Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-12-28
The Annual Report on Agriculture.


most succinct, clear-headed, instruct
i've and utilitarian public document.
1t shows in every part comprehen-
sive and careful summing up OF
facts, as generalized from a multi
tude of details gathered from the
whole national area. We make
few extracts:
Regarding wheat, the great staple
growth Of the North west, the Com
missioner soeaks as follows
THE wheat interest is at present
suffering from one OF the periodical
seas ms OF depression which are the
inevitable result Of exclusive reliance
upon single crop. \ good ieId
was obtained last year, and u still
larger result the present season this
fact Ia combination with financial
causes, has depressed the price 70 a
lower point than has been reached
siuce 1860 The continuous llantiug
OF the new lands in the West Win
wheat is removing Westward, year
by year, the center OF wheat pro-
duction, and increasing the distance
of transportation, while the railroads
by their combination and advance Of
tolls to secure dividends upon water
ed stock, are increasing in equal
ratio the cost of freights. Thus are
the wheat-growers reaping the fruits
of their own improvident husbandry,
and suffering extortion and loss
from the accident of location. A
diversification of industry, both ag-
ricultural and manufacturing, will
render them masters of the situation
and release them from the subservi-
ence to the railroads and European
wheat markets. The pioneer or
'skinning system of culture must be
abandoned, at least in the settled
States, and capital be used in farm
improvements. A jjudicious invest
ment 10 draining often pays 100 per
cent. the first year; single horse
hoeing OF growing wheat, as reported
to this department, has doubled the
yield and paid 1000 per cent. upon
its cost, and improvements in breeds
of farm stock yields large dividends
upon the investment"
The Commissioner has some pun
gent truths TO offer concerning the
prevailing land greed, which works
such serious injury to agriculture in
every part of the country. He says:
"The greed for the acquisition Of
land is serious bar to progress in
| farm Improvement. The aim of the
pioneer has been, not to become q
good farmer, but a holder of broad
broad acres-to grow wheat, to buy
more land. The result is a sparse
settlement, poor roads, straw stables.
few farm improvements. and a slow
advance in prices of real estate after
the first sudden rise in valaes. 1t is
a dangerous fallacy that non-product-
i've farms are profitable. Excepting
only brief period of frontier deveI-
opement and proximity to rising
cities, the causes which influence the
advance of prices of such lands can
never swell, the efforts Of capital like
tue wonderful accommodating powers
Of compound Interest.
Regarding the advancement of
scientific agriculture-the paramount t
want of our farming interests-we
make the following extract:
"The American farm is cuitivatiug
no. soil alone Dnt brains. The most
potent agricultural educator is the
agricultural press, Ii Yields q pow
err THE OF which it did moi possess
twenty years ago. It's Improvement
within that period has been wondel-
full and it's progress was never so
apparent as at the present time
The most practical. earnest and sci
entifiic workers in agriculture are
the editors and writer's Of our rural
literature. The mass Of farmers
are advancing In intelligence, aud no
longer stigmatize as 'book-farming'
the written experience of the most
scientific and the most successful of
their own class"
What the Commissioner has to
say on the subject of our wool in
dustry possess 80 much interest for
the whole Northwest, where sheep
husbandry has been so extensiv n
and largely carried on, that We -
produce his observations entire
ga period of depression has been
realized by our wool-growers during
the past four years, which has been
shared by all other wool-growing
countries, but which has been greatly
modified and relieved by the opera
ton of the present tariff, which has
prevented the utter prostration of
this necessary branch of industry in
the present, and assured its rapid
recuperation in the future. A suf-
ficient quantity Of carpet woods, not
produced in this country, has been
admitted from abroad at low rates of
duty; sufficiency Of most grades
of clothing woods has been produced
at home, sold at lower prices than
when foreign woods were admitted
at nominal rates, and an imptus has
been given to the production of
combing wool, which will only great
ly benefit the textile interest out
will improve the quality and quantity
of mutton in the markets of the
land. Dissatisfied with the present
receipts and gloomy over future
prospects, many farmers have sacri-
feed portion of their fiocks during
the past year. 1t is estimated that
four millions of culs were killed for
pelts and tallow. American agricul-
ture, in all is branches, is peculiarly
subject to periods of elevation and
depression from the impulsive action
which stimulates over-production at
one time, followed panic and aban-
donment OF the temporarily unprofit-
able pursuit. The wool interest has