The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1862-08-27
PROGRESS of orAgricnItnre.


Progress Of Agriculture.
| The Preliminary Report on the Census of
1860, advance sheets of which have been
sent to us, shows that the ratio of increase
of the principal agricultural products of the
United States has more than kept pace
with the increase of population, and there
appears no reason TO doubt the continuation
of an abundant supply OF all the great sta
! pie articles equal TO tho necessities of any
possible increase of population or national
contingency for ages to come. 1t is also
/ gratifying 10 note the evidence of improve
mcnt in some Of the most important opera
! tons, proving that our farmers are fully in
| sympathy with the progressive spirit of the
age and not behind their fcllow-citizens en-
| gagged in other industrial occupations. The
products of the Great West are giving y
| tone to the markets of Great Britain and
! the continent Chicago has become one of
| the first grain markets in the world and "a
| the boundless region still further west is be
! ing developed, every channel of communica-
! ton with the Atlantic coast will teen with
| the products of the soil. Illinois alone sends
now TO the great market at New York an av-
erage of 1000 head of cattlo weekly, and
| other States comprising regions almost un-
! known at the former census, and still more
| distant from the seaboard, are adding and
increasing their contributions. New plants
and animals have been introduced in the
past decade. From the products of the sor-
ghum transplauted from the Chinese En-
! pire, the West is furnished with new ar
| ticle of domestic luxury and utility, and rem
dercd comparatively independent of the SUI
| gar cane of more Southern States. The
! great dairy interest during this period has
! increased the production of cheese and but
i ter, and already American cheese is as we'll
known i'll English markets as the best Eng.
lish dairy cheese. Indian corn is now an in
dispencable article for Great Britain, and
each succeeding year is increasing the de-
mand for this important product for our
country.
While it is admitted that very much re-
mains to be accomplished by the agrlCultur-
al interest, it cannot be doubted that the
past ten years have shown to the world
that the United States has within its own
territory the resources which will enable us
to compete with the older nations of the
world in every department of domestic in.
dustry
The London Exhibition in 1851 made
known that the United States had the means
of supplying the implements aud machinery
needed in every country in Europe. Since
that time our reapers and mowers, plows
steam-engnes and rail road cars have found
their way to the Old World, and an Ameri-
can will, in the great empire of Russia find
himself on board of an American railroad
car, drawn by an American locomotive on
a railroad built by an American engineer.
AT a period like the present, when for
the preservation of the national life and
character, the resources of The country are
subjected to greater strain than they have
ever yet borne, when a large portion of its
"a lohor IL Ii,-orVal tn thn
cred duty, and all the productive forces of
the Union are controlled to an unprecedent-
ed extent by causes more prevailing and
subversive i'll their effects than any which
could possibly arise from eXtraneous sources
it is q subject of the highest qualification
that we are blessed with the ample returns
from the labors of the husbandman. The
crops of hay and grain as the result of u
favorable season and broader cultivation
of land, are believed especially to have af-
forded abundant and timely harvests. Re-
garded either as cheap and ample supply
for vast commisariat with the least posi-
BILE drain upon the public chest, of cheap
and plenary subsistence to the numerous
unemployed and dependent classes, or as
u source of exports and employment for the
commercial and shipping interests, tho
bounty of our land is at the present time u
subject of national congratulation aud thank
fulness.
The increasing annual products of agri-
; culture III our country, and the hay and grain
crops in particular, furnish striking illustra-
tions of the close interdependence and con-
nection of all branches Of the national indus
try. The dependence Of agriculture upon
the results of mechanical skill, as well as
the astonishing progress of the latter with
: in the last half century, are strongly exemp-
lified in the application Of labor-saving ap-
piiances, which become still more valuable
in emergencies like the present, in all the
operations of the farm. The saving effected
by new and improved implements in Great
Britain within dozen years proceeded by
1851, was stated by a competent authority
to be not less than one-half on all the main
branches OF farm labor. Our own progress
in this respect is believed to have been
more rapid than that of any other agricul-
tural people, and to be i'll advance of our
application Of the fruits of purely scientific
research in the Improvement of agriculture.
In nearly every department Of rural in
dustry mechanical power has brought a
revolution. The greatest triumphs of me-
chanical skill in its application to agricul-
ture are witnessed in the instruments adapt
ed to the tillage, harvesting aid subsequent
, handling of the immense grain crops of the
J y
prairies. Without the Improvement il pl"ws
and other implements Of tillage which have
bSen multiplied to an incredible extent, and
are now apparently about to eliminate in
, the ateam plow, the vast wheat and corn
crops of those fertile plains could not prob
! ably be raised. But were it possible to pro-
! duce wheat upon the scale that it is now
raised, much of the profit and not a little
of the product would be lost were the farm
. er compelled to wait upon the slow process
of the sickle, the cradle and the mandrake
for securing it when ripe The reaping ma
=, chine, the harvester, and machines for
threshing, winnowing and cleaning his
wheat, for the market have become quite in
dispensable to every large grain-grower
The commercial importance of the wheat
crop and its various relations to the
subject of domestic and foreign supply, to
4 markets, the means of transportation, stor
! age ETC., make it highly important that the
/ producer shall have the means of putting
> his crop in the market at the earliest OF
most favorable time and with the greatest
precision.
The Report proceeds to speak at length
of wheat, corn, cotton, dairy products ami.
mails slaughtered, sheep and wool, sugar and
, molasses, tobacco, wine, hay, orchard pro.
/ ducts, silk, improvements in agricultural
!. machines, including an elaborate history OF
!. the threshing machine, new domestic ami
. mails, agricultural associations, exhibitions
c schools, colleges, periodicals, diseases o.
animals, destructive insects, and meteorolo
gy,
Wheat shows an increase of 20 per cent.
q corn more than 40; cotton, ITO; dairy pro
ducts, 46; value of slaughtered animals, over
T. 90; sheep and wool, over 10; sugar from
u cane, nearly 80; molasses about the same
6 maple sugar, IA; tobacco considerably ovei
e 100; wine, more than 700; hay, nearly 40
n orchard products over $50 per cent.