338 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November. 
Gold up—Effects upon Farmers. 
At the time of this writing (Oct. 14th,) the 
Wall street bulletins mark gold at 154, and up¬ 
ward, and exchange on London 1691. That is, 
it takes .$154 of the general Legal Currency of 
the country to buy one hundred gold coins that 
were formerly reckoned as dollars, and a little 
more to buy a draft on London payable in gold 
dollars or sovereigns. [The peculiar style of 
reckoning the nominal par of exchange at 
about 110, or 10 per cent, above the real par , (or 
$4.44 to the Pound Sterling,) accounts for the 
apparent discrepancy between the quotation of 
gold, and that of exchange. Ten per cent 
added to 154, makes very nearly 1694. The 
difference between gold here and in London is 
generally only £ to 1 per cent., which pays the 
cost of shipping it from one place to the other.] 
Merchandise imported from abroad is paid for 
in gold, or in Exchange bills drawn against 
gold, or against flour, grain, meats, lard, tallow, 
cheese, etc., exported from here. 
The effects of a rise in the market value of 
gold, upon the prices of farm products, are 
readily seen. Owing to abundant crops abroad, 
breadstuffs are not now in great demand there. 
England imports an equivalent to 25,000,000 to 
40,000,000 bushels of wheat, even in the best 
years, buying it where it can be most cheaply 
obtained—on the European Continent, or in 
America. This year we have to compete with 
considerable supplies from the Baltic, the Dan¬ 
ube, etc., whence it can be obtained at prices 
nominally cheaper than here. But the greater 
relative value of gold, and consequently of Ex¬ 
change, makes it more profitable to buy bread- 
stuffs and provisions from us. To illustrate: 
Suppose wheat to be worth $1.20 per bushel in 
London. A merchant in New York wishing to 
pay for a bill of goods in London, amounting 
to $6000, can do so with 5,000 bushels of wheat 
delivered there, or with a bill of exchange, 
which at 154, (the price of gold), will cost him 
here, $9,240 in currency. He could then just as 
well pay this sum for the 5,000 bushels of wheat 
(about $1.85 per bushel,) and send that—or say 
$1.65 per bushel, allowing 20 cents extra per 
bushel for sending it. All that he can save by 
buying below $1.65, will be clear profit. If, on 
the contrary, gold were down to par, he could 
pay only $1.00 per bushel for the wheat. The 
same is the case with all other exportable pro¬ 
ducts—corn, wool, provisions, etc. (The trans¬ 
actions are generally carried on by several 
parties, thus: The exporter ships his articles 
and draws bills of exchange against them, pay¬ 
able in 60 days or thereabouts. The foreign ex¬ 
change dealers buy these bills, less interest and 
profit, and sell them to the importers who send 
them over to pay for their goods. There is a 
mutual system, by which a bill drawn against 
shipments to Liverpool, for example, can be 
used in payment for manufacturers’ wares in 
any part of Europe, and even for teas and silks 
bought in China.) 
But the chief fact we desire to illustrate, is, 
that any advance in the relative value of gold 
increases the sale of exportable farm products, 
and sends up the prices. The higher price of 
these increases the prices of other products. 
The cost of transporting products from the in¬ 
terior to the seaboard is nearly uniform, so that 
any advance experienced here, is felt through¬ 
out the country. We are not arguing that gold 
at 154 indicates a healthy financial condition of 
the country as a whole; we are merely stating 
tlrat it is specially advantageous to those who 
raise any kind of farm products to sell. “ But” 
says the farmer, “ the same causes which carry 
up the prices of my products also increase in 
the same ratio the cost of what I have to pur¬ 
chase.” This is in part true; but it is to be 
noted that only a small part of the proceeds of 
his wheat, corn, wool, butter, etc., are used in 
paying for imported goods of any kind—cloths, 
silks, etc. Nine out of ten farmers are in debt 
for land, for stock, for implements, and for 
store bills. The legal currency they receive for 
their products, will cancel these debts, dollar for 
dollar. And right here is the “ moral” or prac¬ 
tical lesson we are endeavoring to impress upon 
every farmer who reads the American Agricul¬ 
turist, viz: that now is the time to economize 
and get out of debt. Money is plenty, and the 
temptation is to run into extravagance in dress, 
in furniture, and in living generally. Better use 
every possible dollar in cancelling old debts. Let 
the purchase of luxuries or mere conveniences 
in dress, furniture, etc., be deferred until these 
things come down to the gold standard—at 
least if there is a dollar due to any body that 
will take it now. When Gold is “up," sell all 
you can, and bey the least possible. 
Going to the Post Office to Buy a Farm. 
Judging from the letters and queries received, 
there are now more buyers than sellers of farms. 
It is difficult to answer judiciously, the frequent 
inquiry, “ where shall I locate ?” for much de¬ 
pends upon personal circumstances—habits, 
family, previous experience, etc. A young man, 
of vigorous constitution, with but a small, 
healthy family, and his children yet in infancy, 
may well strike for the cheap lands of the West. 
There he can grow up with the country. Schools 
and good society will come in by the time his 
children are ready for them. Wit h good morals, 
and good working habits, the chances of suc¬ 
cess are very favorable. The mid-western 
States are peopled by well-to-do families whose 
heads are the enterprising young men and 
women of the above class, that swarmed from 
the Eastern hives, fifteen to thirty years ago. 
They are now the respectable citizens, honored 
and looked up to—the real “ bone and sinew ” 
of the land. Other considerations must decide 
the question for those more advanced in life, 
and having larger families. These will be dis¬ 
cussed from time to time in the columns of the 
American Agriculturist. Allow us to introduce 
here an extract in point, from the letter of an 
old reader, whose long observation of men and 
things gives weight to his opinions : 
“_My friend S., is about to buy a farm. He 
has fixed upon three localities which appear alike, 
as respects soil, nearness of market, etc. I tell him 
that if other tlriugs are equal, he must go to the 
Post Office and let the books there decide the ques¬ 
tion. The place to settle is where he finds the most 
letters sent and received, and the most papers taken, 
especially those treating of the business of the place, 
for there he will find the most wide-awake enter¬ 
prising people, those on the lookout for informa¬ 
tion from every possible source. There he will 
have the benefit of the example and experience of 
neighbors who are getting and putting into practice 
new ideas. There his boys will grow up among in¬ 
telligent thinking men_Your books, Mr. Editor, 
will show that I have been acting upon this idea. 
I have been constantly drumming it into people. 
Eight years ago I sent you only one name, then 
six, then twenty-four, then sixty-five, then ninety- 
eight, which comprises nearly every family of my 
acquaintance. I have asked no premium for these 
names, for I have been more than paid by seeing 
the awakened spirit of inquiry, the improvements 
going on, the better culture and management intro¬ 
duced. This has resulted not so much, perhaps, from 
following any specific instructions of your paper, 
as from the indirect hints and suggestions, and the 
spirit of improvement awakened. I have no doubt 
that from this cause alone, our farms are worth ten 
dollars an acre more than they would be, had we 
had no agricultural paper,—that is, a hundred 
thousand dollars, on the ten thousand acres owned 
by your hundred readers here.—I shall keep on do¬ 
ing as I have, and advise every farmer to try to im¬ 
prove himself, his farm and his neighborhood, by act¬ 
ing as self-appointed agent for some reliable agricul¬ 
tural paper—I care not what one, if a good one.” 
Discussions at the Fruit Growers’ Meeting', 
The New York Fruit Growers’ Society have met regu¬ 
larly every Thursday at 1 P.M., during the monlh since 
our last report. We have only space for a brief report of 
the meeting of Oct. 15, which was large and spirited. After 
the ordinary routine business of examining and naming, so 
far as possible, the various fruits on the table, grapes 
were taken up. The Isabella came in for a large share 
of malediction. Mr. Field remarked that it never was 
a suitable out-door grape, and would not ripen unless it 
received some kind of protection. In some sheltered 
situations like those of Dr. Underhill on the Hudson, it 
did tolerably well for a few years. He instanced the at¬ 
tempts of various individuals, who from reports of Dr. 
U’s success, planted from 7 to 15 acres of vineyard with 
this variety. In no case was it a success. 
Solon Robinson was particularly severe on the Isabella, 
He considered that the introduction of this sort had been 
a great curse to grape growing, as it nearly always failed 
to give satisfaction. The reputed success of Dr. Under¬ 
hill with the Isabella was an injury to the grape growing 
cause, as it operated to the great discouragement of those 
who planted this fruit, many of whom in their disappoint 
ment turned against the culture of all grapes. Even the 
grapes sent to market by the Doctor are sour enough to 
make a pig squeal. They were heralded the country 
over as superior grapes. This kept up the demand for 
vines, from the sale of which the Doctor made more 
money than from the sale of fruit. 
Mr. Judd replied, if the Isabella be dead and buried, 
“ say naught but good of the dead the Isabella has 
served a good purpose ; without it, during his youth, and 
early manhood indeed, he would have had no grapes at 
all. The question now was, “ what shall we plant in¬ 
stead ?” He recommended a variety ripening in succes 
sion. See List in Basket Items, page 325. 
Mr. Fuller alluded to the new seedlings already out, 
and others soon to be offered, and said he should be 
somewhat cautious of seedlings from the Isabella and 
Catawba, as already the faults of the parents have de¬ 
veloped themselves in the offspring. All the seedlings of 
file Isabella, and he considered the Adirondac as one of 
them, were subject to the mildew, which destroys the 
vitality of the leaf, and then it falls before the fruit is 
ripened, while the rot of the Catawba develops itself in 
the Diana, Anna, and other seedlings of the Catawba. 
Mr. Carpenter cautioned all against planting Delawares 
close to a fence, as he had seen the foliage nearly burned 
up in such situations. He was pleased with the Anna, as 
out of 15 kinds, this and the Rebecca were the only sorts 
entirely free from rot. 
Mr. Field thinks we should always be cautious about 
going into the extensive culture of new sorts, as Adi¬ 
rondac, Iona, Israella, etc., which had been tested in but 
few localities, mainly by those interested in selling plants. 
Mr. Pollock, of Morrisania, showed two samples ot 
Native Wines, which were the simple juice of perfectly 
ripe grapes. He used most of Concords, a consider 
able quantity of Catawbas, and a few Isabellas, for he 
could get but few perfectly ripe berries of Hie last. The 
grapes are allowed to remain till over ripe, even till 
touched by frost; the berries are picked from the stems, 
mashed in a tub, covered, fermentation allowed till the 
skins and pulps rise in a mass to the top of the liquid. 
This is then drawn off, and set to ferment in barrels by 
itself, while the rest is subjected to pressure, and forms a 
less valuable sort of wine. The fermentation goes on at 
tlie lowest practicable temperature, the air being perfect 
ly excluded. The wine showed, was of 1862 and 1848. 
The latter was by far the best, and of excellent character, 
entirely free from anything like foxiness, or the harsh 
acidity common to the wines of this latitude, from the 
above named grapes. Mr. P. has about 2,000 vines of 
various kinds, on a stony side hill trenched 2 feet deep, 
standing 2>£ feet apart each way, trained to stakes, one 
cane only being allowed to grow. He particularly in 
sisted upon the view that true wine cannot be made, it 
must grow; that is, it must be the fermented juice of 
ripe grapes without addition of any kind—in which he is 
quite right. The Isabella alone will not, in his experience, 
yield a wine fit to drink. The Concord yields a very- 
good wine, but he prefers a mixture of several kinds. 
