Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-10-06
Ten Years Agricultural Process in
England.

HnRinnd.
"' five glance at the improvements in ag-
ricultural implements and machinery We
shall ind very great progress has been
made, and attended with vast economy OF
time and money, whether It be In the more
general adoption of cultivators, scarilers,
&C., three and four times the breadth of
plougbs over theold system Of plsughing
the more general use of horse hoes,
sowing machines and drills. Field steam
engines. too, have superseded the old horse.
threshing machines, at reduction Of time
and expense Of oue.third. There are now
from &c, 100 to 80 900 steam engines en-
ployed on the farms Of the Kingdom, and
this number Is being every day added TO,
with consequent advantage Of increasing
the labor power and performing the work
more quickly. What should we have done
In many instances of late, without the
reaping machines, which have besn 50
useful2 Something has been done, too,
with steam ploughs and traction engines,
with endless rails and other contrivances;
although much yet remains to be done In
this direction, and in the more general
adoption of steam to farm culture and farm
operations. Portable combined threshing
machines, with fnishing dressing machines,
and many other novelties, evidences of the
practical skill OF our machlnists, and OF
their appreciation and adoption by the
farming interest. The increased demand
for oil cake breakers and bone mills marks
an era In the use Of these Important aids To
the farmers.
Ten years ago, oilcake, as an article o {
import, was scarcely mentioned, either for
feeding or manure; now our imports ex-
coed 95 900 tons, besides what Is made ct
home; and Of bones we also obtain foreign
supplies TO the extent of IS 900 tons. 80
with nitrate of soda, largely used for the
soil, our imports have doubled In the last
ten years, reaching now $3.50 tons, Of
which probably one-half Is employed as a
fertilizer. Our yuano imports have also
doubled. Coprolites were scarcely known
ten or twelve years ago; and now 30, 600
Tons areraised annually according TO Mr..
Robert Hunts statement from Cambridge
and Suffolk, besides others imported from
France and Belgium. Indeed, in nothing
has there been more marked advance
than In the extended manufacture and
general use Of the artifi fetal manures, which
have had SO beneficial an effect on the in.
crease OF our crops. The Improvements
effected In drainage, in manuring, and In
more skillful cultivation and cropping,
It would be most difficult to fully appraise.
But those who have had opportunities Of
trayeIsing the codntry, can best estimate
the remarkable improvements thus effect
ed. IL Is by means ofthese Improvements
d in tillage and implements, that, with an
increased population Of 10000, 900 souls,
we have yet been able to meet their food
wants, with scarcely any addition to our
foreign imports. The foreign supplies
OF wbeat in 1850, In round numbers. were
3,739,000 quarters, and of -four 1890, 900
cWis. In 1859 the imports we're, wheat
1000, 900 quarters, and -four 2,s2S, 900
cas!
And It Rhould be remembered that the
manufacturing Industries draw somewhat
largely upon wheat supplies now to what
they did then, In the increased demand for
starch laundry purposes, for stiffenlng fat-
RIGS, for gum labels, etc. The consump-
ton ofstarch cannot be less than 80 900 or
10000 tons year, principally from wheat,
which involves large consumption Of
grain. The railway extension OF the king
dom has been another medium by which
agriculture has been materially benefited
1t was stated In the last census report that
one of the obvious physical effects of the
increase OF population in the kingdom is,
that the proportion of land to each person
diminishes; and the decrease has been
such that, In the first half of the present
century, the number of acres to each per-
son living has fallen from ga 10 27 acres
In Great britainj from 4 to 2 acres in Eng
land and Wales. As the population 10
the last ten years lie estimated TO have in
creased 5000, 900, this relative proportion
or the land TO each has consequently been
further reduced. As a counterVailinR ad.
vantage, the people have been brOug BIT
into each others neighborhood; their aver
age distance from each other has been re-.
dIeed at the ratio Of three to two; labor
haa been divided; industry has been or.
ganiEed In towns; and the quantity Of pro
duce, either consisting Of or eIchangSble
for the commercial elegancies and neces
carries Of life, has, In the mass, largely In
creased, and 10 increasing at more rSpi'
Jsts Than tho poppls tiop.