90 



THE SOUTHERN PLANNER. 



It remains to answer objections that have been 

 urged against the repeal of inspection laws. Of 

 these, very few that we have heard are worth 

 noting. The inspection laws of Maryland have 

 been appealed to as an argument in favor of re- 

 taining our own. But as her laws are just the 

 same as those we oppose, it is not perceived how 

 her practice is an argument against us, or any 

 thing more than a repetition of a contested prin- 

 ciple. If her experience is meant to be invoked, 

 then, as her flour is, by assertion of our opponents, 

 lower in grade than our own, her experience is 

 that much in our favour, and all the way against 

 our adversaries, who contend that inspections 

 " have given Virginia flour the command of the 

 markets of the world." 



The letters of " eminent New York merchants," 

 are confidently appealed to to show the favorable 

 working of our system, and some six of them are 

 ©numerated against " the few firms" in Richmond 

 who favor repeal. Passing by the remarkable 

 difference between six and " a few," and making 

 no objection to the imperfect mode of deciding a 

 case by the one-sided and very limited testimony 

 introduced, we shall prefer in this case to credit 

 our own well known and highly reputed mer- 

 chants, and claim on our side the testimony of 

 Lewis Webb & Son, Shields & Somerville, and 

 Bacon & Baskerville. Their letters to Mr. Cren- 

 shaw, stating that they have paid more for his 

 superfine flour than for country extra superfine, 

 prove that the Inspection Laws under an unexcep- 

 tionable Inspector, are not worth a groat, and that 

 the New York merchants have made a mistake. 



If the question to the millers had been dif- 

 ferently worded their testimony might have been 

 worth something one way or the other. But it 

 cannot fail to strike the most careless reader that 

 a gentleman may from many motives acquiesce in 

 a law which is of not the least benefit to him. If 

 the question, with liberty to cross-examine, had 

 been, " How does the inspection law operate on 

 your flour?" a very different answer might have 

 been obtained. 



The last point we shall notice is the presumed 

 value oi the law in detecting light weight and false 

 tare. For five years the fines amount, it is said, to 

 the sum of $1267 45- As the fine for such cases is 

 heavy, and increases in a much more rapid pro- 

 portion than the lightness of weight, being eight 

 cents each for the first three pounds, and seventeen 

 cents for each pound thereafter, it is presumable 

 that the* deficiency was small in each case to lessen 

 the mk of detection and the weight of ihe fine. 

 T r ]> : *g the one third as covering the real value 

 : d;ii- at 3| cents per pound, v/e 



• 1 y - ■ ;: i -aved the consumers in 



1 '- 'i s fees at the same time 



. Mr Crenshaw's experiment, 



to 1,148,374 lbs., or, at ihe same price with the 

 above, to $40,228 09. This is at ihe rate of 88f 

 lbs. to Mr. Dela plane for every four lbs. of Hgttt 

 weight detected, or ten dollars to him for every ten 

 cents saved the consumer. This looks like baiting 

 with a fish to catch a worm ; and is a very pretty il- 

 lustration of Mr. M'Cullock's doctrine in the matter 

 of smuggling, that it costs a good deal more to pre- 

 vent such roguery under high duties, than the 

 roguery itself amounts to. 



Of argument in favor of retaining the Inspections 

 of Guano and Plaster and Tobacco, we have seen 

 none that are not answered in the body cf this 

 essay. 



In conclusion, it may be allowed us to say on 

 behalf of the Executive Committee, that they 

 have never assumed in this matter to speak for the 

 Society at large farther than to recite its action 

 respecting a repeal of the law constituting an inspec- 

 tion of Guano and Plaster. Their preamble direct- 

 ly excludes implication to any farther extent, and 

 takes on themselves the sole responsibility. That 

 responsibility results from the reasonable discre- 

 tion with which general instructions invest every 

 agent, and which makes it a duty to consider all 

 propositions for reform, and adopt such as they 

 think expedient. That responsibility they are 

 ready to meet before an authorized tribunal. 

 But they will not stand at the bar of the demo- 

 cratic or any other party. Their most anxious 

 study has been to steer clear of politics; and they 

 will not now even seem to depart from that rule 

 so far as to argue whether the reforms they advo- 

 cate do not come within the range of things in- 

 different; and whether those who would give them 

 a parry character do not infringe that right of 

 private judgment, which is the corner stone of 

 freedom. 



IRISH POTATOES AND TOMATOES. 

 We are indebted to Gen. Wm. H. Richardson for 

 several letters on the cultivation of Irish Potatoes 

 and Tomatoes, from some of the most successful 

 growers about Norfolk, where, as is well known, 

 these two important esculents are very largely cul- 

 tivated for the Northern markets, and we regret to 

 say, to some extent for the supply of Richmond 

 also. 



Potatoes. — The ground having been deeply bro- 

 ken and thoroughly drained, hanow to put it in 

 good order. Then run furrows al least six inches 

 deep and four feet apart, and strew guano along the 

 bottom at the rate of one peck to two hundred yards; 

 then fill about two thirds full with un fermented (arm 

 yard manure made from horses, hogs, and cattle 

 that have been well treated. Then drop the pota- 

 toes, cut into pieces containing two or more eyes, 

 in the manure, about nine inches apart, with the 

 skin up, and cover with the plough not more than 

 from three to four inches deep. Two light furrows 



