2::56 



NEW E N (; L A N I) FAR M E K , 



FEB. 3, 1836. 



(For llie New England Farmer ) 



INTEREST OP MONEY-PiiRNlCIOUS LAWS~ 



Of all the numprouslawsofoiir Cominoiiwealth, 

 there are none wliicli affect more injuriously the 

 prosperity of the i)eoi)le of the country at large, 

 than thi> laws which limit the rate of interest. I 

 refer in this, more particularly, to the jirosperity 

 of landholders jrenerally, or of that very niunerous 

 class, which have been denominated, the substan- 

 tial yeomanry. 



Good farming is an art which requires a capital. 

 And none can be more fully sensible of this im- 

 portant fact, than our eminently distiujiuisheil 

 practical farmers, and especia'ly those, who, living 

 in the vicinity of our Capital, contribute so large- 

 ly to the supples of its markets. Even the pre- 

 paration and recovery of first-rate larids, which 

 have been exhausted, or fur a length of time ne- 

 glected, and liefore the cultivation begins, is an 

 expense.of itself, by no means inconsiderable, and 

 to bring them up, and at once, to a state of liigh 

 fertility. Residing as I do, in a fertile region, and 

 but six miles from the centre of the city, this fact 

 I know, and that it costs as nnicli in the first in- 

 stance, generally, and in many even more, th;m 

 the whole value or cost of the land itself, in this 

 day, to prepare such grounds for highly profitable 

 cultivation. Once prepared, they may retain their 

 fertility for three years, producing numerous and 

 profitable crops; but at the end of this period, 

 they will again require a new, but less expensive 

 preparation. 



By a gentleman, (the Hon. John Lowell,) who 

 has resided, or travelled, during several years in 

 various parts of Europe, the public have been in- 

 formed, that in those parts of England where 

 farming has been carried to a very high state of 

 perfection, that the tenant of the land, previous to 

 entering upon a large farm, on a long lease, must 

 first of all, be provided with an amount of capital, 

 ' which would astonish a noviciate of our own 

 country. He has stated, and we believe that his 

 testimony must always be true, that a tenant on a 

 long lease, on a farm of the first magnitude, in 

 great, aristocratic, old England, requires a capital 

 of £10,000 sterling, before he is prepared to begin 

 farming; 1 state the amount from memory, but 

 am positive I cannot be mistaken. 



Whether the land has been duly prepared or 

 not, the labor of cultivation is usually the same, 

 hut the difference in the actual profits may be 

 infinitely great ; since, in the one case, the profits 

 of the labor on tfie pejinrious soil, are all absorbed 

 and lost to the cultivator; while, on the land 

 which has been suitably pre|iared, the bountiful 

 harvests and eminent prosperity are the just re- 

 compense of the husbandman; and his very great 

 reward, though it comes not so quickly, it comes 

 surely. 



It must be, I think, sufficiently obvious tio every 

 one who has thoroughly examined the subject, 

 that my premises mi(4f be true; but bow is this 

 capital, so indispensably necessary in the com. 

 mencement to every farmer, to be obtained ? 



It is true, that in our country, and esjfecially in 

 our great city capitalists, and moneyed institutions, 

 of various names and natures, and with abundant 

 disposeable funds, do exist, and miich abound 

 Yet, as if with one common consent, the farmers 

 are more or less explicitly told by them, that "«/ie^ 



country," or that " it is contrary to their rule." — 

 This is almost the only answer which they 'ever 

 receive, or ever will receive, while this law which 

 limits the rale of interest to six per cent, is per- 

 mitted to exist. It is but justice here to say, that 

 ihere have been, and still are, highly benevolent 

 individuals in the city, as well as in the country, 

 who have been the exceptions to this general rule. 

 Thus cut ofl^ from the abundant and needful 

 resources, — thus jjaralyzed, — thus unequally cir- 

 cumstanced, — the farmer is compelled, through 

 the influence of this baneful law, to till the sterile 

 fields in abject poverty ; or by inexorable neces- 

 sitv, to sell or to sacrifice his lands, which the 

 sa\\u\ ]i\ws have degraded and made unavailing — 

 to sell, perchance, to the capitalist, and to become 

 himself an exile. He forsakes his native coun- 

 try ; driven by relentless fate, he forsakes, without 

 regret, his exhausted soil, and hies him to the 

 distant West, to new lands and a far distant coun- 

 try, where our numerous and devoted |)opulation 

 have been fast hastening, ami from the san)e des- 

 olating cause, for forty years, in the flood tide of 

 emigration, to return no more. 



In times of scarcity and distress, and when 

 money is always of more worth than the present 

 legal rate of interest, the law operates as a bounty 

 chiefly and exclusively to those who indirectly 

 evade its provisions, defying alike the law and its 

 penalties. But the cost of its violation is borne 

 by the necessitous borrower, who is compelled to 

 pay the full value, or unlawful interest, and also 

 the cost of the negociation. 



In such a state of things, and in this critical 

 stage of the conflict, many capitalists withdraw 

 from the competition and from the money market, 

 purely on account of this law, thereby augment- 

 ing still further the general distress. New acts of 

 incorporation are called for, with new powers and 

 privileges, or they are induced to send their capi- 

 tal abroad, to the upbuilding of other states, and 

 countries, and cities, where laws so utterly unwor- 

 thy of the enlightened age and community in 

 wiiich we live, do not prevail ; and where the 

 lands in the country, and in the vicinity of their 

 cities, are duly appreciated, i'ud have risen in 

 value, in a measure from this cause, and in a de- 

 gree fully commensurate with the increase of 

 wealth and of population. 



Yet there may be, indeed, at times, many capi- 

 talists, who, not having any immediate use for 

 their abundant funds, would willingly invest them 

 on the most safe security, at a rate of interest cveJ^ 

 less than the present legal rate, were this law i-e- 

 pealed ; knowing that then they might be assured 

 of repayment at the time required ; the borrower 

 being lir this case, permitted to exercise the right, 

 ujirestraifled by law, to repay him, by borrowing 

 of anothef, even at an advanced rate of interest, 

 if he pleased. 



Far be it from me, to aacrWie fault to our capi- 

 talists generally, and without cause ; their charac- 

 ters are well known and duly appreciated, and on 

 the score of liberality will not, as I trust, sutler 

 by a comparison with those of any country or city 

 on earth. The fault lies in our lates, and not in 

 them. In our legislators, who have invented a 

 critne which men do not regard as a moral crime. 

 The law, which, as an experiment, was undoubt- 

 edly intended only for good, has been the means 

 of organizing evil, and has become, of itself, the 



was designed fo prevent. T he law which expels 

 capital from the State, has expelled also our own 

 citizens. William Kk.nrick. 



M'onantum Hill, J^ewton, Jan. 26, 1836. 



have no money to loan on a pledge of lands in the \ source of evils infinitely greater than any which it 



EFFECT OF BONE MANURE ON CORN. 



To the Editor of the Farmer's Register :— 



Broohfield, Henrico, JVoD. 6, 1835. 



In a number of the last volume of your Regis- 

 ter a correspondent describes an experiment made 

 by the application of bones as a manure for corn, 

 the resu't of which, as reported, seemed to prove 

 that corn derived very little benefit from their ap- 

 plication. From long experience in the use of 

 bones as a ttianure, and a knowledge of their 

 highly fertilizing properties, I was induced to make 

 a similar experiment on a small scale. During 

 the last winter, I got the negroes on the plantation, 

 for a small [iremium, to collect at their own con- 

 venience a quantity of bones from around the 

 neighborhood, and during wet or stormy weather, 

 bad them broke in a wooden trough with pestles 

 shod with iron, into as small pieces as my time 

 would permit, a small proportion of them being 

 reduced to a jjowder. At the time of planting 

 the corn, I selected four rows, forming an inter- 

 mediate space between ground well manured from 

 the winter farm pen, and ground not manured. 

 On these selected rows, I applied the bones thus 

 pounded, depositing a small quantity of the bones 

 previotis to planting the corn in each hill, after- 

 wards dropping the corn, and covering the whole 

 with the hoe, not deeper than any other |)art of 

 the crop. At a very early stage of the growth of 

 the corn, it exhibited a superiority over that grow- 

 in" on cither side, and maintained that appearance 

 throughout the whole of the season, the difterence 

 being discernible at a distance. There were two 

 stalks cidtivated in the liill, at five and a half by 

 three feet, the greater proportion of the stalks pro- 

 ducing two good ears. Throughout the whole of 

 the season it maintained a vigorous and rapid 

 growth, and when the corn on both sides of these 

 rows exhibited evident symptoms of having suf- 

 fered injury from a short drought, the corn on 

 these rows was apparently uninjured. In cutting 

 and clearing off the corn, preparatory to seeding 

 wheat, much of the general crop was very imper- 

 fectly matured, while the corn raised on the bone 

 manure presented a much smaller proportion of 

 imperfect ears. Circumstances prevented me, as 

 I had intended, from ascertaining the exact differ- 

 ence of produce — but gentlemen who were com- 

 petent judges, estimated that the produce from 

 these four rows would exceed the produce from 

 an equal number of hills from the farm pen man- 

 lued land, by at least one third, and more than 

 double that of the land which had received no 

 manure. From the result of this exi)eriment, I 

 am satisfied that bones are a valuable manure for 

 corn, if applied even in very small quantities. — 

 The expense of them would be small, and they 

 are much easier poimded, when f/erformed as 

 above stated, than gypsum, and the exjiense of 

 collecting and hauling is very trifling. On every 

 farm there are a greater or less quaitity of bones 

 scattered about, and in the vicinity of every village 

 or city, they are deposited in large quantities, pre- 

 senting anything but an agreeable or pleasing 

 appearance, reininding the passenger at every step 

 that he is, as it were, in the midst of a charnel 

 house. How much better would it certainly be 



