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TH E NEW G E N E S E E F A R M E R 



Vol. 1. 



ISiitish Corn Law.-. 



The necesslly iif counlcrcailivn pro.'iihitwns ore llic 

 part of Vic Umtat SUiles — a higlibj jirotcctire tariff 

 docs not in the end prore a bountij to the manufac- 

 turer, but to the consumer. 



Harvest is Kxgland. — " Our ImrvcBt in the 

 Soiitli is over. Wbeat will probably be a lair crop. 

 Oata, barley, piuniots, find tiiriiips in nbun<lance. — 

 The working of our Corn Liws is very euikinij nt 

 thiamomnnt. Lnst wo(k IjiU one, the (Uuy on Hour, 

 was Is. 7il. sterling; In^t week &.; to dny, (li^tli 

 Sept.) it has risen to fo. ill.; next week it will be 

 8*. 2d." 



Tho foregoing extract ia from a letter lately receiv- 

 ed from England and published in the New York 

 Emancipator of the ,'>th. 



Sucli ore the corn laws of England, that no grain 

 or flour is admitted trom foreign parts, unless, from 

 bad harvests, prices advance so high as to threaten a 

 general famine in the land. Last year, owing to short 

 and damaged crops, American flour was admitted at 

 a very small duty; but at this time we arc sliut out by 

 n duly of at least .'f;2,50 per barrel; so that fir the co- 

 ming scaison wc cannot hope to lind a market in Eng- 

 land for any part of our great surplus. Yet with all 

 this particular policy on the part of England, no coun- 

 tiTvuiling protection has been adopted by the United 

 States. So far from it, by our compromise act, the 

 duties on Briti&h manufacture has been lessened an- 

 nually, and are to decrease until the year I8-I2, when 

 the duty on no one article io to be over 20 per cent. 



We are so far the frieiids of free trade, that if Eng- 

 land would admit the bread stuffs of the United States 

 on the payment of a duty of 20 per cent, on its cost 

 in the United Slates, we would be the last to com- 

 plain of our compromise act, which ia to reduce the 

 duties on British manufacture to 20 per cent. But, as 

 we have no reason to e.vpect that England will do this, 

 what resource have <ve but to create a home market 

 for our eurjdus agricultural productions. And how is 

 this market to be obtained but by such on impost on 

 Eritieh manufoctiires, as will encourage all the young 

 and rising branches of manufacturing industry at 

 home. 



For eight years, previous to 1839, the average ex- 

 port of bread stalls I'rom the U. S. to England, was 

 not more thou jJiOiOOOjOOO; while the import of manu- 

 faclured articles, from (Ircat Britain alone, in one of 

 those years, am.junted to $80,000,000. It is suppo- 

 sed that the average import during those years, into 

 New York alone, amounted to $20,000,000 annually. 

 It is computed that there is imported into the Uni- 

 ted Stoles, .$8,000,000 annually, in silks alone; nbout 

 $1,498,0)0 more, each year, than was received for 

 all the wheal, Indian corn, rye, polatoee, buiscuit, flnx 

 seed, hops, &c., exported in 18:i8 to every pari of the 

 world. 



It is true that the cotton of the South pays for llie 

 greater part of our Europaaii iraporta. It ia also Hue 

 thai the S^iiuh complains that a larilTon imposts is ivi 

 only calculated to intorupt her free trade with her Eu- 

 ropean cuitrmers, bill also to compel her to pay a 

 bounty to the Northern manufacturer, — ;n other 

 words, making him rich at her expense. 



BiU this doctrine, specious as it is in theory, is found 

 to be suicldinl in practice, and wholly repelled by the 

 facte. Under a protective laritf, our domestic collons 

 have fallen from 25 cts . to C els. the yard. Cunfidonee 

 in protection, induced capital to beembarkcd in man- 

 ufactures— ^piofits induced competition, and this again 

 induced renewed improvements in machinery, divie- 

 sion of labor, and every species of economy and sa- 

 ving that Yankee ingenuity could contrive, until our 

 cotton manufactures at this time, at the lowest known 

 prices, amount to nearly .*;30,000,000 per annum. 



Thus we tin.l that a pr Ui o^ive tariff" in favor of our 

 Qtton 11 « lufT t lies, bus produced more than all the 



bencfila which its most sanguine Iriends had anl!Ci;iu- 

 ted, while not one of the evils which iu opponents 

 predicted has yet been produced by ii. 



This protection our cotton monuficturcrs now no 

 longer need, as under its influence they have so far 

 increased in numbers, in capital, and in mechanical 

 skill, that they now suece sfully compete with the cot- 

 ton manufacturera of England in the great South 

 iVmerican market. 



But at this time the friends of domestic industry do 

 not ask for a tariff crcliisicely for protection. Such 

 are the increased expenses of the nation, that a dnty 

 for the purposes of revenue might be so judiciously 

 imposed os to act cffcciiveiy as a protection to many 

 of the younger bronehca of American industry. 



To show the iniportanecof encouraging the produc- 

 tion and mnnufacture of Silk, it is only necessary to 

 say that it has already commenced, in the absence of 

 any impoet on the imported arliele. Unlike cotton, 

 wool and iron, silk has to far been considered by Con- 

 gress as an alien to our soil, which hid no right either 

 to ocelimation or citizenship ; but we trust the time 

 has arrived when both the production of silk and its 

 manufacture ia to reteive the paternal and fostering 

 aid of government. ■ 



From late statistical table's it appears Jhat the silk 

 manufactories of England in the year 1838, amounted 

 to 2C8 in number, employing 34, 318 hands, showing 

 an increase of nearly 18 per cent, in the last three 

 y ears. 



Silk goods to the amount of 8,000,000 of dollars, 

 have been imported free of duty into these .Stales in a 

 single year. It may be urged by ]Mr. Calhoun and 

 the advocates of free irade, that if the United Stales 

 imposes a duty on French silks, France will lay a 

 countervailing tariff on our cotton ; but will it not be 

 much easier for the United Slates to dispense with 

 French silks, ihon for France to do without an article 

 of such vital importance to her manufacturing inte- 

 rests as American cotton. The successlul growing 

 of the morns' multicDidis belongs only to the cotton 

 growing States; hence the production of the raw silk 

 ought to be as essentially their staple as cotton itself, 

 and if they lack the skill or enterprise to produce the 

 manufactured article, the north can help them. 



Much has been said about the inhumanity of the 

 factory system, and its pernicious influence on the 

 health and morals of the people. 1 have no time to at- 

 icinpl a refutation of these charges; sufRco it to say 

 that man is a gregarious animal and must follow his 

 instincts. But even in the murky atmosphere of an 

 English mannfoeluring town, it is ascertained that the 

 average length ot human life is 10 years longer than it 

 was a century ago. The manufacture of cotton alone 

 baa largely contributed to this; the laboring classes 

 are now better clothed, better ftd, and better lodged, 

 than they were then, and at mush lees expense. 



e. w. 



Impovtaut Plonghizisr MatcU-tiial of Ploughs. 



Tlie Massnehusetia Agricultural Society, with 

 characteristic Ubcrclily, in order if po.-isiblo, to decide 

 the (jucsiion as to v.'hiuh is tJie Icsl /iloiigh, oflired a 

 premium of $;100 for Ihc bcil plough for turning the sod 

 Itat, and a premium of ;|i7o for the best plough to lap 

 the furrows or lay them on on angl.\ The trial look 

 place at Worcester, Oct. 13, and v.'aa conducted with 

 great care and skill, as will be seen by the report of 

 the committee, which we copy from the Boston papers. 

 " The first operation was to run furrows so that we 

 might have narrow lauds of about live rods in length 

 Then fifteen ploughs were brought on and used suc- 

 cessively. Each competitor wns allowed to furnish 

 his own ploughman; to make hie furrow of whatever 

 depth and width he chose; and thusio give ua his own 

 specimen of the work of his own insirument. Each 

 was allowed to turn several contiguoui! fuirowg. The 



Dynamometer, or measurer of the power re juired to 

 draw the plough, was applied to caclj, through two or 

 more furrows This power was noted down; the 

 depth and width of these furrows were nicat:ured; and 

 our eycssconncd the work of each. About live hours 

 were consumed in the trial thus. 



After having taken some refreshments, several 

 members of the committee, whose hands were not en- 

 tire strangers to the plough handle, went to the field 

 and aevcrolly tried such of the ploughs as either of 

 them was disposed to follow. On the following doy, 

 also, they held several of the ploughs ; and they all 

 agreed in the ojiinion Ihat the ploughs of Mr. Howard 

 Olid tho:e of Messrs. Trouly & Meurs, oie managed 

 with great ease and c imfirt by the ploughman, and 

 that each when left to itself holds on in its pioper po- 

 sition and course, where the sod ia uniform and free 

 from atones. They agreed also, that ihc form and po- 

 sition of ihe b-'aTi-hnndle of Messrs. lluggles, Nourse ' 

 & Mas >n'e plough is such that the ploughman cannot 

 walk in the furrow erect and comfortably when the 

 plough ia in a position to make good work. They 

 think too, ihot this plough when left to itself tends to 

 narrow ihe furrow slice and iim out ; and ihertfoie 

 that a co7is!anl though slight efl'ort on the part of tho 

 plougbmnii, is required to keep it in its p'ace. It is 

 true, however, that in the hands of a skillful holder, 

 this instrument, in shallow and Oat idoughing, makes 

 OS hnnihome work as any that we hove seen. But 

 where all work \shnntlsoinecnovgh, those must be con- 

 sidered best which moke the smallest draft upon the 

 strength of the team and the skill and comfort of the '■ 

 ploughman. 



The power required to turnover a given quantity of 

 earth by a plough, is a very important coneidcrat ion. 

 This power can be measured with great accuracy ; 

 greater than mony of the conmiitteehad oupiiosed be- 

 fore they witiiLssed ihe operation. The Dynamome- 

 ter, inserted between the plough. beam and the chain, 

 measures with great accuracy the strength exerted by 

 the team. Suj)poso the strength applied be the same 

 that would be required to raise 336 lbs. over a single 

 pulley ; supjiose also that the depth of the furrow ia 

 (ij inches and tho widih 13 inches. Multiply 13 by 

 ()4 and you have 81 wiih a fraction. Now if 330 lbs. 

 oF power will take up and turn over 81 inches of 

 earth, then 112 lbs. will turn 28 inches. Tried in 

 this way, the ploughs exhibited showed the fdlowing 

 results. The power in each cape is 119 Iba. 

 First Ploughs for lapping furrows. 

 By Charlea Howard, Ilingham, 29J inches. 



By Ilugglea, Nourse & Mason, AVor- 



cealcr. 

 By John Wilson, Decrfield, 

 Bj' Steven's plough, Bnrnet, Vt., 

 By .lames Stewart, West Newbury, 



■(Scotch Plough,) 

 By Cornelius Bergen, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

 By Barnaby & Moores, Ilhaca, N. Y., 

 By E. G. Whiting, Rochester, N. Y., 



For flat furrows. 

 By Pronty & Mears, Boston, 

 By Charles Howard, Hingham, 

 By Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, Worces- 

 ter, 

 By Barnaby <S: Moores, Ithaca, N. Y., 

 By E. G. Wliiting, RoL-hesier, N. Y., 

 Another plough by Proniy & .Mears, 

 " " Charles Howard, 



Ths above table, containing resnlts arrived at, not 

 by c&iimation, but by nieasuremrnt, ia given to tbi> 

 public, in the full belief that it will be acceptable lo all 

 farmers who may read it, and that it will be useful tu 

 many niauufacturors of ploualis ; for here are exhib- 

 ited some remarkable and higiily important fodfi. 

 Taking the extremes, we find 112 lbs. power applied 

 to one of Howard's ploughs turning over 2i)J inches 

 of earth, while the same power atone of Mr. Whi- 

 ting's jiloughs v.ill turn only J-l inches — a dillcrenco 

 of more than 100 per cent. The structure of the 

 plough therefore, roust be an iniportani matter to tho 

 farmer's cattle ; and the connnitlec think they may 

 add, that the execllenco of the work performed with 

 tho plough was, with few exceptions, in the direct ra- 

 tio of tho ease of draft. Had our cattle Uie gift of 

 sjicech, their proverbial patience would hardly hold 

 them back from saying to their owners — " Pay more 

 attention to the structure of the plough." i 



The committee cannot forbear to call the attention 

 of farmers to the vast diflerciice in the power required 

 to move ploughs which are all doubtless considered 

 excellent in those sections of the country from which 

 they were brought. Ploughs were exhibited from 

 places hundreds of miles distant from each other, and i 

 all Biibjpcted to the same teat — a test as accurnle «3 



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