actual settlement and cultivation already made or contemplated. No entry can, therefore, be made under said act for the benefit of any other person or persons than the party making the same, to whom the patent is issued in every instance. THE CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN OHIO. Mr. Jonah Woodward, of North Jackson, Mahoning County, Ohio, furnishes to the Commissioner of Patents an interesting description of the cultivation of flax in that State. He remarks that three pecks of seed is sown to the acre, which yields from six to twelve bushels of flax, the price of which per bushel is $2 25. From one to two tons of flax-straw are obtained from each acre, the price of which per ton is $3 50 to $7, according to quality. This straw is manufactured into tow for the rope-walks and paper-mills of the eastern cities. Mr. W. had received from a California friend some California flax-seed, which he believes to be superior to the varieties which he has heretofore cultivated, and which makes more oil to the bushel. STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c. POPULATION OF NEW YORK CLASSIFIED BY SEXES AND AGES. The principal portion of the important statistics of the census of the State of New York for the year 1855 have been published in the Merchants' Magazine. In the number for October, 1857, (vol. xxxvii., pp. 511-514,) we presented the returns on families and dwellings; dwellings-their material, number, and value; owners of land; occupations of the people, and their civil condition. In September, 1857, (vol. xxxvii., pp., 380-385,) the complete returns on the manufactures in the city of New York. In the numbers for February and March, 1856, (vol. xxxiv., pp. 249-250 and 382–384,) the statements of the population of the several counties, and of the cities and chief towns in the State. In the number for September, 1855, (vol. xxxiii., p. 378,) an abstract of the marshals' returns by wards on the population, dwellings, and families in the city of New York. We now present a table, compiled from the official publication of the complete census, which exhibits the number of males and females in the city and State of New York, between different ages, as returned in that year : The census shows a relatively greater number of females in New York than in any other county in the State excepting Kings, the proportion being 48.1 males to 51.9 females. This inequality is observed in other large cities, and in London the difference is still greater, being 46.8 males to 53.2 females. This disproportion of numbers in large cities has its exceptions; Paris, since 1836, has returned an excess of males, which is explained in the official report by the large number of young men attracted thither to its seminaries of learning, the crowd of unmarried artificers drawn from the departments, and even from foreign countries, and the numerous male laborers upon public and private works. To this we add from the introductory statement of the Superintendent of the Census, FRANKLIN B. HOUGH, M. D., the following: "The greatest inequality of the sexes is observed in cities and large villages. In each of the cities of the State, excepting Buffalo, Oswego, and Syracuse, the number of females exceeds the males, in proportions varying from 1 in 14 to 1 in 86, the average being 1 in 30. "A referenee to the numbers of males and females, as given by successive censuses of this State, will show an excess of the former, at each period before 1855, when a greater number were reported. The several national censuses have uniformly shown an excess of males in the whole population, in the general aggre gate; and in all the States, excepting Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. In Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, the females have uniformly outnumbered the males. In New Hampshire since 1790, in North Carolina since 1820, in Vermont in 1820, in Delaware in 1840, and in the Dis trict of Columbia since 1810, the same has been observed. In general, the excess of males is greatest in newly settled States, where the population is made up of emigrants from older States or foreign countries, among whom the male sex uniformly predominates.* "As the inducement for immigration ceases, or is diverted to other quarters. the disproportion of the sexes becomes less, until it assumes the condition now observed in this State and in New England, and that which exists in nearly every country in Europe. "It is a well-established fact that there are born more males than females, the percentage of the former in Europe being over 51 in 100. The proportion is observed to vary in different countries and periods. "The relative proportion of the sexes is also observed to vary between different ages." [On this point we present the following paragraph from a paper read by Dr. Hough before the American Geographical and Statistical Society:] Before the age of 15 we have more males. Between 15 and 30 we notice a marked excess of females, doubtless owing to the greater number of young men who seek employment or homes in the West. Above the age of 30 the propor tions change within moderate limits, with a general excess of males, until the are of 70, above which the chance of life appears to be greater with the female. Of 91 persons reported in 1855 as 100 years of age or upward, 41 were males and 50 females." POPULATION OF CITIES AND CHIEF TOWNS OF IOWA. In the Merchants' Magazine of February and April, 1857, (vol. xxxvi., pages 247-248 and 497-499,) we published abstracts of the returns relative to the population of Iowa, as obtained by the State census of that year. In this number, in the department of "STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE," we publish the census re * Of the immigrants from foreign countries during 36 years preceeding December 31, 1855, 2,713,931 were males and 1,720,205 females, a proportion of 158 to 100.-Bromwell's History of Im migration into the United States, p. 175. turns of 1856, on the agricultural industry of Iowa. We now present a statement, which we have compiled from the official report, of the number of inhabitants in the cities and chief towns in Iowa; to which we have annexed the number in June, 1850, according to the United States census, and in the spring of 1854, according to the State census. The returns for 1856 present the number of males and of females, and we have added together the respective sums to show the total population of each place. The population given for each city includes, we believe, that of the township in which it is situated :— THE POETRY OF TRADE-A SONG OF THE STREET. The following lines on the times appeared in the Evening Post in October--a memorable month in the history of financial panics:— Rushing round the corners, Plunging into bank- Of every man you meet. Merchants very short, All our splendid railroads Houses of long standing Gentlemen of means. Half our men of business Is so much to their credit. Brokers are all breaking, Panic still increasing Where will the trouble end, While all hands want to borrow, And nobody can lend? Running round the corners, Trying every source; Asking at the banks Nothing there of course; Money getting tighter, Misery complete Bless me! this is pleasant, "Shinning" down the street. WALL-STREET. LITERATURE AND COMMERCE. The Christian Register, in noticing the Merchants' Magazine, takes occasion to animadvert upon an article entitled “Literature and Society," by A. B. Johnson, of Utica. Now, Mr. Johnson is not only a mercantile man, but the author of several able and original works, and his opinions are always well considered, and in our judgment generally sound. We think our cotemporary of the Register has taken a rather superficial view of the opinions so forcibly and clearly enunciated in the article in question. We will, however, give our readers the benefit of the Register's idea of literary men and mercantile pursuits :— Devoted to mercantile interests as this work (HUNT's Merchants' Magazine) always is, and dilligent in every provision to improve and exalt men of business, this number (August, 1857,) is more than ordinarily enthusiastic about the dignity of trade. So much so, that a writer in it feels called upon to depreciate literature in comparison with commercial pursuits, as of very inferior dignity and usefulness. We have no idea that the men of thought are necessarily nobler than the men of action, but we must think that the influence of intellectual employment is rather more elevating than the mere business of buying and selling. Merchants may be men of action in more magnanimous ways than this, but their distinguishing occupation, the making money by barter, is not more dignified or heroic than the scholar's vocation of making books by the action of the brain. It is true that "authorship ought to be estimated, relatively to other human efforts, by its comparative difficulty." The question is whether it is easier to write books than to turn over dollars. We see fortunes sometimes stumbled into in trade, as it were by mere luck or accident, without labor either of body or mind; but no author accidentally or unconsciously produces a book. The labor of the brain is resolute, hard work, or it comes to nothing. Which wears out the man soonest? There have been geniuses in merchandise, Napoleons in the market for energy and ability, but surely as many men do business by mechanical routine as pursue authorship by mechanical routine. But this seems to be forgotten when only writers are spoken of so contemptuously as merely dull plodders, distinguishing themselves as rope-dancers distinguish themselves, simply because other men will not make similar efforts for so poor an attainment. It is a little in advance of the fact that books which amuse or excite are as easy of formation as the images of a kaleidoscope, and made by a like process-some new arrangement of old materials-and that philosophical treatises on any subject can be procured by order as regularly as a pair of boots. The writer thinks literary men stand altogether too high in America-higher than in England, and cries shame upon us for it, and that it is high time to emancipate ourselves from such an error. He compares them to Indians daubed with red paint and decked with cheap feathers, and deeming themselves ornamental; and to lion painters always representing the man vanquishing the lion, and creating a misimpression of his strength, because lions do not paint, &c. We suspect it will be a long time before our scholars will be so over-influential, in the press and whirl of material competitions, as to need such a taking down. INCIDENT OF THE MONEY MARKET. One day during the panic of October, a firm in Boston gave a check to one of their creditors for two thousand dollars, which he presented at the bank, where he was informed that it was drawn for five hundred dollars more than stood to the firm's credit. Having some little doubt of the solvency of the firm, he drew his own check for five hundred dollars and deposited it to the account of the firm, when he was promptly paid the full amount. The firm stopped payment the same day, and will pay about thirty cents on the dollar, but the merchant, by a little timely gumption, obtained seventy-five per cent of his claim. HOARDING THE PRECIOUS METALS. The Albany Journal, in view of the withdrawal of specie from the banks during the panic, has the following cleverly drawn hit for the "hoarders." It reminds us of a story told by a Philadelphia lawyer, of some eminence, now no more. He said the Dutch farmers in the interior of Pennsylvania were generally in the habit of hoarding their money. A farmer, who had laid by a large sum, the earnings of years, had his house broken into, and the money stolen. When asked by our friend, the lawyer, how much he lost, he said he did not know exactly, but that he had about a bushel of dollars, half a bushel of halves. and a peck of quarters, besides a considerable pile (when that bank was in its palmy days) of United States Bank bills. Now is the time when gold dollars are hid in old stockings. Now is the time when sixpences are tucked away in snub-nosed teapots. Now money is laid by in cupboards-for mice to nibble; thrust into corners for thieves to rummage; carried in wallets-for pickpockets to grab at; hid behind the wood-work-for the next generation to find; and buried in the ground-to be lost and forgotten. Now men rush frantic to draw cash out of safe places, and put it into unsafe ones. Now poor families lose five per cent for the purpose of having their savings where they will keep them awake of nights. Now farmers hang up deposits in the shot pouch behind the door, housewives sew up gold pieces in their skirts, and travelers weigh themselves down with body belts of coin. Now the unprofitable servant, who hid his talent in a napkin, is cannonized into a bright and shinning scriptural example, while those who "put their money to the exchanges," are looked suspiciously upon, as rash speculators in Jewish fancy stocks. Now all money is distrusted but such as can be heard to chink. Now men privily put all their cash under lock and key, and then publicly lament that it has ceased to circulate. Now men with well filled pockets refuse either to pay their debts or to forgive their debtors. Now the butcher must wait and the baker must go unpaid, and the printer must be put off for the nineteenth time. The era of hoarding has come round again with all its blind, unreasoning fears, and all its self-imposed curses of poverty, idleness, distrust, and decay. AN INCIDENT OF THE HARD TIMES. Mr. HASKELL, the editor of the Transcript, who escaped from mercantile life some years since, relates the following humorous incident of the times: 66 It is difficult for many persons to laugh in such times as these, yet our risibles got the advantage of us yesterday. We had stepped in the store of a friend on Washington-street, who is well known for his urbanity and business sagacity, when a gentleman from the rural districts called to make a collection. Without any allusion being made to the fact that money in the present case was out of the question, the conversation turned upon the all-prevailing topic, the hard times. The gentleman, remarking that he had several collections to make, and must leave in the afternoon train, inquired of our friend if he knew the residence of another party, on whom he was to call. Certainly; he lives at No.street," and, passing to the front window, he added hastily, "Here is an omnibus going by, that passes his door-Quick, or you will lose it!" Such was the promptness and urgency of this appeal, that the creditor from the rural district caught up his hat and bundles, rushed out of the store as for dear life, and, when last seen, was running, with coat-tails streaming horizontally, at a 2.40 speed, up the middle of the street, shouting "stop that omnibus!" At the distance of half a square the omuibus was doubtless overtaken. A few friends returned to the private office, where they enjoyed a hearty laugh, and congratulated the proprietor on his new mode of disposing, in these hard times, of a troublesome creditor. At latest accounts, the creditor had not re-appeared. |