6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jaitoaky, 
1^" The following statement of facts, received from 
Mr, Harris, just as we are going to press, explains itself: 
A CAKD. 
To the Friends of tlie Genesee Farmer: 
Rochester, N. Y., Dec. 16, 1865. 
As pi-eviously announced, I transferred the Genesee 
Farmer and Rural Annual, lo Messrs. ORANGE JUDD 
& CO., of the American Agriculturist, New-York, 
thinking that this arrangement would be advantageous 
to myself and tlie patrons of the Genesee Farmer. 
But it seems that a young man in my employ, whom I 
left to mail the December number of the Farmer, while 
1 was absent, surreptitiously printed and put in copies 
of the paper, a circular, stating that a new Agricultural 
Journal would be started in Rochester, published I pre- 
sume, (for I have not seen the circular,) by the young 
man himself. 
Now, while this is exceedingly annoying to me, and 
clearly a " breach of trust," on his part, yet I do not 
suppose that any one receiving the circular, will be 
misled by it. For fear, however, that possibly some may 
not at first detect the fraud, I have thought it best to 
make this statement of the facts in the case. Should it 
be necessary for the protection of the patrons of the 
Genesee Farmer, legal proceedings will be instituted, 
restraining this young man from availing himself of the 
advantages (however small) of this dishonest conduct. 
As he has hitherto borne a good character, I presume he 
was induced by other parties to put In the slip, and lend 
his name to an enterprise which they must have known 
would end in failure. I should let the affair quietly 
drop, only that I fear some of the old friends of the 
Genesee Farmer may be imposed upon. I trust that 
every one of them will take the American Agricultur- 
ist, and I am sure that they will not then regret that 
the change has been made. JOSEPH HARRIS. 
The Department of Agriculture, 
— •— — 
One of our Washington correspondents informs us that 
the illustrious head of the Department of Agriculture 
does not like our strictures upon his management and 
that he "threatens vengeance." It is only the rumble of 
the distant thunder, the lightning hasn't struck us yet, 
though our friends of the Massachusetts Ploughman have 
caught it. In its issue of Dec. 9ih it says : •' We men- 
tioned a few facts last spring about the general manage- 
ment of the Department, upon* which he sent us a 
threatening letter, virtually telling us to ' dry up.' " Now 
neighbor Ploughman let us have that letter, verbatim et 
spellatim.. Let ttie farmers see what kind of a servant 
they are paying for. Poor Ploughman, we pity you, but we 
must not forget that we too are threatened. What is to 
be our fate? Will the commissioner write us a letter 
and compel us to read it? Will he squeeze the life out of 
us in that "hydraulic press." It would be only fair to 
put a press down on us, considering that the press is 
generally down on him. [We must state in parenthesis 
that a hydraulic press was needed for some purpose, 
and after much flourish the Commissioner procured a 
Hickock's cider mill and press. He was right as to the Hit 
but the draulic was a little too much ior him.] Will he 
put us down in the deep hole wliere the " aii th sweats and 
makes all the petroleum ?'• Will he make an anahjs (De- 
partmentese for analysis) of us ?or— worse than all— will 
he resign ? The agricultural community might be bene- 
fitted by the resignation, but what would the White house 
do for garden truck? The Department might possibly 
be improved, but we should lose one great source of fun. 
Now we only judge of the Commissioner by his official 
acts. He may Ije both honest and kind, and sti ive to do the 
best he knows how — tlie main trouble being that he don't 
know. As a public officer, whose salary we help pay, 
we have a right to criticise his public doings. Some of 
them are purely rikliculous, others are blundering, and 
the whole management of affairs is about as bad as it 
well can be. We ha\e only one regret concerning what 
we have said about the Department: our paper goes to 
nearly ali parts of the world, and it mortifies our nation- 
al pride that the official head of our agricultural interests 
must be spoken of as unfitted for his position. We are 
not alone in our desire to have the Department of Agri- 
culture under a head which should make it useful as well 
as creditable. Here are three opinions of the present 
Commissioner, from different sources, which came to our 
notice in one day. At a public meeting held at the Coop- 
er Institute in New York City in December, Doct. Mac- 
gowan made the following statement, as reported in the 
daily papers: "Quite lately he called upon the head of 
the Agricultural Bureau in Washington, with a proposi- 
tion to introduce some of the plants and animals from 
Eastern Asia, and the illiterate Chief of that Bureau 
didn't know where Eastern Asia was 1 " The Country 
Gentleman, in its issue of Dec. 14, in noticing the Report 
for 1864, says: "Prepared, we presume mainly under the 
supervision of the late Chief Clerk, Mr. Grinnell, who 
entered into the duiies of his position with a degree of 
energy and intelligence, which seem only to have pro- 
cured his abrupt decapitation some months since "—it 
closes a notice of the report thus: "the volume con- 
cludes with reports from the different officials in the De- 
partment — which, with a really competent and intelligent 
man at its head, might be made of much service in the 
development of our agriculture." At the annual meet- 
ing of the Ohio Pomological Society ,the following official 
action was had : 
Resolved, That we feel deeply interested In the great 
Department of Agriculture connected with our Federal 
Government; that we desire its entire success, and be- 
lieve it destined to contribute immensely to the advance- 
ment of Agriculture in the country ; that we earnestly 
entreat the President of the United States to appoint a 
competent man to be the head of the Department of 
Agriculture ; the incompetency of the present incumbent 
being a source of general remark and complaint from the 
intelligent agriculturists of all parts of our extended 
country. It is therefore 
Resolved, That in the opinion of this convention, a 
change in the head of the Agricultural Department is im- 
peratively needed for the best interests of the producing 
classes of the countiy, and the President of the United 
States is most respectfully petitioned to listen to the 
complaints embodied in the foregoing resolutions. 
(Signed.) John A. Wa.-rder^ President. 
M. B. Bateham, Secretary. 
The whole agricultural community, through the agricul- 
tural press, calls for a change in the Department of Agri- 
culture. Mr. Newton and a few relatives wish matters 
to remain as they are. Which will the Presiclent heed ? 
Some Business Items. 
Premiums. —See particulars on page 4. 
Clal> Additions.— To Clubs of subscribers at club 
prices, adtlitions can be made at any time nt the same 
prices, if the additions begin at the same time as the others. 
Back ■Volumes Supplied.— The back volumes 
of the Agriculturist are very valuable. They contain 
information upon every topic connected with rural life, 
out-door and in-door, and the last nine volumes make up 
a very complete library. Each volume has a full index 
for ready reference to any desired topic. We have on 
hand, and print from stereotype plates as wanted, all the 
numbers and volumes for nine years past, beginning with 
18d7— that is. Vol. 16 to Vol. 24, inclusive. Any of these 
volumes sent complete (in numbers) at $1.75 each, post- 
paid, (or $1.50 if taken at the office). The volumes 
neatly bound, are supplied for $2 each, or S2.50 if to be 
sent by mail. Any single numbers of the past nine 
years will be supplied post-paid, for 15 cents each. 
Commercial Matters— Xilarket Prices. 
The following condensed, comprehensive tables, care- 
fully prepared specially for the Amtrican Agriculturist, 
show at a glance the transactions for a month, ending De- 
cember 20th, with other interesting comparative figures. 
1. 
TR. us' S actions at TOH new- yore MATIKETS. 
REfTErPTS. Flour. WJieat. Corn. Tine. Barley. Oat^. 
27(iavsi/(i';ra'Hi.5'Anf»02.216.000 1.9T9.000 SIO.OOO 57r..Ono pr.ri.000 
Ti days laai iu'tU.4U,000 tJlT.UOO 3,1G3,UOO 107,000 l,331».0UO 1,175,000 
Sales. Flour. WJieat. Corn. Hye. Barley. 
27 daysiftfsmonth, STn.OOO 1,503.000 S.lSn.OOO Ill,OnO 4M.000 
27 days /a6( month, 317,000 1,610,000 2,0^9,000 141,000 833,000 
3. Comparison loilh same per^iod at this time last year. 
RECErPTs, Flour. Wheat, Com. Hye. Barley. Oats. 
27 dars ISIi-i 553.000 2,?lfi.000 1,979.000 310,000 575.000 909,000 
U days ISftl 4S7.ii00 1,7S2,000 317,000 63,000 GSS.OOO 2,6i3,000 
Sales. Flour. Jlli^at. Corn. 2\>/e. Barley. 
27dav9lSG5 275,000 1,393.0(10 2,isr>.000 111.000 4.i4,fl(10 
24 days 1S&4 410,000 1,001,000 6J5,000 104.000 4S4,000 
3. Exports from New-York, January 1 to Dec. 16: 
Flour, Wheat, Corn, Rve. Oats. 
lR(i5 l,S34,44l 2,2fi0.032 3,002,003 i;o",()94 71,2f»6 
1804 1.8S5,S07 12,105.ftS4 S3T,308 5«3 41.459 
1SC3 2,434.736 14,S57,0."6 7,536,149 410,369 125.S0G 
1S62 2,989,619 24,S'J0,S41 11,531,S19 1,099,656 171,92-2 
4« Receipts of BreadstWff's at A Ihany, by the New-York 
Canals from the opening of navigation to Dec. 7: 
Flour, "Wheat, Corn, Hye, Barley, Oats. 
bbls. bus. bus. Inis. bus. bus. 
1S65. . . . 931,300 9,9n400 lS.llti,700 1.280,900 4.269,700 10.4S0.O00 
186.t..,.l.lS(i.300 15.405.600 10.352.400 620.500 3.145,000 12,177.500 
18G3....1.>19,600 22,OS9,400 20,560,700 432,400 3,181,300 12,354,800 
Gold has been as high as H%%, and as low as 144,^^, 
since our last,closing (Dec. 19J 146>a. Receipts of pro- 
duce have been quite liberal, since our last. The arrivals 
of new grain and of flour made therefrom have been 
generally unsound or of inferior quality. The receivers 
have been eager sellers, and have forced their supplies 
on the market, thus seriously depressing prices, in the 
absence of an adequate demand to sustain former values, 
though there has been some revival in the export trade. 
At the close, yesterday, flour was very dull. "Wheat, 
firm, but not active. Cora, Rye, and Barley, quite heavy. 
Oats steady. Stocks of Flour and Grain here are deem- 
ed large for the season, in view of the probable moder- 
ate wants of the home and foreign trade, through the 
winter months. The pressure on the storage accommoda- 
tion of the port has run up storage rates enormously, 
which must add largely to the cost of carrying supplies 
over to the spring season, when inland navigation, now 
closed, will again be resumed, and bring heavy receipts of 
fresh produce in competition with the stocks on hand 
here awaiting a market In the Provision line, the 
tendency of prices has been strongly dovraward under 
the pressure of increasing supplies, and the efforts oi 
speculative holders, especially of Hog products, as also 
of Butter and Cheese, to realize. The demand for the 
leading articles has been moderate Cotton has been 
in good supply and request at variable figures, — closing 
heavily ...There has been more doing in Wool, but at 
easier prices, some holders having been eager to sell. . . . 
Seeds have been in moderate request but cheaper Hay, 
Hops, and Tobacco have been in fair demand and firm, 
closing buoyantly, 
ClTBEEN'T WnOLESALE PKICES. 
Nov. 17. Dec. 20. 
Flour— Bnpcr to Extra State $7 70 @ 8 40 ?7 00 ® 8 50 
Super to Extra Southern 9 50 @iI6 25 8 70 @15 00 
Extra ■Western S 20 ©16 00 8 10 ®15 25 
Extra Genesee 8 50 ©12 23 8 50 @11 50 
Superfine Western 7 70 @ 8 00 7 00 @ 7 50 
Rye FLOm: 625@7 00 5 50®650 
Corn Meal. 4 40 ® 4 85 4 15 @ 4 50 
"Wheat— All kinds of White. 2 45 @ 2 80 2 S.'. @ 2 75 
A!l kinds of Red aud Amber. 1 70 © 2 45 160 @ 2 37^ 
Corn— Yellow 100 @ 1 05 90 @ 1 00 
Mixed 90 @ 97 88 @ 97 
Oats— "Western 60 @ 62 59 @ 62 
State 61 @ 62 62 @ — 
KVE 115 ©120 B5 ©115 
Bakley 110 ©128 90@115 
CoTTON-Middlinsrs, ?1 lb.... 51 @ 53 48 @ 50 
Hops— Crop oflStH, ?». 10 © 45 10 @ 45 
Feathers— Lire Geese, ^ lb. 90 © 95 80 @ 90 
Seed— Clover.^ lb 13 ©14 12 © 18^ 
Timothy. ^ bushel S 30 ©3 90 8 70 ©4 00 
Flax, ^liushel 2 85 ©8 10 290 ©305 
SroAR-Brown. %) Tb 11 ^© Ifij^ 103^© 15^ 
Molasses. Cuba, ^gl 45 @ 70 45 © a") 
Coffee- rio.(Goldprice)59!b 18 © 21 17^© 20>f 
Tobacco. KcntacKy, &c., pro. a o 30 o ^ so 
Seed Leaf. ^Ib 5© 40 5© 40 
Wool— Domestic Fleece, P lb. 55 © 8i 50 © 78 
Pomestic, pulled, ^ ft 45 ©75 50 © 65 
California, unwashed, 25 © 4."! 25 © 45 
Ta llow. ^ ft 14Jf © n% 13^© 14 
Oil Cake— ^ton 50 00 ©53 00 52 00 @55 00 
Pork— :Mess, ?* barrel S3 75 ©33 00 27 50 ©23 00 
Prime. '^barrel ©28 50 2-:: 00 ©22 50 
Beef— Plain mess 11 00 ©14 00 11 00 ©14 00 
Lard, in harrels, ^ ft 24 © 2?)^ 15 © 19 
Butter— Western, ^ lb SO © 42 25 © 88 
State. ^ lb 38 © 45 33 @ 45 
Cheese 14 © 19 14 © 19 
Beans— ^ bnshel 150 ©175 200 ©300 
Peas— Canada, ^bushel, 120 ©122 123 ©133 
Eggs— Fi-es!i. ^ dozen 37 © 41 37 @ 43 
Poultry- Fowls, ?*ft..".. ... 16 © IS 14 © 16 
Turkeys,?) ft 19 © 20 14 © 10 
Potatoes— Mercers, ^hbl,., 2 50 © 3 00 2 50 © 3 00 
Peach Blows, ^ barrel 225 ©250 2 00@2 50 
Bnckeyes-New, ^ barrel.... 2 50 © 5 00 1 50 © 1 75 
Apples— ^ barrel. 2 50 @ 6 00 2 00 @ 4 00 
New York XAye Stock: Marliets.— 
Beef Cattle. — Average receipts for the past four weeks, 
5S43 head per wefek ; average for the past year, 5047 ; for 
the previous month, 6386 ; for the same month last year, 
6409. The general quality has been about medium, and 
until this week quite uniform. Selling prices average 
about as follows; Extra qualities, 18ci©19c per lb., 
estimated dressed weight ; medium to good, \bc(ai\'c ; 
poor to common grades, lOcfo'lSc — ITIilcU Cows, — 
Average weekly supply, 127. The cows offered have 
generally been of good quality, and mainly from N. Y. 
State. The best extra milkers have brought $100/Sf$H0 
each ; medium to fair, $75fSi$90 ; poor to ordinary, $401® 
$60... "Veal Calves. —Average receipts for four weeks, 
712 per week ; for previous month, 1132 ; for same month 
last year, 1375; for the past year, 1750. The demand 
since our last issue has been uniformly active, and prices 
for good grass-fed calves have ranged $15i'S)?25 each, or 
13c@143^c per lb., live weight — Sheep and Ijambs. 
— The market has been rather unsteady, and demand not 
uniform. The quality of the stock has been about me- 
dium, until the present week, when a large number of 
premium Christmas animals were offered. Average 
weekly receipts for past month, IS, 948 ; for the previous 
month, 25,8S0 ; for past year, 15,628. Prices average 7Jtic 
fS)8>^c per lb. for sheep, and about 3c per lb. higher for 
lambs — liive Hogs.- Average receipts, 19,143; for 
previous month, 16,092. The second market week of the 
month, excessive receipts caused a sudden depression in 
the market, and prices have therefore varied from 10c to 
\ZJic per lb., live weight ; standing the present week 
WYzC^WYtC, for Western corn-fed, with indications of a 
further decline. 
