Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1859-05-11
Substantial Progress Of the State,


-a There are three classes Of persons who
-. have been of late years actively decry-
80 ing the Industrial position OF the country,
- and charging ell manner of decay and
So retrogression upon it. We do not belong
to or rsympahise with either OF these clas-
ses, and We have forboIne to say in these
columns what we had in cur heart to say,
until present time. that no one should
r charge us with using our position to de
i feat certain schemes which we could not
approve. One Of these is what was cal
90 led The Agricultural College bill, in Con-
- gfess. and the other, the Geological
Survey bill in the Ohio Legislature, both
of which failed. for which We are not
sorry. since they were both pressed upon
= the public under false colors and by false
argument We commenced this article
bas by saying-there are three classes of
's.s persons who decry our Industrial position,
4 : and all three claim TO be true prophets,
snd learned in all The wisdom that per-
tains to the productions of the State
One clRss-mostly located in the fshy
I regions of the Atlantic slope. declare the
- land is going TO ruin, and can only be
saved by their patent fertilizers. Anoth-
- Aer class, having large interests IN literary
i centres. East and West. think the saliva
ID -tion of the country lies in grinding the
= boys through an Agricultural College
and the other class--being of scientific
turn OF mind. and sadly in want of prof.
table employmen;..hold and declare
that the earth is full of hidden stores of
wealth. that can only be developed by a
Geological Survey. And all these pat
riodc individuals rush to the State with
= an appetite as keen, and numerous, as a
- litter of dozen Juvenile porkers to their
maternal parent, who is expected to root
for the whcle brood. even though they
were large enough TO be weaned long
ago.
-o'iHe These are the men who are ringing
the changes upon the deterioration of our
soil, the ignorance Of the people, and
how much better it would be if the be.
nighted farmers would forswear their
own knowledge. and make over the coun-
- try to their hands, to be put in thorough
repair. aud afterwards held under their
- - superintendence as consulting (insul-
ting?) agriculturists We do not really
think this thing will ever be done-the
: job is entirely too extensive for such con
tractors.
- But let us look at tie facts and figures,
and see how the country stands it may
be We shall be able to carry on the world
while longer ia the-old way, before we
become bankrupt, even without the help
of the ''insuliing" agriculturists. The
great cry has been. that the wheat crop
in Ohio has fallen off from an average OF
35 bushels per acre, to 19 or IA bushels |
which is just as paipable lie as was
ever put on paper. There is not part.
Gle of evidence on record that the average
Weld of wheat in Ohio was ever better
Than it has been since 1850. In this
proposition, We except the early period
p when but few farms were opened in the
State, and those mostly in the original
wheat belt of the counties of Coiumhi.
ana, S.ark, Wayne and Richland, the
Miami and Mad River Valleys. and few
J other picked lands of like peculiar fertil
: ity and adoption. But this was time
a before the immigration Of the insect enc
mics of this c'Op, which have followed !