Hannibal journal and western union. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1851-1852, 1851-09-04
JOURNAL AND UNIoN-HANNIBAL MO, SEPTEMBER A. 1851.

i NutNcE
using l4,OOO tons Of gnano year, proves that
10 obtain single fair crop, from 200 TO 5000
pounds per acre must be applied and this inn
ported manure is now selling in Augusta, Geor-
Ria, at fOr dollars per 100 lbs. BY the time
The cotton planters get il to their plantations il
will cost them dollar more. Now, 200 lbs. Of
this manure, costing $40, will not supply TO an
acre Of land, by long way, all the potash need
ed TO form fair crop Of cotton, Of corn, wheat,
or other grain. But assume that u win meet
every demand Of nature in organizing one crop,
which must weigh at least 1900 lbe,, and IL
corn, more than twice that amount, the expense
is six hundred millions of dollars FOR sixty mill
! lions of acres. IL will not do 20 esti.rate the
value of manure imported from Peru, or else
where, at its price in sea port but il must be
placed at its cost where consumed. Will il be
commended that the uniform experience of ages,
in all countries, indicating the necessity Of APP
plying manure, Is all a mistake, and that we can
go on for ever growing and exporting cotton,
tobacco, and breadstufis, without consuming the
/ few well known substances in and near the sur
face Of the earth, which form cultivated plants ?
II so, no argument can avail against such an alb
surdity.
Whatever may be the precise value, either
present or prospective, OF the natural FRUITFUL
ness of American soil, one thing is perfectly
J
all that the whole population Of this country an
nually consume from what they produce, the
! ''riches" left will not pay twenty-five cents a
day for the labor that must be expended to make
the soil good as we found it, from year to year.
In other words, the wealth of the present gen.
Grafton is not fairly produced, by proving the
raw material consumed, or by keeping the stock
in the surface Of the earth good, by wise tilage
and skillful husbandry: but it is created by the
wasteful loss and reckless consumption OF the
most precious atoms which alone can form hu-
man clothing, brains, muscles, and bones. One
third Of the earthly matter in bushel of wheat
is pure potash, and full one-half Of that in per-
feet poatoe plant, including tubers, roots, stems,
and leaves, is the same alkali. Will any reader
say that the constant expectation Of pot and
pearlashes from this continent, for two centuries,
drawn from its forest trees and soil, and the
constant waste Of all that has been consumed in
soap, in cotton and tobacco, and in thousand
other forms, has not diminished the supply in
the improved lands Of the United States as
sert, after the patient research of years. that the
quantity of this alkali annually thrown away in
privies and elsewhere, in this country, is equal
to thc production Of 500,000,0 900 bushels of
wheat, and yet no man has seen blade Of grass,
or grain, pOtatoe, cotton, or tobacco plant,
which did not contain potash as one of its natu-
raj elements. Ammonia is worth to-day eleven
cents pound in England, for agricultural pur-
poses, notwithstanding all the organized elements
of this alka, in the $4,000, 900 bushels Of grain,
flour, or meal annually imported, and all that is
contained in the guano, oil-cake, seeds and pro-
visions also imported, and all that is contained
in every vegetable and animal product Of Brit
ish soil. Have not said enough to show that
the science Of agricultural production is little
understood; and that Political Economy is less
comprehended by economists themselves, so far
as national consumption and production are con-
cerned? These learned men see very clearly
how grain can be accumulated in granaries, and
gold in money-bags, but when it comes to the
accumulation of the element of crops in the sur
| face of the earth for the economical production
of the great staples of nation, their wisdom is
at FAULT, andDnothing can be seen but "the gros-
sest inconsistencies" This arises from their
neglect to study the causes of fruitfulness and
barrenness in arated earth. With them the diff
ference between good and bad husbandry, is no
more than that between tweedle-dee and tweedle
dun. Having filled their mind with conflicting
theories about exchanges-high tariffs, low
tariffs, and free trade-there is, unfortunately,
no room left for anything else pertaining to
political economy. would say nothing in dis
paragemant Of the science Of exchanges, between
persons OF the same nation, or of different ma
tons, provided it did not, like Aaron's rod
swallow up all other kindred studies, which are
OF much greater consequence. IL man cannot
create the elements of human food and clothing,
and these elements do not exist in the soil in in
eXhaustible quantities, is it not plain that to
maintain the natural fertility of land is one of
the highest duties which each generation owes
10 all surrounding ones? In fifty years the
United States will contain one hundred millions
of inhabitants TO be all clothed and fed and in
view of this facts what mortal right have the
twenty-three or four millions now here, to leave
the earth less fertile than they found il? Is
there no force in the Roman maxim, "Salus po-
pull Suprema Ler ~ in what does the "safety
of the people" republic, consist Not, surely,
in desolating million fields with the pillow, in
stead of the sword Professor Way, consult
ing chemist TO the English Royal Agricultural
Society, estimates the daily waste of fertilizing
matter washed into the Thames, in the city Of
London, as worth 1000, or $4,000. Here
is loss in single city of million of dollars
every one hundred days. "R. S." intimates
that Adam Smith brought the study of political
economy so near perfection seventy-fve years
ago. that there is very little more to be learned
or said on the subject. In my humble opinion,
the A. b. C.'s of the science have vet to be in
vestigated by the professors of this department
of human knowledge. To assume that cities and
nations can prosper without any reference to
the SOIL is, obviously, the extreme of folly.
Doubtless, Babylon and PALMYRA acted ON this
principle; but where now is all their greatness?
Precisely where that Of London and New York
will end under the guidance of their pres ent false
system of public economy.
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From the Dollar Newspaper.
y In IN NM ~