, 1855-08-17
Our Farmsrs-Ths Wheat Crop, &c.

an abundant one. How much depends
upon the wheat crop 1t is indeed the
crop Of crops Other crops may fail. Our
climate may forbid the growing of corn
upon our soil the potato may be threat
ened with a consuming rot; buckwheat
NAV promise no buckwheat cakes for break
fast not kernel of black rye may be
raised, and the approach of a great famine
is not apprehended but let the wheat be
cut off-let it fall prey to the dozen ills
from which it is not exempt from the time
of seeding until the momentthe thrcshed
grain is finally housed, and every class and
condition Of people is involved in woe
The farmer, who depended upon his wheat
to meet his engagements, and take him
comfortably through the ensuing year, is
not more unfortunate than the merchant,
the mechanic, and the professional man
to all Of whom the one great cereal is re-
ally and truly the bread Of life" There
is not branch Of industry in this broad
country that is not affected, sensibly and
directly, by the wheat crop. There are few
men, or women, or children, who have not
a vital interest in the great problem which
is annually solved in the summer months
the problem Of knead
Accounts from all the wheat growing
districts in the Union indicate that the
crop will be heavier one than that of last
yearAthst is, the total product will be
heavier-perhaps far exceeding that of any
previous year. Terrible as is the reflection,
the blood and carnage now going forward
in Europe is SO much coin and currency in
the pocket Of the American farmer
Three years ago, and there was not
wheat enough in this territory to answer
the increased breadth of land sown, over
the previous year. We were then exclu-
sively dependent on San Francisco for our
breadstuhs, at a cost, too, Of from SIS to
$40 per cwt. Last year, the wheat crop
would probably have been sufficient for the
wants of our whole people, could an equita-
bic distribution have been made. Conre-
Rience, alone, dictated limited importa-
tion aleng the Sound, from San Francisco
perhaps, too, at less cost than the do
mestic product could have been procured
for, taking into account the trouble and
Inconvenience Of transportation from this
point to others. a. o8r .acsass.sr
This year the farmers have produced an
abundance" enough and 10 spare !" and
instead Of the exhorbitant price being ask
ed that was exacted three years ago, our
mills are manufacturing -four, which, in
quality, would challenge favorable com
parison in any part of the world, at a cost
Of$5 per cwt., or 80 per barrel. Fofsome
months past, the mills in our neighborhood
have been the principal source of1supply Of
-four, as we have been informed, for all the
towns and settlements along the Sound for
at oleast one hundred miles-increasing as
importations are discontinued.
Whatever may be said about Olympia
BY other places, presenting claims of COM
msrcial rivalry, or otherwise, one fact can
not be denied. As far as developed, q
larger extent Of agricultural country is
drpiped by Olympia and Tum;water, than
is drained by all the town sites between the
falls--the head of the Sound, Cor Budds
Inlet1 and Cape Flattery. Such would
be the evidence furnished by q truthful
geography, Of which the counties Of Thurs
ton, Lewis and Chehalis would constitute
part.
But 1t is not because wheat is not grown
in the counties northward, along the Sound
in Pierce, King, Island, Whatcom, &C.,
that we would give as reason why large
proportion Of the breads,uffs there con
sumed, is derived from the mills in our
neighborhood. 1t is not because the peo-
pie Of those counties are wanting in the
elements of industry and agricultural re-
Sonrces, that the mills here have manuiac-
tured into -four whatever wheat may have
been raised in the most of the counties re-
ferred to, but it has arisen from the fact,
that heretofore, the mills at the falls Of
Shutes river have been the only ones in
operation in this portion of the territory,
and has therefore been natural result--a
matter Of necessity. We learn with pleas
ure, however, that Judge CHAMBERS, of
Pierce county, has in process of completion
an excellent Touring mill, which, when in
successful operation, will greatly relieve
the wants Of the people in that county.
As far as Washington territory is con-
.