East Saginaw courier., 1866-05-30
4oeal atlatters.
The Agricultural Prospects of sagi-

The Agricultural prospects OF Sagi-
inaw Valley.
The following sensible and truthful
article from a late number of the Sag
inaw City Herald is worthy the atten-
ton of all our people. The fact is
we have so ignored our own advanta-
tages as an agricultural section that
people outside have come to believe
we have none, or worse, that the dis
advantages of swamps, frosts, unfa-
vorable situation for drainage, cold
and ungrateful soil, are such as to
preclude the possibility of our becom-
ing even a self-sustaining, much less
an exporting people, without the aid
of the vast lumber and saline resour-
ces, now yielding the chief products of
tho valley. To dispel this error
should be the special effort of all res
idents; this effort has been Inaugural
ted by the organization of an Agri-
cultural Society, unquestionably the
most legitimate means for bringing
about the end desired-a public and
practical demonstration of what our
agricultural advantages are-and we
are rejoiced to see it so earnestly sec
onded by the press of our sister city ::
So great have been the opportuni-
ties for amassing wealth by investing
in timber lands" and engaging in
the manufacture, so favorable seemed
the investment in salt locations and
its manufacture, that these enterprises
have absorbed tho attention of emf
grants to this Valley. Fortunes have
already rewarded our capitalists, 9th
ers will yet I've amassed but our for
lists are slowly receding, and will even
tually disappear before the onward
march Of our Lumbermen. To what
then, shall the rapidly increasing pop
ulation of this Valley look for support,
what means of sustenance will be af-
forded the laboring masses what
will become of our shipping; where
will the scores of busy steamers
which are constantly plying upon our
waters find employment; are impor-
tant questions which we ought now to
solve, for upon their solution depends
our future prosperity. The manufac-
tiIre of salt, though the supply may
be inexhaustible, can never be made
the means of support for population
such as this Valley will contain twenty
years hence. In what direction then
shall we turn? To what can we de-
vote our attention with reasonable
prospect of success ? To any one fa-
miliar with the Valley the answer is
apparent. Let us at once engage in
developing the agricultural resources
of this Valley, which though they may
have been overlooked for enterprises
giving more speedy returns, are as good
and will prove as abundantly laden
with lasting benefits TO this region as
any or all of the enterprises in which
we have hitherto engaged.
We have in different parts of the
Valley men who have been accus-
toned to the bountiful harvest which
in years by-gone was sure to reward
the husbandmen in that most favored
locality, the Genesee Flats" Of n.
Y; men who have gathered the fruits
os their labor in the most favored por-
tions of New England, and they will
to-day with confidence assert that this
Valley in productiveness, in all the
advantages that enhance the prosper
ity of agriculture is excelled- by none
of those localities whose celebrity is
world wide. Certain it is that they
have been rewarded by harvests as
bountiful as those which lured the
early settlers of Western New York
to that productive region. Saginaw
City bore the palm last season by for
warding the largest specimen of beets
received by the Commissioner of Ag-
riculture, and there was subsequently
on exhibition specimen much larger
than the one forwarded.
For the production of grains, vege-
tables and fruits, we have both the
climate and soil requisite to secure an
abundant yield, and as the benefits ac-
-cruing from agriculture stand upon a
firmer basis, and are consequently
more enduring, with the assurance
that seedtime and harvest will
surely come," and with full convic-
ton that failure will be the exception
and success the rule; let us without
unnecessary delay turn our attention
ito this important resource of this fer
tile valley; let us support this enter
prise in its infancy, and proclaim
through the press its numerous ad-
vantages, and in years to come, when
we behold our highways bordered
with productive farms adorned by the
beautiful residences of their owners,
at whose board pleasure and plenty
smiling Sit" we shall rejoice that we
ceased to ignore Its claims-that we
aided in producing this result, and
with a feeling of commendable pride
will point to one of the best agricul-
tural regions of this or any other
State.
CAnrErs.--Orders having been issued
in big type and posted about town to
buy carpets of Elliott & Harrison.