St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-04-11

minnesota Agriculture. D

F. minnesota Agriculture. ae, '%.
From the st. Paul Press.
In previous issue, VIC compared 1lli-
nois and Minnesota in their climatic aspects
with results not favorable to the Illinois
Central boast of greater mildness and &C.
niality-if the thermometer be accepted as
the test Of the qualities for the warm half
of the year, the corporeal senses for the
cold half, and physical health aud vigor
and comfort for tho whole year.
To-day we are. to examine the assump:
tion of agricultural superiority implied in
the false assertion Of the Illinois Central
Company that our. farmers like Jacob of
old are obliged to "go down into Egypt
because there is much corn there"
IF Indian corn were the test Of agricul->
tural superiority . comparison with Min
nesota night be favorable to Illinois in
the matter Of certainty. But the rank
which corn holds among the products of
American agriculture IS upon the scale of
quantity alone, and it IS due solely to the
immense area, embracing the whole dis.
trict between the S5th and 4ed parallels,
which is specially adapted to its cultiva-
ton.
= Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio,
I wa and other States are equally as well
adapted to corn as Illinois, aud it is only
occasionally, from the intrusion Of prema-
ture frosts, that it fails in Michigan, Wis
consin and Minnesota This vast diffusion
of corn culture diminishes by so much its
relative value as local staple.
i Wheat ON the commercial scale is far
more valuable than corn. And the dis
tricts in which It may be successfully cul-
'tivated are limited on this continent BY
stringent conditions Of soil and climate, to
a comparatively small area. ~, ="
i Corn is a certain crop within an area of
the North American continent of at least,
SOC, 900 square miles, while wheat is sure
and perfect crop in less than one-fourth Of
this area: Now wheat is the distinctive
local staple of Minnesota-o Of the new
localities where it reaches its maximum
Developments. "a. j.. ~:.,. .....>,
acre than any State OF t6v Uuivna IN exrrpt &, IS
California, while it is entirely exempt from
the extreme fluctuations OF product, the
climatic casualties, ,-7rust, mildew, and in
sect rayages, which have made this impor-
tant cereal one Of the most. uncertain and
Improbable crops in lower ATTITUDES, and
particularly in Illinois and lo,ca.
Minnesota probably never yielded less
than twenty bushels Of wheat to the acre.
The first statistical average Of the crop,
made in 1859, which was bad year ali
over the Northwest, showed that result
In Iowa, the same year. the average yield,
according to the State census, was four and
one-half bushels per acre, and in Illinois it
was currently stated at not over six bush
els per acre.
Every year indeed confirms the obscrva-
ton Of Blodget that "the immediate val
ley Of: the Mississippi, from the Gulf to
Central Iowa, is too humid and tropical for
wheat"
The same authority, speaking of the LA
bility Of the United States to these "hu-
mid, tropical, heats''-as the principal
climatic source of injury to wheat-partic-
ularly specifies as one Of its peculiar local
effects "the injury sohich in Southern ILL.,
1ois renders the grain wnhealhy."
Last year was remarkably favorable
season for wheat everywhere in the North.
Even Illinois and Iowa produced good
crops, the first for a long series Of years.
But Minnesota fully sustained its marked
pre-eminence in her average yield. The
average cannot, as yet, be exactly stated,
but the returns to the Statistical Bureau,
thus far received, indicate an average of
twenty-four bushels for the State at large
A great many township ps give an average
of twenty-six, twenty-seven and even twen-
ty-eight bushels, aud of the individual
crops returned as specimens Of the maxi
mum yield in various localities larger
number are over torty-and in some in
stances even as high as sixty bushels per
acre. -"
he aggregate crop of the State is esti-
mated at between 100000 and 7,000,-
600 bushels, probably nearer the latter 6g-
ure than the former. This would give a
result of nearly forty bushels to every
man, woman and child in the State.-
Let it be 1ecollected that this result will
be obtained in the sixth year Of the agri-
J cultural history of the State. There is
no other State in the Union which presents
a record, at any perion Of its history, of
such an astonishing agricultural develop
ment.
Oats, rye and barley share in this per-
fection Of the leading cereal. The barley
! of Min nesnta In 50 hiuhlr nrized for the