Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-12-20
EG, DECEMBER 20, 1866
QDbllo,J !. SState;s!;rlr,ya5r1'rt,, 81 II n,
OURAGRICULTURAL RESOURCES
notes ON America by an EngIIshman

| "iI ipl % 10 lj lel-- -t .#..
In the London Marx Lane Express there is
! a very readable article onthe agricultural
resources and productiveness OF the United
States, by Mr.. James Howard, of Bedford,
| England. He was pleased with everything
he saw, except our system of agriculture.
His views are interesting as the impressions
of an intelligent foreign agriculturist, II
.J. r'tH AMERICAN FARMING. Y. 'rg
He says: a4iI ].t- "i -ii'i<H'
America has been styled the granaty OF
Europe; 1t Is, doubtless, the largest corn
growing country in the world. Itis MAIN
ly upon its agriculture that the progress
Of the country depends; its manufactures
are comparatively 'unimportant, as from
three-fourths to seven-eights of the popu-
lation are engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Although we may learn good deal on
various subjects from our go-aheadJ klns-
inen iIf the art and practice of agriculture,
the old country is in the posltion0f teacher.
AS might be expected In a comparatively
new country, the agriculture, as rule, Is
rough, and far behipd that OF England.
| That the farming shotrld not have the neat
| and finished appearance which it presents
| in England and Scotland is not to be won
! dered at, when the dearness and scarcity Of
labor are considered, and when it is re-
membered how large number of the cul-
| tivatorS of the soil were not brought up TO
| the business of farming. A very large
proportion of the farms in the older States
| have been reclaimed from the primeval
| forest; for hundreds upon hundreds of
miles the stumps of the larger trees still re-
main in the field, so that the date of the
4 settlement of the locality can be calculated
| by the number of stumps still remaining.
1 In the rocky and stony districts the stones
still remain piled in heaps, the plow and
4 reaping machine having to tread their way
= between these stumps aud heaps of stones.
z The system pursued in clearing the land of
} timber is as follows:
( In the fall or autumn the underwood Is
( cut and piled. In the winter the trees are
! felled on or toward the stacks of under
! wood, which are then set on fire. After
I this, the small stunps are extracted by a
crab, worked by oxen or horses; the larger
J stumps are left to rot. The ground Is then
I plowed, or, as we SHOULD tlrink, scratched
( over. Two or three crops of Indian corn
/ are taken in order to get rid of the second
! growth of underwood; when it is left in
| grass until the larger stumps are sufficient
| ly decayed to be extracted. The grass of
America has nowhere the splendid, rich
green of our English pastures. Whether
| this arises wholly from the climate, have
| some doubt. think want of care in pre-
pairing the land, selection of seed, and sub
] sequent stocking have something to do
with the miserable condition and appearance
of the American pastures. If sheep are
repastured on young permanent grasses, a
| good pasture must not be expected, even in
our more humid climate. After having
1 travelled for woolss, through tlIis UIu rOreSG
land. with its backened stumps and zigZag
rail fences (or SNAKE fences'), as they are
| called, to get view of those grand, open
prairie lands Is relief scarcely to be de-
! scribed. In the wooded district the toll of
| clearing and bringing the land into culti-
vation is immense. On the prairies the set
| tier has no such labor; he has simply to
plow up the ground and sow the seed. The
prairie lands are Of three kinds, flat, some-
| thing like our fens, and about as inviting
| to live in, without in many parts tree or
shrub as far as the eye can reach. Then
| there are rolling Notwithstanding slight
undulating surface and some wood-far
| less monotonous than the flat, but not, to
! those who have an eye to beauty, so inviting
| as the high rolling prairies. The most
| beautiful country for farming / saw in
America was in Iowa, across the Missis-
sippi; indeed, it is one of the most pictur-
esque countries / have ever looked upon.
| Fine land in this State is to be purchased at
less than it would rent for in England; but
more on the price OF land presently. This
| fine State contains fifty millions of acres, only
eight millions of which are at present un-
der cultivation. The system generally
pursued in American farming is one of ex-
haustion. The evils of this practice are
| beginning to be felt in the older settled
II Gtotac In, tha Orra1t1ollr and afno6i1u dirntn
ishing yield. There can be no doubt that
the evils of such course will be much
| more generally and seriously felt unless a
| change of system be adopted. Rotation is
| little observed. Root crops, except pota-
l toes, are rarely seen. Crop after crop of
| cornis taken from the soil without anything
| in the shape of fertilizers being returned.
The bones of the country are either thrown
| away, or, when collected, are exported. So
also of the linseed and cotton crop-as there
! is very little native demand, they are ex-
ported to Europe. The use ofmanures and
, teeding stuffs is practiced by a few, but
| they are quite the exception. An old
\ farmer on the banks of the Wabash, in In
| diana, told me he had grown grain crops,
, generally Indian corn, for thirty-five years
\ in succession with scarcely a dressing of
! manure, and that the last crop of Indian
\ corn had yielded no less than so bushels an
\ acre. This land, as you may suppose, is
n remarkably rich; but, as shrewd quaker
\ from Ohio, who Joined rs about an hour
\ after, remarked, such course was too COM
h mon, but that 1t must come to an end-that
, he had cleared no less than 600 acres of
I land himself had broughtup large family
\ and settled them on FARMS and had found
\ it most profitable to keep plenty of stock,
| TO observe proper rotation, aud to deal
with the soil literally. The farms are
| mostly smallAaveraging about 100 acres.
| In the western country they are larger,
many being 800 to 1,e00 acres. One gentle
man, Mr.. Sullivant, in Illinois, who invited
me to go and see him, farms 1000 acres, and
does it systematically and well. A large
proportion of the cultivatorsar are what may
be described as working farmers-men of
| rough exterior; but owing to the admirable
public school system, they are generally
| fairly educated. The immense circulation
of most of the agricultural journals is
proof that they are a reading people. The
larger and more opulent farmers are very
gentlemanly and intelligent men; know
well what is going on in England 4
Thought, sometimes, better than some Eny-
lisa farmers, There is another, and this a
large class In American mean amateur
farmers. Doctors, lawyers, bankers, mer-
chants, manufacturers all seemed possess
ed with the same love for farming SO gene
raj on this side. I met with many OF this
class--for the acquisition of land is SO easv.
found, however, that they told the same
tale amateur farmers do on this side, viz !:
That farming was very pleasant occupa-
tion, but that it did not pay The wheat
and other cereal crops are much shorter
and lighter than we grow in ,Enoland I