, 1841-12-11
AG RICULTURAL.
From the Missouri Farmer.
Mr. Could:

Inc WESTERN Ctates are possessed oil q
fertile soil and a mild climate. The winters
are short and navigable Rivers, by which to
convey the produce to market, are numer.
Gus. Why, ther, are sur Farmers poor?-
Secadse they grow but Two or three articles
of produce which are bulky, and are of low
price. They export the raw material, and
depend upon purchasing manufactured arti-
cles from abroad; thereby enriching foreign
nations, and impovefishing their own. The
latter evil can only be remedied by the ma
ton in lis legislative capacity. The former
may be corrected bv individual enterprise.
A new staple article of agriculture one
that is in universal demand. valuable and
portable, is now needed. That article is
Wool. The Western States generally, and
the state of Illinois particularly, are adapted
to its growth. The cultivation of fine wool.
the kind best calculated for expectation and
domestic use, the means Of obtaining the pro.
per breed of sheep. their treatment, and the
preparation of the wool for market. are dis
cussed in the following treatise:
II is the p~ovince of the farmer to furnish
the raw material for food and clothing
Hitherto the farmers Of Illinois have at,en.
ded to the production of food alone: bv so
dong the competition is so great as 10 bring
PORK, beet, corn, and small grain TO the low
est price, yielding no profit to the husband
man.
The price of pork and beef is generally
from two to three cents per pound. Year
ling cattle are from three 10 five dollars each.
Corn is, usually, from sixteen to TWENTY-FIVE
cents per bushel, and not unfrequentlv. it
coils q g Io,,, m t,rnl,o 49, lIr
bushel. Fourteen millions of acres prairie
grass grows within the limits of our state.
tine greater part of which grows but to die
and be consumed by the fire. When meat
Is two and half cents per pound, and freight
to New Orleans is only one cent and n quar-
ter, the farmer gives one half his produce to
carry the other half to market. A bushel Of
Indian corn weighing f~fty-five pounds, at
twenty cents is not worth hauling twenty
miles.
Old habits are long continued and those
"co nave always grown corn will continue
to do so even al six cents per busheI; and
those who have only fed it to Hogs will still
do so when pork is only two cents per pound.
The tact is generally admitted that much OF
our produce IS too bulky to carry to market,
and too worthless to sell at home. To point
OUT a more profitable appropriation Of our
noundless pasturage, and abundant corn, is
the object Of this little treatise.
Wool is a staple article of commerce all
over the world. This country buys much of
It from foreign nations, which might be pro-
htably raised by our farmers at home. LIST
small bulk and great value renders its expor-
tation at all times easy and advantageous
Inns qualification alone ensures 4 competi1
tion OF purchasers. Three cents pe1<.@S111
WI send 1t from the interior Of 1I;np;s to
france, to England, orto the Hs S,a,eS,
a Wagon load Of pork 0wsktv bundredI is
worth but fifty dollars; foad Of corn bu,
Twen11oad of hay but four dol
MY hundred weight of wool, at
Dnty cents per h., is worth one thousand dol
lars. And the farmer might. if he pleased.
carry all his produce in this form to his ulti-
mate market. with his own team. But we
could not send our hay and corn to England;
even were we so disposed, it would not be
suffered to 90 there. But turn that hay and
corn into wool. and she will gladly pay cash
for it. We want an article of export that
will bring cash, and wool is that article. -
The imperishable and almost understandable
quality Of wool, renders it a safe article to
keep, to transport. and TO deal in. Our pre-,
sent products is all perishable. Great losses
are annually sustained from sour -four, bitter
meal, and tainted meat. Wool is liable to
none of these casualties.
An agriculturalist if a species of maufac-
turer, and a sagacious manufacture will al
ways turn his machinery to the fabrication
of those articles that command the best
prices, and pay the best. To manufacture
corn, hay, and grass, into beef and pork. at
W. or three cents per pound. is a very poor
business. But to manufacture this same corn.
beef, and pork. into wool, at fifty, sixty, and
seventy cents per pound. is a very good bust
ness. We have fed other people, almost
gratist. long enough; it is time that we should
receive something for clothing them. Hi.
nois can feed the Union; and, if the efforts
OF her farmers are rightly directed, she can
clothe it too.
In 1907, the whole quantity Of wool pro.
duced in Australia, was two hundred and
forty-fve pounds. In 1889 ten millions, one
hundred and twenty.eight thousand, seven
hundred seventy-ive pounds, was sent from
that colony to England, making a return OF
a million pounds sterling to British subjects,
which otherwise. would have gone to foreign.