492 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



to close his remarks with a summary of the other 

 prmcipal products, and " leaves the reader to 

 judge of their accuracy," with the observation, 

 that " some of them are not over-estimated." We 

 have followed this writer so far, exposing his 

 blunders and proving his ignorance, with all due 

 patience ; but the last of his remarks, with its af- 

 fectation of knowledge, we confess is unbearable. 

 How does X, know, or how is it possible lor him 

 to know, whether the returns of the assistants to 

 the marshals be over-estimated'? The fact is, 

 there is no estimation about if. The numbers 

 were obtained from the heads of families ihrough- 

 out the union, in answer to the interrogatories put 

 by the assistant marshals, and are only so far er- 

 roneous, as they may have misstated ignoranlly, 

 or falsified their business, in answer to the ques- 

 tions so put. 



It was a novel attempt in this country to obtain 

 statistical information on an extended scale, and it 

 is with deep regret we are compelled to say, that 

 but for the opposition of evil-disposed men, who con- 

 trolled a portion of the public press at the time, the 

 work would have been much more perfect. There 

 can be little doubt, from the tone of X., that he 

 was one of those who himself set an example of 

 contumacy, and advised others not to submit to 

 the perquisition of the government of the United 

 States, who bade the laws defiance, and, of course, 

 he has the best right to find fault, if they were 

 not executed to please him. 



In sivina an opinion of the statistics as obtain- 

 ed under the, 13ih section of the act of 1839, it 

 will not be pretended that the work is perfect ; but 

 we will say, that notwithstanding the errors of 

 omission, from individuals refusing to answer, and 

 the misconceptions which have sometimes taken 

 place, that when the work is published at large, it 

 will excite surprise and attention, both at home 

 and abroad, and upon the whole present a gratify- 

 ing resuh. W. 



[To save time, we have submitted the foregoing 

 letter of correction to our correspondent, X., and 

 present his rejoinder in connexion, as it will ap- 

 pear below. — Ed. F. R.] 



REJOINDER. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 X. denies that he intended to make false im- 

 pressions. On the contrary, his object was to 

 prevent their being made, by the statement which 

 took the rounds of the newspapers, as emanating 

 from an official source, and which is now admitted 

 by W. to be crude, imperfect and erroneous, " a 

 mere sample," and a very bad one, which ought 

 not to have been published. The public prints, 

 adopting without reflection the false premises of 

 the statement, have made comments which are 

 calculated to mislead ; and even that erudite work, 

 " the North American Review," has adopted, as 

 correct, the Louisiana return of 249 millions 

 pounds of sugar, which is about treble the quanti- 

 ty produced in the most favorable year, and more 

 than quadruple the average annual product. 

 The reviewer may well say " it will excite univer- 

 sal surprise." W. passes over this error without 

 remark, and fixes on the 10 millions maple sugar 

 in the New York return, to found his charge of 



ignorance against X., who still believ'es this to be 

 an exaggeration. Those who are acquainted with 

 the process of making maple sugar, who know 

 the period of time during which the sap can be 

 obtained, and the quantity which a hand can col- 

 lect and boil down, may calculate the number of 

 persons it requires to produce 10 millions of 

 pounds. 



X. was actuated by no illiberal or improper 

 motives in making his strictures, and he not only 

 furnished to the marshal a correct return, but en- 

 deavored to have them furnished by others. He 

 had never seen the Senate Document, and did not 

 know of its publication. He based his remarks 

 on the tables which were exclusively published 

 in the newspapers, additions and all. He did not 

 falsify them, and the blunders are not of his 

 makmg. This item of tobacco is precisely as he 

 stated it and the addition of 78,070,806 as printed 

 in the tables is correct. The line for Virginia is 

 14,157,841 and he is not responsible lor the error 

 in it of 60 millions, as there was nothing to 

 indicate such error when the items and the sum 

 total corresponded. W. admits that an error of 

 3 millions has since been discovered. The omis- 

 sions of returns from several states was specially 

 noticed by X., particularly in regard to the to- 

 bacco and hemp of Kentucky, and the naval 

 stores of North Carolina. So that here was no 

 intention to mislead ; and as to the product of naval 

 sto'res in Louisiana, W. does not and probably 

 cannot assert that it la correct, and he is silent on 

 the subject of hemp and flax, conscious no doubt 

 of the magnitude of the errors, 843,000 tons ex- 

 clusive of Kentucky! More glarinir than even 

 the 281 millions pounds of sugar. The produce 

 of the whole globe is estimated at 18,080,000 cwt. 

 It is admitted by W. that there was an error in 

 the returns of silk cocoons in Pennsylvania, in- 

 stead of 238,939 pounds it is 7262 ! Who falsi- 

 fied the document in this item 1 X. did not 

 charge falsification, but error. 



The indiscriminate returns of ginned and seed 

 cotton were mentioned by X., and the inutility of 

 such returns pointed out by showing to what 

 erroneous deductions they might lead. As the 

 marshals returns " were found to abound in 

 errors," the publication of them without correction 

 is the less justifiable ; but the present incumbents 

 are not responsible for the blunders of their prede- 

 cessors, and instead of undertaking to defend, 

 they would have acted more wisely to have 

 cautioned the public against them, with a promise 

 to correct them. 



X. is charged with •' ignorance and blunders," 

 and asked " how it is possible he should know 

 whether the returns of' the assistant marshals 

 be over estimated." He replies by referring to 

 the returns of hemp and flax, sugar and silk, the 

 over-estimates of which are too obvious to be mis- 

 taken. 



Thus it appears that the errors as exhibited to 

 the public were not of X.'s making, and if his re- 

 marks have caused more attention to be paid to- 

 wards rendering the tables accurate, he does not 

 regret having made them, and he can bear the 

 sneers of W. without mortification. 



P. S. The July number o f Farmers' JMagazine, 

 published in London, contains the " Agricultural 

 statistics of the United States compiled from the 



