184 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 3 



Germany, but what we meet England there in compe- 

 ilion for the same trade. 



It" we go to Africa, we there find them, or to the 

 " utt =rmos' parts of the earth, t'.icy ar.; there also." If 

 we levy a duty to protect our own manufactures, the 

 prices are raised in our own market, (as I think. I have 

 clearly shown) they can then compete vfith us, and if 

 we prohibit them altogether they will smuggle their 

 good among us, and if they dare, they would Uglit us 

 Tnto the b.irgain, as th^y have China, if wc detected 

 them in the act. 



I confess that at the first view it appears inconsistent 

 t'lat we should ad;i.it the produds of England on bet- 

 ter terms than ihey admit ours; but shall we injure 

 ourselves in order to retaliate against them f Shall wc, 

 because England opprFsses the bulk of her population 

 by excessive taxes on theif bread, make the majority of 

 our citizens pay excessive taxes on their manufactured 

 goods? and is it a good and suflicient reason for so do- 

 ing 1 I think not. Why is it that England takes the 

 lajided interest into such special favor byway of pro- 

 tection 1 It is because the monied men— tlic Lords 

 andNoblis have monopolised all the lend of the King- 

 dom, and they frame all the laws to advance their own 

 interest and force their hard earnings frum the mass of 

 the people. 



The English natirtn possess much greater- natural 

 advantages for manufacturing than for agriculture, on 

 tlie account of a dense population and their limited 

 tcrrilory at ho:ne, wliich is easily monopolized ; conse- 

 quently the mass of the people m-Jst necessarily be en- 

 gaged in manufacturing The law makers, therefore, 

 ill order to carry on their extensive wars and support a 

 spl-ndid gov-nimsnt, have made the manufacturer bear 

 the brunt of taxation, on the ground that these indi- 

 viduals, possessing natural advantages for producing 

 wealth, can bear more taxation end sustain life, than 

 individuals who do not possess those advantages. 



Mjiiroe, Mkh., 1»43. J. 3. DUTTON. 



Protective Taiiir.--Ko. 4. 



The Wool Growers, more than any class of farmers, 

 Bcom to favor the Protective Policy. Do Ihcy think 

 that an advance of 10 or 20 per cent, to the present 

 duty on woolens, would ensure them for all time to 

 come, the same increased ratio of prices 1 If they do, 

 they are greatly mistaken. Do the manufacturers go 

 for the same duty on the " raw material 1" and if they 

 did, competition at home would soon reduce the price 

 of wool to the old standard, if not beloW it; and at 

 present prices, I predict that Michigan will, in ten years 

 from this lime, turn out a greater surplus than any 

 other state in the union does at present. 



Wheat and Wool are to be the great staples of the 

 Blitc; we have done with producing pork, beef and 

 coarse grain, at a loss of .50 or 75 per cent, en first cost, 

 as at present prices. 



While on this subject, Iwoi'ld ask what is the cause 

 of the present low prices of those articles, if it is not 

 on account of over-production, or too great a surplus 

 and no foreign market, at a price that wiU pay us the 

 first cost. Now suppose that the tariff is increased on 

 wool as well as woolen, the prices of wool would be 

 raised, and all the farmers in the Union turn their at- 

 tention (as they undoubtedly would) to the production 

 of that article, how long would it bo before the market 

 would be glutted, (the same as with porlc at present)"! 

 Would not prices then be brought back again, if per- 

 haps not below the present standard 1 Would you 

 not then have just cause to call on Government for an 

 additional Tariff; more c-specially as they had stimula- 

 ted you to invest your whole capital in tlie production 

 of that article, at high prices, and would they not be 

 bounil again to throw around you the mantle of pro- 

 tection, by way of a bounty or otherwise to be again 

 followed by over production, fall of prices, and then an 

 other e.ill for increase of protection % 



I have been told that the manufacturers purchase 

 wool in a foreign market say at 3-1 cents per pound, 

 and then fill it with 2 lbs. of sand to one of wool, or 

 saturate it with some substance which costs nothing and 

 is carily separated or cleansed, until it brings the first 

 cost of the wool down to 8 cents per pound, or below, 

 and then it is to b(! admitted into our country free of 

 duty. On its arrival here they open the bales and 

 shake out the sand, or cleanse it in some other, and they 

 then have a fine article free of duly, worth 50 cents 

 per pound in our market. 



I do not pretend possititely to vouch for the truth 

 of the charge, although to me it seems not improbable. 



But the cry is, give us high prices or we perish. 

 This I admit is a debatable question, and one that 

 ought to be well understood by the great mass of pro- 

 ducers ; but to my mSnd, a system of high prices is un- 

 tavorablc to the prosperity of this great nation. 



I wish to he understood, so here I assert, tliat a 

 general system of low prices is belter for th laborer, 

 the farmer, the mechanic, i>.nd manufacturer, (that is, 

 that an absolute specie standard is belter than a ficti- 

 tious paper credit,) and that it is better that improved 

 farms should be worth twenty dollars per acre, and 

 labor ten dollars per month, and whe.it six or seven 

 shillings per bushel, and manufactured goods and every 

 tiling else in proiwrlion ; than it is to have all things 

 twice or three times higher, because at the low scale of 

 prices we might export a surplus to foreign countries, 

 and at the higher rates, toreign countries would under- 

 sell us. 



In short, special legislation of any kind, that has a 

 tendency to raise up prices and establish a fictitious 

 value upon property, whether by a protective tariff as 

 a general policy, pr a credit currency or any other mo- 

 nopoly, t'raud or fiction, is decidedly injurious to the 

 productive classes, and the best interests of this coun- 

 try. I am satisfied that the tendency of this nation is 

 to purchase all the goods wc are able to pay for under 

 any circumstances, and when we imagmo ourselves 

 wealthy from either of the above causes, we purchase 

 more goods than we are able to pay for, and instead of 

 getting rich, we become miserably poor by the opera- 

 tion. 



The high priced, high tariff advoeates will now ask ; 

 would you reduce us to the condition of the Russian 

 serf, or the English weaver, and in what is our ccndi- 

 lion better than theirs, unless we obtain higher prices 

 for labor than they do 1 



I answer tliat labor is best paid when it will obtain 

 the greatest amount of the necessaries or luxuries of 

 life for a given service performed ; that it is the relative 

 and not the nominal prices of labor and necessaries 

 that determines when labor receives a ju.st reward; 

 and you cannot reduce the producers of America to 

 the condition of the operatives of IVIanchester and 

 Birmingham, until our Government, under the specious 

 pretence of '-protecting our industry," taxes us enor- 

 mously, by way of a Tarilf, on all the imp^jrts we cat, 

 drink or wear, and allows a bounty on a portion of our 

 exports to some favored class ; taxes us for the glass 

 in our windows, and for every thing under Heaven, 

 and then in addition, takes one tenth of all the pro- 

 ducts for the support of one estabhshcd church. 



In .short, when our Government adop's the whole 

 system of Brittish " protection," of which ours is a 

 faithful copy, all except the "eliding scale,' then and 

 not till then, will the producers of America be brought 

 to the s-imc condition of the producers of England, 

 the operatives of Manchester and Birmingham, and 

 then we may perhaps boast of a splendid governmen.t 

 and sing America " rules the waves," and dictate to 

 the nations of the earth, with death and starvation 

 staring us in the face to the extent of -20 thousand 

 human beings annually. J. S. DUTTON. 



Monroe, Mich., 1842. 



AGRICULTURE OF ONTARIO COUNTY. 



The present condition of agriculture in this county 

 generally, us well as in this immediate portion of it, 

 may be called good. The soil of Ontario is rich, but 

 in different sections it presents every variety of loamy, 

 elnyey, sandy, and '.he various degrees of admixture 

 of these. 



The aspect of the coaniry ia ngreeably undulating 

 nnd picturesque. The principal product of the coun- 

 ty, since its first aetllemeni, has been wheat. The 

 coarser grains are euhivated, bnl mostly for domestic 

 consumption. 



Wool has become within twenty years, on inipor- 

 innt product of our fiirms. The town of Richmond 

 had, at the recent census, about 28,000 sheep, chiefly 

 Merino and Snson, and these nii.ted upon the com- 

 mon stock. Some, but not much attention has been 

 paid tu the Bakeweli, South Down and larger breeds 

 of English sheep. Oursheep husbandry would doubt- 

 less bo improved by increased attention to rootjcul. 

 tnro, beets, ruia baga, &e. Out wheal is sold to the 

 merchant millers of the neighborhood, whence the 

 flour is mosi!y sent, by the way of the Erie canal to 

 New Y"rk and Boston. A portion of it, however, 

 finds iis way to the Conada market. 



Our wool is generally sold nt home, to purchasers 

 for the eostern manufacturers. 



Of catilo for milkers and beef, the short horned 

 Durham is the favorite breed. For working oxen, 

 the Devonshire iaelill the b.iai. Ofswine, the Berk' 

 shire is, at present, the fuvorile. Much pork, since 

 the icmpcraiice cause bos been in the atcendaiit, has 

 been fouened on apples. For a niin.ber of years, I 

 have fed ray hogs but about a fortnight on Indian corn, 

 after taking them from the orchard ; and have thus 

 made excellent and profilable pork. Good horses are 

 raised in this county ; but the present race are on ad- 

 mixture ot almost nil varieties of breeds. 



The diilcrem oaks, hickories, block walnut, butter' 

 nut, elms, maples nnd beech are the prevalent timber 

 of this neighborhood. 



The value of farms may be said to range from $35 

 to $.50 the acre, according to thesiiuation, quolity of 

 soil, buildings, &c. &c. Occasionally, farms are 

 sold at higher prices. 



Clover, timothy and redlop, are the grasEcs most 

 cultivated nnd moat profitable fur pastures and mead- 



0«8. 



To the question— " n-hat Bgriciiluirnl changes aro 

 requisite to advance the prosperity of the country 1" 

 Ii may be answered, the extended introduction of iho 

 silk culture would probsbly be one of those changes. 



Our farmers are industrious, enterprising and tract- 

 able: ready to adopt, and give fair trial to any im- 

 proveinent in the science of agriculture, to test new 

 implements nnd machinery, and need nothing to ad- 

 vance theirprosperity, but wholesome nnd steady laws 

 of protection to Ameiican industry. 



ITrans. N. Y. State Ag. Soc. 



Rust in Wheat. 



W« ex-.rnct the following from the American Farm- 

 er of recent diUe. It certainly deserves ntteniion, and 

 we commend it lo the consideration of intelligent 

 nnd observing persons. The advice in regard to ear 

 ly cutting is to be received with some caution. We 

 approve of early cutting, but in one case we know 

 that we cut too eariy ; and ihercfora feel that this 

 danger is to he guarded against. We remarked on 

 the error committed by many formers in this matter 

 in our last number. — Ed. 



Hence, then, we infer, that plethora, or over ful- 

 nesein the supply of sop, (arising either out of the pe- 

 culiarly favorable condition of the almcsphore, whose 

 phenomena v.-e have described, or an over rich soil) is 

 the cause of ibo disease, and in this we are borne out 

 ' by two eminent ngrtcnlturisls, whoie essays w-e have 



