The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-04 00:00:00

THE FUNDS.

the
CITY, SATURDAY, JAN. reviewing
movements of the Money Marks t, and the stiiius upli, id
by the National Securities in the course of the past
twelve months, a few preliminary remarks may, under
circumstances, be permitted. It has been urged in some
quarters that the views and opieions expr, ssed usually
under this head are of too sanguine a temperament--
that, placing faith in the representations made, parties
have held stock, and, beinsz ultimately compelled to sell;
have sustained losses. Most true it is that it has not
been the province of the writer of this article, upon any
occasion to yield a ready car to whispers of coming
panics, of internal and external alarms, the promulgation
of which might have the effect of realising, the hopes and
expectations of the Bear party in and out of stock ex-
changes. The careful policy of those who have to com-
municate the real state of monetary and commercial
matters is to look to facts, not to heed reports. And well
may the Government, and the public, and the steady
holder of all our National Securities be proud of the
position in which the credit of this country at present
stands. Without a blemish upon the character of the
nation's honour and credit, and amidst passing political
events at home and abroad, of stirring, of painful, and
of deeply anxious import, the close of the year 1846 saw
the Three per Cent. Annuities (the largest portion by
far of " the millstone" around the neck of our country-
men, as the late Mr. Cobbett termed it), within two per
cent. as high as they were yesterday twelvemonth. To
controvert this "great fact" your operatives fora fall,
and those who may be deemed the avant couriers, in
print, of alarms, of tightness in the Money Market, &c.,
have put fe.rth many versions—many bold assertions—
that ere 1846 ran out, the Funds must be most materially
depressed—confidence in our national obligations be im-
paired—that the Bank Directors must be compelled to
put on the " screw"—and, of course, that the palmy
days—long gone by—would revive of extensive specula-
tive business, but entailing losses upon those who had
momentarily become alarmed, and disposed of Stock.
Many, indeed, have been the events of the past year to
create temporary distrust—to excite apprehensions—and
to give a zest to Bear bargains in the Funds. But
though the tocsin of coming storms in the political and
monetary horizon, has very frequently been sounded,
and loudly to boot, the efforts to induce a panic
have " coma like shadows" and have so " departed."
The great secret of the unpholding of the value of our
own Funds has been a course of steady, though com-
paratively small, investments in Stock. And it cannot
be questioned that where large sales of Money Stock
hare occurred, the proceeds have been laid out in home
securities. Whether they be in railway investments, or
upon mortgage or what else, most true it is, that except-
ing payments of calls upon foreign projects of the second
character just referred to, scarcely a fraction of British
capital, the wealth of the country being, considered, has
passed from our shores, in the shape of instalments upon
foreign loans, in the last year. It would be waste of time
and of space to enumerate here the many great events of
the past year, all of which are well borne in mind, and
how many have been the allurements held out for specu-
lation in Stock. But the past year, as far as time bargains
are concerned, has yielded less profit to the jobber and
the broker than any similar fa riod within the
recollection of the " oldest" member of the Stock
Exchange. It may be true that the new field
of operations opened of late years in Railway Shares
and Scrip have compensated parties for a lack of
business in Consols. It is so, no doubt ; but how
strongly does this fact bear upon the remarks already
made, of the confidence of the vast body of the national
creditors, in the maintenance of prices. Millions upon
millions of capital have been, and are still being invested
in the extension of old, and the constitution of entirely
new lines of internal communication. But with all the
great events in India, causing at the time of active ope-
rations intense interest, and no inconsiderable degree of
apprehension as to the results, with an impending load
of obligations, and calls anticipated (enlarged to an
amount the practical effects of which would have broken
the back of Hercules, when realised) in the railway
world ; in spite, too, of the ruin prophesied in Protec-
tion circles at the passing of the new Tariff Bill—of in-
surrections, and loss of life, and fearful presages of
destruction of property in the Emerald Isle—of a crisis
in the affairs of the great metropolitan corporation bank
—of commercial distress and vast misery—and other
less important points, we find the reduction in the mar-
ket value of our Stocks has been upon the average,
slight indeed. Was it not a justifiable course then to
pursue to ease apprehension on the part of the stock-
holders, when false prophets were urging on a panic, and
to counsel parties to hold on ? But figures speak more
to the purpose than words. Here are a few of such
startling remembrancers:—On the Ist of January, 1846,
Three,:per Cent. Reduced Annuities were at 95; on the
Ist of Januray, 1847, the price was at 94. On the Ist
of January, 1846, Consols were at 941; on the Ist of
January, 1847, they were at 931. On the Ist of January,
1846, the New Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents. were at
97*; on the lst of January, 1847, they were at 95i.
But it may be urged, that the lowest as well as the
highest rates should be looked at. Of course they should,
and the more so as the comparison will further demon-
strate how fallacious have been the prognostications of
the Bears, that things must go from bad to worse. To
give them credit, they have been most assiduous in their
vocation. The following values are collated from official
sources:—

FLUCTUATIONS IN THE PRICES OF STOCK PROM IST

JAN. TO 31ST DEC., 1846.
Highest Lowest Value on Ist Jan., 1847.
Bank Stock - 211 203 205
Reduced Annuities 981 i. 9274 94 cd *
Consols - - 97 941,13 93213 d 0 t
Exchequer B ills - 425. 4s. 9s.
* Cum dividend t Dlr. off.
A very marked fall will be observed in the premium
upon the Unfunded Debt. It arose principally from the
repayment of moneys to scripholders in many new rail-
way schemes, deposits for which were placed in the hands
of the Acc,untant-General, pursuant to Act of Parlia-
ment. On the projects being abandoned, payments were
made to those who had claims on the committees,—
Observer.

FUTURE POTATOE CROP.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sir—The year which has past has been momentous
to Europe for the scarcity of food occasioned by the
preternatural abundance of the aphis vastator. Let us
now forget the sarcasms of the journals of the unsuc-
cessful investigators, and take advantage of the know-
ledge acquired during the past year to regulate the mea-
sures for the ensuing season.
I examined the subject as a scientific recreation for
the summer evenings, and having discovered the cause
of the disease, it now becomes my duty to point out in
the public journals how the crops are in future to be
treated, as my work on the potatoe plant is not likely to
be perused by the poorer agriculturists, and it is mani-
fest that those who were unfortunate enough not to see
the insects cannot render information on the matter.
The vastator attacks many plants, and kills whatever
It attacks. It destroys the potato, spinach, turnip, car-
rot, beet, and clover, &c. It will even live upon the
wheat, and I am now writing with a wheat plant before
me, on which the creature is feeding.
Notwithstanding rain, snow, and frost, the vastator
is still alive and active, and it is uncertain to what ex-
tent it may appear next season: on the one hand, it may
destroy all our crops, on the other, it may be swept from
the face of the earth and produce no further mischief.
The potato plant, like all organic bodies when dis-
eased, retains its tendency to disease in future growths,
which is not singular when we remember that the scro-
fulous father is liable to produce a diseased offspring.
The vastator has heretofore not appeared i❑ profusion
till July or August; hence we may in some degree, pre-
vent its ravages by getting our potatoes ripe before the
vastator comes in great abundance
All succulent and cellular growths are prejudicial, as
liable to favour the disease, but on the contrary, the
early deposition of fibre is calculated to enable the plant
to resist the injurious action of the vastator.
From the above statements we may deduce the following
line of treatment, applicable for practise during the next
two or three months:—

1. Cultivate all crops to the usual extent.
2. With regard to potatoes, use sets fr3m former
healthy plants.
3. Select early varieties.
4. Plant early.
5. Use but little or no manure.
6. Choose a sandy or peaty soil.
7. Destroy the plants the vastator is now living on.
I call the attention of the benevolent to the above
rules, and recommend them to circulate these short di.
rections throughout Ireland, the poor parts of Scotland,
and England; I also beg to recommend them, as true
charity, to send round sets of early kinds to those dis-
tricts. I myself am against the over culture of the po-
tato, for reasons which I have elsewhere stated; never-
theless, as a secondary crop, too little culture will always
be attended with great privations to the poor.
At the early period of the year, it is desirable to de-
stroy such plants as the creature likes. It lives freely
upon the shepherd's vane, mallow, and turnip; on this
account the husbandman should destroy these plants as
far as possible before spring advances to furnish it with
abundance of food. The vastater causes the first damage
to vegetables it attacks, and is thus the cause of the dis-
ease from which all subsequent changes take place as a
consequence. Every farmer should know the form and
habits of the creature, and every one should assist him
to kill this destroyer of human food.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant, ALFRED SMEE.
7, Finsbury Circus, Dec. 31, 1846.

The accounts of the Quarter's Revenue will not be
fully made up before Tuesday next. We believe, how-
ever, that the apprehensions felt in some quarters, or the
predictions put forth in others, as to any serious falling
off' in the receipts, will prove to have been entirely
groundless. The great sources of the Public Revenue
hold their ground, and exhibit a result from which
nothing is to be dreaded for the stability and buoyancy
of the national income. In spite of the dull season of the
year—at the N ery time when the reduction of some, and
the total abrogation of other duties on imports, by the
tariff of last year, might be expected to be felt in some
degree—and before the recuperative energies of the
country were in full play—still the Customs' duties will
not exhibit the falling off which had been so confidently
predicted. This is one of the most gratifying and con-
clusive evidences in favour of the extension of free trade
doctrines that has yet been prodi.ced. The Excise, too,
the next large and important item, and which, more than
any other, exhibits the condith on of the people of England,
wilt show' no evidences of being, influenced by the partial
destitution which so unhappily prevails. The other
items are neither of such amount nor so much regarded
as indicative of the national proverity or otherwise, and
exhibit less variation. The whole financial condition of
the country is most satisfactory.
The first samples of sugar from Brazil, under the
new law were exhited last weak at the office of Mr.
Bramley Moore ; and as the sugar crop of this year in
Brazil is most abundant, large imports may be expected.
—Liverpool Mercury.