VOL. XVI. NO. 51. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



403 



after agf^s, '"^y ''e indicated, more extensive thnn 

 those of Alexander, Augustus or Tamerlan(!. Fa- 

 cilities of eoniinunication may he no extended, 

 tliut a continent can be advantageously uniifd in 

 one vast Uepuhlic. 



Already have the predictions of Eiiro[iean 

 statesman, that our Federal Repuhlic wouhl fall in 

 pieces by reason of its extent, and, the inconve- 

 nience of communication, been falsified by the 

 Steamboat and J^ocomotive Engine. 



The dream of the Poet — 



" Westward the march of Empire takes its way," 

 is realized. 



Maclaren, a British writer of authority, has re- 

 corded the opinion, that this Continent, though 

 less th.'in half the size of the old, contains an equal 

 quantity i^f useful soil, and a much more than 

 equal quantity of productive power. He esti- 

 mates that in America there are ujjwards of four 

 millions of square miles of land, each capable of 

 supporting two hundred persons, and nearly six 

 millions of square niiles, each cajiable of support- 

 ing four hundred and ninety persons. 



The above estimate of the capability of America, 

 to support a dense population, would give us ten 

 millions of sqiuire miles of fertile soil, averaging 

 three hundred and seventy-four persons to the 

 square mile, and an aggregate of three thousand 

 seven himdred and forty millions of inhabitants. 

 The existing population of America isextimated at 

 thirty-seven millions, which, if we adopt these 

 data, vvoidd give three and seven tenths inhabi- 

 tants to each square mile of productive soil. 



The most improved and best cidtivated portions 

 of the earth, as Great Britain, Holland, and Bel- 

 fjium, average about two liumlred itdiabitants to 

 the .square mile of their whole area. Pennsylva- 

 nia contains about thirty, and her best cultivated 

 agricultural counties, as Montgomery, about one 

 hundred. 



In Great Britain only sixty-four thousand square 

 miles, or one half the entire surface, has yet been 

 brought under cidtivatiou, — so that the present 

 population is nearly four hundred inhabitants to 

 every square mde of cultivated soil. Her politi- 

 cal economists estimate that the land now in cid- 

 tivation could be made to |iroduce sufficient bread, 

 vegetables, and meat, for seventy millions of in- 

 habitants, or nearly three times the existing num- 

 ber. 



The elaborate report of the Secretary of the 

 Treasury of the United States, of Dec. 5th, 1837, 

 exhibits a view of the production, and consump- 

 tion of wheat flour and meal, of great interest to the 

 farmer. He estimates our population at fifteen 

 millions, and the consum()tion of each individual 

 to averaire a pound of flour or meal per day. "At 

 the price of 3 cents ])er lb. for wheat flour and 

 only 1 1-2 cents per pound for meal from the 

 cheaper varieties of grain, which is not far from 

 the average of 1834 and '35, the cost of bread 

 alone (if only one half the population used wheat 

 flour, and the other materials less costly) would 

 'be about one hundred and twenty-four millions of 

 dollars." This is exclusive of the " vast quantity 

 of grain which is distilled, or employed in the 

 arts, or consumed by domestic animals." 



But at the increased cost of last year, estimated 

 in the report at 80 per cent., the value of bread 

 BtufTs alone, consumed by our own population, 

 would be about two hundred and twenty-four 

 millions of dollars. The data furnished by the 

 Secretary of the Treasury, while they show the 



enormous domestic consumption of bread stuffs, 

 exhibit at the same time the couq)ai-ative insignifi- 

 cance of the foieigu markets, the exports to all of 

 which diu-itip the most pruduc-.tive years have been 

 but about fourteen millions of dollars. 



Let the Agriculturist remember, 1st. That the 

 increased consumption of grain has for severr.l 

 years more than equalled the augmented produc- 

 tion. 2dly. The abstraction of hands froiri rural 

 labor for manufacturing and labor upon (lublic 

 improvements. 3<lly. The shortness of the last 

 crop, as compared with average seasons, in sev- 

 eral important sections. 4lhly. The fact that im- 

 provements in husbandry are necessarily adopted 

 very gradually. These may be coiisidi;red rea- 

 sons sufficient to account not only for the present 

 high price of produce, but a fair calculation may 

 be predicated thereon, that there must be at least 

 two consecutively productive seasons before prices 

 can be reduced to a low standard. 



This should operate as a stimulus to every man 

 connected with the cultivation of the soil, by judi- 

 cious experiments with the various descriptions of 

 manures, and othc'r methods of cultivaticui, to ex- 

 tract from the earth the full amount it is capable 

 of producing. For even in this " Pennsylvania 

 of ours," though pre-eminently a faru)ing slate, 

 scientific agricidture has not progressed in a com- 

 parative ratio, to its importance. 



But another duty woidd remain, namely; to 

 coimnunicate to others the infi)rmation gained by 

 judgtnent and skill. To efl^ect this the Periodical 

 AgritMjItural jjress of our country affords an excel- 

 lent medium. The establishment of such papers 

 indeed, constitute an important era in Agricultural 

 history. For who can estimate the vast amount 

 of every species of improve iient in cultivation, 

 the results of individual exertion for ages, that has 

 been lost for the want of convenient methods of 

 communication. Your FrienrI, 



MORRIS LONGSTRETH. 

 Valley Green, 1st, mo. 1st, 1838. 



SALE OF BLOOD CATTLE AT BLOOM 

 FIELD. NEW YORK. 



We extract the following account of an exten- 

 sive sale of blood cattle, at Bloomfield.N. Y. from 

 the Rochester, N. Y. Daily Advertiser of the 5th 

 inst. We are gratified to perceive from it, that 

 our neighbors, Messrs Jas. and Thos. P. Dudi.ev, 

 extensive stock raisers of this country, were the 

 pm-chasers of five of the most choice animals of- 

 fered at this sale. Such importations as these, 

 are not only valuable acquisitions to these gentle- 

 men, but will prove highly serviceable to the stock 

 raisers of this region, in the improvement of their 

 breeils. Messrs T. P. and Jno. W. Dudlet have 

 sold upwards of $3,000 worth of Durham cattle 

 since the 1st of March last. — Kentucky paper. 



The animals sold, belonged to Thos. Weddle, 

 Esq. 



cows AND HEIFERS. 



Gazelle; 1 yr. old, bought by John Robin- 

 son, Palmyra, Wayne co. N. Y. $234 

 Camilla ; 2, Gen. Dudley, Kentucky, 520 

 Brilliant; 1 1-2 do do 500 

 Beauty ; 8, Allan Brown, Bristol, Ontario 



CO. N. Y. 342 

 Lady Bower ; 5, J. Robinson, Palmyra, 



Wayne co. N. Y. 252 



Primrose; Gen. Dudley, Kentucky, 400 



Prize; 4, Gen. Fordon, Seneca, Onlaria 



CO. N. Y. 450 



Daisey ; 4, VVm. Squires, Genesco, Livings- 

 ton CO. N. Y. 365 



Sylvia; 5, (supposed barren) William Gar- 

 butt, Wheatland, Monroe co. N. Y. 165 



Victoria; 2, Pitts, Richmond, Onta- 

 rio, CO. N. Y. 400 



Jessemine ; 6 months, Wm. R. Smith, Ma- 



cedon. Wayne co. N. Y. 205 



Diana and Daphne, twin calves, 3 weeks, 



Juo. Baker, Macedon, Wayne co. N. Y. 300 



BULLS. 



Rover; 4 yrs. old, bought by Gen. Dudley, 



Ky. $520 



Alexander; 3 1-2 S.Steele, East Bloomfield, 



Ontario co. N. Y. 461 



Leo ; 1 1-2, Guy Collings, do do 361 



Oiion ; 2, Gen. Dudley, Kentucky, 600 



Forager ; 9 months, B. Thomas, Canan- 



daigna, Ontario co. N. Y. 225 



Splendor ; D. M. Smith, Avon, Livingston 



co.N.Y. 300 



Eclm ; 1 yr. A. Brown, Bristol, Ontario co. 



N. Y. 600 



Primus and Comet ; twin calves, 2 weeks, 



J. Robinson, Palmyra, Wayne co. N. Y. 170 



Magnum Bonum, 6 mouths, (half Alder- 

 ny,) Norton, E. Bloomfield, On- 

 tario CO. N. Y. 100 

 At the above mentioned sale of Thomas Wed- 



dle's slock, three cows and their calves sold for 



$4,916, as follows : 



Primrose, $400 



Camilla, 2 years, 520 



Echo, 1 do. 600 



Two weeks twins, 170 



1690 



Prize, 4 years old, 450 



Orion, "2 years, 600 



Gazelle, 1 year, 234 



Twins, 3 weeks old, 300 



1584 



Beauty, 8 years old, 342 



Brilliant, 1 and half year, 500 

 Splendour, 7 months, 300 



Neptune, 3 yrs. (sold previ- 

 ously,) 500 



1642 



$4916 



The cotton crop this year is an extraordinary 

 product compared with previous years. Bets 

 are made at New Orleans that it will not fall 

 short of one 7nillian tight hundred thousand 

 bales. This is the real gold of our staples, and 

 the excess of two or three hundred thousand 

 bales over last year will keep the foreign exchan- 

 ges in our favor while we are backed by such 

 wealth, which is more substaniial than specie — 

 JV. y. Star. 



TOLLS AND TRADE OF THE CANALS. 



The tolls collected anil merchandise cleared at 

 Albany and West Troy, during the 3d week in 

 May, 1837 und 1838, show an aggregate increase 

 at Albany and West Iroy, over the corresponding 

 week of last year, of sixty-one per cent, in tolls 

 received, and fifty,>six jier cent, in merchandise 

 cleared, 



