, to the law passed by
our legislature last winter, providing for the reclamation of the
"swamp lands," technically so called, and inaugurating an admirable
system of State roads throughout all the upper portions of the State,
we should be ignoring decidedly the most pregnant of the signs of
promise. In adopting so well-timed and beneficent a measure, our
law-givers have proved themselves worthy guardians of a commonwealth
whose interests so plainly bespeak a much greater degree of wise
legislation than has heretofore been wielded for her benefit. Next in
importance to these wholesome measures, is the law providing for the
appointment of Commissioners of Emigration--one resident here, and the
other stationed in New York. Those seeking homes in the West have only
to be made aware of the unequaled inducements presented by our
State, to secure immense accessions to our population.

Detroit does not alone reap the benefit of her advantageous position.
It is shared by all interests, but perhaps by none others to so great
an extent as the tillers of the soil. It is a most significant fact
that breadstuffs and provisions not unfrequently bring as high prices
here as in New York, giving producers all the advantages at home of a
seaboard market, and virtually putting the cost of shipment into their
pockets. Thus a farmer whose land possesses a nominal value of ten or
twenty dollars per acre, can enjoy all the pecuniary advantages of a
location near one of the largest eastern cities, where farms are
valued at one to two hundred dollars per acre. This fact alone should
go very far toward transforming our northern wilderness into
cultivated fields.

As a matter of interest, and to some extent of curiosity, we present a
comparative statement exhibiting the ruling prices of extra Michigan
flour twice a month throughout the year, in Detroit, New York and
Liverpool, and also the prices in the latter market, for the
corresponding dates in the year 1858:

Liverpool, '58. Liv'L, '59. N. York, '59. Detroit, '59.
Jan. 1st. 5 76a6 74 4 80a5 04 4 95a5 15 5 00a5 12
" 15th. 5 76a6 24 4 80a5 04 5 60a5 85 5 00a5 12
Feb. 1st. 5 76a6 24 4 80a5 04 5 90a6 40 5 75a6 00
" 15th. 5 52a6 00 4 80a5 04 5 90a6 25 6 25a6 50
Mar'h 1st. 5 52a6 24 4 80a5 04 6 30a6 50 6 25a6 50
" 15th. 5 52a6 24 4 80a5 04 6 50a6 75 6 50a6 75