1839] 



F A R iM E R 8 ' REGISTER 



393 



on from the ditches and spread ; raked in rye and 

 •Trass seed. Crop, 5^ bushels rye, and 18 to 20 

 cwt. of hay, wiliiout manure. 



Lots No. 5 and 6. Potatoes, squashes, pumj)- 

 kins, &c., with coarse barn and stable manure. 



Jjot No. 7. Corn, potatoes, and squashep. 



The amount of manure used on the whole 

 piece, about G cords; 2 casks ol' Hiiie, 1 bushel 

 salt. 



Estimate worth of crops, and expenses. 



Crops. 



327 bushels potatoes, at 60 cts. per 



bushel, - - - - 5^196 20 

 5^ bushels rye, at .^1 25 cts. per 



bushel, - - - - 6 87 



8| bushels of corn, at §1 per bushel, 8 50 

 100 " rula bagas, at 30 cts, 



per bushel, . - - 30 00 



IS to 20 cwt. hay, - - - 12 00 



50 dozen cabbages, ai 50 cts. per doz. 25 00 



2000 lbs. squashes, - - - 20 00 



Value of fuel taken off, at least 25 00 



.§332 57 

 Expenses. 

 Cost of land, - - - !g25 00 

 Labor, per contract, - - 86 50 



Ninety-four claj's by help on (arm, 70 50 

 Seed potatoes, - - - 15 00 



Rye and grass seed, - - 1 17 



Six cords manure, - - 30 00 



Two casks lime, - - 2 00 



Twenty-two days labor, gathering 

 crops, - - - - 16 50 $246 67 



Net profit, - - - - S76 90 

 The present value of the land I leave for the 

 judgment of the committee. 



VVm. Osbokn, Jr. 

 December, 1838. 



LABOR— THE GR£;AT WANT OF THE TIDE WA- 

 TER COUNTRY. 



Editoiial from tlie Amciicuu Farmer. 



Taking Maryland as an example for the whole 

 tide-water, slave-holding country, we believe it 

 might be sifely affirmed that in the twenty coun- 

 ties of this slate, one hundred thousand able bo- 

 died laborers might he profitably cujployed in ag- 

 riculture. Thai, is — one hundred thousand could, 

 with their labor, produce as much as would give 

 them comibrlable subsistence, supplying abun- 

 dantly ail essential wants, and leave a sur|)lus 

 adequate to the support of a small family /breach 

 laborer. The very lands that now lie waste, ab- 

 solutely waste, in sur|)lus wood and unimproved 

 swamps in IMaryland, yielding no interest on the 

 capital which the owner esteems such lands to be 

 worth, would support, and well support iLuir times 

 the present population of Maryland. When we 

 say four times, we do not name that number as 

 the result of any thing like exact calculation, in- 

 tendiiiir only to be within bounds, ii a wall, like 

 that ol' China had been built around "the old thir- 

 teen" at the lime when ihcy resolved to set uji 

 for themselves, how ditlcicuL would bo ihcii a^ncct^ 

 Vou. Vll-50 



and how much more highly cultivated, populousj 

 strong and comfortable at this time — but our policy 

 has been, by the prodigal management of our 

 public domain, to set in motion a constant current 

 of emigration, which has not only carried ofi' from 

 the sea-board, all accessions of labor and capital 

 from Europe, but which has drained the old slates 

 of their most active and vigorous population. In 

 the low price of the public lands, and the doors 

 left open for speculation and frauds, the most 

 tempting bribes have been ofj'ered (or the desertion 

 and abandonment of the most glorious climate 

 and country that God ever spread out for man^s 

 enjoyment, between the Delaware and the Mis- 

 sissippi east of the mountains. Was ever country 

 so well watered and so abounding in all that land 

 and water can contribute to good living? Yet 

 for want of labor, and of capital to hire it, lands 

 lie waste and unimproved that would feed, clothe, 

 educate and supply with all the necessaries of civ- 

 ilized life, twenty millions of people without being 

 crowded — two things appear to Ixj wanting to bring 

 our waste or unoccupied lands into active produc- 

 tiveness — Capital — and skill and prudence to op* 

 ply it exclusively and faithfully to that object — how 

 can these two desiderata be supplied — banks have 

 we had over and over again — most of them char- 

 tered under a promise of benefit to the agricultu- 

 ral inlerest — scarcely one of (hem in (own or out, 

 I that does not bear {hat prestige on its face— read 

 the promises of their notes, and you might swear 

 that Agricola was the God of their idolatry — some 

 with rank imposture display sheaves of the rank- 

 est wheat — others Iiogsheads of tobacco that look 

 as handsome as any that ever were made by a 

 Bowie or a Barbour — but these like the promises 

 of political aspirants before an election — are made 

 to the ear — and broken to the hope. The dele- 

 gates of ihe landed interest, of whom these char- 

 ters were obtained, have given themselves and 

 their time too much to party intrigues — the thought 

 and the labor that ought to have been exclusively 

 and conscientiously bestowed in devising means 

 to give activity and profit to capital in real estate, 

 the best of all capital, have been devoted to their 

 own aggrandizement — or in still more disreputa- 

 ble subserviency to the schemes of profligate and 

 ambitious partizans — men who would sooner rend 

 asunder every tie of social and political existence 

 than not be successful in some trick of grovelling 

 ambition and selfishness — some of your neiv fledged 

 friends of the dear people ! 



Is their no means by wliich the wants we have 

 indicated can be supplied? — no means whereby 

 the farmer can anticipate what is in his land- 

 Credit, which is so much abused in a tV70-(bld 

 sense, is the lilij-blood of a new country — it ena- 

 bles us, by the application of a skilful industry to 

 make something out of nolliing — it is the true 

 elixir whereby we are empoweicd to open a gold 

 mine in every unimproved swnmp, and in every 

 piece of uncleared land — what farmer or planter, 

 of ordinary skill, industry and firecast, that if he 

 had means to hire additional force, even ten times 

 as much as he has, could not sufiport in comfort 

 and pay that additional lurce and augment (he 

 value and productiveness of his estate — but wiiere 

 can he get the capital— if he borrow of a bank, it 

 must be on ''real papcr,'^ to be paid back in a short 

 lime, even before Ids moj^l rational and infallible 

 anangcuicafs ibr im|uovenicnt ul" hm hmd have 



