No. 6. 



Editorial JVotices. 



199 



A PRIVATE letter dated the 10th ult., at Hannibal, 

 Missouri, " a town of very quick growth, of, say 2,500 

 inhabitants," lying on the Mississippi, one hundred 

 miles or so above St. Louis, advises us that the past 

 year has not been a favourable one for the farmer, 

 throughout a large part of Missouri. " Wheat in Han- 

 nibal," says the viriter, " is worth si.\ty-three cents a 

 bushel. This high price is owing to its having been 

 winter killed: and the opinion is, that the last harvest 

 was more than 50 per cent, short of a fair crop. Corn 

 is worth twenty cents a bushel, and oats from ten to 

 fifteen. Pork brings from $1 to $2 per hundred; and 

 beef is dull sale for cash, at 75 cents to $1 per hundred, 

 by the quarter. Land is from $1 25— the Government 

 price— to $20 per acre. Speculations in land have been 

 extensive, and many of them ruinous. Those who 

 purchased upon credit, and are burdened with debt, 

 find it hard to relieve themselves at the present prices 

 of produce. 



"I start for Iowa tomorrow morning. The river 

 being full of ice, there have been no arrivals from be- 

 low for the last week or two, and none are expected: 

 so having purchased a pair of saddle-bags at St. Louis, 

 I shall pick them up and start ofl" across the country, 

 through Palmyra, the belle of northern Missouri, and 

 so on in a north-west direction to Salem, Iowa, dis- 

 tant from 150 to 200 miles, which I think I can walk 

 in si.'C days, health being good and weather permit- 

 ting." 



We do not envy our traveller the toating of his sad 

 die-bags:— but to a person who has hitherto scarcely 

 seen the country or society beyond the smoke of our 

 cities, such a walk must throw open a field for obser- 

 vation and reflection, which had been scarcely antici- 

 pated. 



The Cultivator for this month, reaches us in an oc- 

 tavo form, which is a decided improvement. The edi- 

 tors have associated with them in its management, 

 Sanford Howard, late of the Zanesville Gazette. The 

 paper contains its usual amount of valuable matter; 

 and without flattery to its proprietor, we remark that 

 in its appearance, it is as neat as our own. 



Johnson's Gardener's Almanac, and " Olenmfs Oar- 

 den Almanac and Florist's Directory," both for 1844, 

 and both published in London, contain, besides the 

 Calendar, and other matter common to such annuals, 

 a great variety of information, which the amateur flo- 

 rist and gardener will not fail to appreciate very 

 highly. 



It is not in our line to meddle much with flowers 

 and flower-pots— with the rose and the dahlia, and the 

 fuchsia, and the ten thousand occupants of the green- 

 Louse, else we might draw a full chapter from these 

 unassuming publications to please the lover of flowers, 

 and give new hints to such of our readers as delight in 

 the cultivation of a taste, so in harmony with oar 

 kindliest feelings, and so generally cherished by per- 

 sons of refined and meliorated affections. Instead of 

 the green-house, the hot-house and the herbarium, our 

 duty lies in quite another direction — with the barn— 

 the hay-field, and the granary; instead of talking 

 learnedly of the camellia and the tulip, we must be 

 content with the humble subjects oflfered in the apple, 

 the turnip and the wheat : instead of the tiny instru 



ment used by the still more delicate hand of the culti- 

 vator of flowers, we must be found looking after the 

 plough, the grubbing-hoe, and the threshing-machine. 

 Yet our task, rude as it may be, is not without its in- 

 terest, nor, as we trust, without high incentives to 

 usefulness. The flower garden and the greenhouse, 

 and the wilderness of roses are indeed delightful ; they 

 multiply and minister to the enjoyments of social life, 

 and give to leisure hours an employment which may 

 enable us to forget the ruggedness of those of toil. 

 But our walk is not among flowers, which have been 

 beautifully represented as the poetry of nature;— it is 

 in thecorn-field and the meadow, — and our "conversa- 

 tion must be of bullocks ;" yet we must confess we re- 

 member occasionally, with some degree of complacen- 

 cy, that " it is by these we live." 



The quantity of rain and melted snow which fell du- 

 ring the Twelfth mo., (Dec.,) 1843, was 4.041 in. 



And the quantity which fell during each month of the 

 year 1843, was as follows, viz: 



months. inches. 



1st 1.440 



2nd 2..540 



3rd 4.415 



4tll 4.723 



5th 2.045 



6th 1.686 



7th 4.543 



8th g.055 



9th 4.856 



10th 3.220 



11th 4.148 



12th 4.041 



Fell during the year 1843, 46.912 



The quantity of rain and melted snow which has 

 fallen each year, for 20 years. 



years. inches. 



1824 38.740 



1825 29.570 



1826 35.140 



1827 38.500 



1828 37.970 



1829 41.850 



1830 45.070 



1831 43.940 



1832 39.870 



1833 48.550 



1834 34.240 



1835 39.300 



1836 42.6C0 



1837 ... 39.040 



1838 45.289 



1839 43.739 



1840 47.400 



1841 55.500 



1842 48.538 



1843 46.912 



Amount in 20 years, 841.818 

 Average annual fall for the last 20 years, 42.09 

 Penn. Hospital, 1st mo. 1st, 1844. 



