No. 2. 



Tests of a thriving Population. 



63 



year our wheat crop will be near the same, 

 and the corn a much larger crop, from two 

 fo three thousand bushels; say 2,r)00 bushels 

 from sixty acres. Remember, this is on a 

 farm that was so poor tliat the former owner 

 sowed no wheat for a niunber of years be 

 fore he sold: — all told with the application 

 of plaster and marl, and no mistake. Last 

 fall I purchased another tarm, 353 acres, ad- 

 joining the one spoken of, and we are going 

 ahead with it as we did with the first; hav- 

 ing a son on each farm, working-men of the 

 right stamp, I trust we will continue to go 

 ahead, if Providence is pleased to bless and 

 prosper our efforts as heretofore. The marl 

 spoken of, lies high and dry on the bank of 

 the Sassafras river, and raising with the bank 

 at an angle of about 45 degrees, it is from 

 six to thirteen feet thick, when it comes to 

 a level on the top; and so far as we have 

 operated, there is from none to 13 feet of 

 dirt on the top, which we wheel off with a 

 wheelbarrow and tumble it into the river, 

 where there is a breast of 10 or 12 feet. 

 The colour varies much; the top is gene- 

 rally green — some stratas dark brown; some 

 brighter ; some pale green ; some dark, or 

 blue-black, &c ; but it is invariably black, 

 or blue-black, in the bottom. In one place 

 where the bottom was very dark it smelled 

 of sulphur, and when dry on top, a white 

 crust forms, tasting strong of alum : this 

 last injures vegetation when put on heavily. 

 When we first opened the pit there were 

 some large shells resembling clams, and 

 thousands of small ones, about the size of 

 the thumb-nail, entirely round, but in work 

 ing further in they disappeared, but the 

 prints of them show here and there a 

 through the mass. I have had it analyzed 

 by Professors Booth and Boye, of Philadel 

 phia, and they say the principal fertilizing 

 quality is potassa; it contains from four 

 and a half to five and three-quarters per 

 cent, of potassa, with smaller portions of 

 lime and magnesia. 



Respectfully, 



Joseph Griffith. 



Newark, Del., Sept. 1st, 1845. 



Tests of a thriving Population. 



Charles Smith, in his Tracts on the 

 Corn Trade, estimated the population of 

 England and Wales in 1760, at 6,000,000, 

 which is sufficiently near the truth for our 

 present inquiry. The entire consumption 

 of grain at that time, he estimated to be 

 7,566,350 quarters; of which 3,750,000 

 quarters were wheat, and of the remainder 

 1,026,125 consisted of barley, 999,000 of 

 rye, and 1,791,225 of oats. 



The change which has taken place in the 

 species of grain used for bread in England 

 since the period referred to by Charl<>s Smith, 

 is notorious. Rye has almost entirely ceased 

 to be employed. The same remark might 

 almost be applied to barley; and oat meal 

 and oat cake are not consumed to any thing 

 like the same extent as in the previous cen- 

 tury. Almost every individual now uses 

 vvheaten bread; and in some of our manu- 

 facturing towns, the inferior sorts even of 

 vvheaten flour have been rejected by all ex- 

 cept the most indigent classes. 



The total average produce of grain in 

 England and Wales, has been estimated, 

 within the last ten years, at 29,450,000 

 quarters; of which 12,450,000 quarters con- 

 sist of wheat, (M'Culloch's "Statistics of 

 the British Empire," i. 529.) It would thus 

 appear, that whilst the population of Eng- 

 land and Wales has doubled, the consump- 

 tion of wheat, as well as of other grain, haa 

 nearly quadrupled ; for the home producer 

 is unable to supply the demand of the con- 

 sumers, and an annual average of at least 

 500,000 quarters of wheat may be added to 

 the total quantity produced at "home, on ac- 

 count of foreign importations. 



Test by Butcher's meat. — In a similar 

 manner, in regard to butcher's meat; if we 

 take the market of the metropolis, we shall 

 find that the number of cattle and sheep an- 

 nually sold at Smithfield, has doubled within 

 the last century, whilst the weight of the 

 carcass has also more than doubled in that 

 interval. In the early part of last century, 

 1710, according to an estimate made by Dr. 

 Davenant, the nett weight of the cattle sold 

 at Smithfield, averaged not more than 370 

 pounds, whilst calves averaged about 50 

 pounds, and sheep 28 pounds. In 1800, the 

 nett weight of the cattle was estimated at 

 800 pounds; of the calves at 140 pounds; 

 of the sheep at 80 pounds. 



Again, in 1742, we find 79,601 head of 

 cattle, 503,260 sheep, to be the numbers 

 sold at Smithfield; in 1842, the numbers 

 had increased to 175,347 cattle, 1,485,900 

 sheep. According to the calculation which 

 M'Culloch adapted for the amount in 1830, 

 when he sets down 154,434,850 pounds for 

 the supply of butcher's meat required in 

 London, if we assume the population to 

 have then amounted to 1,450,000 exclusive- 

 ly of some suburban districts, we should 

 find the average annual consumption of each 

 individual to be very nearly 107 pounds. 



The returns obtained by the Statistical 

 Society of Manchester, as to t!:e cattle sold 

 in the markets of that town, furnish an an- 

 nual consumption of not less than 105 pounds 

 of butcher's meat for each inhabitant. In 



