The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-05-13
THE REP u BLIC.
Suggestions for the Improvement OF Agri-
culture.
PATENT OFFICE REPORT.
FART II.

Suggestions for the Improvement OF AKri-
culture.
SiR Agreeably to your request, I have prepared,
and have the honor herewith to submit, report
the statistics and progress Of Agriculture in the
United States for the year ls49.
The communications received in answer to the
circulars issued from the Patent Office in the usual
form number some four hundred. Not few of
these extended essays, and all contain useful
facts suggestions, which have been gratuitously
furnished by the contributors. To publish the
whole would require two large volumes, in place Of
of moderate size; and to reject three iourhs OF
the matter in hand seemed poor return TO the
many gentlemen, in almost every State, who have
kindly proered their services to promote the most
important interest Of the republic.
Under these circumstances, it was thought not
aniss to write and greatly condense three fourths
of the letters and essays intended for the report
This labor has been great, but it has saved some
$ 10 900 in printing; and il is hoped with improve
ment To the document, and without doing injustice
to any correspondent.
The undersigned deemsit not out of place, in sub
mitting this report, to offer few suggestions in
reference to the ways and means now available for
the improvement of American agriculture.
l.--AGRIcuLrURAL EpucATIoN.
Since 1929 when Judge Buel introduced the first
bill to establish agricultural college in the State
of New York by Legislative aid constant efforts have
been made to render the study of rural economy as
science not less than its practice art, popu-
lar in this country. Twenty seven years have now
elapsed whole generation has passed of the stage,
and New York, with her five hundred thousand
cultivators of the SOIL is still without the first ag
cultural school worthy of the name; is any other
State in better condition. Dark this view Of
agricultural education really is, it is the darkness
that prccedes the dawn of bright and happy day.
Men who have labored for the improvement OF ag-
ricuture, and the elevation of agricultursts for a
quarter Of century, with little Of hope and less Of
pecuniary reward, realize the beginning Of an
auspicious change in public sentiment. Thanks to
al linpr Ia md sptia fh.n
discover that labor and capital devoted to til
lage and husbandry worthy of Legislative
consideration labor and capital employed in min
ing, commerce, and manufactures. Sosoon as this
truth shall be fairly comprehended, the long strug-
gle of the friends OF improvement will be ecrowned
with success, and the victory won over both igno
rance and its traditions.
II is, indeed, wonderful how long those enlight-
ened, reasoning farmers, who, like Washington,
cherish due respect for their high calling have
had to beg, and beg in vain, of State Legislatures
and of Congress, for little assistance to prevent
the universal impoverishment of American soils.
Whatever has been done to arrest the exhaustion of
arated lands, has been effected not only without
due aid from Government, but in spite OF a mis-
taken policy which encouraged the removal OF all
the elements of bread and meat from cultivated
fields, and their speedy transportation beyond the
possibility of restitution. Neither the earnest
commentator of the illustrious farmer Of Mount
Vernon, nor the prayers Of two generations Of ag
riculturists, the painful fact that nearly all
titled lands were becoming less and less product
i've, could induce any Legislature TO foster the
study Of agriculture as science Happily, this
term, when used in connexion with rural affairs, is
no longer the subject Of ridicule.
Some pains have been taken in this report TO
prove that thousand millions of dollars judi
ciously expended will hardly restore the one hun
dred millions Of acres Of partially exhausted lands
in the Union to that richness of mould and strength
of fertility for permanent cropping which they pos
sesscd in their primitive state.
The continued fruitfuness of the earth is an in
| tcrcst far greater and more enduring than any
| form of government.
II the twenty two millions of people in the
United States may rigbtfully exhaust the natural
fertility of onethrd of the arabic lands OF the coun-
try the forty four millions who will be here twen-
ty- five years hence may properly consume the pro-
ductiveness of the remaining two-thirds of all
American territory.
great principle is involved in the science Of ag-
rculture, which reaches through indefinite genera
tions and forms the basis Of all possible improve
ments and of the highest hopes of our race. All
advancement is impracticable in country that
closely approximates the condition of desert.
As nation Of farmers, is il not time that in
auire by what means, and what terms, the fruit
funess Of the earth and the health and vgor Of its
invaluable products may be forever maintained, il
| not forever improved!
| These arc questions Of universal concernment, "a
| the careful and rigid investigation Of which no
man should refuse 10 lend a listening ear. gov
ernmental policy, which results in impoverishing
| the natural fertility Of land, no matter by what
only question of fime, when this truly spcndthrift
course, this abuse Of the goodness Of Providence,
| shall meet its inevitable punishment To show the
necessity Of reform, plain estimate has been made
in the chapter on agricultural tstics" 20 prove
| that annually waste enough OF the elements OF
bread, without which not the first kernel Of corn
| can be formed, 10 produce one thousand million
bushels of this important staple
| The Board of Agriculture Of Ohio estimates the
crop Of in 1919, within the limits of that State.
| az seventy million bushels; and IL will hardly be
extravagant 20 say, that the farmers of Ohio, In
diana Michigan Illinois and Wisconsin, export a
million tons OF breadstuffs and provisions, where
they import ton Of the atoms drawn from their
virgin soils, 10 form agricultural products. Can Il
be said, in truth, that million tons Of bread and
meat are produced from nofhing2 Will IL be con-
tended that the earth within the reach of good
ploughing contains unlimited amount Of the
precise things consumed TO make the plants, whose
organic and inorganic elements are taken from the
SOIL and restored? II this be true, then all
fertilizers arc not only unnecessary but absolutely
worthless This cannot be 30; for lands that sew
enty years ago produced from twenty five 10 thirty
five bushels of wheat in the State Of New York,
now yield only from six To nine bushels per acre;
and in all the old planting States the results Of
haustion are still more extensive and still more
disastrous.
A lack Of mental culture aud discipline is the
most serious impediment to the diffusion Of agri-
cultural science among the mass OF farmers IL
language is 20 them am unknown tongue Hence,
the most sublime truths in the economy Of nature
are shut out from the popular understanding II
is feared that this will be the until schools
designed 10 teach those branches Of learning which
the practical farmer greatly needs, but does not
possess, are established and maintained throughout
The United States. So long refuse To plant
the seed, II is folly TO expect rich harvest OF
knowledge.
We over-estimate the value Of mere physical
| strength, like that Of the OK mule, and under
estimate the intrinsic worth Of cultivated, we-dc-
veoped Reason, in practical agriculture. No in
| considerable degree of mental culture must pre-
cede all scientific tillage and husbandry. An oak
Is not msturcd from an acorn In day, nor in a
year is il possible 10 form, in single gene
ration, an universally educated and highly inn
proved Of men Such improvements, to be
| general, and fixed in people as distinguishing
feature in their character, be deeply impressed
ON several successive generations.
As Glaze, farmers have few advantages for being
well informed in the rapid progress now making
in the economical improvement of soils, cultivated
plants, and domestic animals This lack Of oppor
tunity is serious misfortune, and leads 10 this
practical result With 100000 farm -laborers-
2,700 900 in the savehoding and 2,30O, 900 in the
free States-American agriculturists so misdi-
rect this immense power Of production, that the
l u. 1f 4.