New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-04-29

These figures, after all proper allowances for err
and short crop, establish conclusivey that in
all parts of our country important elements IN the
soil have been exhausted, and that its fertility, in
spite of all improvements, is steadily sinking. The
number of sheep in the State of New York had de-
creased so that there nearly 300, 600 less than
there were thirty years ago. Within period of
five wears the decrease has been nearly fifty per
cent while the decrease in the number of horses,
COWS and swine is above fifteen per cert. In lS43,
the product Of wheat was 1891, 40 bushels. 1t
has steadily declined since, until the product OF the
past year did not exceed 100000 bushels. The
average yield of corn per in 1874 24.75 per
bushel, but in 1854 it was only 2l02 bushels.
kThe average crop Of wheat in Virginia, Tennessee
and North Carolina for 1850 was only seven bushels
per acre; in Alabama and Georgia but five bushels
per acre. And even the largest average crop of
any State in the Union, that OF Massachusetts,, was
but IL bushels per acre. And this, with the eanest
SOIL proves her agricultural science to be far in adj
vance of her sister States. While the crop of cot
ton in the new lands of Texas aud Arkansas was
7O0 to $50 ID per acre, il was but $40 ID per acre
in the older cultivated fields of South Carolina.
In Virginia, the crop Of tobacco in 1850 was less
than that of 1910 by over eighteen million pounds.
No crop has proven more destructive to the iertl-
y of the soil than the tobacco crop, and this staple
commodity, unless a cheap and effective remedy
can be found. must be either banlshed or II VIII
Danish the cultiyators. In this State where tobacco
corn and wheat have been continued for century,
many districts are no longer cultivated. Lieblg
says that from every acre Of this land there were
removed in the space of one hundred years, twelve
hundred pounds of alkaas in leaves, grain and
straw While the yield of wheat has increased III
England to thirty bushels per acre, it has sunk to
seven in Virginia
Even in Ohio the wheat crop is already less renu-
neratve than formerly and fields long cultivated are
given up to pasturage. In Indiana, Kentucky and
Illinois where so large amount OF grain Is sold
and carried of, instead of being fed out to stock,
they are selling their lands by the bushel in the
shape of wheat and corn and that for price Ut
terly ruinOus. Commerce, founded upon such agrl-
cultural economy as this, must come to an end,
although the folly will continue to be avenged on
posterity even to the third and fourth generation.
The leading fact of widespread deterioration of
the soil stands out too boldly 10 be denied. The
great rreyersible law of American agriculture ap-
pears in The constant and increasing dmnutiOn o:
agricultural products, without any advance IN
prices. Ii follows, just in proportion, that capital
is disappearing, and that labor receives diminish
ing reward. Our country is growing debilltated,
and we propagate the cOnsumptiye disease with all
the energy VI private enterprise and public
patronage
Many foreign States support a population vastly
larger per square mile than We maintain, aud hold
their annual increase; but by the system of hus-
bandry generally pursued here the land is hel until
il is robbed of its virtue SKINNED Of its cream and
then the owner, selling his wasted field TO some
skin-fint neighbor flies 10 fresh fields with the foul
purpose to repeat the same spohaton; and this
annual exodus which prevails over all the older
States and even begins upon the first settlements OF
the new States before their remoter borders have
lost sight of the savage, painfully indicates that we
have reached the MAXIMUM of population our land
Will support in the present state Of our agricultural
ECONOMY. Our skill must be further developed, or
here is our limit.
The aoricuturists have been, within a few years,
aroused 10 their own wants. The eager crowds
which thronp the annual fairs Of our agricultural
societies proclaim the universal munger mere - iol
a profounder information touching that Which
| comes home 10 their business and bosoms. lhcy
| kpoy, tber, are mysteries clearly concerning them,
and they demand of learning and science solution.
Let us have such colleges rs may righiiuNy claim
the authority of teachers to announce iac's Snu
fixed laws and to scatter broadcast that hho"cuec
which will prove useful in building up great Ia,
tion. The FARMER and the mechanic require special
schools and appropriate literature quite as nucn as
any of the so.called learned professions. we neeu
careful exact and systemat zed registration oi eA
| pcrimonts such as can be made at thorough! sC'
cntifc institutions, and such as VIII Iot DC 'usuo
| elsewhere These tests and these tables, SO iur-
nished, viii give us, when reported ana cola,eu a'
provided for in this bill, rational induction OF Pr'n'
| cipes upon which we may expect u estaonsn
proper science; and the more widely gathered are
the facts, the sounder the science. Discoveries WIZ
not be trumpetsd forth until they have received the
sanction of body less sangune than the vendors oil
| apateDt.
We need TO test the natural capabty of soils and
the power Of different fertilizers the relative value
of different grasses for flesh, fat and milk giving
purposes the comparative value OF grain roots and
| iay for wintering stock; the value of bushe of
corn, oats, peas, carrots, potatoes or turnps, in
pounds of beet, pork or mutton; deep blowing, as
| well AZ drainage the vitality and deteriora-