Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1869-12-31

A farmer in Lee county writes as
follows, to the Coesatyy Gentleman, OF
New York:
MEssRs. EDITORS You have long
since learned from your correspond
ent "B. +. J.n that the "autumnal
splendor" of our great West, came to
very sudden and untimely end
several weeks ago. The remarkable
and unprecedented storms of No
vember were so general from east to
west, that farther notice Is unneces-
sary. The four feet SHOW drifts still
linger in the lanes, and probably the
last thereof wi not be seen before
March.
To-day cold rain from the south
east prevails, which may possibly
turn to snow at night, and thus
winter be closed In on us fast. AS it
is, feading is fully one month in adj
vance of usual seasons, and of course
1t is useless to predict the character
of the coming winter, but / take 1t
that the farmer whose stores are am
pie, will have no occasion to regret
the abundant provision. All careful
observant farmers know full well the
deceptive character of fodder grown
In seasons of extreme wet.
"Fartasrs stdrus 10 death IN tcst season,
ARd are scared to death In q dry one"
Commend me to two dry seasons,
rather than one wet one. If this
idea was well understood by the
scribblers for the great commercial
newspapers, perhaps such extrava-
CANT reports of the prospective crops
would not disgrace their pages so
often. We have i'm this country no
such thing as reliable Agricultural
statistics, and never shall have until
there is radical change in practice.
For instance the Department at
Washington, according to "Hespe.
rian" of the prairie Farmer" set |
down the corn crop of Iowa as being
81 per cent. of an average crop;
Illinois 81, Wisconsin IS, and Mime
sofa 90. Now, L am satisfied that so
per cent. will more than cover the
crop in Iowa, and probably the other
three States-nobody has counted
the thousands of acres on which
not a single ear was gathered; and
the still other thousands of acres
with hardly nubbins enough to pay
for running over the fields, while in
no single instance on the choicest of
land. do know of an average yield.
The character of our western climate
Is so uniform over extensive areas,
that the observation of one single
county even, may safely be taken as
an index for the balance.
In September the pork packers
and gamblers began their annual
bear movement among the hogs-un-
told quantities of hogs were discov-
cred ''up country" and grave articles
were written and scattered through
the country, pointing out the disas-
trous results that might follow from
paying too much for hogs. Gamblers
bought pork, ''sellers January" or
any other month that was conve-
nient at S24 so, or any price that an
swer the purpose. Observant farm
ers being questioned, uniformly said
that hogs were scarce in the country,
and what was worse, there was little
corn to feed them, and that whoever
to "grease the platter" with
lard the coming year, would find
themselves sorely disappointed.
Well, the packing season opened a
ago, and is now almost over.
Hogs are found to be few In number
and still lighter in carcass and lard,
and the price is higher than it has
ever been, all things considered,
since the settlement of the country.
If in Iowa there is "a per cent.
corn crop, why don't the farmers
feed their hogs until they are heavy
and fat? Itsall o humbug; the corn
isn't here. Live hogs Mt the river
towns are selling under brisk compe-
titior for 9 to 81 cents, and probably
privately higher, The question
naturally arises, why is it that the
hog and its products maintain such
a uniformly high price amid all the ;
Al ftBa !
other farm products? The price has
been high for many years, yet the
supply has steadily been growing
less relatively to the demand. Sta
tistics of packing show steady de-
crease in actual quantities from year
to year. More anon.
1T