180 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
but it does not follow that the whole time of a whole 
people is to be employed for that purpose. Tariff or no 
tariff, a part of our time can be and is spared, in which 
to make improvements; but, if we can exchange the 
produce of forty days’ labor in agriculture, for as much 
of foreign goods as we would have to give forty-five 
days’ labor for to domestic manufacturers, we save the 
one-ninth part of our time for other purposes; or what 
would amount to the same thing, the one-ninth part of 
the people might be engaged all the time in making 
improvements, which would be adding capital to the 
nation. The true policy with nations, as with indivi¬ 
duals, is to sell where they can get the best price, and 
buy where they can buy cheapest. I believe it to be an 
error of opinion, that for the want of a higher tariff, 
excessive importations are made: I attribute it to an 
unstable currency. Our measure of value is too much 
like what a measure of length or quantity would be, if 
made of India rubber: it is altered too easily at will. 
If prices are artificially inflated, excessive importations 
will naturally be made from countries where prices are 
lower. Domestic manufacturers, in such cases, cannot 
compete with the foreign; and it is said to be for the 
want of a higher tariff. A higher tariff laid when ex¬ 
cessive importations are making, would no doubt check 
them for a season ; but let it be considered that under a 
tariff system the country can bear more currency than if 
there was no tariff, because a tariff for a limited time 
protects money from exportation, by keeping out foreign 
goods which would create a demand for it; and the 
amount of currency may and will be increased, until 
prices are so high that we can import foreign goods over 
the tariff, pay the duties, and still have a profit. A ta¬ 
riff, then, after a limited time, is no protection at all, 
unless we go on increasing it ad infinitum, which would 
never do. It would be a protection, if, under its opera¬ 
tion, prices did not rise. If it was a protection, it would 
still be bad policy. Government should undertake to 
effect nothing more than to start manufactures into ex¬ 
istence, where the condition of the country will warrant 
their continuance, without taxing the people to support 
them.; and that,in my opinion, can be effected in no way 
so well as by offering a direct bounty, such as now with 
propriety might be given for a limited lime for the pro¬ 
duction of silk. 
Many people think, that without a tariff, foreigners 
would sell to us of their wares, and might not be willing 
to take our produce in exchange. If they did give us 
something for nothing, we should certainly make more 
out of them without a tariff than with ; if they drew 
specie, it would not last always; if they refused to trade 
with us, they would lose most, and it would be the most 
efficient tariff the American System men could ask for. 
In the natural course of things, a nation’s exports will 
be equal to its imports, and vice versa ; and it is right 
that it should be so. If this nation’s exports are less 
than its imports, it is for two reasons : One is because 
of the emigration to this country, which brings wealth 
in its train to the amount of many millions annually. 
Another great cause of our importing more than we 
export of late, may be found in the fact that the States 
and corporations are loaning money in Europe by the 
millions, for banking purposes and works of internal 
improvement. These loans, I believe, generally come 
to this country in the shape of foreign goods, the avails 
of which are paid here to the borrowers. For that por¬ 
tion of our imports we export nothing but a mortgage on 
posterity; and it gives to the country a seeming prospe¬ 
rity, similar to what a man evinces when he is sporting 
on’borrowed money, and like to what some inebriates 
feel when they are pretty considerably well corned; and 
I fear that with some States, the languor of depression 
will come in the shape of feeling in the pockets for direct 
taxes to pay the interest. If the loans came to this 
country in gold and silver, it would inflate prices by 
putting it in circulation—-that is certain: If they came 
in goods, prices may be raised to the same pitch by an 
increase of currency, without turning the exchanges 
against us, and the banks have not been slow in filling 
up the vacuum. The consequence of the States borrow¬ 
ing so much foreign capital in a short time, has been an 
increase in the cost of their improvements; because 
producers are fewer, provisions higher, and labor scarce 
and dear. It would no doubt have been cheaper for 
them to have constructed their works more gradually, 
and to have raised their money at home, even though 
they had been obliged to pay over seven per cent inte¬ 
rest. By borrowing a portion of the money already in 
circulation, the prices of provisions and labor would 
have remained nearly stationary, instead of rising to the 
enormous height which they have of late years, in an 
expenditure of thirty millions of dollars a year: More 
than one-fourth the amount need not have been out of 
circulation at any one time, and we should have had the 
satisfaction of owing it to our own citizens instead of 
foreigners, besides preserving us from those habits of 
extravagance invariably engendered by an artificial in¬ 
flation of prices ; which habits must be changed, I am 
thinking, before we pay off both principal and interest. 
It may seem strange and paradoxical that the States 
borrowing too much money in England of late should be 
the cause of the present scarcity of money here, when 
the natural tendency is to make it more plentiful. If 
we may credit late English papers, much of the proceeds 
of the sales of American stocks has of late been shipped 
to the Continent, to pay the debts due by American 
merchants there. The specie was drawn from the Bank 
of England, until the managers found it necessary to 
curtail discounts to such a degree as to compel English 
merchants to call on their American debtors for real 
money , in payment for a portion of the goods imported 
under the presumption that they would be paid for by 
increased sales of States stocks. It is also said that 
English warehouses are full of goods designed for the 
American market, which will be sent here and sold for 
what they will fetch, to the great injury of American 
manufacturers. 
You will perceive that I consider the tariff a deceptive 
thing; getting rich by the balance of trade, an illusion ; 
and borrowing so much money in Europe, very impolitic 
and unstatesmanlike, to say the least of it. It is not 
high prices at home that makes a nation rich ; but it is 
the facility with which men and communities of men can 
exchange the products of their labor for articles which 
they stand in need of, under a scale of steady prices 
which admit of calculation and foresight in business. 
With great respect, I remain your friend, 
JESSE RYDER. 
Best Season for Destroying Bushes. 
Greene Co. Va. July 15th, 1839. 
J. Buel, Esq.'—Sir,—In the last number of the Cul¬ 
tivator, I see, by you, an answer to a query of the most 
effectual time to cut bushes, sprouts, timber, &c. to kill 
them, and whether or not the moon has any influence 
as to time. You seem to think that the moon has; con¬ 
sequently recommend the old moon in August, from po¬ 
pular opinion and your own experience. And you give 
farther as a reason, that at that time there is less sap in 
circulation than in the other summer months; and farther, 
the intense heat of the season tends to destroy vitality. 
As to the heat, that is a good reason, and I would add 
dryness of the season generally in August, for I have 
frequently observed large trees in the forest, and bushes 
and sprouts around stumps in arable land die at that 
time. But the reason given on account of there being 
less sap, might be carried farther, and say the winter 
months, when there was neither sap in the body nor root 
of the tree apparently, would be the most effectual time 
to kill them. And as to the moon,ten years experience 
in farming, from the result of the most inquisitive in¬ 
quiry, upon what is called the best signs in the moon 
for sowing, planting, &c. and having made experiments 
in every instance in farming, has conclusively satisfied 
me that the farmer has no farther use for the moon than 
to give him light. If there is any influence in the moon 
upon sowing, planting, &c. it is not uniform, for upon 
a certain sign in the moon some years a crop may suc¬ 
ceed well, and upon the same sign in other years prove 
a failure. I will mention a circumstance which, per¬ 
haps, has crossed your observation, of two learned men, 
(their names do not occur to me,) one in England and 
the other in France, making, by agreement, at the same 
time, observations upon the influence of the moon on 
vegetation, and the result of their experiments proved 
differently. Upon my farm I found a great many lo¬ 
cust, and being anxious to exterminate the most of them, 
I was told, for the most effectual way, to skin them in the 
old of the moon in August. To one thicket, at that 
time, I done so; bjit to my disappointment sprouts put 
up as thick as if they had been cut down in winter or 
spring, but they did not grow as vigorously, which I 
ascribed to heat, dryness, and the short time they had 
to grow in. I was then told to skin as soon as the bark 
would slip, (which is in May.) which I have since done, 
and where duly observed I have never had a single 
sprout to put up, and the trees would tumble down in a 
short time. 
Sir,Hhe disposition this deserves you are the judge of. 
Your ob’t serv’t, T. G. G. 
P. S. The crop of wheat in this section I do not think 
an average one, but better than has been for several 
years, though but little sown. Oats and grass very 
heavy. Clover, last spring’s sowing, failed, owing to 
the drought in the spring. Corn very promising at this 
time. G. 
On Dwelling Houses. 
New-Preston, Litchfield Co. Ct. Oct. 7, 1839. 
J. Buel — In your valuable paper the Cultivator, in 
one of its numbers last spring, I think, a writer set forth 
the dampness and consequent unpleasant and unhealthy 
nature of dwelling houses constructed in the country of 
stone, to be such that no wise or judicious person ought 
to think of building the walls of a dwelling house with 
that material. I think a fair and full experiment, such 
as myself and others have had in this vicinity, is worthy 
to be contrasted with the above denunciation of what I 
consider the best building material in very many parts 
of our country. 
In the summer of 1831, I erected a stone dwelling 
house on moist land, having water running from the cel¬ 
lar at all times in wet seasons. I can say I think, with 
entire truth, that my house, in all parts and respects, is 
as dry as any other house, in its cupboards, closets and 
rooms, except one small lodging chamber, and this may 
not have shared in the general protection. When the 
wash-boards were nailed in their places, I purposed to 
have them completely filled with mortar; and in all 
places exposed to be made the gangway of rats, the 
mortar was well filled with flat stones. This has had 
but little effect in stopping mice, but I think the effect 
has been good in keeping off rats. My house is furred 
with one and a quarter inch stuff, and lathed through¬ 
out; and this, stopping the damp air from passing into 
my rooms and behind the walls, makes my house dry 
and pleasant. In all changes and sudden thaws, my 
house is as pleasant as any constructed vVith wood in 
the country. Eight years residence in my house has 
never led me to regret that I built of stone; and wher¬ 
ever the great materials are near at hand, stone, sand 
and lime, I would say, use them in preference to brick 
or wood; but be careful in all your buildings to stop 
the damp air from passing from the cellar behind the 
walls, or in any other way into the rooms. Framed 
houses have sills and timbers on which the floors and 
wash-boards are mostly placed, entirely excluding the 
cellar air, which may be the great reason why they are 
more dry than stone or brick. My house is 61 feet by 
30-31 feet, the kitchen and wash-room having a recess 
in front of 6 feet. By close calculation, my house cost 
$150 more than wood, being two stories high and ten 
feet between joints. I transported my pine lumber forty 
miles. Respectfully yours, 
SAMUEL AVERILL. 
Berkshire Hogs. 
J Black Locust Grove, Mo. Sept. 21, 1839. 
Hon. J. Buel —Dear Sir—Will you request your neigh¬ 
bor, C. N. Bement, to inform us, what is the general or 
common color of full bred Berkshire pigs. We have 
some in this country, brought from Ohio, which are 
black, claiming to be full blood; some, said to come 
from New-York, which are white, said to be full blood; 
the owner of which says there are no genuine Berk- 
shires that are black. Both kinds that are here are 
good hogs; the white ones have heavy ears, the black 
ones small ears. Now, our desire is not to be imposed 
on as to the blood; if we have the genuine Berkshire, 
we wish to know it; if not, we want them. An answer 
is requested. Respectfully yours, 
A. H. F. PAYNE. 
In compliance with the above request, I have extract¬ 
ed from the “ Complete Grazier,” describing them as 
they were exhibited in 1807, by the late Sir William 
Curtis, at the cattle show of Lord Somerville, where 
they attracted universal admiration. 
“ They were of the Berkshire breed; the specific 
characters of which are a reddish color, with brown or 
black spots; sides very broad; body thick, close, and 
well formed; short legs; the head well placed, and the 
ears large, and generally standing forward, sometimes 
pendant over their eyes. Another distinctive mark of 
this breed is, that the best are without bristles; their 
hair is long and curly; and from the rough appearance, 
seems to indicate coarse skin and flesh; but, in fact, 
both are fine, and the bacon is of very superior quality. 
The hogs arrive at a very large size, and have been 
reared even to the weight of 113 stone, (9041bs.)” 
From “ Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Agriculture,” pub¬ 
lished in 1831,1 extract the following description of the 
Berkshire pigs at that time. 
“ The Berkshire breed is distinguished by being in 
general, of a tawney, white or reddish color; spotted 
with black ; large ears, hanging over the eyes; thick, 
close, and well made in the body; legs short; small in 
the bone; having a disposition to fatten quickly; and 
when well fed, the flesh is fine. Berkshire has long 
been famous for its breed of swine, which, as it now 
stands, is in the third class, in point of size, excellent 
in all respects, but particularly as a cross for heavy, 
slow-feeding sorts. It has extended itself from the dis¬ 
trict from which it takes its name over most parts of the 
island ; is the sort mostly fattened at the distilleries; 
feeds to a great weight; is good for either pork Or ba¬ 
con; and is supposed by many as the most hardy, both 
in respect to their nature and the food on which they 
are fed.” 
The Berkshire pigs, imported by S. Ha ves, Esq. in 
1832, ol which I came in possession in 1835, differ, 
in some respects, from either of the foregoing descrip¬ 
tions ; and they are the ones from which have origina¬ 
ted pretty much all the Berkshires now generally intro¬ 
duced in almost every section of this continent. The 
color is invariably black with white spots on the body ; 
feet sometimes tipt with white; and some white on the 
face and nose. Short and smooth coats; fine skinned ; 
some of them have smaller heads and ears than those 
described above; long, round and deep in the body; 
short in the leg; broad on the hips and loin; large and 
full in hind quarters; hams well let down ; and light in 
the bone and ofial. The sows are good breeders and 
nurses, producing two litters in the year, from eight to 
fifteen at a litter. 
I never have seen one of the full bred Berkshires en¬ 
tirely black ; in fact, I should look with a very suspi¬ 
cious eye on one without some white, let it come from 
where it would. 
They may, with propriety, be termed “graziers,” for 
they will feed and do well on grass alone. After the 
pigs are taken from the sows in the spring, I cause rings 
to be put in their noses, and turn them out to pasture, 
without any other food, until they litter again in the 
fall. This is not only a great saving of expense, but 
saves considerable time, which can be more profitably 
employed in the field. 
I have now an imported Berkshire boar, from a dif¬ 
ferent strain, with more bone and size, which I intend 
breeding to this fall, and hope to have a good supply of 
pigs for sale in the coming spring. He is lighter color¬ 
ed than the former importations; was one year old last 
June, and measures 5 feet and 6 inches from his nose to 
the root of his tail, and around his girth 4 feet and 4 in¬ 
ches, in ordinary condition. Very small head and ears ; 
less short and of sufficient size to sustain great weight 
when fattened. Yours respectfully, 
CALEB N. BEMENT. 
Three Hills Farm, Nov. 12th, 1839. 
