New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-06-11


lands, il is confidently believed that az least four
ifths are nov suffering deterioration in greater or
less degree The fertility Of some, particularly ia the
planting States, is passing rapidly away in others,
the progress of exhaustion is 81 slow as hardly b
be observed by the cnrvatlrs them selves. To
keep within the truth, the annual income from the
soil may be said TO be diminished 10 cents an acre
on loO,O0 0O0 acres on four iiths Of the whole
This loss Of income is $4,000 OOO and equal 70
the sinking Of a capital Of Sl66 Cos 900 year pay
ing per cent. annual interest That i'm oroyed
farming lands msy be Justly REGARDED as captal
and fair investment when paying per cent in
terest and perfectly safe, no one will deny. This
deterioration is not unavoidable for thousands of
skilfDl farmers have taken fields poor in point of
natural productiyeness, and instead of diminishing
their fertility, they have added ten cents an acre
TO their annual income, over and above all ex.
| penses. II this wise and improving system OF ro-
taiion, tillage and husbandry were universally
adopted, or applied to the 100000 900 acres now
being exhausted itwould be equivalent 70 creating
each year additional capital OF Sl66 Got 600 and
placing II IN permanent real estate where it would
| pay per cent annual interest For all practical
| purposes the difference between the two systems
/ Is 1898 $4,000 year, TO the country.
! There is another view of this important subject
| which is worthy Of profound consideration. Ofthe
l2OOO,OOO acres Of improved land in the State Of
NewYork l,000 600 are so cultivated az to become
richer from year to year. These improving soils
are in the bands OF 40 900 cultvators who take and
read agricultural journals, and nobIy sustain the
State and County Societies OF that Commonwealth |
3oVO'ooO acres OF the 100000 are so managed |
ns barely 10 hold their own IN point Of fertility
These lands belong 10 a class of farmers who do as
well as they know from personal observation and |
seeing how reading men improve their estates and |
domestic animals. 100000 are in the hands of |
100000 persons, who still adhere TO the colonial
practice OF extracting from the virgin soil all il will
YIELD so ong as it viii pay expenses to crop it. and
then leave 1t as thin poor pasture for term of
years Some OF these impoverished farms which
IS years ago produced from 90 to 30 bushels of
wheat, on an average, now yield only from five to
eight bushels. In an exceedingly interesting work
entitled American husbandry," published in Lon.
don in l775, and written by l." an American" the
following remarks may be found on page %, Vol l.
Wheat In many paris Of the province lNew.Yorkl
yeds larger produce than common 10 Fog and Upon
good lands about Albany where the climate Is the coolest
IN the country, they bushels and better upon one
however 10 not often had but from twenty to ,lrty are
and with such bad hush andry would yi-d
owing to the rietness and JYeshness Of the land
According TO the State Census OF 1886 Albany
County now produces only 2 bushels Of wheat per
acre, although its farmers are on tide water and
near the capital Of the State, with good home
market and possess every facility for procuring the
most valuable fertilizers. Duchess County, also
on the Hudson River produces average d only
bushels per acre Rensselaer, g. Westchester I;
which is higher than the average Of soils thtt
/
land even with I" bad husbandry."
Fully 10 renoyate the 100000 acres Of partially
exhausted laDds in the State oil New-YGk, will !
cost at least average Of sl2 so per ace, or an
aggregate of Sl0O,00O0OO. 1t is not an easy task
10 replace all the bone earth, potash sulphur, mag
nesia, and organized nitrogen in mold, consumed in
q field which has been unwisey cultivated so or rs
years. Phosphorus is not an abundsIt mineral
anywhere; and his subsoH is about tie only re-
source of the husbsndman after his SUFFICE soil has
lost most of its phosphates.
The 100000 persons that cultivate these s,000,-
600 acres of impoverished soils, annually produce
less by S25 each, than they would il he land had
not been injured. The aggregate Of this loss 10 Z
the State and the world is s7,50OOu per annum, {
or more than per cent. interest u what 1t will
cost 10 renovate the deterorated sdls. There is
possible escape from this oppressive tax on labor
Of s7,500,000 but 10 improve tie land, or run of
and leave 1t. That the latter ha been done to a
large extent is shows by compaiDg the population
in rural districts at the cenBus)f 1880, with that
OF 1870 In nearly half the towns In the State,
population had decreased, notwithstanding the rapid
growth OF cities and villages demanding an in
crease d farm laborers to supply the mere local o.
markets. The Canals Of Ney-Y have operated u
to hasten the exhaustion OF IL soils just as Rail
rOEd TO California would aid extracting gold dust
from its now unwashed saIds. While the Canals
and Railroads Of New-YGk convey a thousand
tuns OF the few precious atoms in the surface of
the earth, which can alone Drm bread and meat to a
tide wster they DO not cary back from tide water
one tun o. the raw material for making crops of v
any kind. a million tuns Of human food pass down g
the Mississippi where tun Of the elements Of a
such food ascend 1.-THE father OF waters o.
will Re seen on referring 10 the OF $780, h,
that the i've States OF Maryland Virginia. North a
and South Carolina and Georgia employed at that b
time l,ol3463 persons in agriculture Ofthis num-
Der Mary and had 69s5l Virginia 3ls, IN North ?
Carolina 2l7095; South Carolina l9s, 1868, aud
Georgia 1883. d.
1t is statistical question of considerable import
ance, to 6termine how much less these laborers o.
and the mules horses and oxen which they work, o
annually produce, than they would had no acre of q
the arabl; lands in these States, highly favored
by clmae and fertility been damaged in the least j
BY improper tilage The difference in the cost of
making cops poor land and good land is real. a.
" much greater than is generally supposed. The n
shrewd iirmers Of Massachusetts prefer giving 60 d
cents tnshel for Western corn, to growing this .
grain on heir nerte soil; while the corn growers p
Of Indian and Illinois glad to sell their crops *
made ich land at 20 cents bushel. From these b
acts, is rot the inference plain and satisfactory, u
that it colts three times more n produce bushel y
Of corn Oh poor than on rich landi nc
To do full justice TO this interesting problem q
u By whist means and TO what extent, the soils of ~
the five States above-named have been njuredl 2" Ia
would fill volume. residence OF more than two az
years in the most Southern of these States, con- O.
lected with It's agricultural press and devOting
much time to the study Of soils and their products
will warrant the writer in expressing opinion :.
IN the weight of evidence collected from all sources j
within his reach The annual loss the labor of an
zach hand ard mule is believed 10 be $50. This an
estimate is too high some plantations, and too ~
ow on others. The only reason why so many So
laves have been sent South curing the last 25 pr
ears land thousands sent out of Georgia. is that Of
he labor Of person is worth twice as much 10 w. w.
ultivate ncb fresh land as poor, old land an
II he estimate Of yearly loss Of $50 on each cal
and and the domestic animals which he works be en-
lot TOO high, then the aggregate exceeds thirty II
Millions Of dollars. This is equivalent 10 having IN
uuk productive capita invested in farming lands vi
Z cleop rate of IRE Hundred Millions Of dollars, bs
ieldipg per cent annual interest While Eng. tre
AID and France have derived hundreds of millions The
mott A. d revenue from the tobacco and cotton a.