Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-03-06
farm. 6mden & zlpasfhold.
MORE CATTLE WANTED


With the price Of beef at Is cents by ihe
carcass. and PorteF.house steak at'S5 cents
i Is quite evident that meat ea'ersin oal
cities Eant more cattle, and wa think the far
mers, both East snd West, North and South
want them quite as much. Pork Is the onll
cheap meat in the market, and that is rathei
owing to short crop Of corn ana potatoes
than to any surplus stock Of swine in 'he
country. The great corn growing States o.
the west have been visited by pFoionged
drought, diminishing that crop from twenty
70 forty per cent Farmers having large
stocks OF hogs are not able to winter them,
and are pressing them upon the market in 8
half falied condition, This temporarily de
presses the price Of pork. but nothing occur.
TO make cheap beef steaks. The var bai
closed. and many things have fallen to quite
reasonable prices. Cotton and wool are de-
pressed, and clothing Of these materials is re-
ceding toward ante-war prices. The mer-
chant with large stock Of these goods on
hand trembles in his shoes with anxiety to be
rid ofthem. He is exceedingly accommoda-
ting both as 10 price aud credit. But the
butcher wears his white apron as stifiiy as
ever, and treats one as coolly as the season.
There is only so much stock in the market
and nobody can underseH him. The cattle
trade is no doubt, very well regulated, and we
hear Of combination and speculation to regu-
late nrices. This trade is 50 vast in bull and
draws its supplies from 50 wide territory
that it is hardly in The power Of any man or
any combination to keep up prices unusually
for years as they have been since the war
The men who own cheap lands raise the eat
lie and sell to the men WHO Craze aud tatteu
them on. better lands. These graziers, com
;ng from all parts cf the West, sell to the dro
yers and forwarding merchants in the large
Western cities. More Of this business is done
Il the Chicsgn stock yards than at any other
oue poin,. Thousands Of cattle and millions
Of money change hands ina day. lis an
open market business, snd the price IS regala
ted by demand and supply as in most other
kinds Of business. The shortest and best
way to reduce the price Of beef is 70 raise
more cattle, and this, We believe, will be quite
as profitable for the producer as for the con-
sumer
A mixed husbandry is, unquestionably, the
best for the land and its owner in the long
run. The raising Of cotton and tobacco IL
the South leaves old fields and deserted man
sions everywhere. The soil is recuperated
only by expensive manuring or by long rest
ia forest. Continual cropping, without retur
ming any thing to the soil, viii make any re-
gion desolate. The constant wheat and corn
growing upon the new lands Of the West II
steadily reducing their fertility, except on the
river bottoms, where the annual overflow re-
stores what is taken away. In many Of these
States the average yield Of wheat IS already
reduced one halt, and will sink still lower
without change OF policy. We want TO sell
from all our farms, East and West, more ami
nal products and less vegetable. At the
present prices, and with good facilities, twill
nav much better to sell beef, mutton, butter,
and cheese, rather than bay aud grain. As a
rule we want to consume the great bulk OF
the vegetable crops upon the tarm for the
sake Of improving the soil. If there is
good system Of saving manures, the farmer
can keep his hay and grain at home. lie
can raise fine stock to sell, horses, working
cattle, sheep, beeves, butter, and cheese, for
these and other animal products imply an in
crease in the stock of fertilizers and better
feId crops in the future. Some regions,
favorably situated for lining the land and
getting cheap manures, can afford to sell
wheat, but these are exceptional cases, Sell
ing grain, as a rule, is only selling one's farm
BY iuStailments. The land is all the while
growing poorer, and unless there are advent
tious circumstances 10 give II value, It's mar
ket price is diminishing. Land that will pro-
duce thirty.fve bushels Of wheat to the acre
is worth probably hundred dollars an acre
or more. Land that yields but ten would be
dear at . quarter the price Many grain
selling farmer wakes up a. last to find thai
bis farm has slid away from beneath his feet.
Give US, then, more cattle, aud make more
fertilizers. Farmers will have TO wait little
longer for the dividends, but they viii run no
risk of using up their capital and destroying
their business.