TWO DOLLARS A YEAR,] 
PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT.” 
[ SINGLE NO. FIYE CENTS. 
VOL. vm. NO. 31. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y.-SATURDAY, AUGUST i, 1857. 
WHOLE NO. 305. 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper, 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
WITH AN ABLE CORPS OF ASSISTANT EDITORS. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS! 
Pro?. CL DEWEY, T. C. PETERS, 
Lt M. K MAURY, H. T. BROOKS, 
Dr. ASA FITCH, EWD. WEBSTER, 
T. & ARTHUR. Mns. M. J. HOLMES. 
LYMAN B LANGWORTHY. 
Tnft RnR.ii, New-Yorscr is designed to be unsurpassed in 
Vnlae, Pnrily, Usefulness and Variety of Contents, and nniqno 
and beautiful in Appearance Its Conductor devotes bis per¬ 
sonal attention to Uio supervision of Ite various departments, 
and earnestly labors to Tender the RnR.it t an eminently Reliable 
Gnlde on tho important Practical, Sclentillc and other Subjects 
Intimately connected with tire business of those whose Interests 
It Jealously advocates. U embraces more Agricultural, Horti¬ 
cultural, Scientific, Mechanical, Literary and News Matter, 
Interspersed with appropriate and beautiful Engravings, than 
any other Journal,—rendering it the most, complete AGRICULTU¬ 
RAL I.tTEtuitT AM> Familv JoUHRal tn America. 
Till fto-fotfiet. 
COTTON AND SUGAR: 
THE TARIFF AND NATIONAL INFLUENCE. 
EY LIEUT. M. F, JIACKY. 
An old and most esteemed friend gave me not, 
long since, the pleasure o p a visit. It was a great 
treat, for he is one of the cleverest men in the 
country. Our conversation embraced a great va¬ 
riety of subjects, and his remarks, always instrnc- 
tive, were particularly so on this occasion.— 
Finally, 'onvcisefion turn. . upon the crop , 
prices, a ad staples,—and especially upon the high 
prices of Sugar and Cotton. The scarcity of corn 
in several of the Southern and Western Suites— 
the causes which had led to this state of things— 
agencies that were in operation to bring down the 
price of sugar, and to sustain that of cotton for a 
while, were discussed— and then was passed in re¬ 
view the influence that we have obtained in the 
family of nations, because ot our cotton growing 
powers. It is an influence which obviously wns 
notstndied with much care when the present Tariff 
was in the coarse of preparation, else sugar would 
have been left out, and then the sugar labor which 
cannot prosper without protection, would have 
boon diverted to cotton labor which needs no pro¬ 
tection. And thus by producing more cotton for 
sale, we should have increased our commercial in¬ 
fluence, and would have strengthened our hands 
for good in many national points of view. Knowing 
the views which he expressed, backed up and sup¬ 
ported by statistics as they arc, would be interest¬ 
ing to the readers of the Rural as well as to the 
farmers generally, 1 essay to preset)i them, rough 
hewn and briefly sketched though they be: 
Those who have watched our foreign relations 
for the last thirty years, cannot have failed to no¬ 
tice that the power and inflneuce of the United 
States have rapidly increased in Europe, nud 
especially in England, during that time. This has 
very naturally been ascribed to our enormous in¬ 
crease ta territory, wealth, population and physi¬ 
cal strength as a nation, for our population would 
of course enable us to raise great armies and our 
vast commercial marine to put afloat a large Navy. 
Doubtless there is something important and sound 
in these reasons for our influence In Europe; never¬ 
theless Russia did not avert war by her immense 
armies und enormons military power, nor did her 
Navy, attho’ very much larger than ours, preserve 
her ports from attack. Before that war the world 
had seen so many Instances of apparently extreme 
desire on the part of England to remain at peace, 
that it had hecotue a common saying among us 
that no country would dare to make war against 
the tremeudous power of the United States, and 
that England could not afford to go to war because 
of her vast funded debt. Bat we have seen that 
the power of Russia did not protect her from at¬ 
tack, and that at the end of the war England was 
the only one or the three uations that could have 
kept it up even a single year longer with auy con¬ 
venience to herself. 
it is not our physical power, it would therefore 
Beem, that has given us the European influence we 
have acquired, aud we mast seek for the reasons 
of that influence elsewhero. The search is not 
dillicnlt, for the reasons arc obviously to be found 
in the great, interchange of products and manu¬ 
factures between ua and Europe, and in the case 
ol England in the Cotton Trade, though a common 
language and frequent personal intercourse have 
also much efleet. Everybody knows that the peo¬ 
ple of England generally wished the war with 
Russia to be continued a year longer, yet this 
belligerent feeling did not prevent Mr. Marcy 
from acting towards England in a manner which 
appeared discourteous iu tho eyes of many of onr 
citizens, and it. did seem a little dangerous to be 
arguing the enlistment question with till the labor 
amUrdor of a young lawyer conducting his first 
prosecution, and enforcing hi3 arguments too, by 
the dismissal of the British Minister and several 
Consuls. Mr. Marcy, however, no doubt knew 
that the power of this country to avert war was 
not in its belligerent strength, but in the intimate 
intercouse, the extensive commerce, the close ties 
of interest, and above all in the Cotton Trade, and 
therefore thought that he conld indulge himself in 
pressing this quasi-prosecution without danger, 
and moreover that it presented the very best op¬ 
portunity of showing to the world at large, that we 
could not and would not tolerate any infringement 
or even appearance of infringement of our neutral 
rights; and Mr. Marcy judged well—for there was 
no material interruption in our diplomatic rela¬ 
tions with England. Bat if onr protectionists 
could have realized their visions of manufacturing 
in this country all the Cotton grown in it, and ex¬ 
changing all our Breadstuff's for our own manu¬ 
factures, the case might have had a very different 
termination, and we should at this day have had 
little more international influence than China with 
the Powers of Europe. 
England ha3 received onr Cotton free of duty 
for many years, and onr Breadstufis virtually with¬ 
out duty also, for a long time:—so mnehthe worse 
for her, say the protectionists, because she has 
thereby made herself dependent upon us. So much 
the better for her, say we, because she has increas¬ 
ed and is increasing her manufactures of Cotton 
and her means of exchanging her labor for the 
products of other countries. Old Blackwood and 
the bygone race of protectionists wonld have bad 
England forced to attempt to grow all the wheat 
of her consumption if possibly by means of pro¬ 
tective and prohibitory duties; and they would 
have her do this upon the fanciful ground that the 
Romau empire fell soon after Italy became de¬ 
pendent upon Egypt, nud other couutrica for sup¬ 
plies of Wheat. There is not, however, an acre 
less of productive land in England than there was 
ten years ago, but on the contrary many more, and 
if there is a change in the purposes to which land 
is devoted, we are satisfied that such change is for 
the better, and surely it is no unimportant step in 
the direction of civilization, morality and religion, 
that nations should be so interlocked in trade, 
that war is made more repulsive in its aspects and 
peace more attractive. Men were made for some¬ 
thing bettor than killing one another. 
The history of the world shows that Trade and 
Civilization act and re-act upon e-ach other, and 
we may safely say that free trade and the highest 
civilization are naturally co existent. Erroneous 
legislation often diverts industry from its proper 
channels, and sometimes does irreparable injury. 
Ou the other hand judicious laws promote the ac¬ 
quisition of wealth and free trade leaves in urtry 
at liberty to pursue the best means of attaining the 
comforts and conveniences of life. If it werepos- 
silile for us to dispeuse with Custom-house duties 
entirely, and to raise the necessary revenue of the 
General Government by direct taxation it snrely 
would be a benefit to the public. But as it is, or 
rather as the people thiuk it is, we suppose the 
Custom llonse will continue to be our tax-gather- 
er, and the only practical question lor inriire con¬ 
sideration will to the rate of duty on various arti¬ 
cles, and such rate will more frequently be decided 
by log-rolling combinations and petty party con¬ 
siderations than by sound political economy. At 
this niomeut an extraordinary and unprecedented 
combination Of circumstances exists which threat¬ 
ens the permanence of onr Cotton power over Eng¬ 
land; and it did exist in the minds of informed 
aud reflecting men before unr present Tarifl law 
was enacted. Aud iu the opinion of sneb, it is 
much to be regretted that the duty was not en¬ 
tirety removed from Sugar by that law, and it 
would have been stiil better if it had been abolish¬ 
ed a year ago. 
It seems to be a monstrous absurdity to tax 9 S 9 
or 1,999 men for the benefit of one individual, yet 
this is about the proportion of our citizens affect¬ 
ed by rhe Sugar tax. The Sugar crop of the United 
States in the last four years has been, about thus:— 
Tn —449,000 hhds; in 1834-50—34(3,000; 
in l855-’5fl—231,Q0Q; in lS50-'57—80,000. 
T ho summer of IS, TO, when it was known that the 
grow ing crop would be so extremely deficient, was 
the time to have abolished the duty, and a better 
opportunity lor such a change, combining the 
least possible injury to the planter and the greatest 
possible benefit to the consumer, never occurred 
be tore and may not occur for many years to come. 
The effect would have been that the Sugar planters 
would have gronud up more of their cane and pre¬ 
served less for planting; for the additional sugar 
so made, they would have realized very high 
prices: much Sugar would nevertheless have been 
cultivated, but only under favorable circumstances 
as to laud, capital, and existing machinery; plaut- 
ers, unless very favorably circumstanced, would 
uot have gone into debt to form new, and enlarge 
old Sugar plantations; much Blave labor now de¬ 
voted to Sugar with little prospect of advantage 
would have gone into Cotton with every prospect 
of handsome returns. 
Let ns look for a moment at the probable diffi¬ 
culties into which the erroneous Tariff protection 
of sugar has led the young planter. In conse¬ 
quence of it, great efforts have been made to plant 
largely—the crop thus far promises well—it is al¬ 
most exclusively of plant cane, i. e., of the first 
year's growth; such cane not only yields the 1 
greatest quantity of Sugar per acre, but the quan¬ 
tity of it to be reEerved for planting will be unu¬ 
sually smaD. It is then not improbable that the 
growing crop will,under this legislative stimulus, 
yield 400,000 hhds., or five times as much as the 
last crop, and it is possible that it may approach 
close to 500,000 hhds. The stock of Sugar in New 
York at this time is very much greater than was 
ever knowu, bnt the price does not fall because it 
is chiefly held for account of Spanish Houses 
who have been so successful in holding for the 
last two years that they think themselves almost 
infallible. Sngar has now been very high for 
about two years, yet it is produced easily in all the 
tropical countries of the world and can be so pro¬ 
duced to almost any extent, comparatively speak¬ 
ing; it cannot, therefore, be a matter of much 
doubt that the extent of sugar culture in such 
countries has increased and is increasing. Ought 
we then to feel surprise if Sugar, which is now 
nominally worth lQtftll cents W lb., should be at 5 
cents in six or eight months? for it is grown under 
the line and in both hemispheres, and a new crop 
may be, and should present prices be continued 
long enough, wonld be coming forward from some 
country or other, every month in the year. Cotton, 
on the other hand, is cultivated to any extent only 
in the extra-tropical regions of the northern hemis¬ 
phere. Only one crop of it can be brought for¬ 
ward in a year, and with regard to it our news¬ 
papers are filled with the complaints of English 
cotton spinners aud merchants concerning the | 
present and prospective scarcity of Cotton; they 
tell us of movements at public meetings and in 
Parliament to promote an increase of growth 
wherever such increase is practicable, and more 
particularly in India. This, therefore, is certainly 
a very inappropriate time for onr Tariff legisla¬ 
tion to have done its utmost to divert labor from 
Cotton to Sugar. 
Itisand has long been the custom tosaythat In¬ 
dia can’t raise Cotton to compete with ours, but cir¬ 
cumstances now exist in India very different from 
those of a few years ago. Railroads are made and 
making, and their importance can be best appre¬ 
ciated by considering that they will change trans¬ 
portation in many cases from one bale of Cotton | 
slung between two bullocks to a car-load of bales I 
at the rate of twenty miles an hour, and not as 
with ns from a wagon-road or river which affords 
convenient transportation at uncertain times to the 
rapid and uninterrupted transit by Railroads. The 
annexed figures exhibit the import of India Cot¬ 
ton into Europe for a series of years, and the 
amount of consumption: 
1843. 1S54. 1855. 1856. 
Import, 48(1,000 308,000 393,000 472,000 bales. 
Consumption, 344,000 371,000 470,000 499,000 “ 
We see by these figures that the consumption of 
India Cotton has increased steadily 5a the last four 
years, and this increase continues, for from the 1st 
Jan. to lflth June, 1S57, 141,000 bales have been 
taken from Liverpool for the consumption of the 
adjacent manufacturing districts against 123,000 
in the same time last year, and 81,000 bales have 
been exported from England to the Continent of 
Europe against 40,000 last year in the correspond¬ 
ing period. Tn the same period the consumption 
of United States Cotton bus been only 658,000 bales 
against 793,000 and the export 45,000 against 48,000. 
Who then can say that India Cotton is not con¬ 
sumed when United States Cotton can be had.— 
For the stock in Liverpool comprises 70,000 bales 
of India and 517,000 of United States Cotton. The 
import of India Cotton into all Europe for the 
whole of this year is estimated at 000,000 or 700,000 
bales, against 472,000 last year—-an increase that 
appears enormous and may to the extent of 10©,- 
0O0 bales be owlug to lhe Canton war; neverthe¬ 
less, some confirmation of this estimate is found 
in the fact that the Liverpool import from India 
so far this year—;. e., from 1st Jan, to 19th June— 
is 244,000 bales against 119,000 last year, anu the 
quantity known to be on the way from India is 
102,000 bales against 80,000 so known at the same 
time last year. This subject is worthy of the at 
tention of our Legislators, but it would seem hard 
now to take the duty off Sugar so soon alter en- i 
couraging planters to cultivate it, yet it ought to 
be taken off’ and the stroke might be mollified by I 
fixing the period of cessation of duty as 1st Oct,, 
1858, or half on 1st July And half on 1st Oct,. 185 s. 
The productive powers of Tndia are not to be 
disregarded. In a few years after the culture of 
Indigo was begun on a large scale. India became 
the chief producer. In 1835 the first importation 
of India Wool was made into England and was 
only 1,397 bales; in 18-11 the import was 10.5C3 
bales, and in 1850, 45,230 bales, and the quality has 
been steadily improving. Now, as India would 
seem to be the least promising region in the world 
for wool growers, what may we not look for in 
(. otton, when tho people were never so prosper¬ 
ous, when there is such an accumulation of capi¬ 
tal there, and when the spirit of internal improve¬ 
ment was never so rife in that land of “barbaric 
gold and wealth" as it now is? What DeWitt 
Clinton did. for New York and ihe West, almost 
as much is George Bujst, of Bombay, now doing 
tor India The prices of Cotton will probably be 
higher, high as they now are, and they will aver¬ 
age that higher level for twelve months to come.— 
What an inducement—what a stimulus will not 
such prices be for the growth of Cotton in India, 
and how much will her Railroads promote and 
facilitate this cultivation? The people of India 
begin to understand the disadvantages of "poling 
up the Mississippiand though the seasons with 
them are divided into wet and dry, yet their moun¬ 
tains are high and their rivers are well filled for 
one-half of the year by the rains, and for the other 
by the melting snows, and there are such things in 
that country as tanks and reservoirs for the col¬ 
lection and distribution of these waters for tillage. 
Plans and propositions are are on foot for increas¬ 
ing both the capacity and numbers of these tanks; 
and it does not require from one who is familiar 
with what is going on in that part of the world 
any very great stretch of the imagination to con- 
cieve of new tanks constructed, especially for the 
irrigation of Cotton lands—and of all cultivation 
the crops from irrigated lands are generally the 
most certain. The old tanks in India have been 
devoted to rice and articles of food from time im¬ 
memorial. One may also fancy improvements in 
machinery to facilitate the manufacture of the 
snort stapled India Cotton, and more and more 
mills undertaking to use it wholly or in partin 
substitution for United States Cotton. The quali¬ 
ty of India Cottoa has improved in the last few 
years. If all this should occur, ns it may. from the 
pa 1 try iecisiadon :c favor of our few Sugar plant¬ 
ers. we may welt ?ay that it :s a dangerous thing 
to undertake to dam up cr embank the natural 
channels of Trade — or to fe ter it, instead of 
leaving it free. 
Note. —In publishing the preceding anicle we do nor. of 
course, purpose to enter the arena of political discussion—nor 
do we undone all the sentiments expressed therein. But as the 
important subject is ably (rested by one who sympathises with 
the producers of tho country, we have thought best to give it 
publicity. The facts and Ugnres of the article will prove inter¬ 
esting to the great teas* of onr readers, though some may not 
concur in its sentiments and conclusions.—En. 
AN OCTAGON FOUTiTRY-HOUSE. 
The Engravings represent the elevation and 
ground plan of a neat and convenient Poultry 
House erected near FactoryviUe, Staten Island, 
selected from Bement's “ Poulterer’s Companion*” 
We built one very similar hat larger, and divided 
it into eight apartments for keeping separate this 
number of varieties of Jowls. The yards were 
made of the same [octagon] form. The object of 
placing this honse ou piles was to prevent the en¬ 
croachments of rats, mice, skunks. Ac., and is a good 
method, as rats are very annoying, especially 
where they have a good harbor under the house, 
ofteu destroying the eggs and killing the young 
chickens. 
This building is ten feet in diameter and six feet 
and a half high. The sills are 4 by 4, and the 
plates 3 by 4 joists, halved and nailed at the joints. 
It is sided with inch and a quarter spruce plank, 
tongued and grooved. No upright timbers were 
used. The floor and roofing are of the same kind 
of plank. To guard against leakage by shrinking, 
the joints may be battened with lath or strips of 
thin boards. An eight-square frame supports the 
top of the rafters, leaving an opening of ten inches 
in diameter, on which is placed an octagon chim¬ 
ney for a ventilator, which makes a very pretty 
finish. The piers should be either cedar, chestnut 
or locust, two feet high, and set on flat stones. 
The letter D designates the door; W, W. win¬ 
dows; L. latticed window to admit air, with a 
shutter to exclude it when necessary; E, entrauce 
for the fowls with a sliding door; V, platform l'or 
the fowls to alight on when going in; B, R, are 
roosts placed spirally, one end attached to a post 
near the centre of the room, and the other end to 
the wall; the first or lowermost one two feet from 
the floor, and the others eighteen inches apart, and 
rising gradually to the top, Eix feet from the floor. 
These roosts will accommodate forty ordinary 
sized fowls. F, F, is a board floor, on an angle of 
about forty-five degrees, to catch and carry down 
the droppings of the fowls. This arrangement 
renders it much more convenient in cleaning out 
the manure, which should be frequently done. 
GROUND PLAN. 
The space harcath this floor is appropriated to 
nests, twelve^n ifmnber, fifteen inches wide, eigh¬ 
teen inches deep, and eighteen inches high. In 
order to give an appearance of secretiveness, which 
it is well known the hen is so partial to, the front 
is latticed with strips oi lath. By this arrange¬ 
ment a free circulation of air is admitted, which 
adds much to the comfort of the hens while sitting. 
-♦-*- 
HOURS WITH THE FARMERS. 
*' Farmers as a class are improvident,” was the 
remark made to us a lew days since in one of our 
excursions among the farmers. We were convers¬ 
ing about the scarcity and dearness of feed last 
spring, and the consequent suffering among e&ttle 
in many parts of the country, and great loss to 
farmers. In sustaining his position our informant 
declared that not one in ten of his acquaintances 
took pains to gather and preserve coarse fodder; 
that corn stalks, even, were generally much in¬ 
jured before being housed; aud that although any 
one with ordinary foresight on comparing the 
quantity of stock with the acres in grass and 
clover, and other provision for feed, might judge 
almost with certainty, as to its sufficiency, yet 
few appeared to think of this matter nntil thetime 
of need. Indeed, many did not seem to be aware 
of danger until their barns were empty and their 
stock hungry. They would feed out early in the 
winter with a free baud, and when too late find out 
their mistake. Many sold their hay cheap in the 
summer or tall, only to hnv it hack again at a high 
price before spring. A near neighbor sold hay 
last summer for something like $10 per tun, and 
bought back a much inferior article for over $20 
the present spring. Oats, corn and other feed are 
sold and bought back again in this way every year, 
and farmers seem to learn bnt little by what they 
suffer. 
This, good farmer, is the statement of one of 
your number. We hope, yes, we think, the evil is 
not 8s general as represented; but, whether it is so 
or not, all perhaps may derive benefit from be¬ 
stowing some thought on the matter, and serious¬ 
ly inquiring whether sufficient foresight is usually 
exercised. 
The cold, wet and backward spring has much 
injured the corn crop, and many pieces we see in 
our travels iiave been abandoned to the weeds.— 
In others the crop is looking well in the higher 
parts, while it is destroyed in the lower. We 
rather think that some of the fields that have been 
abandoned would have yielded something like a 
crop if they had been cultivated. That this loss 
will affect the quantity of fodder very materially 
should not be forgotten. Almost every farmer we 
saw had sown, or was intending to sow, buck¬ 
wheat ou these fields. Perhaps this may be a good 
plan, but where feed for stock is tikelv to be short, 
would it uot be much wiser to sow Turnips.— 
These low fields and moist spots are jnst the 
places to give an excellent growth of turnips; 
and we are almost prepared to promise a con¬ 
tinuance of good turnip weather the balance of 
the season. Try them, just for the experiment, for 
yonr own sake, for the sake of the cattle, to see 
whether our advice is good for anything or not; 
for any reason you choose, only that you try them. 
Not much grass or clover was cut, bnt we no¬ 
ticed some cocks that looked a3 “ black as a hat.’’ 
The showers had been so frequent the past week 
that it was almost impossible to make hay. We 
observed one load being carried into a barn, and 
the owner stated that it had been ent a week, and 
tamed and cocked about every day. It was pretty 
wet bnt he thought “salt would save it. 
We noticed only two fields of cor a sown broad¬ 
cast for fodder, and they acre looking very well; 
and one piece of M iUt- Millet w.ll auswer well 
on strong, rich soils, hut on light loams it does 
not succeed. Light fend that is barely rich enough 
to produce a fair crop of corn, will not produce 
millet encash to pay for the trouble. On very 
... . . 
