40 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
New-York Breadstuffs Trade, Meat Trade, 
etc., for 1861. 
We hardly need call attention to the con¬ 
densed, but very complete tables in our Market 
Review on papes 58 and 59. They have been 
prepared for the American Agriculturist, with 
much labor and great care, and our readers will 
be able not only to see at a glance, the trade of 
the year just past, but also to compare this trade 
with that of the previous two years. These 
figures explain the improved condition and feel¬ 
ing of the country, even in the midst of war. 
The prices of farm produce, in the Western 
market towns, have not been high, as compared 
with a few years ago, yet the amount of money 
sent westward for produce, in the year 1861, 
was enormous, as compared with previous years. 
Let us look at table 3 (page 59), showing the re-, 
ceipts at New-York for each of three years, and 
see what amount has been paid to producers 
for Breadstuffs, through the direct channels of 
trade. (The receipts are only those coming 
through regular channels, and recorded. Large 
amounts, purchased to arrive, have gone directly 
to receivers, without any record being made; and 
much has come in by transient routes.) The 
prices used in the following estimates are the 
average of all sales made throughout the year. 
RECEIPTS AT NEW-YORK FOR 1861. 
n Meal.. 
Kye . 
Barley. 
98.519 bbls 
775,665 bush 
1,854,304 bush 
. 38,379,318 
. 12,435,699 
301.468 
This is without taking into account the 
irregular receipts of Grain, Live Stock, etc., 
nor does it include salt meats, poultry, lard, but¬ 
ter, cheese, eggs, potatoes, fruit, wool, hay, hops, 
seeds, tobacco, etc., etc., received at this single 
market, tables of which would fill a large volume. 
Range of Prices in 1861.—For future reference, 
we have prepared the following table of the 
New-York prices of leading articles, on the 20th 
of each month during 1861. For the average of 
the whole market at any time, we may take: 
for Flour , the highest quotations of “Extra 
State”; for Wheat, the highest quotations of 
“All kinds of Red”; for Corn, the highest 
quotations of “Mixed”; for Oats, the highest 
quotations of “Western.”-The average prices 
used above for flour, wheat, and rye, are higher 
than in the table below, because more of these 
three articles were sold at the higher than at 
the lower monthly figures. 
NEW-YORK PRICES, ON THE 20TH OF EACH MONTH. 
e. I $5 
451 2 yu 
80 3 40 
001 3 75 
85 3 80 
301 $3 46 
In looking at the prices given above, the 
first suggestion perhaps will be, that these are 
far above those received by producers. But 
these prices have been paid here, and all- the 
money paid has gone towards, and into the coun¬ 
try-some to laborers on the lines of transpor¬ 
tation, and some to dealers, all of whom live 
in the country or in interior towns, and spend the 
proceeds of their labor there. The main point 
we aim at is, to show how much has gone to 
the country from this single City. Much of the 
amount paid for Breadstuffs has come to us 
again from over the ocean, either in return cash, 
or in cancelled debts owned to foreign countries, 
and by so much has this country been enriched. 
The Tables in the Review are interesting also 
in the comparison they give with other years. 
Thus, the receipts of Wheat in 1861 were over 
twenty-eight million bushels; in 1859 they were 
less than four millions. Receipts of Corn in 1861 
were over twenty millions, in 1859 less than 
four millions. So of Wheat Flour and of Rye. 
The prospects for the future seem to be en¬ 
couraging. We stated last month Dec. 20, (which 
by mistake was printed Oct. 20,) that we did not 
believe there would be war with England. The 
prediction has, happily, been confirmed. There 
is no present prospect that the outlet to our 
farm produce, to the hungry foreign markets, 
will be interrupted. All the Breadstuffs we can 
spare will doubtless be wanted before the next 
European harvest, and the avails will add so 
much more to the actual wealth of this country. 
Sandwich Island Agriculture—Interest¬ 
ing Items. 
A subscriber (Joel Bean, a Missionary of the 
Society of Friends,) at Honolulu, the chief 
city of Oahu, and the capital of the Sandwich 
Islands, in a recent letter to the American Agri¬ 
culturist, gives the following interesting items: 
The only land suitable for cultivation on these 
Islands is the narrow border, varying in width 
from one to ten miles, between the mountains 
and the sea shore. Most of this is at present 
pasture land, and plentifully stocked with cat¬ 
tle and horses, and some sheep and goats. It is 
said that on the Island of Oahu, there are as 
many horses as people. This almost universal 
grazing of the land, increases its parched appear¬ 
ance during the dry summer months, and in 
some places the rains have sensibly diminished, 
since the cultivation of the ground ceased. The 
stranger is struck with the very small propor¬ 
tion of land under tillage, and wonders how the 
people are fed. But the native population sub¬ 
sist principaly on Taro, of which their little 
patches are to be seen around every village. 
This plant yields abundance of food. [The Taro 
is a plant of the genus arum, having leaves like the 
water lily, and large, thick, oblong roots, which 
are baked and used as food.—E d.] A little corn 
is raised, together with Irish and sweet pota¬ 
toes, melons, and small quantities of garden 
vegetables. On the island Mani, wheat is raised, 
and there are several large sugar plantations. 
But wheat is an uncertain crop, on account of 
worms, and a portion of the cane which re¬ 
quires in some localities two years to mature, is 
now quite ruined by the drouth. The present 
neglect of agriculture has grown out of a de¬ 
pendence on the whale shipping, which a few 
years ago was a very great source of income, 
but since that business has diminished to a great 
extent, those in authority and others interested 
in the prosperity of the Islands are being aroused 
to the necessity of developing their own re¬ 
sources. Hence, strenuous efforts are now be¬ 
ing made to introduce cotton growing on a large 
scale, and to interest the natives in its culture.— 
But little of the land is fenced or under cultiva¬ 
tion. The principal material for fencing is stone; 
in some places wire is used; and now and then 
a lot is enclosed by a hedge of prickly pear. 
The cultivated fruits ate: bananas, papia, figs, 
grapes, etc. The wild fruits are ohias (native 
apples), ohelos (a kind of huckleberry), pohas, 
strawberries, bread-fruit, guavas, and some 
oranges in the mountains, but none ofthese fruits 
are abundant, except bananas, which are of more 
general production than any of the others. 
Farmers be Sociable. 
The position and duties of farmers somewhat 
hinder their sociability. Scattered over the 
hills and valleys of the country, often miles apart, 
and engaged in solitary field labor, day after day, 
and month after month, it is not so easy to keep 
up much intercourse with general society. Me¬ 
chanics, merchants, manufacturers, and profes¬ 
sional men, naturally concentrate in cities and 
villages, where they can enjoy a daily exchange 
of opinion and information, and pleasant cour¬ 
tesies. This stimulates thought, awakens am¬ 
bition for improvement, and adds much to the 
general happiness of life. The longer farmers 
live in a solitary way, the less likely are they to 
change their habits. It is not surprising that in 
many cases they become stiff and awkward in 
their manners, dull in intellect, and ungenial, if 
not morose in feeling. 
But we are not, on this account, going to de¬ 
preciate the farmer’s lot: it is, in many respects, 
the best under the sun. Yet it can not be de¬ 
nied that evils lie in the direction we have indi¬ 
cated; and they should he guarded against.:. It is 
not a good thing for anybody to make a slave 
of himself: to jog around as in a treadmill, year 
after year, with little or no relief, or rational'en¬ 
joyment, and the farmer should not follow liis 
work too doggedly. We would not have him 
drudge so hard that he cannot enjoy the socie¬ 
ty of his family every day. He ought to be the 
leader and benefactor of his household in their 
social intercourse. His conversation at the ta¬ 
ble, and around the evening lamp, should be in¬ 
structive and elevating to sons and daughters. 
His genial hospitality should attract neighbors 
and friends to visit him often and enliven the 
converse of the fireside. And he, with his fami¬ 
ly, should systematically keep up acquaintance 
with other good families, far and near. 
The Farmers’ Clubs, which are established in 
many districts, exert a good social influence so 
far as they go, but they are not enough; the in¬ 
tercourse of families should be superadded, 
as this contributes very much to the enjoy¬ 
ment and respectability of agricultural life. It 
lightens the burden of daily toil, relieves its sol¬ 
itariness, awakens thought, and promotes gen 
eral improvement. Where this is done, farm¬ 
ers’ children, both sons and daughters, will be 
less inclined to long after the excitements and 
gayeties of town life, and more of them will be 
content with the calling in which they were born. 
Apple Juice for Dyeing. 
According to English Journals, the discovery 
has been made by Manchester dyers and calico 
printers, that apple juice is just what has long 
been wanted for making fast colors of some de¬ 
scriptions on printed cottons. Numbers of them 
have been through the adjacent counties buying 
up the apple crops which have heretofore been 
used for cider, at advanced prices, and a scarcity 
of the latter article is apprehended. ' Our own 
enterprising dyers and calico printers have al¬ 
ready made the application and it is used as a 
substitute for argols and cream tartar in various 
processes. The state in which cider is of most 
value is hardly yet definitely ascertained— 
whether as new cider, hard cider, or vinegar. 
