No. 9. 



Seasonable Remarks. 



281 



more profit in rnindinpf their own business; 

 consequently the only alternative is to select 

 from the second best clnss, who sotuctimes net 

 alonrr pretty well, hut it is sekioni tliat the 

 funds raised for repairinn; roads are as judi- 

 ciously expended as they mifjht, and ouo-littn 

 be. The subject of makinfr and repairinj^r 

 roads is one of sreat interest, and if an able 

 hand, who has the requisite knowledge, would 

 furnish for publication in the Cabinet suitable 

 instructions on it, jrreat good to the public 

 might result from it. It is hoped that in the 

 discussion of various matters interesting to 

 farmers, this may not escape the attention it 

 so manifestly require.s. Montgomery. 



Seasonable RciBtarks. 



To the Editor of ilie Farmers' Cabinet. 



S(R^ — Being in company a short time since, 

 and talking of the Agricultural Company of 

 Australia, some of the officers belonging to 

 which I had known, I ventured to wonder 

 they should have thought it necessary to go 

 to the other end ot the world to grow Merino 

 wool, when many parts of this country offer 

 such facilities for the purpose, and where all 

 that they ever contemplated by so distant a 

 removal might have been obtained by a much 

 more convenient ' and less circuitous route, 

 remarking, " there is still room enough here 

 for such an institution, which might profit by 

 the e.vperience of others, and where a wool 

 company on a large scale might be establish- 

 ed to great advantage as well as pleasure," 

 when a person who was present deprecated 

 even the mention of Merino sheep, adding, 

 " my father was one of the dupes in tfie Me- 

 rino mania, and since that time the bare ideal 

 throws me into a fever." Now, Mr. Editor, 

 is not this just the way with all violent specu-! 

 lations] the fact is, people go mad, and when 

 the distemper leaves them, they are so ex- 

 hausted by the excitement which they have 

 undergone, and .so entirely out of spirits with 

 their disappointment, as to be unable to per- 

 ceive the cause of the disease with which 

 they have been afflicted, or even to endure 

 to think of the subject. 



I remember the time of the Joint Stock 

 mania in England, and particularly that great 

 humbug, the Milk Company in London, whose 

 spacious buildings and costly arrangements I 

 visited, all ready for the reception of the cows 

 -^an article, however, which had never en- 

 tered into the minds of the projectors, whose 

 only object was to trade in quite a diiferent 

 kind of stock, and which they did, to the ruin 

 of numbers of the simple people, amongst 

 whom was the great \Vilberforce, who, in 

 this instance proved himself a child. Poor 

 man ! he never recovered from the loss which 

 be then sustained, but continued, during the 



remainder of his life, a pensioner upon the 

 bounty of his political friends, ai\d died at last 

 in a borrowed house! Ah! that was a time 

 " to try the souls of men," and thousands of 

 those whose character stood high for real god- 

 liness, even many of the clergy, proved them- 

 selves to be the worshippers of the God of this 

 world, bowing down to storks, if not to stones. 



A pleasant story is told of an excellent 

 man, a Quaker, who (determineil as much as 

 in his power to stem the torrent of delusion) 

 published proposals for a "Joint Stock (Jin- 

 gerbread Company," with a capital of jC5U0,- 

 000; present price of shares one p amd .--terl- 

 ing, .expected to reach a premium of 500 per 

 cent, in three weeks! The operations of the 

 Company were to be carrif^d on in Scothijid, 

 but an office for the sale of stock was opened 

 in London, (opening his own house for this 

 purpose;) and then followed the names of 

 Officers, Presidents, Directors, Managers, 

 Secretaries, Treasurer, Auditors, &c., all in 

 due form! To his utter astonishment, the 

 very next ^morning, a young man from the 

 country called upon him for the purpose of 

 purchasing 100 shares in the " Joint Stock 

 Gingerbread Company of Scotland!" It 

 was quite out of his power to convince this 

 person that the advertisement was a hoax, 

 practised for the purpose of opening the eyes 

 of the infituated multitude; he observed, 

 "he had £100 in his pocket to pay for 100 

 shares, and he hoped he should obtain them." 



I was last week told of an engineer belong- 

 ing to a steam-boat, who said he was tired 

 of his employment, and would quit, and grow 

 silk ; his friend said, " what do you mean by 

 i^rowing sWkl" he replied, " why, I'll plant 

 Morns trees, and pick the cocoons of silk 

 from the branches, just as they pick cotton 

 pods." 



Now, without any wish to be censorious or 

 invidious, is it not a fact, that all violent 

 speculations are apt to lead men from their 

 proprieties ? If I might be permitted I would 

 allude to what took place in this country 

 three years ago, on the subject of the Beet 

 culture for the making of sugar; I sincerely 

 believe that if there had beeu a less degree 

 of excitement experienced at the time, the 

 question, as to its practicability, would not 

 have been left thus long undecided ; but peo- 

 ple grew tired standing so long on the tip-toe 

 of expectation, and in proportion to the eleva- 

 tion then experienced, so must be the depres- 

 sion, and it has required the space of three 

 years to bring about the state of equilibrium 

 which, as a natural consequence, the public 

 mind will attain, and which is now in pro- 

 gress. In the mean time, the business has 

 been steadily followed up in France and many 

 other countries in Europe, and the last ac- 

 counts are, that full half the supply pf sugay 



