190 



l<*ARx\lERS' REGlSTii:K 



[No. 3 



HUMBUGS. MULTICAULIS SEED AND CHINESE 

 CORN. 



Jt would seem that the inforniation which we 

 have aimed to furnish to our readers and the pub- 

 lic is very little prized; nor i? availed ofeven when 

 it would prevent the most barefaced and shallow 

 yet successful and gainiiil deceptions, which are 

 continually imposed upon the agricultural public. 

 It has been about five years since we first publish- 

 ed the fact that the seeds of the multicaulis would 

 not re-produce their kind, and that, of course, they 

 were worthless for propagating ihe parent slock ; 

 and from time to time this warning has been often 

 repeated, accompanied with the most positive 

 proofs of its truth. Yet, notwithstanding, thou- 

 eands of persons, and many even of our subscribers, 

 have bought at enormous prices what has been 

 sold for multicaulis or Chinese mulberry seed, and 

 have failed, of course, to obtain a single genuine 

 plant. Seed so named and recommended ia stil! 

 frequently advertised for sale; and at this time 

 there is offered lor sale 20 lbs. of it, by a salesman 

 in Baltimore, every grain of which will probably 

 be bought, (provided the price is high enough,) 

 and be allowed to perpetrate a fraud, unless the 

 planter should be so lucky as to find that it will 

 not vegetate. It will add but little force to our 

 charge, to say that not one pound or even ounce 

 of seed truly produced from the morus multicalis 

 has ever been offered for sale. All believe this 

 who are well informed on the subject. But even 

 if all the parcels of seeds so advertised were in 

 truth so produced, they would be no better, and 

 their progeny no more like the multicaulis than 

 the seeds really sold, or those of any other kind of 

 mulberry. 



Another among the greatest of humbugs was 

 the "Chinese tree-corn," advertised by Grant 

 Thorburn, and puOed by so many papers who 

 aided his "benevolent and charitable" design. 

 We presented so full an exposure of this very 

 shallow, and yet very successful imposition upon 

 the public credulity in a former number, (p. 490, 

 vol. vi.) that it was considered useless to pay any 

 further respect to a matter so small and contempt- 

 ible, by republishing the more detailed charges 

 and exposures which afterwards appeared in the 

 'Journal of Commerce.' Well ! the result has 

 been that the "Chinese corn," which had been 

 advertised by Thorburn at 25 cents a ear has 

 since been selling under our nose here, as well as 

 elsewhere, at^l the ear — and bought by hun- 

 dreds who have had ample opportunity to profit 

 by the notice which we had taken of the humbug. 



If our attempted exposures of humbug seeds, 

 &c. actually serve to advertise and give them 



greater currency with purchasers, we wish at 

 least that that fact could be understood by the 

 salesmen of such articles. In that case, perhaps, 

 they might be willing to par/ for our denunciations, 

 such bribes (direct or indirect) as we have refused 

 to receive as the price of pufls and recommenda- 

 tions. 



REPRINT OF VOL. I. OP FARMERS REGISTER. 



The printing of another edition of vol. I. of Far- 

 mers' Register has been commenced and will pro- 

 bably be completed within a few months. To those 

 persons who may hereafter send orders and pay- 

 ment in advance tor full sets of seven volumes, the 

 new edition of vol. I. will be supplied, as soon as 

 ready, at the same price as the others are ofi'ered 

 in the conditions, when three or more are bought 

 and paid for at once; that is, at the rate of $10 lor 

 every 3 vols. Those persons who have recently 

 bought and paid lor full sets, and who could not then 

 be supplied with vol. I, shall have the benefit of 

 this allowance. No copy of vol. I will be furnish- 

 ed at the above price, except as a part of a full set 

 sold, or to complete the set of a subscriber. By 

 the single copy, vol. I will still be at ^6, the price 

 at which old and used copies have been bought 

 back by the publisher for the last two years, and 

 which was offered by advertisement^ and paid as 

 long as one could be thus obtained. Of the new 

 edition there will be but a small impression, (as it 

 will be wanting only to complete full sets,) and 

 therefore the cxpenseof printing will necessarily be 

 great compared to the returns ; and most probably, 

 the sales will not cover the cost. Those who de- 

 sire to be certainly and speedily supplied with 

 copies, are requested to send their orders and pay- 

 ments as early as may be convenient. 



SMITH FUND. 



The subscribers to the "Smith Fund" are re- 

 quested to make payment, forthwith, by checks 

 payable to the order of the undersigned, or in any 

 other manner. The committee will not wait more 

 than a few weeks longer to dispose of the portion 

 already received, even if the much larger balance 

 subscribed should still remain unpaid. 

 For the Committee, 



Edmund Ruffin. 



Petersburg, Fa., March 30, 1839. 



STATE OF THE MULBERRY TRADE. 



Since our last remarks on this subject, there 

 has not only been no decline of prices, but they 



