236 COTTON PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



they will not rule so low hereafter that the average rates will 

 not merely experience a temporary rise, as if caused by the 

 short crop and the small stocks of the present year, but a per- 

 manent and continued advance. 



The table of stocks (Table IV.) represents the amounts on 

 hand in the seaports of Europe continually increasing from 

 1840 to 1850, while during the four years ending 1849, they 

 have been nearly stationary. Comparing them with the wants 

 of the manufacturers, as is done in the column which contains 

 the number of weeks that the stocks would supply the con- 

 sumption of the factories, the supply was a trifle lower at the 

 close of 1849, after the receipt of the largest crop ever brought 

 to market, than it had been during the last ten years. The 

 number of bales was a little greater than at the close of 1848; 

 but the time this stock would supply the wants of the manu- 

 facturers, was a little less. After this review of the history of 

 the trade in cotton for the last ten years, if we remember that 

 the production of 1850 has been much below the average of 

 the last five years, and that the prospects of the next year's 

 crop are but a little better, it is evident that the present ad- 

 vance in cotton is founded upon no speculative basis, but on 

 the unchangeable laws of supply and demand. Two short 

 crops are succeeding each other, while the stocks on hand are 

 very much reduced. To this it may be added, that everything 

 is favorable to a large consumption. Peace everywhere pre- 

 vails, except in the unimportant Duchies of Schleswig Holstein. 

 Money is abundant, and the currency everywhere undisturbed. 

 Food is very cheap. The present harvest of Europe, as well 

 as the last, is much above an average. Thus, while stocks 

 are low, and the supply small, the demand is large. Prices, 

 therefore, must maintain a high level, unless commotions in 

 France, or some unforeseen event of commanding importance, 

 interferes with the regular operation of commerce. In con- 



