time, by continuing our present policy, we shall all be rendered paupers ourselves."-A. Jackson to Dr. Coleman, April 26, 1834.

The present, too, seems the proper time for us to give to this question of the disposal of our immense surplus a thorough, calm, and deliberate investigation. On the decision of it the prosperity of this great country depends. It has been well said, that "to encourage the progress of agricultural improvement is the only road to national wealth." Our object should not be so much to stimulate to larger production, as to open the ways and means by which the husbandman shall have a market, and shall know how his labor and skill may be most available. For this purpose, he needs a yearly and more full survey of the crops, the markets, and prices, than he can now have. Thousands and millions of dollars are lost to our country by the misemployment of productive industry, from the mere want of information; and, strange as it may appear, our own country, extensive as it is, and devoted as are its population to agriculture, is almost the only one among civilized nations where but little has been done by the national legislature for this great object. England, and France, and Germany, and Russia, watch with deep interest, in their national capacities, over their agricultural prosperity. The farmers and planters are beginning to feel the importance of more regard to their interests, especially in the way of furnishing them with the means of knowledge. The return of the census every ten years is not itself sufficient. It may prove a starting point for each period, and one at which corrections may be made; but, from year to year, there should be imbodied the best results of investigation, carefully and thoroughly conducted. Something has, indeed, been thus attempted, in these agricultural statistics, subjoined to the report of the Commissioner of Patents, and many of our hard working husbandmen have expressed their sense of the benefit thus derived, and their joy at even this care of their interests by the National Government; but this is not enough, or as much as ought to be done. In the language of one of our best agricultural journals, conducted by one who himself has held a seat in the halls of our National Legislature, and who therefore knows well what comparative neglect this subject has received

"We want a system of national legislation for this purpose that shall be effectual to collect, periodically, in every State of our Union, and concentrate to one point, at the seat of the national Government, precise, accurate, authentic, and official statistical information upon all the annual results of the husbandman's industry-showing to everybody, at all times, as near as human watchfulness can, upon a scale so extended, all the elements of both the demand and the supply of every article of produce that enters into our markets. With information of this description, published and disseminated through the land by Congress, with only half the profusion that partisan documents are spread by each and every party, an entire revolution in the condition and productiveness of the husbandman's labor would be ef fected. There would be system, certainty, and confidence, pervading the outlays and the income of the husbandman."

If the length of the review of the crops and accompanying remarks, combined with the various subjects found in the Appendix, seem at first view to be unnecessary, it is believed that the feelings of the whole agricultural community will fully justify the diffusion of a document embracing so much varied information connected with the welfare of our common country.

APPENDIX.

No. 1.

Letter from Hon. John Taliaferro, of Virginia.

WASHINGTON, January 16, 1843. DEAR SIR: I have received the letter which you did me the honor to address to me under date of the 12th instant, and I seize a moment in the hurry of other concerns to reply to it.

1st. You inquire what my experience has been in a species of wheat said to have come to us from the Mediterranean, and known by that name.

2d. What has been the result of the trials of others, in the cultivation of this wheat within my observation.

3d. Whether this wheat resists, effectually, the ravages of the Hessian fly.

4th. What, in my opinion, are the properties of this wheat which enable it to resist, without the least injury, the ravages of an insect so ruinous to every other species of wheat.

I shall answer in the above order of the questions; but before I do so, I will give you the result of my experience and observation as to the periods of the year in which the Hessian fly commits its ravages on wheat, and what the particular injury is at such period. The first attack of the fly is very soon after the wheat germinates, and the maggot will then be found attached to the tender sprout, immediately at or very near the point of vegetation. Hence the radical destruction by the fly, in the fall season, not only to large regions of a field, but not unfrequently of entire fields. This is called the fall attack of the fly; and to avoid which, farmers have been driven, by this insignificant insect, to sow wheat at a period of the fall too late to furnish reasonable expectations of a good crop one year in ten; from the 15th of August to the 15th of September is the proper season to sow wheat. The next attack of the fly on wheat commences in the spring, as soon as the weather is sufficiently warm to hatch the egg, and with us in Virginia that occurs about the middle of April, from which time till the middle of May (up to which period the ground joint of wheat, on which the maggot subsists as soon as it is hatched, remains tender and full of juice) the spring injury is done.

In reply to your first inquiry I answer, that I obtained from my friend, the Hon. Arnold Naudain, of Delaware, a specimen of the wheat now known as the Mediterranean wheat. I have raised five crops of it, without i the least injury from the fly, and none material from rust; and such has i been the invariable result of many trials of this wheat, by individuals to whom I have disposed of it for seed, during the three years past.

The reason why this wheat escapes injury from the fall attack of the fly i is, that it certainly is so constituted as to possess, and to be sustained by, a more vigorous root than any other known wheat is; so that while the fly in the fall destroys all other wheat known to us, root and branch, thus denuding fields more or less, according to season and other circumstances, not a root of this wheat is destroyed, owing no doubt to its energy.

The reason why this wheat escapes the spring attack of the fly, is to be found in the same property-its energy of root-owing to which, or some other unknown cause, its growth in the spring is more rapid and vigorous than any other winter wheat; so that, by the middle of April, it attains a hard and sapless ground joint, impenetrable by the then young maggot, which produces the fly; and, if penetrated, furnishing no pabulum (that is, sap); hence the maggots, no matter how many, perish, without doing the least injury to the wheat.

The reason why this wheat is less liable to rust than other winter wheat, is, that it matures from eight to ten days earlier. I have never, till last fall, sowed this wheat earlier than the 15th of September. On the 4th of last September, I sowed five rows in drill, and at the same time I sowed, in juxtaposition, a drill of beautiful and popular white wheat. When I left home, in November, the drill of white wheat was nearly destroyed, root and branch, while the Mediterranean wheat was entirely free from injury.

And as I know, for the reasons I have stated above, that it is to sustain no injury in the spring, I look to this wheat to restore to us our true seed time, and thus to exempt the wheat crop from all the maladies necessarily incident to any crop sowed or planted out of season.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours,

H. L. ELLSWORTH, Esq.

No. 2.

JOHN TALIAFERRO,

WILMINGTON, December 19, 1842.

DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 6th instant was duly received. I am sorry I can not give you more definite and satisfactory information in regard to our experiments; but such as I have is at your service. The fact is, that our corn was fully ripe before the least preparation had been made toward manufacturing it; and after this, the delays and breakages incident to new machinery so hindered our progress that a considerable part of our crop was killed by the frost before it could be ground. Yet, the greater part of the crystallized sugar, which I procured the present season, was made from this frost-killed corn. The product was undoubtedly injured, but not to the extent that might have been expected. This fact is important, as it shows the superiority of corn over cane; the latter is totally ruined by frost. The reason of this difference is, that corn becomes more fully matured, and it is, at the same time, a much more hardy plant.

For evaporation, the present season, I had two copper kettles, about two feet deep, capable of holding from 50 to 60 gallons. A charge in these kettles could not possibly be finished in less than ten or twelve hours. This long-continued application of heat caused the sirup to become very dark, and deprived it entirely of the power of crystallization. Seeing this result, I procured a tin vessel (copper would have been better) about two feet long, eighteen inches wide, and six inches deep. In this, evaporation could be completed in about two hours; the sirup was light colored, like honey, and crystallized very well, though not so quickly as would be desirable. This sirup (although so much finer in appearance, compared with that procured

by the first press) is not so agreeable to the taste; it retains, to a considerable degree, the peculiar flavor of cornstalk.

After crystallization, this taste is entirely confined to the molasses, the sugar not retaining it in any sensible degree. It appears, from my experiments, that this peculiar taste is owing to a certain substance, which may be either driven off or decomposed by the application of heat, if continued for a sufficient length of time; therefore, after the sugar is separated from the molasses, the latter should be boiled (with the addition of water, if necessary) until the corn taste is entirely removed. The shorter the time which is allowed to elapse, from crushing the stalks to finishing the evaporation, the greater will be the proportion of sugar in the sirup, and vice versa.

Professor Mapes's direction on the subject are excellent, and, if adhered to, will ensure good results. I do not think that any manufacture ever promised better, in the early stages of its introduction, than this has done.

We have every reason for confidence and perseverance, and none at all for despondency; time only is necessary to perfect the details, and settle the business upon a firm foundation.

A revolution in trade will then ensue, vastly important in its effects. Hoping that we may see all this in our time, I remain yours, respectfully, WILLIAM WEBB.

H. L. ELLSWORTH, Esq., Washington, D. C.

No. 3.

Remarks on the manufacture of maize sugar, by William Webb, of Wil. mington, Delaware.

The most profitable application of labor is a desideratum too frequently overlooked or disregarded by those who attempt the introduction of new manufactures into a country. All calculations of advantage which is to result from the production of any article, must be made with due regard to this point, or practice will prove them to be erroneous.

Fully impressed with this truth, the most rigid examination is invited into everything now offered; so that, as far as possible, we may arrive at a correct decision respecting the real value of the proposed manufacture. In common with many others, I have felt considerable interest in the plan for extending the cultivation of sugar in temperate climates, and have made many experiments; first upon the beet, and recently upon maize or Indian corn, in the hope of discovering some mode by which the desired end might be attained.

The results from the latter plant have been extremely encouraging. The manufacture of sugar from it, compared with that from beet, offers many advantages. It is more simple, and less liable to failure. The machinery is less expensive, and the amount of fuel required is less by one half. The quantity of sugar produced on a given space of ground, is greater, beside being of better quality. An examination into the nature and productive powers of these two plants, will show that no other results could have been reasonably expected. It is a well-established fact, that every variety of production found in plants, is derived from the sap. It is also ascertained that

the principal substance found in the sap or juice of many vegetables, is sugar. Therefore, the amount of saccharine matter produced by any plant of this description, may be estimated from an analysis of the fruit, seed, &c., of such plant, when ripe. The grain yielded by corn, and the seed from beet, in the second summer of its growth, are nothing more than this sap or juice elaborated by the process of vegetation, and presented to our view in another form.

Now, as it is contrary to the economy of nature to suppose that there should be any loss of nutritive matter in this change of sap into seed or grain, does it not follow that there must be the same difference in the quantity of sugar produced by the two plants as there is between the nutritive properties. of beet seed and corn?

The juice of maize contains sugar, acid, and a gummy mucilaginous matter, which forms the scum. From the experiments of Gay Lussac, Thenard, Kirchoff, and others, it appears that starch, sugar, and gum, are extremely similar in composition, and may be as readily converted into each other, by chymical processes, as they are by the operation of nature. For example: starch boiled in diluted sulphuric acid, for thirty-six hours, is converted into sugar of greater weight than the starch made use of.

This result goes to show that every pound of starch found in the seed of a plant has required for its production at least one pound of sugar, in the form of sap. If it be objected that this deduction is too theoretical to be admitted, it may be answered that experiment, so far as it has gone, has fully attested its correctness.

The raw juice of maize, when cultivated for sugar, marks 100 on the saccharometer; while the average of cane juice (as I am informed), is not higher than 8°, and beet juice not over 3°.

From 93 quarts (dry measure) of the former, I have obtained 4 pounds 6 ounces of sirup, concentrated to the point suitable for crystallization. The proportion of crystallizable sugar appears to be larger than is obtained from cane juice in Louisiana. This is accounted for by the fact, that our climate ripens corn perfectly, while it but rarely if ever happens that cane is fully matured. In some cases the sirup has crystallized so completely, that less than one sixth part of molasses remained. This, however, only happened after it had stood from one to two months. There is reason to believe, that if the plant were fully ripe, and the process of manufacture perfectly performed, that the sirup might be entirely crystallized without forming any molasses.

This perfection in the manufacture can not, however, be attained with the ordinary apparatus. Without any other means for pressing out the juice than a small hand mill, it is impossible to say how great a quantity of sugar may be prodnced on an acre.

The experiments have been directed more to ascertain the saccharine quality of cornstalk than the amount a given quantity of ground will produce; but the calculations made from trials on a small scale leave no room to doubt that the quantity of sugar will be from 800 to 1,000 pounds. This amount will not appear unreasonable, when it is considered that the juice of corn is as rich as that of cane, and the weight of green produce at least equal.

Mr. Ellsworth, in one of his publications, states, as the result of actual weighing and measuring, that corn, sown broadcast, yielded five pounds of green stalks per square foot; this is at the rate of 108 tons to the acre.