548 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



advise all those who want the best implements, to 

 use those named above. 



Respectfully, E. T'. Cobb. 

 Barnstable, Oct., 1854. 



AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL 

 VALUE OF RAILROADS. 



The Democracy/, a journal recently established 

 at Buifalo by an association of gentlemen, and 

 conducted witli a good deal of ability, publishes 

 the following table and remarks illustrating the 

 value of railroads. — Hunfs Magazine. 



Upon the ordinary highways, the economical 

 limit to transportation is confined within a com 

 paratively fiiw miles, depending, of course, upon 

 the kind of freight and the character of the roads 

 Upon the average of such ways, the cost of trans- 

 portation is not far from fifty cents per ton per 

 mile, which may be considered as a sufficiently 

 correct estimate for the whole country. Esti- 

 mating, at the same time, the value of wheat at 

 $1.50 per bushel, and corn at seventy-five cents, 

 and that thirty-three bushels of each are equal 

 to a ton, the value of the former would be equal 

 to its cost of transportation three hundred and 

 thirty miles, and the latter one hundred and 

 sixty-five miles. At these respective distances 

 from market, neither oi the above articles would 

 have any commercial value, with only a common 

 earth road as an avenue to market. But we find 

 that we can move property upon railroads at the 

 rate of fifteen cents per ton per mile, or for one- 

 tenth the cost upon the ordinary road. These 

 works, therefore, extend the economic limit of 

 the cost of transportion of the above articles to 

 3,300 and 1,650 miles respectively. 



Statement showing the value of a ton of yiheat, and 

 one of corn, at given points from market, as 

 affected by cost of transportation by railroad and 

 over the ordinary road. 



Transportation by 

 railroad, 



Transportation by 

 highway. 



Value at market. 



10 miks from " 



30 do! 



40 do. 



50 do. 



60 do. 



70 do. 



80 do. 



90 do. 



100 do. 



110 do. 



120 do. 



130 do. 



140 do. 



160 do. 



160 do. 



170 do. 



$«;50 



'(lor.]...49.20 



do 49.25 



do 48.90 



do 48.75 



do 48.60 



do 48.45 



do 48.40 



do 48.14 



do 48.00 



do 47.85 



do 47.70 



do 47.55 



do 47.40 



do 47.25 



do 47.10 



do 46.95 



*^i66 



24.40 

 24.30 

 24.14 

 24.00 

 23.85 

 23.70 

 23.55 

 23.40 

 23.25 

 23.10 

 22.99 

 22.80 

 22.65 

 22.50 

 22.35 

 22.20 



4S.00 

 46.50 

 45.00 

 43.50 

 42.00 

 40.50 

 39.00 

 37.50 

 86.00 

 34.80 

 33.00 

 31-50 

 30.00 

 28.50 

 27.00 

 25.50 

 24.00 



$24, 



23.25 



21.75 



20.25 



18.74 



17.25 



15.75 



14.25 



12.75 



11.25 



9.75 



8.25 



6.75 



5.25 



3.75 



2.25 



75 



How wonderfully does the railroad enhance the 

 value of farming lands at a distance from market ! 

 American flirms, generally speaking, are very far 

 from market. Indeed, New York is the market 

 for the bulk of the northern agricultural products. 

 Most English fixrms have a market nearly in sight 

 of them. But ours are for the most part so far 

 away, that railroads of long lines and long connec- 

 tions instantly double, treble, quadruple, and 

 quintuple the worth of grain lands near where 



they run. This has been the case in Ohio, Mich- 

 igan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Canada. 

 The President of the Nashville and Chattanoogo 

 road has stated, that the increase in the value of 

 a belt of land ten miles wide, lying upon each side 

 of thatline, was equal to $G,50 per acre, or $96,000 

 for every mile of road, which cost the company 

 only $20,000 a mile. It has been calculated that 

 the construction of the 2,000 miles of railroad in 

 Ohio would add to the value of landed property 

 in that State three hundred millions of dollars — 

 that is, five times the cost of the roads, which 

 was $60,000,000. The country can stand bank- 

 ruptcies that come through railroad enterprises, 

 if it can stand any. Of all forms, they are the 

 least mischievous. 



NEW SYSTEM OF PRESERVING MEAT. 



If fresh meat could be had from distant coun- 

 tries, where it bears a very low price, the people 

 of France would bo able to purchase a much larg- 

 er quantity of animal food ; but this has been 

 hitherto impossible, for the cost of transport and 

 of fattening would be such as to make the meat 

 dearer than that which is raised in France. At- 

 tempts have been made to preserve meats in the 

 cheap countries, and export them to France, but 

 they have all failed. There is now a project be- 

 fore the Emperor and the Minister of War for 

 the drying of meat in South America, where it 

 can be had at about one sou per pound, and im- 

 porting it from thence for the use of the army 

 and navy. We have seen some specimens of meat 

 dried in Paris, and which at the expiration of 

 five months were perfectly good. In South Amer- 

 ica a very large quantity of meat is dried in the 

 sun, but the process carries away a very large 

 portion of the nutritious properties, and it re- 

 mains good only for a few weeks. The process 

 on which the government has now to give a de- 

 cision is simple and apparently efiicacious. The 

 water of the meat, which forms a very large por- 

 tion of its bulk, is removed ; and not by heated 

 air, which has been freano^ti^jr txlcd, aud never 

 with succes.a. ^'^^ oy mechanical means ; the meat 

 ;. iiien plunged into a sort of varnish made from 

 the gelatinous portions of the animal, and which 

 not only forms a hard surface, but also enters in- 

 to_ the pores of the meat and augments the nu- 

 trition, and then the meat is gradually dried. In 

 about fifteen da^'s it is fit for packing, and will, 

 according to the assertion of the inventors, keep 

 good for two or three years. When required for 

 use, the meat is put for a few minutes into water, 

 and it nearly resumes its original bulk, and is 

 cooked in the usual way. If it be true that meat 

 thus prepared will keep for two or three years, or 

 even for one year, the adoption of the process will 

 produce an enormous change in the economy of 

 subsistence. In South America it can be pre- 

 pared at about two sous per lb., including every 

 cost. As it is reduced in bulk about one-half, 

 the cost to transport would not exceed one sou, 

 and it could be sold in France, with a profit of 

 25 per cent. , at four sous per lb. South American 

 moat is not, perhaps, equal in quantity to that 

 raised in France, but even supposing it to be infe- 

 rior to the extent of 20 per cent., the working- 

 classes and the poor would have an abundant sup- 

 ply of animal food. — Galignani. 



