\OL.. AXI. NO. 40. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



315 



THE TIMES. 



That a singular condition of things is cxi.sting 

 I the United Ststes at the present lime, is obvi- 

 to every one at all acquainted with the affairs 

 Fthe country. With general health unexampled ; 



ith peace uninterrupted ; with granaries over- 

 owing ; the cry of hard times conies up from 

 very part of our broad country, mingling with 

 Dmplants, murmurs, and execrations, varied as the 



uses supposed to produce the evils under which 

 ■e are suffering. The manufacturer has stopped 

 is spindles, because his sales would hardly pni- 

 ure the oil required by his machinery. The mcr- 

 hant has laid up his ships, because there was no 

 emand for exports, and miports could not be sold. 

 'he farmer has stopped his plow, because his gra- 

 aries are already full, and because his products 

 ave fallen so low that the prices will not pay the 

 ost of production. There are thousands of re- 

 Dectable farmers in our country, whose crops the 

 ist year were good, that find themselves on the 

 •rong side of the balance sheet, after wages, 

 ixes, and wear and tear are deducted. These are 

 lets, and they are serious ones ; the causes of this 

 tate of things are not so obvious. The evil all 

 dmit, the remedy varies with the individual ; but 

 Imost every one has his panacea for all the ills of 

 le body politic. With some, the enactments of 

 igh protective tariffs would form an infallible 

 ure, while others deem their total repeal all that 

 i needed to insure prosperity. There are some 

 ■ho consider a national bank indispensable to re- 

 ef, while others argue most vehemently that all 

 ur troubles may be traced to the existence in past 

 ears of such an institution. There are those who 

 ssert that all is wrong because the State banks 



ill not " shell out :" while there are others who 

 rgufy as earnestly, that " shelling out" too liber- 

 lly lies at the root of all our troubles. Who shall 

 ecide, when political economists disagree .' 



But while there is such a difference of opinion as 

 3 some of the causes that have operated so unfa- 

 nrably, there are others respecting which it would 

 3em there can be little room for dissension. Such 



cause, in our view, is the general state of in- 

 ebtedness, in which the individual, the States, and 

 le government are found. There is no need of 

 uarrelling about the cause of this indebtedness 

 ow, though we believe there is a fearful responsi- 

 ility resting on those through whose management 

 lis state of things exists. The debt exists, the 

 inner owes, professional men one, states are 

 ankrupt, and the general government has not es- 

 aped the shame or crime of a debt. " lirethren," 

 aid a preacher one day in our hearing, when dis- 

 oursing on that knottiest of metaphysical subjects, 

 ie introduction of sin into the universe — " Breth- 

 sn, there is no use in spending our time in con- 

 ?cture8 as to the manner in which sin came into 

 le universe ; it is here, and it is our business to 

 o to work in earnest, and get it out as soon as 

 ossible." So with our debts ; they are contracted, 

 ney are hero, and wrangling about them is of no 

 se ; the only way is to go to work with steady 

 lerves and strong hands and wipe them out as soon 

 8 we can, and then look out for the future. 



The great causejof the disress now existing in 

 ur country, is to be found in our indebtedness. 

 This is the millstone that hangs on the neck of ho- 

 lest industry, the incubus that chills the life blood 

 .nd stifles the breath of enterprise. Prices are 

 ow, and they must be low in a healthy state of 

 hings, while the world remains in its present con- 



dition. The millions of Europe have converted 

 their swords into (ilow shares, and instead of 

 slaughtering one another, arc employed in sowing 

 and reaping. As producers multiply, prices must 

 decline, industry will be turned into now channels, 

 and as these are occupied the same results will en- 

 sue, the prices of labor will fall, and all things will 

 gradually find their true level. All will see that 

 this would bo well enough, were it not lor the fact 

 that too many of us owe. And the debts too were 

 contracted in times when the products of the soil 

 were at least 100 per cent higher than tliey now 

 are. Here is the true secret of the existing dis- 

 tress, the cause of the hard times of which we 

 complain. We must grow two bushels of wheat, 

 or fatten two pigs, or shear two sheep, where it 

 was expected one would bu sufficient; for though 

 we might live, and live well, on the products of 

 our farms at present prices, it requires double the 

 labor to pay our debts it formerly did, or would at 

 the time they were contracted. 



But it is said by some, there is no necessity of 

 hard times, simply because farm products have de- 

 clined in prices ; that there is no necessary con- 

 nection between low prices in grain, and general 

 distress in a country. This might be true, were it 

 not for our indebtedness ; but now the efToct is ns 

 sure to follow the cause, as night is to succeed 

 day. If the merchant, or the mechanic, expects 

 the former to purchase as much of them as former- 

 ly, they nmst be mistaken. Nothing short of the 

 grossest infatuation could induce him to continue 

 his purchases, while his means have lessened one- 

 half. No, the old coat must be neatly brushed 

 and mended ; the number of dresses must be re- 

 duced to suit the times; the order for the new car- 

 riage is countermanded ; and the sofa and chairs 

 about which there had been some talk, it is mutu- 

 ally agreed to forget. Thug when the farmer is 

 forced to retrench, the act is felt in every quarter, 

 for he is the great producer, and the great pur- 

 chaser of the country. 



We sometimes hear bitter complaints against the 

 banks, that they do not throw out more paper, that 

 they do not make money more plenty. This is all 

 idle. The banks are able and willing to lend ; the 

 difficulty is to find safe borrowers. The Report of 

 the Bank Commissioners of this State, discloses the 

 singular fact, that the specie in their vaults, actu- 

 ally exceeds the notes of the banks in circulation. 

 In what branch of industry is there any inducement 

 found at this time to draw money from banks .' 

 Money literally goes a begging in our cities, and 

 for profitable investments can be had at the lowest 

 rates. Trade is stagnant because the supply ex- 

 ceeds the demand; prices have fallen to the specie 

 standard ; and when by patient toil and persevering 

 industry the producers of wealth have paid their 

 debts and the debts of the States, which must ulti- 

 mately come from their earnings, times in which 

 less distress will be felt, may be expected. And 

 the times will improve exactly in proportion as this 

 point of freedom from indebtedness is approach- 

 ed. There is not the least use or necessity for the 

 farmers being disheartened. The times may de- 

 mand prudence and economy : they certainly re- 

 quire energy and industry. The circle of prices do 

 not yet correspond ; but when once this point is 

 reached, and matters are fast tending to that point, 

 the man who is free from debt, will encounter no 

 trouble whatever. It is said that bought wit is the 

 best, if not bought too dear. A terrible price this 

 country has paid for the lessons in political econo- 



my we have received within n few years past. It 

 remains to be seen, by the use which we make of 

 them, whether the price is too great. — Alb. Cult. 



Dtalh of the Celebrated Cow " B/ossom."— The 

 last American Farmer records the demise of the 

 Durham cow "Blossom," accounts of whose extra- 

 ordinary yield of milk, have often been copied into 

 our Columns. In an obituary eulogistic oj' the de- 

 ceased, the editor of the Farmer says : 



" We are pained to learn that the improved 

 Short-horn Durham co'v lilvssom, the property of 

 I). S. Carr, Esq., died a few days since, soon after 

 giving birth to a fine bull calf, which latter, we 

 learn, is doing well, under the charge of a foster- 

 mother. Blossom, as our renders will remember, 

 was raised by Samuel Canby, Esq., of Delaware. 

 • * Take her all in all, wo fear we shall never 

 look upnn her like again ; for her very port and 

 carriage — her every lineament — gave assurance of 

 high and skillful breeding. Nor could one look 

 upon her ample udder, with its large swelling veins ; 

 her cream-colored hide ; her capacious hips, her 

 expanded chest, her delicate head and neck, and 

 sprightly eye, without mentally exclaiming — as 

 with an instinctive impulse — here, here, is, indeed, 

 an animal in whom all the qualities of deep milk- 

 ing, richness of cream, and propensity to fatten, 

 are most happily commingled. Nor did she, like 

 many bipeds we wot of, belie her looks; for, in 

 truth, she was all she seemed to be. We regret 

 her death on her own account, because she has 

 been cut off" in the very prime and gristle of her 

 cow-hood — in the midst of her usefulness — and we 

 regret it too, because it imposes n heavy pecuniary 

 loss upon her owner, whose liberal spirit and noble 

 enterprise, we had hoped to have seen generously 

 repaid, by the progeny of this late matchless and 

 gentle creature." 



Sleamtng Potatoes. — The secret of steaming po- 

 tatoes is very little understood, and rarely carried 

 into full effect, although it is by many considered 

 indispensable to the full developement of the nutri- 

 tious properties of the vegetable. A late English 

 paper describes the process as follows : 



" The whole mystery consists in suffering the 

 steam to escape, and at the same time keeping the 

 potatoes hot. When the cook throws off the wa- 

 ter, under the instruction of the cooking book, 

 what is she to do next .' The steam rushes out, 

 and she places the vessel opposite the fire ; but, 

 fearful that the potatoes may cool in the mean- 

 while, she puts on the cover. Thus she undoes 

 one process by the other ; for the steam no sooner 

 escapes from the potatoes, than, being confined by 

 the lid, it condenses rapidly, and falls back in wa- 

 ter upon the vegetables. And thus, through the 

 ignorance or obstinacy of our cooks, we are often 

 served with wliat are commonly called watery po- 

 tatoes — the fault of which is thrown upon the sea- 

 son or the gardener, or any thing or any body rath- 

 er than the real culprit. The Irish peasant woman, 

 wholly ignorant of science, but with instinctive sa- 

 gacity, gets rid of the difficulty by the simplest 

 process imaginable. Placing the vessel, uncover- 

 ed, in a slanting direction opposite the fire, so as 

 to hasten the process of steaming by the action of 

 the external heat, she throws a napkin over the po- 

 tatoes, which receives and retains so much of the 

 steam as does not effect its escape, while it per- 

 forms the equally essential office of preserving the 

 heat to the vegetables below," 



