the business of the road. For, if the money invested in the construction of the work, be required to pay dividends, the cost of transportation must be so high that, articles of great weight in proportion to their value will be excluded.

We have no expectation that a route can be found from the Mississippi river to San Francisco that will be less than 2400 miles in length; and freight at the rate of two cents per ton per mile, counting the ton at 2,000 lbs, would amount to about 5,00 per barrel for flour, and about 1,40 per bushel for wheat. It is evident that these rates would exclude much the larger portion of the products of the Mississippi valley from passing over this route to the Pacific; and deprive this region of the benefits that might be expected from an exchange of many of its agricultural and mineral productions.

None more than we admire the enterprise, the foresight, and indomitable perseverance of the people of New England; for they have done more perhaps, in the last fifty years, to advance the cause of civilization than have the people of any other country and it is natural that success in their undertakings should inspire them with confidence in their ability to achieve whatsoever they design. On the other hand, failure and disappointment in carrying out schemes of improvement in the west, have made western men cautious and distrustful. Having been mislead by the calculations of enthusiastic projectors, they place but little confidence in arithmetic; and, indeed, the belief prevails in the west that figures are not always to be trusted. Hence, one who aims to secure the confidence of the people of this region, in respect to any subject envolving the investment of money, must avoid extravagant calculations, or he will be set down as a visionary speculator unsafe to be trusted.

We desire that our Boston friends should not misconceive our motives in objecting to their plan. None who have read the Western/ Journal, from its commencement, can doubt the absorbing and profound interest which we feel in establishing a railway communication between this valley and the Pacific ocean: and none, more than we, desire a speedy accomplishment of the enterprise, but, we also desire, that when completed, there shall be no private interest involved in it that may, by any possibility, detract from its usefulness as a national work. We have offered no scheme of our own-we have no ambition to be considered projectors-but we could not, consistently, with the high ground which we have assumed as journalists, publish a scheme that conflicted with our own opinions without comment.

In concluding, we beg to assure our Boston friends, that we feel flattered by their notice of our humble labors; and although we have deemed it our duty to make known our objections to their railway project, yet, we sincerely trust that we may, in other respects, be useful to each other. We desire to see New England enterprise and capital transferred to the west, and shall labor with fidelity to make known the extent and true condition of its resources, for the benefit of every part of our common country.

Heretofore there has not been a just reciprocity in the exchange of information and opinions between the east and the west; for while the inhabitants of the latter have habitually looked to those of the

former for intelligence, they, of the east, have apparently regarded our opinions as a matter of no importance to themselves.

This was natural in the early settlement of the country: but, the mighty power that is growing up in the west is beginning to produce a change in the former relations of the two regions. The tide of emigration that continually flows into this great valley, and which never ebbs, brings with it intelligence, enterprise, capital, and labor : these elements are beginning to form combinations, upon the basis of our vast agricultural and mineral resources; and the time is near, if not already arrived, when the people of other countries will find it to be their interest to look to this region, not for facts only, but, to study the extent and true nature of that power, which, under Providence, is designed, as we believe, to direct and control the destinies of the inhabitants of this continent. We, of the west, owe much to our eastern brethren: we have been their pupils, and having profited by their precepts, should be grateful for their instruction; but, we are growing up to manhood, and if they desire to preserve their former influence, they must study the developments of our character while it is being unfolded, for these developments conforming to the extent and great resources of the country, can justly be appreciated, by those only who comprehend our true condition.

NOTES ON THE SEASONS OF 1849.

WINTER. Cold and disagreeable-much sleet and frequent light snows. Much floating ice in the Mississippi, but not enough to prevent the crossing of the ferry boat, at St. Louis, for any one day during the season.

SPRING.-Vegetation made its appearance about the 1st of April, which may be regarded as the average time in this climate, but there was cold weather about the middle of the month. On the 14th there was frost and some ice, but vegetation and fruit were not thoroughly killed.* The season was marked by a good deal of rain, and cloudy weather.

SUMMER.--June and July were rainy and humid. Wind generally from east to south-temperature rather below that of average seasons. August was a fine summer month for this region.

AUTUMN.-Season most beautiful and pleasant throughout. There were several light frosts in October, but vegetation was not thoroughly killed until about the 26th November. About the middle of November we saw Pulnia Christie and other summer plants, in the neigborhood of this city, which had not been touched by frost, and there was no frost that could have injured them from that time until about the 26th of the month. The first snow that covered the ground this season, fell on the 7th December; it lay perhaps from two to three inches in depth, but the weather became warm and it commenced melting immediately.

In Minesota, the first killing frost, reported for this season, happened on the first October.

The cold spell that happened here about the middle of April, extended to the Gulf of Mexico-the crops, throughout the southern States, were more or less affected by this frost. We learn from an exchange paper, that on the 15th of April, the snow covered the houses in Columbia, S. C.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.

STATEMENT of Brown Sugar imported into the United States, in the respective years ending on the 30th June, 1847 and 1848, designating the quantity and value imported from each country; carefully collected and made up from the annual reports of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

IMPORTS of White Clayed or Powdered Sugar, into the United States, for the years ending 30th June, 1847 and 1848.

IMPORTS of Loaf and other Refined Sugar, for the years ending 30th

The following is a statement of the production and consumption of sugar for four year past, and estimate for the present year, together with the stock on the 31st of March of each year (in tons):

Extracted from De Bow's Commercial Review.

The low price diminishes beet root cultivation. Emancipation in the Danish and French colonies produce the same result.

975,000

99,000

1846-7.

Quantity.
Pounds.

STATEMENT showing the quantity and value of coffee imported into the United States from each country in the years ending on 30th June 1847 and 1848, carefully collected and made up from the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.

WHENCE IMPORTED.