laws were 

 repealed. The late determination of the govern- 

 ment to admit 4 millions of bushels of foreign 

 grain on payment of a heavy duty, is only a tem- 

 porary measure, and is not designed to affect the 

 permanent principles of the corn laws. The an- 

 nual consumption of grain in Great Britain is es- 

 timated at about 120 millions of bushels. 



English statesmen talk a great deal about leav- 

 ing trade free and unfettered, but their practice 

 is often widely different from their professions. — 

 Their speeches are,' however, faithfully echoed by 

 the anti-tariffites and non-restrictionists in this 

 country. 



INDIANS. 

 The whole amount paid by the U. States on ac- 

 count of the Indian tribes in 1824 was #424,978 ; 

 in 1825 it was $07 1,470 ; and the estimate for 

 1826 was more than a million of dollars. In 1825, 

 the amount of annuities paid to the Indians wiis 

 $227,000 (many of these annuities are perpetual) ; 

 the sum paid to Indian agents $73,000 ; presents 

 to Indians $18,738 ; education of Indian children 

 $13,620 ; holding treaties with the Indians, and 

 carrying treaties into effect $68,000, &c. 



WOOL. 



The price of wool has not perhaps been so low 

 since the introduction of Merino sheep into this 

 country as at the present time. The depression 

 of this article is to be attributed to the embarrass- 

 ments and distresses in the commercial and man- 

 ufacturing world, and to the enormous importa- 

 tions of wool and woollen goods the last year 



We are informed that vast quantities of woollen 

 goods have been sold at auction at prices which 

 would hardly pay the duties, and that the import- 

 ers of wool have sustained great losses. This 

 state of things cannot last long. Intelligent men 

 are confident that a gradual improvement will take 

 place in the wool market as the state of affairs in 

 Europe, now disordered by extravagant specula- 

 tion, becomes more regular. It is, however, diffi- 

 cult to calculate with much certainty upon these 

 matters. We are told that some farmers are about 

 to abandon their flocks ; we believe they would 

 be better employed in building them up — in im- 

 proving the quality of their wool. 



We learn from an article in the " Bulletin des 

 Sciences" for January last, that the merchants of 

 Genoa have opened an extensive trade with Ta- 

 ganrock, a port on the sea of Azof, where the em- 

 peror Alexander died, and that they imported from 

 thence in 1824 and 5, 45,000 puds, or 1,162,000 

 pounds of the wool of Mount Caucasus. The Bul- 

 letin says, this wool has been much sought after 

 by the manufacturers. 



Cotton, the staple, production of the south, is as 



mucli depressed as the wool cf the north. It is 

 now quoted at from to 10 cents per pound in the 



soutliern cities. 



GRASSHOPPERS. 



We are informed that grasshoppers are uncom- 

 monly numerous in many towns in this county and 

 in Franklin. Some lands are literally covered 

 with them, and they rise up before the passer in 

 countless millious. They devour the grass and 

 lender plants, and it is feared that the crops on 

 some farms will be entirely destroyed by tbeir 

 ravages. 



ENGLISH POOR RATES. 

 The sums levied and expended, in England and 

 Wales, for the support of the poor, in the year 

 ending March 25, 1825, amounted to $25,720,000. 

 The poor rates, so called, which include some 

 county expenses, e.xceeded 30 millions of dollars. 



405 



disease and early death have long been the inevi- 

 table attendants on the occupation of a dry-grind- 

 er, on account of the workmen having hitherto un- 

 avoidably inhaled the floating minute particles of 

 metal into their lungs. 



TRADES, &c. IN THE CITY OF MEXICO. 

 The shops have no signs nor names in front, and 



nothing is exposed to the windows. Silversmiths', , , 



work is done in a tedious manner, and is clumsy i brought into the port of Hull by the Dutch. The 

 and^heavy. The tail^ors make a great profit, and \ bones so brought appear highly desiccated ; but 

 „ „n, .u ^ , . .. _ as they are not white, as if bleached, it is more 



BONES FOR MANURE. 

 A peculiar feature has for some time appeared 

 in the commerce of Lincoln, (England) and has at 

 lengtii becomo a very prominent and conspicuous 

 characteristic— the collecting and grinding of 

 bones for agricultural purposes. Three large 

 steam mills have been erected in the neighborhood, 

 and a fourth is commencing, besides several mills] 

 moved by horse power, all employed in grinding 

 bones ; and the influx of sloops and crafts piled 

 up with this singular merchandise, causes our riv- 

 er to resemble a great charnel. From its vicinity 

 to large tracts of land, the nature of which is moat 

 suitable to bones, there is no doubt of Lincoln be- 

 coming a principal market town for this novel ar- 

 ticle of commerce, immense loads of which are 



clothes are three or four times dearer than ih Eng- 

 land. They sit on stools, and not with their feet 

 under them. Milliner's shops are carried on by 

 men. Twenty or thirty brawny fellows, of all col- 

 ours, may be seen in a shop decorating dresses, 

 sewing muslin gowns, making flowers, trimming 

 caps, &c. while perhaps at the next door a num° 

 ber of poor girls are on their knees, engaged in 

 the laborious occupation of grinding chocolate by 

 hand ; Confectionary and sweetmeats are in great 

 demand, and five hundred different kinds are 

 made. Tlie druggists and apothecaries ask exor- 

 bitant prices. Mr Bullock paid a dollar per pound 

 for an article, the produce of the country, which is 

 sold for four pence in England. Hops sell for tw o 

 and six pence per ounce, and other drugs in pro- 

 portion. Barbers are numerous and important, 

 and the price of shaving is ten times as much as 

 in England. Cabinet makers have but few tools, 

 and their work is very inferior and expensive. In 

 turnery, the mechanic sits on the ground in work- 

 ing the lathe. Coachmakers excel all the other 

 mechanical arts practised in Mexico. Mr B. saw 

 no coopers, but he observed men selling hogskin 

 barrels, blown up like bladders, which they carry 

 suspended on each end of a long pole, occupying 

 as much space as a loaded cart. Bakers' shops 

 are large, and they make excellent bread, but the 

 workmen are absolutely slaves, being never per- 

 mitted to leave the place in which they work. 



Soft cakes of Indian corn constitute the principal 

 food of the poor. Shops for the sale of native and 

 Spanish brandy, wines, &,c. are too common, and 

 present too great a temptation for the poor Indians 

 to resist. The water carriers of Mexico are a nu- 

 merous body. They bring water from the aque- 

 ducts to private houses, in large jars, poised on 

 their backs. At an early hour, they may be seen 

 stretched on the bare ground, intoxicated with 

 pulque ; and as they have no settled place of resi- 

 dence, they sleep at night under the first shelter 

 that presents itself, like the Lazzaroni of Naples. 



This 



USEFUL APPARATUS. 



The London Society of Arts have voted Mr 

 Robert Cowen the Society's large Gold Medal, or 

 thirty guineas, at his opinion, for his apparatus for 

 comreying away the dust produced in the process 

 of dry grinding. This is an invention of great ira, 

 portance to CBtlery and needle manufacturers, as 



than probable that they are carefully collected 

 from the fields of warfare. [English paper.] 



MARLE. 



earth is very valuable manure, and no 

 doubt may be found in many parts of New Eng- 

 land, on the lands of farmers, who do not suspect 



that their premises contain such a treasure 



Marie consists of common clay, with from one 

 quarter to one third of calcareous earth, [lime] 

 which can be dissolved out of it by diluted muri- 

 aic acid, [spirit of sea salt.] " The ingredient of 

 marles, (says the Domestic Encyclopedia) on which 

 tlieir fitness for agricultural purposes depends, is 

 carbonate of lime. It is owing to the presence of 

 this earth, that marles effervesce on the addition 

 of acids, which is one of their distinguishing char- 

 acters. In ascertaining whether an effervescence 

 takes place, let the marie be put into a glass part- 

 ly filled with water, which will expel a portion of 

 the air contained mechanically in the marie, and 

 thus obviate one source of failing. When the 

 marie is thoroughly penetrated by the water add 

 a little muriatic acid, (spirit of sea salt). If a dis- 

 charge of the air should ensue, the marley nature 

 of the earth is sufficiently established." 



The same writer states that " A good artificial 

 marie may be prepared, by mixing equal quanti- 

 ties of pure clay and lime, in alternate layers, so 

 as to form a heap, which should be exposed to the 

 winter frost ; this compound is well calculated for 

 liglit lands ; but if the soil be strong and heavy, 

 It will be necessary to substitute loam and sand 

 for the clay. Such compositions may be usefully 

 employed, where marie is not easily procured ; as 

 they will amply repay the labour bestowed on mix- 

 ing them, being little inferior to the genuine cal- 

 careous earth — Ed. N. E. Farmer. 



The following letter was addressed by Col. Pick- 

 ering to Dr Hosack ; and communicated by Dr H 

 for publication in the American Farmer : 



Salem, February 7, 1826. 

 Dear Sir — Your inaugural discourse, delivered 

 before the New York Horticultural Society, which 

 you kindly sent me, embracing subjects with which 

 I have some acquaintance — you will permit me to 

 make my acknowledgements, by communicating to 

 you a few observations, the result.of my experi- 



