68 



FARME-RS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



cropping, and a poverty of laborers. I need not 

 lurtlicr extend this already attenuated letter. The 

 exposition of my third "instance" in sugar alone, 

 may be left as it is. SulTicient will be gathered 

 trom the foregoing remarks, that I disapprove, 

 under the liabilities ot our climate, the risk ol an 

 entire sugar cro{); and it not being the purpose ol 

 these " inquiries," to exaggerate, or enhance the 

 really existing advantages'oi our climate, by any 

 Quixotic operations, the resullsof an entire cane 

 crop, may certainly be considered as dubious, or 

 in ratio with the sanguine temperament of its advo- 

 cate. 



I am fully aware, tliat the force of theory, even 

 when established by individual success, cannot 

 controvert the universal belief of " uncertainty; ' 

 and whenever the disposition of men are confident 

 of gain in one line, but diffident of their skill in 

 another, no other reasoning can convert them, 

 Gave interest and necessity. It will, therefore, 

 need that cotton should decline, (as it most assu- 

 redly must,) below 10 cents, before our cotton fiatu- 

 ists can be severed from their afleclion. To those 

 abroad, however, not yet infatuated, whose atten- 

 tions may be inclining to a southern residence, I feel 

 assured that my remarks will be estimated, (as they 

 really are,) as the candid expositions and belief of 

 one, in as far as another's fortune may be con- 

 cerned, perfectly disinterested. I cannot but conceive 

 it inexplicable, that, whilst all are intently watching 

 the probable rise and fall of the cotton market, 

 with the universal knowledge that its culture and 

 product are annually and amazingly increasing, 

 and to continue until the vast area of the south 

 and west are no longer fertile; that the certain 

 scarcity of sugar, and its as certain great de- 

 mand, does not bring the mind to the refiection of 

 the fact, that its culture is rapidly decreasing, and 

 the lands acclimated for its production, extremelv 

 limited, and not to be extended. How peculiarly 

 is this the case with this portion of North America! 

 The time nmst come, when, with all its fluctua- 

 tions of climate, Florida will be the sugar-growing 

 section of these United States, 



With the assurance of my acknowledgments 

 for your favorable acceptance of my past commu- 

 nications, 



I am, your obliged and obedient, 



FARQ. MACRAE. 



QUERIES ON POLITICAL ECONOMY, AS CON- 

 NECTED WITH AGRICULTURE. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Though I am no farmer, and no subscriber to 

 your work, I yet consider it of great public bene- 

 fit, and should rejoice to see it circulate even more 

 extensively than it now does. Permit me lo suf- 

 gest one or two thoughts which have occurred to 

 me, in looking over some of your late numbers. 



In your last, Vol. Ill, No. 12. page 757, you 

 Bay that the universal tendency of all legal in- 

 epections of the qualities of commodities, is°to de- 

 teriorate their quality— and of course, their mar- 

 ket price. ^ Was this assertion well weighed 1 Is 

 it true? The subject is so important to'our com- 

 merce, and yet more to our agriculture, that if it 

 be true, our law makers ought to know it. As 

 the chancery lawyers say I "neither admit nor de- 



ny the allegation," as it is not within my knowl- 

 edge — but call on you for proof. 



Again — you li'equently speak of poor-laws as 

 being of uncjueslioned evil eiicct, and reJer to Eng- 

 land tor proof. Arenotthe population ot England, 

 even drown to the lowest laborers, better ofi than 

 the like classes on the European continent? Are 

 they not better ofi" than their fellows in Ireland ? 

 Do not even the English whigs, (whcm 1 be- 

 lieve to be ot the same school with yourself in po- 

 litical economy,) propose to introduce that sjsiem 

 into Ireland I I would say to you as the editor of 

 the Enquirer says to hiso|)ponenls, "yive us light." 

 Or will your correspondent Mr. Walker, give his 

 light on these last pomts I As a native IJriton he 

 has seen the practical workings of the system, and 

 in this age ofrepetiiion, and borrowing, and plagia- 

 rism, it is very pleasant to meet with the opinions 

 of a thinker and writer so original as he, even 

 though we should not entirely agree with him. 



Important topics as slavery and the manage- 

 ment and treatment of slaves are to agriculturists 

 of the south, it seems that few of the intelligent 

 gentlemen who send their contributions to the Re- 

 gister, have thought proper to discuss any ques- 

 tion connected with this class of our population. 

 [s not this unwise ? Delicate as this subject is in 

 many respects, there are some of its features, con- 

 cerning which, an interchange of opinions would 

 be advantageous, and, as I suppose could be car- 

 ried on, through such a medium as your maga- 

 zine, without giving oflfence to the most sensitive. 

 An article on the profits of rearing slaves, which 

 you once published, affords one example of the 

 class of subjects to which I allude. Are your 

 columns open for prudent discussions, or inquiries 

 on these subjects, fi'om lo^al Virgmians, or inhabi- 

 tants of other southern states ? 



You frequently urge your readers to become 

 writers, and furnish you with original matter. 

 Many would perhaps do this, if their minds were 

 directed to particular points on Avhich information 

 is specially desirable. Would it not be well for 

 you to publish queries, to which your contributors 

 might furnish answers, or to suggest particular 

 subject, concerning which, you especially desired 

 information 7 



A. B. 



[Our correspondent's suggestions it is hoped, will 

 not pass unheeded, nor fail to elicit some communica- 

 tions from other correspondents, of interest and value. 

 To others we would prefer to give place, in treating ei- 

 ther, or all the subjects proposed. With regard to the 

 ill policy of legal inspections of the quality of com- 

 modities, our opinion has long been fixed — and if time 

 permitted, and the occasion required, we would not 

 fear to attempt the maintenance of our position by ar- 

 gument, and by facts. But we certainly should have 

 no hope of convincing, or even of attracting the notice 

 of "our law-makers," as a body. Our opinion is not 

 less decided, as to the impolicy and ill etFects of the 

 general opsration of the poor-law system, both in Eng- 

 land, and this country — and there is no branch of po- 

 litical economy, more closely connected with the in- 

 terests of agriculture, or more suitable to be disussed 

 in an agricultural journal. But we confess our ina- 

 bility to treat properly and fully, so wide a subject — or 

 to compress within suitable and proper limits, even the 



