Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1822-02-23

that the cutting and binding of this acre viii
cost fifteen shillings, from which, five deduct
IS. Cd rs the wages of the binder, who PEI
| forms his part in half Il day, there remains as
Cd. or 1878 per acre. Now, allowing a TOO
derate average OF work for a cratIer.-tlIree
! acres,-and Il high average of wagrs,--one
dolar,-the American acre will Ike cut at the
| price OF thirty-t'lree cents, and the English
| acre at two hundred and seventy-ive cent
| and done AS well too, for the difference as 10 tie
shaitering out OF grain between good cr;,t'tGg,
! and reaping is in fact very litile and even iuat
| may be saved by cutting rather before the COM
plete maturity Ofthe grain--a system To ,yhich
the best English practice is now approachiag.
So too, an English iabourer, with IA driver ana
four on Eve or six horses, will not plough more
in day,than Il Pennsylvania alone witt, two
and no excess Ofwages to him, can balance
the expense Of a driver and two o. three s,.uef-
fluous horses.
Again, reaping oats in Mddlesex is stated
to cost os. (SI.75) per acre. The same field
in this country would probably be graded Cor
one-sixth OF the expense. These details
might be pursued into other departments of
farming labour, and they would show, that an
acre OF ground may be prepared for seed, and
the produce carried to market, at an expeAse,
1t not less, certainly not much greater, in a :
merica than England
The means of curiching land, by lime and
either manures, are cheaper near Philadelphia
than near London aud that most important
article of husbandry, salt, is much cheaper
here than in England where the excise has
almost banished it from their farm yards.
The prices of produce may be more readi-
" compared. Of the great production of
England, wheat, her farmers have the nOnopo-
y until the price rises to about 81 80. This,
however, being scarcity prlcc, is, OF course,
much above the Ordinary price. In July last,
the average of all England was about one dol
lar and hity-three cents. AT the same period
with us-a season of great depresslon--the
price varied from seventy five to ninety cents,
and at the present moment, without any
foreign demand, II may be stated ar about one
dollar and ten cents. The flesh markets are
also considerably higher in England. But
wheat forms only one-fourth of the crops ::
aud III the articles Of turnips aud potatoes in
the root crops generally the price is probably
higher here than III England. The great sta
pie OF wool IS certainly dearer. These ele-
mems VIII enable us 10 contrast with our own,
the condition Of an English farmer, whose
rent Is Three times as great, whose taxes are
twenty tunes as Sreat--nianures more eXpen-
sfe-labour not much cheaper-and prices,
on a whole rotation OF crops, not much higher
Yet they MAKE their firms more produc-
tive; they pay higher rents. Near London
or Edinburgh they can afford TO pay for wheat
lands twenty Ger thirty dollars rent per acre
and-wbat ought To shame us into better
husoandry--in spite of all their burdens--in
spite OF freight Of 5000 miles, a commission
70 TWO merchants, and duty of fifteen per
cent, they reach our own market with thcir
produce, and are always preferred 10 u.s.
But then they raise twice or thrice as much
wheat, and probably five times as much OF
other produce. They have forty bushels OF
wheat, and fifty of barley, and sixty or seven
" oil oats, aud twelve hundred BUSH ol tur-
nips, and four hundred bushels of ,.otat 5cs :;
all following each other with the least practi-
cable intervals They succeed better than we
do, because, in fact, they are better farmers
thanwe are. But the reason OF the difference
is,slmply, that we will not bestow on our lands
the same well directed labour, or the fiftieth
part of the capital which they intrust to
theirs Whenever these have been applied
as IN DINER countries, our soil has never refus-
ed returns as abundant. Ofths the premium
crops OF our agricultural societies afford de-
cisive evidence; and we have recently seen
an experiment, which | mention as iliustra-
ting at once the judicious employment of CAPT.
tai, the productyeness of small spots of
ground, and the benefits of soiling. The
Pennsylvania Hospital has in It's neighbour
hood fourteen acres of ground, from which,
during The last year, were sOiled sew enteen cows.
Some of these, as their milk failed, were
replaced by others. But an account of this
expense, and of all the other charges was
accurately kept, aud credited with the mar
ket price of the produce, either consumed in
the hospital or sold at market The clear
profits amounted to more than two thousand
three hundred dollars.
These calculations are, of course, not APP
piicabIe to the remote farmers, whose mark
cts are habitually less valuable, and who are
now suffering under the extinction of the ac-
customed demands from abroad. Their en-
barrassments should, however, direct their in
dustry to new channels I; and there are, fortu-
nately, now presented to the farmers of Penn
syivania, two distinct branches of iudustI V,
which may enable them to retrieve their los
SEES, aud give new impulse to the husban-
dry of the state. | mean TO speak OF the
growth of wool, and the cultivation of flax
and hemp.
The consumption Ofwoollens in the United
States cannot be less than twenty or thirty
millions of dollars, of which the greater part
IS manufactured in the country. it is need
less to be exact as to the amount, since my
purpose will be explained by the facts, that the
domestic supply Of wool is not equal to the
domestic demand-that the manufactures of
Pennsylvania receive much of their wool from
abroa d-and that woolis at this moment pro
badly dearer IN Pennsylvania than in England,
or perhaps in any of the wool growing coun-
tries and this while we possess the finest
breeds Of sheep, capable of an almost indefinite
Increase. These unhappy animals have been
the victims ofthe most extraordinary caprice.
bnn s,f he, ID. II.
this country some Of the very best breeds of
Spain, they were eagerly purchased at extra
VACANT prices. But, in too many instances,
the owners were deceived by calculations of