28 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



vary from lis. to 12s. 6d. per week. Men's 

 wages may vary from 13s (o 18s. per week. 

 Thus in every department, tlie rate of wages is 



generally higlier in tlie United States than in 

 ritain : nor do I think tliat they will, at least for 

 many years, bo so low in this country as in Great 

 Britain. 



" The price of living here is higher, and the 

 hours of labor longer, besides the greater part of 

 the factoiy workers being connected with farming, 

 whenever wages become reduced so low, as to 

 cease to operate as an inducement to prefer fac- 

 tory labor above any other to which they can turn 

 their attention, theii a great many factories will 

 have to shut up. During a stagnation of trade, 

 it is common for the manufacturers here to stop a 

 part, or the whole of their factories, and then the 

 ■workers retire to their farms ; such was the case 

 in 1837, when a vast number of factories were 

 entirely shut up. Yet it seemed not to affect the 

 workers very materially; indeed, many of the 

 girls who had been some time in a tactory, seemed 

 to rejoice and regard it as a time of recreation ; 

 so that the manufacturing population of Ainerica 

 are an entirely different class, and placed in very 

 different circumstances from those of Great Bri- 

 tain, and very great changes must take place be- 

 fore the wages in the fbrmer can be so low as in 

 the latter country ; and, indeed, the manufacturers 

 here can afford to pay higher wages than the 

 British because they run their factories longer 

 hours, and drive their machinery, at a higher 

 speed, from which tliey i)roduce a much greater 

 quantity of work, at the same time they can pur- 

 chase their cotton at least one penny a pound 

 chea])er, and their water power does not cost 

 above one-fourth of the same in Great Britain. 

 But thougli wages cannot be reduced much lower 

 than they are at present, there are other means 

 by which manufacturers might abridge their ex- 

 penditure. Their establisliments might he erected 

 at much less expense— a more imi>roved arrange- 

 ment might be adopted— and the work conducted 

 with much more economy. All these, however, 

 are matters which the Americans will very 

 speedily learn ; every successive depression of 

 trade will lead them more and more to see the 

 necessity of managing every department of the 

 business with the least possible expense ; and as 

 soon as they can equal the British in this, they 

 will be able to compete with them, and that snc- 

 cessfiilly too, in any market whatever. 



" The British have, no doubt, attained to great 

 perfection in the art of nianufiicturing cotton 

 goods ; but whether they will ho alile to maintain 

 that high pre-oniincnoo to which tlioy havoarrivod, 

 or have to yield to the increasing iiiiprovomonts 

 of foreign nations, are questions difficult of solu- 

 tion. Their most powerful rivals are, doubtless, 

 the Americans. The manufiictnrers of no other 

 country can jiurchase their cotton so cheap, and 

 it is jiresumeil no country possesses so extensive 

 water privileges ; only a small portion of which 

 have as yet been occupied. If we add to these the 

 jntolligence and enterprising spirit ol the j.eople, 

 it will at once be obvious to every unproimlioed 

 mind, that the American roanufaotiners or.- tlio 

 most formidable competitors with wjiicli llio Brit- 

 ish have to contend in foreign noiitral nuukots." 



It will be observed that the foregoing estimate 

 embraces no coniputiiiion of the cost of working 

 power or of the comparative expense of steam 

 and water power. The estimate of 7 1-2 per 

 cent, for the wear and tear of machinery and 

 buildings also, if intended to embrace, besides 

 wear, the interest on capital, seems to be inade- 

 quatfr, and perhaps hardly more than sufficient to 

 cover the charge of wear and repairs, in which 

 case a further allowance of G per cent, in this 

 country, and 5 in England, should be made for 

 interest. 



We can hardly imagine, however, that there is 

 not some error in the cstimatt! of the comparative 

 cost of buildings in the two countries. The sum 

 ol' .$4,608, appears in he a very small sum for the 

 cost ofa building of tlie dimensions described, and 

 v,e can hardly suppose it to be adequate to the 

 erection of such a building in n style of strenj;tl 

 and durability, bearing any comparison with 

 buildings used for the same purpose ill this coun- 

 try ; since the dilTerence of cost stated is evidently 

 much greater than can be accounted for from the 

 greater cheapness of labor and machinery in 

 Groat Britain. 



The cost of water wheels and goering, and also 



of a steam engine, is given in the estimate above 

 quoted, but no estimate is made of the cost of 

 water power, or of coals for producing steam. 

 These are important items, and the question 

 of their comparative cost is one of considerable 

 interest. We regret that it is overlooked in this 

 work. 



Among the miscellaneous articles at the close 

 of the book, are calculations of the cost of water 

 power as it is sold by the proprietors of the locks 

 and canals at Lowell, Massachusetts, and also at 

 Manayunk, Philadelphia. At Lowell, a mill 

 power sufficient to carry 3,584 throstle spindles, 

 with the accompanying machinery, computed 

 to be equal to 54 1-2 "horse powers, together with 

 four acres of land, is sold at the rate of $4 a 

 spindle amounting to $14,.336. Deducting $3,436 

 for the value of the land, it leaves $10,900 for 

 the cost of the water power, or $200 per horse 

 power, the interest of which at 6 per cent, is $12 

 per annum. At Manayunk, vvater power has 

 been sold at a much higher rate, viz. at a rate 

 computed to be equal to .$1,016 per horse (lower 

 or a rent of $60 96 per ammm. The first of these 

 Btatements may be considered as affording a just 



iterion of the cost of water power in this countiT 

 in an eligible position for extensive mannfacturing 

 operations. 



Among the same miscellanies we find an esti- 

 mate of the costs of steam power in a mill in 

 Massachusetts, whei'e an engine of 40 horse 

 power carries 3,700 mule and throstle spindles 

 with the accompanying machinery This esti- 

 mate is for cost for coal and attendance, $12 20 a 

 day ; which is equal to $3,783 per annum, and to 

 $9455 per horse power. This is exclusive of 

 oil, packing, &c. which would swell the estimate 

 to $100 per annum for each horse power. Tlie 

 only information given in the book relative to the 

 ctist of steam iiower in Great Britain, is the 

 remark appended to the above statement, that the 

 estimate there given is about double the cost of 

 the same power in Glasgow. At this rate the 

 cost of the steam in Glasgow is equal to four times 

 the cost of that in Lowell. 



In the testimony of Mr. Kempton, given on an 

 examination by a committee of the house of com- 

 mons, as quoted in a pamphlet on the factory 

 question, by Rev. R. H. Gregg, published in 

 London, in 1837, the cost of steam power in Eng- 

 land is stated to be £12 10s. (or $60) per horse 

 power. If this be a correct statement, and if we 

 offset the cost and repairs of the engine against 

 the cost and maintenance of the water wheel, we 

 have the cost of steam power in England, equal 

 to livo times that of water power, at one of the 

 principal manufacturing towns in this country. 

 This (litference however in the cost of power is 

 reduced to the ])roportion of about two to one, if 

 the author's estimate he correct, of the greater 

 amount of power required in the American mills 

 in consequence of the exclusive use of the throstle 

 spindle. The cost of power thus estimated, which 

 should he added to the author's computation of 

 the cost of manufacture of a yard of cloth, is 

 equal to 1-14 ofa cent in the American mill and 

 1-6 in the British mill ; the difference of power 

 being about 1-11 of a cent in the cost of each 

 yard of cloth. If the machinery in the American 

 mill were of the same kind as that in the English 

 mill, the difTerenee in the cost of power woidd be 

 about 1-8 ofa cent. This difference, although it 

 seems insignificant in the cost ofa single yard of 

 cloth, is an item of some importance in the expen- 

 ses ofa year, and amounts to about 1 per cent, on 

 the whole cost of manufacture, including that of 

 the raw material. If the author's estimate of the 

 diffi;rence in the cost of maniifactm-e be correct, 

 the addition of this advantage swells that difler- 

 euce to 4 percent. 



It will be observed that these computations 

 appiv only to those branches of the cotton manii- 

 facture, to which the advantages of mechanical 

 power can be applied with the greatest effect, and 

 which the experience of our countrymen has 

 enabled them to prosecute most successfully, and 

 not at all to the finer and more complicated manu- 

 factures, which require the application ofa greater 

 amount of manual labor, and of skill which is the 

 result of continued experience. Yet this result 

 presents a most encouraging view of the prospects 

 of this important manufacture in this country. If 

 shows that in the manufacture of those descrij)- 

 tions of cloth for which there is much the great- 

 est demand, the mills of this country are at this 



moment able to sustain a competition with the 

 most favorably situated establishments of Great 

 Britain, and to supply the articles produced at 

 equal prices in markets foreign to both countries. 

 But this is not all. The whole comparison shows 

 that those items in the computation which pro- 

 duce a result in our favor, are of a permanent 

 character, secured to us by our national position, 

 and of which we cannot be deprived ; while a 

 portion of those, in which we labor under a disad- 

 vantage, will change in process of time, and ren- 

 der the general result of the comparison still more 

 favorable to us. This remark will apply particu- 

 larly to deficiencies in economical management, 

 deficiences in certain portions of the machinery 

 and the want of equal experience and skill in a 

 portion of the hands employed. 



These considerations must relieve those who 

 are interested in the American cotton manufac- 

 ture, from any serious apprehensions of perma- 

 nent decline of this brauch of industry in this 

 country. Anample pledge forthecontinnance ofa 

 demand for the products of this manufacture, is 

 to be found in the universal want of the civilized 

 world, ofa material which can be in no other way 

 so cheaply supplied. If this material could be 

 furnished by foreign laborers on better terms than 

 by our own, the American manufactm-cr might 

 well feel, that he held his command overthe mar- 

 ket, even of his own country, by an imcertain te- 

 nure. But if it be proved that the advantages of 

 his position are such, that notwithstanding the 

 materially higher cost of labor in tliiscotmtry than 

 in Europe, he can still furnish his products at a 

 price at which he cannot bo underbid, even in a 

 foreign market, by the iiiaiinfacturersof any other 

 country, his position is as safe and independent, 

 as m the nature of things the emolument.-! of any 

 occupation can be. 



From the New Orleans Bulletin. 

 Value of the Olive. 

 Whenover the value of the olive is fully under- 

 stood in the southern section of the union, we may 

 expect to see great attention jiaid to its culture. 

 The importance of the product may be eslitnated 

 from the various uses to which it is put. In Spain, 

 Portugal, the south of France, and many pro- 

 vinces bordering on the Mediterranean, the olive 

 oil is used in immense quantities, forming an ex- 

 oollont siilisiiliito for butter, hogs' lard, or any 

 otiior kiiiil nrgrca.sc which is used in such quanti- 

 tios in Mjuro northern European (dimes, or in this 

 Oduiilry, l">r preparing food. Thomas Jefferson 

 said that of all the gifts of Heaven to man, the 

 olive u-ee was next to the mosti/iecious, ifnotthe 

 most precious, lie thought it might claim a pvef- 

 crencc to liread, because there is such an iufini- 

 lude of vegetables which it render a profitable 

 and comfortable nourishment. A single pound of 

 olive oil, that can bo bought for six or seven cents, 



is equivalent to ni.n 

 her of vegetabli^ n 

 fit for food. Thi^ ^ 

 easily obtain. Ii i 

 never bf en introdi! 

 the .soil and c!ii!iati 



(losb, by thenum- 



;li in pare and render 



: Mr, wholesome and 



! r ili.it the tree has 



:( 10 in the south, where 



I doutle.ss be congenial to 



its growth. Wherever the orange grows, the 

 olive will floiaish — being a hardier tree — and it 

 will live fur ages, and bear abundantly. M.ny we 

 not hope tluit the enterprise of Louisiana will 

 .soon enrich the agricultural products of the stale, 

 by planting extensive orchards of the olive. 



[reported by rev. n. coi.man.] 

 THE FIFTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING. 

 i'eintfln/ll, 1841, 



Mr. King in the Chair. Subject of discussion: 

 Live Stock — (Continued.) 



Mr. Shexdon, of Wilmington, being called up- 

 on, spoke of shoeing oxen. He deemed this a 

 matter of much importance. Oxen oflen became 

 lame from being badly shod. The shoe was sel- 

 dom made long~ enough at the heel. The shoe 

 should be broad ; it should come back on the 

 forward feet, if not on the hind feet, at least half 

 an inch beyond where the claw bears upon it. 

 There might be danger in this case of the shoes 

 being pulled off on meadows and on soft grounds; 

 but it was best they should be shod in this way 

 for liighways and paved streets. There are not 

 many blacksmiths who understand how cattle 

 should be shod. The driver of a team ought to 

 know this ; and the driver ought to be able, when 



