No. 10. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



1 55 



person, required to perform tbnt anioiint of work I or Urge manufacwrer ; and what ie thnl but the dnc- 

 bo tnkon exclusively from the ngriculturol irin.of all monnrchio. and a sure wny to build up 



and perpetuate a privileged order. Now I claim lot 

 ibe farmer, after producing hie share ol the wealth of 



wore to 



community, that there would atill remain a number 

 sufficient to produce an immense surplus of agricul- 

 tural products 1 Every individual may form hii own 

 ooncluaion what number of thoae persons would be 

 abstracted from among the present number actively 

 engaged in agriculture, if we were to commence and 

 manufacture every article which we now consume. 

 My own judgment ie, that it would not lesson the 

 present number of agriculturists sufficient to produce 

 one million of dollars less than we now do. It must 

 be borne in mind, that manufacturing is mostly car- 

 ried on by the use of machinery, and the employment 

 of females and children, who could not be employed 

 in agriculture generally, under any circumstances 

 ■whatever ; so that in any view of tho subject, the 

 conclusion is certain that America must necessarily 

 produce a great surplus of agricultural products ; and 

 BO long as we have a surplus, we must depend in a 

 great measure upon a foreign market to establish the 

 price ; consequently n high tariff would not raise the 

 price of " broad sniffs'' here, but would rather have 

 a tendency, in my judgment, to depress prices, as it 

 would deprive foreigners of the ability to purchase 

 our products by excluding their manufactures from 

 our own market. 



Every nation that sustains a commerce, must ne- 

 cessarily produce a surplus of some kind ; and sound 

 policy would dictate that government should en- 

 courage the production of such articles as we can 

 produce to the best advantage, as compared with those 

 nations with whom we exchange products ; or at 

 least, that government should place no restriction or 

 impediments in the way of raising those products by 

 burdensome taxes in order to encourage or build up 

 some other interest or business which we as a nation 

 cannot prosecute to the same advantage. Now in 

 what consists tho great natural advantages of the 

 United States if not in agriculture, emphatically ag- 

 riculture, and does not every man respond to the sen- 

 timent 1 Is It not the great balance wheel of our re- 

 publican institutions and government itself ? whilst 

 extensive manufacturing, in the nature of things, is 

 incompatible with the equal rights and equal privi- 

 leges of a Democratic Republicon Government. 

 Manufacturing requires concentrated capital, and cre- 

 ates a great distinction between the employer and the 

 employed ; and those two things combined, ever 

 have and ever will oppress the many in every land 

 where they existed ; and I religiously believe that no 

 nation of people, whose leading business was deci- 

 dedly manufacturing, ever did or ever can support a 

 Republican form of government, 

 fr Enlenaning these views, I am decidedly opposed to 

 the agricultural interest being made of secondary im- 

 portance and subservient to all others. The natural 

 tendency is to drive all men who have mental energy 

 and active business habits into other employments, 

 ■which is one cause why the farmers, as a class, are 

 considered by many inferior to the merchant or manu- 

 facturer. 



I am confident that the farmers work harder, live 

 cheaper, and receive less at present for their labor and 

 capital invested, than the merchant or manufacturer, 

 or even less than they will under ihe tariff, according 

 to the "compromiEe act," and 1 think that ihe far- 

 mers rcyuifOTMfection more than the manufacturers, 

 and are at lea^ls mucli entitled to it as they are. 



But they tell us that hard work and plain fare is 

 conducive to health and sound morals ; that our sleep 

 is sweet and we are not troubled with Bank debts, and 

 the headache after a nights carousal. I have no doubt 

 that they think extravagance in dress is a great sin 

 in a fermer's family.but not so much eo in a merchant 



this nation, as much leisure time lor tho cultivation 

 o( tho intellect, or to bo appropriated to pleasure, as 

 any other class of producers ; but such ienot the case 

 at present ; and 1 call on the advocales of protection 

 to give the larnier "protection" direct— give us a 

 bounty of 20 per cent on all the products which we 

 export, (that would be perfectly consistent with the 

 doctrine and practice of "protection"). The far- 

 mers have the same arg'ament to offer that the manu- 

 facturers have; namely, that a portion of those per- 

 sons at present engaged in trade and manufneturere 

 would ihon engage in the more lucrative business of 

 farming ; and then by the operation of the same laws 

 f trade, (supply, demand and competition,) mer- 

 chantsand manufocturers would obtains higher price 

 for their goods than they now do. 



1 have no doubt that supply and the demand, as a 

 general rule, establish the price of all our staples. 

 The doctrine must be considered good in a healihy 

 state of trade ; but sometimes the spint ot monopoly, 

 through and by the instrumentcliiy of a credit, system, 

 subverts all those salutary laws ; I offer, therefore, 

 for the consideration of the farmers, another proposi- 

 tion to raise the price of their products,— suppose 

 they spend a portion of their time in ornamenting 

 their grounds with fruit trees and shrubery : produce 

 less in quantity at a greater per cent profit, by cultiva- 

 ting lees land— not forgetting the most important of 

 all culture, tho cultivatio)i of ihe mind — and my 

 word for it, they will, as a clnss, be in bettor circum- 

 stances in a short time than they will be with a " pro- 

 tective tariff," or to continue on in a system of over- 

 production. To be sure the more we produce the 

 more we enrich the nation at large ; (as it certainly 

 will be exported when at very low prices here,) and 

 furnish cheap bread for the mechanic, the merchant 

 and the manufacturer. At the same time wlien we 

 produce a large surplus, we lessen our own profits, 

 while they in their turn, are not willing to come 

 down to our profits, but are calli' g on government to 

 protect them by giving us high priced goods and man- 



factures. „ 



J. S. DUTTON. 



Monroe, Mick., Avgvst, IS-l'i 



Agrlcnlture 5n itussia. 



The estates are estimated by the number of souls 

 upon them, taking into accn-jnt the male serfs only. 

 This is an ancient custom derived from the old times, 

 hen the revenues depended upon the number of hands 

 at the disposal of the owner. At present the case is 

 changed ; the land is the source of the profits, while 

 the serfs arc a dead weight uiion the proprietors. The 

 custom of the country is to allot to tho peasants the 

 half of the lajid which belongs to the owner of the 

 estate, to defend them against all aggression, and to re- 

 spect their property with strictness. 



AVith these means and this order of things, thcpeas- 

 ant is by no means in a bad condition. His habits and 

 desires are, owing to his want of civilization, simple in 

 the extreme. But were his wishes enlarged, he could 

 easily gratify them ; land, and the time to cultivate it, 

 are at his disposal. A village of 200 souls, (i. e. male 

 peasants of all ages,) possesses usually 2,000 acres of 

 productive land. Two hundred souls are usually reck- 

 oned to furnish 80 laborers, women and men; for the 

 wives toil as well as their husbands. These work 3 

 days in the week for their master, who. gives up to 

 them in return, the half of his land. 



The system of agriculture is triennial, with fallows: 

 that is, the land bears two crops in three years. Each 

 married couple receives two acres in each of the three 

 portions, i. e. winter jrain, spring crop and fallsw, into 



which, by this system, the amble land is divided su that 

 Ihoy have in all U acres, in addition to one acre of mead- 

 ow and one also of pasture: besides this, tluy have 

 the ground for a house, garden and out-buildings ; by 

 way of rent for their allotment, the peasant and his 

 wife aro required to cultivate as much more for their 

 master. 



'I'hc fine season being very short, tho operations of 

 husbandry are performed with surprising activity. Tho 

 ast tracts covered by abundant crops, are quickly bar- 

 ed, and the produce is heaped up in open barns. In 

 winter the grain, consisting of rye, (the staple food of 

 the country) wheat, barley, oats, pease, millet, and 

 Uuckwhcut are threshed, usually with the flail, but 

 sometuncs with a Scotch threshing machine, and it is 

 then transported into the towns— sometimes to a dis- 

 tance of 100 or 300 versU, that is ti" or 13-1 miles. Tho 

 straw is consumed by the cattle, and is also used in 

 the steppes, where wood is scarce, for heating tho 

 stoves. There is, hov\'ever, often a surplus, which is 

 employed to make fences for gardens, or embankments 

 for ponds and marshes. The roads and highways not 

 being stoned, the immense transports of produce can, 

 generally speaking, only be made in winter on sledges; 

 if it ever takes place in summer, it is effected by means 

 of oxen, the keeping of which costs nothing, since the 

 road iUclf supplies them with pasture, for it is not less 

 than 210 feet, or 30 sagines wide, and all as green as a 

 meadow. A few ordinary sheep, pigs, poultry of all 

 kinds, and one ortwo cows in addition to the horse of 

 a very sorry kind, complete the live stock of the peaa- 

 ,inf, and help to consume the produce of his land, 

 which he cannot sell at any price, however low, on ac- 

 count of the distance of the markets. In a year of 

 plenty, the different kinds of corn become exceedingly 

 cheap, and are consumed with a reckless improvidence, 

 since no one thinks of hiying any tlung in reserve. 

 And this will explain the terrible deaths which some- 

 times visit Russia. 



Every peasant cultivates for his master and himself, 

 n addition to the fallow, eight acres and mows two 

 acres of meadow. Every acre, in a plentiful year, givi u 

 not less than ten measures, termed chctvcrts, of griiin, 

 equal to 2lG lbs. An opinion can, therefore, readily 

 be formed of the immense quantity of the produce an- 

 nually raised in Russia, of which more than one half 

 remains on thoir hands, owing to tlie lowness of the 

 price and the prodigality of the consunipticn. Two or 

 three successive years of good crops overload them to 

 the greatest possible degree ; and the storehouses aro 

 not capacious enough to contain the corn raised, the 

 more so, as buildings of all kinds, from the scarcity of 

 stone and wood, are expensive. 



However full of grain of all kinds the storehouse 

 may he, it is utterly impossible to check the production 

 —they cannot dismiss their laborers (serfs) when they 

 do not want them, as if ihey were hired laborers. And in 

 spite of the suixrabundancc on hand, they must con- 

 tinue to produce, were it only by way of employment, 

 in fine, the result of this stale of things is an exirenie 

 lowness in price of all articles, almost below the cost 

 of production. Witness the follow.ng prices of pro- 

 duce at Tamboff in November, 1837. Meat from 1 to 

 4 cents per lb. ; Rye, jicr chetvert, 67 1-2 cents; Pota- 

 toes, 15 to 20 cents ; Fat Turkies, per pair, 43 cents ; 

 Geese, per pair, 58 cents; Fowls or Ducks, per pair, 

 30 cents; Flock Game, 24 cents; Gelinottcs, 40. 



Tomatoes a Cure for ^•coiirs in Pig^, , 



Last fall, we had a pig tbot was taken with the 

 scours badly. We tried various remedies lor it with 

 but little etlijct. One day we threw ovjr to it two or 

 three tomatoes, which it ate readily, and which we 

 found gave it relief. By following this course a few 

 days, it was finally cure d. — A/ffinc Farmer. 



Indian for/i — The rirst s. '.ire host of the season 

 occurred in the vicinity of Rochester on the 22d 

 Sept. The largest portion of Indian com was be- 

 yond ita injury. 



