We built rolling-mills that enabled us to commence the manufacture of railroad iron, and to extend it in that brief period to almost 100,000 tons. We increased the production of lead from 580 to 800,000 pigs; that of hemp from 14,000 to 60,000 bales; and that of wool from forty-eight to seventy millions of pounds.

The manufacture of corn and hay into pork and beef, butter, cheese, and lard, was extending itself at a rate unexampled in the world; and the value per ton of the exports from the West to the East was steadily advancing.

We thus made a market for more cotton, and yet had more to export; and the tariff of 1842, that found prices lower than they had ever been before, left them already advanced one fourth, with every reason to expect that they would soon be permanently fixed at a higher standard than had been known for twenty years.

We thus made a domestic market for food, to be consumed by the growers of wool and of hemp, and the producers of cloth and iron, coal and lead, to the annual extent of more than one hundred millions of dollars, and yet our exports rose from fourteen millions in 1841-2 to twenty-four millions in 1845-6.

We consumed more fish and exported more, more rice and exported more, more naval stores and exported more, and the prices of all these things rose, the tariff of 1842 leaving them all much higher than it had found them.

We produced more and consumed more of every thing; the condition of the people steadily improved; the credit of our banks and that of the State and of the general government were restored; and there was a degree of quiet prosperity such as never had before been seen in any portion of the world. Confidence in the future prevailed throughout the whole range of society.

UNDER THE TARIFF OF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIX,

we have closed cotton-mills, and driven down the manufacture of cotton from 600,000 to 467,000 bales, and have, in the last three years, decreased the consumption of cloth, foreign and domestic, per head, twenty-five per cent. We have closed woolen-mills, and have, in the last three years, diminished the consumption of cloth, foreign and domestic, twenty per cent.

We have closed mines and furnaces, and have diminished by fifty per cent. the production of iron; and the consumption of iron, foreign and domestic, has fallen from ninety-eight to seventy pounds per head.

We have closed rolling-mills until we have almost annihilated the manufacture of railroad iron, and destroyed the competition for the sale of an article so necessary for the cheap transportation to market of our products.

We have diminished the export of lead from 800,000 to 300,000 pigs; that of hemp from 60,000 to 19,000 bales; and the product of wool at least ten millions of pounds.

The manufacture of corn and hay into pork and beef, butter, cheese, and lard, declines daily, and the value of exports from the West to the East has fallen from sixty-two dollars per ton in 1845 to forty dollars per ton in 1851.

We have thus diminished the market for cotton, and have placed ourselves under the necessity for exporting more, the consequence of which is seen in the fact that it has fallen even below the price of the revenue tariff of 1840-2then the lowest that had ever been known-with a certainty of great further decline, should the crops prove large.

We have diminished the domestic market for food to be consumed by the growers of wool and of hemp, and the producers of cloth and of iron, coal and

lead, and that diminution cannot be estimated at less than fifty millions of dollars per annum; and yet our ability to supply food to the world declines from year to year, as the manufacture of corn and hay into pork, beef, butter, cheese, and lard, declines, and as we become more dependent upon foreign nations for wool and hemp, lead, cloth, and iron.

The import of fish now exceeds the export, that of rice has fallen in both quantity and price, and that of naval stores has increased in quantity while it has declined in amount.

We produce less of every thing, and the consumption of all articles of necessity is gradually declining, proving a steady deterioration in the condition of our people. We are running in debt to foreign nations for articles of luxury. Speculation is every where, and confidence is no where; for every man feels that the events of each successive year are bringing us nearer and nearer to a convulsion similar to that which has rendered memorable the period of the revenue tariff of 1840–2.

CHEMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE.

MESSRS. EDITORS:-In your February number, I notice the publication of an article entitled, "Chemistry applied to Agriculture." I hope you will give your readers the following comments on the doctrines there advanced, as those views, emanating from and sustained by such respectable authority, may strengthen the cause of empirical agriculture. The author asserts, that 66 no chemist has ever been able to ascertain what constitutes manure a fertilizing substance."

The most laborious experiments upon this subject that have ever been made, were recently published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The following is the conclusion of the whole matter, in the words of Messrs. Laws & Gilbert: "In conclusion, then, if the mineral theory of Professor Liebig simply implied that the growing plant must have within its reach a sufficiency of the constituents of which it is to be built up, the authors fully and entirely assented to so evident a truism, that of the minerals, phosphoric acid is exhausted more than the alkalies."

But your author asserts, that "the sulphates, phosphates, &c., cannot be demonstrated to be fertilizing principles: not one of them will feed plants in an exhausted soil."

Baron Liebig says, (in his recent publication of May 14th, 1851, Letters on Chemistry, p. 481.) "Every thing, in the action of any manure, depends upon the composition of the soil to which it is added. To fertilize a soil for grain by means of ammonia alone, is like trying to rear an ox with food from which the elements of his bones and his blood are excluded. The opinion that potash, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, &c., constitute the food of plants, and are as essential to them as bread and meat to men, or hay and oats to horses-this opinion is not the expression of a theory, but of a natural law or universal fact." It is proven by the experiments referred to, that if a soil is exhausted of its organic matter, these inorganic, or earthy materials, will not supply its place, any more than bread will quench thirst, or water satisfy hunger; but no one will argue from this that bread will not feed man, as our author argues that "the above [elements of all plants] will not feed plants!" Your correspondent goes on to say that if it could be proven a field containing all other elements of a good soil did not contain one atom of phosphoric acid; and if under these circumstances it was perfectly sterile, yet the successful application of phosphoric acid to that field would not afford any evidence of the fertilizing power of phosphoric acid; and that the fertility of

any soil can be restored without the addition of any substance whatever!" Baron Liebig says, (Op. cit. 482,) "I have, for three years past, on about twelve English acres of the most barren soil, near Giessen, by the use of a mineral manure, composed on the same principles, obtained for all the crops which are cultivated in the district, results which were declared, previous to my experiments, to be impossible by all the agriculturists who knew the land."

If one single grain of wheat can be raised in pure sand, or in any soil that is absolutely free from phosphoric acid, "by the application of a board, or any fermenting substance," then the application of chemistry to agriculture is defeated. Again, if any one specimen of soil, remarkable for its fertility, can be obtained from any part of the world, that is entirely destitute of phosphoric acid, potash, sulphuric acid, &c., or any one of these; then the analysis of soils is a farce, and empiricism has triumphed. I fear that some will think that undue importance has been attached to the diagnosis and successful treatment of the soil referred to by your correspondent. Baron Liebig says, (Op. cit., p. 481,) "The negative results of experiments, made without the guidance of just principles, do not gain in value by their multiplication, and millions of them do not outweigh one successful experiment, if the cause of its success be recognized and ascertained." "To the united efforts of the chemists of all countries, we may confidently look for a solution for these great questions; and by the aid of enlightened agriculturists, we shall arrive at a rational system of horticulture and agriculture, applicable to every country and all kinds of soil, and which will be based upon the immutable foundation of observed facts and philosophical inductions."

With regard to the shade theory, I will venture to make a few suggestions. Every one has noticed the luxuriant growth of grass around a board or large stone. This is generally attributed to the influence of shade. I will suggest seven other modes of accounting for it.

1st. The plants growing around the board have double the supply of surface soil for their roots, as all other vegetation is excluded from the surface covered by the board.

2d. It will be noticed that the ground is always more moist under a large stone, or when covered by a board; and the grass around it is consequently supplied with moisture, when that in other situations is dried up.

3d. The temperature of the soil is preserved, as there is no loss of heat from evaporation, so that the growth of the plant is never checked.

4th. A multitude of animalculæ and insects congregate there on account of the uniform temperature, and their exhalations and exuviæ supply a sort of guano, which would be distributed over a much greater surface if the board were not there.

5th. The supply of carbonic acid from any organic matter (existing in the soil previous to the application of the board) is much greater and more constant, as the temperature above referred to is generally between 40° and 80o.

6th. The disintegration of the soil is promoted by moisture and the temperature referred to, and the supply of the inorganic elements is more uniform and abundant, as they are not only rendered soluble, but water is present to dissolve and convey them to the rootlets.

7th. An ingenious medical friend has suggested to me that "the electrical condition may be as much in contrast with the surrounding parts as the temperature and moisture." Moreover, every one will observe that shade, per se, is injurious to vegetation, and the morbid products of its influence will be avoided by all herbivorous animals. DAVID STEWART, M.D.

Baltimore, March 11th, 1852.

COTTAGE DESIGN S.-No. IV.

OCTAGON COTTAGE.

THE accompanying engravings represent the elevation and ground plan of an octagon cottage, which has been much admired by builders for its neatness, simplicity, convenient arrangement, and cheapness. Several gentlemen of this city and vicinity are about building after the design here specified, and, for the information of such others as may wish it, we give a brief description of the plan, together with the estimated cost of completing the same. The thing

most likely to stumble the reader, in inspecting this beautiful design, is, that so neat and well-finished a cottage can, from so good material, be constructed so cheaply. This can be explained, however, in the form of the building and the economical method of enclosing it.

The size of the cottage is 36 feet from the outside line of the building to the opposite outside line of each side. The height of the cellar is 7 feet in