THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



705 



There^ are, always, in resuming specie pay- 

 ments alter a prolracied 6ue|)cnsion, dKIicultles lo 

 be eneouii'.ereJ, whicli vary in dillerctu places, 

 and at diHerenl limes ; in the intercourse between 

 two countries, or iwo districts ol' the same coun- 

 try, that which is possessed of the greatest circu- 

 lating capital will, generally, be creditor ol" the 

 other. The ciiy ol New York, partly on thai 

 account, and also liom its having become tlie 

 principal centre of the commerce and money 

 transactions of (he United Siatis, is generally 

 creditor in relerence to all the other sections ol' 

 the country; but, lor the sanje reasons, the Uni- 

 ted Stales are generally indebted to Europe, and 

 New York is the place where that debt is concen- 

 trated and must be provided lor. On that account, 

 it would have been very difficult lor the banks of 

 this city lo have resumed, so long as the foreign 

 exchanges were unfavorable ; and they must al- 

 ways be prepared lor such a contingency. At 

 this moment, there is a continued exportation of 

 specie Irora this port to Europe, amounting to 

 four or five hundred thousand dollars a week, and 

 which, in the opinion of men of business, may 

 continue six weeks longer. It has not, as yet, 

 affected our banks, the specie wanted having 

 been supplied by an influx Irora various parts of 

 the country. It must be admitted that this drain, 

 whilst it continues, renders the general resump- 

 tion somewhat more difficult ; but the portion 

 which you might be called on to supply would 

 be 60 small, that, so far as you are concerned, 

 ^his can hardly be considered as an impediment. 



West New Jersey is, however, in the natural 

 course of trade, generally indebted to Philadel- 

 phia ; and if, as q necessary preliminary to a re- 

 sumption, the portion of that debt which is pay- 

 able, not in Philadelphia, but in New Jersey, 

 has not been considerably diminished, money 

 dealers may, if you resume before Philadelphia, 

 compel your merchants to pay tha» portion in 

 specie. This may render it necessary lor your 

 banks to be better provided than would otherwise 

 be requisite ; and it seems to me that this is the 

 only special difficulty growing out of your com- 

 mercial connexion with Philadelphia, which you 

 have to encounter. 



1 lake il for granted, that your banks have pre- 

 served the public confidence at home, and will 

 be supported by the community, so liar as to be 

 in no danger of a sudden run whenever you re- 

 sume. It was the total loss of that confidence by 

 the United Slates Bank of Pennsylvania, which 

 caused the failure of the attempt to resume in 

 January last. There would have been no diffi- 

 culty, had the other banks of Philadelphia re- 

 sumed alone, without making the vain atiempl to 

 sustain that bankrupt institution. 



1 hesitated whether I would answer your letter, 

 partly because I had not the information necessa- 

 ry to form a correct opinion of the practicability, 

 which, in my view of the subject, is the only 

 question open to discussion ; partly because nei- 

 ther this city, nor perhaps the country ai large, 

 can be materially affected by the course you may 

 pursue ; and I have no wish or business to inter- 

 fere with the local concerns of another state. Yet, 

 though-ihe evils of a protracted suspension on 

 your part may fall almost exclusively upon your- 

 selves, I am fully sensible of the moral effect 

 which your resuming, without waiting for the ac- 

 VoL. IX.-72 



tion oflhe adjacent state, may have on public 

 opinion there and in other quarters. 



There appears to br^ an increasing disposition 

 in Philadelphia and New Orleans, towards an 

 early resumption ; and I cherish the hope that it 

 will be found practicable in both places. That 

 event would, in its consequences, be decisive, and 

 restore the currency almost universally. 



I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, 

 your obedient servant, Albert Gallatiw. 



To T. Abbott, Jr., Esq., 

 Trenton, N. J. 



Fertile Farmers' Register. 

 ON THE DEGENERATING, AND NECESSARY 

 CHANGES OF SEED WHEAT. 



Shirley, Dec. lOth, 1841. 



jDear sir :—l observed a call upon some of the 

 James river farmers in the last No. of the Far- 

 mers' Register to present their opposite views of 

 preference lor each of sundry different kinds of 

 wheat as the supposed best crop, and aa I was 

 named among them, I will proceed to give some 

 account of the different kinds of wheat which 

 have been cultivated in this neighborhood, and 

 the run they have had, for the last five and twen- 

 ty years during which I have been a farmer. 

 When I was a boy, about the year 1809, or 1810, 

 I recollect hearing a good deal about the Balti- 

 more bearded wheat, as it was then called, [or 

 golden-chaff.] which I believe had a great rup 

 about that time, and in 1816, when I began to 

 farm, I found it yet in vogue, and quite popular, 

 though the white May wheat was then the great 

 rage, particularly for good land. The white May 

 wheat had a run of some 10 or 15 years, and then 

 degenerated so much as lo be abandoned, and is 

 now hardly to be met with at all. 



The mountain purple straw wheat next had its 

 run, and a most admirable wheat it was, and the 

 longest in degenerating of any wheat we have 

 ever had ; but, alas ! it has had its day, for it has 

 now degenerated very much. The next wheat 

 was the turkey wheat, or blue stem, as it is called 

 by some, which is a very superior wheat, and 

 next to the purple straw the beet wheat we have 

 ever had, and promises to continue as long a 

 favorite as the mountain purple straw did ; but it 

 will degenerate after a while no doubt, Ab all 

 wheats in our climate do. There have been 

 many other wheats which have been popular for 

 short periods during the same time with the 

 above wheats ; for instance, the yellow lammas, 

 (he goose wheat, the white flint wheat, the Law- 

 ler wheat, th ■ red May wheat, and many others ; 

 but they were short-lived. There is one thing 

 I have observed in all new wheats, that they all, 

 or nearly all of them, succeed well for a short 

 period, and frequently belter the first year than 

 ever after; which has led me to suppose that our 

 climate and soil have the effect lo degenerate the 

 wheat plant, and that we should procure new 

 seed from a distance every five or ten years at 

 least, or resort to selecting our seed from the most 

 perfect and most forward heads every year, and 

 keep up the quality in that way, which was done 

 with the white May wheat form'erly, and kept it up 

 no doubt for a longer time than it otherwise 



