14 
PROTECTION TO WOOL.—Gf*)WING HEMP-SEED.—CHEAP BEEF AND TALLOW AGAIN. 
wool-growers should be satisfied with present 
protection, and bend their exertions to improve 
their flocks, and to the production of a better 
quality of wool; if they will do this, they can un¬ 
dersell any foreign importation, and be doing a 
good business. We have as fine a country as there 
is on earth for growing wool; and it will be our 
own fault entirely, if we are driven from the home 
market, or indeed if we ever allow a successful 
competition with the foreigner. 
Cleveland , Ohio , Dec., 1842. 
Mr. A. B. Allen: When the Tariff Bill was 
passed in August last, many of our farmers ex¬ 
ulted, and said that they should be able now to 
add one more article to the number of their prod¬ 
ucts that they could turn off for cash, viz., wool. 
But a few of the'more intelligent and reading 
ones begin to suspect all is not right; that the 
wool-grower is not protected , but the woollen man¬ 
ufacturer . 
It is becoming a matter of serious discussion 
among the farmers in this quarter, whether under 
the present Tariff, wool can be successfully grown. 
It certainly seems to us, from some communica¬ 
tions which appear in the eastern papers, that it 
can not be safe for western farmers to invest in 
sheep, and make wool a staple of their farms, un¬ 
der the existing duties on wool; and I refer you 
to the enclosed No. of the N. Y. Evening Post on 
the "subject. If the wools imported are of the 
character represented, and cost less than 8 cents, 
paying consequently no duty, why we shall find 
the enterprising Yankees in South America, with 
their vast flocks of Saxony and Merinoes (climate, 
pasturage, and labor, all being extremely favorable 
to the growth of wool there), as we already find 
them in the West Indies growing silk. 
I have lately been inquired of by several large 
farmers, whether these statements are true ? Being 
unable to give any answer, I have concluded to 
ask you to take the subject up, and give to the 
public all the information in relation to it, that the 
subject will admit of; for it is certain that the truth 
ought to be widely disseminated among our farm¬ 
ers. Situated as you are at the head of American 
commerce, you can collect, through the importers 
and manufacturers, all the facts as to cost, freight, 
expenses of cleaning, and the different qualities of 
the imported wools, and the kind of cloths manu¬ 
factured from them. If my memory is correct, 
you and your friends have heretofore been engaged 
in the importing of wools from South America 
and Russia. 
C. M. Gidings. 
Bear Sir: In speaking of sheep here on the 
western prairies, you say: “ I think a great deal of 
that business; and my opinion is, that fine Merino 
wool may be grown there [meaning on the prairies 
of the west] for 20 cents a pound, at a fair profit; 
and if it can, it will soon be hardly second to cotton 
in our national products, and we shall become 
large exporters, instead of importing as we now 
do.” Yes we do, much to our shame as a nation, 
—we do import wool, and more to the shame of 
the framers of the late tariff, that no protection is 
afforded to the wool-growers,, until they get so 
into the business,, that they will neither need nor 
ask protection. A shame it is that we import 
wool, while we have millions of acres of the finest 
sheep pasture in the known world, annually giv¬ 
ing their rich foliage to feed the prairie fires, in¬ 
stead of fattening millions of sheep. 
Well, sir, wool can be raised at a fair profit at 
20 cents a pound, delivered in New-York, or Bos¬ 
ton. But at present, the west' is not able to go 
ahead: for the sheep are not here, and the capital 
is not here. We want eastern capital and eastern 
sheep. Just give us the necessary material, and 
I pledge my reputation that wool can be grown in 
untold quantities upon the western prairies, at 20 
cents a pound; and with this price, the sheep- 
owners will grow rich faster than at any other 
agricultural pursuit in the Union. 
And it does not require a long preparation be¬ 
fore the business can be begun. The land is now 
ready, both pasturage and mowing; and I say to 
eastern men, come to the West with your sheep. 
You can not raise wool upon your high-priced land 
at 20 cents a pound, for fine qualities; but we 
can. There is another disposition that may be 
made of the surplus sheep of the eastern states. 
Thousands of them might now be let to responsible 
men to double in three years ; or for such a portion 
of the annual crop of wool, as would amount to a 
great interest on the value of the sheep. 
Only let us have the sheep on the prairies, and 
I assure you that the west will soon show the 
world another wonder, that will send somebody’s 
“ wits a woolgathering.” 
An Illinois Farmer. 
A. B. Allen, Esq. 
From a letter recently received from Judge 
Beatty of Kentucky, we extract the following: 
I planted my hemp-seed last season somewhat 
closer than recommended in my essay, to wit, 4 
feet each way, and left three stalks in a hill, cut¬ 
ting out all the blossom-hemp within a week after 
it began to appear. The blossom-hemp, which 
afterward bloomed, furnished sufficient pollen to 
impregnate the female plants. These male plants 
were suffered to stand till they had pretty well 
shed their pollen, and were then cut out. There 
were now left in each hill, from one to two stalks 
of seed-hemp, averaging about one and a half. 
The yield was about 40 bushels to the acre. The 
season quite a favorable one. 
t I have not any information respecting the rot¬ 
ting of hemp by steam, that would be useful to 
you. The effort made at Newport has proved a 
failure, but whether from the plan being intrin¬ 
sically defective, or for other causes, I can not 
say; I incline to think, however, that this plan 
will bo no improvement upon the old method. 
CHEAP BEEF AND TALLOW AGAIN. 
We received a letter from Mr. Robinson, of 
Lake Court House, Indiana, in reply to our com- 
