484 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



No. 8 



nionpy, a superabundance of paper will return to 

 the Fource frora whence it issued, and an excess 

 of coin will be convened into bullion and exported. 



Since tiie worth ol' all property is measured b;/ 

 nione}^, it is obviously conducive to the general 

 welfare of the community, that fluctuations in its 

 value should be rendered as small and as gradual 

 as possible. 



The evils which result from sudden changes in 

 the value of money will perhaps become more 

 sensible, if we trace their elforls in particular in- 

 stances. Assuming, as we are quite at liberiy to 

 do, an extreme case, let us suppose three persons, 

 each possessing a hundred pounds : or.e of these, 

 a widow ad'v'anced in years, antl who, by the ad- 

 vice of her Iriends, purchases with that sum an 

 annuity of" twenty pounds a j'ear durioir her life: 

 and let the two others be workmen, wlio by indus- 

 try and economy, have saved a hundred pounds 

 out of their wages ; both these latter persons pro- 

 posing to procure machines lor calendering, and 

 to commence that business. One of these invests 

 his money in a Savings' Bank ; intending to make 

 his owu calendering machine, and calculating ihat 

 he shall expend twenty pounds in materials, and 

 the remaining eighty in sup|)orlinfj himself and in 

 leaving the workmen who assist him in construct- 

 ing it. The other workman, meeting with a ma- 

 chine which he can buy for two hundred pounds, 

 agrees to pay for it a hundred pounds immediate- 

 ly, and the remainder at the end of a twelvemonth. 

 Let us now im;igine some alteration to take 

 place in the currency, by which it is depreciated 

 one-half; prices soon adjust themselves to the 

 new circumstance, and the annuity of the widow, 

 though nominally of the same amount, will in re- 

 ality, purchase only half the quantit}' of the ne- 

 cessaries of Hie u'hich it did before. The work- 

 man who had placed his money in the Savmgs' 

 Bank, having perhaps purchased ten pounds worth 

 of materials, and expended ten pounds in labor 

 applied to them, now finds himself, by this altera- 

 tion in tlie currency, possessed nominally of eighty 

 pounds, but in reality of a sum which will pur- 

 chase only half the labor and materials required to 

 finish this machine ; and he can neither complete 

 it, from a want of capital, nor dispose of what he 

 lias already done in its unfinished state for the 

 price it has cost him. In the mean time, the other 

 workuian, who had incurred a debt of a hundred 

 pounds in order to complete the purchase of his 

 calendering machine, finds that the payments he 

 receives for calendering, have, like all other 

 prices, doubled, in consequence of the deprecia- 

 tion of the currency ; and he has, ihereibre, in 

 fact, obtained his machine for one hundred and fif- 

 ty pounds. Thus, without any fault or impru- 

 dence, and owing to circumstances over which 

 they have no control, the widow is reduced almost 

 to starve ; one workman is obliged to renounce for 

 several years, his hope of becoming a master; 

 and another, without any superior industry or skill, 

 but, in fact, from having made, with reference to 

 his circumstances, rather an imprudent bargain, 

 finds himself unexpectedly relieved from halT his 

 debt, and the possessor of a valuable source of 

 profit; whilst the former owner of the machine, 

 if he also has invested the money arising li-om its 

 sale in the Savings' l]ank, finds his property sud- 

 denly reduced one-half. 

 These evils, to a greater or less extent, attend 



every change in the value of the currency; and 

 the importance of preserving it as far as possible 

 unaltered in value, cannot be too strongly impress- 

 ed ujion all classes of the community. 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 



ON THE ADVANTAGES OF KEEPING IKDIAN 

 COKN IN THE SHUCIv.OR HUSK. 



The bread of Indian corn is that principally 

 used bi' much tlie greater portion of the people of 

 the southern slates— and their choice is directed as 

 much by taste and preliirenee, as by economy. 

 Corn bread is not liked by foreigners, or persons 

 who have not been accustomed to its use: but if 

 the taste for it is acquired, it is not the less strong, 

 and enduring. But I, for one, maintain that s;ood 

 corn bread, in sundry of the many modes in which 

 it is prepared, and presented at country tables, has 

 a value that does not depend on habit, or the ac- 

 quired taste of the consumer. But corn bread 

 that is bad, whether from being cold or stale, or 

 being badly prepared, or from being made of 

 grain of bad quality, is indeed very poorlbod : and 

 nineteen times in twenty, one or more of these 

 causes alftct the quality of the bread, even on the 

 tables of the wealth}', and almost always of 

 tov/nsmen, who buy their meal ready ground. It 

 is indeed surprising how little attention is general- 

 ly paid to the quality of this most important arti- 

 cle of food — and how many persons, who arc 

 abundantly careful, and willing to incur any ne- 

 cessary expense, to procure the best of other ar- 

 ticles for their tables, are content with corn bread 

 that is always bad, because made of weevil-eaten 

 or filthy corn — heated in grinding by the rapid 

 motion of the mill-stones — and probably, withal, 

 imperfectly cooked. As to the last matter, though 

 a very important one, I leave it to the considera- 

 tion of the wives who read the Register. But as 

 to the condition of the material used, ihat is a mat- 

 ter for the sellers and buyers of corn and meal to 

 attend to, and to which little or no attention is paid 

 by the seller, because little or none is required of 

 him by the buyer. We are all very choice in the 

 quality of wheat flour, and but lew persons in 

 comfortable circumstances, in Virginia, will be 

 content with any but "family flour," winch is a 

 grade superior to the best sent abroad, (or to the 

 best "superfine") and costs more by about 20 pep 

 cent. — making a difference of about .s3 in the 

 barrel, at the present very high prices. But for 

 corn and its meal, there is seldom any difl'erence 

 of price on account of quality. If very foul, or 

 damaged, a parcel ofl'ered for sale will piobably be 

 rejected at any price : but it rarely happens "that 

 there is a difference of price of 5 cents, or even 1 

 cent per bushel, between tolerable corn, or meal, 

 and samples of the purest and sweetest. Hence 

 the farmer and seller of the corn, is not operated 

 on by self-interest, the strongest inducement to 

 have it in the best condition. It is not therefore 

 strange that purchasers should continually pro- 

 vide persons in their employment with bad corn 

 bread, and have to cat it themselves, or to abstain 

 li-om its use, which is more usual in town than 

 country solely on this account. But it is strange, 

 that farmers who eat of their own corn, should be 

 so irenerally reirardless of the proper preservation 

 of the portion designed lor bread at home, as well 



