JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY THOMAS W. SHEPARIJ, IIOGKRS' BUILDINGS, C()N(;RESS STULKI-. (KOUKTH UOOR FROM SIA'IK STRKE 



■'■■) 



Vol. I. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1823. 



No. 44. 



REPORT, 



DELIVERED BKFORF. THE 



PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 (Continued from pa^c 338.) 

 . The second and the last part of this Report 

 Wa? to take notice ot" any circumstances which 

 have transpired during' the last year, either tc 

 encourage hope in the nltimate accomplishment 

 of our independence, or to suggest the need oi 

 wise precautions against the evils with whicl 

 it may be threatenetl. 



The only circumstance of this latter descrip- 

 tion, worthy of regard, has been the disturbance 

 of the relation naturally subsisting between the 

 prices of bread corn and of meat. When we 

 consuU any tables of the rates of provisions 

 either in Britain, France, Germany, or other 

 European countries, we shall find this rule to 

 hold universally, that butcher meat is double 

 the price of flour, and butter double that o' 

 meat ; as for instance, when flour is quoted a 

 2d per pound, beef is at 4d and butter at 8d — 

 the second being double, and the last quadruple 

 of the tirst; and that these rules have obtained 

 not at one time and in one place, but as far back 

 as there are authentic annals, and in every na- 

 tion where statistical accounts have been pre- 

 served.* It cannot be denied that these rela- 

 tions are perpetually disturbed by the operation 

 of demand and supply ; but still, whenever any 

 of the articles rise above, or sink below the as- 

 sumed standard, there is a tendency in the pri 

 ces to adjust themselves at the points of equili 



"' As tlie proportion of prices liere stated to exisi iu:- 

 tween flour, meat, and butter, may be considered as 

 purely hypotlietical, I shall present some tables, con- 

 etrurted on minutes taken by Arthur Young in France 

 and in England. Just before the breaking out of the 

 revolution, that gentleman landed at Calais, for tht 

 purpose of taking a survey of French husbandry ; an* 

 in the prosecution of his plan, noted down every thin; 

 relating to wages, provisions, the methods of cultiva- 

 tion, tiie nature of crops, manures, and in short all sorti 

 of materials which might Serve as data for the politica 

 economist. These minutes were taken in 1787 to 1781 

 in all the departments of France ; for he traversed tha 

 kingdom by three separate routes, and therefore hs 

 general averages are fairly drawn. In looking into He 

 particular minutes, I observe that the relation betweea 

 the prices of meat, butter and bread is somewhat di- 

 turbed. In arable district?, for instance, bread is lov- 

 er, and meat and butter are higher than the genenl 

 average ; and the reverse takes place in tracts fittal 

 for pasturage ; yet the ratio on an average of the whoe 

 kingdom, comes out with wonderful accuracy. Tra'- 

 els in France, vol. i, p. 441 — under the article, Frioe 

 of Provisions. 



R CCAPITULATIOS. 



French En^liJi 

 Money. Monei. 

 Beef per lb. on average of 76 minutes 7 f. 3 1-2 



Mutton do. 7 3 1-S 



Veal of 72 minutes 7 1-2 3 3--: 



Pork of 28 minutes 9 4 1-S 



Butter of 38 minutes 16 3-4 8 l-: 



Bread of 67 minutes 3 . 1 1-2 



A pound of bread, notwithstanding the labor of bak- 

 ing it, is always cheaper than a pound of flour, because 

 the Ibrmer is to the latter as 36 to 26, that is to sav, 

 20 lbs of flour will, after adding water, salt and yiast, 

 make, in all ordinary cases, 36 lbs of bread. FIcur, 

 therefore, in France, could not be less than 2d per lb. 

 when bread was at 3 sous. The proportions tlicii in 

 France, from these numerows and extended uiinufes 



britim. The great reason for this d'Serence of 

 valne lies in the cost of production. A farmer 

 can raise a pound of oatmeal or flour much 

 more easily than ho can raise a pound of becl' 

 or mutton ; and therefore he should be rateablv 

 paid for his labor. But moreover, meat is more 

 nutritious, or capable of sustaining the body 

 longer, quantity for quantity, than bread corn ; 

 and on this other account an effective demand 

 will always exist for the former at double the 

 prices of the latter. Amongst us during this 

 last year the relation subsisting between these 

 two articles of farm produce has been entirely 

 subverted. Beef during the greater part of 

 winter could be purchased at l|d or 2d per lb. 

 while oatmeal commanded 17s 6d, and flour 2U.s 

 per ewt. At the present moment beef is worth 

 3d in the market, and superfine flour at 9 dolls, 

 per barrel — that is at 2id per pound. This is 

 a complete subversion of the order which holds 

 in Europe, and demands the most serious and 

 grave deliberation, as involving the prosperity 

 of our rural economy. One trrand error in this 

 country has been the want of arithmetical cal- 

 culation, in reckoning up the cost of the differ- 

 ent sorts of produce which are brought to mar- 

 ket. Few have any just idea of what it takes 

 o rear a pig, a lamb, or a call". Our farmers 

 are thus ignorant, in a groat measure, of rela- 

 'tive prices dependent on the expense of pro- 

 duction, and they conduct their sales under the 

 guidance of the blindest chance. No man surely 

 dare aflSrm that a given quantity of meat can be 

 raised as cheap as a giveti quantity of flour, and 

 yet so it is that the former during the whole of 

 last winter has been lower than the latter. In 

 England, where agriculturists put down every 

 item of expense under its appropriate head, 

 and ke»p books on as correct principles as does 

 the meichant, it is recognized as an invariable 

 rule, that unless beef fetch double of flour, the 

 occupier should break up his grass lands and 

 bring them under tillage. The relation in price 

 between these two produces a perpetual oscil- 

 lation between pasturage and tillage, and deter- 

 mines the farmer in the destmation of his fields. 



He tills more when bread rises above, and less 

 when it descends below its proper level.* 



I have been at the more pains to set thiT 

 proposition in a plain light, because of its vital 

 importance connected with our present condi- 

 tion and future prospects. The opinion has 

 been long popular, that the province was fitted 

 to be a pastoral rather than an agricultural 

 country; and this has been received without 

 much e.vamiiialion, and gained an almost uni- 

 versal absent, It has not failed to produce n 

 strong efl'ect on rural industry, and to creste a 

 corresponding bias towards the hay culture. — 

 On this account our finest lands have been laid 

 down to grass, and our marshes, which under 

 the French were fruitful of corn, and were al- 

 ternately under fallow ai.d wheat, have ceased 



may be justly quoted as follows — Flour at 2d, meat on 

 an average of all the sorts nearly 4d, and butter at 

 8 l-4d per lb. 



By the same writer, and in the same place, it is said 

 that.in England the prices in 1790 were 



Beef at 4d. per lb. 



Mutton 4 1-2 



Veal 4 1-2 



Pork 4 



Bread 1 3-4 equal to flour at 2 1-4 per lb. 



In further corroboration of these relative prices, see 

 Young's Tour, East of England, perlbrmed 20 years 

 before, in 1770, vol. iv, p. 303. 

 Beef, average of 37 places, 3 l-2d per lb. 

 Butter do. 6 1-2 



Bread do. 1 1-2 flour being 1 3-4 lb. 



See also his Tour in Ireland in 1776 to 1778, vol. ii, 

 page 149. 



Beef on an average of the Kingdom 2 l-2d per lb. 

 Mutton da. do. 2 3-4 



Veal do. do. 3 1-2 



Average of the above 3 meats is a fraction short of 3d. 

 Butter 5 3-4 



The price of bread is not mentioned, becatise the 

 peasantry lived chiefly on potatoes. 



* It will be found by recurring to our last Price Cur- 

 rent, p. 343, that superfine Flour is about $8 a barrel ■. 

 which contains 196 lbs. and will give 4 cents 1-lOth 

 nearly per lb. Beef, best pieces, from 8 to 9 cents, and 

 lump Butter from 18 to 20 cents. That is, butcher's 

 meat is about double the price of flour, and butter 

 double that of meat, which, according to the author of 

 this report, are about (he same relative proportions 

 which these articles of provision bear in " Britain. 

 Frauce^. !■■ rmany, or other European countries." 1( 

 would ^eem, therefore, that in New England, there is 

 no reason, to be derived from the 'tate of the market 

 prices of these articles in Boston, for any "oscillation 

 between pasturage and tillage." The relative prices 

 which are given for rye-meal and Indian-meal, coal-" 

 pared wi'h the price of flour, appear to us to be about 

 correct, aiul prove, so far as the rules of the able au- 

 thor of the Report ought to influence our tilLage, that 

 -N^ew England farmers have, as a body, decided not 

 improperly in " determining the destination of their 

 fields." 



There are, moreover, a variety of considerations to 

 be taken into view, as respects the most profitable kind 

 of culture. If a farmer Jives at a great distp.nce from 

 market, butter, beef & pork will perhaps be found most 

 profitable, because most easily conveyed to the place 

 of sale. The nature of the soil, the facility of procur- 

 ing manure, the price of labor, kc. kc. are itei.is of 

 importance, in determining between grain and grass 

 cultivation. In the neighborhood of large towns, where 

 manure can be had cheap and in any quantity, and 

 the soil is suited to arable cultivation, Indian com and 

 other grain may be raised and sent to market to great- 

 er profit than in the interior, because the transport is 

 not so serious an item of charge. Besides, it may be 

 said of lurms situated at some distance from populous 

 places, without cattle you will have no manure, and 

 without manure, no grain. But in the neighborhood 

 of a large town, manure, and of course grain, may be 

 had without cattle. 



In Great Britain, according to Sir John Sinclair, the 

 grain cultivation is carried to an extreme. He says, 

 " It cannot be doubted that if one-fourth part of the 

 land, which at present is sown with corn [grain] were 

 properly laid down in grass, iDr the purpose of feeding 

 stock, it would be of the greatest benefit both to the 

 farmer and the public, as the other three-fourths would 

 be better manured, more easily cultivated, and would 

 produce as much for consumptioii as the whole, ns^ 

 does." — Kd. .V. £. larntfr. 



